Love Is Discerning: 1 John 4:1-6 - Neil Ryan

Date: September 5, 2004

Passage: 1 John 4:1-6

Message: Love is Discerning

Series: All You Need Is Love [1 John 4-5]

Intro – New Series

Don’t be lulled into sleepy comatosed state by the Title.

Love is still the most dramatic change agent known to man!

God’s love is more about transforming us than giving us warm fuzzies!

Love is Discerning. 

Love Is Giving: 1 John 4:7-12 - Neil Ryan

Date: September 12, 2004
Passage: 1 John 4:7-12
Message: Love is Giving
Series: All You Need Is Love [1 John 4-5]

You know when I read this passage I couldn’t help thinking it seems like something out of another world!
Eg
# Australian Embassy bombed in Djkarta
# 400-500 Women and children massacred in Beslan
# 100,000 babies were aborted in Australia last year.
# Sudan in crisis - thousands of black African tribesmen have been killed and more than a (m) million forced from their homes by government-backed Arab militias.
# Alkaida claims to control most of Afghanistan.
# The Middle East is constantly at flash point.
# Religion is seen as the source of global conflict.
# We live daily with travel warnings.
# We no longer trust people in position of power.
# We are living in a global community that dominated by suspicion and fear.
# We don’t care so long as we’re OK.

Then you read….
Dear friends, let us love one another for love comes from God.

You know what that feels like to me?
When you are way up high on cliff face and right down below is ocean.
You pick up stone and you hurl it as far as you can.
Sometimes you just lose sight of it, other times you watch it finally hit the water and it hardly even makes a chink in the ocean!

That’s what this verse seems like in the face of our world!
We’re all feeling it.
Black Eyed Peas – Where is the Love
Number One in UK for a number of weeks at end 2003

It just ain't the same, always unchanged
New days are strange, is the world insane
If love and peace is so strong
Why are there pieces of love that don't belong
Nations droppin' bombs
Chemical gasses fillin' lungs of little ones
With the ongoin' sufferin' as the youth die young
So ask yourself is the lovin' really gone
So I could ask myself really what is goin' wrong
In this world that we livin' in, people keep on givin'
in
Makin' wrong decisions,
Not respectin' each other,
A war is goin' on but the reason's undercover
The truth is kept secret, it's swept under the rug
If you never know truth then you never know love

People killin', people dyin'
Children hurt and you hear them cryin'
Can you practice what you preach
And would you turn the other cheek

Father, Father, Father help us
Send us some guidance from above
'Cause people got me, got me questionin'
Where is the love

Where is the love
Where is the love
Where is the love
The love, the love.

Where do we start?
All very well to talk about God’s love but how does it work?
How does it change a world like ours?
Read v11-12

Here’s the problem.
This world will be changed when you and I learn to love people the way God loves us……but what complicates all this is that we have this overwhelming need to BE LOVED.
That often takes priority!
We are hopelessly self-serving when it comes to love!

Last Wednesday I attended Sunrise Christian School Grandparents Day.
Can you believe that!
I feel like it was only last year I was attending parent interviews at school, now I’m going along to GRANDPARENTS DAY!!!

But I looked at these little kids singing their songs.
There were the self-conscious ones.
There were the show-offs.
There were the scruffy ones.
There were the kids who looked like they were going to collapse just standing in front of people.
There were the ones who looked destined to be Prime Minister.
Others who looked like they could do time!!

Do you know one of the things I’ve learned over the years?
We never really grow up.
It’s a fallacy.
We just become a more complex version of that little child!!
I could see the adult version of all of those kids on display last Wednesday.

As I looked at them all it struck me again that the thing each of those boys and girls need more than anything in the world is to BE LOVED and to helped TO LOVE!

Ernest Hemingway wrote a story once about a father and his teenage son. In the story, the relationship had become somewhat strained, and the teenage son ran away from home. His father WENT in search of that rebellious son. Finally, in Madrid, Spain, in a last desperate attempt to find the boy, the father put an ad in the local newspaper. The ad read:

Dear Paco, Meet me in front of the newspaper office at noon. All is forgiven. I love you. Your Father.

The next day, in front of the newspaper office, 800 "Pacos" showed up. They were all seeking forgiveness. They all wanted to know that their father loved them. Love is a very powerful thing.
But what is it we are talking about – LOVE?
It certainly involves FEELINGS.
Like the little ditty I read –

I climbed up the door, and I shut the stairs.
I said my shoes, and took off my prayers.
I shut off my bed, and I climbed into the light and all because He kissed me good night.

Love can revolutionise our feelings but that is not a completely trustworthy measure of LOVE.
Part of the problem in our world of terrorism is that people are doing what they are doing with a love for god, Allah!
They are very passionate about it.

Feelings are great things but they are so unreliable.
They can change so quickly.
They can confuse us, deceive us and destroy us.

Where is the love?
Where is the real thing?
Let me let you into little life secret.
We all want to love, we just want to be in control of what and when and where we love!!

That just about sums up all the problems in our universe!!
We are prone to love those who are lovable. We are prone to love those who are able to give us something in return.

I like to call this = transactional love
I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine' mentality.
LOVE from our human perspective has a very commercial side to it.
Subconsciously it asks two questions –
a) What is this going to cost me?
b) What am I going to get out of it?

The Greeks called this kind of love "eros".
Our first response when we hear this word is to think of the term "erotic" but "eros" is more than just a sexual love.

At its core "eros" is the kind of love that is bent on giving me a good deal.
John Ortberg says, "Eros is love on a treasure hunt."

It’s not all bad.
Baby loves her mother because when it cries the Mum comes up with the goodies!
That’s eros, but it’s natural.

There is something in all of us that loves that way.
I remember the first serious note I ever got from a girl.
In year 8 – Kadina High School.
Her name was Charmaine and she told me she loved me and put lipstick on the note and sprayed it with perfume!!
There was EROS all over that note.

I’m doing something and I expect something in return!

Eros is not all bad it is just not strong enough to build a LIFE on or a RELATIONSHIP on or a CHURCH on or a COMMUNITY on or a WORLD upon!!

Eros is superficial because it misses the most important issue of life.
What about those I don’t want to love?
What about those I don’t see to be a good commercial deal?
What about those I want to hate?

A lady was sick, so she went to the doctor. The doctor examined her, ran some tests and then said to her,
"I'm sorry to tell you this, but you have rabies."
The lady picked up a notepad and then began writing. The doctor asked,
"Are you writing out your will?"
She replied, "No, I'm making a list of all the people I'm going to bite."

That’s the problem with EROS.
It lets us down when the pressure is on.
It lets us down when we need it most!!

That’s why John is writing here about something that is LIFE-CHANGING.
It is not just about feelings.
It is not just about having a mutual relationship.
It is LOVE BEYOND REASON!!

It is love that goes beyond what we or others deserve.
It’s love that goes beyond colour or class.
It is love that goes beyond what we look like.
It is love that doesn’t weigh up the commercial benefits.

This is love that is born in the heart of God!!
Read v9-10
Aren’t you glad God didn’t love us with EROS?
Aren’t you glad God didn’t make a commercial deal to love us?
Aren’t you glad God didn’t deal with us just on the basis of feelings!

You know I reacon LOVE has become one of the most mistreated truths in Bible!
We have come to think that LOVE defines GOD.
In fact it is GOD who defines LOVE!!

Can you understand the difference?
We have reduced God to our concept of love.
We have made God a slave to what we think love is.
We have squeezed God into this mould called love.

We think LOVE defines God.
Somewhere Christianity is being lost in LOVE!
That’s why people say to me –
If you call yourself a Christian then you can’t say that homosexuality is sinful because that is not loving.

Love is now defining God rather than God defining love!
When God defines love we can acknowledge that homosexuality or any form of immoral heterosexual behaviour is sinful –
But we will love and value that person in the same way as Jesus loves and values them!!

There are no second tear humans in eyes of God.
There are no good sinners and bad sinners.
We have no grounds to boast as human beings other than the fact that GOD LOVES US!!!!

We are living in a day when the Church / Christians are being consigned to be a bunch of people who are just on about LOVE.
Our world has defined love for us.
# Tolerant
# Non-judgemental
# Broad-minded
# Politically correct
# Don’t tread on our toes kind of people

Sadly much of the Church has taken on the image of having this pathetic, sickly smile on our face where we just go along with almost anything in the name of LOVE!

Can you see how this passage ties in so much with last week.
Love as God defines it tests the spirits
Love lets God set the boundaries.
Love lets God be God.
Love is not the goal in itself, God is!!!

Truth is – that love can only come from God!!
Frank Tillapaugh "When the world looks at the church do they see a love that can only be explained by the supernatural work of God?"

When did you last love in a way that you could only put down to the ‘supernatural work of God.?’

2004 - Neil Ryan

Date: August 8, 2004
Passage: John 15:1-17
Message: Many But One
Annual Celebration Service

We’ve all probably heard of the expression ‘critical moment’.

# Good coaches are paid a lot of money to react at critical moments of a game.
# Business consultants / analysts are paid exorbitant sums to recognise critical moments and to make recommendations that will keep the business ahead of the pack.
# Leaders are entrusted with the wisdom to respond to critical moments in history.

I had a critical moment on Wednesday.
I was having a good day when I pulled into a service station in time to beat the price hike.
Some people do funny things when they line up at servo's.
You can guarantee that you are going to pull up behind one of them. As I did.

After waiting a long time to get to the pump the lady in front stopped her car at the first pump instead of driving through to the next one and allowing me to fill up at the same time.
I sat there wondering how far my faith stretched in matters like this.

I formulated all the words in my head.
I had my hand on the door handle to get out and educate this dear lady about service station etiquette.
In the end grace prevailed and I just sat there in a huff waiting for her to leave.

When she walked back to her car, I tried to give her a glare but she wouldn’t look at me.
She finally drove of and I moved forward and only then did I see the sign on the first pump that read –
Out of Order!

It was critical moment – made me realise just how the savage in me lies so close below the surface!

There is an old Greek saying
"The critical moment comes quickly and soon is gone."
One of life’s most glorious and most difficult challenges is to recognise the moment and respond to them.

I confess that I have read John 15 many, many times but never grasped just how much of a critical moment this was for the disciples.

