All posts by Athol Barnes

Athol Barnes is the Senior Pastor at Grace Point Baptist church in Kansas City, Missouri. Born in South Africa, as a son of a pastor, Athol became a follower of Jesus at an early age. He studied and worked as a mechanical engineer for almost 14 years before being called into fulltime Christian mission work. Emigrating to the USA in 2000 with his wife Debbie, Athol has served as the Director of Project Management at Adventures in Missions between 2004 and 2009, and a Discipleship training school leader with Youth with a Mission and Call2all from 2009 till 2014. In 2014 Athol graduated with a MATS degree from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. In the same year, Grace Point called Athol to be their Senior Pastor. Athol has a heart for missions and seeing the Great Commission fulfilled in our lifetime. He is passionate about seeing the church on mission, being and doing what Jesus called the church to do. Athol and Debbie were married in 1996 in South Africa and have two adopted Children, Christine and Joshua.
Sermons

Playing Our Part – The “What” of Evangelism. May 22, 2016

Evangelism 1 Title.2

Romans 1:14-17

It is so important to step back and refocus, to remind ourselves why we exist as a church and why do we do missions and evangelism. Why do we do what we do as a church?

As we look at evangelism over the next 4 weeks, we will look at the “what” of evangelism, the “Why” of evangelism, the “How” of evangelism and the “When” of evangelism.

cropped-Great-Commission.jpg

Starting with the “what”

What is the story, what is the message?

The Apostle Paul was also on a mission to Rome, he was obsessed and passionate to let the people of Rome hear the Gospel message. In verse 14 we read that Paul was obligated. Actually a better translation of what Paul says, is that he is a debtor to all men. Paul encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus (Acts 9), and now he was appointed by God to be a mouthpiece, a herald, an evangelist, someone who was compelled to tell the good news.

Not only does he feel obligated, Paul goes on in verse 15 and 16 to say that he was eager to preach the Gospel, he was not ashamed of the Gospel.

But why would Paul be ashamed?

He had confidence in his message, and he gave us several reasons that explain why he was not ashamed.

Firstly, the Gospel was a message directly from God about the Son of God, it was not a message from any political figure or even from Cesar himself. Paul believed in the authority of the message he was declaring.

Secondly Paul refers to the Gospel message as the Power of God. God is all-powerful and here was Paul going to Rome, the seat of power of the Roman Empire, an empire that ruled by fear and terrible cruelty. But Rome was weak because of its immoral and wicked behavior. The 2nd century writer Juvenal called it a “filthy sewer into which the dregs of the empire flood.”

No wonder Paul was not ashamed: he was taking to sinful Rome the one message that had the power to change men’s lives! He had seen the Gospel work in other wicked cities such as Corinth and Ephesus; and he was confident that it would work in Rome. It had transformed his own life, and he knew it could transform the lives of others.

Do we believe in the power of the Gospel message? The Gospel message is stronger than our greatest fears, because the all-powerful God stands in the middle of the Gospel message.

Thirdly Paul was not ashamed because the Gospel message carried the power of salvation.  That word “salvation” carried tremendous meaning in Paul’s day. Its basic meaning is “deliverance,” and it was applied to personal and national deliverance. The Gospel delivers sinners from the penalty and power of sin. “Salvation” is a major theme in this letter to the Romans and salvation is the great need of the human race today.

This is something that is lost in our modern day preaching and Bible teaching, so much emphasis is placed on living well, getting the most out of life, making an impact or changing society that we forget that every human being is destined for en eternity in hell, without the saving power of this Gospel message.

Paul continues in verse 17 to say; “For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

The righteousness of God is the ability to be in a right standing before an all Holy God, not to be ashamed of our past, the blood of Jesus takes away all our sins and we are able to stand in the presence of God.

Paul states that this righteousness is by faith from first to last.

Salvation first, is when we repent and first asked God to forgive us of our sins, when we first applied to Gospel message to our lives,

Salvation present, is how we need the Gospel daily in our lives. We need the blood of Jesus on a daily basis, we need the Holy Spirit to enable us to live a godly life on a daily basis.

Salvation future, is the eternity that we look forward to in the presence of God.

Salvation from first to last.

You see the Gospel is not simply a message that we need to tell people when we go out on a mission trip or an evangelism event. No the Gospel is our sustenance and our hope on a daily basis. From first to last.

