Feb 28, 2019 - Suggested Reading Revelation 17 for Mar 3rds message on Hosea 4:1 thru 5:7 in our worship service at 9:00am

“With her the kings of the earth committed adultery, and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.”

Revelation 17:2 (NIV) 

Here in Revelation 17 just as in Isaiah 23 we have a different spiritual meaning for the term prostitute, then what appears in Leviticus 17 and in Hosea 4. The spiritual meaning of the great prostitute is revealed in the last verse of Revelation 17; “The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.”. When we ask the question what city rules the kings of the earth, we come up with different answers depending on the historical period in which the prophecy took place. In Isaiah’s day that city was Tyre, in John’s day that city was Rome, and in our day that city is “________”? These individual cities are the centres of commerce and trade for the world, their currency is recognized as a world-wide currency, which is how they exert rule. The method by which these specific cities rule over the world point towards the spiritual city that exercises rule over the governments of the earth, which is what the Bible calls Mammon or Money.

It is money that makes the world go round!

If you want to know why some world event took place- follow the money.

Don’t be so cynical you say, things happen around the world because mankind desires freedom and so kings rise and fall- NO WAY! Actually, things happen around the world because of our desire for money and all the good things money brings. Even freedom fighters are fighting for the chance to earn a living and live unconstrained by the rich who oppress them. Money is the currency of the marketplace, and the marketplace is the prostitute that corrupts all kings and intoxicates all people. Our Lord warned us about loving and serving Money. The apostle Paul warns us of the dangers of seeking wealth and yet wealth is what brings quality of life to us. Without wealth Canada would not have the healthcare it has. Each of us in the 1st world live exponentially better than those in the 2nd and 3rd worlds, because of Money. As we see what Money brings us, we have the temptation to trust Money instead of God. We obey the rules of Money instead of the rules of God and so the great Prostitute leads us astray.

Will we heed the warnings of Scripture - or are we doomed to follow the rest of mankind into destruction? 

Will we as Christians love God more than Money or will we continue to hamstring ourselves as churches by couching the Gospel Message because of our fear of losing our charitable status?

Will we serve God or will we serve Money, and become unfaithful to our Lord by becoming intimate with the great Prostitute?

Feb 28, 2019 - Suggested Reading Leviticus 17 for Mar 3rds message on Hosea 4:1 thru 5:7 in our worship service at 9:00am

“They must no longer offer any of their sacrifices to the goat idols to whom they prostitute themselves. This is to be a lasting ordinance for them and for the generations to come.”

Leviticus 17:7 (NIV) 

We all have knowledge of the english word prostitute. As a noun it describes a person who has engaged in a sexual act in exchange for payment of some kind. As a verb it describes the action of offering yourself or someone else for sexual activity in exchange for payment of some kind. The Hebrew word used in this verse is znh and is used 61 times in the Old Testament, it appears 8 times in Hosea 4:1 thru 5:7 which is our text this Sunday int he 9:00 am service. 

What is hard for us to understand is why God would use this word to describe for His people how He views our worship of other gods. God attaches a spiritual meaning to this common word, through an allegory, in which the goat idols are the johns and God’s people are the ones who offer their intimacy for payment. This can be hard to apply in our lives for those of us who live in the Quinte area in 2019, and yet there is application here, and there are wonderful truths or principles in this severe command in Leviticus 17 by which Christians may be greatly benefited.

The first principle is that we should be very careful in our spiritual lives to resist the practice of finding what God promises in other places. The Samaritan woman in John 4 tried to find the life she wanted in men. Balaam and Judas both tried to find what they needed in wealth and money. We have been warned of this danger and yet many us seek what God promises, in places other than
God Himself.

The second principle is that we should be very careful in our spiritual lives to resist treating God as a john and ourselves as a prostitute. Are we worshipping God and being intimate with God in order to receive payment from Him, something we desperately need and will therefore do anything we think God requires in order for us to receive from His hand? Oh child of God! May it not be so! May we seek Him for Him, and may we be satisfied with Him and Him alone. May we trust Him to provide what we truly need, not what we so desperately desire.