Jesus knew it!
What we have here in John 15 –
# not just another sermon from Jesus.
# not some more random truths that disciples needed to store up.

This is Jesus response to a critical moment!

Just prior to this-
They had just spent this most intimate and special time in the upper room. Shared the bread and the wine.
Jesus washed their feet. He told them he was going away. Peter felt it necessary to tell Jesus he would go anywhere with him even if it meant death. Jesus tells Peter he will do just the opposite – he will deny him when the crunch comes.

Jesus is pulling away from this little group of disciples.
He comforts them but they are unsure of what’s going on.
Jesus tells them he is going to prepare a place for them and come back for them.
He tells them that after he goes the Comforter will come.

But all they know is that their world is coming unhinged.
They hear Jesus say
Peace I leave with you, my peace….do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid [14:27]
They know that something is brewing that is unnerving them.

Jesus says
Come now, let us leave
Jesus knows that between THIS moment and when the soldiers come in to the GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE is a critical moment for these fragile disciples.

As they make there way across the Kidron Valley, Jesus shares a message for the moment!
Message for unnerved, unhinged disciples!
It is a word for this critical moment in Church’s / our history!

1. Relationship
Read v1-4
Jesus takes this critical moment to show how we are to live out every day as disciples.
Key word = Remain
Jesus uses it 8 times!

Remain = English doesn’t even begin to give the meaning
Sounds so bland!

Imagine if you came to me and asked what is the most crucial thing about having a happy, healthy marriage?
I said, Remain with him / her.

Doesn’t fill you with inspiration / hope does it.
But if I said
Dwell with him, Make your home with him,
Learn to draw your life, love, comfort, inspiration, courage from him / her
That sounds better! Sounds like something worth having!

Ot saints knew something about it.
Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations (Psalm 90:1)

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.… (Psalm 91:1)

The name of the Lord is a strong tower; The righteous run to it and are safe (Proverbs 18:10)

Remain in me….abide in me…..
I suspect today that we are more about ACHIEVING FOR Jesus than ABIDING IN Jesus!
I suspect we are working harder and harder and abiding less and less.

Remain in me….

Eg.
Years ago I was playing indoor cricket in passage of my Nan’s house, and I broke the stem off on of her favourite plants.
I fixed it.
Grabbed some tape and bound it up nice and tight and it looked as good as new!
But within couple of days I discovered that that stem remaining ATTACHED to the plant was not the same as remaining IN the plant!
It wilted, it went brown, it failed under pressure to stand up!

How much time have we spent with Jesus this week?
How has Jesus influenced our thinking, our decisions, values, responses?
How much life and light have come from him?
How much strength have we drawn from him?
How have we sought his wisdom, his heart, his direction?

No wonder we are often fragile and fruitless.
No wonder we go off at ladies in service stations.
No wonder we lose our perspective.

Remain in me….

2. Reality
Read v5-8
Jesus says a whole lot here about bearing fruit.
That’s the reality of being part of a vine!
It’s not actually about us it’s about fruit!

What sort of fruit are we talking about?
Jesus doesn’t say, but if He is the vine then the fruit of the vine is Christ-likeness!

……without me you can do nothing
You cannot be fruitful without Christ.
You can be a lot of things but…
You cannot be Christ-like without abiding in Him.

We can look every bit a thriving vine but the one thing we cannot produce without Him is fruit of a Christ-like heart, Christ-like spirit!

I would love to tell you this morning that the secret of fruitfulness is to just surrender all to Jesus and the fruit will come!

That’s only half the story.
Jesus says right up front that something else is essential – PRUNING!

I freely admit, I am the last person to be speaking to you about Horticultural issues!
I am an all or nothing person and when it comes to pruning I just don’t know where to stop!
4 years ago I pruned the Apricot tree and it finished up a stump!
It has taken 3 years to get an apricot on tree again, but it was good!

I know the theory of pruning!
I know it in spiritual life.
I know that I basically don’t want God to be that radical when pruning me!

But I’m faced with this haunting dilemma.
Why is there such revival in –
# Africa – Kenya, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Uganda ….

# Northern India? - Last year alone, 200 new house churches were planted in Hariyana, which was long considered to be one of India's least evangelised states. According to an April 2004 report, the number of house churches in Northern India has grown to around 30,000 in the past 7 years, with an additional 28,000 regular home prayer meetings.

# Indonesia - 7,000 attended a prayer conference in Samarang with space for 4,000.

The common factor in all these places is that out of great suffering has come a hunger for God and a hunger to pray.
There has come the realisation that they have nothing EXCEPT Jesus and they can do nothing WITHOUT Jesus!
They have a deep-seated rootedness in vine.

While we listen to Bible exposition about what pruning means, they experience it and bear the fruit of it!
This is a critical moment in Church history?

Are we willing for the pruning?
We have worked hard to develop a style of Christianity that seems to allow us to indulge ourselves and worship God at the same time.
We have established Church that can look every bit like a flourishing vine yet still produce –
# very little sense of dependency,
# very little heart breaking prayer to God for an outpouring of His Spirit.

Question we need to ask –
Do we want it?
Would it interfere too much?
Would it cost us too much?
Would we have to give up too much?

This is a critical moment for our Church.
It’s not about us.
It’s not about our enjoyment.
It’s not about our comfort.

It’s about fruit!
This is the message that Jesus was giving at this critical time to disciples as they walked in sombre mood across the valley.
Jesus has said he is going, but he will remain in and through the disciples.
The world will now see Jesus through us!!

3. Responsibility
Read v9-17
The thing about the vine is that it is not just about ME and JESUS!

This morning we stand together.
We are MANY but we are ONE!
That’s why we asked you to respond on the leaf this morning!

One of the Hallmarks of post modernism is freedom of choice.
We love to think we have ultimate control of all things.
We love to think we can set our own values and draw our own boundaries.
We insist on making decisions according to our needs and peculiar circumstances.
That’s the kind of society we live in.

But that is not the way it is in the vine!
Eg
Couple of weeks ago Lyn wanted me to help her prune grape vine at M’Ville.
I had little passion for the task but do you know what impressed me about the vine –

# How the branches all become entangled and entwined.
# How difficult it was to separate them.
# How that, as a result, no one branch stood out from all the others!

We are in this together.
Jesus says that abiding brings responsibility.
Read v9-13

Love one another……
I’m not talking about love that puts goose bumps on back of your neck!
Do you know how Jesus demonstrated His love for the Father?
V10 …I have obeyed my Father’s commands…

When you separate love and law you either get –
SOPPY TOKENISM or you get HEARTLESS LEGALISM!
Love always has to make a choice!
It won’t always have warm fuzzies with it!

Church is not a MULTIPLE CHOICE option where you can take what you want and leave the rest!
It’s not a smorgasbord where you only get to choose what YOU LIKE. Read v17

Heard recently of a class of year 5 boys. One boy in class was diagnosed with cancer and underwent extensive chemotherapy. As a result he lost all his hair. All the boys in his class decided they would shave their heads so he wouldn’t stand out when he returned. Teacher was so moved by it all he shaved his head as well!

This is a place where we stand together –
The weak, the strong
The sick and healthy
The old and the new
The married and single
The multi gifted and the gifted impaired!

But we are in it together.
We are many but one IN vine!

2003 - Neil Ryan

Date: July 13, 2003
Passage: Ecclesiastes 7:10-24
Message: Wisdom for the Way Forward
UPBC Celebrate 100

Tribute to Christine –
Pastors and Choir leaders have not always seen eye to eye in the annals of Church history!
Some of the feuds are almost legendary!

One pastor decided to preach on commitment, the need to dedicate ourselves to God’s service. That Sunday, the choir director led the choir in singing - 'We Shall Not Be Moved.'

The next Sunday, the pastor preached on giving and how we should gladly give to the work of the Lord. The choir director then led the song - 'Jesus Paid It All.'

The next Sunday, the pastor preached on gossiping and how we should watch our tongues. The choir sang - 'I Love To Tell The Story.'

The pastor became disgusted over the situation, and the next Sunday he told the congregation he was considering resigning. The choir then sang - 'Oh, Why Not Tonight.'

After the pastor resigned the next week, he preached his last sermon at the church telling the congregation that Jesus had led him there and Jesus was taking him away. The choir then sang, - 'What A Friend We Have in Jesus.'

Pleased report we have no such problems with Christine!
Turn with me to Ecclesiastes 7
I love this book with a passion.
It is real. It is authentic.

Solomon is somewhere between cynicism and realism.
Here is faith grappling with life as it is and not how he wished it could be or should be!
Ecclesiastes - not a neat theological discussion it is a gut wrenching search for God in the face of all of life’s ambiguities and uncertainties.

Read v10-24

V10 Do not say ‘why were the old days better than these?’ for it is not wise to ask such questions.

Solomon faces us up to reality that one of life’s greatest pursuits is to find the GOOD DAYS.
We’re just never sure whether they have already come and gone or whether they’re still on the way!

Good old days do have an appeal about them.
I wonder when they were for you?
I’ve turned 50!
It’s a wonderful time of life.

So far this year I have seen a Podiatrist, Chiropractor, Doctor, Optometrist Physiotherapist an Orthopaedic surgeon.
Last week I thought I had turned the corner and while I was eating lunch my front tooth fell out.
My dentist has replaced it with something that I’m afraid is going to finish up in the second row of the Church while I’m preaching!

Interesting thing – When I get to 75, am I going to look back on when I was 50 and think these were the good old days?
PROBABLY!

When were the good old days for UPBC?
Hard to tell looking at the faces on that banner!
We’ve had so many wonderful moments and memories.
It’s great to look back.
It’s one of the privileges of getting old!

But Solomon won’t let us get caught up with a paralysing wave of nostalgia that devalues the present days.
Solomon says –
Not wise….

Wisdom doesn’t look for the good old days.
Wisdom doesn’t try and escape from the harsh realities and painful necessities by retreating to the good old days.
Wisdom lives right on cutting edge, it confronts life as it is.

These are the only days we can actually do something about.

Who could disagree that both for the Church and for our world we need WISDOM to face the challenges of today like we have never needed it before!

This message – Wisdom for the Way Forward!
V11-12 Solomon tells us that wisdom is a good thing.

