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When God Seems Late

11/17/2016

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Hubby had the week off so we went to a church plant in London for our service.  It's good to see what other churches are doing.   It was great to sing praise and worship songs again.  :)
Songs:
Bad day by David Power
King of heaven Paul balance
One thing remains
It is well

Picture
When God Seems Late

Speaker Anthony Vander Laan
Www.fcnchurch.com
Scripture:
Story of Lazarus. John 11

Remember the unfailing love of God
Series: When God doesn't make sense
This one on...When God Seems to Come Late

Interview Notes:


Ida Tigalaar guest interviewee
Wife, mother, Nanna, pastors wife
Retired nurse 47 years
Retired with lots of energy wanting to do more things for God
Health issues: learned has stage 4 Hopkins lymphoma
Left for prone to catch illnesses so needed to stop doing everything
So it was like....God why now?
Tested her faith
Landing up in emergency with numerous infections wondering why God was allowing things to happen like this despite the number of people praying.  Feeling lonely and forsaken by God.
Oct 15 she no longer has cancer cells in her body.  God does answer prayer, just on his timetable.
Psalm 23 she needed to learn to rest by quiet waters.
Two themes....
first ...do not be afraid trust me be faithful
Second was ...wait.   Why am I (still) talking?
Choices....grumble or show gratitude.
Through that learning to say It is well with my soul.

Faith journeys are often not hallmark cards.   Faith journeys are often difficult.


Sermon notes:
Does God show up on time?

Two kinds of lateness
  • Kind you can make up for.
  • Kind that you just can't.

Sometimes it seems like God sometimes does this, shows up late, but he comes through on his time table.

Then the times when God doesn't come in time to answered prayer.  Like when people die.  This is the lateness that people don't understand.

God chose to be late coming to Lazarus' side.
People struggle with this...Jesus staying away for his own reasons.

When we petition God we need to make sure we are asking and not making an expectation of him.  We find a way to separate ourselves from God.  And we see only ourselves and we stop seeing God. 

Jesus comes late, Martha states Jesus if you had come Joe wouldn't have died.    Mary says why didn't you come?  And Martha told him there would be an odor when he asked to see Lazarus.

So why did Jesus come late.
He had no lack of ability, no meanness, no hard heart.  But he has his own reasons.
He wept.   Lazarus mattered to him.


God is sovereign over us. 
See for instance the book of Job.   God's sovereignty shines forth.

Jewish folks believed that for three days the Spirit hovered over the body and that person could reanimate.

But at four days it was much to late.  So when Lazarus was called forth it was all God's action.   It was not some reanimated.   
We need to trust in God's sovereignty.

God is God and you are you.  You are not God. 

So will you make the choice to trust him?

It is well with my soul ...old hymn written by a man who lost everything but his wife.   A man ruined.   From that came this great hymn.

So,turn to God.   Be enabled to say it is well with my soul.

GO HERE to listen to the message yourself.

I have to admit, I struggled with this service.  The speaker ignored that Jesus DID give a reason for not going to Lazarus' side.   He missed the point of this passage.  He seemed lacking in conviction.   So I struggled.   I think he made a good point.  God is GOD.. we are not.   There are differences twixt us and God and we would be better off knowing that full well.   I suppose it didn't help that they started off the service with a random song off the radio.
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The Amazing Love of God

11/7/2016

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Hymns
Come, We that Love the Lord
O Jesus, We Adore Thee
Breathe on Me, breath of God
There is a fountain Filled with Blood
O Love that Wilt Not let me Go
God Be with you till We Meet Again
Laud and Honour to the Father

Picture
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die-- 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Romans 5:6-11
We can't make ourselves right with God.    We have an internal weakness built in us.  Nicodemus shows us this, a man who knew the scriptures full well, but Nicodemus couldn't see how a man could be born again to know God.   This weakness makes us dead in our sin.

Me
Ungodly in myself
By nature I reject God
Dead in my sin
Have a weakness within
That even though God has left more than sufficient proof of who God is, we reject that for our own thoughts

Sinners
Our natural tendency is to turn to what is wrong
Rebels to God's throne

The more we understand that, the more it makes God's love for us incomprehensible.

While we were still sinners Christ died for us.
People won't do this, we won't die for someone unless they have some intrinsic value to us, and even then it is hard.
God's love surpasses this.  He doesn't look at our worth.  He just sees us, even in our sin, and laid down his life for us.
God died this at the right time.   Not a time of our choosing but of his knowing, allowing his son to die for us.