The last principle is the central point of the entire chapter. The point of this chapter is to give a command to God’s people that if obeyed by God’s people will keep them from spiritual prostitution. They are to only offer their sacrifice to the priest at the tabernacle. They are to teach themselves through obedience that God will only accept us when we approach His Mediator at the place God has chosen. For the Israelites that was the priest at the tabernacle, where the blood was offered as an atonement for their sins. For us it is our Lord Jesus Christ at the cross where His blood paid our price. We are to approach God in worship only through Jesus Christ and at the place where he died for our sins. For the Israelites this required great physical effort to get themselves and the animals to the tabernacle. For us it simply requires a bowed head wherever we are, as we worship God in spirit and truth, coming to our Lord confessing our sins and thanking Him for His forgiveness and grace that will help us live our lives for Him this day.

May we make this our practice daily, even hourly as we say NO to spiritual prostitution.

Feb 23, 2019 - Suggested Reading Revelation 5 for Feb 24ths message on Hosea 2:14 thru 3:5 in our worship service at 9:00am

“I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.”

Revelation 21:2 (NIV) 

Our Creator God formed all that is visible out of nothing in order to reveal His invisible nature, and as He created, He formed mankind into 2 genders, male and female and instituted the marriage relationship as the base relationship on which all other human relationships come from. He did this so that He could use what we know- we know about marriage – in order to teach us spiritual truths about the spiritual relationship between our Lord Jesus Christ and those who have been saved through faith in His Name. Throughout the Old Testament God uses Words that come from our marriage experiences to describe His relationship with His people Israel, and in the New Testament God uses these Words to describe our relationship with His Son who is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being. We see this in the gospels as Jesus calls Himself the bridegroom, and told parables about waiting for the bridegroom and about a wedding banquet. We see this in Ephesians 5 where Paul speaks to us about the characteristics of spouses who please God in marriage, and then tells us that he is actually speaking about Christ and His church. We see this in vivid pictorial form in the book of revelation where John sees the bride of Christ coming down out
of heaven. 

We can’t say enough about our Bridegroom, for He is beautiful beyond description, and is too wonderful to describe. 

But what about His bride? Well the church of Christ has been prepared and is beautifully dressed for her bridegroom.

 A big part of the gospel is that our Lord takes away our shame, and this description of a beautiful bride is a wonderful way of getting this truth into our hearts. He is not ashamed of us, rather He is proud of us, just as a groom is filled with joy at the sight of his bride coming towards him. In our culture we had a tradition that the groom doesn’t see his bride in her dress until she comes down the aisle. I have stood beside young men as they see their bride for the first time in their beautiful dress and are overwhelmed. This description in Revelation is a description of THE wedding which all other weddings point towards. This groom is THE Groom and this bride is THE bride.

Friend I look forward to this Day when all of us who have been made righteous and beautiful through faith in Christ Jesus are presented to the Lover of our souls.

Feb 22, 2019 - Suggested Reading Ephesians 2 for Feb 24ths message on Hosea 2:14 thru 3:5 in our worship service at 9:00am

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”

Ephesians 2:4-5 (NIV)

Hosea 3 records that Hosea searched his wife out and paid her owner her purchase price, as an act of his love for her. “Go and show your love to your wife again.” Love is the motivator, and love is revealed through the action of purchasing her back. We don’t know if she saw the actual purchase being made, but we know that she experienced the result for she came back into his home and lived with him for many days.

This passage in Hosea foretells the gospel according to Paul, and our verses in Ephesians reveal this so clearly. It is His great love for us that brought our Lord to this earth (for God so loved the world) to purchase us from judgement and spiritual death. We deserved nothing from God except wrath, and yet God who is rich in mercy brought us into the earshot of the gospel, gave us the faith to believe and when we exercised that faith, God brought us from spiritual death to spiritual life.

It is especially amazing as a Gentile to read the Words of Ephesians 2 and realize that we were far away and have now been brought near by the blood of Christ. We have brought near- into intimacy with Christ – members of God’s household, part of one single spiritual structure in which God lives by His Spirit.

