The Glory To Be Revealed Series

PRE-TALK OR CHILDREN’S TALK

Before Priscilla and I got married I used to keep a scrap book. In 1988 I cut out this picture from a newspaper. It’s of Linford Christie at the Seoul Olympics. He had never before competed in the Olympics but at Seoul, he won the silver medal. Four years later, he competed at the Barcelona Olympics and won gold. Christie had a friend called Daley Thompson. Thompson competed in the decathlon. He’d won gold medals in the two previous Olympics.

The article had the headline, Christie ‘owes it’ to Daley. The article went as follows:

‘British sprinter Linford Christie gained the inspiration to live with the world’s fastest men in the Olympic 100 metres final from Daley Thompson. The 28-year-old Londoner said after being presented with his Olympic bronze medal that becoming the first European to break 10 seconds was the crowning glory.

Christie said: “Daley has done a great deal for my confidence. He must be the best motivator in the business. He got me up for this and before I raced told me to get out there and win a medal. I was running to win and I wasn’t worrying about Ben or Carl. That is why I got a medal.”‘

I’m sure Christie was motivated by the thought of getting an Olympic medal. I’m sure he trained incredibly hard, he put in a great performance, and he got the result. But it wasn’t just the thought of a medal that motivated him. He said his friend, Daley Thompson, was the best motivator in the business.

RECAP / FIRST TALK

Today, we’re continuing in our series of ‘Great Messages of Encouragement’.

Let’s first review what we’ve looked at so far. Two weeks ago, we had the first talk in our series. The people of Israel were preparing to enter the Promised Land. Moses assured them that God WOULD NOT LEAVE THEM OR FORSAKE THEM. The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews applied Moses’ words to the people of his time. He reminded them that God promised, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ Jesus told his disciples much the same thing in slightly different words: ‘I am with you always, to the end of the age.’ God’s promise applies to us too: God will not leave us nor forsake us; Jesus will be with us always.

That has to be a great encouragement for us! Everyone faces struggles. The ancient Israelites faced the nations of Canaan. We also face challenging situations. For some of us it might be dealing with a difficult customer or taking a tough exam. But in central Nigeria, where Habila and Jemimah are from, there’s the threat of being killed or abducted by a hostile militia. As we face these struggles, we should be really encouraged by the knowledge that God is with us.

But God didn’t simply promise the people of Israel that he’d be with them. He promised them that they would destroy the nations that occupied that land. ‘The Lord will give them over to you’, Moses told them. And just before, Moses told the people of Israel that God wanted to prosper them. But there was a condition. Moses told the people, ‘For the Lord will … take delight in prospering you… WHEN YOU OBEY the voice of the Lord your God … WHEN YOU TURN to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.’

The principle we learn is that God prospers those who obey him and turn to him with all their heart and with all their soul. This isn’t just an Old Testament concept. It’s very much in the New Testament too. For example, Peter preaches in Jerusalem and says, ‘Repent therefore, AND TURN AGAIN, that your sins may be blotted out, THAT TIMES OF REFRESHING may come from the presence of the Lord.’ According to Peter, the people needed to turn to God for times of refreshing to come.

So, what happens if people do the opposite?! What happens if people don’t turn to God but despise him and rebel against him? If people don’t obey God, they shouldn’t expect God to prosper them. Right?

RECAP / SECOND TALK

Last week, we had the second talk in our series. We looked at a passage in Isaiah 40. Isaiah wrote something we wouldn’t expect!

In the time of Isaiah Judah had been invaded by Assyria. Before long, it would be conquered by Babylon. Most of the population would go into exile. But the biggest problem of all was that the people of Judah, by and large, despised God and had rebelled against him. Surely Isaiah couldn’t give a message of encouragement at such a time? And yet, in Isaiah 40, God does so:

‘they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;