# Like inheritance – good to see my inheritance sitting near the back of the Church this morning. Good to have Mum and Dad here. Inheritance is good thing!
# Like money – Money is helpful. Money can provide a shelter, but it cannot buy guarantee that shelter will last. That’s why need wisdom.

Wisdom asks the hard questions?
How can I face the reality of my world / our world without drifting off into nostalgia about the past or escapism about future that is full of ‘if only’s’?

Solomon tells us about 3 absolute necessities that wisdom can give us of life.

1. Perspective v13-14
Read
Solomon cuts right through the theological niceties about what God is or isn’t responsible for and asks blunt question?

What do you do with crooked things?

We try and straighten it! Natural!
If I walk into someone’s house and see crooked things I want to straighten them.
I can’t concentrate with crooked things around me!!!

But I can’t always do it!
People don’t always appreciate me rearranging their house!
There is innate sense about us to straighten crooked things.

Psalm 73 Asaph had a problem. Things were crooked.
Sometimes things defy natural law.
Eg
Sowing and reaping.
Trouble is Asaph saw opposite-
Bad men were reaping good things and vice versa!

He felt like he was being punished every morning v13-14
What ahs troubled you?
What have you looked at and didn’t matter which way you looked at it – it is crooked?

Crookedness can overwhelm us.
It can paralise us.
I believe the thing we need most as we enter a new century of life and witness as a Church is-
A fresh life giving vision of GOD among us!

Matthew 28:20……surely I am WITH YOU…even to the end of the age!

2. Balance v15-18
Read
Solomon had endured the heartache of a world that seemed all upside down.

Eg.
My first Church I only had one young family.
The mother was a simple, beautiful, disarming sort of person.
She had two children aged 2 and 4.
She developed cancer.
We prayed.
People everywhere prayed.
I was so young and desperate that even rang some Pentecostals and asked them to pray just in case they did have something I didn’t!!!

She died leaving those 2 small children without a mother, and a young Pastor with a heart that was just about crushed before I’d even got rid of my L plates!

Life is lived upside down alright!
First inclination is to have an answer for all this.
One things I learned a long time ago is that WISDOM does not come in a formula!

We love to think we can get a handle on righteousness.
We love to think we can reduce it to some kind of formula that will apply to every situation and every circumstance.

Do right thing by God = God will do right thing by you!
[Whatever that is!]

Rather than a formula Solomon says something that almost looks heretical when you first read it.
Don’t be too righteous…wise

Isn’t that good thing.
There is a story about three men walking down a beach who came across a lamp buried in the sand. They picked it up and began wiping it off.

A genie popped out and told them,
"I'll grant each of you one wish."

The first man rubbed the lamp and whispered,
"I wish I were ten times smarter."
"You are now ten times smarter," announced the genie.

The second guy took the lamp and rubbed it and murmured,
"I wish I were a hundred times smarter."
"Congratualtions you are now a hundred times smarter," the genie responded.

The third man rubbed the lamp and said,
"I wish I were a thousand times smarter."
The genie pointed at him and declared,
"Congratulations you are now a woman."

What is Solomon saying?
Don’t let righteousness turn into SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Don’t think that by wisdom you can MANIPULATE God.

Give some Christians a little bit of truth and they become positively dangerous!
Give some Christians a bit of authority and they become OBNOXIOUS.

Eg
Forum on SEX EDUCATION
Many questions asked by Christians. No interuption etc.
Last speaker obviously pro-homosexual.
He had only spoken for short while and people started calling out for him to sit down and shut up etc.
Not helpful.
Not wise.
Not right!

What is this about not being overly wicked?
Is it OK to be a little wicked?

Let’s settle that one right away.
We are! Read v20
SOLOMON is calling for this elusive thing in life called BALANCE!
The Church has not always had it.

That’s why if you took a survey outside today and asked what people thought of the Church I’m sure the word JUDGEMENTAL appear more often than not.

Whether we like it or not – our communication has gotten out of balance.
Reminded of the words of a song by the Pet Shop Boys
Father forgive me, I tried not to do it. Turned over a new leaf, and tore right through it. Everything I want to be, everything I want to do, every place I’ve ever been, everywhere I’m going to, it’s a sin!

That’s the message the world often thinks we’re preaching every Sunday!
But the answer is not to hive off in other extreme and turn the gospel into a form spiritual psychotherapy that changes the focus of our message from SALVATION to SELF-FULFILLMENT!

It seems to me that we have trouble with the one thing that was the hallmark of Jesus.
….full of GRACE and TRUTH.

As we face one of the most challenging era’s in Church history I would urge us to ….hold to the one and not let go of the other.

3. Focus v21-22
Read
I think it was Pascal said, "If everybody knew what each said of the other there wouldn't be four friends left in the world."
Worry isn’t it?
Have you talked about me this week?
I don’t want to know!!

Wise advice for Pastors, Politicians, People everywhere!
Listening to all that people say causes you to lose focus!
Causes you to get distracted!

I said last week that it seems it is open season on the Church at the moment.
We are getting advice from every corner.
People everywhere have a comment about the state of the Church or its pending demise and what it should do to win people back to the fold!

WISDOM doesn’t shut its mind to comments of others but it doesn’t pay attention to every word…
Amidst all the clamour for our attention there is a call we need to hear loud and clear.

Jesus
Follow me.
It will not always be comfortable
It will not always be convenient
It will be costly
It’s the way of CROSS

Here’s the crunch.
Read v23

This wisdom we need so badly – we’re not up to it.
That’s why we live in a day when we have never had so many smart people yet such little wisdom!

1 Corinthians 1:20-25
The wisdom we need most is not learned at University it is found at the Cross!
It is found in Jesus.

That’s the WISDOM of God!
That’s been our history and that is our WAY FORWARD!

2002 - Neil Ryan

Date: 13 September 2002
Passage: Hebrews 10:25
Message: A Time to Remember
Occasion: Church Anniversary - 99th

I wonder what you would write down if you were asked to record your 5 most vivid memories.
Would they make you cry, or laugh, hard put into words, too painful?
Memory is like that. It deals with the real thing.
That's why it's imperative that we guard our memories.

True this week.

I love to go back into past. Not to live there, but to remember. It's not just his-tory it's my-story.
I've told you how I love to go to little ramshackle of house in St. Mary's. It's where I was born. I love to revisit that place.

While I was away I went to so many birth places like-
William Wordsworth ,William Shakespeare, Henry 8th When I got back I decided to drive past the old house to touch base with my history - horrified to find it's been demolished.
They've built a warehouse there in its place.

I wanted to burst in there and grab the manager and say
Have you any idea who was born here.
I kind of wanted some sort of plaque erected
This is where Neil Ryan was born!

I realised they can knock down the house but they can't destroy the MEMORY!

I didn't realise just how much I had wanted to go to a little place called Franvillers until I got there.
I have heard about this place since I was small boy.
When I was about 16 my grandmother gave me one of her cherished possessions.
SHOW Read inscription

4 weeks ago I found my way into this tiny village in the North of France. I was struck by how far it felt from home.
Then I felt a sense of sadness that my uncle had died in such a remote place and was buried in a little village that few would ever visit and in a cemetery that was so hard to find.

But that all became irrelevant when I found the war cemetery and walked through dozens of white headstones and found the one that said
Australian Imperial Force
29945 Driver
R.L.Gadd
Australian Field Artillery
24th April 1918
A Hero for God
King and Humanity

You can't buy moments like those.
You can't even anticipate what impact they have on you.
It was 84 years since the life of this army transport driver was taken, but I was privileged to be able to come and say THANKYOU.
Thing about those moments is that they are hard to leave.
Something compelling about them.
They challenge your lives, your heart, priorities, values.
You wonder what to do with it all.

Eg. Disciples - on mount with Jesus and saw him transfigured
Let's built house here. Lets stay in this place.
Jesus said : Can't. I brought you here, not to stay, but to change you

God knows we need memorials, we need memories but we just can't LIVE there.
We must LOOK at them, LEARN from them and then LEAVE them.

What do we do with a memory that goes back 99 years?
Is there something we need to learn as we leave this point of time and head into unchartered waters?

I asked God for something very specific.
At one stage I told God I wouldn't preach if I didn't have that un-mistakeable word from Him.
By Thursday night I was convinced we were going to have an early finish and then it came!

Hebrews 10:25

Read what's around this. V19-25
Passage of 5 lettuces

1. Let us draw nearv22
2. Let us hold unswervinglyv23
3· Let us considerv24
4· Let us not give up meeting togetherv25
5· Let us encourage one-anotherv25

God seem to fix my attention on v25

1. Reality Check - Number 1
Let us not give up meeting together
This not more than just a passing reminder to be in Church on Sunday.
It's a reality check as to how we think about Church?

I had one young fellas in Church come & ask questions.
Doing essay on religion and sport.
Is sport a religion?
Asked some great questions.
What do people in this Church prefer most - Going to sporting function or going to Church?

Good question. Take it further. What else is there that we prefer doing than meeting together with other Christians?
Church has a problem

Whereas a trip to the footy is an escape from reality, Church was intended to confront me with reality!
Most times we prefer escapism to the real world.

Even busyness is a form of escapism.
If I am so busy I don't have to get involved with anyone.
I don't have to confront personal or relational issues that may be screaming out to be addressed.
I don't have to wrestle with the real issue of where the Church fits into today's world.

CHURCH of all places was God’s way of helping us face the real world.
ï‚· Relationship with God & others.
ï‚· Live with myself
ï‚· Live culture
 Live with life’s mysteries, injustices, and uncertainties.

Truth is, we have this innate tendency to drift away from community to individuality all the time!
Eg.
I have this every Friday morning at 6.30am.
Alarm goes off. Prayer here at Church 7am.
I can pray in bed.
God here’s it just the same. What’s it matter!

I believe as we look back at our history God is calling us to hang closer together.

I am aware today that we have more choices than ever before.
That’s what our postmodern world wants.
That means Church, small groups, youth Groups, outreach, mission, members meetings, leaders meetings, training seminars etc are just one many options in our colourful world!

Few weeks ago I drove out of a place called Shrewsbury in Midlands of England and headed South to visit Stokesay Castle. Turn-off was 22 miles.

