Text: Luke 1:6 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” 29 But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. 30 Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS…..38 Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. (NKJV)
1. An Announcement from God (v26-28)
-Mary was made aware that God was speaking to her. In her case, it was an angel. God has a way of getting our attention when He desires to call us into action for His plans and purposes.
-(List the ways that God can speak to us and briefly share those here in the sermon)
2. A Response of Fear (v29-30)
-Mary was troubled and afraid. We too are initially afraid when God begins revealing what He wants to do. Even God speaking to us can be an intense experience that rattles us.
-(Share a time the Lord spoke to you and you were afraid when you considered what was happening.)
3. A Promise of Favor (v28-29)
-Twice the Lord lets Mary know He has come to favor her. It is important for us to know that God’s intentions for us are always in our best interest. It is a sign of favor when the Lord invites you into what He is doing.
-(share a story of someone who experienced God’s favor because of stepping into God’s plans)
4. A Conception and Birthing
-Mary was told she would conceive and birth a child. With us, there is also the development within us of what God wants to do. It is a step into a process. As we faithfully carry it, it will be brought forth.
-(share how it is important to be patient and allow God to develop things. Use other biblical examples here)
5. A Response of Faith (v38)
-Mary heard, overcame her fear and said "Yes, be it unto me!" She demonstrated faith and obedience.
-Call for people to say yes to what God is speaking to them.
6. A Focus on Jesus (v31)
-Mary’s call was to birth the Christ child.
-When God is at work in us, it is always about forming Christ in us and making him known to others. For us to live is Christ!!!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
What happend in Jail last night?
Text: Acts 16:25 but at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed27 And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. 28 but Paul called with a loud voice, saying, “Do you no harm, for we are all here.” 29 Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized. 34 Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with his entire household. (NKJV)
This dramatic event has several elements that make up its fascinating story.
1. Maintain a Faith Filled Attitude Under Pressure
(Paul and Silas were praying and singing instead of griping and complaining)
2. Expect God to Shake Things Up When Crunch Time is On
(Many, many times in the Bible, we see God’s miracles related to timing. There are a lot of earthquakes, but this one happened at just the right time. Some might think this was a miraculous intervention but just a natural occurrence. Hamm? Why did the shackles release them but the place did not fall in on them and kill them. Doors opening and chains loosening sounds like some Angels were pretty busy.)
3. Look for Redemptive Opportunities in the Midst of the Shaking
(Often we miss the greatest opportunities by being distracted. Paul seized the opportunity to step in and minister to the jailor who assumed everyone had escaped which would have meant his life. I personally believe Paul had a word of knowledge about what the jailor was about to do because there was no light in the place. I think this added to the Jailor’s awareness that the God, to whom Paul and Silas had been singing, was doing something extraordinary.)
4. Learn to Receive Good from those Who Once Hurt You
(What a beautiful site to see the jailor washing their stripes. No bitterness in either heart. Wow!)
5. Watch the Ripple Effects of Obedience
(Paul and Silas were able to witness a whole family’s conversion because they kept their faith under pressure.)
Conclusion–What jail or you in this morning? In what way is pressure being placed upon you? How have you been handling it? What changes do you need to make?
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Sermon: Thanksgiving
Luke 17:12-19
The story of the leper in Mark 1:40 this way
"'Hello, I'm a leper!' A man popped out from behind a building and stood right in front of Jesus. 'Please don't run away, Jesus!'
"'What's the matter with your skin?' asked Jesus.
"'Can't You see I'm covered with runny sores and crusty scabs?' No one wants to look at me, my face is so horrible.'
"'What do you want Me to do?'
"'You can make me better. I know You can,' said the man, falling on his knees in front of Jesus. 'If You don't, I'll scratch myself to death.'
"Jesus felt sorry for the poor man.
"'Don't touch me,' said the man. 'That's how you get it.'
"'I'm not afraid to touch you.' Jesus reached down and took hold of the man's arms and pulled him to his feet. The itching was gone. The sores started to dry. The scabs began to fall off.
"'Thank You, thank You, thank You!' shouted the man. 'What can I do to thank You?'
"'You can go to the temple, show yourself to a priest and say a prayer of thanks to God.'
"'Yes, yes; I will, I will!' promised the man hurrying off.
"'One more thing,' said Jesus.
"'Anything, anything,' said the man.
"'You don't have to tell anyone what I just did.'
"'I won't tell a soul,' said the man as he skipped toward Jerusalem; but the man was so happy and the walk to the temple was so long that he forgot and told everyone he met. Then all the other lepers along the road began to look for the wonderful Man with the healing touch."
The story well told of the gratitude of good lepers. Good lepers are those who are healed and never forget the disease they once had. They remember how good clean feels. Bad lepers, on the other hand, are those who are healed and go on acting as if they never had the disease.
Ninety percent of all the lepers in Luke 17 are ingrates—bad lepers pretending they never met Jesus. What a shame! They were so completely healed that there was not a smidgen of their former state of decay left to them. They were se healed, they headed back to the social centers of their communities. These pretenders were free to run for office—any office they might imagine. They were free to return to their former bridge clubs, Kiwanis clubs, golf clubs. Their once former scourge-word-confession, "Unclean!" had been replaced by, "Give me five!" The untouchables were now the embraceables. The infected had become the respected. The isolated tomb-dwellers had become the officers at Toastmasters.
However, for all the joy of their cleansing, we never would have known about them at all, except for the 10 percent of their group who knew the art of gratitude. One of the 10: "when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked Him—and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked a most perplexing question: 'Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to give praise to God except this foreigner?'" (Luke 17:15-18).
Sit at the once eroded feet of a thankful, Gentile leper and learn from him. It is the season of the year for us to come before God with the Old One-Hundredth on our lips and give praise to the Him for all of our abundance. I don't know if all lepers are pictured here to indicate that all praiseless people are in the 90th percentile of the blasé lepers who can receive so much from God and mention it so little.
C.S. Lewis said that ancient man approached God out of a strong feeling that he was approaching a judge. "For modern man, the roles are reversed," says Lewis. Modern man is the judge and God is in the dock (cited in A Hunger for Meaning, Inter Varsity Press, 1984, p. 114). Maybe this is why we feel we have no obligation to thank Him. I suspect this is what lies behind the reason we are developing a culture without a sense of thankfulness. For me, our thanklessness smacks of a lazy atheism. Remember, one old definition of atheist is "someone who sometimes feels gratitude, but has absolutely no one to thank for it!"
There are two sides in the issue of all self-righteous abundance. These two categories are the thankful and the thankless. The thankless tend to act as though they and their circumstances are entirely self-made. The thankful see the providence of God in all they hold. The thankful believe that it is not how much we have or have not in life, but what we see as the source of what we have or don't have that is the real issue.
I have sat down with a great many people who fed me more sumptuously, but their sign to begin eating was not a bowed head but the green light signal of a fork which the host picked up.
Back to the lone Samaritan leper, whose thankfulness mandated a bent neck and said, "God, you are the Giver of this feast": The 90th percentile lepers are those who begin to eat when the host picks up his fork. All of this goes to prove the old cliché: Gratitude is an attitude. Gratitude has absolutely nothing to do with what we have but is a lifestyle. It rehearses praise so continually that God is always the Giver, and lepers are cleansed by His giving.
Is Jesus sorry He cleanses ingrates? Of course not; it is God's nature to cleanse, heal and give; but He does ask a very profound question in Luke 17: "Where are the other nine?" It's a fair question! If 10 lepers are healed and only one comes back, where are the other nine?
We were eating out the other night and I happened to look around the restaurant filled with people, 39 percent of whom were born again then saw one person praying before beginning a meal. When he finished praying, I ask him, "Sir, I couldn't help but notice you were praying. Are you a Christian?"Yes!" he replied. "The Lord saved me four years ago. Ever since then I've been filled with gratitude for all God is doing in my life. I cannot cease to thank Him."
This lone believer reminded me that Jesus taught a very practical principle of rejoicing in the things that mean most to me. I enjoy singing the chorus: "Thank You, Lord, for saving my soul." It has old-fashioned words in the new world of upbeat worship. Still, I think about it often. My thankfulness is not rooted in the grace of mealtime, but in the awareness of my own salvation. If this Thanksgiving your own table is more sparse than you'd like it to be, just thank Him for saving your soul. Remember this great hymn:
Could my tears forever flow,
Could my zeal no languor know.
These for sin would not atone,
Thou must save and thou alone,
Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to thy cross I cling.
Spafford—in that hymn which celebrated the death of all his family—would write that beautiful stanza:
"My sin—oh, the bliss of this glorious tho't
"My sin not in part, but the whole
"Is nail'd to the cross and I bear it no more,
"Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!"
Horatio G. Spafford, "It Is Well with My Soul"
Therefore, let us live in a constant attitude of God's abundance along with the writer of Hebrews 12:28, who said, "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful and so worship God acceptably, with reverence and awe."
I know God does not always provide us all the abundance we want, but Psalm 37:25 says, "I am old but have been young and I have never seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread." My suspicion is that this week most of you will sit down to a very fine meal. I hope as you do, Psalm 100:4 will come to you, "Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and enter his courts with praise." God is the Keeper of your feast. He is the Maker of your feast.
Tony Campolo said that as he was eating a meal in Haiti, he started to pick up his fork and eat when he glanced to the window, which was near his table, and saw the faces of little hungry Haitian children, faces pressed against the glass watching him eat, mesmerized.
"For a moment," he said, "I had the awful feeling of guilt and sat poised, not knowing whether to eat or not." Then the waiter stepped over and said, "Sir, don't let this bother you," and pulled the blinds. "I laid down my fork, unable to eat that meal."
He said, "It's so like the American culture to forget to thank God for what we have, to pull the blinds and forget that we are part of the 6 percent of the world that has enough continually to eat again and again and again. ‘Enter His courts with praise; enter His gates with thanksgiving.'"
While you eat your nice food , consider this: 600 people will die of starvation while you're eating that meal. On Thanksgiving Day, 12,000 people will die of starvation. Eight hundred million people in this world have not had enough to eat today. One of every 10 babies born this week will die within the first week. Twenty-five percent of those babies never will reach age 5. I now understand what it means to be a nation upon whom God has rained His blessings.
I understand how Malcolm Muggeridge must have felt when he watched Mother Teresa take from a dustbin a baby someone had cast aside, believing it dead, then suddenly chirping, "See, there's life in it!" Most of the world is not dying under nuclear annihilation; rather by the thousands, many die whimpering in the night. T.S. Eliot's lines haunt us: "This is the way the world ends for most people, not with a bang, but with a whimper!"
We all sometimes complain that God is unfair, but gratitude is an attitude. Habakkuk 3:17-18 shouts our obligation to praise, whatever our financial circumstances:
"Though the fig tree does not bud
"And there are no grapes on the vine,
"Though the olive crop fails
"And the fields produce no food,
"Though there are not sheep in the pen
"And no cattle in the stalls,
"Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
"I will be joyful in God my Savior."
There's no use whimpering. Harold Kushner said he once had an old teacher who said, "To say life is unfair is like saying a bull won't charge a man who happens to be a vegetarian." God has a plan for His world, and that plan is that everybody would know Christ. Somehow we are involved in that plan. If that plan does not speak in our lives a sense of worship and praise, we miss the whole point.
Jesus' lone leper is a picture of great gratitude, a picture of grace.
Those of us who have been redeemed by a living Lord Jesus cannot help but say, "Thank You, God. Thank You for eternal life. Thank You for our daily bread."
Break from that crowd of thankless lepers long enough to remember Somalia. Somalia is a land where there aren't any title holders any more. There are no grain fields. Everyone there lives in extremes. Somalians spend their days waiting on U.N. grain trucks.
Consider children of Somalia. Parents each morning send their children forward for rice. They are cheering and goading their children to be first in the line so they can be part of the 200 of 500 who are fed; 300 return to weeping parents, weeping themselves, because there wasn't enough for everyone.
A few years ago, one of my very favorite poets was picking up scraps of paper in a park in Brazil. Quite a poet she was. She saved the big pieces of paper that she found and wrote poems on them. Nobody really knew it then, but on those big scraps of paper with rough pencil, she wrote a book that was destined to be published in America as Child of the Dark. A woman starving to death with her poor little family wrote these words:
"Today I'm sad. I'm nervous. I don't know if I should start crying or running till I fall unconscious. At dawn it was raining…I have a few tin cans and another little scrap of metal that I'm going to sell to Señor Manuel…to buy food for the children). O Sao Paulo. A queen that vainly shows her skyscrapers as her crown of gold. All dressed up in velvet and in silk…but with the cheap stockings of the slums underneath. Sometimes I imagine I am a grand lady, dressed in a satin gown with diamonds shining in my black hair. But then the smell of the sewers comes in through the thin walls and my satin gown turns to rags, and the only thing shining in my hair is lice."
This Thanksgiving, enter His courts with thanksgiving and enter His gates with praise. "Were there not ten lepers healed? Where are the other nine?"
Then answer, "Lord, I do not know where the other nine have gone…I only know I have received healing and not to praise You is a sin I must not condone. I have been loved. I am clean. I must enter Your gates with thanksgiving. I must come into Your courts with praise."
(This Touched me as I read it..Thought id Share it.)
The story of the leper in Mark 1:40 this way
"'Hello, I'm a leper!' A man popped out from behind a building and stood right in front of Jesus. 'Please don't run away, Jesus!'
"'What's the matter with your skin?' asked Jesus.
"'Can't You see I'm covered with runny sores and crusty scabs?' No one wants to look at me, my face is so horrible.'
"'What do you want Me to do?'
"'You can make me better. I know You can,' said the man, falling on his knees in front of Jesus. 'If You don't, I'll scratch myself to death.'
"Jesus felt sorry for the poor man.
"'Don't touch me,' said the man. 'That's how you get it.'
"'I'm not afraid to touch you.' Jesus reached down and took hold of the man's arms and pulled him to his feet. The itching was gone. The sores started to dry. The scabs began to fall off.
"'Thank You, thank You, thank You!' shouted the man. 'What can I do to thank You?'
"'You can go to the temple, show yourself to a priest and say a prayer of thanks to God.'
"'Yes, yes; I will, I will!' promised the man hurrying off.
"'One more thing,' said Jesus.
"'Anything, anything,' said the man.
"'You don't have to tell anyone what I just did.'
"'I won't tell a soul,' said the man as he skipped toward Jerusalem; but the man was so happy and the walk to the temple was so long that he forgot and told everyone he met. Then all the other lepers along the road began to look for the wonderful Man with the healing touch."
The story well told of the gratitude of good lepers. Good lepers are those who are healed and never forget the disease they once had. They remember how good clean feels. Bad lepers, on the other hand, are those who are healed and go on acting as if they never had the disease.
Ninety percent of all the lepers in Luke 17 are ingrates—bad lepers pretending they never met Jesus. What a shame! They were so completely healed that there was not a smidgen of their former state of decay left to them. They were se healed, they headed back to the social centers of their communities. These pretenders were free to run for office—any office they might imagine. They were free to return to their former bridge clubs, Kiwanis clubs, golf clubs. Their once former scourge-word-confession, "Unclean!" had been replaced by, "Give me five!" The untouchables were now the embraceables. The infected had become the respected. The isolated tomb-dwellers had become the officers at Toastmasters.
However, for all the joy of their cleansing, we never would have known about them at all, except for the 10 percent of their group who knew the art of gratitude. One of the 10: "when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked Him—and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked a most perplexing question: 'Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to give praise to God except this foreigner?'" (Luke 17:15-18).
Sit at the once eroded feet of a thankful, Gentile leper and learn from him. It is the season of the year for us to come before God with the Old One-Hundredth on our lips and give praise to the Him for all of our abundance. I don't know if all lepers are pictured here to indicate that all praiseless people are in the 90th percentile of the blasé lepers who can receive so much from God and mention it so little.
C.S. Lewis said that ancient man approached God out of a strong feeling that he was approaching a judge. "For modern man, the roles are reversed," says Lewis. Modern man is the judge and God is in the dock (cited in A Hunger for Meaning, Inter Varsity Press, 1984, p. 114). Maybe this is why we feel we have no obligation to thank Him. I suspect this is what lies behind the reason we are developing a culture without a sense of thankfulness. For me, our thanklessness smacks of a lazy atheism. Remember, one old definition of atheist is "someone who sometimes feels gratitude, but has absolutely no one to thank for it!"
There are two sides in the issue of all self-righteous abundance. These two categories are the thankful and the thankless. The thankless tend to act as though they and their circumstances are entirely self-made. The thankful see the providence of God in all they hold. The thankful believe that it is not how much we have or have not in life, but what we see as the source of what we have or don't have that is the real issue.
I have sat down with a great many people who fed me more sumptuously, but their sign to begin eating was not a bowed head but the green light signal of a fork which the host picked up.
Back to the lone Samaritan leper, whose thankfulness mandated a bent neck and said, "God, you are the Giver of this feast": The 90th percentile lepers are those who begin to eat when the host picks up his fork. All of this goes to prove the old cliché: Gratitude is an attitude. Gratitude has absolutely nothing to do with what we have but is a lifestyle. It rehearses praise so continually that God is always the Giver, and lepers are cleansed by His giving.
Is Jesus sorry He cleanses ingrates? Of course not; it is God's nature to cleanse, heal and give; but He does ask a very profound question in Luke 17: "Where are the other nine?" It's a fair question! If 10 lepers are healed and only one comes back, where are the other nine?
We were eating out the other night and I happened to look around the restaurant filled with people, 39 percent of whom were born again then saw one person praying before beginning a meal. When he finished praying, I ask him, "Sir, I couldn't help but notice you were praying. Are you a Christian?"Yes!" he replied. "The Lord saved me four years ago. Ever since then I've been filled with gratitude for all God is doing in my life. I cannot cease to thank Him."
This lone believer reminded me that Jesus taught a very practical principle of rejoicing in the things that mean most to me. I enjoy singing the chorus: "Thank You, Lord, for saving my soul." It has old-fashioned words in the new world of upbeat worship. Still, I think about it often. My thankfulness is not rooted in the grace of mealtime, but in the awareness of my own salvation. If this Thanksgiving your own table is more sparse than you'd like it to be, just thank Him for saving your soul. Remember this great hymn:
Could my tears forever flow,
Could my zeal no languor know.
These for sin would not atone,
Thou must save and thou alone,
Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to thy cross I cling.
Spafford—in that hymn which celebrated the death of all his family—would write that beautiful stanza:
"My sin—oh, the bliss of this glorious tho't
"My sin not in part, but the whole
"Is nail'd to the cross and I bear it no more,
"Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!"
Horatio G. Spafford, "It Is Well with My Soul"
Therefore, let us live in a constant attitude of God's abundance along with the writer of Hebrews 12:28, who said, "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful and so worship God acceptably, with reverence and awe."
I know God does not always provide us all the abundance we want, but Psalm 37:25 says, "I am old but have been young and I have never seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread." My suspicion is that this week most of you will sit down to a very fine meal. I hope as you do, Psalm 100:4 will come to you, "Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and enter his courts with praise." God is the Keeper of your feast. He is the Maker of your feast.
Tony Campolo said that as he was eating a meal in Haiti, he started to pick up his fork and eat when he glanced to the window, which was near his table, and saw the faces of little hungry Haitian children, faces pressed against the glass watching him eat, mesmerized.
"For a moment," he said, "I had the awful feeling of guilt and sat poised, not knowing whether to eat or not." Then the waiter stepped over and said, "Sir, don't let this bother you," and pulled the blinds. "I laid down my fork, unable to eat that meal."
He said, "It's so like the American culture to forget to thank God for what we have, to pull the blinds and forget that we are part of the 6 percent of the world that has enough continually to eat again and again and again. ‘Enter His courts with praise; enter His gates with thanksgiving.'"
While you eat your nice food , consider this: 600 people will die of starvation while you're eating that meal. On Thanksgiving Day, 12,000 people will die of starvation. Eight hundred million people in this world have not had enough to eat today. One of every 10 babies born this week will die within the first week. Twenty-five percent of those babies never will reach age 5. I now understand what it means to be a nation upon whom God has rained His blessings.