Since God did this
  • How much more will we be saved
  • How much more will we rejoice
  • How much more will be reconciled

Everything has been changed
We are no longer his enemies

So it is a small thing for God to hold onto him now that we love him and trust him.

Before we were nothing, now we are beloved children,  so nothing can take us away from him.

God gives us rules for our own good.  And once we know God we understand this.  This gives us another reason to exalt in him.   
Turn to him.  See that great love he has for us.
See that we aren't worthy, but Christ still died for us.

Be amazed by God's love, it is steadfast and unfailing.
Not forced or beholden, but given freely while still an enemy, but now that we are his is all the more fierce.

Be astounded by God's love.  Be totally astounded.
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Your House Is Forsaken

10/24/2016

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Message from Jeff Kingswood.  Woodstock ARP.
Hymns
Picture
Psalm 112
Praise the Lord!
Blessed is the man who fears the Lord,
    who greatly delights in his commandments!
2 His offspring will be mighty in the land;
    the generation of the upright will be blessed.
3 Wealth and riches are in his house,
    and his righteousness endures forever.
4 Light dawns in the darkness for the upright;
    he is gracious, merciful, and righteous.
5 It is well with the man who deals generously and lends;
    who conducts his affairs with justice.
6 For the righteous will never be moved;
    he will be remembered forever.
7 He is not afraid of bad news;
    his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord.
8 His heart is steady; he will not be afraid,
    until he looks in triumph on his adversaries.
9 He has distributed freely; he has given to the poor;
    his righteousness endures forever;
    his horn is exalted in honor.
10 The wicked man sees it and is angry;
    he gnashes his teeth and melts away;
    the desire of the wicked will perish!

Luke 13:18-35

18 He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? 19 It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”
20 And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? 21 It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”
22 He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23 And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ 28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. 29 And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. 30 And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”
31 At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” 32 And he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course. 33 Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.’ 34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 35 Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’”
Sermon Notes:
Children's message.  

Jesus called Herod a fox.   He could do so because he was perfect and knows a person truly.  Foxes are bloodthirsty and sneaky.

Sermon notes   based much off the Luke passage

This is a different herod than the one who killed the babies at Jesus' birth.  This is a son.

Jesus says go and tell that fox..
I will do what I need to do.  Today and tomorrow.
But I won't die before I am supposed to.

My work must be finished first.

Jesus has a holy boldness in speaking to the officials.

He has set our time as well.
So while we are about the Lord's work we are invincible.

We never need fear we will die before our time.

Ps 112:6-8 the righteous will not be moved.    The victory is assured.

We aren't fatalists like those who follow the Islamic faith.    Everything is within God's providence. We can be thankful to all that God has given us.  So many resources he has placed in our hands to help us and bless us along the way.

Sickness is to be sanctified.  Made useful,by our response to them.

Samuel Rutherford.   "Duties are ours, events are God's "

We do our jobs, our duties, of testifying to God's goodness.

So Jesus could say to Herod, plan all you want, I have my work to do and it won't be done until the time is right.    In the meantime I will keep moving toward Jerusalem.

V 34   God's anguish for those who have turned away from him.  How God would to gather them all in like a broody chicken with her young.  Sheltering them and talking with them.

Jerusalem represents all about the life of the Israelites.   Their faith, their practices, their lives.   Yet she kills the spokespeople of God.  

God wants to shelter his people like a hen protects her chicks from a hawk.  She is defenseless but still she protects her young.  Jesus loved us with the same kind of sacrificial love.  

But Jerusalem is not like this.  She simply will not.  She chooses not.

If a child turns out wrong who then blames their self sacrificing parent we get angry.
Yet when people blame God for their actions.  We often fail to do that.  We should call it for what it is...blasphemy.

God is always more willing to save us then we are to come to him.

We are kept secure in God's love if we love and trust God.
For the non-believer think about how you have been shown God's patience, he's  love and concern for you, for how others have talked of him to you.

We need to pray for the lost as Christ does.  Intensely and determinedly.  Praying for them to see God's mercy.




