20 September 2020 – Geoff Follas: Flowing In The Spirit, Ezekiel 47:1-12
Sermon notes to follow.
15 March 2020 – Geoff Follas: A Plea For Mature Christians, Colossians 2:1-7
Notes and audio available. Select the desired message then click the green type.
A PRAYER FOR SPIRITUAL GROWTH
In Chapter 1:v28-29, Paul shared the burden of his heart for all believers. “28 Christ is the one we proclaim, exhorting and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. 29 To this end I strive with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me. Paul’s burning desire for God’s people was to see them grow up and become mature believers.
Just before J.Oswald Sanders, that gracious missionary statesman died 1993, he was asked what he felt was the greatest need in the church of NZ today. His response was, “Christians of spiritual maturity.”
One thing that really gladdens the heart of a Pastor is when he sees signs of spiritual growth in the lives of his people. But it is so sad when you have people who have been Christians for years and there has been very little change in their behaviour and attitudes and in their understanding and application of God’s truth.
In the natural world, we as parents rejoice when we see our children developing and growing. When they take those first steps, say those first words and begin to grasp and understand concepts. Celebration and milestones. But it can be very distressing if those signs of growth and development are not there.
In v1, Paul used very strong words here when he described his concern to see believers come to spiritual maturity: I strive, struggle, agonize. Why was Paul so deeply concerned to see believers grow up and become mature? Because as long as we remain immature in our faith and spiritual development, we will be ineffective, in danger of going back into our old ways, and easily deceived by false teaching.
So he begins this section by expressing again how deeply burdened he is for the believers in Colossae and Laodicea and is praying fervently for them to grow up and become mature, fully developed believers.
He prays that they will be: Encouraged in heart, Entwined in love, Enriched in understanding, Equipped with discernment and Enabled to continue
ENCOURAGED IN HEART – v2
The word encourage is the same word Jesus used to describe the Holy Spirit in John 16. It means to support, to strengthen.
When he speaks of the heart, he’s obviously not talking about the muscle that pumps our blood around the body and he is not talking about our emotions and feelings. In our culture we use the word heart to speak of our feelings and emotions.
The Bible sees the gut as the centre of feelings and emotions. When Jeremiah cried out in 4:19, “My bowels, my bowels, I writhe in pain,” he was not suffering from a tummy bug. He was emotionally upset because he saw God’s judgement coming upon Israel.
Song of Solomon 5:4 says that when the woman heard her lover outside the door, her bowels moved. It doesn’t mean she needed to go to the bathroom. She was emotionally stirred.
When we read that Jesus was moved with compassion, the word is “splanknizomai”, from which we get our word spleen.
Paul says to the Philippian believers in 1:8, “I long for you all with the bowels of Christ Jesus.” So what does the Bible mean by the heart? The Bible sees the heart as the place where our love, our thoughts, our desires and motives are.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
1 Corinthians 4:5 we read that when the Lord returns, “He will bring to light what is now hidden in darkness and reveal the motives of our hearts.”
Psalm 139 , “Search me, O God and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts.”
So when Paul says, I want them to be encouraged, strengthened in heart he means, “I pray that God will encourage and strengthen those godly, Christ like desires, thoughts, loves and motives that are in their hearts.
If you want to know what is in your heart ask yourself this question. “What are the things I mostly think about? Who or what do I really love? What do I desire more than anything else? What really motivates me to do what I do and say what I say? That is a very challenging exercise. I dare you to do it and be really honest with yourself.
People who are spiritually mature will discover that they think mostly about things that honour the Lord and kick out the other stuff when it turns up. They will love God and people above all, they will desire those things that honour Christ and bless others and their motives will be the same.
If you discover this is not the case and yet you want it to be then pray this prayer, “Change my heart of God, make it ever true, Change my heart O God, may I be like you.”
ENTWINED IN LOVE – v2
Children are born basically self-centred. They are primarily focussed on their wants, their needs, their preferences, their interests. In fact the main reason children cry is because they can’t get what they want, they can’t get their own way. I refused to show my children any sympathy when that was the case.
As time goes by we see little signs of personal growth when they begin to show love and concern for others, but then just when we think they are starting to mature in this area they enter the teenage years and revert to the old self-centred, self-focussed, self-conscious behaviour. But hopefully they grow out of that and move on to maturity.
Illustration: I think of my oldest daughter. When she was a teenager she was pretty self-centred, but she grew out of that and today she has matured into a loving caring, considerate Christian lady who is basically living for God and others. She had moved from being self-centred to being Christ-centred and others-centred. And that is sign of real maturity, when we place the concerns and needs of others before our selves.
And an important mark of spiritual maturity is that we are not primarily concerned with what we want and what we need, but we are genuinely concerned with the needs of others.
