Christianityworks Official Podcast

Berni Dymet
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There is such incredible power in God's Word! Power to change. Power to make an impact in this world. That's what Christianityworks is all about – in depth teaching straight out of God's Word. Join Berni Dymet as he opens God's Word to discover what God has to say into your life, today.

  1. 4d ago

    The Battle Belongs to the Lord // Do Not Be Afraid, Part 2

    Most times, we end up fighting our own battles. But sometimes, the opposition is just – well, it's overwhelming. Then what? Well that's when we can discover that the battle, belongs to the Lord.   I Can Do Anything I Want In this day and age one of the things that they teach us is to be self reliant. To have confidence in our own abilities. You can do anything you set your mind to they tell us. You can make it, it's all up to you. That's ok to a point I guess. It's a good thing to have some confidence in who we are that God made us to be. But you can take this idea too far and it will bring you undone. The positive turns into a terrible negative. See what happens, when the situation we're in or the circumstances that we're facing are so far beyond our ability to deal with them, that any idea of self reliance is completely ridiculous. What happens when the problem confronting us requires skills and abilities that we don't have. What happens when the career we've chosen just doesn't fit who we are? What happens when the one we love, our wife or our husband or one of our children is going through some tough times. Something that as much as we love them, we can't seem to be able to help them through. An illness, a depression, a crisis. And nothing we can say or nothing we can do seems to make any difference. Well, then what? What happens when a tsunami hits our lives? What do we do when the enemy that gathers around us completely outnumbers and outguns us? Come on. Then what do we do? And this isn't some theoretical exercise. This is life. It's my life and it's your life. Because this happens. It's real. There are times in our lives when the enemy whoever or whatever that is, when the enemy is so much bigger than our ability to survive. It happens in families. It happens in work places. And it happens in our hearts. When sickness hits for no good reason. When a loved one is taken in their prime and the grief overwhelms us. When a marriage falls apart. It happens when retrenchment hits. When the economy takes a nose-dive. When their isn't enough food to feed the family. When people betray us. This is life. It's real life. Let me ask you something. When the enemy is so much bigger and so much stronger than anything that you or I could ever handle, what do we do? Some people panic and they run around in ever decreasing circles wasting their precious energy on panicking. You've seen it I've seen it. You know we've both probably been their too. Some people pull over and stop because they're immobilised by fear. That's what happens you know. But neither of those things cut the mustard. Neither of them help. Running around like a headless chook. It's exhausting. Wallowing in self pity is destructive. What do we do? See I'm a pretty self-reliant kind of guy. I like to think that I can handle most things. BUT – there are times when things happen that are completely and utterly beyond anything I can handle. And in those times to hang on to this notion of self-reliance, this delusion of "I can do anything", that will only make it worse. It's OK to believe in ourselves but the reality is that sometimes, maybe this time, we can't swim against this tsunami. It's too big. It's too scary. I was talking the other day with a young woman. She's extremely competent and confident in her field. Professionally she's a class act in every way that you can imagine. We got onto the fact that she had a couple of young kids. And her demeanour changed. See, as someone who's got kids and now they're all grown up, I'm well and truly past the stresses and the strains of bringing up young children. I love telling parents, "Don't worry it's the first 25 years that are the hardest. After that it's a piece of baklava!" It's my, I guess it's my gift of encouragement. Right?" But like any young mother, this motherhood thing was a struggle for this competent, professional woman. It's so tiring. There is so much that is new and is challenging. There's so much in bringing up kids. It's beyond our control. That's the key isn't it. When we're dealing with things that are under our control and we happen to have the skills and the ability and the inclination to control them, well, it's all good isn't it. But the further things are out of our control the more they look like that tsunami and that wave that we can't ride. Then, then it gets scary. I want to introduce you today to one of the kings in Israel's history. Actually he's the king of a couple of the tribes of Israel, Judah and Benjamin. His name was Jehoshaphat. Ok it's a long name. We don't use that kind of name these days. But