Life:
Some times life can just be a grind a dullness
Boredom or even something beyond that a sort of slow death while still breathing as we lose sensitivities to others, to ourselves and just start losing the point of it all, want to be alone apart separate. To me this is deeply depressing and it is a sign of our times but the more technology we seem to have to “communicate” the more isolated we can become. Rather than face to face communication it is easier and for many more comfortable to communicate using a keyboard and a web cam, strange but true it seems we are losing something in these times of greater information sharing. You see I do feel we are losing more than we are gaining. losing the things perhaps this world does not value. Things like awe or to be impressed strongly by what is unexpected or unusual but we seem to like our lives controlled and defined and planned and no room for the unexpected, no need for the unusual, like just what value are those things?
Then for me the real cancer at the centre of humanity is a desert of intimacy a place were self rules, a place centred on me. The definition for intimacy is the condition of being friends, basically friendship its related to closeness, companionship, comradeship, fellowship and family its about close relationship, being open to another taking the guard off your heart and letting another in. We are created to be intimate beings not solitary self centred souls. We grave relationship even if we might not acknowledge that need, its there deep and at our core and the more we push it away the greater the need the more pressure builds up waiting to explode. You see God made us in his image and God is the ultimate expression of relationship Father, Son and Sprit existing and living in perfect harmony, perfect intimacy the very heart of the universe the heart of creation is Gods heart and it is one of love and a need to be intimate in close relationship with his creation. So if you are feeling lost, lonely, un loved, not needed, rejected, forgotten and in a dark hole of self loathing and fear take heart because you are about to hear some good news! In fact I’ll tell you now God loves you, its true he does and he wants an intimate relationship with you and every aspect of your life matters to God, every part.
1 You showed favor to your land, O LORD; you restored the fortunes of Jacob. 2 You forgave the iniquity of your people and covered all their sins:
The old testament is full of the stories of Gods chosen nation Israel his chosen people the Jewish nation and their relationship with their God. How God would bless them and seek them, how they would reject him and turn from him and defile their relationship with him seeking other gods even ones made by themselves. But time and time again, God held back his anger, resorted the nation again to a place of prosperity of health and well being after the people had turned, repented asked forgiveness for their sins and the things they had done against God. God is a compassionate God, his heart is love, yet even love can at times be brought to the point were it can bear it no more. Have you ever stopped to think to meditate on the thought that as God was creating all things, including You and Me, he knew what he was doing, knew what he was bringing into existence, take me for example. When God created me, he knew all of the times I would “stuff up” all of the things I would do wrong all of the people I would hurt, all of the pain I would cause all of the iniquity, immorality, offence, greed, wickedness and wrongdoing I could and would do, yet still chose to let me breath and brought me forth from the dust. Only an almighty, loving and intimate God would do that, anything less and you and I would be at best robots, no emotion, no free will, no capacity to love. You see these are the sources of the things that God treasures is seeking, the things in me and in you that give us the capacity to love, to be intimate and to have relationship and God wants that from his children, from his created ones. That’s why we can chose to do so or not, because when we chose to do so it’s a sign of our love for God. God sees the good in us the capacity for love and relationship which we might not or never know its fullness, that’s why he will forgive and cover the sins and wash away the iniquity of it all, stench that it is to him, because he loves us. If he did not, who could stand?
3 You set aside all your wrath and turned from your fierce anger:
So let me ask the question to you, does God have the right to get angry, does an angry God bother you or shock you or make you turn away from him. I do like a good monster film and the best I have seen to date is a film called Clover field, basically its about a monster attacking New York, devastating the city, you don’t get to see a lot of the monster in the film, but you do see the consequences of its rampage, dead people, broken buildings and shattered lives, all caused by this distant unstoppable force of rage and destruction. I did wonder as I watched this film, how many people see God like that or feel God is like that?