When we become Christians, God’s Spirit brings us into unity with fellow believers. That unity is created by the Holy Spirit. It is based on that fact that we all possess the same Spirit, we believe the same Gospel truth, we are submitted to the same Lord, and we have the same Father. But Paul says in Ephesians 4:3 that unity of the Spirit has to be worked at, maintained.
How are we to maintain that loving unity of the Spirit? There is a negative side and a positive side.
Negatively – don’t hold grudges and unforgiveness, don’t criticise and condemn each other, don’t demand your own way, don’t ignore a fellow believer who is in genuine need.
Positively – always show unconditional love, forgiveness and acceptance towards each other, no matter what. Seek to be aware of each other’s needs and if you can help do so.
Illustration: In his book Love, Acceptance & Forgiveness, Jerry Cook describes a church in Washington state that grew in 14 years from 10 to more than 4,000 people. The book includes a commitment the people at that church made to each other. It says: “You’ll never knowingly suffer at my hands. I’ll never knowingly say or do anything to hurt you. I’ll always, in every circumstance, seek to help and support you. If you’re down and I can lift you, I’ll do that. If you need something and I have it, I’ll share it with you. If I need to, I’ll give it to you. No matter what I find out about you, no matter what happens in the future – either good or bad – my commitment to you will never change. And there’s nothing you can do about it!”
ENRICHED IN UNDERSTANDING – v2,3
A mature Christian is one who has a real understanding of the Christian faith. They know what they believe and they can explain it to others. How have they come to that understanding?
By knowing Christ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. They have got to know Jesus by allowing Him to speak to them through the Bible and through His Spirit.
By reading and studying the Bible.
By putting what they have learned into practice.
Christian understanding comes about by theory and practice, just as it does in every other sphere.
Illustrations: My son-in-law supervises mechanical apprentices and he meets with them to help them with theory and practice of the automotive trade. If they just did the theory without the practice they would be of no help to themselves or others. There are so many things you cannot learn from just reading a book, you need to learn from experience, from putting the knowledge into practice.
Recently I bought a spray painting gun. I have never used one before. I read the instructions but it wasn’t until had used it a few times that I really understood how to get the best result with it.
When I used to take my car to Terry, my mechanic friend with a problem, 9 times out of ten he could tell me without looking what was wrong. Where did he gain that knowledge and understanding? Mostly from years of working on cars. Putting the theory into practice.
There are heaps of Christians who know their Bibles, who know the theory, but don’t put it into practice and that is why they remain spiritual babies, immature, still behaving like self-centred adolescents. Moody, bad tempered, resentful, proud, demanding their own way, selfish, only concerned with their needs, their interests and their preferences. etc. Real understanding of God’s truth comes with study and practice.
Remember Jesus told the story of a man who built his house on the sand and a storm demolished the building. Another man built his house upon a rock foundation and it remained intact after the storm. The man whose house collapsed was like a person who hears the words of Jesus but doesn’t put them into practice, the man whose house stood firm was like a person who hears the teaching of Jesus and puts it into practice.
EQUIPPED WITH DISCERNMENT – v4,5
Another mark of spiritual maturity is seen in our ability to tell the difference between what is right and wrong and what is false and true. It is called discernment. How do we gain discernment? Once again by studying the teaching of Christ and putting it into practice.
Hebrews 5:12, “You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, who through constantly putting into practice God’s truth, who apply God’s truth to their lives have developed the ability to recognize the difference between right and wrong, truth and error.”
Reading, studying and applying God’s truth will build into you discernment that will prevent you from being deceived and lead astray by all the ungodly and dishonest forces around. You will be able to detect very quickly when something is not right or is untrue.
Illustration: Back in 1998 a well-known American preacher came to NZ. He had worldwide following and had made a lot of money out of his profession. He prophesied that revival would break out in Christchurch, NZ at the end of that year and spread through the nation, it never happened and he never admitted he got it wrong. That same man told his financial supporters that 3000 people had come to Christ during his campaign in Port Moresby, New Guinea. The church leaders in Port Moresby only knew of eleven. A lady who had been a Christian for a long time came to me the following year all excited because this man had prophesied something else and she was so convinced it was true. 6 years later I was speaking to a man who had grown up in the church and he told me that he gave the bulk of giving to the ministry of this preacher.
If we really knew the scriptures through constant reading, studying and application we wouldn’t be taken in by these false teachers.
Friends we have got to grow up, and become mature believers. Mature in heart, in love, in understanding and in discernment.
ENABLED TO CONTINUE – v6,7
Another mark of spiritual maturity is that we keep going and growing and don’t give up. We endure to the end.
v6 “And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.”
The danger in not going on with Christ and growing as believers is that you can drop out. Like the little boy who fell out of bed one night and when his dad heard the thud and came in he asked his son, “What happened?” The boy answered, “I must have fallen asleep too close the edge of the bed.”
