fundamentalist

I always believe that Christianity should be fun. It should be joyful and contagious like a child's laugh but when you mix it with fundamentalism it starts to lose its joy. Fundamentalists in the whole keep to the word of God but they tend to add a rule here and a rule there until you are carrying a heavy burden. Most of them have a tattoo of St Paul on their backs and he has become their inspiration, not Christ. I am sure most of them would deny and want nothing to do with Christ if they saw him today eating and drinking with the sinners of this modern world. Yet that is were we see Christ. We see Christ in places that most of us would not enter but again that is were the lost are. In the very places we dare not enter. Sure some may say "only a fool goes where angels fear to dread" but we can all use the Bible to hide away in our safe places.

We see Christ at a well talking to a lone female. I wonder how many would frown upon that. "What a single man talking to a female alone"
Fundamentalist churches invite you in and then start to change you. Tell you what to wear, what to read, how to behave etc etc. They pour Scripture on you like hot coals but they forget that they have feet of clay.

There are many in this world who will say you are not a "good" Christian because you don't follow their ways but the truth is Christ said a Christian is someone that follows Him.
Paul has his place but not above Christ

Healthy church part 3

Matthew 6 verses 5-1

If we did a survey amongst everyone in you're church this morning I wonder how many of you would say you pray regularly. Yet let me ask you a question: What is Prayer? That seems to me to be a fundamental question when we come to look at the topic of prayer. If someone were to ask you what you are doing when you pray, how would you answer? . If you are to be a healthy church then a key ingredient is prayer. The purpose of this post is not to persuade you that you ought to pray but to actually persuade you to pray. If you already pray then the purpose of this post is to encourage you to keep on praying. If you are struggling to pray then it is my desire and prayer that this post will help you in your prayer life.

Luke 11 verse 1 - here is an interesting question asked by the disciples of Jesus. This is Luke's account of the passage from Matthew 6 The disciples could have asked Jesus many questions but they asked him to teach them to pray. For three years they follow Jesus. For three years they watch him perform miracles, raise people from the dead, feed 5000 with loaves and fishes and calm a raging sea. For three years they listen to him teach amazing stories which confound the religious intelligentsia but are understood with those who have ears and hearts of faith. They see him transformed before them and when they have the opportunity they ask him to teach them to pray. Why? Well, I believe the one thing that is pretty clear in the four gospels is that Jesus is a man of prayer. No doubt he followed the Judaic practice of praying three times a day. It is pretty clear that he often withdrew from the crowds of people, and even from the disciples, to seek his father's face in prayer. When Judas comes to betray him he knows exactly where Jesus will be in the garden of Gethsemane. Do you think that is an accident? I am more convinced that it was a regular place of prayer for Jesus and Judas knew this to be so. He is also certain that at such a time as the Passover Jesus will go to this private place of prayer. There is a pattern and practice of prayer in the life of Jesus that we could all do well to follow.

look to Matthew 6 and hear what Jesus taught his disciples concerning prayer. Look at verse 5 and the words of Christ: "when you pray..." There is an assumption that his disciples, his followers, will pray. He assumes that prayer will be part of their daily lives. So the first thing we learn is that Christ expects his followers to pray.

He then sets down simple guidelines for them when they pray. The first thing is they are to go somewhere private and quiet. Their sole concern should be God. This is in stark contrast of the religious leaders of their day who made sure everyone saw them pray. Their concern is to be alone with God their Father - nothing else and no one else matters. So find a quiet place to pray. Now I know that might be difficult but be honest how much time do we make for other things in our lives and yet we do not go to the same effort to find that quiet space for prayer. If it is a priority we will find the time and the place. You know I have found walking a great opportunity to pray. So find a quiet place. Please notice the promise that Jesus attaches here - your heavenly Father will hear you when you pray. That is a promise to us all - God hears our prayers - so be assured of that this morning because Christ himself has promised it.

