June 30, 2018 - Suggested Reading Revelation 22 for July 1’s message on Matthew 4:12-25 in our summer worship service at 10am

“On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.”

Revelation 22:2 (NIV) 

I am so grateful for this vision of the tree of life with the leaves for the healing of all nations.

The picture is wonderful - it paints for us a vision of a renewed earth, where the earth itself heals, for the earth has been set free from the bondage of sin. 

It is a new earth in the sense that there is no longer any sin, and so it is once again the Garden of Eden, yet it is more than the Garden for it is the dwelling place of the Lord God, and therefore contains the source of life.

It solidifies for the believer the truth about God’s will concerning sickness-

for God’s will is that we would all be healed.

It solidifies for the believer the truth that complete healing waits –

it waits for our eschatological hope to be made real in the new heaven and new earth.

And it solidifies for the believer the truth about our loved ones who died in Christ –

for they entered into complete healing when they entered their Lord’s Presence.

There will be a day in my life and yours (if the Lord doesn’t come back first) when we suffer from the sickness from which we will die. 

May God grant us the grace to believe these three truths as we face the time of our departure, may we eagerly look forward to seeing our Lord, our balm of Gilead.

June 29, 2018 - Suggested Reading Acts 28 for July 1’s message on Matthew 4:12-25 in our summer worship service at 10am

“For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.”

Acts 28:27 (NIV) 

A viper bites Paul and Paul has no ill effect whatsoever!

Paul heals an elderly man through prayer and laying on of hands,

and then Paul heals all who were sick on Malta, who were brought to him.

Surely the balm of Gilead has arrived in Malta!

Paul is escorted on towards Rome and is encouraged by the brothers and sisters in Christ who greet him along the way, but once arrived in Rome he was faced by the refusal of some among the Jews who refused to believe the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The balm of Gilead had come to Rome, and yet only those who would receive Christ, who would believe the message of the gospel, who would turn to God for salvation would receive healing.

Oh God may you open our eyes, open our ears, soften our hearts that we might see, hear, understand and turn and be healed.

June 28, 2018 - Suggested Reading Jeremiah 8 for July 1’s message on Matthew 4:12-25 in our summer worship service at 10am

“Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?

Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people?”

Jeremiah 8:22 (NIV)

The fact that this question by the prophet Jeremiah has already been answered in this chapter, makes this question all the more poignant. Consider the answers we have already seen;

Verse 3 Why then have these people turned away?

Why does Jerusalem always turn away? They cling to deceit; they refuse to return.

Verse 8 “‘How can you say, “We are wise, for we have the law of the LORD,”

when actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely?

Verse 11 “‘They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious.

“Peace, peace,” they say, when there is no peace.”

Verse 14b For the LORD our God has doomed us to perish and given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against him.

Verse 17 “See, I will send venomous snakes among you, vipers that cannot be charmed,

    and they will bite you,” declares the LORD.

You see - the answer to the question is 

YES there is a balm in Gilead!

YES there is healing for the wound of my people!

But God’s people refused to repent, to turn to Him

God’s teachers mishandled God’s Word on purpose

Even worse - the pastors say peace when there is no peace

So God poisons our water and sends snakes to strike us.

May God’s people in Parkdale have the Spirit of repentance

May God’s teachers in Parkdale handle God’s Word correctly

May God’s pastors in Parkdale be courageous and serious in speech

May we be healed by our Lord Jesus Christ who walks  amongst our lampstand at Parkdale,

for He and He alone is the balm from Gilead. 

June 27, 2018 - Suggested Reading Psalm 20 for July 1’s message on Matthew 4:12-25 in our summer worship service at 10am

“Now this I know:

    The LORD gives victory to his anointed. He answers him from his heavenly sanctuary with the victorious power of his right hand.”

Psalm 20:6 (NIV) 

May the first 5 verses of this psalm be real in your life today!

Just read those verses again and think about how your life would be if these verses were real in your life today.

Now I know that we believe they are real, in the sense that the Word of God is true, especially since we are hidden in Christ Jesus knowing that His sacrifice was accepted, and that we are clean because of His blood, 

and yet these verses are not necessarily real in the sense of - this is our experience today.

David knew this of course, for he experienced what we experience

 do you remember that although David prayed for his son’s life - his son died

do you remember that although God called David to be king over Israel - David had to wait for 20 hard years before it happened

do you remember that David’s heart desire was to build the temple - God said no

When we read his transition statement in verse 6, we see that David knows that the LORD answers His Anointed. 