You can understand why Paul agonised and yearned and prayed that the believers would grow up spiritually and become mature, established, fully developed believers. Many western Christians think that to be spiritual maturity is all about knowing and understanding the Bible and they like to show off their Bible knowledge. That is a big mistake.
The religious leaders in Jesus day knew the scriptures better than anyone else, but were they spiritually mature? No because the evidence of spiritual maturity is not seen in what you know, it’s seen in the way live out what you believe – how relate to God and others. “By their fruit, not their Bible knowledge, you will know them.”
Galatians 5:22 “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness humility and self-control.”
Jesus said about those religious leaders, “Do what they teach you but don’t do what they do.”
Ask yourself this morning “As I have gone on in my Christian life can I honestly say that I changed for the better? Have I become more Christ-like in my thinking and attitudes. Have I become more loving in the way I treat others, more patient, more forgiving, kind, understanding, less critical. Have I gained a greater understanding of God’s truth through reading and practice? Am I more aware of what is right and wrong false and true?
Lord as I look at my life today, I know there is still a lot of work that needs to be done. I want to keep growing maturing and changing. I want to become more like you. Please keep working in me, on me and with me until I become a mature, well developed believer who is a blessing to both you and others.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy;
O Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek
To be comforted as to comfort;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
May the mind of Christ, my Saviour, live in me from day to day, By his love and power controlling all I do and say.
May the word of God dwell richly in my heart from hour to hour, So that all may see I triumph only through his power.
May the peace of God, my Father, rule my life in everything, That I may be calm to comfort sick and sorrowing.
May the love of Jesus fill me as the waters fill the sea. Him exalting, self abasing: this is victory.
May I run the race before me, strong and brave to face the foe, Looking only unto Jesus as I onward go.
23 February 2020 – Geoff Follas: The Pre-eminent Christ, Colossians 1:15-20
Notes and audio available. Select the desired message then click the green type.
THE PRE-EMINENT CHRIST
Colossians 1:15-19
One of the ways that you can recognise a false religion or a false cult is that it will teach that Jesus is less than God and that you need more than Christ to be forgiven, to be made acceptable to God and get to heaven.
The New Testament teaches that Jesus is God and that all you will ever need to be what God wants you to be in this life and eternity is found in Jesus.
Colossians 2:9 “For in Christ all the fullness of the Godhead lives in bodily form and you have been made complete in Him.”
In this passage we look at Jesus’ relationship to 3 things:
- To God
- To the Universe
- To the Church.
JESUS’ RELATIONSHIP TO GOD v15
He is the image of the invisible God.
One of the problems about believing in God is that we cannot see Him. He is Spirit and Jesus said, “A Spirit does not have flesh and bones.”
Down through the centuries people have wanted to see God. When God told Moses how pleased He was with him, Moses took a very bold step and said to God, “If you are pleased with me, show me your glory. Let me see even a glimpse of you.”
But even Moses was not allowed to look upon the face of God.
In spite of the fact that God has strictly forbidden people to portray Him, they have painted pictures, carved statues and used their imaginations to create images of God.
Illustration: The Sistine Chapel. Hideous picture of God as a bearded old man wrapped up in some scungy looking sheets.
One day Jesus was speaking with His disciples and He told them that He was going back to heaven to prepare a place for them in His Father’s house, and Philip thought, “I know Jesus and I want to be there with Him, but I don’t know God and I am afraid of meeting Him.”
And he said to Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father and then we will be satisfied, this will calm our fears.”
Jesus answered, “Don’t you know me Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me, has seen the Father? How can you say, ‘Show us the Father?’ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?”
In other words Jesus is the spitting image of God the Father. And that is what Paul says here. “He is the image of the invisible God.”
Hebrews 1:3 takes it even further and says, “Jesus, the Son is the shining revelation of God’s glory, the exact representation of His being.”
Because God is Spirit, and could not be looked upon with the naked eye, He could only reveal Himself to people through His creation, through miraculous works and through messages given to His prophets.
But the time came when God came right down to our level and entered a human body and for the first time in history God could perfectly express His character and power in a way that people could see and understand.
Jesus is the full, complete and final revelation of God with nothing missing.
v19. For God was pleased to have ALL His fullness live in Christ.
I am pleased that they didn’t have cameras in Jesus day, because we might have been carried away with His physical appearance, but the image of God was not the physical body but the nature, the character of God that lived and spoke and acted through that body.
The perfect, sinless, holy, powerful, loving character of God was fully expressed through the human body of Jesus.
He is the firstborn over all creation
This phrase has been misused by so many groups to argue that Jesus was just another created being and so when they read this verse they say that Jesus was the first person to be created.
The verse does not say that.
- He was not created but born.
- He can’t have been created, because we read here that everything was created through Him and for him, and again in John 1:3 “Through Him all things were created, apart from Him nothing was created that has been created.”