Do you know His love or do you feel alone and unloved by God? 

There are times in our lives when we are overwhelmed by His love, we believe it, we can feel it, we can taste it, and we see His love all around us. There also times when we doubt His love, and in those times we should cast our minds back to the day that the purchase price was paid on a cross far away. We were purchased by His blood and brought into His house, and that truth by itself should chase the doubts away, and yet sometimes we need more than our own thoughts. There is something wonderful that occurs when we gather in our local household of God called Parkdale. There is something about being in the midst of our brothers and sisters that reveals God’s love for us in a way that we don’t experience on our own.

May we be overwhelmed by the love of God today!

Feb 21, 2019 - Suggested Reading Jeremiah 31 for Feb 24ths message on Hosea 2:14 thru 3:5 in our worship service at 9:00am

“The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.”

Jeremiah 31:3 (NIV) 

Time spent remembering the love of God for our soul is the best use of the time we have.

Jeremiah starts this wonderful chapter by remembering what God said when He first appeared to them – do you remember what God said to you when He first made Himself known to you?

The memory of God’s love extended to us is what brings hope for the future. He loved us then and He loves us now and so His love will result in good for us in the future. Read this chapter, see the progression and hear the wonderful Words of the gospel spoken again.

vs  11  the promise of deliverance through redemption

vs  15 the prophecy of the babies of Bethlehem being killed as Herod sought to kill Jesus

vs  16 – 20 the mourning that brings God’s blessing

vs  31-34 the promise of the new covenant that doesn’t depend on the people

vs 35-40 a declaration of God’s power and determination to deliver His people

I love verse 26 when Jeremiah wakes up and says his sleep was pleasant, apparently this came to Jeremiah as a vision from the LORD in the night.

Oh that we would dream of the gospel- that we would go to sleep thinking of God’s love for us, and wake up refreshed and blessed full of the sure knowledge that He loves us dearly and will never let go. He will never let go, for He has redeemed us, He has brought us into His new covenant of love in His Son Christ Jesus, a covenant that we cannot break for it is His work in our hearts that seals us
to Him.

How about trying an experiment tonight? Before we go to sleep let us read Romans 8:31-39, and meditate on it, even trying to memorize a sentence or 2. Let us see if we wake up saying “Our sleep was pleasant to us”.

Feb 20, 2019 - Suggested Reading Malachi 3 for Feb 24ths message on Matthew 11:1-19 in our worship service at 10:45am

““I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the LORD you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the LORD Almighty.”

Malachi 3:1 (NIV)

In Matthew 11:10 our Lord identifies John the Baptist as the promised messenger whom the LORD has sent ahead of Him to prepare the way for Him to come to His temple. Our Lord had a very high opinion of John, actually it is an amazing revelation of His humility that Jesus spoke the highest of John when John was at his lowest in regards to his faith in Jesus.

The Lord not only identifies John with this quote, but also identifies Himself as LORD, for John’s ministry immediately preceded the ministry of Jesus, and therefore if John is the messenger sent by the LORD, than Jesus is the LORD who is coming to His temple. This view of Himself and His own deity gives Jesus the ability to state that John is the greatest of all those born of a woman, for Jesus is both God and human.

Malachi 3:1-5 is a sobering prophecy of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here we have the Lord coming to His temple, the One that the Jews supposedly desired and sought and yet who was able to stand His coming? He truly came as refiner’s fire, burning off the religious dross and ending with just a few believers refined and purified, the priesthood of believers restored, offering acceptable and righteous offerings.

There can be a lesson for us here if we choose to accept it. We long for the Lord to come, to make all things right, but are we truly ready for His coming? Will we stand when the Lord appears as Judge? Or are we the unrighteous dross who will be burned away? We need His fire today burning away the sin in our lives, in order to be ready for His coming.

Friend let us humble ourselves before Him today and ask Him to purify our hearts, that we would be ready for His coming.