Do we have a passion for people? Are you painfully aware that most of the people you see in the streets every day are lost, and are heading to an eternity in hell?

We need to pray that God would give us a passion for the lost, the ability to feel a glimpse of the heart of God for the lost. If God gives us a glimpse into his heart for the lost, we like Paul will be compelled, we will be obligated, we will be eager, and we will not be ashamed of the Gospel message of Jesus Christ.

Let’s return to our primary objective – the purpose of the church. To declare the Gospel message to a hurting and dying world.

We do this by sharing the Gospel with our friends and neighbors, we will cover this more in the weeks to come.

The purpose of the church is to equip and send. To send people to the nations, to the places where the name of Jesus has not been heard.

“The Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of missions. The nearer we get to him, the more intensely missionary we become.” Henry Martyn

Sermons

Pentecost Title.2

This Past Sunday, we celebrated Pentecost Sunday by praying for 48 hours in the chapel leading up to the Sunday morning service. On Pentecost Sunday, we remember the day when the disciples received the Holy Spirit and how the early church was formed in power. As we look at our own lives today we see that we have two choices, either we live by the Spirit or we live by the flesh. Paul highlights this in the first eight verses of Romans 8.

Our Need

But what does it mean to live according to the flesh? Well it just so happens that Paul gives a list in his letter to the Galatian church (see Galatians 5:19-21). We may look at that list and say, well I am not sexually immoral, I don’t practice witchcraft or I don’t participate in Orgies – but what about impurity (impure thoughts), what about selfish ambition, or dissensions and factions (gossip with the intent to create division). If we are honest, we all struggle with some of these things, we constantly wrestle with the desires of the flesh. The real battle is in the control of our minds. As Christians, we are to be self-disciplined not only in our physical appetites but also in our thoughts.

How often we fail in disciplining that vital part of life. Our thoughts begin to drift from the God centered life into worldly things and thoughts we know we should not dwell on, and we let them go and we become anxious, lustful, hateful, prideful and we give in to self-pity.

Someone might say; “well, I gave my life to Jesus, I received the Holy Spirit, but I still had bad thoughts, God didn’t take them away, I am living a defeated Christian life”. The truth is that we have work to do, don’t blame God for your impure thoughts if you spend hours watching late night cable TV. Daily we need to daily surrender to the Holy Spirit’s will and leadership so that we can live in the power of the Spirit. Paul explains this perfectly in Romans 12:2.

What occupies your mind, will ultimately express itself in your character and lifestyle.

God’s solution

It seems impossible, how can we overcome the problem of our mind? God has provided a solution, we need to appropriate that solution to our lives (See Romans 8:9). This verse begins a series of verses that include the conditional clause; “if” 8 times.  If anyone does not have the indwelling Spirit of God it does not matter their profession of the local church they are a member of, they are not a member of Christ’s eternal body. To belong to Christ, the Holy Spirit of God must indwell your life.

The person who gives no evidence of the presence, power and fruit of God’s Spirit in his life has not authentically claimed Christ as Savior and Lord. The person who demonstrates no desire for the things of God and has no inclination to avoid sin or no passion to please God is not indwelt by the Holy Spirit and thus does not belong to Christ. A sobering truth.

But the person who has the Holy Spirit living in and through them experiences life and life abundantly.
Isaiah 26:3 says, “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.”

The Holy Spirit does not only enable us to live in peace and fruitfulness, the Holy Spirit is also a deposit, or a promise of God that we will one day be resurrected from the dead and given new bodies, incredible resurrected bodies (see Ephesians 1:13-14).

The blessing

Finally we come to the results or the blessings that come from living by the Spirit. Reading Romans 8:14-17 we see that, by the Holy Spirit we become sons and daughters of God. Children of the living God, and we get to call the almighty creator of all things Father. It seems impossible, how can we possibly believe that? The God of the universe allows us to call him Father and come into His presence to worship Him and ask Him for our needs, that is too much for us to comprehend. But then we read in verse 16; “the spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s Children”.

One of the roles of the Holy Spirit is to testify, to convince our own spirit that we are God’s children, because God knows we will find that hard to fathom. Allow the Holy Spirit to testify with your Spirit, and begin to meditate and understand what it means to be a child of the living God.

This is a daily battle for the mind, are you going to be controlled by the flesh or are you going to allow the Holy Spirit to lead and direct you?