Jesus was not created by God but He was born of God long before anything else existed, long before time came into being. How that happened, you and I do not know. It wasn’t a human thing. 1 Corinthians 13 says, “our knowledge is imperfect.”
We are talking here about Divine, eternal, spiritual, heavenly things and they are way beyond our experience or understanding. It’s like trying to teach 9 month old baby the principles of nuclear science.
Remember when Nicodemus had trouble understanding how a person could be born again of the Spirit of God and Jesus said to him, “I am speaking to you about things that take place on earth and in people’s lives and you are having trouble understanding it. If I spoke to you about heavenly things there is no way you could grasp them.”
The danger is to try and re-define the eternal, spiritual, divine, heavenly mysteries in earthly human terms and there are many so called Christian groups who have done this and when they do this they reduce God and Christ to mere human beings and empty them of their eternal power. Martin Luther once said to Erasmus the founder of the humanism “Your God is too human.”
Every so called Christian group that have done this, such as Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Unitarians, Christian Science and Christadelphians have ended up making Jesus less than who He is.
This verse can be correctly translated, “He was born before all creation.” He is not just the first born Son of God; He is the only one who was born of God. [Only begotten Son of God means one and only]. There is no other like Jesus among everything else that exists. He is utterly unique.
We who belong to Christ have been adopted into God’s family, we are the adopted sons and daughters of God but Jesus is the one and only Son of God by birth. And even that birth must not be viewed in human terms.
JESUS’ RELATIONSHIP TO THE UNIVERSE v16-17
v16. Just in case someone still thinks Jesus was a created being, notice the stress here on “ALL THINGS.”
All Creation came into being through Him.
Jesus was instrumental in creating everything that exists, whether in heaven or on earth, the visible world and the invisible world. Every authority and ruling power whether physical or spiritual came into being as a result of Christ’s creative work.
All things were created through Him and for Him.
That simply means you and I were created by Jesus Christ and for Him. Our true purpose and fulfilment as human beings can only be discovered when we come by faith to Jesus Christ and give ourselves to Him and begin to live for Him.
The most tragic thing that has happened in this world is that people have swallowed the lie that if we live for ourselves, serve our own selfish, greedy, proud, lustful desires we will be happy and fulfilled. That is a lie. You only have to look at the results – war, injustice, abuse, hatred, jealousy, broken marriages and homes, suffering.
The greatest suffering in this world has not been caused by natural disasters, but by our selfish, greedy proud desires for wealth, power, possessions and physical pleasure.
The media is making a big fuss because the Caroma virus has killed 2000 people, mostly in China, but in that same country, over 60 million people were killed by the man they still worship as their great leader.
When you live for yourself, to satisfy your selfish desires for power, material and physical pleasure, you will become a slave to the godless forces of greed, lust and pride and those forces will destroy you and your relationships and leave you an empty, lonely, miserable person.
Illustration: Billy Graham and his wife Ruth were visiting an island in the Caribbean and one of the wealthiest men in the world asked them to come to his flash home for lunch. He was 75 and throughout the meal was close to tears. “I am the most miserable man in the world,” he said. “Out there is a my huge yacht. I can go anywhere I want to. I have my own private jet plane, my helicopter. I have everything I want to make me happy and yet I am as miserable as hell.” That afternoon they visited a Christian man of the same age who had spent his life serving God and people of the Island. He was full of enthusiasm and love for Jesus and others. He said, “I don’t have two dollars to my name, but I am the happiest man on this island.”
Illustration: Ralph Barton, one of Americas leading cartoonists left this note pinned to his pillow before committing suicide, “I have had few difficulties, many friends, great successes; I have gone from woman to woman, from house to house, visited great countries of the world, but I am fed up with trying to find ways to keep myself amused and fill up the twenty-four hours of each day.”
The famous Psychiatrist Victor Frankel said that the Clinics are crowded with people suffering from a new kind of neurosis – a sense that life has no meaning or purpose.
Another well-known psychologist, Carl Jung said that the main neurosis of our time is emptiness.
If you do not realise that you were created by God to live in harmony with Him, to live a life that honours Him and blesses others, your life will be empty, meaningless and everything you try to stuff into your life will never satisfy and fill that emptiness that only Christ can fill.
Augustine had discovered true fulfilment when he uttered these words, “You, God have created us for yourself and our hearts will always be restless and unfulfilled until they find their rest and fulfilment in you.”
If you haven’t come to Jesus Christ, given your life to Him and are living for Him, then you will always have a deep sense of unfulfillment and emptiness in here…and try as you will, nothing will ever satisfy it, but Jesus Himself. Because that big empty hole in there was made for God and God alone.
All things were created by Him and for Him.
Illustration: A number of years ago I visited the gannet colony at Muriwai Beach. These gannets migrate from Australia and breed and raise their young at Muriwai. When the chicks are old enough to fly, the parents leave them and go fishing around the coasts of New Zealand. The chicks who have never been to Australia, fly across the Tasman to the very spot their parents came from. They instinctively know where to go.