I understand how Malcolm Muggeridge must have felt when he watched Mother Teresa take from a dustbin a baby someone had cast aside, believing it dead, then suddenly chirping, "See, there's life in it!" Most of the world is not dying under nuclear annihilation; rather by the thousands, many die whimpering in the night. T.S. Eliot's lines haunt us: "This is the way the world ends for most people, not with a bang, but with a whimper!"
We all sometimes complain that God is unfair, but gratitude is an attitude. Habakkuk 3:17-18 shouts our obligation to praise, whatever our financial circumstances:
"Though the fig tree does not bud
"And there are no grapes on the vine,
"Though the olive crop fails
"And the fields produce no food,
"Though there are not sheep in the pen
"And no cattle in the stalls,
"Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
"I will be joyful in God my Savior."
There's no use whimpering. Harold Kushner said he once had an old teacher who said, "To say life is unfair is like saying a bull won't charge a man who happens to be a vegetarian." God has a plan for His world, and that plan is that everybody would know Christ. Somehow we are involved in that plan. If that plan does not speak in our lives a sense of worship and praise, we miss the whole point.
Jesus' lone leper is a picture of great gratitude, a picture of grace.
Those of us who have been redeemed by a living Lord Jesus cannot help but say, "Thank You, God. Thank You for eternal life. Thank You for our daily bread."
Break from that crowd of thankless lepers long enough to remember Somalia. Somalia is a land where there aren't any title holders any more. There are no grain fields. Everyone there lives in extremes. Somalians spend their days waiting on U.N. grain trucks.
Consider children of Somalia. Parents each morning send their children forward for rice. They are cheering and goading their children to be first in the line so they can be part of the 200 of 500 who are fed; 300 return to weeping parents, weeping themselves, because there wasn't enough for everyone.
A few years ago, one of my very favorite poets was picking up scraps of paper in a park in Brazil. Quite a poet she was. She saved the big pieces of paper that she found and wrote poems on them. Nobody really knew it then, but on those big scraps of paper with rough pencil, she wrote a book that was destined to be published in America as Child of the Dark. A woman starving to death with her poor little family wrote these words:
"Today I'm sad. I'm nervous. I don't know if I should start crying or running till I fall unconscious. At dawn it was raining…I have a few tin cans and another little scrap of metal that I'm going to sell to Señor Manuel…to buy food for the children). O Sao Paulo. A queen that vainly shows her skyscrapers as her crown of gold. All dressed up in velvet and in silk…but with the cheap stockings of the slums underneath. Sometimes I imagine I am a grand lady, dressed in a satin gown with diamonds shining in my black hair. But then the smell of the sewers comes in through the thin walls and my satin gown turns to rags, and the only thing shining in my hair is lice."
This Thanksgiving, enter His courts with thanksgiving and enter His gates with praise. "Were there not ten lepers healed? Where are the other nine?"
Then answer, "Lord, I do not know where the other nine have gone…I only know I have received healing and not to praise You is a sin I must not condone. I have been loved. I am clean. I must enter Your gates with thanksgiving. I must come into Your courts with praise."
(This Touched me as I read it..Thought id Share it.)
Saturday, November 6, 2010
WHAT DO YOU DO?
Life is not easy, someone told me if it were then it would be boring. Life sucks sometimes it throws things at you that you never could see coming and if you could, you failed to dodge. So when you're beyond being lower than the lowest thing alive..what do you do? Who do you turn to? When things go wrong my first reflex isn't to get down on my knees and pray. No. I try fix it on my own, or tell a friend or drown our sorrows in earthly things.
What do you do when you have lost everything. When you are hurt beyond comprehension. When you feel like looking up and screaming “WHY GOD...WHY MEE!!!!”. Well if not you then who? Life is not easy at all. Awful things happen to the best of people. You read your bible everyday, you go to church and you say your prayers but still you seem to wind up with the short end of the stick. What do you do? Who do you turn to?
What can you do when your world is crashing down and your all alone and nobody understands or nobody seems to care. Where do you start, picking up the pieces. When the road you walk is paved with thorns. And the cross you carry just keeps getting heavier. What can you do when you feel like crying out “WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME LORD?”. You stumble, you fall, you make bad choices and the devil beacons you further into the dark. His offer seems more attractive than the pain you face. What do you do?
What happens when all your strength and will power is gone. When it seems like there is nothing to live for. You could just shout “here take your life back!”. What happens next. When your heart is broken and you feel like a fool. When you have lost so much and given just as much away. What in the world can you do!! How can you master the strength to rise again with your head held high. How? What is it that needs to be done. Who lied to us and said we were destined for greatness. Who lied to us and said we were the chosen people when all we do is struggle and fall flat on our faces. Why is it that the devil is always there. Why is it that we feel like God has turned away from us?
What do you do? Do you get up again, dust yourself off and keep going? I've been told the way to grow strong in Christ is to be weak in yourself. What does that mean? My bible tells me in Isaiah 40:29 “God gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might He increases strength.”. What do you do...you have faith and trust in your God. Let go of the steering wheel for a moment and let Him take over. Its hurts but trust and get down on your knees bare your soul to the one that truly deserves it and believe and know that help is on the way.
What can you do? Be patient and wait for the Lord. We do not serve a dormant God. Yes we are destined for something bigger than us, but it comes at a price. We have to fight to get it just as hard as the devil is to keep it away from us. It calls for patient endurance on our part and persistence in prayer. He will never forsake us. We are the chosen people,and because we were chosen we need to take courage “ be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord” Psalms 31:24.
“Jesus knows that we must come apart and rest a while, or else we may just plain fall apart.”
We need to take heart, and let God take over completely and not only when it suits us. The time to be Christians has come. We must use the little strength that we have even if it means hanging on His robes. Reach out and let Him do the rest. Keep the faith and love you have for him going. Keep praying, because the devil is always there always waiting and being watchful of every step you take.
Turn to our all mighty Father and He will be light at your feet.
by Nicola Manduna
What do you do when you have lost everything. When you are hurt beyond comprehension. When you feel like looking up and screaming “WHY GOD...WHY MEE!!!!”. Well if not you then who? Life is not easy at all. Awful things happen to the best of people. You read your bible everyday, you go to church and you say your prayers but still you seem to wind up with the short end of the stick. What do you do? Who do you turn to?
What can you do when your world is crashing down and your all alone and nobody understands or nobody seems to care. Where do you start, picking up the pieces. When the road you walk is paved with thorns. And the cross you carry just keeps getting heavier. What can you do when you feel like crying out “WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME LORD?”. You stumble, you fall, you make bad choices and the devil beacons you further into the dark. His offer seems more attractive than the pain you face. What do you do?
What happens when all your strength and will power is gone. When it seems like there is nothing to live for. You could just shout “here take your life back!”. What happens next. When your heart is broken and you feel like a fool. When you have lost so much and given just as much away. What in the world can you do!! How can you master the strength to rise again with your head held high. How? What is it that needs to be done. Who lied to us and said we were destined for greatness. Who lied to us and said we were the chosen people when all we do is struggle and fall flat on our faces. Why is it that the devil is always there. Why is it that we feel like God has turned away from us?
What do you do? Do you get up again, dust yourself off and keep going? I've been told the way to grow strong in Christ is to be weak in yourself. What does that mean? My bible tells me in Isaiah 40:29 “God gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might He increases strength.”. What do you do...you have faith and trust in your God. Let go of the steering wheel for a moment and let Him take over. Its hurts but trust and get down on your knees bare your soul to the one that truly deserves it and believe and know that help is on the way.
What can you do? Be patient and wait for the Lord. We do not serve a dormant God. Yes we are destined for something bigger than us, but it comes at a price. We have to fight to get it just as hard as the devil is to keep it away from us. It calls for patient endurance on our part and persistence in prayer. He will never forsake us. We are the chosen people,and because we were chosen we need to take courage “ be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord” Psalms 31:24.
“Jesus knows that we must come apart and rest a while, or else we may just plain fall apart.”
We need to take heart, and let God take over completely and not only when it suits us. The time to be Christians has come. We must use the little strength that we have even if it means hanging on His robes. Reach out and let Him do the rest. Keep the faith and love you have for him going. Keep praying, because the devil is always there always waiting and being watchful of every step you take.
Turn to our all mighty Father and He will be light at your feet.
by Nicola Manduna
Monday, November 1, 2010
When will you start being a Christian??
So I'm on this walk with Christ and we are getting really close. I mean the amount of love between us is amazing. Yet my heart is sore. My mind is troubled. As Shakespeare put it “oh full of scorpions is my mind”. I'm deeply troubled and for what?
The love I thought I had found with someone all gone. Just like all we had didn't matter.
Certain aspects of my life have changed though for the better. I've been called to step forward , yet I'm afraid I wont be able to keep up and do the right thing.
My family slowly falling to pieces.
My friends going through so much heartache and pain. Plagued by peer pressure as they wonder like the lost sheep they are.
Life on earth is not a pretty thing. Was walking the streets of Jo burg and I saw a “common” sight that broke my heart because there was nothing I could do. I saw a elderly woman sitting under the harsh sun on the the filth that we call the streets of jozi. A blind beggar, a woman that could've been my own mother. Sitting there dressed in rags like she had be stuffed into them. There she sat, trapped in her circumstances. She was eating as she sat, but what she ate...her meal for the day was a paper plate of chips generously covered in flies and mould. My heart sank. It became sore so sore. But I did nothing, I carried on walking.
My heart is sore, the tears keep coming, rolling down my cheeks filling my eyes till my vision gets so blurry I feel myself stumble as I walk. I walk. I walk. I continue on my daily walk with Christ. These are but a fraction of the things I face. What do you face or try to escape from. How can we say we walk with Christ when we do nothing in this world to help others?? That's all Christ did, that was His main objective, to help those in need. But what do we do, we keep walking thinking we're walking with Christ, while He's standing there next to the blind beggars in our lives. Waiting on us to be CHRISTIANS!
How many have you walked away from? For how long must it be this way. My bible tells me in Proverbs 19;17 “he who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord”. What will we lack by giving? Yes we have our own problems in life to face our “drama' to deal with. But “ the best exercise for strengthening the heart is reaching down and lifting people up.”. We have become so selfish and self absorbed in things we think matter most. But does the bible not say love thy neighbour as you love thy self.
What are we doing about the beggars in our lives? Literally the poor that need us to share just a bit of what we have. And the poor that are weak in their faith and need us to share our daily bread with them. My heart is sore.. but the love He has for me will make up for the love I lost. My mind is troubled but that call will keep coming, He'll hold my hand and as the light at my feet He will guide the way. But what of those that don't see and haven't learnt what it is that I have learnt on my daily walks with Christ. You can not walk with Him and not be affected by what He stands for.
Yes I do not understand His ways totally, but what would be the point if I did? The point is to grow, and with this growth in turn share it with others. Its time for us to start being Christians. Its time for us to start being active and help those around us that need it. Yes it may seem prayer is not effective but it is oh yes it is. Pray and be active be a vessel that wants to be used. It's time to pull each other up.
When I saw that woman it wasn't the first time I'd seen a beggar. But today I saw through different eyes. I felt, I was moved. Foolish of me to think nothing can be done. I'm reaching down, the beggars in my life are there for a reason and I will not be held accountable on judgment day for walking away. I've started, so I ask you now He wants to know after so long...When will you start being a Christian?
by Nicola Manduna
The love I thought I had found with someone all gone. Just like all we had didn't matter.
Certain aspects of my life have changed though for the better. I've been called to step forward , yet I'm afraid I wont be able to keep up and do the right thing.
My family slowly falling to pieces.
My friends going through so much heartache and pain. Plagued by peer pressure as they wonder like the lost sheep they are.
Life on earth is not a pretty thing. Was walking the streets of Jo burg and I saw a “common” sight that broke my heart because there was nothing I could do. I saw a elderly woman sitting under the harsh sun on the the filth that we call the streets of jozi. A blind beggar, a woman that could've been my own mother. Sitting there dressed in rags like she had be stuffed into them. There she sat, trapped in her circumstances. She was eating as she sat, but what she ate...her meal for the day was a paper plate of chips generously covered in flies and mould. My heart sank. It became sore so sore. But I did nothing, I carried on walking.
My heart is sore, the tears keep coming, rolling down my cheeks filling my eyes till my vision gets so blurry I feel myself stumble as I walk. I walk. I walk. I continue on my daily walk with Christ. These are but a fraction of the things I face. What do you face or try to escape from. How can we say we walk with Christ when we do nothing in this world to help others?? That's all Christ did, that was His main objective, to help those in need. But what do we do, we keep walking thinking we're walking with Christ, while He's standing there next to the blind beggars in our lives. Waiting on us to be CHRISTIANS!
How many have you walked away from? For how long must it be this way. My bible tells me in Proverbs 19;17 “he who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord”. What will we lack by giving? Yes we have our own problems in life to face our “drama' to deal with. But “ the best exercise for strengthening the heart is reaching down and lifting people up.”. We have become so selfish and self absorbed in things we think matter most. But does the bible not say love thy neighbour as you love thy self.
What are we doing about the beggars in our lives? Literally the poor that need us to share just a bit of what we have. And the poor that are weak in their faith and need us to share our daily bread with them. My heart is sore.. but the love He has for me will make up for the love I lost. My mind is troubled but that call will keep coming, He'll hold my hand and as the light at my feet He will guide the way. But what of those that don't see and haven't learnt what it is that I have learnt on my daily walks with Christ. You can not walk with Him and not be affected by what He stands for.
Yes I do not understand His ways totally, but what would be the point if I did? The point is to grow, and with this growth in turn share it with others. Its time for us to start being Christians. Its time for us to start being active and help those around us that need it. Yes it may seem prayer is not effective but it is oh yes it is. Pray and be active be a vessel that wants to be used. It's time to pull each other up.
When I saw that woman it wasn't the first time I'd seen a beggar. But today I saw through different eyes. I felt, I was moved. Foolish of me to think nothing can be done. I'm reaching down, the beggars in my life are there for a reason and I will not be held accountable on judgment day for walking away. I've started, so I ask you now He wants to know after so long...When will you start being a Christian?
by Nicola Manduna
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Inbox (1)
You hurt me but i still love you...I reached out to bring you closer, but you pushed my hand aside. "Not now" you said. Standing by me at that point in your life was not important to you. You hurt me but i still love you. I tried to get your attention, tried to make you see that the love i have for you is not the kind of love the world has blindly perverted. I tried to bring you to me. I still am...waiting for you. You hurt me but i still love you. YOU still mean everything to me..
Yes you there covered in sin and shame
yes you there choking on your lies
yes you there terrorizing your loved ones
yes you there with the broken heart
yes you there who is struggling with immoral temptations
yes you there fighting to get closer yet you feel your unworthy
yes you there with your head down
yes you there that feels so alone and unloved
Yes...You hurt me but i still love you....
Make the decision here and now....get on your knees where ever you are...and reach out; with your hand, with your heart, with your spirit. Reach out. He's right there doing the same...reaching out. We hurt Him but He still loves us, let Him fill the void. Reach out through prayer..and grab on to Him, once you do, your journey as a Christian and your journey to be more like Him begins.
let us pray....
by Nicola Manduna
Yes you there covered in sin and shame
yes you there choking on your lies
yes you there terrorizing your loved ones
yes you there with the broken heart
yes you there who is struggling with immoral temptations
yes you there fighting to get closer yet you feel your unworthy
yes you there with your head down
yes you there that feels so alone and unloved
Yes...You hurt me but i still love you....
Make the decision here and now....get on your knees where ever you are...and reach out; with your hand, with your heart, with your spirit. Reach out. He's right there doing the same...reaching out. We hurt Him but He still loves us, let Him fill the void. Reach out through prayer..and grab on to Him, once you do, your journey as a Christian and your journey to be more like Him begins.
let us pray....
by Nicola Manduna
Thank you
We all got to thank God for :
Who he is
What he does
Why he does it
When he will do what we ask
For friends
FAmily
HArd times
Good times
Happy times
Sad times
Tears & Laughter
Pain & Joy
Poverty & Riches
Nakedness or Clothing
Hunger & plenty
He still remains God, who does what he does to the Glory of His name!!!!
God bless you
Who he is
What he does
Why he does it
When he will do what we ask
For friends
FAmily
HArd times
Good times
Happy times
Sad times
Tears & Laughter
Pain & Joy
Poverty & Riches
Nakedness or Clothing
Hunger & plenty
He still remains God, who does what he does to the Glory of His name!!!!
God bless you
Monday, October 25, 2010
The day i got down on my knees..
The day i got down on my knees,
the troubles around me were put under a spotlight
my soul was broken, on my knees my eyes were filled with tears,
like a never ending stream flowing,
with all my pain and afflictions wearing me thin
the day i got down on my knees,
i was in the dark i was alone,
i was misunderstood, shunned and judged
On my knees all was revealed
my heart in pieces, all my desires out in the open
all my fears towering above me
with sin stains on my being
the day i got on my knees;
i found myself at the feet of a merciful Saviour
the one who comforts you as a mother would her child
The day i got on my knees....I PRAYED
by Nicola Manduna
the troubles around me were put under a spotlight
my soul was broken, on my knees my eyes were filled with tears,
like a never ending stream flowing,
with all my pain and afflictions wearing me thin
the day i got down on my knees,
i was in the dark i was alone,
i was misunderstood, shunned and judged
On my knees all was revealed
my heart in pieces, all my desires out in the open
all my fears towering above me
with sin stains on my being
the day i got on my knees;
i found myself at the feet of a merciful Saviour
the one who comforts you as a mother would her child
The day i got on my knees....I PRAYED
by Nicola Manduna
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
A dose of tough LOVE...
As Christians we love to romanticize things , I suppose it's human nature. We love to hear things like, “We are destined for great things' or “ My sister your husband is on his way”. We seem to overlook the fact that the devil hates us. He wont let us 2 step into heaven . He's going to fight tooth and nail to get what he wants. Trust me the battle will be scary and gruesome. It's time for us to face reality. I ain't a pastor or anyone with a degree to back me up. I may be uncultured in my speech but my Lord God has given me His stamp of approval. And I tell you now He is coming soon. Now is the time to ready ourselves, He may not be here tomorrow but I will sing this tune till the end of my days.
In 2 Peter 3:9 my bible tells me , “ The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” In the same way we do not view time the way He does. He may be arriving next week, next year or maybe in century or so, but the point I'm stressing is that the time is NOW for us to ready ourselves as the chosen people. Job 6:25 “ how painful are honest words” we make God sound like some hippie at times, who will not step up and get tough when the time comes. We view the devil as some guy that will consider your situation or your feelings before he strikes. That is not the case. He's the type of guy that will kick you when your down, spit in your face, push you so low and so far into the dark, you'll find yourself in a slump you will fail to rise from. Yes the battle is already won but it still needs to be fought!!
There is so much that has to be done we need to prepare ourselves and not stick to this comfort zone of following Christ. We need to break free from this cycle, the longer we stay the further we stray from a our true potential and purpose for which we were intended. There is nothing good about life on earth when God has prepared rooms for us up in heaven. We are simply passing through embarking on a journey that, yes, seems so never ending, but, here comes a cliché....there is light at the end of the tunnel. We say seek He 1st , but we don't really get the seriousness and intensity of such a statement. It took years of wading through sin, but when I finally surfaced I understood. Feeling anew. I was nothing and God gave me chance. What right do I have to give up on Him now?? Seek He 1st and everything else shall fall into place. I don't know about you but I do not serve a dormant God...Isaiah 66: 9 “ Do I bring the moment of birth and not give delivery?”
Like the lost coin in Luke 15:8 God will look high and low for us. It now becomes a personal choice as to whether you want to be found. And when you are found will you live by the spirit, will you “Endure hardship with us like the good solider of Christ Jesus. No-one serving as a solider gets involved in domestic affairs-he wants to please his commanding officer.” 2 Timothy 2:3-4. Someone once said and I quote “ we are married to too many things here on earth” how can can we embrace Him if our fists are already tightly clenched with our fingers, lips and hearts stained with immorality. Which has now become part of our day-to-day life. Look deep within yourself and you will realize I'm talking about you, about your life. About the lives of those close to you and you do nothing but watch them slowly self-destruct.