After gone 25 miles I smelled a rat.
Called into servo and asked fella how far away I was from the turn-off.
About 45 miles!
Can’t be. It says 22 miles South Shrewsbury!
That’s right. You are 25 miles North of Shrewsbury!
No I’m not. I’m going South.
Are you Australian?
We do things differently up this way!!!
You are going in the wrong direction!

Do you know the whole way back I didn’t believe him.
You know when you’re going South. You can just sense it.
Kind of feel like you are going DOWN!
When going North you feel like you’re going UP!

Question we have to ask.
Are we heading in right direction?
How can we tell?

Are we really ready to take on challenges that God seems to be offering us, or are we in the early stages of institutionalising a warm, thriving complacent middle of the road Church!

Do you know what happens when we start talking like this.
Easy get discouraged -
 I can’t do much
 I’m flat out. Everyone else needs get act together.
 Too hard. I don’t want my world disturbed, or rearranged. Hard enough as it is. Overwhelmed by it all.

2. Reality Check – Number 2
Let us encourage one-another – all the more as you see the day approaching.

What sort of encouragement do we need?
I couldn’t help think past Barnabus.
Acts 4:36 “Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement.”)

Barnabus was such an encouragement to early Church in 3 areas
(a) Finances - Acts 4:37 says that Barnabas “sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.”

I have no doubt that the future for UPBC is one in which we are going to be challenged to the back teeth in terms of giving.
Most of us would much prefer to say a word of encouragement than Barnabus’ method!

Eg. A mother wanted to teach her little girl a lesson about giving. She gave her 50c for herself and $2 for
As they were leaving the church, her mother asked her what she had put in the offering plate. “Well,”
the little girl said, “I was going to give $2 but just before the collection was taken the man said that we should be cheerful givers.
I figured I’d be a lot more cheerful if I gave the 50c and kept the $2, so I did.”

Eg Family dinner with. Life bit struggle. Financially week to week. Spent night. Wonderful time.
Day I left, they dropped envelope through door. Note saying how much they blessed by time. 20 Pounds. Have a lovely holiday!!

Have you lost art of encouragement financially?
Nothing like it!
Ask Bible College student.
Single Mum.
Family struggling.

(b) Fellowship - Acts 9:26 “When he (Saul) came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was really a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus.”

Wonderful thing to know someone knows your heart.
Someone believes in you, what you trying to do, how trying do it.

I can live for two months on a good compliment. – Mark Twain

ILL.- A Public Broadcasting special on TV showed one time Dr. Daniel Boorstin, the Librarian of
Congress, with a box labelled, “contents of President Lincoln’s pockets on the night of April 14, 1865.”

And that was the night that Lincoln was assassinated.
There were five things in that box:
- a handkerchief, embroidered “A. Lincoln.”
- a country boy’s penknife.
- a glasses case
- a purse containing $5
- some old newspaper clippings.

The librarian said, “the clippings were about the great deeds of Lincoln. And one of them actually
reported a speech by John Bright which said that Abraham Lincoln was ‘one of the greatest men of all
time.’”

Today, we know this is true; that Lincoln was one of the greatest men of all time, but back then, in
1865, millions of people had a different view of Lincoln. His critics were fierce and many. Often,
Abraham Lincoln was a lonely man.

He carried with him the affirmation of one writer of newspaper!!!
What a privilege to be someone like that.

There are people –
ï‚· On edge
ï‚· Lonely
ï‚· Misunderstood
ï‚· Tired
ï‚· Downhearted
ï‚· Taken for granted

Let us encourage one another….

(c) Failure - Acts 15:36-39
Paul and Barnabus wanted to take off on 2nd missionary journey.
Paul would not take mark cos he failed on first journey. Too tough young guy. Went home.
Barnabus wants give him another go.

Disagreed so much that they went separate ways.
Paul and Silas went off one direction to minister and Barnabus and Mark went in another.

Years later, when Paul is in prison
II Tim. 4:11 “Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry.”
Love that!!

Read 17th Century Nun’s Prayer

PRAY

"So send I you" - John 20: 19 - 31 - Barry Lines

SO SEND I YOU

John 20: 19 & 31

I find it an amazing coincidence that my preaching today has led me to a theme which I followed on the same Sunday of September last year at the Hobart Baptist Church.

It was the launch of Operation Andrew in the lead up to the Franklin Graham Festival Tasmania in March this year.

Operation Andrew encourages the identification of those to whom an invitation to the Festival will be given. They are prayed for, spent time with and cared for.

A thoughtful comment on a gold card last week suggested people were not so much impeded from 'church' by fear, but by the irrelevance of it. I asked myself, and invite you to ponder, what is the relevance of Christianity? For many of us it is part of our upbringing, cultural environment and personal practice. Take away these and place us in a non-christian culture, without a faith background and no place to worship and what have we left? This is how it is for an increasing number of people, not in the majority world, but within our own society.

This is why, today, we pursue our theme! Our worship is in response to a God who has encountered us in Jesus Christ. We are persuaded that God has reconciled us to himself through Jesus' death and resurrection and we are numbered among God's 'called out' ones- the "ecclesia" & the Church.

What then are we to do? We do what God has been doing. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. He has given to us the ministry of reconciliation.

(2 Corinthians 5: 18,19)

We conclude, therefore, that the church is about God & not about me!

And, to use an 'in' word, but a very significant one, the Church is MISSIONAL  which means, from its Latin origin,  SENT.

There are only five chapters in John's gospel that do not have a reference to Jesus having been sent by the Father God. Two of those refer to his 'coming' (ch 1) and 'going' (ch 21), two tell of his betrayal, trial and crucifixion (ch 18, 19) and the other of his first miracle and temple cleansing (ch 2). It is a major theme of John's that Jesus was sent by God.

In our reading we have a text that expresses the reality of our mission in the same term. John 20:21

Jesus said to them again, `Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.'

The Father sent in PERSON

There are a number of fanciful stories that convey the wonder of this. Stories about angels being horrified by the heavenly plan for the incarnation & God becoming human. Suggestions of other means of proclamation. But the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us. This principle of 'incarnation' is what lies behind Operation Andrew & Andrew who brought his brother Simon to Jesus. Operation Andrew that asks for a looking around where you live, work, or go to school & this is your mission field.

There is a place for distribution of books, tapes, videos, DVDs; a place for TV and radio, but if it replaces the 'in person' then we have lost the concept of 'sent-ness'.

There is a plurality in this 'you', but it cannot absolve us of individual responsibility. Together we need to learn how to communicate what it is that God is communicating.

Before the days of 'Who wants to be a millionaire' with Eddie Everywhere; before the Nicky Buckley's and Jo Bailey's to keep our attention, there were radio quiz shows to keep our minds attuned. Shows compered by the likes of Bob Dyer, who encouraged patronage of sponsors businesses with the slogan, "tell' em Bob sent ya". I often wondered what would happen if one did just that.

We have the One who has the questions and the answers and who gives us the authority to say,  "God sent us"

The Father sent with POWER                

Words for both 'authority' and 'power' are associated with Jesus. In Matthew's Great Commission Jesus says all power (authority & exousia) is given to me in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18). Under Him we have the right to make disciples of all nations….

In the upper room John records Jesus as giving the disciples the Holy Spirit (John 20:22) who was to endue them with power (dunamis) to become effective witnesses (Acts 1;8)

We have what we need to do what we are sent for.

I wonder about the 'power' model. We have heard of 'power evangelism' and the importance of  'empowerment' in Christian service.

Some writers refer to the Christians approach to affecting society as a kind of infiltration like guerrilla warfare & more of a covert nature. Others make it sound like a smashing down of worldly dominions. It made me think of King Kong & swiping at aircraft, crashing buildings and taking captives. I think missional 'sent-ness' is more guerrilla-like than gorilla-like. The Holy Spirit's empowerment is to gift for ministry, to bear the fruit of Christian living and to make real to us (and others) the record of our faith story. The story which is a given also.

The Father sent with PURPOSE

We may debate the finer points of theology, discuss the appropriateness of methodology, but the 'bottom line', as they say, is still that "you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God and that through believing you may have life in his name" (John 20:31)

We may have a needs-centred evangelism. We may have seeker-sensitive worship. We may run recovery groups for those stricken by the ills of our society. We will endeavour to meet with care those who face problems associated with living life in a fallen world. We do not, however, run, as one writer puts it, " a private, spiritual food court for the personal, private needs of express individuals".

Primarily we are a contrasting society declaring, however haltingly, with consciousness of frailty, that the reign of God has broken in to our human scene. It is time to accept it and join the mission of God to heal and restore Creation.

A few weeks ago I was asked how I came to be a minister. I told my story. In relating this encounter to another person I said it involved hearing an almost audible voice.

Me too, said the other person & that's how I went nursing. Audible voice or not & this is God's call, not to be clergy or other supposedly 'Christian' vocation. It is a call to be you and know you are sent to where that is.

It is an old song. We sang it in the Baptist Youth Choir with all the innocent enthusiasm and budding dedication of youth. It sounds rather morbid and daunting but…..

    "As the Father hath sent Me, So send I you."

So send I you to labor unrewarded, To serve unpaid, unloved, unsought, unknown. To bear rebuke, to suffer scorn and scoffing. So send I you to toil for me alone.

So send I you to bind the bruised and broken, O'er wand'ring souls to work, to weep, to wake, to bear the burdens of a world aweary, So send I you to suffer for my sake.

So send I you to loneliness and longing, with heart a-hung'ring for the loved and known, Forsaking home and kindred, friend and dear one. So send I you to know my love alone.

So send I you to leave your life's ambition, To die to dear desire, self-will resign, To labor long and love when men revile you So send I you to lose your life in mine

So send I you to hearts made hard by hatred, to eyes made blind because they will not see, to spend - tho it be blood & spend and spare not, So send I you to taste of Calvary.

"As the Father hath sent Me, so send I you"

                             (Words: E. Margaret Clarkson)

                            (Music: John W Peterson)

We may DIS-SENT & not agree

We may AB-SENT & not do it

We may RE-SENT & not like it

We may CON-SENT & just do it

Cutting the fat - Judges 7: 4 - 21 - Barry Lines

Living in a YES world.