The mind set dominated by the desires and activities of the sinful nature leads to death.

The mind set dominated by the desires and activities of the will of God leads to life and life eternal.

Each person is responsible for which mind set he or she pursues.

How am I at mental-discipline? When I catch myself thinking wrong thoughts, do I make myself think about something else?     Where are some of the places I go?

What are some of the things I do that feed my mind with the wrong kind of stuff?

Paul writing to the Philippian church sums it up in one verse; Philippians 4:8 – That is living by the Spirit.

Abandon yourself to the will and purposes of God in your life. You will find that as you live by the Holy Spirit, you will experience a life of adventure, peace and fulfillment unlike anything you could ever imagine.

A Study on the Topic of Revival

Revival Part 12

tounge-of-fire-32

2 Chronicles 7:14; “ if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

We have seen that revival is God’s sovereignty on display in response to our prayers. He decides when and provides for revival. But, there is a part we have to play, we need to humble ourselves and pray, but we also need to turn from our wicked ways.

We don’t like that word, it seems very harsh in our 21st century politically correct world. Wicked means sinful and ways refers to a behavior that we have settled into and become comfortable with.

So what are these wicked ways? The Bible gives us some clear guidelines.

  • In Revelation 3:15-16 we see that the Laodicean church was wicked because of their spiritual luke-warmness. Are we neither hot nor cold for the things of God?
  • In Matthew 6:14, Jesus makes it clear that we are not to hold unforgiveness against anyone. After all we have been forgiven, it is wicked not to do the same for others.
  • In John 17, Jesus prays for unity. We fall into sin, when we create division and disunity in the church through gossip and slander.
  • By not reading the Word of God and applying it to our lives, that is a wicked way. We are neglecting the Holy Word of God to us.
  • In Malachi 3:8, we see that withholding our tithes and offerings is a wicked way, we are literally guilty of robbing from God, by not giving back to him what he has first given to us.
  • Then we have the list of moral failures, lying, indifference to evangelism, losing our tempers and idolatry (putting something before God).

Looking at this list, it makes us wonder if we will ever see revival.

We need to strive for purity and holiness, not so set anything unholy before our eyes and not to speak any unwholesome words.

The verse says that we are to turn from these wicked ways, and we will look at this in more detail in the next posting. But the key is repentance. We need to repent and ask God to forgive us of all our sin. True revival always starts with repentance.

A Study on the Topic of Revival

Revival Part 11

tounge-of-fire-32

Continuing to look at 2 Chronicles 7:14, ; “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray… and seek my face…”

If we were truly honest with ourselves, we are more interested in seeing the hand of God than seeking His face. We want to see miracles, we want people healed, we want God to provide money and we want families reconciled. All these things are not bad if our motives are pure, but when we pray for revival, our priority must change, we need to pray for a new vision of God, a fresh understanding of who He is.

Praying for revival, is really praying for intimacy with God. When last did you get on your knees and agonize before God. Not praying for new people to come into the church or for our finances to be provided, but rather to pray to know God more deeply and to see His face. This is the prayer that brings revival.

Listen to what David writes in Psalm 27; “One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. Psalm 27:4.

Oh that we would learn to pray like that.

Sermons

A Mother that Never Gave Up May 8 2016

christ_canaanite_woman

Matthew 15:21-28

“A Mother that never gave up”

Have you ever needed a miracle of provision or healing that seemed impossible? Maybe you are in that position now? Trusting God for what seems impossible. This is faith, faith to believe that God will provide, faith to believe that God will move on our behalf. The truth is that God is pleased with our faith, God rewards faith.

In Matthew 15 we read of a woman who set an example and a standard for what it takes to please God. Do you want to please God?

 This Syrophoenician women comes to Jesus with a problem, her daughter is demon possessed and suffering terribly. She had probably heard that Jesus was coming to town and she trusted that Jesus could heal her daughter. She was desperate, and probably had tried every other avenue to have her daughter set free. This was her last hope, she was desperate.

But it seems like she is being rejected by Jesus and his disciples. We read in verse 23 that Jesus said nothing to her. He completely ignored her and seemed almost callous and cold to her pleas.

The disciples were probably annoyed and they urge Jesus to send her away, because she was crying out persistently.

On the outside it seemed that Jesus didn’t seem to care, it was as if he was testing her. Her situation was desperate, why was Jesus not responding to her need?