Yes we are sinners but if we let go and let God, our sins though like scarlet shall be white as snow. Revelations 14:12 says it best “this calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints..”. Patience with others is Love. Patience with self is Hope. Patience with God is Faith. And that's what we need to cover ourselves with; love for one another that 1st Corinthians kinda love. Hope which in itself is such a powerful thing how can the devil win when there is still hope within us, we are more than conquerors because of the hope factor rooted within. Faith that link between us and our Saviour that needs to be nurtured daily through prayer and interaction with others in fellowship.
Lets not restrict ourselves by giving the devil free reign in our lives. We need to challenge ourselves more in our faith, we need to WAKE UP from this slumber and get to know God and get to experience Him fully. Because He loves us so much, giving up is not an option and if tough Love is required then so be it...
by Nicola Manduna
In 2 Peter 3:9 my bible tells me , “ The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” In the same way we do not view time the way He does. He may be arriving next week, next year or maybe in century or so, but the point I'm stressing is that the time is NOW for us to ready ourselves as the chosen people. Job 6:25 “ how painful are honest words” we make God sound like some hippie at times, who will not step up and get tough when the time comes. We view the devil as some guy that will consider your situation or your feelings before he strikes. That is not the case. He's the type of guy that will kick you when your down, spit in your face, push you so low and so far into the dark, you'll find yourself in a slump you will fail to rise from. Yes the battle is already won but it still needs to be fought!!
There is so much that has to be done we need to prepare ourselves and not stick to this comfort zone of following Christ. We need to break free from this cycle, the longer we stay the further we stray from a our true potential and purpose for which we were intended. There is nothing good about life on earth when God has prepared rooms for us up in heaven. We are simply passing through embarking on a journey that, yes, seems so never ending, but, here comes a cliché....there is light at the end of the tunnel. We say seek He 1st , but we don't really get the seriousness and intensity of such a statement. It took years of wading through sin, but when I finally surfaced I understood. Feeling anew. I was nothing and God gave me chance. What right do I have to give up on Him now?? Seek He 1st and everything else shall fall into place. I don't know about you but I do not serve a dormant God...Isaiah 66: 9 “ Do I bring the moment of birth and not give delivery?”
Like the lost coin in Luke 15:8 God will look high and low for us. It now becomes a personal choice as to whether you want to be found. And when you are found will you live by the spirit, will you “Endure hardship with us like the good solider of Christ Jesus. No-one serving as a solider gets involved in domestic affairs-he wants to please his commanding officer.” 2 Timothy 2:3-4. Someone once said and I quote “ we are married to too many things here on earth” how can can we embrace Him if our fists are already tightly clenched with our fingers, lips and hearts stained with immorality. Which has now become part of our day-to-day life. Look deep within yourself and you will realize I'm talking about you, about your life. About the lives of those close to you and you do nothing but watch them slowly self-destruct.
Yes we are sinners but if we let go and let God, our sins though like scarlet shall be white as snow. Revelations 14:12 says it best “this calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints..”. Patience with others is Love. Patience with self is Hope. Patience with God is Faith. And that's what we need to cover ourselves with; love for one another that 1st Corinthians kinda love. Hope which in itself is such a powerful thing how can the devil win when there is still hope within us, we are more than conquerors because of the hope factor rooted within. Faith that link between us and our Saviour that needs to be nurtured daily through prayer and interaction with others in fellowship.
Lets not restrict ourselves by giving the devil free reign in our lives. We need to challenge ourselves more in our faith, we need to WAKE UP from this slumber and get to know God and get to experience Him fully. Because He loves us so much, giving up is not an option and if tough Love is required then so be it...
by Nicola Manduna
Saturday, October 16, 2010
**Spiritual Ark**
The destination is Heaven....but....THE JOURNEY is very important. He said He is coming and He sounded very close. He didn't go into detail about the exact time or location but He said He is coming. Thus the crucial stages of my journey began. You've heard the saying each man for himself and God for us all..but who really wants to go to Heaven alone?? He said the the journey is very important meaning that He's giving us a chance to ensure that we make it to our final destination. It would be sooo easy for Him to determine who deserves to make it there, but yet He gives us a chance to make it back home. I say home because this is not home. We are merely visitors who will soon have over stayed their welcome.
The time has come to sort out our spiritual households. The time to be honest with ourselves, who knows you better than you?? The time to let go of the things that weigh us down. A time to be rooted in our belief in Christ. A time to get soo much closer to Him. A time to grow in our faith. I mean we don't seem to realise how powerful faith actually is, it doesn't have to be huge it can be the size of a mustard seed and it will be efficient. A time to let God take the wheel and steer us in the right direction, but we tend to be "backseat drivers" we don't did give Him full control and now as the vehicle spins out of control that's when we realise that we cannot do it alone. I hope and pray that when we do it wont be too late. My Bible tells me in psalms 118 :8 "it is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man".
The journey is important as it prepares us for whats ahead. But being the "backseat drivers" we are we think we know best. Jeremiah 18 : 5-6 speaks of being in the potter's house. He says "like the clay in the hand of the potter so are you in my hand". The time has come for us to look deep within ourselves and let God take control. Like the clay we must be moulded for His intended purpose for us. We become vessels in which He fills with His word so that we may share it with others. Once moulded we will be put in to the furnace to make us steadfast in what God has intended. The furnace with it's blazing flames represents the afflictions we will face, they will burn, but according to your faith you will either harden and be rooted in your faith. And emerge being the vessel you were intended to be or you will merely be consumed by the flames.
We must seek God and follow His laws with the passion and determination expressed in psalms 119. To pray that the Lord forgives and over looks what it is we had become and to uplift what it is we are becoming. Moving forward with the Lord God being the light at our feet. Turning to Him when it seems our world is coming to end. Sharing with others the good and the bad things we go through and letting them know that having Christ in our lives makes life on earth a whole lot better. On this journey we will not emerge the same as when we entered.
This is our chance to grow.
There is a spiritual ark that's being built....and no-one should be left behind this time.
by Nicola Manduna
The time has come to sort out our spiritual households. The time to be honest with ourselves, who knows you better than you?? The time to let go of the things that weigh us down. A time to be rooted in our belief in Christ. A time to get soo much closer to Him. A time to grow in our faith. I mean we don't seem to realise how powerful faith actually is, it doesn't have to be huge it can be the size of a mustard seed and it will be efficient. A time to let God take the wheel and steer us in the right direction, but we tend to be "backseat drivers" we don't did give Him full control and now as the vehicle spins out of control that's when we realise that we cannot do it alone. I hope and pray that when we do it wont be too late. My Bible tells me in psalms 118 :8 "it is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man".
The journey is important as it prepares us for whats ahead. But being the "backseat drivers" we are we think we know best. Jeremiah 18 : 5-6 speaks of being in the potter's house. He says "like the clay in the hand of the potter so are you in my hand". The time has come for us to look deep within ourselves and let God take control. Like the clay we must be moulded for His intended purpose for us. We become vessels in which He fills with His word so that we may share it with others. Once moulded we will be put in to the furnace to make us steadfast in what God has intended. The furnace with it's blazing flames represents the afflictions we will face, they will burn, but according to your faith you will either harden and be rooted in your faith. And emerge being the vessel you were intended to be or you will merely be consumed by the flames.
We must seek God and follow His laws with the passion and determination expressed in psalms 119. To pray that the Lord forgives and over looks what it is we had become and to uplift what it is we are becoming. Moving forward with the Lord God being the light at our feet. Turning to Him when it seems our world is coming to end. Sharing with others the good and the bad things we go through and letting them know that having Christ in our lives makes life on earth a whole lot better. On this journey we will not emerge the same as when we entered.
This is our chance to grow.
There is a spiritual ark that's being built....and no-one should be left behind this time.
by Nicola Manduna
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Proverb to ponder!
Proverbs 14:4
"Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox"
Wisdom includes leveraging your efforts to accomplish much more than what one person can do. This proverb will teach you the lesson. God inspired King Solomon to write about economics, finance, and investments. God wants you to work smart to get ahead.
In his book of philosophy, he wrote, “If the iron be blunt, and he do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength: but wisdom is profitable to direct” (Eccl 10:10). Wisdom includes working smart, like using a file to sharpen an axe, so you can cut down a tree faster than others, who foolishly continue to beat against the tree with a dull blade.
Adam Smith wrote, “The Wealth of Nations,” in 1776. Before then, little was understood about savings, investment, capital, means of production, income-producing assets, and distribution of labor. But Solomon had taught these things in 920 BC, or almost 3000 years before Adam Smith! Give God the glory! Love Scripture! Love Proverbs!
Oxen are large bovine animals God created for the service of man. Today, when domesticated, we generally call them cattle; and specifically, they are castrated bulls that have reached full maturity and strength. (Bulls do not submit well to handling, yokes, and plowing!) They may easily weigh one ton and have enormous strength for pulling.
A crib is a barred storage apparatus where corn and other grain products are kept for feeding cattle and other farm animals. From this usage we have adapted the word to mean the barred small bed for children, which has a similar appearance. A cattle crib is similar to the manger in which our Lord and Saviour was placed after birth (Luke 2:7).
If a farmer plows, cultivates, and harvests by hand, he only has the strength and endurance to work a very small section of ground. His family may barely survive. And he will never get ahead. The storage crib for corn or other produce will be clean – empty, because he and his family will have eaten all he could plant and harvest. Nations in the world even today that still rely on manual labor are as poor as they were 4000 years ago.
But if a farmer can scrimp and save to purchase an ox, he will have invested in the means of much greater production. The strong ox can pull a plow through the soil for many hours a day (I Kgs 19:19). Many acres can be cultivated. But that is not all!
The ox can also trample the raw grain to separate its components (Deut 25:4), and he can drive a grinding wheel (Judges 16:21). The ox can pull heavily loaded wagons to market (Num 7:3). The farmer now produces much more than he needs to eat and increases his wealth and farm. This great reversal of fortune came by saving and investing.
Saving and investing are pillars of a capitalistic and prosperous economy. To buy an ox, a farmer denies himself short-term pleasures to accumulate the needed funds: this is saving. Then he must spend those saved funds for an ox that eats much feed every day and is expensive to maintain: this is investing. Wisdom loves saving and investing.
By saving some of his own production, the farmer created capital; by investing it in better means of production, he has converted his capital to be income producing. Invested capital will bring wealth, which creates more capital and investment, which leads to even greater wealth. Much increase is by the strength of the ox! Thank you, Solomon!
Consider the wisdom of the proverb. Oxen eat a lot of corn and other feed, yet it is a farm without oxen that has nothing in the crib. Farms with oxen, though they eat much corn, have great increase in their net corn production. There is very much corn left over to sell and buy luxuries they never dreamed of when cultivating their land by hand. God created the means of production – the ox – that wisely used will produce far more than it consumes. Thank you, Lord. God also gave the wisdom to use the ox. Thank you, Lord.
Both the ox and the wisdom to use the ox come from God. In fact, even the knowledge of how to plant, harvest, and process various grains comes from Him (Is 28:23-29). Do you grasp this precious truth – even basic farming wisdom comes from God? It was not learned by trial and error (or the first generation would have died before they learned it).
Where do witty inventions come from? They are God’s blessing, and they are the result of wisdom (8:12). God puts exceptional abilities in the hearts of some men, and He stirs those men up to use their creative genius to make tools that we marvel about and use to leverage our efforts (Ex 31:1-6; 36:1-2; II Chr 26:15). Are you thankful to God for the labor-saving devices you use every day? He will judge unthankfulness (Rom 1:21-22).
Here is economic wisdom, and Solomon taught it 3000 years ago! But there are societies and nation that have not learned these simple lessons. They still rely on manual labor, do not understand saving, make no investments, and ignore the means of production that are available. They pick berries and nuts, hunt wild game, wear skins, and live in huts or tents. They have not changed in thousands of years. Are you thankful for wisdom?
The United States and other nations that love and use these principles of wisdom enjoy great wealth and prosperity. They enjoy luxuries and leisure more than any society in history. Men categorize the other nations not using Solomon’s wisdom as second world or third world countries based on their ignorance of these simple economic principles.
Once a man sees the profit of saving and investing in an ox, he becomes very conscious of other possibilities, so other witty inventions take place, which are a further blessing of God upon those who fear Him (8:12). They invent better plows, planters, pickers, threshing devices, and tractors! They invent chainsaws, combines, PTO’s, conveyors, washing machines, typewriters, vacuum cleaners, microwave ovens, and computers!
Would you like to be a lumberjack with an axe … or a chainsaw? Would you like to slice meat in a deli with a knife or a meat slicer? Would you like to be an accountant with an abacus or a computer? Would you like to unload trucks with a forklift or by hand? Would you accept the assignment to build a car by hand or on an assembly line?
Summarize the lesson, and bless the Lord! The ox, the economic wisdom to use the ox, agricultural wisdom, and witty inventions are all from the Lord! Give God the glory!
Are you saving and investing as wisely as you should? Are you obeying this proverb in your own life? Do you own any means of production? Do you have any income-producing assets? Are you accumulating funds – capital – to invest in such things? If you spend everything you earn, you are foolish. You need to learn from the ant (6:6-8; 30:25).
Paul applies the rules of caring for oxen to ministers, so consider how the proverb addresses them (I Cor 9:6-14; I Tim 5:17-18). A church without a pastor will see little spiritual growth, for the God-given strength of the spiritual ox is missing. But where there is a laboring pastor, the church will benefit by this God-ordained means of increase. A hard working minister can be very profitable – and this is his calling (I Tim 4:13-16). And the harder he works, the more he should be fed (I Tim 5:17-18).
Are you taking care of your ox – the watcher of your soul? Do you pray for him daily?
Further, it is the spiritual duty of God’s saints to seek the purity of their churches, for spiritual and carnal blessings are by His favor (Psalm 144:9-15). Even the means of natural production, and certainly the means of spiritual production, are by His blessing. Strong and healthy oxen and garners full of food are both by divine mercy (Psalm 144:13-14). And it is a happy people indeed who have honored the Lord with holy lives to bring these great blessings! Happy is that people whose God is the LORD (Ps 144:15)!
"Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox"
Wisdom includes leveraging your efforts to accomplish much more than what one person can do. This proverb will teach you the lesson. God inspired King Solomon to write about economics, finance, and investments. God wants you to work smart to get ahead.
In his book of philosophy, he wrote, “If the iron be blunt, and he do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength: but wisdom is profitable to direct” (Eccl 10:10). Wisdom includes working smart, like using a file to sharpen an axe, so you can cut down a tree faster than others, who foolishly continue to beat against the tree with a dull blade.
Adam Smith wrote, “The Wealth of Nations,” in 1776. Before then, little was understood about savings, investment, capital, means of production, income-producing assets, and distribution of labor. But Solomon had taught these things in 920 BC, or almost 3000 years before Adam Smith! Give God the glory! Love Scripture! Love Proverbs!
Oxen are large bovine animals God created for the service of man. Today, when domesticated, we generally call them cattle; and specifically, they are castrated bulls that have reached full maturity and strength. (Bulls do not submit well to handling, yokes, and plowing!) They may easily weigh one ton and have enormous strength for pulling.
A crib is a barred storage apparatus where corn and other grain products are kept for feeding cattle and other farm animals. From this usage we have adapted the word to mean the barred small bed for children, which has a similar appearance. A cattle crib is similar to the manger in which our Lord and Saviour was placed after birth (Luke 2:7).
If a farmer plows, cultivates, and harvests by hand, he only has the strength and endurance to work a very small section of ground. His family may barely survive. And he will never get ahead. The storage crib for corn or other produce will be clean – empty, because he and his family will have eaten all he could plant and harvest. Nations in the world even today that still rely on manual labor are as poor as they were 4000 years ago.
But if a farmer can scrimp and save to purchase an ox, he will have invested in the means of much greater production. The strong ox can pull a plow through the soil for many hours a day (I Kgs 19:19). Many acres can be cultivated. But that is not all!
The ox can also trample the raw grain to separate its components (Deut 25:4), and he can drive a grinding wheel (Judges 16:21). The ox can pull heavily loaded wagons to market (Num 7:3). The farmer now produces much more than he needs to eat and increases his wealth and farm. This great reversal of fortune came by saving and investing.
Saving and investing are pillars of a capitalistic and prosperous economy. To buy an ox, a farmer denies himself short-term pleasures to accumulate the needed funds: this is saving. Then he must spend those saved funds for an ox that eats much feed every day and is expensive to maintain: this is investing. Wisdom loves saving and investing.
By saving some of his own production, the farmer created capital; by investing it in better means of production, he has converted his capital to be income producing. Invested capital will bring wealth, which creates more capital and investment, which leads to even greater wealth. Much increase is by the strength of the ox! Thank you, Solomon!
Consider the wisdom of the proverb. Oxen eat a lot of corn and other feed, yet it is a farm without oxen that has nothing in the crib. Farms with oxen, though they eat much corn, have great increase in their net corn production. There is very much corn left over to sell and buy luxuries they never dreamed of when cultivating their land by hand. God created the means of production – the ox – that wisely used will produce far more than it consumes. Thank you, Lord. God also gave the wisdom to use the ox. Thank you, Lord.
Both the ox and the wisdom to use the ox come from God. In fact, even the knowledge of how to plant, harvest, and process various grains comes from Him (Is 28:23-29). Do you grasp this precious truth – even basic farming wisdom comes from God? It was not learned by trial and error (or the first generation would have died before they learned it).
Where do witty inventions come from? They are God’s blessing, and they are the result of wisdom (8:12). God puts exceptional abilities in the hearts of some men, and He stirs those men up to use their creative genius to make tools that we marvel about and use to leverage our efforts (Ex 31:1-6; 36:1-2; II Chr 26:15). Are you thankful to God for the labor-saving devices you use every day? He will judge unthankfulness (Rom 1:21-22).
Here is economic wisdom, and Solomon taught it 3000 years ago! But there are societies and nation that have not learned these simple lessons. They still rely on manual labor, do not understand saving, make no investments, and ignore the means of production that are available. They pick berries and nuts, hunt wild game, wear skins, and live in huts or tents. They have not changed in thousands of years. Are you thankful for wisdom?
The United States and other nations that love and use these principles of wisdom enjoy great wealth and prosperity. They enjoy luxuries and leisure more than any society in history. Men categorize the other nations not using Solomon’s wisdom as second world or third world countries based on their ignorance of these simple economic principles.
Once a man sees the profit of saving and investing in an ox, he becomes very conscious of other possibilities, so other witty inventions take place, which are a further blessing of God upon those who fear Him (8:12). They invent better plows, planters, pickers, threshing devices, and tractors! They invent chainsaws, combines, PTO’s, conveyors, washing machines, typewriters, vacuum cleaners, microwave ovens, and computers!
Would you like to be a lumberjack with an axe … or a chainsaw? Would you like to slice meat in a deli with a knife or a meat slicer? Would you like to be an accountant with an abacus or a computer? Would you like to unload trucks with a forklift or by hand? Would you accept the assignment to build a car by hand or on an assembly line?
Summarize the lesson, and bless the Lord! The ox, the economic wisdom to use the ox, agricultural wisdom, and witty inventions are all from the Lord! Give God the glory!
Are you saving and investing as wisely as you should? Are you obeying this proverb in your own life? Do you own any means of production? Do you have any income-producing assets? Are you accumulating funds – capital – to invest in such things? If you spend everything you earn, you are foolish. You need to learn from the ant (6:6-8; 30:25).
Paul applies the rules of caring for oxen to ministers, so consider how the proverb addresses them (I Cor 9:6-14; I Tim 5:17-18). A church without a pastor will see little spiritual growth, for the God-given strength of the spiritual ox is missing. But where there is a laboring pastor, the church will benefit by this God-ordained means of increase. A hard working minister can be very profitable – and this is his calling (I Tim 4:13-16). And the harder he works, the more he should be fed (I Tim 5:17-18).
Are you taking care of your ox – the watcher of your soul? Do you pray for him daily?