Cutting the fat

Judges 7: 4 - 21

I think the senior pastor, Neil Ryan, may be a little nervous about today. He is in Brisbane preaching at the induction of a friend and colleague into a pastorate and wanted to make a real contribution to the occasion. We are having a significant business meeting in his absence and has left a statement which is to be read. He knows I am preaching on a passage of scripture where the significant event is getting rid of the vast majority of the people gathered.

The incident that was read for the scripture reading tells of the reduction in numbers of the forces gathered against the Midianites.and the means by which the battle was won. The Midianites were an invading army which, as Neil explained last week were known for their camel brigade.

    (V12 sand on the seashore)

Each year the Israelites would plant their crops, water and tend them and wait for harvest. Just as they were ready to harvest, the Midianites would swoop across the Jordan like a plague of locusts (also v12) and what they didn't take they destroyed.

One of the things Neil didn't tell you - a bit of Bible trivia - is that the Midianites were descended from Abraham and his second wife whose name was Keturah  (Genesis 25:1,2) - the name of our daughter-in-law (Roger and Mary Bryson's daughter).

The locust plague of the Midianites and their eastern allies numbered (according to Judges 8:10) 135,000. They were camped near the hill of Moreh (7:1) in the valley of Jezreel (6:13). This valley is also known as the plain of Jezreel and the area figures prominently in the history of Middle East warfare. At he western edge stands the tel of Megiddo. '25 times built and 25 time destroyed' - according to its visitor centre video. It is the same place as the Book of Revelation's Battle of Armageddon will take place.

An incentive to have faith in the victory of God over those who oppose His purposes.

The Israelites numbered 32,000. Odds of a bit over 4/1. But in the economy of God an imbalance that prevented His capacity to deliver Midian into their hands (7:2) So Gideon, in the parlance of the modern business world, had to let some go! In keeping with the biblical concepts of warfare presented to the people of Israel the Deuteronomic Code declared categories of those who did not have to serve:

    Deuteronomy 20:5 - 8

Then the officials shall address the troops, saying, `Has anyone built a new house but not dedicated it? He should go back to his house, or he might die in the battle and another dedicate it.

Has anyone planted a vineyard but not yet enjoyed its fruit? He should go back to his house, or he might die in the battle and another be first to enjoy its fruit.

Has anyone become engaged to a woman but not yet married her? He should go back to his house, or he might die in the battle and another marry her.'

The officials shall continue to address the troops, saying, `Is anyone afraid or disheartened? He should go back to his house, or he might cause the heart of his comrades to fail like his own.'

Here is where the pastor's nervousness originates. What if we were to say, Anyone who doesn't want to be here can go! Anyone who doesn't want to face up to the conflict of confronting the 'Yes' world that tends to say bigger is better; more is to be preferred to less; the one who has the most … wins. It starts early. Playing Concentration, trying to find the pairs of the upturned cards, with my five-year-old granddaughter. I've got the most Granddad, I win.

God's dilemma was, not that He couldn't have given the victory, but to convince the army it wasn't in their strength alone that it happened. They were supposed to realise it!

Deuteronomy 20:1 - 4

When you go out to war against your enemies, and see horses and chariots, an army larger than your own, you shall not be afraid of them; for the Lord your God is with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.

Before you engage in battle, the priest shall come forward and speak to the troops, and shall say to them: `Hear, O Israel! Today you are drawing near to do battle against your enemies. Do not lose heart, or be afraid, or panic, or be in dread of them; for it is the Lord your God who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to give you victory.'

We are supposed to realise it

1 John 5:4,5

for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

1 Corinthians 15:57

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Back to the story. With the invitation to go 22,000 left. Now the odds were 13/1

But still too great. I am waiting for the movie version of Gideon, Mighty Warrior. The battle scenes should outdo 'Braveheart' and 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'. But I am most interested to see how they interpret this sifting sipping. Kneeling is out - lapping is in. Various commentators make reference to readiness for battle, alertness and weapons at hand. One even suggests the lappers were the losers and God chose them to make the victory all the more unlikely. Another suggestion is that the spring of Harod

was a place of Canaanite worship and those who knelt didn't worry at making obeisance at such a site.

My private interpretation is that the 9,700 went for all they could get while they could get it. Who knew when they would get a chance again. They didn't know they were not entering the battle. This, too, is a part of the Yes world. The promotion of 5 years interest free plays up to it. Unfortunately it is not unknown in the church where the what's in it for me syndrome prescribes the offer to accept ministry opportunities. Those who receive as a result of their desire to minister are the ones who are most useable by the Lord.

However it was, the remaining 300 brought the odds to 450/1.

I think maybe there was a translation error with the Angel's greeting to Gideon which really was - The Lord is with you Mighty Worrier !?

Once again, however, God knowing Gideon, allows for him to receive a word of encouragement. How much we need this. Many of us wonder about the ability we have to do what we believe to be God's will. When we see or feel the influence of God in and through others what a blessing to be the means of encouragement. Sometimes it comes from unexpected sources.

The Midianite dreamer is, no doubt, the recipient of a God-given revelation. One to be interpreted by another. Pharaoh and Joseph, Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel, Muslims dreaming of Jesus during Ramadan and Christians interpreting.

One wonders whether the interpretation ran as a rumour through the camp adding further to the panic and confusion of the later events - the discouragement mongers

Deuteronomy 20:8  -  'he might cause the heart of his comrades to fail like his own.'

Gideon's plan with the 300 is a brilliant piece of martial strategy.

In the classic Art of War by Sun Tzu

18. All warfare is based on deception. 19. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near. 21. If he is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him. 22.  Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant. 23. If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them. 24. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected. 25. These military devices, leading to victory, must not be divulged beforehand.

Trumpets, jars and torches struck the Midianites in the darkness of the third watch with tired sentries retiring and not yet visually accustomed changing guard. The strident note of the shophar or rams horn, the smashing of earthenware pots like the clash of armour and the mass of surrounding lights suggesting not 300 soldiers, but 300 platoons.

At last the victory is gained and in the name of the Lord and Gideon.

The victory is the Lord's, and his agent is the one who is, as Gideons International had as its purpose to establish in all its members, ready to do God's will at any time, at any place and in any way that the Holy Spirit leads.

The shophar has a renewed involvement in some branches of the Church.

Used in worship, as was part of its original usage, to do what it literally means: to incise, to cut into, seizing attention. Perhaps cutting the fat of our indolence and habitual worship.

The jar or two handed pitcher, symbol of the Gideons, with its flame appearing is likened to the principle that the Apostle Paul espouses in

2 Corinthians 4:7  But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. It is in the brokenness of our humanity that the treasure of Christ in us can be seen.

Or in other words, as Gideon experienced (6:34) The Spirit of the Lord came upon (took possession, clothed himself) Gideon.

As the embodiment of Christ by his Spirit in the Yes world we have the opportunity to 'cut the fat'. To acknowledge that less is more in very practical and living simply ways.

Perhaps it isn't a coincidence that this is the Sunday before Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent that is traditionally a time of 'cutting the fat'.

February 28 this year is Shrove Tuesday. Shrove from to shrive - to absolve people of their sins - so a time of confession.

It is Pancake Tuesday - pancakes to use up the milk, eggs and butter - the fat that was forbidden during Lent.

The term Mardi Gras means fat Tuesday. And Carnival means farewell to meat.

We are at that time of the year when we may consciously allow the Spirit of God to incise our consciousness with an examination of our lifestyle, attitude to Christian activity and allow the Lord to have His victory in us and through us.

The Necessity of Maintaining the Community of God - Numbers 10:1-10;12:1-15 Barry Lines

SURVIVING THE WILDERNESS

The necessity of maintaining the community of God

SERMON ONE Speaking to a colleague about preaching in the book of Numbers and eliciting the response: 'after the story of the spies what else is there'.

Decided to remind myself of what else and share it with you.

Precursor to Pentecost: Numbers 11:29

Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!'

Fringe benefit: Numbers 15:39

You have the fringe so that, when you see it, you will remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them, and not follow the lust of your own heart and your own eyes.

Forerunner to Shrek (Mr Ed and Francis) Numbers 22:28

Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and it said to Balaam, `What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?'

Affirmative action Numbers 27:1, 5 - 7

Then the daughters of Zelophehad came forward. Give to us a possession among our father's brothers.' Moses brought their case before the Lord. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: The daughters of Zelophehad are right in what they are saying; you shall indeed let them possess an inheritance among their father's brothers and pass the inheritance of their father on to them.

New Testament references Joshua/ Jesus - Sheep with out a Shepherd -

Num 27:17/ Mt9:36

Serpent on a pole Num 21:4 & 9/John 3:14

Paul & 1 Cor 10 Warning from Israels Numbers History

Palindrome 32:23 be sure your sin will find you out.

SERMON TWO In referring to the two Sunday services last week Neil commented on 'losing integration'. It is that, in part, which prompted the theme of this sermon segment. In looking at the gaps in the preaching roster I found chapter 10. A phrase caught my eye. It was:- 'the whole community is to assemble'.

The title of this book is in the desert (heb), but the Greek translators called it & arithmoi & numbers. It contains to census takings Chs 1, 2 and 26. On both occasions the men over twenty years of age numbered over 600, 000. Not a lot of intimacy and each person knowing one another there! We sometimes hear it said that a church is too big, I cant get to know everybody. This is an unreal expectation in all but the smallest of churches. If you know twenty others and are passing friendly to all else you are doing well. This is why we have written the Bulletin front page. 'Tribes' are important, but they must know when to assemble as a community.

In this chapter it is when things are bad and when things are good & times of battle and times of celebration. (vv9,10) It was also when it was time to move. I do not think it is stretching the biblical material to draw conclusions that we as a congregation will not always be together in a physical sense, but we need to be together in the sense of going in the same direction and holding a strong sense of community when needed & in times of peril and celebration.

Another expression we often hear is: I dont feel I belong. This may be through an inability to be physically present, but it can also be because we are not included in the processes that develop community & knowing a significant number of people, being included in decision-making, able to make a contribution and gain something from the community. This is where tribes can be exclusive rather than inclusive. This is where tribes can be destructive rather than constructive.