In Jeremiah 8 God looked upon His people and was puzzled by the fact that even the migrating birds instinctively knew where to go in winter and they did, but the people ignore their God given instincts and instead of coming to God for whom they were created, they stubbornly and blindly follow the path to self-destruction.
v17. Before anything else existed He was there. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end of everything. “In Him all things hold together.”
Most of you know that the atom is the basic building block of the universe, and the nucleus of the atom consists of sub-atomic particles called protons, neutrons and electrons.
There is one thing that has puzzled scientists for some time is “What is it that holds the atom together when scientifically it should be flying apart. You see the protons within the atom are constantly giving off positive electrical charges.
And we know from playing with magnets that they give off positive and negative charges. If you try and stick the positive end of one magnet to the positive end of another, they push each other away. According to the law of science the protons within the atom should repel each other causing the atom to split apart, but there is an inexplicable force that holds the atom together.
The laws of science say that the atom should explode, but something prevents it from splitting apart. And you know what happens when an atom splits apart – you get a chain reaction that leads to nuclear meltdown as happened at Chernobyl.
George Genaw, Professor of Physics at George Washington University said, “Every object is a potential nuclear explosion, without being blown to bits.”
Whatever is holding the atom together is holding the Universe together. Here is the answer.
In Christ, all things hold together. Jesus is the mysterious power, the glue that holds the atom together and holds the universe together.
Last century, scientists discovered how to neutralise that mysterious power that held the atom together and the result was that the atom exploded and blew apart….leading to nuclear power, nuclear weapons and nuclear meltdown.
And the Bible says that one day Jesus is going to withdraw His overriding power and allow those atoms to self-destruct.
2 Peter 3:10 says, “The heavens will disappear with a great noise and the elements [basic building blocks of the universe] will dissolve with extreme heat. And the earth and all that is in it will be burned up.” Peter is describing nuclear meltdown on a universal scale. The word for dissolve means that which was held together will be loosed.
Nuclear meltdown, when the power holding the atoms together is withdrawn. One day God will remove the power that holds the atom together and the universe will explode in nuclear fission and meltdown.
All things were created by Christ.
All things were created for Him.
You and I were created for Him and life will never make sense until you discover that fact and instead of rebelling against Him, handover your life to Him.
He is the agent and the goal of everything that exists. The Beginner and the Finisher.
Everything exists within His power, everything is under Him, everything comes after Him, exists because of Him and for Him.
HIS RELATIONSHIP TO THE CHURCH v18-19
On this planet there are people who have been brave enough to admit they are stuffing up their lives and relationships because of their proud, selfish behaviour. They can honestly say that they have made a mess of things because they have gone their own way and done their own thing and left God out of their lives.
These people have had the courage to say, “I don’t want to keep going the way I have been going and always getting the same stink results. I want to give my life and my relationships to the One I was created for, the One who came into this world and gave His life for me so that I can be forgiven, cleansed healed and made a new person.
I want Him to be my head, my leader, I want to follow Him and His ways and I want Him to be the most important person in my life.
When you become united to God through trusting in Jesus you became united with His people. You cannot be connected to Jesus without being part of His Body. The two go hand in hand. The church was Jesus idea. He started it, He loves it and he gave its life for it.
There is only one thing that God is going to rescue and protect from destruction on the day the universe disintegrates…..the church. Hebrews calls it the Kingdom that cannot be shaken. The Body of people who have genuinely turned away from all that wrong and evil and have entrusted their lives to Christ in faith.
And Christ made that certain when He rose from the dead. His res. is the assurance, the guarantee that all those who truly belong to Him will be raised from the dust of this condemned world to be with Him forever.
There is only one relationship Jesus can have with His church….where He is the Head. The Boss, the Director.
For us that means bringing all that we are and have and hope to be and placing it in His hands and allowing Him to guide us and lead us by His Spirit.
I don’t believe it is a difficult thing to do. We don’t have to work hard and strive to do this, we simply need to come to Jesus surrender our lives to Him and trust Him to lead us, guide us, empower us and enable us to do what will honour Him, bless others and bless us. This is a day by day, moment by moment thing.
“Come to me all who are striving and struggling to get out of the messes they have got themselves into, all who are trying so hard to get on top of things, all who are working so hard to break with their old ways and become better people. I will give you rest. Submit to my will and my way and you will find that I am a gentle and humble teacher and leader. You will also fine that doing my will is not a burden, it is a pleasure that will bring great joy and blessing to you and those around you.
So that in everything He might have the pre-eminence. That He might be the motivation, the inspiration, the energizer, the centre, the goal, the purpose, the author, the perfecter, the supreme object of my life, and the life of His church.