Further, it is the spiritual duty of God’s saints to seek the purity of their churches, for spiritual and carnal blessings are by His favor (Psalm 144:9-15). Even the means of natural production, and certainly the means of spiritual production, are by His blessing. Strong and healthy oxen and garners full of food are both by divine mercy (Psalm 144:13-14). And it is a happy people indeed who have honored the Lord with holy lives to bring these great blessings! Happy is that people whose God is the LORD (Ps 144:15)!
And who is my neighbor?
We live in a world today where we don't know who to turn to in times of need.Our fathers,mothers,sisters,brothers,friends,pastors and elders have become our enemies.Long ago we could walk with other men in the dark and you would be sure of your safety.Today,we run away from a crowd of men cause we don't know their next move
A question was posed to Jesus by an expect of the law,and today this same question faces me and you..."AND WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR?..."
The book of Luke 10:30-37,we find a story that will answer who our true neighbors are.
Verse 30: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho"
He perhaps had something to do as he left the Holy City to go Down to Jericho.He may have people to see,business to handle,debts to pay,a small house(girlfriend)to see but all we know is he was going down.
Are you going Down?..
Is your life on a down hill and you don't have brakes to stop your fall? We have fallen from a place where we were once viewed well in society but not any more.We have gone down to the gutters of this world and have found a safe and comfort zone in the dirt of the world.We have gone down in spirituality and forgotten the God of Our Fathers.We have gone down to a point that even when we stand we can neither be seen or heard.Our lives are in tatters we cant mend them on our own when we are down there!!!...As we go down we are vulnerable.We are swayed by the wind.We are going to a place that is deep with sin and for us to fight it is another uphill battle.
As the man went down in his vulnerable state he was pounced on by robbers.Stripped him naked and left him for dead.
Have you been stripped naked and left for dead?..
As we go down in our vulnerability,the society strips us of a dignity that we once possessed.We no longer can stand proud and tall.We try to hide our nakedness by going further down into the chambers of sin.The society will strip you naked with the labels they put to your name,the comments they make about your character and the actions the make about your personality.They leave you for dead when they have stripped you of your true identity and given you a counterfeit identity of who they think you are.They don't care about you and they simply walk away!!!...
There are people who you think care about you.People who were suits to church every Saturday and call themselves pastors.They see you going down,stark naked,left for dead and all they can say is "WHAT A SHAME!!!"...(verse 31)The priest is on the same road as you are.He is also going down.Falling from divine grace to the simplicity of the sinful human race.All he can do is look at you and see a picture of what he could be in a few moments.He realizes he is going down too and he will pass on the other side.
(Verse 32)A levite may be on the way,but its not yet time to get all excited an think help is on the way because he is a passerby too.You see a deacon when you hold your can of CASTLE LAGER,and to you amazement they pass you by for they know they are going down too.A pastor meets his head elder walking hand in hand with another woman,he will pass by for he knows he is going down too.
But behold on the same road there is someone going up to Jerusalem.When we are going down,they are going up.We all don't fall at the same time.Amen!!!!.....They have been where we are and realize we are in need of help.They can not let society destroy us.(verse 33)People we do not expect,people we do not talk to,people who we distance ourselves from.Here they are covering our wounds,cleaning our wounds,dressing us up and taking us to a place of comfort where we can find healing and protection,taking us up the road we were going down.The good Samaritan came down his horse to help this man.We need people who are willing to come down from their financial horse,their spiritual horse,their educational horse and come to the level of the one who is labeled a nobody in this life.We need people who will cover our wounds not expose our pain and sorrow.Put oil on them for them to heal faster.
When we find such people embrace them then you will know who you neighbor is.
"A NEW COMMANDMENT I GIVE UNTO YOU,THAT YOU LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS I HAVE LOVED YOU."
MAY YOU ALL BE BLESSED
A question was posed to Jesus by an expect of the law,and today this same question faces me and you..."AND WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR?..."
The book of Luke 10:30-37,we find a story that will answer who our true neighbors are.
Verse 30: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho"
He perhaps had something to do as he left the Holy City to go Down to Jericho.He may have people to see,business to handle,debts to pay,a small house(girlfriend)to see but all we know is he was going down.
Are you going Down?..
Is your life on a down hill and you don't have brakes to stop your fall? We have fallen from a place where we were once viewed well in society but not any more.We have gone down to the gutters of this world and have found a safe and comfort zone in the dirt of the world.We have gone down in spirituality and forgotten the God of Our Fathers.We have gone down to a point that even when we stand we can neither be seen or heard.Our lives are in tatters we cant mend them on our own when we are down there!!!...As we go down we are vulnerable.We are swayed by the wind.We are going to a place that is deep with sin and for us to fight it is another uphill battle.
As the man went down in his vulnerable state he was pounced on by robbers.Stripped him naked and left him for dead.
Have you been stripped naked and left for dead?..
As we go down in our vulnerability,the society strips us of a dignity that we once possessed.We no longer can stand proud and tall.We try to hide our nakedness by going further down into the chambers of sin.The society will strip you naked with the labels they put to your name,the comments they make about your character and the actions the make about your personality.They leave you for dead when they have stripped you of your true identity and given you a counterfeit identity of who they think you are.They don't care about you and they simply walk away!!!...
There are people who you think care about you.People who were suits to church every Saturday and call themselves pastors.They see you going down,stark naked,left for dead and all they can say is "WHAT A SHAME!!!"...(verse 31)The priest is on the same road as you are.He is also going down.Falling from divine grace to the simplicity of the sinful human race.All he can do is look at you and see a picture of what he could be in a few moments.He realizes he is going down too and he will pass on the other side.
(Verse 32)A levite may be on the way,but its not yet time to get all excited an think help is on the way because he is a passerby too.You see a deacon when you hold your can of CASTLE LAGER,and to you amazement they pass you by for they know they are going down too.A pastor meets his head elder walking hand in hand with another woman,he will pass by for he knows he is going down too.
But behold on the same road there is someone going up to Jerusalem.When we are going down,they are going up.We all don't fall at the same time.Amen!!!!.....They have been where we are and realize we are in need of help.They can not let society destroy us.(verse 33)People we do not expect,people we do not talk to,people who we distance ourselves from.Here they are covering our wounds,cleaning our wounds,dressing us up and taking us to a place of comfort where we can find healing and protection,taking us up the road we were going down.The good Samaritan came down his horse to help this man.We need people who are willing to come down from their financial horse,their spiritual horse,their educational horse and come to the level of the one who is labeled a nobody in this life.We need people who will cover our wounds not expose our pain and sorrow.Put oil on them for them to heal faster.
When we find such people embrace them then you will know who you neighbor is.
"A NEW COMMANDMENT I GIVE UNTO YOU,THAT YOU LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS I HAVE LOVED YOU."
MAY YOU ALL BE BLESSED
Monday, October 11, 2010
The High cost of low living
Judges 16:20-31
THE HIGH COST OF LOW LIVING
Intro: When Benjamin Franklin was seven years old, a visitor gave him some small change. Later, seeing another boy playing with a whistle, young Benjamin gave the boy all his money for it. He played the whistle all over the house, enjoying it until he discovered that he had given four times as much as the whistle was worth. Instantly, the whistle lost its charm. As he grew older, Franklin generalized this principle. When he saw a man neglecting his family or business for political popularity, or a miser giving up friendship for the sake of accumulating wealth, he would say, 'He pays too much for his whistle."
The above story has an excellent lesson in it: Too often we pay too great a price for something that looks so good and promises so much. Fish are hooked because they are attracted to something that looks like food and would make a good meal only to become food themselves. Do not be fooled, the world offers you whistles that are not worth the price.
In our text, we are given the tragic end of a man who "paid too much for his whistle." Samson lost his power, his position and his testimony because he valued the sin in his life more than he valued the God of his life. I would like for us to take a closer look at the life of this man and see where he failed and how we can avoid the same kind of trouble in our lives. I want to preach for a time on The High Cost Of Low Living. It may be that some in this room are living below their means spiritually. If so, we will see the problems that causes and solutions God offers.
I. THE POTENTIAL OF SAMSON'S LIFE
A. He Was Extraordinary In His Advent - (Judges 13:2-7, 24-25 - The birth of Samson was announced by a visit from the Lord, Himself.) Just for the record, the child of God has had a miraculous "new" birth - 1 Pet. 1:23; John 3:3, 7; 1 John 3:1-3.
B. He Was Extraordinary In His Accomplishments - Samson is remembered as the strong man of the Bible.
1. His Energies - He killed a lion - 14:5-6; He performed many great feats of strength - 15:4-7; 16:3.
2. His Enemies - Samson was always battling the Philistines, to prevent them from capturing control of Israel. He killed 30 Philistines one time, 14:19. Another time he killed 1,000 with the jawbone of a donkey, 15:13-17.
3. His Evidences - Samson proved he was a man of God by the power of the Spirit that rested on him, 13:25; 14:19; 15:14. He enjoyed miracles from the hand of God - 15:18-19. He was a servant of the Lord's for many years - 15:20.
(Note: Just like Samson, the child of God lives an extraordinary life. Redeemed from sin by the grace of God, indwelt by the Spirit of God, privileged to hold and read the Word of God and able to fellowship with God through prayer. Our lives are marked by many victories and many advantages. Things which we do so often that we have come to take them for granted, like prayer, service to the Lord, witnessing, getting to be a blessing, etc, all prove that we are different and that we have a God given potential to achieve great things through Him! We just move from victory to victory as His children - 1 Cor. 15:57.)
II. THE PROBLEMS OF SAMSON'S LIFE
(Ill. As great as Samson's strength and potential might have been, he was a man faced with many spiritual problems. These spiritual weaknesses overrode his physical power to make him the weakest strongman in the history of the world.)
A. He Faced Powerful Adversaries - Ill. Judges 14:1-7 - Samson may have battled the Philistines for over 20 years, but his greatest enemy was Samson! His own flesh and his fleshly appetites proved to be his undoing. Instead of surrendering body, soul and spirit to the will of the Lord, he allowed his flesh to control his life and he paid a high price. (Note: You and I can fuss about the devil, or about this enemy or that enemy, but the greatest enemy we all face is our own selves! As one man said, "We have met the enemy and he is us!" It's true, but every problem we face with temptation and sin in our lives, does not come from an external source, it originates within, James 1:14-15. That is a hard thing to swallow, but it is still true! It isn't the devil out to get you, it is you out to get yourself! Folks, your flesh is never going to get any better - Eph. 4:22. However, we are not to give in to it, we are to fight it every moment of every day - 1 Cor. 9:27.)
B. He Faced Powerful Attractions - Ill. Judges 14:8-10 - Samson was a Nazarite, Judges 13:7; Num. 6:1-8. His was to be a life dedicated totally to the Lord. Yet, he lived for himself, taking his vows for granted. He was deceitful, he was lustful, he was proud and arrogant. It would seem that Samson had a bent toward evil within him. (Note: Of course, that could describe any of us this evening! The Old Testament uses three words to describe our sins, Psa. 32:1-2; 5. There is the word sins - which refers to our shortcomings in the sight of God., It means "to miss the mark". Then there is the word transgressions. This word means "to step over a boundary". It refers to intentionally breaking the Laws and commandments of the Lord. Another word is iniquity. This word means "bent or crooked". It refers to the bent within the human nature toward evil! There is a natural tendency within each of us to seek the lowest levels of life. (Ill. What Jacob said to Reuben - Gen. 49:4 - Like water always seeks the lowest level, man acting according to his flesh will always seek the lowest levels of living!)
C. He Faced Powerful Addictions - Judges 16:1-2; 4-20 - Samson, by the end of his career, seems to be living a total lifestyle of sin. He has reached a place where he treats his testimony like a trinket and his reputation like rubbish, 16:1-18! (Note: Your testimony is the ost valuable thing you possess in this world! Guard it with your life. If you ever allow your testimony to become tarnished, you will never be able to restore it to where it was in the eyes of those who saw you fail! God will forgive the repentant saint, but men will remember it to their dying day!)
III. THE PRODUCT OF SAMSON'S LIFE
(Ill. Because of his sinfulness and his failure to control his fleshly desires and impulses, Samson paid a terrific price.)
A. The Losses In His Life - Ill. The context of his sins with Delilah. As a result of his sins, he suffered some pretty significant losses.
1. He Lost His Vision - 16:21 - (Blind) - Samson lost his physical sight. When a child of God lives his or her life under the control of the flesh, they too will lose their eyesight. They may keep their physical vision, but they will lose the spiritual. They will lose their vision of the Lord, His Word His house, lost souls, holy living etc.
2. He Lost His Vitality - 16:20-21 - (Bind) - Samson lost his physical strength when he disclosed the secret of that strength. For the believer in our day, the danger of losing one's spiritual power is great. Imagine not being able to get a hold of the Lord for your needs or the needs of others. Imagine not having the peace of God. Imagine being bound down by sin so that you cannot worship, cannot experience God, cannot enjoy Him, His Word or His people. Low living carries with it the high price of sapping your spiritual strength and leaving you weak before the Lord!)
3. He Lost His Victory - 16:21 - (Grind) - Samson is made to do the work of grinding corn. This was women's work and was given to him to humiliate him and is an indication of how weak he had become! Can you see the great man of God grinding corn for the Philistines? He has lost his power and he has lost his victory. He is a pitiful spectacle! Nothing is anymore sad than a believer who is out of fellowship with the Lord Jesus! They lack joy and peace. They are no happy. They are defeated, discouraged and demoralized. Sin will literally grind you to powder!
B. The Lessons From Samson's Life - For all of the pain this man experienced, there are some great lessons that we can take away from the life of Samson.
1. A Lesson About Ridicule - Samson is ridiculed by the enemies of God! If we must endure persecution and ridicule, let us do so only for the cause of Jesus and not because of foolish and sinful living - 1 Pet. 4:12-17; Matt. 5:11-12.) (Note: Don't give Satan the pleasure of mocking a child of God!)
2. A Lesson About Repentance - Before he died, Samson made things right with the Lord. However, he did it when it was too late to salvage much of anything for the glory of God. You and I need not make the same mistake! If we recognize the presence of evil in our lives, the time to deal with it is now, 1 John 1:9; Pro. 28:13, before we are forced to pay the ultimate price for our sins. Repentance can take place at any time!
3. A Lesson About Restoration - Samson received his power back from the Lord. Whatever we may lose to sin, in a spiritual sense, the Lord can and will restore if we will repent. However, we need to know that we will never gain back everything we lose in the eyes of men! But, thank God, He can cleanse us and He can use us for His glory once more - Ill. Simon Peter!
Conclusion: Friend, please don't pay the high cost of low living! If things in your life are not where they need to be tonight, you can come before the Lord and find the help and forgiveness you need. Just like the Prodigal Son found a loving, forgiving father back home, you will find a heavenly Father Who loves you and is ready to forgive you and restore you to the place you ought to be.
THE HIGH COST OF LOW LIVING
Intro: When Benjamin Franklin was seven years old, a visitor gave him some small change. Later, seeing another boy playing with a whistle, young Benjamin gave the boy all his money for it. He played the whistle all over the house, enjoying it until he discovered that he had given four times as much as the whistle was worth. Instantly, the whistle lost its charm. As he grew older, Franklin generalized this principle. When he saw a man neglecting his family or business for political popularity, or a miser giving up friendship for the sake of accumulating wealth, he would say, 'He pays too much for his whistle."
The above story has an excellent lesson in it: Too often we pay too great a price for something that looks so good and promises so much. Fish are hooked because they are attracted to something that looks like food and would make a good meal only to become food themselves. Do not be fooled, the world offers you whistles that are not worth the price.
In our text, we are given the tragic end of a man who "paid too much for his whistle." Samson lost his power, his position and his testimony because he valued the sin in his life more than he valued the God of his life. I would like for us to take a closer look at the life of this man and see where he failed and how we can avoid the same kind of trouble in our lives. I want to preach for a time on The High Cost Of Low Living. It may be that some in this room are living below their means spiritually. If so, we will see the problems that causes and solutions God offers.
I. THE POTENTIAL OF SAMSON'S LIFE
A. He Was Extraordinary In His Advent - (Judges 13:2-7, 24-25 - The birth of Samson was announced by a visit from the Lord, Himself.) Just for the record, the child of God has had a miraculous "new" birth - 1 Pet. 1:23; John 3:3, 7; 1 John 3:1-3.
B. He Was Extraordinary In His Accomplishments - Samson is remembered as the strong man of the Bible.
1. His Energies - He killed a lion - 14:5-6; He performed many great feats of strength - 15:4-7; 16:3.
2. His Enemies - Samson was always battling the Philistines, to prevent them from capturing control of Israel. He killed 30 Philistines one time, 14:19. Another time he killed 1,000 with the jawbone of a donkey, 15:13-17.
3. His Evidences - Samson proved he was a man of God by the power of the Spirit that rested on him, 13:25; 14:19; 15:14. He enjoyed miracles from the hand of God - 15:18-19. He was a servant of the Lord's for many years - 15:20.
(Note: Just like Samson, the child of God lives an extraordinary life. Redeemed from sin by the grace of God, indwelt by the Spirit of God, privileged to hold and read the Word of God and able to fellowship with God through prayer. Our lives are marked by many victories and many advantages. Things which we do so often that we have come to take them for granted, like prayer, service to the Lord, witnessing, getting to be a blessing, etc, all prove that we are different and that we have a God given potential to achieve great things through Him! We just move from victory to victory as His children - 1 Cor. 15:57.)
II. THE PROBLEMS OF SAMSON'S LIFE
(Ill. As great as Samson's strength and potential might have been, he was a man faced with many spiritual problems. These spiritual weaknesses overrode his physical power to make him the weakest strongman in the history of the world.)
A. He Faced Powerful Adversaries - Ill. Judges 14:1-7 - Samson may have battled the Philistines for over 20 years, but his greatest enemy was Samson! His own flesh and his fleshly appetites proved to be his undoing. Instead of surrendering body, soul and spirit to the will of the Lord, he allowed his flesh to control his life and he paid a high price. (Note: You and I can fuss about the devil, or about this enemy or that enemy, but the greatest enemy we all face is our own selves! As one man said, "We have met the enemy and he is us!" It's true, but every problem we face with temptation and sin in our lives, does not come from an external source, it originates within, James 1:14-15. That is a hard thing to swallow, but it is still true! It isn't the devil out to get you, it is you out to get yourself! Folks, your flesh is never going to get any better - Eph. 4:22. However, we are not to give in to it, we are to fight it every moment of every day - 1 Cor. 9:27.)
B. He Faced Powerful Attractions - Ill. Judges 14:8-10 - Samson was a Nazarite, Judges 13:7; Num. 6:1-8. His was to be a life dedicated totally to the Lord. Yet, he lived for himself, taking his vows for granted. He was deceitful, he was lustful, he was proud and arrogant. It would seem that Samson had a bent toward evil within him. (Note: Of course, that could describe any of us this evening! The Old Testament uses three words to describe our sins, Psa. 32:1-2; 5. There is the word sins - which refers to our shortcomings in the sight of God., It means "to miss the mark". Then there is the word transgressions. This word means "to step over a boundary". It refers to intentionally breaking the Laws and commandments of the Lord. Another word is iniquity. This word means "bent or crooked". It refers to the bent within the human nature toward evil! There is a natural tendency within each of us to seek the lowest levels of life. (Ill. What Jacob said to Reuben - Gen. 49:4 - Like water always seeks the lowest level, man acting according to his flesh will always seek the lowest levels of living!)
C. He Faced Powerful Addictions - Judges 16:1-2; 4-20 - Samson, by the end of his career, seems to be living a total lifestyle of sin. He has reached a place where he treats his testimony like a trinket and his reputation like rubbish, 16:1-18! (Note: Your testimony is the ost valuable thing you possess in this world! Guard it with your life. If you ever allow your testimony to become tarnished, you will never be able to restore it to where it was in the eyes of those who saw you fail! God will forgive the repentant saint, but men will remember it to their dying day!)
III. THE PRODUCT OF SAMSON'S LIFE
(Ill. Because of his sinfulness and his failure to control his fleshly desires and impulses, Samson paid a terrific price.)