Sometimes we face a desperate situation, and God is silent. Has He forgotten us? Does He not see our situation?

Jesus finally responds to all the crying and pleading and says to her, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (v24)

It seems that Jesus is finally rejecting her completely, the door is shut.

But she grows in her courage and faith, and she kneels before Jesus. Now she calls him Lord. She is not approaching him as a Jew; “Lord, Son of David” that she used in v 22, she calls him Lord! She is worshipping Jesus. “Lord Help Me!”

Jesus seems to insult her as he responds further, calling her and her gentile people dogs. Jesus said; “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs” (v26)

But the woman quickly responds, she is getting bolder now, she has nothing to lose and seeing that Jesus is responding to her, she seems to grow in courage (v27).

Her faith is small but it is maturing. Remember Jesus said in Matthew 17:20, that if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can move a mountain. It is not the size or quantity of the faith it is the maturity of the faith.

As Jesus hears her faith and humility he responds immediately by commending her faith and healing her daughter.  Her faith is rewarded and her daughter is healed. It is interesting to note that Matthew records two occasions in his Gospel of people that had the distinction of having great faith. This Canaanite woman and the Roman centurion in Matthew 8. Both were gentiles, and on both occasions Jesus healed from a distance. The reality was that the gentiles were spiritually distanced from the Jews and the ministry of Jesus. But, that is why Jesus came to die on the cross, to reconcile all nations and people groups to himself. It is simply a matter of faith. Jesus still rewards faith today.

 Sometimes it seems like Jesus is saying no, Sometimes it seems like he is blessing others but we are being ignored – this is what tests our faith and matures our faith.

 Today God is looking for people who walk by faith not by sight. The reward of a lifestyle of faith is great. God does not put us through trials for no apparent reason, rather it is to develop our faith and trust in Him.

 Individually and corporately as a church we are being tested in our faith. Read James 1:2-4: Do you see the progression? Trials test our faith, which produces endurance, which perfects us and then we will lack nothing. We will lack no good thing.

Corporately we are having our faith tested, and the Lord is looking to see how we respond. In a few weeks we are going to vote on a re-allocation of our budget to support a church plant. We know that we are running at a deficit budget, giving is down, it seems illogical. So how do we respond? Do we pray and ask the Lord for His will and then move in faith in the direction he gives us or do we respond in fear?

Read the encouragement of the Psalmist in Psalm 37:25.

Individually, what is the desperate need of your heart today? Don’t give up, be persistent, come to the Lord daily, hourly, but keep believing that what His Word says is true and that He is able to give you what you need. Note I didn’t say all our wants, rather all our needs, God knows our needs and The Lord will provide for you in his perfect timing and perfect way, and you will be able to look back with stronger faith.

Not only will you have a stronger faith, but you will be pleasing God and your life will be a testimony to others about the goodness of God.

Faith is pleasing to God. The Bible says in Hebrews 11:6; “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.”

In order to have faith we must believe that God exists, this is the root of faith.

If we struggle with faith, it is because we struggle to believe that God exists.

God is the all-powerful creator of the universe and He is your Heavenly Father, if we truly understand the depths of God’s love for us, we would have no problem with faith. And the final part of that verse is the promise of God; “that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

Trust in God He will never let you down.

A Study on the Topic of Revival

Revival Part 10 – Prayer

1 Comment

tounge-of-fire-32 2 Chronicles 7:14; “If my people who are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray…”

If you have been reading this blog each week, you may feel relieved that we have stopped looking at pride and humility, and focus our attention on prayer. But the question today is, how much do you pray? How earnestly do you pray? When last did you stay up late to pray? Or like Jesus, do you rise before sunrise to pray?

Prayer unlocks the immeasurable power of God. A little prayer does some good, but earnest, fervent prayer causes the power of God to be released like a flood.

If we are honest, most of our prayers are selfish. We pray for our own family, or close circle of friends. But we seldom passionately pray for those who are outside of our circle.

One of the excuses we use for not praying is that we simply did not feel like it. Wouldn’t it seem better to pray when we really felt like it and then be able to put in all our effort? However the exact opposite is true. Prayer is a discipline and warfare, it goes against all the natural inclination of man. It seems to the unbeliever a complete waste of time, yet it is one of the hardest things you can do. We must determine to go to God in prayer, schedule our time and keep the appointment you have made with the creator of the universe. After all, you would not miss an appointment with a friend or your boss?