Feb 19, 2019 - Suggested Reading Isaiah 29 for Feb 24ths message on Matthew 11:1-19 in our worship service at 10:45am

“In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.”

Isaiah 29:18 (NIV) 

When you read Isaiah 29, and Matthew 11 together you wonder how John the Baptist could ever doubt who Jesus was. 

Isaiah’s judgment on the Jewish people for false worship in verse 13 is echoed by Jesus in Matthew 15, so we know that Isaiah was looking forward to the time period in which Jesus walked on the face of the earth. And as Isaiah looked forward into this terrible time (for the people were in a dreadful state of spiritual sleep-vs 10) and glorious time (for it was a time of wonder upon wonder being performed -vs14), he could see the deaf hearing and the blind seeing. This could only be the work of God on the earth, as God made clear in His response to the excuses of Moses at the burning bush recorded in Exodus 4. 

So how could John the Baptist have any doubts at all about the identity of Jesus of Nazareth? John knew that the his ministry task was to come before the Messiah, so the question he sent to Jesus through the mouths of his disciples, was in essence asking Jesus if He really was the Messiah. 

We look at this from our viewpoint in time and wonder who else could Jesus be but the Messiah, and yet the prophet John doubted. It seems from the exchange between Jesus and John’s disciples recorded in Matthew 9:14-17 and our Lord’s description of the differences between His ministry and John’s ministry in Matthew 11:18,19, that the reason for John’s doubts stem from his inability to recognize that Christ’s presence on the earth demanded a change in ministry approach. 

Everything changed when the Word became flesh and walked among us!

Feb 16, 2019 - Suggested Reading James 4 for Feb 17ths message on Hosea 1 thru 2:13 in our worship service at 9:00am

“You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.”

James 4:4 (NIV) 

The names Hosea and Joshua are both English renderings of the same basic Hebrew name, and Jesus is the English rendering of the Greek transliteration of that same Hebrew name.

So for those of us who understand that the Old Testament shows us Jesus, Joshua foreshadows Jesus, in the sense that just as Joshua as their leader, gave his people the ability to conquer their land and live their lives before God in their land, so also Jesus as our leader gives us the ability to live our lives to the fullest wherever we live on the face of this earth. We could say then that Hosea foreshadows Jesus, in the sense that just as God told Hosea to marry a promiscuous wife, who would stray into adultery, so also God told Jesus to take a wife (the church - the bride of Christ) who is spiritually promiscuous and who would stray into spiritual adultery.

Wow - we say - that doesn’t seem right! 

The Israelites are different than we are in the church - for they didn’t have the Holy Spirit to change their hearts, and surely the gospel message of the Old Testament is that God would write His Law on our hearts- how then can our hearts stray?

Well, James had no problem calling Christians (people who have the Holy Spirit living in them) adulterous people, that is James had no trouble calling the bride of Christ adulterous. 

According to James 4 – our actions, our motives and our friendships make us adulterous to Christ, for God jealously longs for us.

The letters in Revelation to the local churches reflect a similar thought;

for Ephesus had “forsaken the love you had at first”,

and Pergamum had some who “held true to his name”

and also some who “were eating food sacrificed to idols”,

and Thyatira has “those who commit adultery with her”,

and in Laodicea, Christ’s bride has no clothes - “cover your shameful nakedness”.

This is who we are - a promiscuous bride for the Righteous Groom.

Robert Robinson in the 18th century penned: “prone to wander, Lord I feel it”.

Yep I feel it!

 My Lord knows it, and yet loves me with an unfailing love.

He wants all of us, not just 10%, not just Sunday for an hour.

He wants all of us, and all of our love.

James tells us that He will give us the grace we need to enable us to love Him.

But we must humble ourselves and submit to God.

We must humble ourselves before Him and then He will lift us up.

Feb 15, 2019 - Suggested Reading Matthew 25 for Feb 17ths message on Matthew 10:32-42 in our worship service at 10:45am

““He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these,
you did not do for me.’”