A. The Losses In His Life - Ill. The context of his sins with Delilah. As a result of his sins, he suffered some pretty significant losses.
1. He Lost His Vision - 16:21 - (Blind) - Samson lost his physical sight. When a child of God lives his or her life under the control of the flesh, they too will lose their eyesight. They may keep their physical vision, but they will lose the spiritual. They will lose their vision of the Lord, His Word His house, lost souls, holy living etc.
2. He Lost His Vitality - 16:20-21 - (Bind) - Samson lost his physical strength when he disclosed the secret of that strength. For the believer in our day, the danger of losing one's spiritual power is great. Imagine not being able to get a hold of the Lord for your needs or the needs of others. Imagine not having the peace of God. Imagine being bound down by sin so that you cannot worship, cannot experience God, cannot enjoy Him, His Word or His people. Low living carries with it the high price of sapping your spiritual strength and leaving you weak before the Lord!)
3. He Lost His Victory - 16:21 - (Grind) - Samson is made to do the work of grinding corn. This was women's work and was given to him to humiliate him and is an indication of how weak he had become! Can you see the great man of God grinding corn for the Philistines? He has lost his power and he has lost his victory. He is a pitiful spectacle! Nothing is anymore sad than a believer who is out of fellowship with the Lord Jesus! They lack joy and peace. They are no happy. They are defeated, discouraged and demoralized. Sin will literally grind you to powder!
B. The Lessons From Samson's Life - For all of the pain this man experienced, there are some great lessons that we can take away from the life of Samson.
1. A Lesson About Ridicule - Samson is ridiculed by the enemies of God! If we must endure persecution and ridicule, let us do so only for the cause of Jesus and not because of foolish and sinful living - 1 Pet. 4:12-17; Matt. 5:11-12.) (Note: Don't give Satan the pleasure of mocking a child of God!)
2. A Lesson About Repentance - Before he died, Samson made things right with the Lord. However, he did it when it was too late to salvage much of anything for the glory of God. You and I need not make the same mistake! If we recognize the presence of evil in our lives, the time to deal with it is now, 1 John 1:9; Pro. 28:13, before we are forced to pay the ultimate price for our sins. Repentance can take place at any time!
3. A Lesson About Restoration - Samson received his power back from the Lord. Whatever we may lose to sin, in a spiritual sense, the Lord can and will restore if we will repent. However, we need to know that we will never gain back everything we lose in the eyes of men! But, thank God, He can cleanse us and He can use us for His glory once more - Ill. Simon Peter!
Conclusion: Friend, please don't pay the high cost of low living! If things in your life are not where they need to be tonight, you can come before the Lord and find the help and forgiveness you need. Just like the Prodigal Son found a loving, forgiving father back home, you will find a heavenly Father Who loves you and is ready to forgive you and restore you to the place you ought to be.
Why did God make you?
"For God is faithful through whom you were called into Fellowship with His Son Christ Jesus."
Have you ever wondered why you are here? Why God created you?
Was it to satisfy a hidden need in Him? Was it because God was bored just hanging around forever in empty space doing nothing. Maybe it was because He was just curious and wanted to know what would happen if He made a bunch of people and put them on a planet in the middle of nowhere. The Bible doesn't specifically say why God made us, but it does say that he created us.
Rev. 4:11 says, "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."
But, why are you here?
1.To find out why God made you we have to look in the Bible. And a good place to start is The Garden of Eden.
A.God walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden (Gen. 3:8).
i.What does it mean for God to walk with them.
a.It means closeness, intimacy, communion.
b.Picture this. Adam and Eve and God literally walking next to each other in perfect harmony.
ii.Why did God walk with them?
a.Because He loved them.
b.Because He wanted fellowship with them.
B.When Adam and Eve sinned, what did they do?
i.They hid themselves: Gen. 3:8 "And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden."
ii.Who came looking for who?
a.God came looking for them: Gen. 3:9 says, "Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, 'Where are you?'"
C.Who was the first to shed blood?
i.Gen. 3:21, "And the LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them."
ii.God made an atonement for them.
iii.Jesus is the first to shed blood, because the Father is never seen in the Bible: John 6:46. But Adam and Eve were with God, God the Son.
D.They had been cast out of God's presence.
2.But, that isn't the end. God sought His people again.
A.From the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve went out and had children who had children, etc.
i.They filled the earth
ii.Eventually, after the tower of Babel, after Noah's Flood, God called a Abraham to go to a new land.
iii.Abraham became the first of God's chosen people who multiplied on the earth.
iv.They became enslaved in Egypt and eventually were freed by Moses.
B.After leaving Egypt and after the 10 commandments had been given to the Jews, God said something most interesting to Moses in Exodus 25:8, "And let them construct a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among them."
i.There is more physical space in the Bible devoted to the subject of the tabernacle than any other subject even heaven, hell, Jesus, or the cross... anything.
C.If you remember, God sought Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Here in the Wilderness He sought them again.
D.Why did He tell them to build a sanctuary?
i.He needed a holy place to dwell.
ii.He wanted to be among His people in a special way.
E.The tabernacle
i.It was a movable tent.
ii.One hundred cubits long and fifty cubits wide (about 150 feet long by 75 feet wide)
iii.It had many furnishings, but the most important was the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies.
a.In the Holy of Holies is where the ark of the covenant was
i.Aaron's Rod, a jar of manna, and the ten commandments
ii.The Mercy Seat was a top made of pure gold with 2 angels fashioned in them. This was on top of the Ark of the Covenant.
iv.The Tabernacle was where the yearly offering of atonement would be made by the High Priest
F.After the tabernacle was built, the Temple was built and the Holy of Holies was moved in there along with the Ark of the Covenant.
G.This was with Israel up until the time of Jesus.
3.In the N.T. God still seeks to be with His people.
A.In John 1:1,14 it says, "In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God... and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth."
B.The Greek word there for "dwelt" is skanae. It means to tabernacle.
C.Again, God is seeking His people, but this time, instead of dwelling in a temple, he was then walking around among the people.
i.Jesus, who was God in flesh, was again walking with His people, just like the Garden of Eden.
4.But we know what they did to Jesus. They killed Him. They crucified Him.
A.But God was not surprised by this. In fact, it was part of his plan. Instead making a sacrifice by a high priest, once a year, in the holy of holies, Jesus became that sacrifice once and for all by dying on the cross so that we can believe in Jesus and be forgiven of our sins.
B.That is why it says in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever would believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).
C.The nature of Love is to give
D.What is the best thing God could give? - love.
E.What is the best thing YOU can give? - love...
i.Love people by showing them Jesus, by being honest, good, and true.
5.1 Cor. 1:9, "For God is faithful through whom you were called into Fellowship with His Son Christ Jesus."
A.He wants to have fellowship with you because He loves you.
B.Fellowship in Greek is the word koinonia. It means intimacy, communion, and fellowship.
i.It is also translated into the word, "communion" when referring to the communion supper.
ii.The communion supper is the place of intense intimacy between God and the Christian.
a.Describe what happens there.
C.This fellowship with God the Father, MUST be through God the Son: Jesus. There is no other way.
D.You HAVE to go through Jesus. You cannot make yourself right before God by what you do, by what you think, or by being sincere.... You can only be right before God by trusting in what Jesus did on the cross, by the sacrifice of Himself so you could be forgiven of your sins...... and then be able to be with God.... forever.
i.Only through Jesus..... which is why God made you to be with Him, forever.
ii.God wants to have fellowship with you, through His Son.
iii.God wants to love you forever.
Conclusion
God wants fellowship with you not because of what you are but because of what He is.
•He is loving
•He is giving
•The best He can give is Himself.
•He has given you the Holy Spirit so that you might have God living within you. Not in a desert sanctuary or a stone temple, but in a living intimate way.
•You can know Him, experience Him, and feel Him.
•He made the universe for you.
•He created you for Him.
Enjoy Him.
Have you ever wondered why you are here? Why God created you?
Was it to satisfy a hidden need in Him? Was it because God was bored just hanging around forever in empty space doing nothing. Maybe it was because He was just curious and wanted to know what would happen if He made a bunch of people and put them on a planet in the middle of nowhere. The Bible doesn't specifically say why God made us, but it does say that he created us.
Rev. 4:11 says, "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."
But, why are you here?
1.To find out why God made you we have to look in the Bible. And a good place to start is The Garden of Eden.
A.God walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden (Gen. 3:8).
i.What does it mean for God to walk with them.
a.It means closeness, intimacy, communion.
b.Picture this. Adam and Eve and God literally walking next to each other in perfect harmony.
ii.Why did God walk with them?
a.Because He loved them.
b.Because He wanted fellowship with them.
B.When Adam and Eve sinned, what did they do?
i.They hid themselves: Gen. 3:8 "And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden."
ii.Who came looking for who?
a.God came looking for them: Gen. 3:9 says, "Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, 'Where are you?'"
C.Who was the first to shed blood?
i.Gen. 3:21, "And the LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them."
ii.God made an atonement for them.
iii.Jesus is the first to shed blood, because the Father is never seen in the Bible: John 6:46. But Adam and Eve were with God, God the Son.
D.They had been cast out of God's presence.
2.But, that isn't the end. God sought His people again.
A.From the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve went out and had children who had children, etc.
i.They filled the earth
ii.Eventually, after the tower of Babel, after Noah's Flood, God called a Abraham to go to a new land.
iii.Abraham became the first of God's chosen people who multiplied on the earth.
iv.They became enslaved in Egypt and eventually were freed by Moses.
B.After leaving Egypt and after the 10 commandments had been given to the Jews, God said something most interesting to Moses in Exodus 25:8, "And let them construct a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among them."
i.There is more physical space in the Bible devoted to the subject of the tabernacle than any other subject even heaven, hell, Jesus, or the cross... anything.
C.If you remember, God sought Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Here in the Wilderness He sought them again.
D.Why did He tell them to build a sanctuary?
i.He needed a holy place to dwell.
ii.He wanted to be among His people in a special way.
E.The tabernacle
i.It was a movable tent.
ii.One hundred cubits long and fifty cubits wide (about 150 feet long by 75 feet wide)
iii.It had many furnishings, but the most important was the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies.
a.In the Holy of Holies is where the ark of the covenant was
i.Aaron's Rod, a jar of manna, and the ten commandments
ii.The Mercy Seat was a top made of pure gold with 2 angels fashioned in them. This was on top of the Ark of the Covenant.
iv.The Tabernacle was where the yearly offering of atonement would be made by the High Priest
F.After the tabernacle was built, the Temple was built and the Holy of Holies was moved in there along with the Ark of the Covenant.
G.This was with Israel up until the time of Jesus.
3.In the N.T. God still seeks to be with His people.
A.In John 1:1,14 it says, "In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God... and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth."
B.The Greek word there for "dwelt" is skanae. It means to tabernacle.
C.Again, God is seeking His people, but this time, instead of dwelling in a temple, he was then walking around among the people.
i.Jesus, who was God in flesh, was again walking with His people, just like the Garden of Eden.
4.But we know what they did to Jesus. They killed Him. They crucified Him.
A.But God was not surprised by this. In fact, it was part of his plan. Instead making a sacrifice by a high priest, once a year, in the holy of holies, Jesus became that sacrifice once and for all by dying on the cross so that we can believe in Jesus and be forgiven of our sins.
B.That is why it says in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever would believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).
C.The nature of Love is to give
D.What is the best thing God could give? - love.
E.What is the best thing YOU can give? - love...
i.Love people by showing them Jesus, by being honest, good, and true.
5.1 Cor. 1:9, "For God is faithful through whom you were called into Fellowship with His Son Christ Jesus."
A.He wants to have fellowship with you because He loves you.
B.Fellowship in Greek is the word koinonia. It means intimacy, communion, and fellowship.
i.It is also translated into the word, "communion" when referring to the communion supper.
ii.The communion supper is the place of intense intimacy between God and the Christian.
a.Describe what happens there.
C.This fellowship with God the Father, MUST be through God the Son: Jesus. There is no other way.
D.You HAVE to go through Jesus. You cannot make yourself right before God by what you do, by what you think, or by being sincere.... You can only be right before God by trusting in what Jesus did on the cross, by the sacrifice of Himself so you could be forgiven of your sins...... and then be able to be with God.... forever.
i.Only through Jesus..... which is why God made you to be with Him, forever.
ii.God wants to have fellowship with you, through His Son.
iii.God wants to love you forever.
Conclusion
God wants fellowship with you not because of what you are but because of what He is.
•He is loving
•He is giving
•The best He can give is Himself.
•He has given you the Holy Spirit so that you might have God living within you. Not in a desert sanctuary or a stone temple, but in a living intimate way.
•You can know Him, experience Him, and feel Him.
•He made the universe for you.
•He created you for Him.
Enjoy Him.
Gods Talents granted to us.
Sermon Matthew 25:13-31
There is a saying in English, "Use it or lose it." Use your muscles or they become weak and you fall down. Use your brain or later in life you will become senile. "Use it or lose it." It seems like simple wisdom.
The English saying certainly comes from today's scripture passage. A master was going away and he entrusts his money to his servants. To one he gives five thousand dollars, to another two thousand, and to another one thousand. Actually he gives them five, two, and one talents. A "talent" is a block of silver worth about $1000. As you know the word "talent" in English comes from this scripture passage.
We say, "Lin Yin, is a talented musician." We say, "Wei Hsi is a talented music director." We look at our children and say, "Oh, my son is a talented artist. My daughter is a talented math student." But, even though the English language uses the word talent to describe being gifted with a special skill, today's text isn't talking about all sorts of skills.
Today's text isn't even about money, although some have tried to say it is. We know of sermon's where clergy, often with wealthy congregations will say, "See, the one with the 5 talents worked hard, and therefore God blessed him. And the wicked lazy servant, those are the poor people who don't work hard with what God gives them so its their fault they suffer." This text has cruelly been used to justify wealth and condemn the poor as lazy, even though we know that among the wealthy there are people who have become rich by working very hard and other wealthy people who have become rich by working very little. Just as we know that there are poor people who work very hard, but stay poor. And yes in some cases there are poor people who are lazy. But this text is not talking about how to become rich through hard work.
What we do know is that the text says that Jesus is talking about the Kingdom of Heaven, talking about what is also called the Kingdom of God, talking about God's power that is breaking into the world through Jesus. He tells three stories in Matthew Chapter 25. The story of the young women with the oil. The story of the talents. And the story of the final judgement where some are called sheep and others goats.
And today we are right in the middle with a story that some might think is very harsh.
The five talent man who doubles the wealth is told, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord."
The two talent man who doubles the wealth is told, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord."
And to the one talent man, who buries his talent, the master says, "Lord, I knew you that you are a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter.
I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the earth. Behold, you have your own." But his lord answered him, "You wicked and slothful servant. You knew that I reap where I didn`t sow, and gather where I didn`t scatter. You ought therefore to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received back my own with interest. Take away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will be given, and he will have abundance, but from him who has not, even that which he has will be taken away. Throw out the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness; there will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth."
What terrible judgement for the man who buries his masters money. The money is taken from him and given to the one who has the most. This doesn't sound like a loving God does it? Where is the forgiveness? Where is kindness? How can God's presence in the world be connected with such terrible consequences? Indeed, being cast out of the light, out of the house of the master, cast out of the Kingdom of Heaven, into what sounds like a place of despair and anger, doesn't sound like a Jesus who is willing to die for enemies, and forgive those who killed him. This doesn't sound like Jesus who forgives those who abandoned him when he was arrested but later forgives them.
Is Jesus kind? Yes! Does Jesus love us? Yes! Does Jesus have compassion for those who fail in life? Yes! Does Jesus love people who hate him? Yes! Does Jesus want anyone to be in a place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth ... into hell? No! In the Gospel of John, it says, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God didn`t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him"
This is the Jesus we know, however did you hear it? This isn't the Jesus that the man with one talent knows. Did you hear why he buries his talent? "Lord, I knew you that you are a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter. I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the earth. Behold, you have your own."
Listen to the one talent servant ... he thinks Jesus is a hard man. A vengeful man. A cruel man. The servant thinks that if he fails Jesus will punish him. He's afraid of Jesus, afraid of God, and afraid to serve lest he fail and be in a worse situation. He can imagine that life could be more that his, and his fear enslaves him.
He's part of the household of God, and yet, because of his fear he has never gotten to know who Jesus really is. He has never took the time share in the mission of Jesus, so that he could discover that the reason why Jesus can reap where he has not sown.
The worthless servant is the one who has not followed Jesus and learned along the journey who Jesus is; one full of kindness, compassion, mercy, and most of all forgiveness. The worthless servant has been welcomed into the household, but clearly hasn't committed himself to learned to live as part of the household of God. As a slave of fear, he can not live in a house ruled by love.
Remember what Jesus most common commandment is? Don't be afraid. Don't live a life ruled by fear. Don't be a Church ruled by fear. Don't think following Jesus is always being afraid of messing up. Of always being on guard lest God punish you. That is not the God we know in Jesus.
As I thought about this sermon, part of me wanted to change the parable to include another servant. The servant who was given ½ a talent but made a bad trade and had to face Jesus with no talents. I image this one, with a face hung low, saying to the Lord, "I tried but I failed." And I imagined the Lord saying, "I forgive you, here's another ½ talent, try again." After thinking this, I realized that Jesus would live this parable later in the story. You see, Jesus gives this parable of warning, right before he is to be killed, right before his disciples abandon him, right before they fail him.
At the cross, they come to know where their love fails, discover that God's love is more powerful even than death. They know that with God all things are possible. They are willing to trust and live as Jesus calls them to live. They are the ones who are willing to let God show them a whole new way.
Jesus said, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!" Repent means, "Change directions." You've been welcomed into the Kingdom of Heaven right now, but will you allow God to change your lives from being ruled by fear to being ruled by love." You have been baptised and claimed as a beloved child of God, but will you follow Jesus as a disciple? Hear the Good News that the master of the universe, the crucified one, has called you to live a life of self-giving love, and turn away from a selfish life. And in doing so find freedom and joy in the service to the world.
But how do we do we allow God to change our lives? We do this by being the Church. In baptism we are claimed by God as beloved children of God. God gives us the gift of grace. What does "grace" mean? It means "kindness" ... "divine kindness". And in order to grow in that kindness we need to give it to others. Give kindness by telling people about Jesus. Give the kindness of Jesus to each other in Christian fellowship. Give kindness to friends. Give kindness to family. And especially give kindness to the stranger.
That is what the man with one talent was given. He was given skills to be shared in the loving of others, but chose not to and therefore could not be part of God's kingdom which is ruled by self-giving love. As Christians we say that salvation comes by grace through faith. We discover the Good News that God loves us just as who we are right now, that is grace. But we need to trust our future to God. We need to risk living a new life in response to God's love. We need Jesus to show us a whole new way of life.
There are Christians who have worked hard in the Church all their lives who don't know this. They think being a Christian means following a harsh Jesus who makes them feel guilty so they have to work hard to earn a place at the table. No, no, no, we are welcome at the table already, just as we are, and it is at the table of Jesus that we are invited to live a life of freedom from guilt. We are called to live a life motivated by love, rather than fear. We are call to be people for whom the kindness of God overflows in our lives.
That is why the one talent was taken from the one who was unwilling to trust that God's household is one of love. Sharing love with others is central to the coming of God's Kingdom, and he could not imagine that he could live differently. For those who don't practice kindness soon find in the end that it disappears, but to those who share it, they find that Jesus gives them an abundance of opportunities for loving others.
Now, one last point lest this sound like a naive encouragement to "just be a kind person." We are called into a whole new way of living, one not ruled by fear, but we often don't get it right. Often we make mistakes thinking that we're doing a loving thing, but later we discover that it was an evil thing. Remember what the United Church did to the aboriginal people. We thought that by forcing them to learn English that it would be a good thing. Later we found out that we destroyed cultures, and lives. And for that we have expressed our sorry.
Or we thought we were doing the right thing to another in the Church, but later discovered we were wrong. Or perhaps discovered that we neglected someone. These are times when we ask for forgiveness.