Illustration: When Leonardo da Vinci was forty-three years old, the Duke of Milan asked him to paint a picture of Jesus’ last supper with his disciples. Leonardo spent three years painting that now famous picture. When the masterpiece was finished, he asked a friend, “Give me your honest opinion of the painting” “It’s wonderful!” said his friend. “The cup in Jesus hand is so real I can’t take my eyes off it.” Immediately Leonardo took a brush and painted over the cup. His friend said, “What did you do that for?” Leonardo replied, “Nothing shall detract from the person of Christ!”
Illustration: Years ago an Indian man took his new wife to meet the powerful Maharaja who ruled over the province. When the Maharaja saw the man’s beautiful wife he demanded that he hand her over for his harem or lose his head. The husband walked over to executioners block and put his head on it. When the Maharaja saw his devotion to his wife he gave her back. On the way home the husband said to his wife, “Did you see all the wealth, the gold, silver and precious stones?” “No”, said his wife I only had eyes for the one who was willing to lay down his life for me.”
John Newton: Jesus my Shepherd, Brother, Friend,
My Prophet Priest and King,
My Lord, my Life, My Way, My End,
Accept the praise I bring.
2 February 2020 – Geoff Follas: Facing The Storms of Life, Jonah 1
Notes and audio available. Select the desired message then click the green type
FACING THE STORMS OF LIFE
In 2007 my stepmother went on a cruise to Vanuatu aboard the PO Pacific Star. The captain was warned about a tropical storm heading into the path of the ship but he took a risk and went ahead anyway. The storm struck the ship damaging the bow, injuring passengers and causing heaps of people on board to becoming ill from the ordeal. Mt stepmother said it was a holiday from hell. She was thrown about in her cabin and freaked out when she saw seawater coming in under the door. P&O refunded the passengers and flew them home also giving them a voucher for a free cruise.
All of us have all been in a storm at some stage and this morning we are going to look at 4 storms in the Bible, what caused them and the people who were involved.
JONAH 1:1-16
God commanded Jonah to go and tell the people of Nineveh that He was about to punish them because of their evil ways. But Jonah did not want to obey the Lord, so instead of going to Nineveh, he boarded a ship that was heading in the opposite direction. He decided to rebel and run away from what he knew God was telling him to do.
But Jonah couldn’t run away from God and when the ship was out at sea things started to go wrong for Jonah. God sent a great storm that was so fierce it threatened to sink the boat.
At first, Jonah ignored what was happening but the situation became so bad the sailors had no choice but to throw him overboard.
The storm did not subside until Jonah admitted that he was the cause of the problems; that storm had come about because Jonah disobeyed God.
God brought this storm upon Jonah because he refused to do what God told him to do.
When we continue to ignore God, His Word and the voice of His Spirit, often the only way He can get our attention is to allow a storm to come upon us. He will use the circumstances and people around us. And in many cases, it will involve painful experiences.
C S Lewis “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world”
For some, the storm may come in the form of a tragedy involving people who are close to us, or the loss of financial or material security, or job or accident.
I remember Tama Stirling telling us that he was running away from God until one day he found himself in hospital flat on his back and only then did he turn back to God.
God does not allow these things to happen because He is cruel and vindictive. His purpose is to wake us up to what we are doing and bring us to repentance. It is a loving act of One who is seeking to save us from something far far worse. To save us from the destructive damning consequences of our disobedience.
In the Middle East if a lamb keeps wandering away from the flock t is quite common for the shepherd to break its leg so it can’t wander away and by the time the leg has healed the sheep has learned to stay close to the shepherd.
It may be this morning that you are heading into a storm. It may be that you are in the middle of a storm. You may need to ask yourself:
- Am I running away from God?
- Am I am disobeying Him in some area of my life?
- Has God been telling me to do something, to deal with something, to put something right and yet I have been resisting it?
- Have other things become more important to me than the Lord and His concerns?
- Have I been so caught up in chasing after my own selfish, ambitious desires and everything seems to be going wrong for me?
I have seen so many people over the years go from one disaster to another, getting deeper and deeper in the bog because they stubbornly refuse to obey the Lord. And they just can’t see that their life is in such a mess because they turned away from God.
I want you to notice something else here. When Jonah disobeyed God he literally dragged the sailors down with him. You can’t knowingly do wrong and go against God without it affecting others.
How did Jonah come through? He –
- Recognised what is causing the storm. Jonah 1:12
- Repented of his rebellion and disobedience.
- Returned to God. Jonah 2.
- Renewed his commitment to Him. Jonah 2:9
- Recommenced where he stopped obeying. Got back to the point where he moved out of God’s will. Jonah 3.
God can still use you.
MATTHEW 8:23-27
Here Jesus and His disciples were in a boat together on the Sea of Galilee and suddenly a storm arose and the boat was nearly swamped.
What was the cause of this storm?