Some invisible entity bringing destruction and judgement from afar, bringing trouble and misfortune on the innocent on the unprotected, so unfair so un loving how can a loving God allow all of this to happen? But wait a minute is it not the other way around, are we the monsters destroying Gods creation, we by our selfish lifestyles and needs are the ones who are causing the global destruction and the look at what we do to ourselves, do to each other all people are Gods children and we forget as we treat them in the ways we treat them, shame on us. Don’t you think God might have more of the reason to be angry with us for what we do than we have to be at him for what he does? I do. But and it is perhaps the most important “But” of them all, God chooses not to release his fierce anger, his wrath which is defined as “Violent or unrestrained anger”. No God instead sends love, sends his Son Jesus. John 3:16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. You see God has the right, we are the guilty party but God chooses to forgive, not just forgive but wipe the slate clean and forget forever all that we have done to upset and grieve him, that’s love, that’s a love that you can trust and believe in have faith in know that it will always be there
It’s a love you can be intimate with without fear of rejection.
4 Restore us again, O God our Savior, and put away your displeasure toward us. 5 Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger through all generations?:
Joshua 4:23-24 For the LORD your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The LORD your God did to the Jordan just what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the LORD is powerful and so that you might always fear the LORD your God."
Is it wrong to fear God, well no it is not God is God, the almightily not the all matey and he is all powerful and capable of well anything so you would be right to show respect. But you would be very wrong to allow that fear to block intimacy with God. God is not some invisible policeman or teacher ready to judge and dish out punishment on the spot to those who. To immediately punish those who transgress, who do wrong, if he was who could stand, if he was and he knew all that we would do before he created us, then what sort of god would that be, not the I AM I can tell you, not the Lord of Lords the King of hosts. God does not keep a long list of our wrong doing of our faults to keep throwing them back in our face, no our God shows and tells us how to be washed clean of all the things that we have and will do wrong, tells of a way that is free and open to all, he’s not soft on us, he will discipline those he loves, but because he loves he saves us. Is that the way of a vengeful God or a loving God, a God who is Father to all, who is desperate to have relationship with all of his Children that not one would be lost, to me that is the definition of a loving God. How is this all possible well it has to start with us, with our hearts we need to have a passion in our hearts to get right with God, to be restored into the relationship God meant us and wants us to have with him. We need to offer repentance to God, the word repentance is defined as” A feeling of regret for one’s sins or misdeeds”, you can only feel regret if you firstly believe you have hurt someone (so you do need to believe there is a God) and secondly you want to better the relationship and you know that its your fault not Gods so thats were we start, we turn and say “sorry” to God. You see when we do that the buck stops with us, we stop anything being counted against future generations by making sure we account for our own errors.
6 Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?;
Joy is so important to God. We are meant to have Joy in abundance in our lives, honest its true. Joy is defined as “A feeling of extreme gratification aroused by something good or desired” or “To give great or keen pleasure to” or “A condition of supreme well-being and good spirits” and “To feel or take joy or pleasure”. This is captured in the words delight, happiness and rejoice, we all feel these at Church don’t we, well we should and not just on Sunday but 24-7. We are meant to rejoice in God, how amazing, how Awesome is that God wants us to be so close to him to enjoy the wonders of creation to be reborn and washed clean to live in his abundance, his spacious place
But (yes its that word again it also means ” To the exclusion of anyone or anything else”) we can’t allow ourselves to do that can we, we need to work we need to pay our way, we need to stand on our own two feet, we need to provide for our families, we need to pursue our own happiness, we need, we need, we must To often we will chose activity over intimacy:
Luke 10: 38 - 42As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.“
MARY HAS CHOSEN WHAT IS BETTER
Martha’s worried about something good; having Jesus over for dinner. Her aim is to please Him. So far, so good. But she makes a common mistake, one a lot of us make - her work becomes more important than her Lord. What begins as a serving experience becomes a self-serving one. She forgets that the meal is to honor Jesus, not Martha. And what had Mary chosen? Intimacy over activity especially religious activity designed to make us personally look good. But this also happens to those who love the Lord, who are not involved in religious work. It’s amazing how many bright, successful people reach the point of burnout because they’ve neglected their relationship with God. Understand this: until you establish your relationship with God as the foundation of your life, you’ll struggle with finding your true purpose, enjoying the fruit of your labor, and experiencing ’...the peace of God, that passeth all understanding...’ (Philippians 4:7). God offers us the path of Joy, don’t fear we will get plenty of trouble But if we have turned to God he will see us through and we will get their and we can enjoy with Joy just to show those around us its real.