That’s all David knows, he doesn’t know that God will answer us today in real time, (he prays that He will) but he knows that God will answer His Anointed in real time.

This is one of the identifying marks of God’s Anointed, God’s Messiah, God’s Christ – that God answers Him in real time. 

The Gospels are full of amazing records of God giving Jesus of Nazareth victory in real time over sickness, over demons, over death.

Truly Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of God!

Then may the attitude of our hearts be like David’s

May we not trust in chariots and horses

But may we trust in the Name of the LORD

May our prayers be connected to our King Jesus, to His victory, to His glory.

And may God answer us when we call, for we are hidden in His Anointed!

June 26, 2018- Suggested Reading 2 Chronicles 7 for July 1’s message on Matthew 4:12-25 in our summer worship service at 10am

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

2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV) 

My earliest memory of pastor Barry who is Parkdale’s Pastor of Care, is Barry teaching us children in Sunday School 2 Chronicles 7:14 while he led us in singing - week after week after week - we would groan when we heard it for the 100th time, but boy did it ever stick in my mind - thank you Barry for the blessing you gave me and the other children. This verse is very clear and simple to understand, for it teaches that forgiveness follows repentance and that healing follows forgiveness. Put the other way - it teaches that if I want to be healed I need to be forgiven, and if I want to be forgiven, I need to repent. A little closer look reveals that there are three actions by God’s people, followed by three actions by God Himself, three sets of complementary actions.

we pray-  He hears

we seek his face - He forgives us 

we turn from our wicked ways – He heals our land.

But these three complementary actions initiated by His people follow His divine action of grace

“who are called by His name”

Friend are you called by his name?

We read in the beginning of this chapter of the amazing event at the consecration of Solomon’s temple, as the very Presence of God moved into the building, and the verse we are considering is spoken by God to Solomon in regards to how He will treat the people who worship at this place that contains His Presence. Now friend, we are in that time/age that our Lord Jesus described to the Samaritan woman in John 4, for we don’t worship at a mountain, but we worship in Spirit and in truth, for when we called on the Lord for salvation, our bodies became the temple of the Holy Spirit, and truth is demanded in our inmost being.

So let us seek His face, let us pray this day, and let us turn from our wicked ways into the healing he has prepared for us.

June 25, 2018 - Suggested Reading Exodus 15 for July 1’s message on Matthew 4:12-25 in our summer worship service at 10am

“He said, “If you listen carefully to the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you.”

Exodus 15:26 (NIV) 

Verse 25 tells us that this statement is a ruling, an instruction and a test!

Many of us read this and think of it as a threat, or a promise to bring disease to His people if His people do not act rightly before Him. But this statement is more than a threat for our LORD is the Judge, He is the Teacher and He is the Administrator of the tests of our hearts. I love to read the song of Moses - I can imagine the joy that flooded their hearts when they saw their enemy destroyed and knew that they were truly free! What a song of victory, what an awesome declaration of the power of God’s love for His people. Have you ever tried to put your personal experiences into this song? Is the LORD your warrior - can you sing a victory song about His deliverance for you? As we put our minds to what God has done, as joy floods our souls, the LORD leads us into the wilderness where the water is bad. He does it for our good, for He is our Judge and our Teacher and the Administrator of the tests of our hearts. He purifies our hearts, He teaches us with Words and with experiences so that we will be righteous in our Judge’s eyes. The water is bad so we grumble - “who led us here - we need a different leader”, but we don’t need a different leader – we need to learn the lesson, that God is our healer, that God is the One who has led us into this place where if He doesn’t help us, we will wither and die.

This is living by faith, following our Lord into situations where if He doesn’t come thru we will wither and die. The wonderful truth is that we need Him every hour, and the brutal truth is that because we so easily forget that we need Him, that we require the desert and the bad water to draw us to Him again.  So friend let us see our need for Him every hour, let us listen carefully to Him, paying attention to His commands and Laws, doing what is right in His eyes, for He is the God who heals us. 

June 18, 2018 - Suggested Reading Genesis 43 for June 24th’s GO message on John 7:53-8:11 in both services

“Deeply moved at the sight of his brother, Joseph hurried out and looked for a place to weep. He went into his private room and wept there.”