In chapter 10 that which was to call the community together were two trumpets of hammered silver. The priests were responsible to sound the instruments to call leaders and or congregation together. We need a clear sound to remind us that & in times of need God is our deliverer and in times of worship he is our Provider & the Lord our God (vv9,10)

In 1 Corinthians 14:8 Paul says:- if the trumpet does not sound a clear call who will get ready for battle?

As much as we believe in the priesthood of all believers & we all can blow our trumpets & (in the best sense of that expression), but we also need to know the pastorhood of all believers.

It has been a practice of mine in concluding ministries to preach on a passage from Acts 20. Pauls farewell address to the elders of Ephesus. Let me read the key verse:

Keep watch over yourselves and over all the flock, of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son. (28)

Just as Jesus is depicted in the book of Revelation as both Shepherd and Lamb.

So we can be depicted in our congregational and community responsibilities as both flock and shepherd. We are Shepherds all! Keeping watch, shepherding with provisions of sustenance to one another.

Prince Charles in an address to the 59th World Health Assembly in Geneva commented that, in part, 'the state of our health reflects the need to belong to a community'. Certainly in our spiritual health and congregational health it is so.

This priests hammered silver trumpet wants to clearly sound the call to assemble as those who will shepherd this church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son.

SERMON THREE The original preaching schedule had me filling in the gap of chapter 12. This appealed to me because it is the occasion when the two Associate Pastors complained about the Senior Pastor.

Numbers 12:1,2

Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married (for he had indeed married a Cushite woman); and they said, `Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?'

I have been an associate pastor twice in my ministerial career. The first was in Brisbane 1987 & 1990 and here at Unley Park. I must say it is different. A sermon on this passage makes reference to the green eyed monster & envy. Whatever the presenting problem was & could it be a racial discrimination ? & the complaint was made & and heard. The text continues & and the Lord heard it. I didnt expect Neil to be here when I preached this sermon. Let me say I havent changed a thing. Also let me say I have no problem with the wife he has taken. Gods displeasure at the criticism of the one whom he had chosen for leadership is evidenced in the narrative.

In the context of this series & Surviving the Wilderness and in light of our theme today & The necessity of maintaining the community of God & a comment on leadership is necessary.

One of the key verses is Hebrews 13:17

Obey your leaders and submit to them

This injunction highlights the importance of letting leaders lead. & not unquestionably, but understandingly. Research shows that growing churches, not just in size, are churches with empowering leadership & empowering others for ministry. It is in this way that the ministry expands. This is part of what the Hebrews text continues with

for they are keeping watch over your souls.

This, we have seen, is a watchfulness not the leaders alone. However there is a special care intrinsic in the leaders role.

The scary bit for leaders is the remaining text

and will give an account.

I explained to Neil the thrust of this message and had to advise him that whilst the judgement of others was looked on by God with disdain. Moses actually didnt enter the promised land himself. His rebellion precluded him

Numbers 27:12 - 14

The Lord said to Moses, `Go up this mountain of the Abarim range, and see the land that I have given to the Israelites. When you have seen it, you also shall be gathered to your people, because you rebelled against my word in the wilderness of Zin when the congregation quarrelled with me.

The Lord is the one who keeps the accounts.

You are in the position to make leadership appointments. You are prayerfully responding to this. When they are appointed as a leadership team let them lead and follow them even as they follow their leader.

And as the writer of Hebrews finishes his text

Let them do this with joy and not with sighing - for that would be harmful to you.

+

Words from the verge - Deuteronomy 10:12-22; 8:11-20; 30:11-20 - Barry Lines

WORDS FROM THE VERGE

 (Words from Deuteronomy)

Good morning girls and boys of all generations.

Today is the first day of the rest of your lives.

We are to do some revision on some basic lessons.

In May I introduced, through the front page of the Bulletin, Robert Fulghum's book: All I really need to know I learned in Kindergarten. We identified some basic truths for living in community.

The pre-kindergarten era of our lives also taught us some other truths that entertained  and educated us. They were called nursery rhymes.

The book of Deuteronomy was for the people of Israel a primer that gave them a historical record, a code for living and guidelines for the future.

Historically it is placed on the eve of their entry into the Promised Land.

It was a re-telling of what God had done for them and the laws He had given them.

It was a second telling of the Law - hence a Deutero (second) - Nomos ( law)

Its discovery in the temple during the reign of Josiah in the seventh century BC gave impetus to the reformation of that time.

Such was its role that I have titled today's message; Words from the verge.

We are almost always on the verge of something.

A WORD OF CHALLENGE. (Deuteronomy 10: 12 - 22)

Pussycat, Pussycat, where have you been?

I've been to London to see the Queen.

Pussycat, pussycat, what did you there?

I frightened a little mouse under her chair.

We are in the presence of majesty and pursue our natural inclinations.

For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords' (v17)

Worship leaders sometimes start by asking that we put our day-to-day concerns aside.

This, I believe, is what they mean. I prefer to bring the concerns and make them subject to the sovereignty of God. Nothing wrong with cats frightening mice.

(Queen Elizabeth gave her Royal permission that prompted the rhyme)

The priority of those who live their lives with the awareness of God as their sovereign is to do His will.

What does the Lord require? (vv 12,13)

To be in awe of/  to walk in his ways/  to love/  to serve/  to obey

Whatever verge we may be on today - individually - congregationally - this is paramount.

It is all too easy to be overtaken with OUR interests and forget we are in the presence of the One who has done great and awesome things.

The challenge is an appropriate cat and throne syndrome'.

A WORD OF CAUTION (Deuteronomy 8: 11 - 20)

Little Jack Horner sat in the corner eating his Christmas pie.

He put in his thumb and pulled out a plum and said what a good boy am I.

We take the credit for blessings that are not our accomplishment.

Do not say to yourself,  My power and the might of my own hand have gained me this wealth'.  (v17)

A cautionary tale of one John Horner who took a plum' estate for himself from twelve being offered by the Bishop of Glastonbury as a Christmas gift to Henry the eighth.

Do not forget (v11); Do not exalt yourself (v14) ; Do not say… (v17) are all cautions against the presumption that God is extraneous to requirement in the baggage of life.

Jack's corner position may have been selfish - wanting to keep the pie to himself or it may have been isolationist - not wanting to mix with others. Either way it leads to a false sense of the sufficiency of an individual.

Beware the Horner corner syndrome!

A WORD OF COMFORT (Deuteronomy 30: 11 - 20)

Old Mother Hubbard went to the cupboard to get her poor dog a bone

But when she got there the cupboard was bear and the poor little dog got none

We have a desire to help, but fail to replenish our resources

The word is very near to you (v 14)

There may be times when it is good to go without. Fasting/ World Vision's forty hour famine/ - all good discipline.

Cardinal Wolsey's failure to grant Henry the eighth a divorce from Katherine so he could marry Anne Boleyn was a bone' worth being deprived of.

Generally speaking we want to meet the needs of others - especially when we feel it our responsibility.

Especially is this true of our spiritual response to those in need. How important it is to keep choosing life' (v 19). The word' of v 14 is the word of God's covenant of grace with his people. It is near, within them.  How important is this testament the Word which continues to sustain, educate and inspire. A resource that can never be diminished. How much more is the Word -who is God - near us.

Be comforted by the Hubbard Cupboard syndrome.

A word for the not yet' follower.

An anagram of  deuteronomy' is one more duty'

It is the 200th anniversary of Nelson's famous Battle of Trafalgar signal;

England expects every man will do his duty

Not a popular word, but in the midst of all our other duties - home/ work/ community - what does the Lord require?

As we work through this we may find that that priority is the means to fulfilling all the others.

You be the judge - Judges 9: 1 - 21 - Barry Lines

YOU BE THE JUDGE
JUDGES 9: 1 21

I recall that during Primary School there was a comic book character called Charlie Cheesecake. He ran around with a pencil in his mouth. 'The adventures of Charlie Cheesecake' was a safety manual for children. I have learned this week that a copy is valued at $100. What I hadn't remembered was that each page contained a fold out section that showed the point of the lesson. Charlie running with a pencil in his mouth lift flap to show Charlie had had a door opened in front of him and the pencil protruding from the back of his neck. Lesson: is it wise to run with a pencil in your mouth? You be the judge.

The 9th chapter of Judges is a kind of Charlie Cheesecake adventure. We are learning from the negative. Abimelech is the anti-judge. We have seen the way in which God delivered His people Israel through the agency of men and women with all there human foibles Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah and Gideon. All these raised up in face of oppression and opposition from surrounding peoples.

But here at the end of forty years of rest accomplished through Gideon there is no mention of an oppressing force. There is no call of God to enable a deliverer.

There is only an Abimelech running with his ambition firmly grasped with gritted teeth and silver tongue.

We've read the story. You be the judge.

Abimelech, a son of Gideon, by a Caananite concubine from Shechem. Uses family connections to press his suit. Half truths (half brothers were not to have kingly role)

Financial assistance used to hire cronies and assassins. Wiped out any possible opposition. Is this the kind of person you would want in leadership? You be the judge.

We are facing a state election. Mr Rann said, in the debate: Ultimately, it is going to come down to issues like leadership.

John Field, South Australian Baptist Superintendent, has written to Party leaders, a letter part of which is in the March Baptist News. He writes of a political vision shaped by compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forgiveness, love and peace. Are these the characteristics of those we seek to represent us? You be the judge.

As a congregation we are in the process of choosing leaders. The introduction of Jason Hoet's name as the recommendation for Associate Pastor may suggest we know enough about him not to have to reflect on the choice. I believe this would be unfair to Jason and an oversight on our part. He is our brother ought not to be the only consideration. You be the judge.

I wanted to persevere with the story of Abimelech because I like the fable or parable that Jotham, who escaped the assassin's sword, declared from the mountain top. As with most parables there is a central fact. Lords of Shechem, if the trees were to seek a king, who in their right mind would expect the bramble to get the job. Why on earth would such a worthless and useless plant be chosen. Watch out, you may have chosen a prickly customer. Is this the king you really want? You be the judge.

There is a sense in which the noble trees were already doing what God wanted of them and to be a king would distract from their purpose.

I have always had a private interpretation that says that when busy and productive people refuse to accept leadership we often end up with a leadership less than the best.