7 Show us your unfailing love, O LORD, and grant us your salvation.:
So we come to the heart of it all, this is the meaning of the existence of every human being who has been, is and will be. I do believe we live of one purpose, that is to find God and to find our salvation in our relationship with God, salvation can be defined as “Extrication from danger or confinement”
Why is this so important, so mission critical, well I also believe we all live and die, I believe that when we die we live on in a different existence than this one, I believe that we can chose to spend the rest our existence in either of two very different place, one called heaven and one called hell. Its shocking perhaps for you to hear someone confess that they believe in heaven, no doubt even more so that they believe in a place called hell, did not that thought process die in the middle ages, wasn’t it some metaphor for the black death and plagues.
No its as true as there is good and evil. Heaven is were God lives and hell is the devils place and you do not want to go there Mark: 9: 47- 49 And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where " ’their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.‘ Everyone will be salted with fire. The worst and most terrifying aspect of Hell is total and eternal separation from God, his love, Joy and wholeness or holiness. Don’t panic and do not let fear rule you, if you believe in God, want to get right with him by repenting then do so and then take the final step on the stairway to heaven turn to Jesus and confess he is Lord, Lord of your all and that’s it you are sealed and saved for eternity, guaranteed to go to heaven, no down payment, just open your heart and say yes
Then God will give you salvation by Jesus here are four easy steps:
1. God Loves You!
The Bible says, "God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life"
The problem is that . . .
2. All of us have done, said or thought things that are wrong. This is called sin, and our sins have separated us from God. The Bible says “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” God is perfect and holy, and our sins separate us from God forever. The Bible says “The wages of sin is death.”
The good news is that, about 2,000 years ago,
3. God sent His only Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins. Jesus is the Son of God. He lived a sinless life and then died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. “God demonstrates His own love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.”
Jesus rose from the dead and now He lives in heaven with God His Father. He offers us the gift of eternal life -- of living forever with Him in heaven if we accept Him as our Lord and Savior. Jesus said "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except by Me." God reaches out in love to you and wants you to be His child. "As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe on His name." You can choose to ask Jesus Christ to forgive your sins and come in to your life as your Lord and Savior.
4. If you want to accept Christ as Savior and turn from your sins, you can ask Him to be your Savior and Lord by praying a prayer like this:
"Lord Jesus, I believe you are the Son of God. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. Please forgive my sins and give me the gift of eternal life. I ask you in to my life and heart to be my Lord and Savior. I want to serve you always."
8 I will listen to what God the LORD will say; he promises peace to his people, his saints— but let them not return to folly. 9 Surely his salvation is near those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land. ;
How do we listen to God? By prayer, by prayer we can come into the very presence of God. By prayer we open up a channel for God to come into our lives to bring his touch, his power, his thoughts, his will and so much more into our lives. Its how in reality we become fully human how we can show the glory of God in our lives, how we become fully who we are meant to be its as vital for our well being, our health and our very existence as important as food, water and air
This is why prayer is so important, its folly, foolishness and just stupid not to pray. You cannot have an intimate relationship with God unless you pray, I would even say your level of intimacy with God can be measured by the passion, desperation and how often you pray, that’s not judgemental by the way it’s a fact. This is a serious business, it’s a relationship matter its how we get intimate with God, look at Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus. Look how Jesus lived here on earth:
Mark 1: 35 – 36: Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for him,
Luke 22: 39 – 40: Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. On reaching the place, he said to them, "Pray that you will not fall into temptation."
