Oct 25, 2017- 2nd Service Suggested Reading Proverbs 21

"Haughty eyes and a proud heart—  the unplowed field of the wicked—produce sin."

Proverbs 21:4 (NIV)

Oh that I would remember that a proud heart is the result of me not plowing the field of my heart! Hosea 10 declares that I must plow, I must break up the ground, I must sow righteousness! This is my work to do. The Lord echoes Proverbs and Hosea when He taught us that our hearts are soil, we have hard soil, thin soil, thorny soil and good soil. Let us not make the mistake many do by believing that we have nothing to do with the condition of the soil of our heart. Am I sure my way is right? Wanda bought me a shirt years ago that read “Always right get used to it”, but the truth of scripture is that under my actions, under my thoughts is my heart that the LORD weighs. That doing what is right and just is more than actions or words on the outside. That sin is produced in my life by my slackness in plowing my proud heart. We pray for God to do His work, let us not forget to do our work. I threw that shirt out a long time ago, but my problem will be with me until I meet my Lord. Come Lord Jesus Come quickly!

Oct 25, 2017- 1st Service Suggested Reading Isaiah 7

"If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all."

Isaiah 7:9b (NIV)

Poor Ahaz- all he has to help him is human wisdom. I don’t know how people without faith deal with the terrible situations we as humans find ourselves in. Ahaz is in a terrible situation, he is facing ruin, he is terrified, he has lost heart and he is considering asking a wolf to help him with a dog. God sends His prophet to challenge him to courage, reminds him that his enemies are mere mortals subject to time, and that God calls us to a life of faith, to stand in faith. Now faith comes from hearing and hearing from the Word of God. We read God’s Words in the Bible and we believe that those Words apply to us, and that God has the power to make those Words become our future reality. Friend – will you have more faith than Ahaz today? Will you set your mind on the sign God gave Ahaz and us- the sign of Immanuel God with us. Will I seek God’s face, God’s Presence, God’s wisdom today? Or will I like poor Ahaz only seek human wisdom in all of its frailty- and follow him to destruction?

Oct 24, 2017 - 2nd Service Suggested Reading Psalm 51

"Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me."

Psalm 51:10-12 (NIV)

David knew how to confess sin to a Holy Holy Holy God. Notice that David does not use God’s personal name in this prayer- nor does he refer to Him as “my” God. O God, O God, O God, Lord (donay), O God - He feels separated by his sin from his God, and so he confesses his sin. Has my awareness of sin in my life- separated me from God? Use David’s prayer as your guide, and don’t stop with confession- pray the proactive prayer of verses 10 thru 12. Pray for God to work in my innermost being, the places we call our heart and our spirit. Pray for God to hold us tight in His Presence, not to cast us away nor to withhold His Spirit from us. Pray for God to restore joy, a pure heart, a steadfast and willing spirit. Do you notice David doesn’t speak of his mind? Our mind only thinks about what heart directs it to! The word “willing” connected to our spirit should convince us that we are more than just flesh and blood and electrical circuits. We are more that animals driven by instinct, breeding and training. We are complex individuals made in the image of God, made to worship Him in spirit and in truth. O Heavenly Father work in my innermost being that Christ might dwell in my heart thru faith.

Oct 24, 2017- 1st Service Suggested Reading Psalm 62

One thing God has spoken, two things I have heard: “Power belongs to you, God, and with you, Lord, is unfailing love”; and,“You reward everyone according to what they have done.”

Psalm 62:11,12 (NIV)

It is relaxing to know from scripture that it is OK even GOOD to talk to yourself! David talks to himself- he tells his soul to find rest in God, he tells himself that God is his fortress, his rock, his salvation. He reminds himself that his salvation and HONOUR depend on God. What a wonderful truth to remind ourselves of- that I can’t save myself, nor can I protect my reputation- but that salvation and honour are completely dependent on God. David ends this psalm by reminding Himself of what he heard God say- that God is power and that with this power is unfailing love. Our world has a saying “absolute power corrupts absolutely” – which seems to be true about humans but is absolutely false when it comes to God. God has absolute power and also has unfailing love, he is the opposite from corrupt- he is Holy Holy Holy. May I trust this God today with everything, my salvation and my honour- for He is POWER and He is LOVE!