It can be difficult to know how to love, but then Jesus does not leave us alone. We gather here each week. God sends people to help us to grow in loving. Jesus gives gifts to writers, song writers, care givers, preachers, teachers, and spiritual friends who will encourage us to overcome fear, challenge us to face falsehood, and remind us that Jesus considers us beloved friends.
And therefore be compassionate and forgiving with those who make mistakes. Find ways to reconcile and forgive. And when you run into people like the one talented man, do not let them pour water on the fire of your spirit. Don't be surprised that there are people in the Church who are ruled by fear not grace. I met a man once who stopped being a Christian because as a boy some people in church were cruel to him. But Jesus is never cruel. When you encounter the heartless, tell them the Good News of Jesus Christ and show them kindness. They might just take a leap of faith and find that through Jesus, they have been given not just a new heart, but a whole new joyous life.
Sermon Matthew 25:13-31
There is a saying in English, "Use it or lose it." Use your muscles or they become weak and you fall down. Use your brain or later in life you will become senile. "Use it or lose it." It seems like simple wisdom.
The English saying certainly comes from today's scripture passage. A master was going away and he entrusts his money to his servants. To one he gives five thousand dollars, to another two thousand, and to another one thousand. Actually he gives them five, two, and one talents. A "talent" is a block of silver worth about $1000. As you know the word "talent" in English comes from this scripture passage.
We say, "Lin Yin, is a talented musician." We say, "Wei Hsi is a talented music director." We look at our children and say, "Oh, my son is a talented artist. My daughter is a talented math student." But, even though the English language uses the word talent to describe being gifted with a special skill, today's text isn't talking about all sorts of skills.
Today's text isn't even about money, although some have tried to say it is. We know of sermon's where clergy, often with wealthy congregations will say, "See, the one with the 5 talents worked hard, and therefore God blessed him. And the wicked lazy servant, those are the poor people who don't work hard with what God gives them so its their fault they suffer." This text has cruelly been used to justify wealth and condemn the poor as lazy, even though we know that among the wealthy there are people who have become rich by working very hard and other wealthy people who have become rich by working very little. Just as we know that there are poor people who work very hard, but stay poor. And yes in some cases there are poor people who are lazy. But this text is not talking about how to become rich through hard work.
What we do know is that the text says that Jesus is talking about the Kingdom of Heaven, talking about what is also called the Kingdom of God, talking about God's power that is breaking into the world through Jesus. He tells three stories in Matthew Chapter 25. The story of the young women with the oil. The story of the talents. And the story of the final judgement where some are called sheep and others goats.
And today we are right in the middle with a story that some might think is very harsh.
The five talent man who doubles the wealth is told, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord."
The two talent man who doubles the wealth is told, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord."
And to the one talent man, who buries his talent, the master says, "Lord, I knew you that you are a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter.
I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the earth. Behold, you have your own." But his lord answered him, "You wicked and slothful servant. You knew that I reap where I didn`t sow, and gather where I didn`t scatter. You ought therefore to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received back my own with interest. Take away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will be given, and he will have abundance, but from him who has not, even that which he has will be taken away. Throw out the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness; there will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth."
What terrible judgement for the man who buries his masters money. The money is taken from him and given to the one who has the most. This doesn't sound like a loving God does it? Where is the forgiveness? Where is kindness? How can God's presence in the world be connected with such terrible consequences? Indeed, being cast out of the light, out of the house of the master, cast out of the Kingdom of Heaven, into what sounds like a place of despair and anger, doesn't sound like a Jesus who is willing to die for enemies, and forgive those who killed him. This doesn't sound like Jesus who forgives those who abandoned him when he was arrested but later forgives them.
Is Jesus kind? Yes! Does Jesus love us? Yes! Does Jesus have compassion for those who fail in life? Yes! Does Jesus love people who hate him? Yes! Does Jesus want anyone to be in a place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth ... into hell? No! In the Gospel of John, it says, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God didn`t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him"
This is the Jesus we know, however did you hear it? This isn't the Jesus that the man with one talent knows. Did you hear why he buries his talent? "Lord, I knew you that you are a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter. I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the earth. Behold, you have your own."
Listen to the one talent servant ... he thinks Jesus is a hard man. A vengeful man. A cruel man. The servant thinks that if he fails Jesus will punish him. He's afraid of Jesus, afraid of God, and afraid to serve lest he fail and be in a worse situation. He can imagine that life could be more that his, and his fear enslaves him.
He's part of the household of God, and yet, because of his fear he has never gotten to know who Jesus really is. He has never took the time share in the mission of Jesus, so that he could discover that the reason why Jesus can reap where he has not sown.
The worthless servant is the one who has not followed Jesus and learned along the journey who Jesus is; one full of kindness, compassion, mercy, and most of all forgiveness. The worthless servant has been welcomed into the household, but clearly hasn't committed himself to learned to live as part of the household of God. As a slave of fear, he can not live in a house ruled by love.
Remember what Jesus most common commandment is? Don't be afraid. Don't live a life ruled by fear. Don't be a Church ruled by fear. Don't think following Jesus is always being afraid of messing up. Of always being on guard lest God punish you. That is not the God we know in Jesus.
As I thought about this sermon, part of me wanted to change the parable to include another servant. The servant who was given ½ a talent but made a bad trade and had to face Jesus with no talents. I image this one, with a face hung low, saying to the Lord, "I tried but I failed." And I imagined the Lord saying, "I forgive you, here's another ½ talent, try again." After thinking this, I realized that Jesus would live this parable later in the story. You see, Jesus gives this parable of warning, right before he is to be killed, right before his disciples abandon him, right before they fail him.
At the cross, they come to know where their love fails, discover that God's love is more powerful even than death. They know that with God all things are possible. They are willing to trust and live as Jesus calls them to live. They are the ones who are willing to let God show them a whole new way.
Jesus said, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!" Repent means, "Change directions." You've been welcomed into the Kingdom of Heaven right now, but will you allow God to change your lives from being ruled by fear to being ruled by love." You have been baptised and claimed as a beloved child of God, but will you follow Jesus as a disciple? Hear the Good News that the master of the universe, the crucified one, has called you to live a life of self-giving love, and turn away from a selfish life. And in doing so find freedom and joy in the service to the world.
But how do we do we allow God to change our lives? We do this by being the Church. In baptism we are claimed by God as beloved children of God. God gives us the gift of grace. What does "grace" mean? It means "kindness" ... "divine kindness". And in order to grow in that kindness we need to give it to others. Give kindness by telling people about Jesus. Give the kindness of Jesus to each other in Christian fellowship. Give kindness to friends. Give kindness to family. And especially give kindness to the stranger.
That is what the man with one talent was given. He was given skills to be shared in the loving of others, but chose not to and therefore could not be part of God's kingdom which is ruled by self-giving love. As Christians we say that salvation comes by grace through faith. We discover the Good News that God loves us just as who we are right now, that is grace. But we need to trust our future to God. We need to risk living a new life in response to God's love. We need Jesus to show us a whole new way of life.
There are Christians who have worked hard in the Church all their lives who don't know this. They think being a Christian means following a harsh Jesus who makes them feel guilty so they have to work hard to earn a place at the table. No, no, no, we are welcome at the table already, just as we are, and it is at the table of Jesus that we are invited to live a life of freedom from guilt. We are called to live a life motivated by love, rather than fear. We are call to be people for whom the kindness of God overflows in our lives.
That is why the one talent was taken from the one who was unwilling to trust that God's household is one of love. Sharing love with others is central to the coming of God's Kingdom, and he could not imagine that he could live differently. For those who don't practice kindness soon find in the end that it disappears, but to those who share it, they find that Jesus gives them an abundance of opportunities for loving others.
Now, one last point lest this sound like a naive encouragement to "just be a kind person." We are called into a whole new way of living, one not ruled by fear, but we often don't get it right. Often we make mistakes thinking that we're doing a loving thing, but later we discover that it was an evil thing. Remember what the United Church did to the aboriginal people. We thought that by forcing them to learn English that it would be a good thing. Later we found out that we destroyed cultures, and lives. And for that we have expressed our sorry.
Or we thought we were doing the right thing to another in the Church, but later discovered we were wrong. Or perhaps discovered that we neglected someone. These are times when we ask for forgiveness.
It can be difficult to know how to love, but then Jesus does not leave us alone. We gather here each week. God sends people to help us to grow in loving. Jesus gives gifts to writers, song writers, care givers, preachers, teachers, and spiritual friends who will encourage us to overcome fear, challenge us to face falsehood, and remind us that Jesus considers us beloved friends.
And therefore be compassionate and forgiving with those who make mistakes. Find ways to reconcile and forgive. And when you run into people like the one talented man, do not let them pour water on the fire of your spirit. Don't be surprised that there are people in the Church who are ruled by fear not grace. I met a man once who stopped being a Christian because as a boy some people in church were cruel to him. But Jesus is never cruel. When you encounter the heartless, tell them the Good News of Jesus Christ and show them kindness. They might just take a leap of faith and find that through Jesus, they have been given not just a new heart, but a whole new joyous life.
Sermon Matthew 25:13-31
Jesus Saves
John 4:1-30 JESUS: THE GREAT SOUL WINNER
Intro: As we continue to stroll through John's magnificent portrait gallery, we are presented with a new portrait of Jesus. In John chapter 4, Jesus is presented as the Great Soul Winner. From Nathaniel in the beginning of His ministry to the thief on the cross at the end of His ministry, Jesus was bust bringing sinners unto Himself. He genuinely cared for the fallen and was willing to reach out to all who crossed His path, whatever the cost! This story is no exception! In these verses, we can watch Jesus doing that which He does best; bringing sinners to salvation. We want to join Jesus today as He speaks with a poor, lost, sinful woman. As we do, look at your own life. Do you know the Lord? Are you genuinely saved today? If not, please know from the outset that Jesus cares for you. 3,000 years ago, David cried out in Psalm 142:4, "No man cared for my soul." You may feel that way today. In fact, it may be true that no man on this earth truly cares about you or what happens to your soul. However, the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ cares! In fact, He cared so much that He willingly left Heaven and proved His love by dying for your sins on the cross, Rom. 5:8, "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." As this message unfolds today, please allow the Lord to speak to your heart and then come to Jesus as He leads. He cares and He will demonstrate that fact if you will allow Him the opportunity.
As we go through these verses, Christian, learn from the Savior's example. He longs to use you to reach a lost world. Following His example in reaching the lost is far better than any program or any course you can take. Let's join Jesus as He meets the woman at the well and demonstrates Himself to be the Great Soul Winner.
I. V. 1-8 THE CONFRONTATION WITH A SINFUL WOMAN
A. V. 3-6 The Savior - In these opening verses, Jesus is shown in His compassion and in His humanity. While Jesus was God, He was still a man and He was acquainted with the trials and problems of life. He demonstrates that He does indeed care for the lost.
1. He Is Seen Walking - This is the evidence of His poverty. He could have afforded anything He could have ever wanted, yet He chose to live like the common man. Jesus knows what we face in life, Heb. 4:15. This is why He has such compassion on the lost.
2. He Is Seen As Willing - Verse 4 declares that Jesus 'must needs go through Samaria." Most Jews went dozens of miles out of their way to avoid going through the land of the Samaritans. So great was their prejudice and their hatred of the people who were a mixed race of Jews and Gentiles. Jesus, however, was unaffected by the prejudice of the Jews. There was a woman who was going to be called to salvation and Jesus was determined to see that she had the opportunity to be saved.
(Ill. There is no person or race of people beyond the reach of God's grace. All are sinners and are in need of salvation. Jesus loves them all and we are commanded to love them as well. If Jesus would reach out to the most hated people of His day, then it is up to His children to tear down every wall of prejudice and reach out to people regardless of where they are or where they come from!)
(Ill. Notice that Jesus was willing to go out of His way to reach this poor lost woman. This teaches us that regardless of where we go, God can still reach out and touch our lives. Just ask Jonah! David states this great fact in Psalm 139:7-9.)
3. He Is Seen As Wearied - Again, this demonstrates His humanity. As God, Jesus never tired, yet as a man, He was prone to the same physical weaknesses as are we all. The point I want you to see is that it is no coincidence that Jesus was wearied just here. Jesus was here on a mission and that mission is clearly stated in Luke 19:10, "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost."
4. He Is Seen Waiting - Jesus is seen waiting on this dear woman to come His way. He has a wonderful gift that He wants to give to her. She never gave a thought to meeting a Jewish Rabbi at the well. Jesus, however, knew she was coming and He was patiently waiting to rescue this one lost sheep.
(Ill. All along the way of life Jesus positions Himself directly in our pathway. We kind of cruise through life without much thought for God or His plan. Then, out of the blue, there Jesus is, right in our faces. He establishes these crossroads to bring us to salvation. Thank God for the strategic crossroads of life!)
B. V. 7a The Sinner - The second person in this great play is a woman. A woman who is sinful and is in need of salvation. According to verse 6, it is about the sixth hour. According to the Jewish clock, this would be around 12 noon. (Ill. Jacob's well was about ½ mile from the village.) For a woman to be drawing water at this hour would be an unusual occurrence. Normally, the women from the village would gather together early in the morning, while the day was still cool. These women would go to the well together and would catch up on the gossip of the day and spend time talking to their friends. Because this woman is alone and is coming at during hottest time of the day is an indication that she was a social outcast. It seems that the other women of the village would have nothing to do with her. She probably came to the well alone to avoid the insults and attacks of the other woman. The reason for this ostracization is evident from verses 16-18. She was hated, even by her own people.
(Ill. This lady is no different from any other sinner who has ever walked upon the face of the earth. She, like all sinners, had problems far removed from just being a social pariah. The problem all sinners face is that we are estranged from God. Ill. Psa. 58:3. The Bible makes it crystal clear that it is our sin that stands between us and a relationship with the Lord, Isa. 59:2. It was bad to be a social outcast, but she was a spiritual outcast as well. My friend, if you have never received Jesus as your personal Savior, then you too are lost and undone without the Lord and you need to be saved by the grace of God. Until you come to Jesus, you will be an outcast, spiritually, from God. But, thank God for the reconciliation that is found in the Lord Jesus. He bridges the gap between God and man - 1 Tim. 2:5.) (Ill. The Daysman referred to in Job 9:33. "It was the eastern custom for a judge to lay his hands upon the heads of the two parties in disagreement, thus emphasizing his adjudicatory capacity and his desire to render an unbiased verdict." Jesus is our Daysman! He takes the sinner in one hand and the Father in the other and brings us together in Himself.)
C. V. 7b-8 The Scene - Notice that it is just Jesus and the woman. All the distractions of her life have been removed. None of her 5 ex-husbands are present. Her current co-fornicator is nowhere around. None of the women who so intensely hated her and her lifestyle are to be found here. It is just her and Jesus.
(Ultimately, it always comes down to just you and Him. In the final analysis, it isn't going to matter what you did in life, who you impressed, who you offended. It isn't going to matter what you did or didn't do, what will finally be of importance is what you did with Jesus. The ultimate question of life is this, "What think ye of Christ?" (Matt. 22:42) In the end, all that will matter is what you did with Jesus when you had the opportunity.)
(Ill. As you look back over the days of your life, how many times have you been brought face to face with the Lord Jesus Christ? How many times have you had to decide to say no to His tender calls? Now, this question must be answered, How many more times will He call you to come to Him? Dear Friend, if Jesus is trying to get your attention and wants to save your soul, please do not put Him off. Today may be your last opportunity. After all, there will come a day when He will stop calling you to be saved - Gen. 6:3 Pro. 29:1)
I. The Confrontation With A Sinful Woman
II. V. 9-26 THE CONVERSATION WITH A SINFUL WOMAN
(Ill. During the time Jesus conversed with this woman, they talked about several things. Jesus is seen here patiently leading this woman to the place of salvation. Let's listen in and observe their conversation.)
A. V. 9-12 They Talked Of Wells - When Jesus asked her for a drink, apparently He had no means by which to draw water, v. 11, she responded with amazement that a Jew would ask for a drink from a woman, much less a Samaritan. (Ill. It was considered inappropriate for a Rabbi to speak to a woman in public.) Jesus, then, offers her a drink of "living water." She confuses the physical with the spiritual. Salvation is not a transaction that can be explained in human terms. It is a spiritual transaction. At this point, she is not ready for salvation, (Ill. She is a little sarcastic), but Jesus is leading her along in that direction.
(Ill. While other Rabbis would never have spoken to this woman at this well, Jesus was not afraid of social stigmas, nor did He care for common religious practice. Jesus was will to reach out to her in an effort to win her despite the personal cost to Himself. What a lesson to Christians! We are to reach beyond all manmade barriers to bring the lost to Jesus.).
B. V. 13-15 They Talked Of Water - Jesus tells her that she can drink from Jacob's Well every day and she will still get thirsty and will have to come back and draw again. (Ill. This is supported by the tense of the verb "drinketh." In verse 13 it is in the present tense. It implies ongoing, continual action.) However, He tells her that He can give her a drink of water that will for ever satisfy her. (Ill. This is supported by the tense of the verb "drinketh" in verse 14. In this verse, it is in the aorist tense. This implies a one time action that has ongoing results into the future.) To simplify this, Jesus is saying to this woman, "You can drink all you will from Jacob's Well, and you will still get thirsty. However, I can give you one drink of living water and you will be satisfied forever."
(Ill. This is the nature of salvation. One can drink of the pleasures of this world, like this poor woman, and will still have to try to find more ways to satisfy themselves. However, one trip to the fountain of living water will forever satisfy the thirsty soul. Coming to Jesus will forever meet the needs of life and of the heart.)
(Ill. She is still confusing the physical and the spiritual. She is still a little sarcastic when dealing with Jesus.)
C. V. 16-19 They Talked Of Wickedness - In an effort to awaken her to her spiritual need, Jesus plainly touches what must have been the sorest spot in this woman's life. He pointed out her sinfulness! I can almost imagine the guilt this woman lived with day after day. I would imagine that her heart was in constant turmoil because of her sins - Ill. Pro. 13:15.
(Ill. This may seem cruel of the Lord, but nobody will eve come to Jesus for salvation until they are first awakened to their own personal need. Until the sinners knows he is lost, he will never desire to be found. Thus, conviction is of vital importance. Without it, nobody can ever be saved - John 6:44, 65; Eph. 2:1. Please note that God is not as nearly afraid of revealing your sins as you are of having them revealed! He will do whatever He has to do to bring you to repentance.)
(Ill. Whether you agree with Jesus or not, His tactic got her attention. She is now ready to admit that Jesus is someone special, v. 19.)
D. V. 20-24 They Talked Of Worship - Since they are on the topic of religion, the woman proceeds to show Jesus that she is no slacker in that area either. She tries to start an argument about the proper place to worship. Jesus simply ignores her jab and tells her that true worship is never found in external rituals and substitutes for God, but can only be found in spiritual worship of the Lord. That is, in worship that comes from His indwelling Spirit.
(Ill. There are billions who give themselves to external forms of worship today in an effort to get close to the Lord. These things will never work! Worship is not some ritual or form, worship is a state of the heart that exalts a great God. To do that, you need nothing but His Spirit and a willingness to give glory unto God.)
E. V. 25-26 They Talked Of Wisdom - This lady displays an openness to the words of Jesus. She reveals that she is concerned about salvation and about the things of God. Jesus simply reveals Himself as the supple she needs.
(Ill. This is what He does for every sinner. He doesn't come to you as a judge to condemn you. He never condemned this woman. He doesn't come as a bully to force you to come to Him. He doesn't come as a buffet to offer you many choices for salvation. He simply come as the Way, the Truth and the Life and offers Himself to you as the only way of salvation. To understand and to grasp this truth is the purest form of wisdom known to man.)
(Ill. In these verses, Jesus gave this woman all that she needed to make a decision about her salvation. I believe that we could stop at this point and you have heard enough so tht you too could come to Jesus and be saved. However, I want to show you what she did with what she heard and how you can do the very same thing.)