Matthew 25:45 (NIV)

On that Day - the great Day of division - all humanity will be divided into 2 groups separated by the Lord Jesus Christ. Some on His left and some on His right - there is no middle ground. 

The ones on the left are sent away from the Lord into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels, but the ones on His right are welcomed by Him into their inheritance, the kingdom prepared for them since the creation of the world. What amazes me about this prophecy by Christ Jesus is the reason given by the Lord to both groups as to why they are either in the kingdom or in the fire. 

The reason centres on what we have done for Christians while we lived on the face of the earth. 

If we fed them, or gave them water, or gave them a bed, or gave them clothes, or helped heal them, or befriended them in prison, then we will be in the kingdom. 

If we didn’t do any of those things we will end up in the fire.

We could speculate as to the nature of the link – that is try to figure out which comes first.

Do people who are in the kingdom care for Christians because of Christ in them?

Or do people get in the kingdom because they care for Christians?

Or we could deal with the plain teaching of the text - which is an amazing teaching.

That Christ views everything done or not done to His people, as done or not done to Him!

Now that is spiritual union- that is Christ in us, and us in Christ.

It is not just talk – nope its truth - we are in Him and He is in us!

The response of both groups of people tell us that we don’t get this teaching.

We don’t understand that what is done or not done for His people, is done or not done for Him.

We think that how we treat His people has nothing to do with our standing before God. 

Paul discovered otherwise on the road to Damascus when the Lord asked him “Why are you persecuting ME?”

Makes me want to be careful in how I deal with Christians - I don’t want any part in harming them. 

I want to be part of blessing them!

Feb 14, 2019 - Suggested Reading Micah 7 for Feb 17ths message on Matthew 10:32-42 in our worship service at 10:45am

“But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD,
I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.”

Micah 7:7 (NIV)

Is this verse accurate and true of us?

Do I do this?

Do I watch in hope for the Lord?

Do I wait for Him to save me?

If this true and accurate of us – then we will be different then our neighbours, our friends and our family.

The prophetic message of Micah - as he looks around the nation of Judah he sees corruption and injustice everywhere. 

Calling it a time of confusion - the day God visits - and warning the righteous not to trust a neighbour, nor a friend nor even your spouse.

Is pointing to the time we live in for our Lord uses verse 6 as He instructs the disciples about the cost of following Him.

He warns us all that following Him will bring division.

This is so true in our lives today.

Spouses who follow Christ, but their marriage partner doesn’t can testify to this truth.

Parents of unsaved children can testify to this truth.

Children of unsaved parents can testify to this truth.

I think of witnessing to unsaved neighbours and co-workers - they will talk about the Bible, and God all day long, but mention the name Jesus and they shut the conversation down.

Jesus divides - He is the great dividing point of humanity.

He didn’t come to bring peace among people.

He came to bring peace between God and those who put their hope in Jesus Christ.

There will be a day when He comes back and as all humanity stand before Him, some of us will watch our neighbours, and our family members be separated from us and cast into an eternity of fire.

What can we do about this now?

Dare to be a Micah!

Be one who watches in hope for the LORD and who waits for God my Saviour.

Believing that God hears your prayers.

Then be ready to give them a reason for the hope within you.

Perhaps God will be gracious to them and bring them into His kingdom.

Feb 13, 2019 - Suggested Reading Jeremiah 23 for Feb 17ths message on Hosea 1 thru 2:13 in our worship service at 9:00am

“Let the prophet who has a dream recount the dream, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain?” declares the Lord. “Is not my word like fire,” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?”

Jeremiah 23:28-29 (NIV) 

Jeremiah began his ministry to Judah in 627 BC, more than a hundred years after Hosea began his ministry to the northern kingdom called Israel in 753 BC. One of the commentators point out that it appears by the language in Jeremiah, that Jeremiah was influenced by Hosea’s writings, which seem to have been taken into Judah to preserve them, when the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom and deported God’s people in 722 BC. We can see in this chapter that Jeremiah follows the theme of Hosea in his use of the metaphor of marriage/adultery. We see in verse 10 and 14 that adultery is used in the spiritual sense of a people joining themselves in the worship of other than the One True God, and that the metaphor is taken further than Deuteronomy 31 in the sense that the spiritual adultery is revealed by their evil actions, and furthermore that this adultery charge is levelled against the prophets and the priests.