Verse 9 - Relationship. When Christ begins his model prayer he addresses God as Father who is in heaven. This was a traditional means of opening a Hebrew prayer. Christ followed a pattern known to his disciples since childhood prayers in their homes, the synagogue and Temple. What pattern of prayer are your children learning from you? Our Father is a personal address to God. Here is an important lesson for us all - at the very core of prayer is a personal relationship with a personal God. At the heart of prayer Christ says, is a relationship of sons and daughters with a 'Father.' Christ begins prayer with an intimate term of endearment - 'Abba.' There is nothing impersonal about prayer - it is the most personal and intimate relationship between Almighty God and his children. Please note how Christ taught his disciples to address God - 'Our Father...' please don't be flippant about how you address God in prayer and please note it is to the Father that we pray. Yes we pray in the power of the Holy Spirit through Christ, God's only begotten Son, but it is to the Father that our prayers are directed.

Christ Jesus then lifts his voice in adoration of his Father - stating the holiness and otherness of God. Again this is part of traditional Hebraic prayers of the day. Once again Christ is not departing far from what His disciples have learned as children and is familiar to them, after all it was to the God of Israel that they were praying but in a new relationship through His Son. God is His Name - Exodus 33.19 - when Moses asks to see the glory of God - God says 'I will make my glory pass before you and I will declare my name...' God is His Name and in Scripture your name was more than what you were called it referred to your whole character and being. God's name is holy because He is holy - and we are instructed to call him 'Father.' This is why the commandment tells us that God's name is not to be taken in vain.

It is because God's Name reveals his character - holiness and it is not to be taken lightly because holiness is not to be taken lightly and I wish we as a people would learn that again. So when we come to pray remember before whom it is that you come in prayer - He who is holy, who is purity in and of himself and who cannot, will not, have sin in his presence. You and I have no right to be in his presence save by the blood of Christ shed for us and atoning for our sins - so do not take prayer lightly and do not enter his presence flippantly. Address him correctly because His name is holy and he will not hold you blameless for taking it in vain, even in prayer.

Verse 10 note what comes next in this model prayer - God's will and God's kingdom. Why had Christ come - to do the will of the Father. What should be our primary concern in life? The will of God our Father and his kingdom. That should be the basis of all our prayers - what is God's will in this situation and what will further God's kingdom in my life, in the life of my family, church and this situation. How different our prayers would be if this was our priority in prayer. So take note - a healthy church will have the will of God the Father and the furtherance of his kingdom as its priority - especially in prayer.

Verse 11 - now we enter upon our needs in this model prayer. There has been a lot of teaching on this phrase over the centuries and I don't wish to go into the detail in this post. However, notice the simplicity of this phrase. Notice what is not being asked for. Christ assures them that God, their Father, is concerned about their daily needs - after all not even a sparrow falls to the ground without their heavenly Father knowing. It is their daily bread, the basic things of life that they are to ask for. Friends ask yourself this morning - what are the basic food needs of your life? Haiti has been on our TV screens for over two weeks now. Maybe you can remember famine scenes from the past - daily bread means what to you compared to those in such situations? When I read this phrase in prayer I am caught up by God's Spirit to get a right perspective on my daily bread. My prayers so often move from basic necessities of life to the luxuries of life in the west - how tragic is that? Or should I say how blasphemous?

Verse 12 - Christ now moves in his model prayer to forgiveness of sins. They were to ask God, their Father, for forgiveness but do you notice there is an onus on them to offer forgiveness also. Christ has elsewhere taught parables on forgiveness - the unforgiving servant for example and the healing of the man lowered down through the roof. When I know forgiveness of my sins, and how great they are and at what cost, then I am motivated in my prayers to forgive others. So in prayer I not only seek God's forgiveness but I seek to forgive others. Prayer changes me as I pray - is that not part of the teaching of this phrase?

Verse 13 - again I want you to take a moment and ponder these two prayer requests. We ask that we might be spared the trial of temptation and delivered form the 'evil one.' Do you notice also that these phrases are not individual but plural (group) - 'give us...forgive us...lead us...deliver us' Whilst we pray as individuals prayer is also corporate in nature. My concern is for my brother and sister in Christ also to be spared from the trials of faith for protection against the evil one in this world. Why would Christ pray such a phrase? Read Ephesians 6 verse 12. Here is the battle that we seek deliverance from and protection in. In prayer we are involved in a spiritual battle and we wrestle against powers in the spiritual realm that we have no real understanding of and no power against save the blood of Christ Jesus.