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Three things we know pt 2

10/16/2016

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Hymns
O day of rest and gladness
Just as I am without one plea
Love divine, all loves excelling
Thou art the way, to thee alone  tune 69 ablington
Christ is made the sure foundation
Blessed assurance Jesus is mine
Unto God the Father,  joyful song we sing

Picture
    [13] I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. [14] And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. [15] And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
    [16] If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. [17] All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.
    [18] We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.
    [19] We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
    [20] And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. [21] Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

(1 John 5:13-21 ESV)

1. We are born of God
2. We belong to God
3. We know that the son of god has come and we have been given understanding

Point three is the source and ground of the first two.

The son of God
. With the Lord at the beginning
. Made manifest to us, walking and talking among us

People often deny that Jesus is the Christ
They deny that Jesus can be true and real and human.
False teachers slovenly to say they have some secret knowledge of God while ignoring his son

Hebrew 1:1-4  this is who Jesus is.

Our sin separates us from God.   
It stops us from having that close intimate relationship with him.

Do we think about God the same way we think of an absent friend or a family member?

When you realize that God is real you realize a whole lot of other things are real as well....hell, punishment, sin, need.   He is light, we are not so he shows us all this.

Jesus is God.
He is nothing less than  true God.
He has come. Through this week can know that God is real.  He open the way for us to be joined to God.

When sin grieves our heart it is a sign that we are born of God.

Know this.   Jesus did it all.
He came.
He brought us to know God.
He paid the price for our sin, to make us right with God.

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In All Things Give Thanks

10/10/2016

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Hymns
Rejoice in the Lord is King
Amazing Grace
Holy spirit, truth divine
God moves in a mysterious way
Whate'er my God ordains is right
Now thank we all our God
Glory be to the father

Picture
1 Thess.5:16-18
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.   Do not quench the Spirit.
Give thanks in all things.   Not just for the good but for absolutely everything.
Not an easy thing at all.

We need to remember all the time what Jesus has brought us out of.  If we do our lives are marked by Thanksgiving.

All humanity knows God.  We don't all know him the same way.

We aren't naturally thankful, we have to learn it.

But it is God's will for us in Christ Jesus:
. That we rejoice always
. Pray continually
. Give thanks in all circumstances

We have been joined to Jesus Christ by our faith in him.

We have Jesus Christ in us helping us to attain God's will for us.

ROMANS 8 being conformed to the image of his son.   God wants us matured in our faith.

God doesn't leave us to work it out on our own.   He works for our good.
This gives us reason to be thankful in all circumstances.

Nothing is outside the providence of God.    
It is all for our good and for God's.
We might not always see it.  But it is right there.   It is there.  Our good hidden within.

Examples
Joseph, slavery, wrongfully imprisoned, forgotten
Apostle Paul,  imprisoned, beaten, burdened, felt as though sentenced to death,

It all is to make us rely on God all the more.
God doesn't leave us alone in our troubles.

We shouldn't be second guessing God's will for our lives.   We only see the day , not the long term picture.

We shouldn't let our pride and self-centeredness get in the way of God's good for our lives.

Our old sinful nature fights with us.
But think more on God's will.   Know that he has our good at heart.
See your lack of faith when you struggle.
Build up your faith, see his love and care for you. Trust him more deeply.


Be reminded.   
     God is one of grace and help.   
     He forgives when we come in repentance.   
     He works in us so that we CAN give thanks in all circumstances.
     So that we can pray unceasingly.
     So we can rejoice all the time.

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Three things we know, part one

10/6/2016

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Hymns
Come, ye people, rise and sing
Rock of ages cleft for me
I am thine oh Lord
How firm a foundation
Bread of the world in mercy broken
Praise the Lord,  his glories show

Picture
18 We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.

19 We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. 21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
1 John 5:18-21

When you really know something is true it changes how you live your life.  

Today too many people make their decisions based on what they feel.

But if you know something to be true it matters.  It changes things.

Sinning is of the devil, whose pattern will you follow?
So if you are born of God,  why do you keep on sinning?

Yet, even believers sin. And if we say we don't sin, we are making God out to be a liar.    

But Jesus is always our advocate.

No one can steal us away from him.
He protects his own.   He keeps us safe.
Not only that, the Lord God helps him.

Once we belong to Jesus,  the devil can never really catch hold of us again.

Sin happens.  But for the believer we don't make a practice of it.  We don't make a point of sinning.

Jesus' hold on us is secure.

Because of this fundamental reason....who we belong to has changed.   We are not our own any longer.   We are God's.