Yet I chose this text not for the adultery parallels, between Jeremiah and Hosea, but for what verse 28 and 29 teach us about the purpose of God’s Word.

God’s Word is grain - full of spiritual nutrients that sustain the soul.

The words from false prophets are straw - empty of any spiritual nutrients.

God’s Word is fire, that burns away the dross of sin and evil in us.

God’s Word is a hammer, that breaks the most stubborn head and heart into pieces.

Oh to be broken before my God by His Word!

Oh to have my sin and evil burned away by God’s Word!

Oh to have my soul truly nourished by God’s Word!

The priests and prophets who are called adulterous are the ones whose words neither cleanse, nor break, and therefore do not nourish our souls. 

They may use God’s Words, but they frame them, as they deliver them in such a way to rob God’s people of the true purposes of God’s Word. 

Mainly peace, peace, peace, don’t worry God loves you, He won’t judge you.

Will we allow our stubborn self to be broken by the Hammer?

Will we allow the Fire to burn in our hearts?

Perhaps then we will open our mouths to eat what our soul needs for life.

Feb 12, 2019 - Suggested Reading Deuteronomy 31 for Feb 17ths message on Hosea 1 thru 2:13 in our worship service at 9:00am

“And the LORD said to Moses: “You are going to rest with your ancestors, and these people will soon prostitute themselves to the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake me and break the covenant I made with them.”

Deuteronomy 31:16 (NIV) 

On Sunday we will begin a risky venture.

We will begin a series in the Minor Prophets which will expose us to some of the ugliest passages in the Bible. 

The Minor Prophets are a collection of the writings of 12 prophets, and have always been placed in a group of writings called the Twelve. 

We will begin this week in Hosea 1 and as the Lord enables us we will continue in this section of Scripture until we reach the end of Malachi. 

I called it ugly, not because of the writing, for much the writing is beautiful, nor because of the picture of God that emerges, for God is revealed in His glory. 

I called it ugly because this section of Scripture gives us the true picture of the ugliness that is in God’s people.

 This section of Scripture holds a full length x-ray vision mirror up to the people of God.

We tend to become righteous in our own sight, as the years go by. 

Somehow, we lose sight of the truth that not only did we require mercy and grace to become a Christian we when we first called on our Lord for salvation but we require God’s mercy and grace on a daily basis to live in a Christ honouring way. When our Lord told us to “go and learn what it means that God desires mercy not sacrifice”, He was quoting from Hosea, and if we truly want to go and learn, then a good beginning would be to go to Hosea and discover the message of Hosea.

Or we could just become Pharisees, self righteous, judgmental, whitewashing the outside, and bringing destruction on ourselves and our families - sounds like the recent church history of Ontario.

Hosea uses the ugliest family situation possible to teach us about our need for mercy, and he uses words like adulterous, promiscuous and prostitution.

In Deuteronomy 31 God compares the actions of His people to prostitution - what an ugly Word!

God knew what His people would do, they would turn to other gods, selling their intimacy to other gods for whatever they can get from them - “prostitute themselves”.

The Hebrew word used in our verse in Deuteronomy has been used in Ge 38, Lev 19, Lev 20, Nu 25, and Deut 22 in regards to physical prostitution or sexual immorality. 

In our verse it is used in a spiritual sense and has been used that way in
Ex 34, Lev 17, Lev 19, Lev 20 and Nu 15.

We can surely conclude from this usage that God is drawing from one of the ugliest aspects of physical intimacy between humans, as a way of teaching us how ugly we are to Him when we love and serve other than God. 

This venture we are embarking on is risky for who wants to see ugly in themselves. 

Our natural tendency is to change our mirror, and compare our self to others around us instead of measuring our self against God's Word.

May God move in our midst through His Word spoken through the Twelve.

May we learn what it means that God desires mercy!