I believe it was a spiritual attack and I will tell you why. Because when Jesus calmed the storm, He dealt with it the very same way He dealt with demons and satanic forces.
Why did Satan try to drown them? Because Jesus was on His way to deliver a man who was possessed by 1000 demons. Once the man was delivered he would then go to the 10 cities in that area and share what Jesus had done. No wonder Satan tried to stop them from getting there.
Some of the storms, problems and troubles that come upon us are caused by Satan because we are seeking to do God‘s will.
NB – Paul and Barnabas at Derbe.
Every time you decide to get closer to God, obey Him, spend more time in prayer or reading the Bible or sharing your faith, Satan will try and discourage you. He will even use storms to hold you back.
He will often use the people who are closest to you without them realising it. He did that with Peter. Remember when Peter tried to stop Jesus from going to cross and Jesus immediately recognised who was working through Peter and He said, “Get behind me Satan.”
Sometimes on a Sunday morning when you fully intend to come to church a storm will break out. I have had people tell me that many times on a Sunday morning while they are getting ready for church they find themselves arguing or things start going wrong. And they end up not coming. It’s strange how it only happens on Sunday morning.
How did the disciples deal with the storm? They went to Jesus and woke Him up. He told them that they didn’t have to be afraid because He was with them. Then He rebuked the wind and the waves and the storm ceased.
If Satan is causing the storm:
- Turn to Jesus, keep focused on Jesus. Remember that greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. Jesus needed to remind the disciples of that fact.
He was with them in the storm and that was enough to drive away all fear. Satan cannot sink you while you are trusting in and looking to Jesus.
- Stand against and resist the devil in the strength of the Lord. Jesus has given us the authority to stand against Satan and prevail. Luke 10:19 “Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy.” We are told in James 4:7 “to submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee.”
One thing Satan fears more than anything else is the presence of the Lord Jesus. When the attack comes, don’t handle it by yourself, face it with Jesus, hold onto Jesus and trust Him for the strength and the power to overcome the evil one.
A little was asked, “What do you do when Satan knocks at the door of your heart?” She replied, “I send Jesus to answer the door.”
MATTHEW 14:22-33
In this incident, Jesus sent the disciples into a storm in the middle of the night. He wasn’t with them this time.
Have you ever been in a storm of problems and difficulties and felt that God wasn’t there? That He had left you to struggle away on your own? Although the disciples didn’t know where Jesus was, He knew where they were. And when they were struggling with the waves, He came to them, walking on the water.
This storm wasn’t caused by God or by Satan, but Jesus allowed the disciples to go through it to build their faith. And sometimes God allows us to go through a storm because He wants to build our faith and develop our character.
James 1:2 “Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.”
1 Peter 6 “There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honour on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.”
Why did Jesus send them into a storm?
- He wanted to show them that nothing could separate them from Him, not even a stormy sea.
- He wanted them to know that the problems they were struggling with were under His feet. Nothing is too much for Him to handle. “Be of good cheer I have overcome the world.”
- He wanted to teach them to walk on water. To trust Him for the power to get on top of the problems they were struggling with. Peter was the only one who was prepared to take the step of faith.
Notice that when Peter walked on the water the storm did not stop. Jesus wasn’t there this time to stop the storm. He was more concerned to teach His disciples how to rise above the waves.
God’s major concern is not to remove our problems and our hardships, but to teach us how to overcome them. How to respond to them. How to come through them. How to develop our faith and trust in Christ in the midst of them.
Romans 8 “What shall separate us from the love of Christ….trouble, hardships, persecution, famine nakedness, danger, sword. No in the midst of these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”
N.B. v32. As soon as Jesus got into the boat the storm ceased. Once Peter had learned to walk with Jesus on the wild sea, the storm had served its purpose.
Often God will allow the storms in our life to continue until we have learned not to react in fear and anger, but to respond in confident trust.
Are you going through a storm at present? Trials, struggles, difficulties? How have you been reacting?
Out of anger, fear, resentment? Perhaps you have been asking God to change your circumstances, take the problem away?
God is more concerned about developing our faith and character than removing the problem. Our holiness than our happiness. He is waiting for us to act rather than react. To believe that He is in the storm, that he is greater than the storm, He is on top of it, He is in control of the storm and rather than focus on the storm, focus on Jesus and begin to trust Him, thank Him and praise Him and respond the way He would have us respond.
ACTS 27:22-25
Here Paul was on board ship sailing for Rome when suddenly a mighty storm broke out and everyone’s life was in danger. Yet it was Paul who remained calm, confidently trusting in God in the midst of the storm.
Paul had to go through that storm for the sake of those on board. When they saw how Paul reacted to the storm they began to listen to what he had to say and they were willing to trust His God.
Sometimes we are called to go through trying and difficult circumstances not because we are being disobedient, not because Satan is getting at us, not even to develop our own faith, but for the sake of others.