Ergo our life has changed.  We begin to reflect the one we are owned by.

This is sign that we know we are truly of God. That we are kept by God,  growing and being changed by him.

We are God's,  and those who don't are held by the devil.  But we all started in the world.  We were all there at one point and the only reason we aren't now is God's work in our lives.

The world will try to have us change to their standards.  They will try to have us love them.  But we have a different call upon us... to love the Lord and the things of him.


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Confidence in Prayer

10/3/2016

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Hymns
Come thou fount of every blessing
My hope is built on nothing less
Saviour like a shepherd lead us
What a friend we have in Jesus
Sweet hour of prayer
Lead on oh king eternal
Laud and honour to the father

Picture
    [13] I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. [14] And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. [15] And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
    [16] If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. [17] All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.

(1 John 5:13-17 ESV)
More and more people are mocking prayer if they have no faith system.
Some Christians are starting to think the same.

Remember we have confidence in Jesus.
We have eternal life.
If we believe In  Christ,  that we believe in the son of God.

So we can come to him in confidence, if we come according to his will, he will hear us.

Prayer is not coming to God and trying to tell him what to do, but it is coming to him in the confidence of a child asking for something.

True prayer must be made in the light of who God is.
So prayer grounded in the written word of God will be heard.

So if we prayer, Lord make me holy,  he will hear that prayer.

But what about sickness, danger, jobs, homes etc... how do we know the will of God?


We don't know if God has a deeper purpose in whatever struggle God has placed in their lives.

Know that you are living a life of disobedience, don't expect God to hear it because you are cherishing that sin above the will of God.

Know that if you pray according to God's will, know that your prayer is heard and is already answered.

So should we keep praying for the same thing over and over.  The widow and judge... we should keep praying because he is not like the unjust judge, he hears you and will answer you.  So we can pray confidentially.

He gives us the answer that we need most of all.

So how about these difficult next verses
What is sin that leads to death?
Here the Lord's instruction...if you see your brother or sisterr in Christ committing a sin, he should first pray.  We should ask God to deal with it.  That God would turn his people back to him.

People keep trying to figure what kind of sin is this.
Sin that leads to death...
All sin is wrongdoing.
Pastor thinks...Sin in general...all sin deserves death.  This is foundational from Genesis, and Roman 6.
All sin leads to death.

So when we pray we need to pray from God's perspective...of seeing the horror and blight that sin is.

So we need to pray that God will turn them away from their sin.  That he would move them to repentance.

Prayer is not useless, it act of confidence,  it is knowing the word of God so that you can pray what you know you are praying according to his will.


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So You May Know

9/23/2016

4 Comments

 
Hymns
Praise my soul the king of heaven
Ah holy Jesus,  how hast though offended
Christ, whose glory fills the skies
My hope is built on nothing less
Be thou my vision
O master let me walk with thee
Glory be to the father
Picture
10 Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. 11 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.  1 John 5:10-15

Many Christians have a lack of assurance of their forgiveness by God.
Some have this all the time.

It's good to have this when you are straying from the path, but for those who simply struggle...not so good.

This lack of assurance is not a new thing, but it does point to something not being right.

Anyone who says that Jesus has not come in the flesh is the anti-Christ, they are false teachers.

People who separate the physical from the spiritual are wrong.  They end up saying the sin they do is unimportant.

John wants us to know that we have eternal life.

This is a letter written to those who believe in Christ.  John wants to assure them of their salvation if they believe in who Jesus is.  

Faith has content.  Faith is in someone.  

Jesus means Saviour,  it is what he has done.

If you have put your faith in Christ,  John wants you to know that you have eternal life.    No son no life.  Have son, have life.

False teachers can throw people into confusion.   Them and their secret teachings.  John combats that confusion with clarity.  

John said this
. God is light and in him is no darkness at all
. God is perfect, we are not.
. We sin
. God doesn't leave us in our sin
. God has cleansed us from our sin, when we confess our sin
. Our sins punished do not need to be punished again
. Jesus is our advocate
. Jesus has given us a counselor,  so we can grow in our faith and the expression of it.
. When we sin, we go back to the beginning,  confess sin and move forward in God's forgiveness.
. Jesus is the Christ,  the son of God, born
. Be like Jesus,  be right with God

We can, and should have assurance of eternal life.

We don't need a special spiritual experience, we just need Christ and him crucified, risen from the dead, alive with God in heaven.