To conclude read - Romans 8 verses 26-27. Traditionally people have understood these verses to mean that the Holy Spirit takes our hearts cries and intercedes before the Father for us. Yet that does not do true justice to the text. Paul is saying that the Holy Spirit comes to our aid to help us pray aright. Sometimes we do not know what to pray for (out of ignorance) and sometimes we do not pray well. So the Holy Spirit comes and puts into words what we ought to pray and enables us to pray aright - since he already knows the will of the Father. So even in our weakness, in our inability to put into words the deep longings of our souls God in his desire to communicate with us has given us the Holy Spirit who intercedes because we are unable to do so. One writer said this of this work of the Holy Spirit: 'this prayer is the very breath of the soul.' I think that is a wonderful description of this work of God's Spirit in our lives.

This post has really only scratched the surface of the Bible's teaching on prayer. Here is the essential point though - pray - actually pray. Get alone with God and pray. Call on him as your Father because he has promised to hear you and answer you. Lift your voice to him in prayers of adoration, confession, thanks and supplication (request). Pray, pray and pray again. Pray as an individual and with others. Put prayer requests in the prayer box. Come together with others in you're fellowship and pray. Without prayer you're church will die. Without your prayers you're pastor cannot pastor each week. It is the prayers of the saints that powers the church forward. So if you want to be a healthy church you need to pray. Not talk about it but pray. Not just preach about it but pray. Not just read about it and learn about it but actually pray. So you want to be healthy, spiritually healthy -then pray. Finally - note what Christ says at the beginning of today's post - it is not about your elegant words, nor the vain repetition of them - it is about a relationship with God that enables you, his child, to come to your heavenly Father and he promises to hear and answer - so pray.

Amen.

JWs are doorstepping and winning souls

There is no doubt in my mind that so many people are being lost at their very doorstep. A very good friend was approached at his door by Mormons and after a few months of regular contact, he joined them. Another good friend who had fell from his own church was approached by JWs and again after regular contact he joined them.
My neighbour who is a JW is out doorstepping in all weathers puts Christians to shame.
So what is the excuse?

1. Its a waste of time doorstepping?....well its working for JWs and others
2. Don't have the time!.....well my neighbour has the time or at least makes the time

Maybe sitting in churches waiting for passing trade is some peoples idea of evangelising but I don't think thats biblical.

Sunday sermons are they too long

At one point I was all for 45 min-60min sermons but in truth most folk do turn off after 20 Min's. Even the most "holy" of people have limited attention span. I am sure even those brought up in the Christian faith would agree that 45 Min's plus is just a little too long.
Real Christian growth does not come by sitting listening to a sermon on a Sunday morning (yes it is part of it) But I believe the real growth comes within the smaller weekly groups.
It is within these groups that good Christian friendships are made
It is within these groups that people are more actively involved and more likely to ask questions


Just a thought


Be blessed

Great weekend

This has been a great weekend. I had Jude over and we spent time in the park playing army games. At least this time I was on his side and I had all the best weapons. Normally he has the best weapons and I get beat lol. We ended the evening off with a dvd and a few board games.

During the week I have a couple of Jws coming up for a Bible study. I am interested in what they have to say and I expect this will be an encouraging time.

Hope everyone is reaching their full potential

Can you forgive

My brother wronged me in a deep and hurtful way. So much so that we had not spoken for nearly 3 years. I think if we had come face to face in the first few months after he hurt me, we would have fought and being someone that did muay Thai, I could have really hurt him as I was so angry. Over the past few months we have started talking. So far just through email but its a start. The real test will be when we meet up at some point. I must admit I can still feel the pain that he caused me and I can taste the anger I felt but I put it to death each time it rears its ugly head.

FORGIVE FORGIVE FORGIVE FORGIVE is the message of Scripture. But just saying I forgive you does not take the pain away, nor does it mean that we forget the wrong that has been done to us. He has never said sorry for what he has done but the key point is that I had to forgive him. If he had said sorry a day or a week or a month after he hurt me I would not have cared, I would have hit him.

The point I am trying to make is that when we are wronged, we are the ones that need to forgive. We are the ones that need to accept what has happened and ask God to forgive and heal us. (as well as them) Try praying for someone that has hurt you, its very difficult, believe me.

Try forgiving someone that is not willing to offer you an apology.