There are many areas of leadership in our Christian circumstances. In some ways we are all leaders in one way or another. Is God asking you to accept a more obvious role of leadership? You be the judge.

Allow me to make a number of brief reflections. These incidents are referred to in verses 22 57. It is like the opening door and the lifted flap on Charlie Cheesecake.

When the worm turned and the spirit between the lords of Shechem and Abimelech changed it was a continual story of treachery (v23) Another master was found. Leaders who are not appointed wisely will often find those who appointed them turn against them. Abimelech becomes an object of ridicule (v27)

Abimelech turns on the people who were his own blood and destroys them.

A revengeful spirit will bring destruction. The concept of the church plant that is in the mind of the leaders of this congregation is a positive approach when all too often a 'church plant' is a result of hostility and division.

[diversion divided into three companies (v43), what you have seen me do (v48), use of fire (49). All similar to Gideon's practice yet only imitation, not inspiration. Leaders need to be careful not to automatically copy what others have done; for the repeating of it may not be appropriate in the new situation. Principles may be transferable; programmes may not be. You be the judge]

Abimelech's end came when he attempted to continue his battle plan of destruction and arson. However a woman toppled a millstone over the edge of the tower in which refuge had been taken. The dying Abimelech asked his sword bearer to kill him so it would not be said a woman had slain him.

Slain by a stone, having slain his brothers on a stone. One who consumed his own people with fire as Jotham had predicted. A short restricted, but destructive rule of three years. Is this an appropriate end for such a one? You be the judge.

Where is the gospel in all of this?

Judges 9:24

This happened so that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might be avenged and their blood be laid on their brother Abimelech, who killed them, and on the lords of Shechem, who strengthened his hands to kill his brothers.

The psalmist takes us halfway there:

Psalms 58:10,11

The righteous will rejoice when they see vengeance done; they will bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked. People will say, `Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God who judges on earth.'

There is a God who makes judgement and he rules by the One into whose hand judgement has been given.

26: The Father has given him (the Son) authority to execute judgement, because he is the Son of Man.

John 5:24 Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgement, but has passed from death to life.

We are all Abimelech's. His name means My father, the king. The Father God is our rightful King. We have usurped the place of rule over our own lives. We have rebelled against the rightful King. The rightful Lord and Master has been slain and through his blood we have been able to be brought back to right relationship. Our communion service celebrated it. Are we in that right relationship? You be the judge.

1 Thesalonians 3 - Mark Sanders

1 Thesalonians 3 - Mark Sanders

1 Thessalonians 1:10 - Mark Sanders

The Pecking Order: Matthew 20:20-28 Neil Ryan

Date: March 20, 2005
Passage: Matthew 20:20-28
Message: The Pecking Order
Bible Discovery [33]

I was reading some stuff on leadership the other day and the writer told story about Texan who was visiting London and he wanted to take a quick tour around town.

He jumped into cab and as they went by the Tower of London the cabbie explained what it was and that construction of it started in 1346 and was completed in 1412.
The Texan replied, "Aaagh, a little ol' tower like that? In Houston we'd have that thing up in two weeks!"

Next they passed the House of Parliament — cabbie told how they started it in 1544 and completed in 1618.
"Well boy” said Texan “we put up a bigger one than that in Dallas and it only took a year!"

As they passed Westminster Abbey the cabbie was didn’t say a word.
"Whoah! What's that over there?" asked the Texan.
Cabbie: "I don't know, it wasn't there yesterday."

In our passage this morning we find something of that old Texan!
In fact it is not exclusive to Texans, it is indicative of sinful, human nature.
I’ve called this message The Pecking Order

Read Matthew 20:20-28
I was drawn to this passage because in context it happened about a week before what we now call Easter.
Right about now!

Jesus and his disciples are on the road to Jerusalem, heading for the tense drama of that last week before the cross.

Just prior to this passage, Jesus had spoken to his disciples for the third time about his death.
Read 20:17-19

V20 Then……
It all seems so out of place.
Jesus has just shared with them the most poignant and painful reality that he was facing and their response was how THEY might benefit from it!

You see, we can forget that Easter is not just an event.
Easter became necessary because of way WE are.
The Cross is about God addressing the problem of sinful nature!
Jesus was going to Jerusalem as much for the DISCIPLES as rest of us!

Let’s take a closer look at this scene.
Read : Matthew 19:28
Jesus had promised his disciples a privileged role in coming day. Next thing we know Mother of James and John wants to take it one step further.

They just don’t want privilege, they want special privilege!
It is so revealing of human heart.
In context of this relative self-confidence that Jesus calls them together ….

I love that phrase.
In football terms, it’s like he gets them in a huddle and says,
Here’s something real important.
This is the bottom line.
This is what it’s all about.
Get this and let it sink way down deep
If you forget other things, DON’T forget this!!

Read v25-28
Jesus tells them that everything about following Him is PARADOXICAL.
Following Jesus is not like anything else.

1. Paradox of AUTHORITY v25
Jesus talks about a law of human nature.
The Pecking Order.
It’s working out where we fit compared to others.

….lord it over
Lording is not just a structural system, it is a life strategy.

If you put any 10 chickens together and spread a bit of feed around you will witness and amazing phenomenon.
In a matter of minutes, chickens that were previously strangers will form a hierarchy based on dominance.

Instinctively, through a series of skirmishes, they will determine who number 1 chicken will be and all the way down to number 10.

Most miserable chicken of all is number 10 because he has been pecked by all the others but he has noone to peck!!
We all love being number one chicken, but if we can’t be, we love to know there is still another chicken below us!!

Fun watching chickens do this.
It is sad watching hamans.

Someone might say.
Well that the real world we live in. Get used to it.
It’s part of the order of life.
Jesus says
Not so with you….

Problem with the pecking order is that it affects the way we think and act and relate to others.
There is a natural tendency to treat those above us on the order with admiration, respect and honour.
Those blow us with insensitivity, callousness and even contempt.

Jesus throws a spanner in this whole depraved system.
Read V26
Greatness will be seen by the way you treat Number 10 chicken!!
Authenticity is not being intimidated by the BIG chicken or indifferent to SMALL chicken!

Humility is the wisdom to know that each of in the eyes of God, is just the same: deeply flawed but precious!
We can live our Christian lives still operating on Law of Pecking Order!

It is corrupt.
It has to go.
It is destructive to body of Christ and witness of gospel!

There is nothing more powerful than seeing chicken number 1 treating chicken number 10 as though that poor peckless chook were the most important chicken in the roost!!

John Manning made a statement last Sunday night that is worth repeating.
Don’t just serve, be a servant.

2. Paradox of ABILITY
Jesus asks James and John question they thought was quite simple
V22 ….can you drink of cup I am going to drink?
Their answer: We can
Message Translation: Sure we can

There is a sense in which we all think we can live the Christian life.
But the reality is, we can’t!
Jesus had said to them some time before this,
….without me, you can do nothing [John15:5]
But there is something that doesn’t take that seriously.
Here is James and John, convinced they have whatever it takes to face whatever Jesus has to face.
Yet they are still jockeying to be chicken number 1 and 2 in Kingdom of God!

How we delude ourselves!
Yet later on James was killed by Herod and John was banished to Isle of Patmos to die alone.
Both of these men found that only in Christ did they have the ability to face the realities set before them!

How many of us are super heroes in our dreams.
We are super saints in our prayers
Only Holy Spirit can help us make the transition from our dream and our prayers to reality.

Call from Radio Station on Thursday.
They were doing a talk show that night and wanted to deal with Davinci Code and wanted a Christian perspective.
The station put Davinci code in search engine and my name came up as a result of a sermon I preached few months back.
Said they wanted an expert on book!
Would I go on radio and be interviewed about it.

All of a sudden you don’t feel like an expert.
I wanted to say no – he wouldn’t tell me what questions he was going ask.
“We’ll just roll along and see what happens”
I thought
“Yeh, I’ll finish up looking like an egg. That’s what will happen!’

Behind this bravado there are fears like everyone of us have.
What if he asks question I can’t answer?
What if he disputes my statement?
What if I get into an answer and lose the plot?

I argued for a few moments and thought
I can do this
Quick as a flash I made a more realistic assessment
No I can’t!

Then God said
Yes you can!!
There is a paradox of Ability!

Stop trying to look like a Christian hero!
None of us are.
Abraham wasn’t
Moses wasn’t
David wasn’t
Paul wasn’t
Peter wasn’t

But Paul summed it up for all of us when he wrote
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me
[Philippians 4:13]

3. Paradox of KINGDOM v27
Jesus could have chosen to be at the top of the pecking order but he choses to be born as the son of a carpenter in a town that was too small to be on the map!

The paradox of the Kingdom is that noone would have even given slightest thought that THIS man would give his life as a ransom for many v28

There were not even many people who lived in Nazareth, let alone his life being of much value to anyone!
Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? [John 1:46]

Jesus is preparing these disciples for the reality that these ordinary, humble, unimportant men will be commissioned to take the gospel into all the world.
Jesus is spelling out the truth that he had told them the day before…
…..the last shall be first and the first will be last [Matt.20:16]

Eg.
Shrek is one of the more thought-provoking animated movies I’ve ever seen. In a sense, it parallels Jesus' somewhat “upside down” teaching, you know, thoughts like the first shall be last, the least are the greatest, it’s better to give than receive, etc…

Think about the storyline of Shrek: The ugly green ogre who wins the beautiful princess is the hero. But the princess isn’t really the beauty she appears to be—she’s an ogre too. Eventually both Shrek and Fiona have the opportunity to become “beautiful people,” but they choose to be “ugly” instead of “pretty.”

Add to that the fact that a lowly donkey is another hero in the film, and the fiery dragon is actually a damsel in distress. The fairy tale outcasts are invited to the big wedding celebration. The wedding takes place in a swamp.

The smelly onion becomes the glorious coach. The self-exalted lord ends up in the fiery pit. There couldn't be a better portrayal of what Matthew calls the kingdom of God. The last are first, and the first are last—paradox.

Can you hear Jesus?
James, John – you want greatness.
You’ve got it all upside down.
Are you willing for greatness in Kingdom?

I asked for strength, that I might achieve;
I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey...
I asked for health, that I might do greater things;
I was given infirmity that I might do better things...
I asked for riches, that I might be happy;
I was given poverty, that I might be wise.
I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men;
I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God...