Genesis 43:30 (NIV) 

Having grown up with a father and 2 brothers, and having 3 sons myself, I get a chuckle from the terse interaction between Jacob and his sons recorded in Genesis 42 & 43. Jacob is still the boss, and his grown sons who are men are very careful around him. Jacob (for good reason) won’t listen to Reuben but does listen to Judah, and reluctantly sends Benjamin to Egypt with his brothers. This entire chapter is about love and compassion, for food exists in Egypt entirely due to God’s compassion in sending a dream to Pharaoh and having Joseph interpret that dream, and the entire dialogue is driven by Jacob’s reluctance to allow Benjamin to travel, and that reluctance comes out of his deep love for Benjamin. More than that, Joseph’s response “deeply moved at the sight” is all about love and compassion - Hebrews scholars tell us that the root of the Hebrew behind that English phrase is usually translated compassion. Joseph deeply loves his younger brother, misses him terribly, has manipulated his other brothers into being reunited and is now overcome with the emotion of love. Joseph is going to save his father, his brothers and their families – not out of duty- but out of love and compassion for his younger brother and for his father. Who is it in our lives that we love in this way? 

June 16, 2018 - Suggested Reading 1 Corinthians 1 for June 17th’s Father’s Day message on 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 in both services

“I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.”

1 Corinthians 1:10 (NIV)

It is natural for us as we read through 1 Corinthians to become myopic about certain passages like 1 Corinthians 11:2-26. We gaze at it, analyze it and fixate on specific words and arguments and lose sight of the big picture, or the big argument of 1 Corinthians. It is a necessary discipline for our Christian health to pull back from Paul’s teaching on gender differences in the leading of public worship in churches and cast our minds unto what Paul himself has said was the purpose of this letter to the Corinthians. In actual fact accepting that this purpose statement in 1:10 applies to the teaching of 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 should bring some clarity to a historically muddy passage. However you understand Paul’s argument, whether you use it to argue on one side or the other, to miss that Paul’s argument in chapter 11 is there to help a local church be perfectly united in mind and thought is to completely miss the mark of understanding the passage and therefore to miss out on the life giving message of the text. The great Baptist preacher of the 1800s Charles Spurgeon, once said that “The Gospel is like a caged lion. It does not need to be defended, it just needs to be let out of its cage.” In the Gospel and only in the Gospel are men and women declared equal - no other holy book contains this teaching. In the Gospel and only in the Gospel is the reversing of the curse of the garden and its effects on the two genders. In the Gospel and only in the Gospel can there ever be true unity between the genders, the type of unity the Paul describes in chapter 1 as being perfectly united in mind and thought. This is the goal of the teaching of chapter 11, and therefore this should be the result of us understanding the meaning of chapter 11. May God grant us the grace to get the door to the cage open tomorrow in our Father’s Day services at Parkdale.

June 15, 2018 - Suggested Reading Romans 3 for June 17th’s Father’s Day message on 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 in both services

“There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by
Christ Jesus.”

Romans 3:22-24 (NIV) 

All people- both genders and all ages - have fallen short of the glory of God.

This key chapter describing the righteousness that comes by faith reveals for us our created purpose. We are created male and female to be God’s glory, and yet because of our sinful state we fall short of the glory of God. 

Only Christ achieved the purpose for which humans were created, for as Hebrews 1 reveals He is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being.

One of the commentators that I read as part of preparation for our messages in 1 Corinthians named Gordon Fee says this about glory in his remarks about its usage in 1 Corinthians 11:7; “to define the term “glory” is like trying to pick up mercury between one’s fingers.” (FEE 1 Cor p570) So I won’t define this word for you, but I will give you the choices that the (NIDNITE) Theological Dictionary presents as possible definitions for this Greek noun that appears 166xs in the New Testament translated glory in Romans 3:23;

a/ sense of good reputation, honour and fame

b/ sense of splendor

c/ the physical, observable fact, “the brilliance of the light”

d/ God’s transcendent being and majesty

e/ created beings are endowed with what is God’s

Each one of these meanings were fulfilled by Christ Jesus, and therefore we reach the glory of God in direct relation to our submission through faith to our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Insomuch as He lives in me thru faith, determines how much glory I bring God.

June 14, 2018 - Suggested Reading Joel 2 for June 17th’s Father’s Day message on 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 in both services

“And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.”

Joel 2:28 (NIV)

The abundance of God that will be showered on the people after the locust horde has gone through the land, is a sign of the abundance God will shower on the people after the spiritual hunger of the 400 years of silence has ended. The abundance of the land, its grass, its fruit, its grain, its wine, and its oil are all pointing towards the abundance of the Holy Spirit being given to His servants in that Day of Grace that we live in now. This Day of Grace started when the Spirit was poured out on the believers gathered in that room in Jerusalem on the day we call the Day of Pentecost. We are still experiencing this Pentecost as God pours His Spirit on all who repent and believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. This promised blessing is for men as well as women, for children as well as seniors, the Spirit is for all who will come to Christ,
bow their knee and profess Him as Lord of their life. 