John Wesley had a similar experience when he was sailing to America. On the ship were a group of Moravian Christians. Suddenly a tremendous storm hit the ship and threatened to sink it. Wesley who thought he was a Christian was terrified along with the other travellers and crew. But what affected him the most was when he saw the Moravian believers standing on the deck in the midst of this fierce storm singing hymns of praise to the Lord without any fear.
Wesley was so moved and convicted by their reaction that he began to seek the Lord until He was truly born again and then he was used so mightily to bring revival and moral and social transformation to England.
Sometimes we go through painful and difficult experiences and we can’t see any rhyme or reason for it. Why is this happening?
We search our own hearts to see if there is any sin we have not dealt with, can’t see anything there, we resist the powers of evil, nothing changes.
We may not be going through this for our own sakes but for the benefit of others. It may be that God is building into us a depth of experience and understanding so that we can help others.
Jesus once said to Simon Peter, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, come through this trial, strengthen your brothers,” Luke 22:31
A Christian friend of mine who is a lawyer in Wellington was made redundant during the financial crash in the late eighties. For 6 months he prayed for work but was unable to find a job. I spoke to him during this time and he said to me, “I believe that God has allowed this to happen to me so that I can understand and support those have lost their jobs. Before this I never knew what it was like to be laid off, now I am better able to get alongside those who are unemployed.”
In Isaiah 65:10 God said, “The valley of Achor will be a place where you can care for your flocks and herds. Achor means trouble. God is saying here that those deep valleys of trouble and difficulties you go through will be used to encourage, help and support others.
Are you heading into a storm or are you in a storm?
Is it because you are knowingly disobeying God? Living contrary to His will and His Word?
Wake up to what happening. Repent of your rebellion, disobedience and get back to where you moved out of God’s will.
Is it a satanic attack because you are seeking to walk close to God and obey Him. Recognise who is causing the trouble. Hold onto the Lord, submit to Him, resist the devil in Jesus name and he will flee.
Test of faith. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus and don’t allow the difficulties to get on top of you. Ask the Lord to show you how to respond to the problem. He will teach you.
Preparation for helping others. Ask the Lord to use your difficulties to build into your life and character what is needed to equip you for what lies ahead.
Devotional 26 January 2020
WHERE IN THE WORLD WAS YOUR GOD?
When we go through times of desperate pain and suffering, we cannot understand where in the world God is when tragedy strikes. Why does He allow His children to go through tragedy, pain and suffering?
When God created this world, it was a perfect world. Genesis tells us that on the 6th-day creation was complete, and it was very good! A perfect world!
But when Adam and Eve sinned their disobedience allowed sin into the world and now, we live in this world under a curse. As Christians, we are caught up in all the tragedy of this fallen world. We are not exempt from the bad things that happen, wars, famines, natural disasters, diseases, heart attacks, road accidents, robbery, rape, or murder. As Christians, we need to come to terms with the fact that we cannot always explain things. Pain and suffering in this world are not always explainable. We call this the inscrutability of God – there is a dimension to the nature of God which we simply cannot understand or explain. See Proverbs 25:2, Deuteronomy 29:29, Isaiah 55:8-9 and Ecclesiastes 11:5. What did God Himself ask of Job in chapter 38?
When we consider the perfection of creation, it takes a greater step of faith to believe that our world came together by chance than to believe it was created by intelligent design! Read James 1 verses 2-4 & 12.
The adversity principle teaches that the more you exercise something, the stronger it gets, and this is true too for our faith. So, as we go through pain and suffering and our faith is tested multiple times, it gets stronger.
How we respond to tragedy, pain and suffering reflects our faith. Our FAITH is best displayed during adversity, and this can be our best testimony to a watching world.
When we give our life wholly to God and place our faith exclusively in Him, whether we understand the circumstances or not, that is faith. Believing in something we do not see and cannot understand!
Nothing is certain in this life. We are not in control of what impacts on our lives. There are greater forces in life that are in control.
Unless you can acknowledge that God is in control, then the events that take place in our lives make no sense at all. Life is random. But it’s not! God is in control!
God’s word tells us as Christians how to live in a fallen world. See 1 Peter 4:19, Philippians 4:6 and Colossians 4:2
When you surrender your life to Jesus Christ, you relinquish the responsibility of trying to explain what is happening to you in this fallen world. Effectively, you allow God to be God and let Him deal with all of that. And in this lies the secret to joy and peace in this fallen world – a peace that transcends all human understanding.
We cannot fully understand God, but we can fully trust Him! We cannot fully comprehend God’s ways, but we can fully surrender to them. When we surrender our lives to Jesus, we receive that peace which transcends all understanding. We can’t fully understand it because we can’t fully understand God.
It is that faith in intelligent design, believing in things unseen, that gives us peace and hope for the future. In Christ, you can have an “endless hope” not a “hopeless end”!