he was definitely one of the good guys. And there was a time when he was confronted with an enemy that was way, way, way beyond his ability to fight and defeat. Let's pick up the story in 2nd Chronicles Chapter 20 verse 1. After this the Moabites and Ammonites, and with them some of the Meunites, came against Jehoshaphat for battle. Messengers came and told Jehoshaphat, "A great multitude is coming against you from Edom, from beyond the sea; already they are at Engedi. Jehoshaphat was afraid; See this was an army much bigger than his own. The odds were completely overwhelming and Jehoshaphat were facing absolutely certain defeat. To the king that meant death for his people it meant death or slavery or loss of all their possessions and land. Probably rape for the woman. The higher the stakes are the scarier it gets, doesn't it? And for Jehoshaphat the stakes couldn't have been higher. He was in that place well and truly that you and I find ourselves in for time to time. I just want to establish here that old king Jehoshaphat, well he was human like you and me. He's not some super-human king. There were armies coming in against him. He was completely outnumbered and outgunned. This was a life and death situation and it says Jehoshaphat was afraid. Jehoshaphat is just one of us. I remember as a young boy going to the dentist. I'd walk in the front door and there was this staircase leading up to the dentist. And the smell of the dental surgery the moment you walked in the door. And their was a knot in my stomach sitting in the waiting room. Fear is something that disables us. It's not good for anyone when we're disabled by fear. It's not good for ourselves, it's not good for God. It's not good for those who need our help. Jehoshaphat was afraid. But it's what he did in his fear that made all the difference and we're going to take a look at that in just a moment   What Happens When I Can't? Well let's get back into God's word and take a look at what happened king Jehoshaphat. What he was facing in this completely overwhelming odds. Have a listen. We're starting, if you have a bible grab it, in 2 Chronicles chapter 20 beginning at verse 3: Jehoshaphat was afraid; he set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. Judah assembled to seek help from the LORD; from all the towns of Judah they came to seek the LORD. Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court, and said, "O LORD, God of our ancestors, are you not God in heaven? Do you not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? In your hand are power and might, so that no one is able to withstand you. Did you not, O our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of your friend Abraham? They have lived in it, and in it have built you a sanctuary for your name, saying, 'If disaster comes upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house, and before you, for your name is in this house, and cry to you in our distress, and you will hear and save.' See now, the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt, and whom they avoided and did not destroy— they reward us by coming to drive us out of your possession that you have given us to inherit. O our God, will you not execute judgment upon them? For we are powerless against this great multitude that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you." Meanwhile all Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives, and their children. See Jehoshaphat didn't let his fear immobilise him. He didn't get into a flap or into a panic in the face of overwhelming odds he turned to God. Sometimes that's the only way that God gets our attention. I'd like to be able to tell you that I first turned to God because I was wise and loving and understood that Jesus is the Son of God. But if I told you that I would be lying. I needed to be hit across the back of the head with a lump of four by two for God to get my attention. Overwhelming odds. That's what did it for me. I turned to God in the middle of fear. And for me it was the last resort but for Jehoshaphat God was his first port of call. Now a king is supposed to have all the answers. A King like Jehoshaphat should have a powerful army and contingency plans based on a comprehensive threat assessment. He should be self-reliant. A man for the people to respect and to follow and to trust for their safety and their future, but listen again to what Jehoshaphat says when he's praying to God in 2nd Chronicles Chapter 20 verse 12: O our God, will you not execute judgment upon them? For we are powerless against this great multitude that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you. I relate to this. When I stepped out of the secure, well-paid job as a consultant into full time ministry, that was a step of faith. Leaving security behind to serve God and I can't begin to tell you how many times since then I have been in that place that Jehoshaphat and his people were in. See I started out with this naive notion that if I was going to be about God's work, well lit should be easy. And yet so many