Just as the blessing of God on the earth after the locust horde came through brought life, and life to the fullest, so the blessing of the Spirit brings life to the fullest. 

All people - both genders and all ages - are the recipients of this blessing.

Friend have you gone to Christ to receive the gift of life?

Oh friend are you experiencing this abundant life today?

June 13, 2018 - Suggested Reading Psalm 8 for June 17th’s Father’s Day message on 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 in both services

“Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”

Psalm 8:9 (NIV) 

The majesty of His name in the earth -

Your royal majesty - the King of all kings - the majestic name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Your glory is in the heavens yet Your praise comes from Your children on earth

We look into the heavens and are awestruck by Your glory reflected in Your creation and wonder “why do You care about us -      

why do You care for our praise?” yet the truth is that You created us as rulers over all that Your Hands made on earth.

Rulers, crowns, glory, honour – we tend to think of the concepts associated with these Words as heavenly gifts, and yet the Holy Spirit is revealing

thru David that we were made rulers on earth by God in creation and that glory, honour, crowns come with that rule.

As we rulers praise the Name of our King - our great foe is silenced.

O child of God will you take your created role as ruler over the earth this day, and praise the King of kings?

Will we today declare the majesty of His Name in the earth?

Will we today declare the majesty of His Name in our lives?

Will we place Him on the throne of our heart this moment?

June 12, 2018 - Suggested Reading Genesis 2 for June 17th’s Father’s Day message on 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 in both services

The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

Genesis 2:18 (NIV) 

You can argue with God if you want - fill your boots - I will stand to one side and watch OK?

You can say well God this verse isn’t for me, I am better on my own than I am with a woman.

You can say things like – everything was good in the garden until God made women – but just know that you are contradicting God, that you are saying the opposite of what God says.

God says that man alone is not good.

Did we get that?

God says that man alone is not good.

We have examples of godly men who were alone by choice for the purpose of advancing the gospel - Paul leaps to mind - yet Paul himself calls it a gift- that would be a special dispensation I think- a special grace from God to bless him apart from a woman.

It is true that singleness demonstrates the sufficiency of Christ in a way that marriage can’t, but that statement proves the truth of the need for man not be alone, because for us to say that Christ is sufficient in a special way for a single person is to concede the point that something is lacking for a man when he doesn’t have a woman.

We don’t have any Scripture for the opposite way- there is no Scripture that teaches that it is not good for the woman to be alone - could this possibly be because women are fine on their own? 

We don’t know that for sure, but what is revealed by Scripture is that God made exactly what men need when He made women and that it is an act of blessing when God brings a woman to a man.

June 11, 2018 - Suggested Reading Genesis 1 for June 17th’s Father’s Day message on 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 in both services

“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

Genesis 1:27 (NIV) 

We read this verse and in our present political and cultural climate in Ontario we wonder if this verse is classified by the rule makers as “hate speech”. I think that the fact that this verse is part of our sacred scripture will provide protection for me??? But there is no doubt that if I as a person, communicated this statement as my personal point of view, separate from Scripture to the right/wrong person I would be in trouble with the rule makers, because this verse clearly states that there are only two genders in the human race. It is a reminder that Scriptures teach that no matter what surgeries a person has, or how a person chooses to self-identify, that God only knows us as how He made us, either male or female, which means that when we stand before Him, we will be the gender that He made us. The wonderful truth that is revealed in this cryptic, poetic account of the creation of everything that exists, is that male and female together are the image of God. The genders are unique, they are distinct and they are interdependent upon each other being each other, in order to fulfill their God given duty of reflecting God’s image. Men must be men and women must be women, and they must be in harmony together to truly reflect the image of God. The Bible calls God Father, and yet the Bible describes God’s character and how He acts in female terms,
for females reflect the image of God.

Two genders existing together created in the image of God!

This is a description of love not hate.

June 9, 2018 - Suggested Reading Hebrews 1 for June 10th’s message on Matthew 4:1-11 in the 2nd Service

“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”

Hebrews 1:2 (NIV)  

Hebrews is the ultimate teaching book for me.

I don’t know why this book connects with me like it does, but when I read Hebrews 1 I find that it seems so simple that there is nothing to explain. 