October 22, 2017 - 2nd Service Suggested Reading Exodus 28

Also put the Urim and the Thummim in the breastpiece, so they may be over Aaron’s heart whenever he enters the presence of the LORD. Thus Aaron will always bear the means of making decisions for the Israelites over his heart before the LORD.

Exodus 28:30 (NIV)

Here we have the fascinating instructions concerning the clothes the man who represents God’s people must wear when He enters the Most Holy Presence of the Holy Holy Holy God. I cannot help but think of our Lord entering the true Holy of Holies- what does He wear as He intercedes continually in the Presence of our Heavenly Father? Aaron wore a breastplate of decision. We could take time and wonder at the meaning of the various stones that represented the 12 tribes, or time trying to understand what the Urim and Thummin are and how they work, and that time would be profitable time. But let us consider the placement of the breastplate on the man. The breastplate is worn over his heart! Note this place and remember that although we know the heart is the seat of our emotions, it is also the seat of our will. We know that our decisions are made in our mind - do we know that our mind only thinks on the things our heart directs it to? Oh heavenly Father move in our hearts as we approach you by ourselves in worship today- may our hearts be set on your kingdom, may our minds dwell on heavenly thoughts.

October 22, 2017 - 1st Service Suggested Reading Numbers 11

But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” 

Numbers 11:29 (NIV) 

Moses was discouraged by the people’s attitude towards God. They were grumbling - God was killing them - and Moses had enough! He says to God “Please kill me now! My task of leading your people is impossible!” The amazing response from the LORD (and the central point of this chapter) is to have Moses select 70 elders, gather them around the tent of meeting, and when God came down in the cloud to talk with Moses, the power of the Spirit transferred onto these men for a time. More questions then answers come from this chapter- but it seems pretty clear that Moses received the encouragement he needed to carry on as the leader of God’s people. The Lord was similarly encouraged when He heard reports of the Spirit’s power working thru the seventy He sent out. Here we are today in 2017 and Moses’ wish has come true! God has put His Spirit on all of us, every single Christian in our church has the Holy Spirit and the power of the Spirit- His Word is true, His people are all prophets, and what an encouragement it is to be a leader among the Spirit filled and led people of Parkdale.

Job 3:20-26

"Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death." 

Revelation 20:14 (NIV) 

Job 3:20-26

This headline caught my eye on the editorial page this morning: “This is the year we choose death over indignity.” I didn’t bother reading the article, because I was sure that I would read an article congratulating Canadians on being ‘progressive’ or ‘sophisticated’ enough to believe that every person should have the ‘right’ to end their own life. The headline was enough for me! My father died this June and his last days on earth were filled with pain and the desire to die that Job expressed. His last 48 hours in particular stripped any dignity from him that he had left.

I feel that I have a glimpse of understanding of the ability of pain and disease to strip away our dignity - a glimpse only - but for sure I have been very close to it, not only with my father, but with other family members and church family. I don’t want to argue using the strong case contained in the Word for submitting to God’s timetable for a person’s death - as a matter of fact - I don’t want to argue about it at all, I just want to point out to myself and whoever reads this post, that there is no dignity in death - in any death - in any type of death. Job voices that he thinks being stillborn is better than going through misery before death, yet talk to a mother about the death of her stillborn. We read of Moses death at 120 years, still strong and vital, wouldn’t that be a death with dignity? Moses didn’t think so, for he was being humbled before his people for his pride.

There is no dignity in death. It is a terrible terrible state of affairs that we live under, this sentence of death and we are powerless to stop it, or to somehow make it more dignified (really!) by cutting short the pain that our bodies suffer as we fight to live. This is one of the most amazing truth about God’s Only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible teaches that He willing surrendered to indignity for you and me! Not just the indignity of death, but also of suffering a humiliating shameful, painful death! He did this willingly for you and me, that we might have true Life in His Name, and that one Day - one glorious Day - we will stand at His side and watch Him destroy death forever!

Come Lord Jesus Come!

"Come Thou Long Expected Jesus", Chris Tomlin, via YouTube