Feb 11, 2019 - Suggested Reading Genesis 22 for Feb 17ths message on Matthew 10:32-42 in our worship service at 10:45am

“Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.””

Genesis 22:2 (NIV) 

As we prepare to receive our Lord’s warning recorded in Matthew 10:37 that a requirement of a true follower of Christ is that we love Him more than we love our children, the test of Abraham recorded in Genesis 22 comes to mind. 

This account is a wonderful picture of God’s provision for our sin, and a wonderful foreshadowing of God’s willingness to send His Son whom He loved to the cross for our sins. 

This account is also a wonderful example of faith, for Hebrews 11:17-19 teaches us that Abraham’s actions in this account were grounded in his faith in his God. 

However, in the midst of those wonderful lessons, I would like us not to miss the fact that this account plainly teaches God used the love of a father for his son,
to test the father’s heart towards his God. 

Specifically, the test involved the death of a child loved dearly by his father. 

It is very similar to the test of Job, as God permitted Satan to kill Job’s children, in order to reveal to the cosmic powers that Job’s heart was truly for God.

Not the children we say! Spare the children! Yet God requires that we give them up to Him.

I think of the story of Samuel, which is the story of a woman who would give her son up contrasted to a priest who honoured his sons more than he honoured God.

I have seen the great tragedy of Christian parents who turn from the Word of God, following the priest Eli’s folly, for they cannot bear to think that their children are running into destruction.

 So they begin to question plain Scripture and then deny the truth of Scripture and turn from following their Lord.

May we as Christian parents love our children dearly, and may we love our Lord more dearly than even our children! 

May we follow Him, obeying Him and Him only, mourning over sin and trusting Him with the fate of our dearly loved children.

Feb 2, 2019 - Suggested Reading Philippians 2 for Jan Feb 3rds message on 1 Corinthians 16 in our worship service at 9:00 am

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others."

Philippians 2:3-4 (NIV) 

Humility is the opposite of pride and it is the heart and mindset of our Lord.

It wasn’t that He wasn’t of more value than all of humanity combined.

He surely is worth far more than all of us combined.

It was that He valued us above Himself.

That’s humility in a nutshell and that is opposite to the heart and mindset that I was born with.

My sinful natural self considers me the most valuable person on the highway, at the ice rink, in our home – wherever I am present with other people.

Our natural self loves being in the spotlight, lifted up above others and valued above others.

We want to be appreciated, valued and honoured.

Love became a man and walked on the earth.

This man Jesus who is love personified, valued others above Himself, left His place of honour and joined the sinners and the broken in order that He might help them.

To value others above yourself is an act of your will, it is an act of love.

This has implications in our family lives, a strong marriage is only as strong as to the extent both spouses value the other spouse above themselves.

Paul however is not speaking to spouses in these verses – he is speaking to Christians attending a local church together.

Think of Parkdale for a moment - think of the people you see on a Sunday or during the week- will we value them more than we value ourselves?

Humility is the opposite of pride and it is the heart and mindset of our Lord.

Is it our mindset in Parkdale?

Feb 2, 2019 - Suggested Reading 2 Corinthians 8 for Jan Feb 3rds message on 1 Corinthians 16 in our worship service at 9:00 am

"But since you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you—see that you also excel in this grace of giving."

2 Corinthians 8:7 (NIV) 

The idea that we can excel in this grace of giving is a neat phrase that warrants exploration.

We understand this to be true when we speak of God’s grace manifested in the spiritual gifts we are given - for as we use them for Christ and through His power we can excel - that is we become very effective in the use of those gifts. 

Paul lists the things the Corinthians are already excelling in - awesome list - I wonder what do you excel in? – as a way of explaining how he wants to see them grow in the area of giving.

Paul uses the Macedonian Christians as an example of what he wants to see - people who in the midst of trials and poverty, eagerly desire to have the privilege to be used by God to bless
His people financially. 

Giving even beyond their ability, exceeding the expectations of the leadership. 