How can a person add to the clarity of the truth that is written in English in this chapter?

To a person who doesn’t believe that God has a Son, it will be confusing.

But to a person who has bowed their heart before the Lord Jesus Christ- what is being said is entirely logical and wonderful and worship inspiring.

The writer gives us a hint in verse 2 about the bulk of the book- for that little phrase “provided purification for sins”  is going to be expounded in such a way in the rest of this book that the purpose of the Old Testament’s sacrificial system becomes crystal clear.

Part of our Lord’s providing purification for our sins included being tempted in every way we are, which gives great hope to us when we consider He is at the right hand of God interceding on our behalf- sending angels to minister to us.

Praise the Name of Jesus!

June 9, 2018 - Suggested Reading 1 John 5 for June 10th’s message on 1 Corinthians 10:13 in the 1st Service

“We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them.”

1 John 5:18 (NIV)

Do you know you have eternal life?

Do you know? Are you sure?

John wants us to be sure and so he gives us some markers.

Marker 1 – do you believe that Jesus is the Christ born of God?

Marker 2 – do we overcome the world?

Marker 3 – do we accept the testimony of the Holy Spirit?

Marker 4 – are our prayers answered?

Marker 5 – do we have victory over sin?

I so appreciate the elders at Parkdale speaking to us over these last months during communion about victory over sin. All of the men have shared from their perspectives and have chosen very diverse approaches, and yet these men are helping us to attain to Marker #5. Our elders want us to have the assurance of salvation, the assurance that will take us from strength to strength.

This last marker may be the motivator for each of us to seek victory over sin.

Marker 6 – do we understand the stakes?

June 8, 2018 - Suggested Reading Matthew 22 for June 10th’s message on Matthew 4:1-11 in the 2nd Service

“If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?”

Matthew 22:45 (NIV)  

The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.

With this parable Matthew introduces the tests of the Herodians and the Pharisees and the Sadducees. With these prophetic Words ringing in their ears the leaders of the Jewish nation doubled down on their resistance to the Son of the King, by trying to trap Him in His Words. After their tests were dispensed with, our Lord gave them a test of His own, and the test had to do with the King’s Son.

What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he? The son of David,” they replied. He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says, “‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.”’

These were men who knew the Scriptures, who observed religious services, sacrifices, prayers- they were “close” to God, they were God’s people and they didn’t know that God had a Son! Many many people fail this test today- many people scoff at the idea that God has a Son, and laugh at the concept of the virgin birth

Whose Son is He?

He is God’s Son!

June 8, 2018 - Suggested Reading 1 John 2 for June 10th’s message on 1 Corinthians 10:13 in the 1st Service

“My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.”

1 John 2:1 (NIV)

SIN

The three letter Word that people hate to hear.

Quit talking about SIN in church they say.

People won’t come if all you talk about is SIN.

John’s purpose for writing this letter is so that Christians will not SIN.

But if we do SIN– remember we have the sinless One more than that - the Righteous One

who speaks for us at the Father’s side- and let us go to this One, our Lord Jesus Christ and ask Him to forgive us.

Verses 12, 13 and 14 always leave me whimsical;

Am I a child? yes in many ways I am especially when I sin

Am I a father? yes in many ways I am especially when I help others thru my knowledge of God

Am I a young man? Only when the Word of God lives in me and I overcome the evil one.

I don’t want to SIN, I want to overcome!

Make me strong Lord Jesus make me strong!

June 7, 2018 - Suggested Reading Psalm 91 for June 10th’s message on Matthew 4:1-11 in the 2nd Service

“Surely he will save you  from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence.”

Psalm 91:3 (NIV) 

Satan set a snare using verse 11,12 of this psalm for our Lord in the wilderness.

But our Lord was dwelling in the shelter of the Most High and was delivered from the trap.

Satan set a snare for Eve and Adam, and because they fell the deadly pestilence came upon all humanity, and if Satan could have trapped our Lord all we would have to look forward to is death and more death.

Our Lord was dwelling in the shelter of the Most High.

Its true that He was in the wilderness - and yet He was in the shelter of the Most High.

Its true that He was hungry and thirsty – and yet He was in the shelter of the Most High.

To dwell in the shelter of the Most High is to seek Him and to snuggle up and
to move when He moves.

To run ahead and demand that He run to you and shelter you- is not dwelling -
that is called testing God.

May we dwell in the shelter of the Most High for all our days.