III. V. 27-30 THE CONVERSION OF A SINFUL WOMAN
A. V. 28a It Was Immediate - As soon as Jesus revealed Himself to her, she responded in faith and her salvation was instantaneous. There was no mourner's bench, no praying through, no holding on, no 12 step program. She simply trusted and she was instantly saved.
(Ill. It will work the same for you too. When a sinner comes to Jesus, and places his faith in Christ, the transformation is immediate. The sinner is instantly changed from a dead, lost sinner into an eternally alive child of God. What a change takes place!)
B. V. 28b It Was Incredible - She ran right off in her excitement and forgot all about why she even went to the well. She just left her water pot behind. She forgot the plans and the pull of the old life when she met Jesus. She came to the well for physical water and discovered spiritual water. She met Jesus and was forever changed.
(Ill. This is just how salvation works. When the sinner comes to Christ, there is an immediate transformation that takes place. It goes far deeper than just getting our souls saved. When we come to Jesus, we are changed in our totality - 2 Cor. 5:17. So complete is this change that we are called new "creatures." Remember Zaccheaus - As soon as he came to Jesus, his whole character was changed and he wanted to live for the Lord.)
C. V. 28c-29 It Was Impelling - She ran to the city to tell the others about this Man she had met. She felt compelled to tell others about the salvation that she had just experienced.
(Ill. Salvation will give you a message to share and a heart to share it. When you have been delivered from death and Hell, you want to help others find their way out of sin as well.)
(Ill. Ever wonder why she went to the men? She knew them better. After all, the women wouldn't even go with her to the well. Why would they listen to her talk about religious matters. The men, on the other hand, knew this woman and could probably see the change in her character.)
(Ill. Whatever the reason, the fact remains that she was an instrument used of the Lord to bring many to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, v. 41-42. While sinners do not get saved by our witness, God can take our words and work His conviction in their hearts.)
Conclusion: What was it that took this woman from being a hardened sinner, who was dead to spiritual things and transformed her into a powerful witness for the Lord? It can be summed up in one word: Jesus! He makes the difference in any life He touches. Has He touched your life? Has He redeemed you from your sins? If you were to die today, where would you spend your eternity? My friends, I invite you to come to Jesus today and to allow Him to save your eternal souls. There is absolutely nothing more important that where you will spend eternity. And that all rests upon what you decide about Jesus. Will you come to Him today and be saved?
Intro: As we continue to stroll through John's magnificent portrait gallery, we are presented with a new portrait of Jesus. In John chapter 4, Jesus is presented as the Great Soul Winner. From Nathaniel in the beginning of His ministry to the thief on the cross at the end of His ministry, Jesus was bust bringing sinners unto Himself. He genuinely cared for the fallen and was willing to reach out to all who crossed His path, whatever the cost! This story is no exception! In these verses, we can watch Jesus doing that which He does best; bringing sinners to salvation. We want to join Jesus today as He speaks with a poor, lost, sinful woman. As we do, look at your own life. Do you know the Lord? Are you genuinely saved today? If not, please know from the outset that Jesus cares for you. 3,000 years ago, David cried out in Psalm 142:4, "No man cared for my soul." You may feel that way today. In fact, it may be true that no man on this earth truly cares about you or what happens to your soul. However, the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ cares! In fact, He cared so much that He willingly left Heaven and proved His love by dying for your sins on the cross, Rom. 5:8, "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." As this message unfolds today, please allow the Lord to speak to your heart and then come to Jesus as He leads. He cares and He will demonstrate that fact if you will allow Him the opportunity.
As we go through these verses, Christian, learn from the Savior's example. He longs to use you to reach a lost world. Following His example in reaching the lost is far better than any program or any course you can take. Let's join Jesus as He meets the woman at the well and demonstrates Himself to be the Great Soul Winner.
I. V. 1-8 THE CONFRONTATION WITH A SINFUL WOMAN
A. V. 3-6 The Savior - In these opening verses, Jesus is shown in His compassion and in His humanity. While Jesus was God, He was still a man and He was acquainted with the trials and problems of life. He demonstrates that He does indeed care for the lost.
1. He Is Seen Walking - This is the evidence of His poverty. He could have afforded anything He could have ever wanted, yet He chose to live like the common man. Jesus knows what we face in life, Heb. 4:15. This is why He has such compassion on the lost.
2. He Is Seen As Willing - Verse 4 declares that Jesus 'must needs go through Samaria." Most Jews went dozens of miles out of their way to avoid going through the land of the Samaritans. So great was their prejudice and their hatred of the people who were a mixed race of Jews and Gentiles. Jesus, however, was unaffected by the prejudice of the Jews. There was a woman who was going to be called to salvation and Jesus was determined to see that she had the opportunity to be saved.
(Ill. There is no person or race of people beyond the reach of God's grace. All are sinners and are in need of salvation. Jesus loves them all and we are commanded to love them as well. If Jesus would reach out to the most hated people of His day, then it is up to His children to tear down every wall of prejudice and reach out to people regardless of where they are or where they come from!)
(Ill. Notice that Jesus was willing to go out of His way to reach this poor lost woman. This teaches us that regardless of where we go, God can still reach out and touch our lives. Just ask Jonah! David states this great fact in Psalm 139:7-9.)
3. He Is Seen As Wearied - Again, this demonstrates His humanity. As God, Jesus never tired, yet as a man, He was prone to the same physical weaknesses as are we all. The point I want you to see is that it is no coincidence that Jesus was wearied just here. Jesus was here on a mission and that mission is clearly stated in Luke 19:10, "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost."
4. He Is Seen Waiting - Jesus is seen waiting on this dear woman to come His way. He has a wonderful gift that He wants to give to her. She never gave a thought to meeting a Jewish Rabbi at the well. Jesus, however, knew she was coming and He was patiently waiting to rescue this one lost sheep.
(Ill. All along the way of life Jesus positions Himself directly in our pathway. We kind of cruise through life without much thought for God or His plan. Then, out of the blue, there Jesus is, right in our faces. He establishes these crossroads to bring us to salvation. Thank God for the strategic crossroads of life!)
B. V. 7a The Sinner - The second person in this great play is a woman. A woman who is sinful and is in need of salvation. According to verse 6, it is about the sixth hour. According to the Jewish clock, this would be around 12 noon. (Ill. Jacob's well was about ½ mile from the village.) For a woman to be drawing water at this hour would be an unusual occurrence. Normally, the women from the village would gather together early in the morning, while the day was still cool. These women would go to the well together and would catch up on the gossip of the day and spend time talking to their friends. Because this woman is alone and is coming at during hottest time of the day is an indication that she was a social outcast. It seems that the other women of the village would have nothing to do with her. She probably came to the well alone to avoid the insults and attacks of the other woman. The reason for this ostracization is evident from verses 16-18. She was hated, even by her own people.
(Ill. This lady is no different from any other sinner who has ever walked upon the face of the earth. She, like all sinners, had problems far removed from just being a social pariah. The problem all sinners face is that we are estranged from God. Ill. Psa. 58:3. The Bible makes it crystal clear that it is our sin that stands between us and a relationship with the Lord, Isa. 59:2. It was bad to be a social outcast, but she was a spiritual outcast as well. My friend, if you have never received Jesus as your personal Savior, then you too are lost and undone without the Lord and you need to be saved by the grace of God. Until you come to Jesus, you will be an outcast, spiritually, from God. But, thank God for the reconciliation that is found in the Lord Jesus. He bridges the gap between God and man - 1 Tim. 2:5.) (Ill. The Daysman referred to in Job 9:33. "It was the eastern custom for a judge to lay his hands upon the heads of the two parties in disagreement, thus emphasizing his adjudicatory capacity and his desire to render an unbiased verdict." Jesus is our Daysman! He takes the sinner in one hand and the Father in the other and brings us together in Himself.)
C. V. 7b-8 The Scene - Notice that it is just Jesus and the woman. All the distractions of her life have been removed. None of her 5 ex-husbands are present. Her current co-fornicator is nowhere around. None of the women who so intensely hated her and her lifestyle are to be found here. It is just her and Jesus.
(Ultimately, it always comes down to just you and Him. In the final analysis, it isn't going to matter what you did in life, who you impressed, who you offended. It isn't going to matter what you did or didn't do, what will finally be of importance is what you did with Jesus. The ultimate question of life is this, "What think ye of Christ?" (Matt. 22:42) In the end, all that will matter is what you did with Jesus when you had the opportunity.)
(Ill. As you look back over the days of your life, how many times have you been brought face to face with the Lord Jesus Christ? How many times have you had to decide to say no to His tender calls? Now, this question must be answered, How many more times will He call you to come to Him? Dear Friend, if Jesus is trying to get your attention and wants to save your soul, please do not put Him off. Today may be your last opportunity. After all, there will come a day when He will stop calling you to be saved - Gen. 6:3 Pro. 29:1)
I. The Confrontation With A Sinful Woman
II. V. 9-26 THE CONVERSATION WITH A SINFUL WOMAN
(Ill. During the time Jesus conversed with this woman, they talked about several things. Jesus is seen here patiently leading this woman to the place of salvation. Let's listen in and observe their conversation.)
A. V. 9-12 They Talked Of Wells - When Jesus asked her for a drink, apparently He had no means by which to draw water, v. 11, she responded with amazement that a Jew would ask for a drink from a woman, much less a Samaritan. (Ill. It was considered inappropriate for a Rabbi to speak to a woman in public.) Jesus, then, offers her a drink of "living water." She confuses the physical with the spiritual. Salvation is not a transaction that can be explained in human terms. It is a spiritual transaction. At this point, she is not ready for salvation, (Ill. She is a little sarcastic), but Jesus is leading her along in that direction.
(Ill. While other Rabbis would never have spoken to this woman at this well, Jesus was not afraid of social stigmas, nor did He care for common religious practice. Jesus was will to reach out to her in an effort to win her despite the personal cost to Himself. What a lesson to Christians! We are to reach beyond all manmade barriers to bring the lost to Jesus.).
B. V. 13-15 They Talked Of Water - Jesus tells her that she can drink from Jacob's Well every day and she will still get thirsty and will have to come back and draw again. (Ill. This is supported by the tense of the verb "drinketh." In verse 13 it is in the present tense. It implies ongoing, continual action.) However, He tells her that He can give her a drink of water that will for ever satisfy her. (Ill. This is supported by the tense of the verb "drinketh" in verse 14. In this verse, it is in the aorist tense. This implies a one time action that has ongoing results into the future.) To simplify this, Jesus is saying to this woman, "You can drink all you will from Jacob's Well, and you will still get thirsty. However, I can give you one drink of living water and you will be satisfied forever."
(Ill. This is the nature of salvation. One can drink of the pleasures of this world, like this poor woman, and will still have to try to find more ways to satisfy themselves. However, one trip to the fountain of living water will forever satisfy the thirsty soul. Coming to Jesus will forever meet the needs of life and of the heart.)
(Ill. She is still confusing the physical and the spiritual. She is still a little sarcastic when dealing with Jesus.)
C. V. 16-19 They Talked Of Wickedness - In an effort to awaken her to her spiritual need, Jesus plainly touches what must have been the sorest spot in this woman's life. He pointed out her sinfulness! I can almost imagine the guilt this woman lived with day after day. I would imagine that her heart was in constant turmoil because of her sins - Ill. Pro. 13:15.
(Ill. This may seem cruel of the Lord, but nobody will eve come to Jesus for salvation until they are first awakened to their own personal need. Until the sinners knows he is lost, he will never desire to be found. Thus, conviction is of vital importance. Without it, nobody can ever be saved - John 6:44, 65; Eph. 2:1. Please note that God is not as nearly afraid of revealing your sins as you are of having them revealed! He will do whatever He has to do to bring you to repentance.)
(Ill. Whether you agree with Jesus or not, His tactic got her attention. She is now ready to admit that Jesus is someone special, v. 19.)
D. V. 20-24 They Talked Of Worship - Since they are on the topic of religion, the woman proceeds to show Jesus that she is no slacker in that area either. She tries to start an argument about the proper place to worship. Jesus simply ignores her jab and tells her that true worship is never found in external rituals and substitutes for God, but can only be found in spiritual worship of the Lord. That is, in worship that comes from His indwelling Spirit.
(Ill. There are billions who give themselves to external forms of worship today in an effort to get close to the Lord. These things will never work! Worship is not some ritual or form, worship is a state of the heart that exalts a great God. To do that, you need nothing but His Spirit and a willingness to give glory unto God.)
E. V. 25-26 They Talked Of Wisdom - This lady displays an openness to the words of Jesus. She reveals that she is concerned about salvation and about the things of God. Jesus simply reveals Himself as the supple she needs.
(Ill. This is what He does for every sinner. He doesn't come to you as a judge to condemn you. He never condemned this woman. He doesn't come as a bully to force you to come to Him. He doesn't come as a buffet to offer you many choices for salvation. He simply come as the Way, the Truth and the Life and offers Himself to you as the only way of salvation. To understand and to grasp this truth is the purest form of wisdom known to man.)
(Ill. In these verses, Jesus gave this woman all that she needed to make a decision about her salvation. I believe that we could stop at this point and you have heard enough so tht you too could come to Jesus and be saved. However, I want to show you what she did with what she heard and how you can do the very same thing.)
III. V. 27-30 THE CONVERSION OF A SINFUL WOMAN
A. V. 28a It Was Immediate - As soon as Jesus revealed Himself to her, she responded in faith and her salvation was instantaneous. There was no mourner's bench, no praying through, no holding on, no 12 step program. She simply trusted and she was instantly saved.
(Ill. It will work the same for you too. When a sinner comes to Jesus, and places his faith in Christ, the transformation is immediate. The sinner is instantly changed from a dead, lost sinner into an eternally alive child of God. What a change takes place!)
B. V. 28b It Was Incredible - She ran right off in her excitement and forgot all about why she even went to the well. She just left her water pot behind. She forgot the plans and the pull of the old life when she met Jesus. She came to the well for physical water and discovered spiritual water. She met Jesus and was forever changed.
(Ill. This is just how salvation works. When the sinner comes to Christ, there is an immediate transformation that takes place. It goes far deeper than just getting our souls saved. When we come to Jesus, we are changed in our totality - 2 Cor. 5:17. So complete is this change that we are called new "creatures." Remember Zaccheaus - As soon as he came to Jesus, his whole character was changed and he wanted to live for the Lord.)
C. V. 28c-29 It Was Impelling - She ran to the city to tell the others about this Man she had met. She felt compelled to tell others about the salvation that she had just experienced.
(Ill. Salvation will give you a message to share and a heart to share it. When you have been delivered from death and Hell, you want to help others find their way out of sin as well.)
(Ill. Ever wonder why she went to the men? She knew them better. After all, the women wouldn't even go with her to the well. Why would they listen to her talk about religious matters. The men, on the other hand, knew this woman and could probably see the change in her character.)
(Ill. Whatever the reason, the fact remains that she was an instrument used of the Lord to bring many to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, v. 41-42. While sinners do not get saved by our witness, God can take our words and work His conviction in their hearts.)
Conclusion: What was it that took this woman from being a hardened sinner, who was dead to spiritual things and transformed her into a powerful witness for the Lord? It can be summed up in one word: Jesus! He makes the difference in any life He touches. Has He touched your life? Has He redeemed you from your sins? If you were to die today, where would you spend your eternity? My friends, I invite you to come to Jesus today and to allow Him to save your eternal souls. There is absolutely nothing more important that where you will spend eternity. And that all rests upon what you decide about Jesus. Will you come to Him today and be saved?
The little things make a big difference
Jabez and His Prayer
Jabez was more honourable than his brothers; and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, 'Because I bore him in pain'. Jabez called upon the God of Israel saying, 'Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me and that you would keep me from harm so that it might not bring me pain!' And God granted what he asked.
1 Chronicles 4:9-10
Some of you may know that in the year 2000, a small book was published in America under the title The Prayer of Jabez. Based on the words of our text, it became a best seller almost immediately, and still remains among the top titles listed in the New York Times.
The author, Bruce Wilkinson, is an evangelical preacher who says that he has prayed the prayer of Jabez every day for thirty years, and that he has seen unprecedented blessing as a result. The book issues a challenge to Christians to follow his example, to pray this obscure Old Testament prayer, and to sit at the front row of God's miracles. In consequence, The Prayer of Jabez has spawned a massive industry of books, videos, and Bible editions.
There is much that is to be welcomed in Wilkinson's book. First, the emphasis on PRAYER is a welcome and important emphasis for the evangelical church at the present time. The church must engage in its battles on its knees, seeking God's blessing. We need more prayer, not less, and we would do well to heed the call to pray.
Second, the emphasis on returning to the Old Testament is also welcome. One of the results of much charismatic and Pentecostal teaching was a dismissal of the Old Testament -- the book of Acts was the only thing that mattered! Here, however, we are being reminded that God has something to say for the modern church from this ancient text which was first the preserve of a Semitic people which could justifiably be reckoned least among the nations of the world.
Third, it has to be acknowledged that Wilkinson's work is not just a version of the 'wealth and prosperity' Gospel preached by many televangelists. Wilkinson talks about 'praying Jabez' in a way that will look for spiritual blessing and opportunities for evangelism. That fact itself is a welcome relief from much current preaching that promises us health and wealth if we have enough faith in God.
There is still much in the book and the 'Jabez' industry that ought to give us pause, however, and there has been some good evangelical critique. We simply cannot reduce this great Old Testament formula to a mantra, and publish it with the guarantee that if we pray every day using these words, all will be well. It is not a case of 'What would Jabez do?' When the disciples asked Jesus how to pray, he did not refer them to Jabez. He taught them a pattern of prayer, into which we must feed all the examples of prayer in the Bible so that our prayer life will accord with the will of God. It is misleading to say to anyone: 'If you do X, God will do Y'. The Bible is a guide, not a talisman. And although our God is a miracle-working God, it is quite ludicrous to suggest that we are not experiencing miracles because we are not praying the Jabez prayer.
Perhaps its appeal lies in the simple formula and fad of providing a technique for blessing. There is always a danger in thinking that growth in knowledge, or in holiness, or in blessing, comes easily and without effort. Here we are told: do this, and you can short-cut your way to blessing. But that is not the Bible's way, and I doubt that it was the way Jabez found blessing either.
So I want to raise all these warning notes. But I also believe that this great passage of the Old Testament is a fitting and appropriate place for us to turn to at the beginning of a New Year. This was a great prayer, after all, and it stands like a piece of gold in the most unlikely setting, embedded in the genealogies of the opening chapters of Chronicles.
So in turning to look today at Jabez and his prayer, I want us to look at three things: the context, the content and the constraint of Jabez's petition before God.
First, We Will Look At the Context of Jabez's Prayer
The Books of Chronicles are not simply a re-telling of the history of Israel and Judah. They are a recasting of that history from a very clearly defined perspective. That perspective is the perspective of the covenant. I would even venture to say that without Chronicles we would not have a proper view of Old Testament history. What is told us in 37 books in the rest of the Old Testament is summarised in two books here. We have the whole story - from Adam to the return from captivity. And it is cast in terms of the faithfulness of the God of the promise. He has secured his church, and kept it safe. That is why it is with the books of Chronicles that the Hebrew Bible closes. It is the summary of the whole; the revision of God's work from the beginning of the world to the eve of Christ's coming.
Indeed, that may well be the reason, or at least one of the reasons, why Jabez is singled out here. The Chronicles story was written to encourage the people of God who had returned from exile. They were in pain. And Jabez was so called because for some reason he symbolised pain. Perhaps he is highlighted because the covenant people could so readily identify with him.
The one detail, however, which stands out about Jabez is this: 'he was more honourable than the rest of his brothers'. In a list of family names and genealogical lists, that must be significant. These chapters are all about family. They are all about kinship, and belonging. They detail for us the way in which God's purposes of grace ran, discriminately, through the line of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob, of Judah, of David. They show us God's sovereignty in the affairs of men, and his faithfulness to his covenant promise. And Habez, the man who prayed this prayer, is most honourable of all his peers.