He gives us a formula (severe trial + overflowing joy + extreme poverty = rich generosity) which doesn’t add up however you look at it, unless you factor in that for a Christian giving is about God’s grace working in our lives.

How then can we excel in this grace of giving?

vs 8 & 9 Don’t think of giving in terms of a test of obedience to Christ- think of it in terms of a test of love for Christ.

vs 10-12 Realize that the willingness to give is more important than the size of the gift.

vs 13-15  Our goal should be equality, a sharing of God-given riches - so that needs will be met.

So as we consider our love for God, and examine our hearts (will) in the matter, realizing that we have more than others and that they are in need, we will excel in the grace of giving.

Feb 1, 2019 - Suggested Reading Acts 3 for Feb 3rds message on Matthew 9:18-38 in our worship service at 10:45am

“Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.””

Acts 3:6 (NIV) 

The apostle Peter had something to give the beggar!

What was it that Peter had in his possession to give to the man so that he could walk?

Could we say that Peter had the gift of health that he was able to give?

It is clear from this verse that Peter possessed the name of Jesus, and further it is clear from verse 16 that Peter possessed faith in the name of Jesus. 

(It seems that the man did not expect to be healed, he expected money - so we understand verse 16 to be speaking of Peter’s faith in the name of Jesus, not the man’s faith.)

Now it is true of every Christian that we possess the name of Jesus – surely, we understand that we bear His Name for we are His.

It is also true of every Christian that we possess faith in the name of Jesus, for we would not be Christian at all if we had not called on the name of Jesus to be saved.

But we must admit that is not true that every Christian can grab a lame man by the hand
telling him to walk! 

It brings to my mind a dear lady full of faith, who is with the Lord now, who attended Parkdale and would periodically when gripped by faith try to stand up out of her chair. 

What a blessing it was to our church to have this dear lady - full of faith in the name of Jesus - in our midst. Yet she was not healed.

Peter has more than the name of Jesus and more than faith in the name of Jesus, for Jesus Himself gave Peter authority over sickness. 

Peter is able, through faith in the name of Jesus,  to speak to lameness with the word WALK and watch the lameness disappear. 

Peter was given authority (the ability to say to this one go, and have them go, and to this other one come and have them come) by Jesus as an apostle of Jesus. 

Not for Peter’s glory nor his benefit, but for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ and for the benefit of those Peter preached the gospel to.

Will we see these apostles as men who occupy a unique office in Christ’s church?

Will we follow the apostles as our leaders under Christ?

Feb 1, 2019 - Suggested Reading Job 42 for Feb 3rds message on 1 Corinthians 16 in our worship service at 9:00 am

 "All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the LORD had brought on him, and each one gave him a piece of silver[a] and a gold ring."

Job 42:11 (NIV)

The beginning of the book of Job tells us in detail how Satan robbed Job of his possessions and his children and his health, but the end of Job is lacking in any details regarding the restoration of Job’s health and family. 

It does however give us detail about how Job’s possessions were restored, for it tells us that people came to eat with him, comforting him, consoling him and each one giving him money. 

I visualize this happening in groups of people, coming to him, eating with him and blessing him with a financial gift before they leave.

Notice that the LORD is named for the troubles Job had, though his troubles came to him through Satan using human enemies, nature and sickness.

Notice in verse 12 that the LORD is named for the riches Job accumulates in the later part of his life, even though it is the people who gave Job the start up money.

Please take particular notice that each one who came to console and comfort gave money.

Many of us when we console in groups are content to let others give money, we think to our selves that there has been enough given. 

But these relatives and friends of Job each contributed themselves, and it appears from the text that the contributions were the same size.

God works through people, it is God’s work to bless those who trust Him as they go through their troubles and He has chosen to use you and me as the means to bless them.

James tells us not to speak nice words of comfort to people without doing something tangible to help them in their need - he calls it a lack of faith on our part - dead faith actually. 

Faith that is real and love that is real, makes us reach into our wallets and give money to those who have had trouble. 

Who doesn’t see the beauty in what is described in this verse? 

Let us be willing to be used by God in such a beautiful way.