Sunday, September 30, 2012

A cup of water - Mat 25:31-46

A cup of water!
September 30, 2012
Matt 25:31-46

Introduction
  • During the last weeks we have been looking at God's love for us, and his compassion
  • God loves us so much more than we can imagine!
  • He watches over us, he takes care of us
  • He leads us, shows us the way to go
  • He gives us opportunities to make choices, to strengthen our character and our walk with Him
  • When we fall down and we turn back to him, he extends mercy, he forgives us, and helps us back up
  • What is important to God, is that we allow Jesus to live in us and work through us
  • Today we are going to examine an aspect of our lives that is crucial to our eternity

Background
  • Right near the end of Jesus' ministry, the messages he gave his disciples were increasingly sober and serious
  • He knew his time was short, and there were things they needed to hear
  • In Matthew 25 he speaks the parable of the 10 virgins, a warning to the church that we need to be alive and allowing the Holy Spirit to work through us, not letting him lie dormant
  • He gives us the parable of the talents, where we are told to exercise the giftings God has given us, once again, don't allow these things to be inactive, but use them for the Kingdom
  • And now he teaches the disciples about the last judgment, in the parable of the sheep and the goats

Reading
  • Matthew 25:31-46

A chronology
  • Time is short. As I have warned, war is imminent in the Middle East
  • There are many signs that Jesus' return is nearby.
  • When Jesus returns as the reigning Messiah, the dead in Christ, and the saints who are alive, will receive their spirit body and rise to meet him in the clouds
  • This is commonly known as the rapture
  • At this point, Christians will receive their reward for their walk with God, and the fruits borne in their lives
  • 1Peter 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
  • 2 Cor 5:10 When Jesus returns, we receive a reward for how we have conducted our Christian walk, and we will be invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb
  • Rev 19:6-10 - the wedding supper
  • This marks the beginning of 1000 years of Jesus' reign - Rev 20:4
  • At the end of this time, known as the Milenneum, we have what is known as the Last Judgment
  • Rev 20:11-15
  • Our lives are recorded in books, and it is on the basis of the actions in our lives that judgment will be given

The sheep and the goats
  • Matthew 25
  • Jesus in this parable is not giving a chronology of the various judgments we just looked at
  • In this passage he is telling his disciples what he will be looking at, when looking at the deeds that have been done
  • He is telling his disciples, that our actions toward others are important
  • He is saying we need to be looking out for each others needs
  • Last week I told a little about the need for prison ministry
  • People in prison need the gospel. They need it, they are open to it, all they need is someone to take it to them
  • Luke 10:2 Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.
  • But there are other prisoners who are not behind bars but they might as well be
  • Here I am talking about those in slavery to addiction
  • This too is a prison
  • Jesus is telling us in this passage, that we ought to be feeding the hungry, giving something to drink for the thirsty, if they are homeless that we invite them in, if they lack clothing that we provide for them, and in short that we answer them at their point of need.
  • Jesus did exactly this.
  • He dealt with people in compassion, he healed the sick at their point of need, and he set the prisoners free - those in prison to the enemy's clutches
  • As Christians, we are being judged as to how well we are being a channel for Jesus continuing his work of setting the prisoners free.
  • This is why God has given Dianne and me a call to help the broken of this society find freedom, so they can rise to the call God has on their lives

Conclusion
  • God is working in this church
  • At the start of the year, His message to us was just one word, change
  • Change is coming, on an individual level and at a church level
  • Remember the message from this sermon, that Jesus lives in you and he wants to continue his work through you, reaching others
  • It is like Jesus said in John 7, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him"
  • Here he is referring to the Holy Spirit who was yet to come on the day of Pentecost, accompanied by the sound of a mighty wind, and the appearance of cloven tongues of flame, and showed his presence by people speaking in tongues
  • If we would like to be filled with the Holy Spirit, or if we would like to be prayed for to be filled again, please raise your hands and come forward at the end of the service
  • If anyone has not yet received Jesus as their personal savior, and would like this awesome, incredible relationship, and would like to be forgiven of their past, please come forward
  • Rev 22:17 "The Spirit and the bride say Come. And let him who hears say Come. Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life!

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Me, an Ambassador? - 2 Cor 5:20

Me, An Ambassador?
September 23, 2012
2 Corinthians 5:20

Introduction
  • A couple of weeks ago, an ambassador was in the news
  • Ambassador Christopher Stevens, US ambassador to Libya
  • There was a mortar attack on his vehicle, and then his body was dragged through the streets of Benghazi, apparently orchestrated by Al Quaeda
  • Not all ambassadors have this kind of experience.
  • I once knew the US Vice Consul to the Cameroon, he had a relatively peaceful time, and later served this country, in the Canadian Consulate
  • Today we will take a look at what it means to be an ambassador, and how relevant this is to us, as Christians

Reading
  • 2 Cor 5:17-21

What does an ambassador look like?