The prayer itself is the only clue we have as to what made him honourable. The important thing is this: his honour was from God, not from men. He stands out among men simply because he wants to be honoured by God. This time of year is a time for honours: local and national personalities receive their 'New Years' Honours'. But we are told in the Bible that the honours of this world perish and vanish away. What counts is not what men think of us, but what God thinks of us. Jabez is honourable because God honours him.
How will we be characterised at the start of this new year? Are we striving for the honour and blessing God gives? Is our motivation to please him? To serve and honour him? Do we stand out among men, not as those who pray the Pharisee's prayer 'Lord, I thank you that I am not like other men...', but as those who know that whatever direction the current of this world's fashion and philosophy is flowing, they will not be carried along with it. Do we stand out in our generation? Are we known and marked as those who seek to please God first?
So, in this dry, arid context of lists of names and family trees, one man stands out for special mention. Does God look at us in this world of modern society and living and say, 'There are special people there'?
Secondly, We Will Look At the Content of Jabez's Prayer.
There are four distinct petitions here.
First, There Is the Prayer For God's Blessing.
Jabez says, 'O that you would bless me indeed'. The single most important thing in his life was that he would know the blessing of God. Nothing mattered but this. He could do without many things, but he did not wish to be without God's blessing.
It is important for us to recognise that the word 'bless' is primarily a covenant word - it forms part of the vocabulary of covenant. In a covenant, God holds out promises to those who obey and honour him, and threats to those who disobey and dishonour him. The experience of these promises is the covenant blessing; the experience of the threats is the covenant curse. Curse and Bless are opposites of one another; and they reflect the fact that God is faithful to the covenant word which he has spoken. So implicit in this prayer for blessing is a willingness to do all that God would have him do. You see, it is not just the prayer that is the secret of Jabez's happiness and contentment. For the prayer to be genuine, there has to be a heart commitment to the God of the covenant, to the stipulations of the king. You cannot pray 'God, bless me indeed!' and be genuine and sincere if you have no interest in obeying God and doing what he demands.
Perhaps, indeed, that is what singled Jabez out. Perhaps he was more honourable simply because of his willingness to respond to God's covenant revelation in obedience and faith. Perhaps more than all his contemporaries and peers, he had an ear attuned to God's word and an eye on the rewards God promises to those who honour him.
You see, you can make Jabez's prayer your mantra if you wish; but if you are harbouring secret, unconfessed sin against God, you cannot expect him to answer you in kind. You may have the prayer of Jabez on your lips, but unless you have the desire of Jabez in your heart, you cannot have the God of Jabez bless you. Blessing is all about covenant commitment. It is about recognising God's absolute commitment to what he has promised and what he has said. Does this mark us out at the beginning of this new year? Is our interest in the word of God and in the God of the word? Are we living in such a way that the only thing we are afraid of is offending God? Do we want our lives to be so empty of ourselves that only God's blessing matters to us? C.S. Lewis, I think, says in one place that the first thing you must do when you admire a work of art is to forget yourself. You must get yourself, as it were, out of the picture, if you are to appreciate what is actually in the picture. Do you see, that is what Jabez is about. He wants to get himself out of view, in order that God will be his all in all. What matters it to him though he lose home, family, property, friends - as long as he retains his friendship with God, and his interest in God's covenant.
'Bless me indeed!' What a prayer for the New Year!
Second, There Is the Prayer For God's Favour.
'Enlarge my coasts'. It is important that we catch the allusion here. When the tribes of Israel were settled in the promised land, the land of Canaan, that land was divided by the tribes and allotted to each one. Land was an integral part of God's covenant promise and commitment. He promised to take Abraham to a land which would belong to him and to his descendants for ever. He took Israel out of Egypt, with the ultimate guarantee of a land of their own. As the redemptive plan of God unfolds in the Old Testament, it becomes increasingly clear that the land is a major component of that purpose.
Elmer Martens, an Old Testament professor, suggests that Exodus 5:22-6:8 forms a kind of grid in which we can discern the major, pivotal themes of Old Testament theology. That passage culminates in these words: "And I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord." This, suggests Martens, is one of the main components of covenantal redemption and s in these words: "And I will bring you into the land whichI swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord." This, suggests Martens, is one of the main components of covenantal redemption and s in these words: "And I will bring you into the land which swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord." This, suggests Martens, is one of the main components of covenantal redemption and s in these words: "And I will bring you into the land which symbolises what Jesus has secured for us now. We no longer need to occupy Palestine in a physical sense. But in Christ, we possess the land!
So Jabez prays for an enlargement of his territory, for territorial expansion. And in essence, he is praying for a richer share in the inheritance of the people of God. Is that not our desire as this New Year dawns? That we might come to appreciate, and experience, in ever-increasing measure, all that Christ has secured for us and given us by way of inheritance and allotment. Can we not sing with God's people that our lines are fallen in pleasant places, and that we have a good inheritance (Psalm 16:5)? And can we not pray with Jabez, in the light of that, that God would enlarge our territory, and give us to know more of the wealth of resources which are ours through the finished workd of Christ? The language of inheritance is the language of the New Testament: we are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ (Romans 8); to us belongs an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and which will not fade away (1 Peter 1). So - more of Jesus! What could be a greater wish at the start of a new year?
Third, There Is the Prayer For God's Presence.
'That your hand will be with me'. Jabez does not pray to a remote God, to a God far away. His prayer is directed to a God who is near, to one who is profoundly interested in all that Jabez is about.
The reference to the hand of God is interesting, and occurs frequently in Scripture. It is one of these 'anthropomorphisms' - ascribing human characteristics to God. In the Bible, it is one of the ways in which God accommodates his revelation of himself to us and to our interests and needs.
His is a hand of power (Psalm 118:15). His is a hand that provides (Psalm 145). His is a hand that holds and guides (Psalm 73:23). His is a hand that keeps secure (John 10). His is a hand that heals ( ). What a difference the touch of Jesus' hand made in the lives of many people.
And the God in whom Jabez trusts is a God so personally interested in his affairs, that he will be all and in all for him. May we pray that God's hand will be with us at the start of this new year!
Fourth, There Is the Prayer For God's Protection.
'Keep me from harm'. Ah, here is the thing! Who knows what difficulties there may be in our path as this year begins? Who knows what dangers may lurk in the road ahead? Who knows what difficulties we may have to face, and what trials we may have to go through?
Yet there is one place where there is safety in danger, help in trial, grace for every time of need. It is to be found only in the covenant faithfulness of the God who protects his own. That is faith's ultimate resting place: in the protection and safe-keeping of the Almighty. His feathers shall hide us. His faithfulness shall be our shield and buckler (Psalm 91).
Jabez knows that the road of blessing is hedged around with many difficulties. It is through many trials and tribulations that we shall come at length to the kingdom. But God's people are afforded God's protection. None shall perish who trust in him ( ). What a privilege to know that blessing to be ours as this year progresses.
Finally, We Will Look At the Constraint of Jabez's Prayer.
What I mean by that is this. There is a detail added here, which ought to provoke in us a desire to do business with God at his throne of grace. It is simply this: 'God gave him what he asked'.
Now, we cannot make this a blanket guarantee. Sometimes God does not give us what we ask - and what a blessing that is. He did not take away Paul's thorn in the flesh. He did not take away Elijah's life. No; he knows what is best, and he knows that sometimes we ask amiss. He overrules our prayers and teaches us the things that we need.
But at the same time, we are rebuked time and again in God's word for not having asked aright; for missing out on God's blessing for lack of asking! Let us not be blind to the warnings of Scripture in this connection. Ask of God! That is the rule. Make your requests known to God! That is the precept.
Jabez's prayer constrains us to do business with God, because the Word of God reminds us that our God is a prayer-hearing and prayer-answering God. Let us follow the example of the Prodigal, who said, "I will arise, and go to my Father...". May this year be a year for us in which we will not hesitate to do business with the King of Heaven, because he hears the groanings of the prisoner, and bends his ear from Heaven to the petitions of earth.
Jabez was more honourable than his brothers; and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, 'Because I bore him in pain'. Jabez called upon the God of Israel saying, 'Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me and that you would keep me from harm so that it might not bring me pain!' And God granted what he asked.
1 Chronicles 4:9-10
Some of you may know that in the year 2000, a small book was published in America under the title The Prayer of Jabez. Based on the words of our text, it became a best seller almost immediately, and still remains among the top titles listed in the New York Times.
The author, Bruce Wilkinson, is an evangelical preacher who says that he has prayed the prayer of Jabez every day for thirty years, and that he has seen unprecedented blessing as a result. The book issues a challenge to Christians to follow his example, to pray this obscure Old Testament prayer, and to sit at the front row of God's miracles. In consequence, The Prayer of Jabez has spawned a massive industry of books, videos, and Bible editions.
There is much that is to be welcomed in Wilkinson's book. First, the emphasis on PRAYER is a welcome and important emphasis for the evangelical church at the present time. The church must engage in its battles on its knees, seeking God's blessing. We need more prayer, not less, and we would do well to heed the call to pray.
Second, the emphasis on returning to the Old Testament is also welcome. One of the results of much charismatic and Pentecostal teaching was a dismissal of the Old Testament -- the book of Acts was the only thing that mattered! Here, however, we are being reminded that God has something to say for the modern church from this ancient text which was first the preserve of a Semitic people which could justifiably be reckoned least among the nations of the world.
Third, it has to be acknowledged that Wilkinson's work is not just a version of the 'wealth and prosperity' Gospel preached by many televangelists. Wilkinson talks about 'praying Jabez' in a way that will look for spiritual blessing and opportunities for evangelism. That fact itself is a welcome relief from much current preaching that promises us health and wealth if we have enough faith in God.
There is still much in the book and the 'Jabez' industry that ought to give us pause, however, and there has been some good evangelical critique. We simply cannot reduce this great Old Testament formula to a mantra, and publish it with the guarantee that if we pray every day using these words, all will be well. It is not a case of 'What would Jabez do?' When the disciples asked Jesus how to pray, he did not refer them to Jabez. He taught them a pattern of prayer, into which we must feed all the examples of prayer in the Bible so that our prayer life will accord with the will of God. It is misleading to say to anyone: 'If you do X, God will do Y'. The Bible is a guide, not a talisman. And although our God is a miracle-working God, it is quite ludicrous to suggest that we are not experiencing miracles because we are not praying the Jabez prayer.
Perhaps its appeal lies in the simple formula and fad of providing a technique for blessing. There is always a danger in thinking that growth in knowledge, or in holiness, or in blessing, comes easily and without effort. Here we are told: do this, and you can short-cut your way to blessing. But that is not the Bible's way, and I doubt that it was the way Jabez found blessing either.
So I want to raise all these warning notes. But I also believe that this great passage of the Old Testament is a fitting and appropriate place for us to turn to at the beginning of a New Year. This was a great prayer, after all, and it stands like a piece of gold in the most unlikely setting, embedded in the genealogies of the opening chapters of Chronicles.
So in turning to look today at Jabez and his prayer, I want us to look at three things: the context, the content and the constraint of Jabez's petition before God.
First, We Will Look At the Context of Jabez's Prayer
The Books of Chronicles are not simply a re-telling of the history of Israel and Judah. They are a recasting of that history from a very clearly defined perspective. That perspective is the perspective of the covenant. I would even venture to say that without Chronicles we would not have a proper view of Old Testament history. What is told us in 37 books in the rest of the Old Testament is summarised in two books here. We have the whole story - from Adam to the return from captivity. And it is cast in terms of the faithfulness of the God of the promise. He has secured his church, and kept it safe. That is why it is with the books of Chronicles that the Hebrew Bible closes. It is the summary of the whole; the revision of God's work from the beginning of the world to the eve of Christ's coming.
Indeed, that may well be the reason, or at least one of the reasons, why Jabez is singled out here. The Chronicles story was written to encourage the people of God who had returned from exile. They were in pain. And Jabez was so called because for some reason he symbolised pain. Perhaps he is highlighted because the covenant people could so readily identify with him.
The one detail, however, which stands out about Jabez is this: 'he was more honourable than the rest of his brothers'. In a list of family names and genealogical lists, that must be significant. These chapters are all about family. They are all about kinship, and belonging. They detail for us the way in which God's purposes of grace ran, discriminately, through the line of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob, of Judah, of David. They show us God's sovereignty in the affairs of men, and his faithfulness to his covenant promise. And Habez, the man who prayed this prayer, is most honourable of all his peers.
The prayer itself is the only clue we have as to what made him honourable. The important thing is this: his honour was from God, not from men. He stands out among men simply because he wants to be honoured by God. This time of year is a time for honours: local and national personalities receive their 'New Years' Honours'. But we are told in the Bible that the honours of this world perish and vanish away. What counts is not what men think of us, but what God thinks of us. Jabez is honourable because God honours him.
How will we be characterised at the start of this new year? Are we striving for the honour and blessing God gives? Is our motivation to please him? To serve and honour him? Do we stand out among men, not as those who pray the Pharisee's prayer 'Lord, I thank you that I am not like other men...', but as those who know that whatever direction the current of this world's fashion and philosophy is flowing, they will not be carried along with it. Do we stand out in our generation? Are we known and marked as those who seek to please God first?
So, in this dry, arid context of lists of names and family trees, one man stands out for special mention. Does God look at us in this world of modern society and living and say, 'There are special people there'?
Secondly, We Will Look At the Content of Jabez's Prayer.
There are four distinct petitions here.
First, There Is the Prayer For God's Blessing.
Jabez says, 'O that you would bless me indeed'. The single most important thing in his life was that he would know the blessing of God. Nothing mattered but this. He could do without many things, but he did not wish to be without God's blessing.
It is important for us to recognise that the word 'bless' is primarily a covenant word - it forms part of the vocabulary of covenant. In a covenant, God holds out promises to those who obey and honour him, and threats to those who disobey and dishonour him. The experience of these promises is the covenant blessing; the experience of the threats is the covenant curse. Curse and Bless are opposites of one another; and they reflect the fact that God is faithful to the covenant word which he has spoken. So implicit in this prayer for blessing is a willingness to do all that God would have him do. You see, it is not just the prayer that is the secret of Jabez's happiness and contentment. For the prayer to be genuine, there has to be a heart commitment to the God of the covenant, to the stipulations of the king. You cannot pray 'God, bless me indeed!' and be genuine and sincere if you have no interest in obeying God and doing what he demands.
Perhaps, indeed, that is what singled Jabez out. Perhaps he was more honourable simply because of his willingness to respond to God's covenant revelation in obedience and faith. Perhaps more than all his contemporaries and peers, he had an ear attuned to God's word and an eye on the rewards God promises to those who honour him.
You see, you can make Jabez's prayer your mantra if you wish; but if you are harbouring secret, unconfessed sin against God, you cannot expect him to answer you in kind. You may have the prayer of Jabez on your lips, but unless you have the desire of Jabez in your heart, you cannot have the God of Jabez bless you. Blessing is all about covenant commitment. It is about recognising God's absolute commitment to what he has promised and what he has said. Does this mark us out at the beginning of this new year? Is our interest in the word of God and in the God of the word? Are we living in such a way that the only thing we are afraid of is offending God? Do we want our lives to be so empty of ourselves that only God's blessing matters to us? C.S. Lewis, I think, says in one place that the first thing you must do when you admire a work of art is to forget yourself. You must get yourself, as it were, out of the picture, if you are to appreciate what is actually in the picture. Do you see, that is what Jabez is about. He wants to get himself out of view, in order that God will be his all in all. What matters it to him though he lose home, family, property, friends - as long as he retains his friendship with God, and his interest in God's covenant.
'Bless me indeed!' What a prayer for the New Year!
Second, There Is the Prayer For God's Favour.
'Enlarge my coasts'. It is important that we catch the allusion here. When the tribes of Israel were settled in the promised land, the land of Canaan, that land was divided by the tribes and allotted to each one. Land was an integral part of God's covenant promise and commitment. He promised to take Abraham to a land which would belong to him and to his descendants for ever. He took Israel out of Egypt, with the ultimate guarantee of a land of their own. As the redemptive plan of God unfolds in the Old Testament, it becomes increasingly clear that the land is a major component of that purpose.
Elmer Martens, an Old Testament professor, suggests that Exodus 5:22-6:8 forms a kind of grid in which we can discern the major, pivotal themes of Old Testament theology. That passage culminates in these words: "And I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord." This, suggests Martens, is one of the main components of covenantal redemption and s in these words: "And I will bring you into the land whichI swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord." This, suggests Martens, is one of the main components of covenantal redemption and s in these words: "And I will bring you into the land which swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord." This, suggests Martens, is one of the main components of covenantal redemption and s in these words: "And I will bring you into the land which symbolises what Jesus has secured for us now. We no longer need to occupy Palestine in a physical sense. But in Christ, we possess the land!
So Jabez prays for an enlargement of his territory, for territorial expansion. And in essence, he is praying for a richer share in the inheritance of the people of God. Is that not our desire as this New Year dawns? That we might come to appreciate, and experience, in ever-increasing measure, all that Christ has secured for us and given us by way of inheritance and allotment. Can we not sing with God's people that our lines are fallen in pleasant places, and that we have a good inheritance (Psalm 16:5)? And can we not pray with Jabez, in the light of that, that God would enlarge our territory, and give us to know more of the wealth of resources which are ours through the finished workd of Christ? The language of inheritance is the language of the New Testament: we are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ (Romans 8); to us belongs an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and which will not fade away (1 Peter 1). So - more of Jesus! What could be a greater wish at the start of a new year?
Third, There Is the Prayer For God's Presence.
'That your hand will be with me'. Jabez does not pray to a remote God, to a God far away. His prayer is directed to a God who is near, to one who is profoundly interested in all that Jabez is about.
The reference to the hand of God is interesting, and occurs frequently in Scripture. It is one of these 'anthropomorphisms' - ascribing human characteristics to God. In the Bible, it is one of the ways in which God accommodates his revelation of himself to us and to our interests and needs.
His is a hand of power (Psalm 118:15). His is a hand that provides (Psalm 145). His is a hand that holds and guides (Psalm 73:23). His is a hand that keeps secure (John 10). His is a hand that heals ( ). What a difference the touch of Jesus' hand made in the lives of many people.
And the God in whom Jabez trusts is a God so personally interested in his affairs, that he will be all and in all for him. May we pray that God's hand will be with us at the start of this new year!
Fourth, There Is the Prayer For God's Protection.
'Keep me from harm'. Ah, here is the thing! Who knows what difficulties there may be in our path as this year begins? Who knows what dangers may lurk in the road ahead? Who knows what difficulties we may have to face, and what trials we may have to go through?
Yet there is one place where there is safety in danger, help in trial, grace for every time of need. It is to be found only in the covenant faithfulness of the God who protects his own. That is faith's ultimate resting place: in the protection and safe-keeping of the Almighty. His feathers shall hide us. His faithfulness shall be our shield and buckler (Psalm 91).
Jabez knows that the road of blessing is hedged around with many difficulties. It is through many trials and tribulations that we shall come at length to the kingdom. But God's people are afforded God's protection. None shall perish who trust in him ( ). What a privilege to know that blessing to be ours as this year progresses.
Finally, We Will Look At the Constraint of Jabez's Prayer.
What I mean by that is this. There is a detail added here, which ought to provoke in us a desire to do business with God at his throne of grace. It is simply this: 'God gave him what he asked'.
Now, we cannot make this a blanket guarantee. Sometimes God does not give us what we ask - and what a blessing that is. He did not take away Paul's thorn in the flesh. He did not take away Elijah's life. No; he knows what is best, and he knows that sometimes we ask amiss. He overrules our prayers and teaches us the things that we need.
But at the same time, we are rebuked time and again in God's word for not having asked aright; for missing out on God's blessing for lack of asking! Let us not be blind to the warnings of Scripture in this connection. Ask of God! That is the rule. Make your requests known to God! That is the precept.
Jabez's prayer constrains us to do business with God, because the Word of God reminds us that our God is a prayer-hearing and prayer-answering God. Let us follow the example of the Prodigal, who said, "I will arise, and go to my Father...". May this year be a year for us in which we will not hesitate to do business with the King of Heaven, because he hears the groanings of the prisoner, and bends his ear from Heaven to the petitions of earth.
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