The kind of prayer that leads to revival is earnest, intense, passionate and prolonged. Much like Jacob when he prayed; “I will not let you go until you bless me.” Genesis 32:26

Revival praying is unhurried, it is a passionate crying out to God. Revival praying is hard work.

My wife frequently loses her cell phone, and when she does it is a problem, we all stop and have to look for her phone. There is intense searching, nothing else matters. Revival praying is like that, nothing else matters.

Someone has said: “we will not see revival until we cannot live without it.”

Sermons

Lessons from the Life of David Part 5 May 01, 2016

King David 5 Title.2-011 Chronicles 28

We as a nation are embroiled in one of the most energetic and passionate political seasons of our history. While the candidates position themselves to become the next resident of the White House, the current President is focused on something else, his legacy. How will history remember President Obama?

We have all been the beneficiaries of a legacy that was handed down to us. For some of us that was a wonderful memory or character instilled by loving parents. But for others that legacy is one of pain and hurt that causes one to walk through life with a limp.

David is older now, his kingdom is well established and he calls all the leaders together. He wants to address the leaders, those who will get the job done those to whom he can entrust his legacy.

David starts by talking about his desire to build the temple. With all that David had accomplished in his life, there was one yearning desire that was unfulfilled, he wanted to build a temple for God in Jerusalem. It was David’s dream, but God said no. This is not a job for a man of war but a man of peace.

The motivational speakers of our day will tell us that we can be whatever we want to be, we must dream big in order to achieve big goals. But sometimes we don’t achieve certain goals in our lifetime.

When we commit our lives to following Jesus, he gives us a new direction for our lives and the plans that he has for us are far higher than any dream we could have.

What dreams have you let go of in your life? Do you still feel the sting of regret?

Allow God to give you a bigger dream a better dream for your life and for those who will come after you.

David makes it clear that Solomon is the future King and that his son Solomon will be the one to fulfill his dream of building the temple.

Moving on to verse 8, we see David now charging the leaders of the nation, he is giving them a responsibility to carefully follow the Law in order to receive the blessing of God. David is challenging them to walk in purity.

But then in verse 9 David turns to Solomon and gives him a powerful word of encouragement. (See 1 Chronicles 28:8-9). This is far more than a word of encouragement. This is a charge, a commissioning a handing over of the responsibility of the nation. David had run as far as he could and now he was charging Solomon to continue on.

David urges Solomon to know God, not merely serving Him out of duty, but to really seek Him and know Him wholeheartedly with all his mind. David using language that the Israelites would have easily recognized as coming from the Law of Moses in Deuteronomy 6:5. David reminds Solomon to be devoted to God, because God knows every intention of the heart of man.

The sad reality is that this is a major problem today. People are being taught that it is your actions that count. Do good things, make sure you are doing enough good things, following the law and helping the downtrodden. While that is all good and we need to do these things, without a knowledge of God and true heart transformation, there is no salvation. God knows the intentions of your heart. Only a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and allowing the Holy Spirit to transform your heart leads to salvation.

Parents, we are often guilty of this, in our homes, we need to enforce rules and teach our children to obey. Pick up your clothes, take out the trash, empty the dishwasher! How often do we encourage them to know God, to seek Him, to Love him with all your heart. I find this deeply convicting as I was preparing this message. I want my children to know God and to serve Him that is the legacy I want to leave them.

Following this charge, David proceeds to give Solomon the blueprints and instructions for building the temple. From verse 11 to 18 are just some of the details that God gave to David. And then in verse 20 David picks up the Commissioning of Solomon (See 1 Chronicles 28:20). If these words sound familiar to you it is because these are almost exactly the same words that Moses said to Joshua as he was preparing to die (See Deuteronomy 31:6).

There are a number of parallels between Moses/ Joshua and David/ Solomon.

In each case both Moses and David received a covenant promise from God that shaped the future of the nation.

In each case Moses and David received a revelation from God that they passed down.

In each case the former did not see the fulfillment of their dreams.

Moses did not enter the Promised Land, but handed that over to Joshua, and David did not see the temple built but he gave that responsibility over to Solomon. And on both occasions we have that charge to be “strong and courageous”, which is echoed in Joshua 1:9 when God commissions Joshua.