John 17:1-3 : After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: "Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
John 17: 20 – 21: "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
Prayer is important its key for us to bring Gods will here on earth, our prayer will change nations and history, our prayer can open the way for our families salvation for healing, for miracles for people to be free from demons and evil our prayers are precious to God. Through our prayers in so many ways Gods Glory can dwell in our land and that brings transformation for our land and for us as well its is awesome it is intimacy with God and its as good as we can get while still here on earth.
10 Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other. 11 Faithfulness springs forth from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven.:
This is a wonderful use of words, I just Love these two verses what an image it brings forth. Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other. The definition of rightness is “The moral quality of a course of action” and faithfulness is “Devotion to a person, a cause, obligations, or duties”. These words are defining one thing for me and that is the cross on which Jesus was crucified, were the Son of God took the punishment that all of humanity deserved and made us right with God and gave those who believed in him the right to be sons and daughters of God, washed clean by his sacrificial blood, reborn, restored and made right through Jesus and his faithfulness and love. This is the true kiss of heaven the kiss of peace that rings through eternity the greatest moral act and sacrifice of all time. By the act of Jesus our faith is released and can grow, our faithfulness can spring forth under the gaze of a wondrous love from heaven, as Gods kingdom comes and his will is done here on earth as it is in heaven. You see when we give our lives to Jesus we enter heaven, the kiss of heaven is on our lives
Jesus did it for us and we can then do it for those yet to find Jesus. We need to share the love to pour it out to let the world know who and what Jesus has done. Thats our obligation, that’s what defines our moral qualities and guides our course. No higher calling than Gods, no higher walk than the narrow way of Jesus. We can then share the kiss of heaven with all.
12 The LORD will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest. 13 Righteousness goes before him and prepares the way for his steps.
So this is the way to the abundant life that Jesus promises all who follow him. Its not a massive never emptying bank account or a big house, it’s a ticket to heaven were Jesus is preparing the mansion and an eternal joy. Its about trusting God that he is good, he will provide, he is our defender, our strong tower, the lover of our souls and our Father in heaven
We are part of the family headed up by the creator of all things, the king of all our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. So as we take bread and wine in remembrance lets let the joy in, as we walk with Jesus let us take his gifts of peace and healing, lets remember the promise of Psalm 23:
The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
Do you see the promises God makes, peace, restoration of our souls, guiding us in the right ways, not the ways that will harm us, but the ways that are right for us, sometime these will be troubling ways, but what does not kill you makes you stronger, don’t fear death remember were your home is, fear not evil for God is mightier than the devil and God walks with us in all of his power and glory, who better to defend you, and in the heat of battle God will bless you and feed you and your cup will overflow as your enemies watch!
Keep praying keep seeking God, Trust God, take the kiss of heaven and let Jesus be your Lord and Saviour
So how do we move forward with this?
So what next?
To summarize my wanderings, I believe each of us can change the world. We can do this by seeking God
We need to spend time with God to develop relationship and intimacy it’s a process no quick fixes no short cuts, time is the currency and time it takes
We need to find a place removed from distraction a place were we can just focus on God, a secure environment. We need to give God permission to heal our hearts, we all carry wounds, we all carry hurts and we all need the healing touch of our loving heavenly Father to be restored and transformed. We should take the time as well to learn more of God and this is done by reading the bible, here will find the snap shots the short stories and poems that tell and point to Gods character to Gods attributes. Its basic relational chemistry really spend time with the other half of the relationship and learn about them to love them more deeply and trust them completely. I do believe as we walk with God or as John Eldredge phases it “Talk to Him, Hear from him, REALLY” we will be transformed, restored, revived and as this happens to us so it starts to happen to all things and people around us. You see imperfect vessels that we are we then carry God, Jesus to those near and far, we receive to carry to the next, they receive to carry to the next and a drying hurting world is revived and restored by the love of God, by his grace and mercy, by his favour and his need for relationship and intimacy with his children. Trust God and let him lead you just as promised psalm 23 and 85 and basically the whole bible. Has there ever been such a love letter and I pray that all who read this sermon will recive the kiss from heaven will know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savouir and will go forth and share his love, his joy, in Jesus name Amen,