June 7, 2018 - Suggested Reading James 1 for June 10th’s message on 1 Corinthians 10:13 in the 1st Service

“When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;”

James 1:13 (NIV) 

Reading this first chapter of James is a great way to get in touch with reality again. We can live in the past and we can live in the future, and we seem to live sometimes in a fake little faith bubble. Do you know the bubble I am talking about? The bubble that says “Boy John if you just had more faith, you wouldn’t be going thru the hard time you are going thru.”

James pops that bubble by linking the trials, the tests and the temptations that we experience on a daily basis to the testing of our faith. At first blush we think well yeah - if I had better faith, then I wouldn’t go thru this stuff, but that is a misunderstanding of James is teaching us, for his concern is that we understand the goal. Which is that we be complete, mature and perfect, and that we can’t get there unless our faith is proved true thru trials, tests and temptations. These three words mean different things to us, but they share the same purpose, making us into the image of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, thru the testing of our faith. Now faith comes from the Word -we read and believe and line our lives up with what the Word says- so let us consider whether or not we can say when confronted with temptation (which is really a test) that God is not the One tempting us, but He is the One who can deliver us!

June 6, 2018 - Suggested Reading Psalm 18 for June 10th’s message on Matthew 4:1-11 in the 2nd Service

“The LORD has dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.”

Psalm 18:20 (NIV) 

In the heart of this great psalm of praise to the LORD his God for His help and His deliverance, David’s mind turns to himself, and he answers the natural question that comes to his mind as he contemplates being rescued from his enemies.  Why would God move heaven and earth to help David, but not help Saul and his other enemies? David’s answer is that he is righteous – defined as having clean hands – in the sight of His God. We are not to think of David as being deceived- for this is Scripture – this is David’s true state before God. But we may wonder how a statement like this could ever be true about any human. To make it more personal to us, we can see from this psalm that being rescued by our God depends on us being righteous - having clean hands in His sight. Having seen this truth revealed how then can we ever expect God to rescue us for we have sin in and through out us? Yet the gospel teaches us a righteousness that comes by faith. A righteousness that comes by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only human ever able to say “I have been blameless before God and I have kept myself from sin.”

Oh friend, are you hidden in Christ? Have you taken refuge in His righteousness? Have you sought forgiveness for your sins from the Lamb who was shed for the sin of the world?

Are you washed in the blood,

In the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb?

Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow?

  Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

Ah you are!

Then this prayer is a prayer you can pray, for your hands are clean, for Christ’s righteousness is your righteousness.

June 6, 2018 - Suggested Reading Psalm 124 for June 10th’s message on 1 Corinthians 10:13 in the 1st Service

“We have escaped like a bird from the fowler’s snare; the snare has been broken,
and we have escaped.”

Psalm 124:7 (NIV) 

A song of ascent is a song that prepares our heart to enter into true worship of our God.

Today as we seek to enter into worship let us cast our minds back to a time when our God delivered us from a trap.

A trap, that was set skillfully by our enemy who seeks to devour us, to tear us with his teeth.

A trap that was set because of our enemy’s great anger towards us.

The nature of a trap is that it is concealed, in a place where we normally wander, in a place that we would least expect, perhaps close to home, close to work, close to school, close to safety when our guard is down.

Oblivious to the danger we went about our merry way, and yet God, the Maker of heaven and earth was on our side. This God – our God - knows all about the anger of the enemy and the traps that our enemy sets, and so He helped us, He rescued us.

Friend, can you recall a time when God rescued you from temptation, from certain ruin?

Worship your Helper this day, thank Him for His deliverance and
call on His Name to rescue you again.

June 5, 2018 - Suggested Reading Job 2 for June 10th’s message on Matthew 4:1-11 in the 2nd Service

“Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. 

And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without
any reason.”

Job 2:3 (NIV) 

Do you see the truths revealed thru this chapter about trials and temptations and tests?

Can you see that these three different words share the same purpose?

Do you see that they are all about our hearts?

God bragged Job up before Satan, knowing Satan would jump at the chance to prove God wrong.

God knows our hearts, He knows our hearts better than Satan does, and better than we do.

It seems that He knows our hearts better than our spouses do.

He sets limits on Satan, for Satan has no power over us, except what God gives him.

We have integrity when our heart and our mouth are lined up, completely in sync.

Job kept his integrity, he made sure that his mouth did not betray his heart.

Logic is of no use if we find ourselves in Job’s situation.

Perseverance – believing in spite of the evidence, keeping our integrity, willing to go thru not demanding out, paid off big time for Job, for Job saw God in a way he had never seen Him before.