David died and left a void that could never be filled, there was never another king like David. But David completed the task that the Lord had for him to do, and Solomon was a different leader that was required for a different era. David left a legacy, he built a foundation for a nation that Solomon could build on. As we have seen from the life of David, the most important value in his life was his worship and love for God.

Every one of us leaves a legacy.

Some people spend their lives trying to amass wealth in order to provide for the next generation. While that is Biblical and a good thing to do, I want to challenge you to invest in the next generation by pointing them to a real relationship with Jesus Christ. Challenging the next generation to be strong and courageous.

No matter our age, we all have someone younger than us who is looking up to us. Who are you investing in?

Sermons

Lessons from the life of David Part 4, April, 24 2016

King David 4 Title.2-01

2 Samuel 12

Repentance

Have you experienced the annoyance and frustration of having your check engine light come on in your car?Check-Engine-Light-Portland

When your check engine light comes on you have two options. Take the car to the shop and get it seen to, or ignore it and hope the problem will resolve by itself. Ultimately you have to do something about the check engine light. It is after all there for a reason.

In the story of David in 2 Samuel 11, things were looking good in Israel, the nation was united. David was a good and wise King. The nation was expanding, and it looked like everything that God had promised Abraham, Moses and Joshua was all about to come to fruition. But David began to rest on his laurels, and he began to enjoy the ease of his success. He took a break from going out with the armies in the springtime, he was probably about fifty years old at this time. David lapses into complacency and that is when he falls into sin. 2 Samuel 11 relates the well-known account of his adulterous relationship with Bathsheba and the murderous plot to cover up his sins.

After about a year, God sends his prophet Nathan to David to pronounce God’s judgment on him. On the surface it seems that he has gotten away with his sins, but he is being eaten away inside (see Psalm 32:3-4).

Nathan tells a simple parable, and then Nathan says those crashing words; “You are that man!”

Nathan continues by listing all that God has done for David, each line must have been like sharp darts piercing the heart of David; we read in verse 7 and 8

  • “I anointed you King over Israel”
  • “I delivered you from the hand of Saul”
  • “I gave you your master’s house and wives”
  • “I gave you all of Israel and Judah”
  • “And I would have given you more”

And in verse 10, the judgment is read out: The sword will never depart from David’s house. Out of his own household, the Lord is going to bring Calamity. God will take his wives away mocking David in broad daylight.  And the son born to David & Bathsheba will die.

The weight of the judgment must have sent David to his knees, he was being punished severely for his sins. God still punishes sins today. This does not mean that everytime we experience a tragedy it is because of God’s punishment, but sometimes it might be. The immediate punishment that we all feel when we sin is the loss of peace, that broken fellowship with God as we silence the voice of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Broken fellowship with God and broken fellowship with other believers. The truth is that private sins have public consequences.

But looking carefully at the verses we read you will notice a common thread in the judgment of God. God points out David’s physical wrongdoings, but there was a greater sin that David committed.

  • Verse 9; “Why did you despise the word of the Lord’
  • Verse 10; “…because you despised me…”
  • Verse 14; “…you have shown utter contempt for the Lord,”

David’s sins were in effect saying to God that His blessings were not enough. All that God had given him was not good enough, he was tempted and craved for more.

This is the underlying cause of much of our sin if we know Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we sin because we want more than what he has blessed us with. We sin because we are not fully satisfied in Jesus.

God took the sins of David very personally, “David…you despised ME!” “You have shown utter contempt ME!”

If we think our sins are simply bad things that we do, and that God does not feel our sins, we are horribly mistaken. All of our sins are a personal affront to God. Because of our sin, Jesus went to the cross. He was punished because of our sins. It is personal, everytime we sin we show contempt for God.

David responds immediately and confesses his sins. He understands that his actions were an affront to God and he repents. It was at this time that David wrote Psalm 51, that great repentance Psalm, and he acknowledges that his sin is against God (see Psalm 51:3-4).

True repentance has 4 parts.

  1. Open unguarded admission – A full disclosure of our sins.
  2. Desire to make a complete break from the sin – Repentance means walking in the opposite direction.
  3. A humble and broken spirit. (see Psalm 51:17) Humility is a key to revival.
  4. Receiving God’s forgiveness and acceptance (see 1 John 1:9).