  • Am ambassador is a citizen of the country he represents
  • Phil 3:20
  • Being a citizen of another country means that there are activities he cannot engage in, in his host country
  • For example, he cannot fight in the host country's army, or vote in its elections
  • In the same way, we, as citizens of a heavenly Kingdom, cannot become enmeshed in this society's way of doing things
  • We stand ready to fight the Lord's battles in spiritual warfare, we don't fight with the enemy's tactics
  • Am ambassador represents his country
  • 2 Cor 5:20
  • As God's represenatives on earth, we must be aware of how God feels about things, what he would have us do in situations
  • We must be able to answer questions about our native country, encouraging people to find out more
  • At an embassy or consulate there is usually a person whose brief is to present the nation's positive trade advantages to enquirers from the host country, encouraging the building of relationships
  • In the same way, we stand ready to give our testimony, and show the benefits of relationship with the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit
  • An ambassador has to be trustworthy and reliable
  • Proverbs 13:17
  • If an ambassador were untrustworthy, he would soon be recalled. 
  • A person in such a position must be absolutely trusted to present an accurate picture of what his nation belives, does, and is like
  • God trusts us to be good representatives of his Kingdom
  • He expects us to be examples to those around us
  • They should see the difference just by looking at us, the same as light is different from darkness
  • The words that come out of our mouth should reflect God's look on things, not what seems right to our carnal mind.
  • Am ambassador obeys the laws of the country he represents
  • Acts 5:19-20
  • Luke 20:25
  • As ambassador, one is answerable ultimately to the nation he represents.  He should obey the laws of his host country as far as that is possible, but if there is a conflict in what to do, the ambassador's home country laws take precedence
  • In our everyday lives, we live among people of a different alleigance.
  • We obey the laws of our physical country
  • But where there is a difference between what the world expects and what God would have us do, God rules!
  • An ambassador's foreign residency is temporary
  • 2 Cor 5:2
  • Heb 11:8-10
  • The ambassador's stay in his host country is temporary, though it could last many years
  • Ultimately, he will be called home
  • In the same way, our stay in this present evil world, is only temporary
  • There will come a day when we will be called home, to be with Jesus, forever
  • We will put off this physical body and will be clothed afresh with our spiritual body, eternal, incorruptible, spititual and glorious
  • This is how it is described in 1 Cor 15:35-44
Conclusion
  • As Christians, people who follow Christ, we are his ambassadors
  • We are his ambassadors to the people around us
  • We are a city set on a hill which cannot be hidden
  • An ambassador is true to his government's policies, and he faithfully presents this to the people around him, in a foreign country
  • He is a faithful representative, and one day he will be recalled to the country of his citizenship, where he will hear, Well done, thou faithful servant.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

A Compassionate God! - John 3:16

A Compassionate God!
September 9, 2012
John 3:16
 
Introduction

-          A couple of weeks ago, we were talking about the Father’s love for us
-          I was asking the Lord what he would have me speak about today, and the answer was love.  As I continued speaking and listening the focus came to be particularly on God’s compassion
-          So this morning we are speaking about God’s revelation of himself as a compassionate God!
-          Today we will look at just a few examples of God’s compassion

God’s compassion as humanity’s Savior

-          His love for us as sinful people, to give us a chance to get back to Him
-          When Adam and Eve sinned they set in motion a train of events they had no idea of
-          Their nature was changed, so that their natural tendency was to hate God and rebel against him
-          They saw it worked out in their firstborn son Cain, who murdered his brother in a fit of anger
-          All humanity has inherited this nature which Paul describes to us
-          Romans 8:7
-          This is why it is so hard for us to be obedient, why distractions pull us away, time and time again
-          It is what theologians call the Depravity of Man, our inability to bring ourselves into a relationship with God
-          Paul talks of the battle he endures day by day in Romans 6
-          Romans 6:21-25
-          It is through Jesus that we can be saved from destruction
-          It was through God’s compassion that he sent Jesus to be a sacrifice for us
-          John 3:16 God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whomever believes in his should not perish but have everlasting life
-          Eph 2:8-9 God’s compassion gives us His mercy, not what we deserve

God’s compassion as Israel’s Husband

-          Ezekiel 16:1-34
-          Israel searches for love in all the places it can’t find it, only God can satisfy this hunger
-          He loves Israel, washed her, cleaned her, married her, waited for her, allows her to experience the results of her sins, but finally he reconciles with her (verse 60)
-          He waits for his chosen people to repent and turn to him, just as he allows us to make choices and experience the results of our ways
-          But when we turn to him he cleanses us and reconciles us to him
-          Isa 1:18
-          We need to be praying for Israel during these critical times
-          Iran has developed its nuclear program to a critical level
-          It is constantly telling the Arab world how it hates Israel and wants to wipe it off the map
-          Israel is at the point where they will have to initiate a strike against Iran, in order to protect themselves from a nuclear armed Iran
-          We need to pray for Israel in this time of their distress
-          Psalm 122:6
-          These are critical times
-          Time to make sure we are right with God, and doing the work he called us to (Luke 12:43)

God’s compassion as our personal Comforter

-          John 14:15-16
-          His love in showing himself as our comforter
-          He provides the Holy Spirit as another Comforter
-          Jesus was the first comforter
-          He and the Father are one, and as we read in the gospels how Jesus looks and the crowds and is moved by compassion, he is showing what God is like
-          The Holy Spirit too is moved with compassion for us
-          We so often stray from the narrow way and he is moved with a longing to draw us back
-          This compassion is so much deeper than anything we know
-          The Bible often speaks of bowels of mercy, it is speaking of the same quality of God
-          The bowels signify a deepset feeling of compassion, you feel it in your stomack, deep down, a yearning to intervene and help
-          God also shows his compassion for us through providing for healing in the atonement
-          1 Pet 2:24, Isa 53:5
-          He showed his compassion in loving us even before we turned to him
-          1 Jn 4:19
-          His love in never walking away from us, though we walk away from him
-          Mat 28:19-20, Heb 13:5, Josh 1:5
-          He sent the Holy Spirit to live in us, and to be our friend, just as Jesus is our friend

Conclusion

-          So God shows himself to be a God of compassion for us
-          How do we respond to this? 
-          In a couple of weeks we will examine how we respond to a God of compassion
-          But if you have not yet experienced this God of compassion, and you want to make sure that you are right with him, please come forward after the offering has been taken up and make sure that you will be going to the right place, when you die.