I don’t want to go thru what Job went thru, and I don’t think Job would want to go thru it again.

But I also suspect that what the world looks at as the sorriest chapter in Job’s life, is viewed by Job as the highlight of his life. For his faith was vindicated, God was beside him, God had him in His hand, God brought him through, and God brought him into a knowledge of God that he would never had experienced without the trial.

June 5, 2018 - Suggested Reading Psalm 89 for June 10th’s message on 1 Corinthians 10:13 in the 1st Service

“Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
love and faithfulness go before you.”

Psalm 89:14 (NIV)

This psalm has so many wonderful truths about God in it that we could spend the whole week just going verse by verse praising God for who He is and for what He has done for His people.

But I would like us to zero in on the word that appears over and over again in this psalm, the note that the psalmist strikes repeatedly. That word is faithfulness, you hear it in verse 1, verse 2, verse 5, verse 8, verse 14, verse 33 and verse 49. This note is struck again and again and accompanying this note is the sound of love. God’s faithfulness and love go hand in hand, they are linked together like righteousness and justice are linked together - inseparable! Verse 24 says “My faithful love will be with him”, which captures the truth in a nutshell- that God’s faithfulness is His love, that His love is expressed through His faithfulness. That is that His love never fails because He is faithful, and that because He is faithful He will never stop loving us- don’t take this in a sentimental way, as humans we get love all twisted up - no - this psalm is teaching us that this love that He has for His children, this active redeeming, restoring covenant love that He expresses to us through His Son our Lord Jesus Christ, never fails, never stops – He is always with us, always acting on our behalf, always redeeming, always restoring, always providing. Do we believe this about our God? I mean really believe it? In the centre of our being believe it? This psalmist believed it for it formed the basis of his plea for help as he cried out to His God “Where is former great love, which in your faithfulness you swore to David?” No hint of I deserve your help - the psalmist falls back on God’s covenant promise to his king David. So it will be with all of us who believe in the faithful love of our heavenly Father- we will fall back on God’s covenant promise to our King Jesus.

Faithful means God keeps His promises to His beloved.

June 4, 2018 - Suggested Reading Deuteronomy 6 & 8 for June 10th’s message on Matthew 4:1-11 in the 2nd Service

“Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.”

Deuteronomy 8:2 (NIV)

In Matthew’s account of the temptation of Jesus of Nazareth, our Lord quotes 3 Scriptures to overcome the temptation, 2 of these Scriptures come from Deuteronomy 6 and 1 response comes from Deuteronomy 8. 

The simple lesson for a Christian from reading this account of victory over temptation is that knowledge of the meaning of Scripture, and a willingness to obey those Scriptures is absolutely key to victory over sin. 

The negative example of this truth is contained in Genesis 3 where Eve allowed Satan to twist Scripture, he added to it (any tree), and then took away from it (you will not die) which deceived Eve and led Adam into sin. 

Surely we must Know the Word and Obey the Word in order to have victory over sin!

Part of Knowing the Word is understanding why God leads us into the wilderness.

He led Jesus into the physical wilderness to give Satan an opportunity to test His heart.

He led the people of Israel into the wilderness to humble them and to test their heart.

Will they Obey the Word while in a wilderness?

Will they worship and serve God only while in desperate need?

God does this to you and me today - He leads us into the wilderness, into a place of great need to test our heart - will we be true to Him alone?

If we learn the lesson of Scripture - we will not trust ourselves, for the people of Israel failed.

If we learn the lesson of Scripture we will trust in Christ Jesus to bring us thru the wilderness, thru the temptation, thru the test of our heart.

If we learn the lesson of Scripture we will know the good purpose wilderness brings to our heart, for only wilderness will reveal whom we truly trust.

June 4, 2018 - Suggested Reading Deuteronomy 7 for June 10th’s message on 1 Corinthians 10:13 in the 1st Service

“Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.”

Deuteronomy 7:9 (NIV)

Deuteronomy contains what God’s people needed to know - needed to remember in order for them to live long and fruitful lives in the land that God was giving them on this earth.

They needed to remember – they needed to know that God is a faithful God.

The English word faithful is defined as loyal, constant, and steadfast.

The Hebrew word behind the English word is defined as integrity, trustworthiness and dependability. 