Everyone goes through spells of not being sure of their salvation, but the bible assures us.

Those with false assurance live as if other believers are not important, who sin as if it doesn't matter, etc.  This is not being broached here.   What is the topic here are those who waver in their assurance of salvation.  John says, be assured.


4 Comments

Three Testimonies to Jesus

9/18/2016

2 Comments

 
Hymns
O worship the king all glorious above
God be merciful to me
Breathe on me breath of God
Christ whose glory fills the skies
It is good to sing thy praises
Take the name of Jesus with you
Praise the Lord,  his glories show
Picture
6 This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. 9 If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. 10 Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. 11 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.   1 John 5:6-12

Sermon Notes:

A friend who doesn't believe in Jesus as the son of God.  They may believe in God in the generic sense, but not in Jesus in the specific sense. This is very common.

This is not a new thing, it was back in the new testament as well.   People denied that Jesus was the Christ.   They denied the physical manifestation of Jesus as being that of God.  They did this because they saw the physical as being bad.

Jesus Christ came by water and by blood.   What does this mean?

Water...he is the promised king, priest and prophet.
Blood...he is here.

The man is all the water promised.

Jesus Christ...this name shows the two can not be divided.

If people separate the two they are not talking about the real Jesus.
The Spirit itself testifies to the truth of who Jesus is.  

If we testify to the whole truth, we do what the Spirit does.  We testify the the truth of the Helper given to us.

See the difference at Pentecost.    The disciples cowering in a locked room.  The Spirit came and then suddenly the disciples had a boldness.  They had the testimony of the Spirit living in them.   This same Spirit dwells in us...the people who are called the children of God.

So the truth we speak is the truth of the Spirit that dwells within us.

Three testimony of three...this is a legal number. It is not just us testifying, but the Spirit of God testifying as well, the blood, the water and the Spirit.   All three.

What stands between sinfilled people and God is not just intellectual but also moral.   When sin rules our hearts we have an impossible task to believe in God.   This is why God has to work in our hearts before we can actually believe in him.

Our future life , our eternal life, found in his son Jesus Christ,  is one without pain and sorrow.  It's a life of joy and light, a life with none of the effects of sin.

Trust the son of God and have eternal.
Do not trust in the whole of Jesus Christ and do not have eternal life.  There is no other option.

2 Comments

Confidence Not Fear

8/28/2016

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Hymns
Sing praise to God who reigns above
Lord I want to be a Christian
O light whose beams Illumine all
O love that wilt not let me go
There is a place of quiet rest
Christ is made the sure foundation
Picture
1 John 4:13-21  text v17-18
    [13] By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. [14] And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. [15] Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. [16] So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. [17] By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. [18] There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. [19] We love because he first loved us. [20] If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. [21] And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
(1 John 4:13-21 ESV)
Sermon notes:

There are so many fears that are in the world today.   

So many people end up living in fear.  But if we live in God we don't need to live in fear.

Vs 17-18 by this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgement, because as he is so also are we in the world.  There is  only fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.  For fear has to do with punishment,  and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

V 17 looks back to v16 where we seeing God and his love working in us.

It says "with us".   It's not a "I"am doing this, it is God's working in us.  It is living growing thing within us.

That love gives confidence.   That confidence leads to a lack of fear.
It leads to not fearing punishment from God.

If God shows us this love, and that love is active in us, then we know what God's love means to us, and so we have confidence in him and have no need to fear punishment.

The more God's love grows in us, the more we see Jesus growing in us.

God sees the one we are joined to, so if we are joined to Christ he sees Christ.

There is no fear in love....Trust in God or make a choice to live in the fear that is of the world.  

Look at what God has done.  If our trust is in him then we have been forgiven and made clean.

For the present.  Know that God is in you right now.  He is right there.  So there is no need to fear.  He will work all things out for our good.

For the future.  God sees who we are connected to so we have no fear of God's punishment.

God has rendered all things certain for us.  He will always be working for us and in us on our behalf.

If we are fearing God we can be assured that God's love is not working in us or that we are not trusting in the Christ who lives in us.   If we love God and have trusted our lives to him, then we have ZERO reason to fear.

So for those true believers who still live in fear of God,  be comforted.   God is not looking to harm his own.  See God's love clearly.

So what do you do if a brother or sister in the faith has hurt you?
You need to forgive by seeing them as God sees them.

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