Getting back to that check engine light in your car. Our lives also have a check engine light, he is called the Holy Spirit. It is a lie from Satan to think that our personal sins are something that will not affect anyone else, and that we can handle our secret sins. The secret sins of; cheating on your taxes, not being completely truthful in our workplace, addiction to pornography (a “secret” sin that is destroying families), envy, pride, slander or gossip. Every time we sin, the check engine light in our lives comes on, and we try to ignore it, but it keeps getting brighter.

David felt the pain of unconfessed sin as we see in Psalm 32:3-4, but this Psalm ends with a shout of joy and praise to God as David experiences the relief and freedom as God forgives his sins. “Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!”

However God did not take away the consequences of David’s sin, but we don’t hear David complaining about that. Every sin has consequences. Sin leads to loss of privilege and status, those are real life consequences for sin. But by the grace of God, He is able to restore the sinner.

Look at the restoration that God accomplished in David’s life, Solomon was a son born later to David and Bathsheba. The Bible tells us that God loved Solomon and gave him supernatural wisdom. The child who should never have been born, became arguably the greatest king of Israel until Jesus himself. Praise God that even in the midst of the messiness of sin and repentance, there is redemption and grace.

It all starts with repentance. True repentance, acknowledging our sin before an all Holy God, turning the other way, humbling ourselves and accepting the forgiveness of our sins before the cross.

Repentance leads to freedom and health, but covering up our sins leads to further brokenness. Today we all have a choice, to choose life and freedom or to not repent of our sins before God and in so doing we choose death.

A Study on the Topic of Revival

Revival Part 9 – Pride hinders revival

tounge-of-fire-32

Continuing this week on the topic of humility as we are encouraged in 2 Chronicles 7:14; “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves……..”

God commands us to humble ourselves by judging our thoughts and motives by the standards of the Bible. We acknowledge that as Christians we need to submit ourselves to the authority of the Word of God.

One of the most alarming problems in the church today is the lack of Biblical literacy. Not just having access to the Bible, but studying it and bringing our lives under the authority of the Bible. The Bible is the infallible word of God, we need to acknowledge the standards of the Bible for our lives, even when the Supreme Court and others lower the standards.

Isaiah 66:2b states; ““These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word.”

But what does it mean to tremble at God’s word? It does not mean to physically tremble when we read the Bible. It means that when we read the Bible we allow the Holy Spirit to let the words penetrate into our lives, so that we feel the vibrations of conviction when the Word of God reveals to us an area of our lives that falls short of God’s standard.

Pride is the primary reason why we wait for revival. The 4th Century theologians came up with a list of 7 deadly sins, pride is the first. So if pride is the biggest hindrance to revival, what do we do about it? 2 Chronicles 7:14 says we have to humble ourselves. We have to do our part and let God do his part. We submit ourselves to the sharp sword of the Bible and allow the Holy Spirit to convict us of sin (see Hebrews 4:12).

As we read God’s Word we are forced to take an honest look at ourselves and determine how much pride we have. Pride in our self-sufficiency, is quickly melted away when we realize that we have nothing without the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

The Welsh revivalists used to sing a song that goes; “Bend me lower, bend me lower, bend me lower, lower down at Jesus’ feet” They understood the need for humility and recognizing our dependence on the Gospel message.

Psalm 139:23 reminds us;

“Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

Sermons

Lessons from the life of King David part 3 April 17, 2016

2 Samuel 6

King David 3 Title.2-01 Shortly after establishing his palace in Jerusalem, David decided to retrieve the Ark of the Lord and bring it to Jerusalem. The ark was the most sacred symbol that Israel had, it was the presence of God.

An illustration of the Ark of the Covenant(istock/thinkstock)

Amongst other items it contained the stone tablets of the law that Moses received on mt Sinai. It represented the promises and the blessing of God. The Ark had been separated from the tabernacle and the place of worship for 100 years, it had been captured by the Philistines, and after being moved around it ended up at a place called Kiriath-Jearim. ark-mapDavid had established Jerusalem as the political capital of the nation, but now he wanted it to be the religious capital, he would do this by building a tabernacle and setting the Ark of the Covenant in it on mt Zion.

In his eagerness to retrieve the ark of God, David made a big mistake and it cost young Uzzah his life. David did not ask God what he should do, he asked his military leaders and advisers. His actions were brash and impulsive and it had consequences.