Matthew 4 records that our Lord used quotes from chapter 6 and chapter 8 to overcome the temptation by the devil and it is no coincidence that the chapter in between those two chapters stress God’s faithfulness. God is absolutely dependable, you can trust Him to deliver you, what He has said He will do for you, He will do. This verse links His faithfulness to keeping His covenant of love – friend are you in Christ, have you trusted Christ for your salvation? Then friend you have entered into the new covenant, you are a participant with Christ in the covenant made between God and His Son, the eternal covenant of love. 

I don’t know what I will face today, tomorrow or this week. But I know that whatever I face God will be faithful to deliver me because of His faithfulness.

Therefore I will be faithful to Him today and trust him for the outcome.

June 2, 2018 - Suggested Reading Titus 3 for June 3rd’s message on Matthew 3:1-17 in the 2nd Service

“he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior,”

Titus 3:5-6 (NIV)  

What a wonderful picture Paul gives us of baptism by the Spirit.

His language is water language yet it is salvation language.

Paul calls this a trustworthy saying and asks Titus to stress these things to the Christians Titus ministered to, because they are excellent and profitable for everyone.

Do you like to sit and soak?

Pour a deep bath and settle into it, feel the benefits of that water pushing on your skin?

Sit down in verses 4,5,6 &7 and let the Words soak in.

This is how He saved us- may we stress these truths to ourselves today.

June 2, 2018 - Suggested Reading James 1 for June 3rd’s message on 1 Corinthians 9: 24 thru 10:13 in the 1st Service

“When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”

James 1:13-15 (NIV)

Some Christians think that death is no longer any part of their life experience.

They believe that they are above death, that by being spiritually united with Christ - that because He lives never to die again - death has no place in their life.

This little poem in the first chapter of James should set us straight.

Christians should not say God is tempting me

Christians are tempted by their own evil desire

Christians are enticed by what they want

When this desire has conceived in our inner person

desire gives birth to sin

and when sin is full grown

  sin gives birth to death.

Death has no authority in a Christian’s life, but we invite it in because we don’t nip it in the bud, or using the metaphor James is using - because we don’t abort it in its early stages.

So friend what do we desire?

Whom do we desire?

This is where the watching and the praying and the working should begin.

June 1, 2018 - Suggested Reading Isaiah 11 for June 3rd’s message on Matthew 3:1-17 in the 2nd Service

“The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD—”

Isaiah 11:2 (NIV)

The Root of Jesse makes all the difference for this world!

We can hardly imagine a world like the world Isaiah describes in verses 6 thru 9.

No harm will be done to anyone anywhere – who would not want to live in this world?

The Root of Jesse is our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the offspring of David, who is the son of Jesse.

This blessed kingdom will only become reality for us if we rally to Him - our Banner.

We draw near to Him for judgment- wait you say - I draw near to Him for salvation.

Yes, we do, but that salvation comes to us thru judgment, the judgment rendered by our Lord through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. 

He judges not by what He sees or hears, He judges by the work of the Holy Spirit, and He judges in righteousness and with justice, as He strikes the earth with the rod of His mouth and slays the wicked with the breath of His lips.

Surely Isaiah saw Christ Jesus and His ministry clearly!

Do you remember friend when His words struck you like a rod?

When His Spirit convicted you of the judgment of Christ.

You knew you were under judgment – you knew you stood condemned.

You cried out for salvation and this blessed King took up residence in your heart!

Rally to Him – our Banner, gather around Him with His people, and be blessed in His Kingdom.

June 1, 2018 - Suggested Reading Matthew 26 for June 3rd’s message on 1 Corinthians 9: 24 thru 10:13 in the 1st Service

“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing,
but the flesh is weak.”

Matthew 26:41 (NIV)

A woman loved her Lord so much that she wasted her money expressing her love for Him.

Judas loved money so much that he wasted his life by selling our Lord.

These two seem to be extremes at the opposite ends of a spectrum, very few of us would take either action and so we wonder at the application to our lives.

But the account of Peter in the garden and in the High Priest’s courtyard is very applicable to all of our lives. We celebrate the Lord’s supper in our local church, we sing a hymn together and walk out into the darkness, oblivious to our future, comfortable in the knowledge that our Lord is with us. We ignore His warnings to pray - we just can’t drum up the zeal to pray that we will not fall - a crisis erupts, our little world is shaken up and we fall, and then we weep bitterly.

This seems all too familiar to me!

Our Lord tells us what to do to prevent this cycle - watch and pray.

Our Lord tells us why- because although our spirit is willing (Christ in us)

our flesh is weak (our sin nature) and needs watching over and praying over.

Watch and Pray!