I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life;
I was given life, that I might enjoy all things...
I got nothing that I asked for- but everything I had hoped for;
Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.
I am among all men most richly blessed.

--Anonymous

I can relate to this in some ways -
I wanted to be a Professional Tennis player
God gave me parents who were Methodists!
I wanted to work with youth
God sent me to place with 20 people that could hardly remember their youth!
I wanted big
God gave me small
I wanted to be a travelling evangelist
God hid me for 10 years in backblocks of a suburb that few people had heard of.

The paradox of the kingdom means that what God has in store for us is far better than we can imagine.
Who would ever believe that the crucifixion of Jesus among common criminals would change people from every tribe and nation and tongue for 21 centuries and is transforming lives every day!

No wonder Paul wrote
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out! 34“Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counsellor?”
“Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay him?”
For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.
[Romans 11:33-36]

In the Beginning...: Genesis 1:1

Date: January 4, 2004
Passage: Genesis 1:1
Message: In the Beginning
Bible Discovery [1]

As many you know - ONE month to my BIRTHDAY!
Wonder why I get so excited about birthdays.
BIRTHDAYS are not just about numbers they are about BEGINNINGS!
On Feb 4th I will celebrate that I had a beginning!
Sounds very Biblical - There was a time when I was not!

I get excited when I think of moment when I came into this world - for better or for worse!
I get excited when I think my beginning threw our house into chaos - not everyday someone is born in hallway their house.
But then every beginning is unique.
Every beginning has its own story.

This year is a new beginning.
Just another year but it has story for every one of us.
How does it look through your eyes this morning?

Comics - 'Calvin and Hobbes.'
Calvin and Hobbes are talking about the new year when Calvin says, 'I'm getting disillusioned with these new years. They don't seem very new at all Each new year is just like the old year Here another year has gone by and everything's still the same There's still pollution and war and stupidity and greed Things haven't changed, I thought things were supposed to improve I thought the future was supposed to be better.

Hobbes replies with his usual clarity,
'The problem with the future is that it keeps turning into the present.'

I'm not interested in sharing some predictable wishful thinking about the new year with you this morning.
The future will be earthed in the reality of the present.
It's that reality that we face as a Church at the beginning of another year.

In any body's estimation the Church is limping.
After 2,000 years of gospel proclamation we should be boldly engaging our culture with optimism and hope.
But my sense is that wider Church is anything but optimistic or hopeful.

There is reason for this.
The Church is experiencing same sense of exile that Jews did in Babylon. We've not been driven out of our land but it seems we have been stripped of our place in modern culture.

We live in a culture that is morally indifferent.
We have witnessed the disintegration of authority, family, community, loyalty and accountability.
We have seen the traditional understanding and acceptance of Bible give way to an avalanche of new age spirituality.
Without any transcendent objective truth we are now in an age where we are left to construct our own idea of truth.
Old world is gone and the Church as we know it is struggling to know where it fits into the new!

It seems to me that the Church is not sure how to handle all this.
At worst we are giving up with meek resistance.
At best we are retreating into the security of our Mega Churches convinced that we can take on the world at its own game and win!

This morning I want to go back to the very beginning of all beginnings.
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created .

I want to go back to our roots.
I have felt compelled for some time to review our culture in the light of the whole of the Word of God, but the magnitude of task was always too daunting.
But not any more.

Beginning today and stretching over the next 2-3 years we will look at every book in the Bible.
We will see God's Word
*· Historically
*· Theologically
*· Personally
*· Practically

I trust it will encourage us and refresh us.
I trust it will halt any slide into apathy and defeatism.
I trust it will renew in us a passion to be people who can confront our culture with the same faith and hope that the early church confronted their own.

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created .
When you get to the age of 50 you can start making some reflections on your generation.
One of the mistakes we have made with the book of Genesis is to see it primarily as a battle between Bible and Science.
So the battle raged long and hard for CREATION versus EVOLUTION - still rages.
It is issue that has moral and spiritual ramifications.

But the major issue in Genesis is not about science, it is about our world view.
We have scared people off Genesis because they don't think they have the scientific qualifications to either understand it or believe it.
But the issue for us to confront here is much more personal than intellectual.

What's your worldview?
Does it begin with God?
Does it begin with something / someone else?

Does our understanding of this world and all that is in it, including ourselves have its foundation in God?
OR does it have its foundation in what we chose to believe or create or decide?

In my generation arbitrary distinctions were raised.
Scientists dealt with objective data / Christians were subjective.
Scientists stayed with facts / Christians were more interested in faith.
Scientists unbiased. / Christians blind bias because of Bible.

Bottom line is that we ALL start out with a worldview.
Those who espouse so passionately the cause for Naturalistic view of life begin with the worldview that NATURE is all there is and all there ever was!

There is nothing scientific in that statement.
It is not empirically verifiable.
But it becomes the foundation upon which a whole belief system is built!

Here is my worldview
In the beginning God created .
Just like there was a time when I did not exist in this world, there was a time when this world did not exist in God's scheme of things.

In the beginning
How long have I been preaching?
Before God created, there was NO TIME.

This is the beginning.
This is our point of reference.
This is where we get our bearings.
This is our roots.
Here is our anchor from which we take on the whole of life.

In the beginning God created .
I like the little 7 year old boy who asked his father where he came from? The father took a deep breath because he thought that the time had now come to have that first father/son chat.

So he gave a very tactful and helpful version of whole reproductive process . the father thought he had done a really good job of the explanation, but the boy looked rather perplexed at the answer.

So the father asked the boy 'why are you interested in this?'. And his son said to him
'A new boy at school said he came from Melbourne, and I was just wondering where I came from?'

When all the grandstanding and intellectual debates subside we all want insight into the same age old question
Where did I come from?
Why am I here?
Where am I going?

Your choice is not whether you believe science is more believable than the Bible -
Your choice is the same as it has always been
What world-view will you accept?

That's why the issue of CREATION has been so fiercely contested.
It is the very foundation of our CHRISTIAN worldview.
[Much the same as the Resurrection is foundation upon which we can know we have eternal life!]

For if God created all of finite reality then every aspect of that reality must be subject to him and His truth.
Everything finds its meaning and interpretation in relation to God.

No part of life is autonomous or neutral.
None of our senses are understood outside of God.
Our choices, our attitudes, our relationships, our beliefs are all rooted and grounded in God.
[Even when we cannot make sense of them]

Everything we are as Christians stands and falls on those 5 words
In the beginning God created .

Can I say that this is one reason why we must rethink the way we are trying to reach our culture.
We cannot assume any Biblical interest or knowledge.
Next week I want to go to Genesis 3 and see where it all went wrong for the human race.
Communicating SIN to a postmodern culture.

There is no sense today of a HOLY GOD to whom we are accountable.
The gods we are looking for today are the gods who make us feel better!
Evangelism has to go back to the beginning.

Eg
Paul, when he preached in Athens.
He didn't re-use Peters sermon that was preached on day of Pentecost that saw thousands come to Christ.
Jews had knowledge of God and His ways and His laws.
PETER held them accountable to that!

The Greeks had no such knowledge
Paul speaks to them from a very different foundation.
He goes right back to God in whom we live and move and have our being [Acts 17:24-28]

We need to engage our culture that is more like the Greeks of old than Jews!
We need to begin at the beginning with God as creator and see his glorious purposes unfold in history and eternity through His Son Jesus!
We need to see as we begin a New Year that WE are not the centre of the Universe like we are constantly being told!

I want you to do 3 things as we launch out on this series.
1. Read Bible
2. Invite people to hear series on and from God's Word.
3. Take a critical look at what we are feeding our heart, mind and soul on. Evaluate the nutrition of TV, Movies, Books and Magazines, Entertainment we scoff into our lives and then compare it with the hunger we have for the more solid, weightier but more nutritious things of God!

Stay with us for the journey - we have lots to discover along the way!

Preaching Sin in a Post-Modern World: Genesis 3:1-14

Date: January 11, 2004
Passage: Genesis 3:1-14
Message: Preaching Sin in a Post-Modern World
Bible Discovery [2]

One of the great sit coms of all time was Happy Days
I liked the way the Fonz went about his business.
He was the centre of everyone else's universe.
But there was one word that the mighty Fonz could not say.
WRONG!
The word would just not come out of his mouth.
It was not in his vocabulary!

He would be right at home in these days.
We live in what is commonly described as the Post-Modern world and the great pursuit is not right and wrong - it is tolerance and understanding!

TRUTH is too confronting these days.
It smacks of elitism and judgementalism.
It breeds fundamentalism and extremism.
It damages the fragile human psyche with feelings of guilt and failure.

Man who visited church and when minister encouraged him to come again
My therapist has told me my problems stem guilt and shame and I don't want to go down that track again!

One of reasons Church on outer in our current culture is that -
* We are seen as one last abstains of GUILT!
* We are judged to be the last remaining out-posts where you can be really be made to feel bad about yourself!
* We are seen as ultimate remnants of a world that we are trying to leave behind!

I find this a fascinating day in which to live.
We don't want moral truth but it simmers inside of us like a ticking bomb.
We're never sure quite where it's going to explode.

Eg.
This week it was a zany crocodile hunter who runs a zoo in QLD.
What unbelievable outrage at this man.
Even the Premier has called him stupid and yet what unbelievable silence from our Premier down on a sex education program in SA that will put the lives of our children at much greater risk in the years to come!

People everywhere horrified and fearful for the safety of little 1 month old Bob….
Is anyone still horrified at the 80,000 children who were aborted in Australia last year and never got a chance to see one day in this beautiful world you and I live in!

We are mass of contradictions and we don't want to admit it.
We don't quite know what we are appealing to when we get mad!
We still reserve the right to piously vent our moral outrage where we chose even tho we don't have any foundational moral values and beliefs anymore.

This represents a major challenge for the Church?
How to be faithful and relational?
Faithful to truth God's Word yet build relationships with world we are at odds with!
How do we engage a society that finds us the root of the problem?

We are back at the beginning in Genesis.
We are taking a long journey through the Bible that will help us understand ourselves, world and our God.
There is no book in the world like the Bible.

It will help us see that -
* Greatest pursuit in life is not