God had given strict instructions for the moving of the Ark, it was to be carried by the priests by putting poles through the rings on the sides of the ark. David reasoned that the 10 miles to Jerusalem were too far to carry the ark so he had the ark put on a new cart. The oxen stumbled and young Uzzah reached out to stabilize it, but Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah and he died. This reaction by God offends us, it doesn’t seem fair. David was angry, but note the Bible doesn’t say that he was angry at God. After a time of reflection Verse 9 tells us that David was afraid of God (Proverbs 9:10).

He realized his mistake, and realized that he had acted out of his own desires and not according to the will of God. With our post-modern reasoning, we struggle to see why God would kill someone for attempting to save the ark from falling. But it serves as a reminder to us, just as it was a reminder to David, God is an all Holy God. He sets up boundaries for our own good. If we try to do things our own way, we are going to face disaster. Because God set the rules for how the ark is to be transported, if he did not punish Uzzah, He would not be true to himself (note Hebrews 12:28).

The Bible is our instruction manual. If we decide to do things our own way and try to bend the rules, we will suffer the consequences. Follow the plan, follow the map that God has for us, it is for our own good.

In fear David decides to leave the ark at the house of Obed Edom a Gittite. But after three months of blessing, David hears that Obed is getting blessed and he wants that for the Jerusalem. It is obvious in the three months of reflection that David has repented and done some research, because this time as we read in 1 Chronicles, he gathers 862 priests and Levites who have been consecrated before the Lord, rather than his army and he instructs them to carry the ark in the appropriate way. Notice their caution, they take 6 steps and stop, and when all seems good, David sacrifices a bull and a fattened calf. How different to the 1st attempt.

Then the party began. David took off his royal robe as king and put on a priestly garment. David dances before the Lord with all his might, the word used for dancing here only appears here in the Bible and describes a whirling or a spinning dancing. David must have literally been giddy with joy. He probably spun and stumbled, laughed and continued. He danced with total abandon, he was not concerned with public opinion, he was worshipping the Lord the holy God of Israel.

http://www.biblicalartist.net/Davidarkfr38%20(2).jpg

True worship comes out of a heart of humility. David humbled himself in the eyes of man in order to see God.

People look for an outward appearance but God looks at our hearts, what is your heart posture before the Lord?

As they brought the ark into Jerusalem David offered more sacrifices to God and then blessed everyone with cakes of raisins and dates, a loaf of bread and then sends them home so that they can celebrate together as families. This was a day to remember and David wanted to ensure that they told this story to each other at home around a meal.

David also goes to his home, and he is probably still dancing a bit, he is full of joy and excitement, but he is in for a shock. His wife is there to meet him at the door…..

Michal despises David. In her eyes, he is the enemy of her late father Saul. Theirs was not healthy marriage, David won her as a battle prize, even though Michal loved David initially, she was not a good partner for him.

As David grew in favor and fame in the land, Michal began to hate him. She did not have any understanding of his love for God and his worship. She wanted David to act like her father did, but David had the heart of a worshipper, he Loved God with all his heart and soul and all his strength.

David understood that he was king only because of God’s blessings. He was not going to allow pride a foothold in his life. He intentionally humbled himself in order to bring Glory to God.

But Michal didn’t understand, she despised David.

When true worship arises, it provokes. True worship provokes, because the observer is convicted of their own lack of worship. This is not about worship style or music style, this is about worship, true worship before an all holy God. Whenever someone has an encounter of the living God, and their lives are transformed, they get a glimpse of the Glory and beauty of the all Holy Creator, and their lives are radically changed. But, this leads to a lifestyle of worship. This lifestyle provokes their friends and family. It makes them uncomfortable because they know that they are supposed to worship God, but they are not willing to humble themselves before God. So what do you do when you don’t want to humble yourself? You act like Michal and try to bring the worshipper down, slander and criticize. True worship will always provoke.

We have the misconception that worship is only singing, but it is so much more than that. Worship is not entertainment, or a style of music or even a particular instrument. We don’t come to be entertained, we come to put God first.

True worship is a lifestyle. We worship God by placing Him first, by loving him with all our heart and soul and strength. We worship God by living sacrificially, by giving sacrificially, by not caring what other people think of us.

Let us live lives of worship that provoke others to want to know the reason for our joy and love.

True worship of God provokes, does your life provoke others to want to know Jesus?