One other point I will make is, you dont have to be best pals with the person you forgive. In fact you may not even see them again but for you're own spiritual life forgives has to come.

Be Blessed

is your church a healthy church Part 2

2 Timothy 3 verses 10-17

For example there was a writer called Bennett who was alleged to have said "Of course the water is safe to drink", only for him to die of typhoid. Dr Johnston once said "Nothing concentrates a man's mind so much as the knowledge he is to be hanged in a fortnight." 2 Timothy is Paul's last letter, written to the young Timothy. In this letter Paul concentrates on the Gospel and Christian duty. Paul concentrates on the grace of God and the outworking of that in the life of a believer towards God and towards others. So this is Paul's last letter to his young pastor Timothy.

2 Timothy 3 verses 1-10 - in these opening verses Paul outlines a very dark picture of human behaviour. When you read those verses you see a picture of the world in which Paul and Timothy lived and I think you will also agree a portrait of the world in which we live today. In verses 6-9 Paul outlines the behaviour of the false teachers of Timothy's day.

Verses 10-11 - Paul wants to encourage the young Timothy by reminding him of the example he had seen with Paul. In contrast to this the false teachers has lived a very different life. Paul begins verse 10 with a very emphatic 'You', emphasising a clear contrast between the young Timothy and the false teachers of verses 1-9.

'know all about' - literally you follow closely, or follow faithfully as a rule of life a standard of conduct. He has not only known it mentally, and assented to it, but has also followed it closely, but what has he known fully about Paul?

Paul speaks of 'My teaching' (or doctrine) which was seen in his 'manner of life' or way of life. Paul's conduct was consistent with his teaching. Oh, if only we could say that of every Christian today.

'My purpose' which was expressed in his 'faith' lived out in his manner of life.

'Patience' which is that self-restraint, fruit of the Spirit, when faced with provocation. The very opposite of anger in a given situation, such as the persecution and suffering which he had faced for the sake of the gospel.

'Love' - divine love produced in the heart of the yielded believer by the Holy Spirit. How very different from the self-love of the false teachers of verses 1-9.

'Endurance' - whilst under pressure, which does no surrender to circumstances and does not succumb under trial. This is one characteristic that we desperately need in the church today. Too many Christians give up too easily. Too many Christians expect life to be easy with no trials or tribulations on the road to heaven - Psalm 23 should persuade you otherwise.

'Persecutions' - coming form the verb 'to pursue'. Paul had once pursued the Christian believers from town to town in his zeal to persecute them. Now he too had experienced such persecution. Why would we expect anything different than our brothers and sisters in Christ?

'Sufferings' or 'afflictions.' Paul lists the places that he had faced such sufferings. These are recorded for us in Act 13 and 14. Take Lystra for example. Timothy would have been familiar with this episode in the life of Paul as he was a young man at the time and converted under Paul's ministry there. Paul was bombarded with stones and left for dead in Lystra. Timothy would have had poignant memories of this event.

Verses 12-13 here is a very important verse. Suffering and persecution is a normal part, and to be expected, of living a godly life. Those who determine to be constant in godly living take note of this. Godliness is not being sanctimonious, nor is it self-righteousness but a life lived according to God's Word. You see the devil will happily ignore a worldly Christian but faithfulness to Christ and the ways of God will draw his hostility. What a contrast the life of the evil impostors of Paul's day. This is the only time in the NT where 'impostors' is used of people. The word originally meant a wailer or howler, a juggler or enchanter. Over time it came to be associated with those who practiced the deception and with witchcraft. These false teachers were themselves deceived and have set out to deceive others. Their evil character has been described in verses 2-5 and the impostor's seductive part has been outlined by Paul in verses 6-9. The authorised version of the Bible spoke of these people 'shall wax worse and worse.' We would say they are going from bad to worse. The Greek has the sense of a man cutting a way through thick vegetation for others to follow him. Such is the description Paul gives to the false teachers who lead people astray from the Word of God.

Verse 14 - we have one of the great 'But as for you...' statements of the NT. In contrast to these evil impostors Timothy is to live a very different life. He is to 'continue in...' that is he is to abide or remain in the way of life and teaching in which he is already established. Timothy is not only to grab hold of the truth but he is also to allow the truth to grab hold of him. The truth must be believed and be seen to be believed in the manner or way of life lived by Timothy. Timothy's daily life was to reveal that the truth had taken hold of him. It is not enough to know the truth but also to be seen to live according to the truth. Again a lesson we all need to obey. As the evil around Timothy increases and persecution presses in on every side Timothy must stand firm in the knowledge that the truth of God does not change but remains constant and is unchanging in its character.

Listen to what Paul tells Timothy - hold on to the faith once taught 'that you have learned..become convinced of.' It was not just a mental assent but a truth that had wrought a change in his heart and life and in his way of life. He had become fully persuaded of the truth of God's Word. He had two reasons for his confidence:

First, he knows from whom he had learned that truth. He had learned from Paul, from Eunice his mother and Lois his grandmother. Their trustworthy character is the key to this. He had heard the truth from them but as equally importantly he had seen them live the truth each day. That is the key isn't it- we need to be seen to be living according to what we believe. There are enough Christians who do not live it the way they talk it today. That is why Paul has repeatedly emphasised his manner of life to Timothy - because he lived by the truth each day, even in the face of suffering and persecution.

You see the custom of the Jews was from the earliest age to teach their children the Word of God and to expect them to memorise it. We have lost that today, we should not be so quick to despise the memorising of scripture. Timothy's heritage was the holy Scriptures, the sacred writings (the OT) which his mother, grandmother and pastor Paul had taught him. Look at what Paul says - this is able to make him wise (in preparation) unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. The Scriptures that he was taught disciplined him in obedience to God and pointed to the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, through whom salvation would come. There is a simple little lesson for us all there - do not neglect to teach your children the Bible, the whole Bible and not just the NT. You know one of the field workers for Fields of Life gets angry when people only give children New Testaments. She says 'it is like giving them half a meal.' Think for a moment about Handel's Messiah - most of it is taken from the OT and yet it is all about Christ - the OT reveals Jesus Christ - it did to Timothy.

Verses 16-17 Paul now speaks to Timothy of the written Word of God. 'All' or 'Every Scripture is God breathed.' When writing to Timothy here Paul is speaking of the OT, the sacred scriptures but these two verses can be expanded to include the NT as well - when we place them alongside 2 Peter 3 verse 2 and verses 15-16, 1 Thess. 2 verse 13 and 1 Timothy 5 verse 18. These verses link the OT and NT writers together and Peter includes Paul's writings with 'the other scriptures.' Paul himself in 1 Thessalonians refers to his letter as 'the Word of God.'

Here Paul joins two Greek words together to speak of Scripture as being 'God-breathed' (theopneustos). This word is used only here in the NT and means literally 'God-breathed.' The breath of God. We know that only things that are living have breath. Paul is saying the Scriptures were breathed out by God, brought into being by the very breath of God. He then speaks of their usefulness:

Teaching the truth or doctrine. Both the content of the teaching and the action of obedience to the teaching is spoken of here. It is the impartation of knowledge which requires action. Scripture is inspired by God to transform and not just to inform.

Rebuking - which is to rebuke in order to bring about conviction of the sinner (Titus 1 verse 9). A good example of this is the letter to the Galatians. Correction - the setting right of that which is wrong, or the restoration to an upright position of that which has fallen. The restoration of a sinner to a right state with and before God.

Instruction - conveys the idea of training. Literally Paul uses the word for the rearing of a child. All believers need to be trained in righteousness and this must be by the application of the Word of God. This is to be both inward and outward.

Verse 17 the outcome of all this is that the Christian is perfect, brought to maturity by the Word of God working in their life so that they may be 'thoroughly equipped for every good work' which according to Paul in Ephesians 2 God has prepared in advance for them to do. The imagery here of being thoroughly equipped is of a vessel being fitted out and furnished for readiness. For Paul it is the Word of God which fits out, furnishes, the believer to be ready to live a manner of life worthy of a follower of Christ.

ConclusionIs you're church a healthy church when it comes to the Bible? If we believe that this is the Word of God, that it contains all we need to know for salvation and will enable us to be equipped to follow Christ - what are we doing with it? Reading it daily? Living it daily? Teaching it to our children? Are we using it in our lives to teach and train, correct and rebuke so that we commend the gospel? Well only you can answer that for yourself.

Amen.

Thanks to Alan