  2. Jul 12

    The World's a Scary Place // Do Not Be Afraid, Part 1

    The world can be a scary place – so many things that strike fear in our hearts. And yet over and over again, God says "Do Not be Afraid." What does that mean? How does that work?   Spiders and Snakes I don't know about you but as I look around, it seems to me that the world can be a scary place. Take spiders and snakes – I mean, depending on where you live in this world, they are either dangerous or they're not. Here in Australia we are seriously over represented in the world's "top ten" list of most venomous creatures, so when I was growing up as a child I had good reason to be afraid of them. And still today, the idea of a spider crawling into my bed … ! It's one of the scariest thoughts I can come up with. Let me tell you a funny story. One of the most venomous snakes on the planet is the death adder – great name isn't it? When I was in the Army training to be an officer at the Royal Military College Duntroon, we were one day out doing some grenade practice and that meant you had to sit in bunkers and the person who was throwing the grenade would go out and throw their grenade. Now we had New Zealanders as well as Australians at the Royal Military College and in New Zealand there are no venomous animals at all, so when the Kiwis come across the ditch to Australia, they are petrified of our snakes and our spiders. Well one Kiwi, we'll call him Rock – I've got to tell you this death adder story. He went out of the bunker to go and throw his grenade and we had a dead death adder. So we positioned it in the bunker so he had to sit down right next to it when he came in. Well he came in and he sat down and he looked at it and I've got to tell you, his legs were going before his backside was up off the log and he was running out. We can laugh about it now but the world can be a scary place, especially with friends like me. In my defence I was a young man at the time. So this week we are starting a new series on the programme, it's called "Do Not be Afraid". There is a reason for that – there are lots of people in this world who spend much of their lives living in fear. Sometimes it's because they are living in a war zone – I mean there are plenty of people listening to this programme today who know that only too well. People in the Democratic Republic of Congo for instance, where there is war raging in parts right now – some of those people are sitting in their homes listening to this programme today wondering whether they will see tomorrow or next week or next year. Other times there are different life threatening things that happen. We can have a health scare. The morning I sat down to prepare this message was the morning of the funeral of a friend of mine. Now, he was just a couple of years older than me and he died suddenly of a heart attack. It's easy to be afraid – and it rocks our confidence. And yet other people, they just live lives with a real sense of dread. There is always something there for us to be afraid of or to dread. There is always something lurking out there. For me honestly, if I allowed it, I could be afraid of quite a few things. I mean, I have some things in my life right now that could cause me to experience fear – and that's the thing. It doesn't matter who we are or where we live or … whatever, we all go through times of fear. And that fear can rob us of life itself but time and time and time again, you read in God's Word, these words from God to His people. He says, "Do not be afraid." And He speaks them right at the time when the people He is talking to have every reason to be afraid. They have got people and circumstances coming against them and conspiring against them and they're experiencing fear and yet God wades in and says, "Do not be afraid." Now if God doesn't want me to be afraid when I have every reason to be afraid, you know something? I want to have a piece of His brand of confidence. Don't you think? I mean, think about it! What's the point of God saying, "Do not be afraid", when we have no reason to fear? It's right in the middle of our fear that we need His confidence. I definitely want that – how about you? Well, how can we have that confidence? That's a good question – that's what today's programme is about – that's what this whole four week series is about … "Do not be afraid." So I invite you to come on a journey with me. We are going to start that journey with an account of a time when God's chosen people, Israel, had every reason to be afraid. They were in exile – they had been living in the Promised Land for about five hundred years and yet they had struggled with God. They had worshipped idols and other gods and eventually the Lord their God lost His patience. So in around 586BC, the Babylonians, who were the dominant world power of the day, invaded Jerusalem. They destroyed the place – they destroyed the temple, the place where God's presence dwelt and they took this remnant of God's people back to Babylon as slaves. Talk about a crisis of confidence! Think about it – God made all these promises to Abraham and to Isaac and Jacob and then when Israel was enslaved in Egypt, He sent Moses and did amazing miracles and the whole Red Sea thing and the exodus and the manna from heaven … everything that got them to the Promised Land. And when they got there, with Joshua as their leader, they fought battle after battle against nation after nation that was bigger and stronger than Israel itself and yet God was with His chosen people and they took the land that God had promised them. And now … now Babylon wins! God's own temple is destroyed! Where is God? What happened? Are the Babylonian gods stronger than our God? They have a loss of confidence – it's a big thing. I mean we hear people talking about shareholder confidence and consumer confidence and that feeling when you go to sleep at night, you know, you get that falling sensation and you wake up in a panic, grabbing onto the bed. Confidence is the trust that the earth beneath our feet won't move. It's the trust that the stock market won't fall; it's the trust that the plane we are flying in won't fall off the sky; it's the trust that our governments will do the right thing – it's about trusting, whatever. And then, it's like the rug gets pulled out from under your feet and you lose confidence and panic and fear set in. Why? Because we no longer feel safe – we are no longer able to trust in the things that we have always trusted in. That's where Israel was – there was a complete loss of confidence in their God. Now He was punishing them but they couldn't quite see that. It was like they were flying in a plane at thirty two thousand feet above the ground and all of a sudden, all the engines are silent – panic, fear! And fair enough too! So what does God say to them right in the middle of their fear and panic ... what does God have to say? We are going to take a look at that next.   I am Your God So here is Israel in this scary, fearful place. They have in slavery, exiled in Babylon for the best part of three generations – that's a long time – so only a handful of Israel's elders who can even remember Jerusalem in its heyday. So what does God have to say to these people of His who are cowering in fear under the yoke of slavery? If you have got a Bible, grab it and open it up at Isaiah chapter 41, beginning at verse 8 – he says this: But you Israel, My servant Jacob whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, My friend; you whom I took from the ends of the earth and called from its farthest corner, saying to you, "You are My servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off. Do not fear for I am with you. Do not be afraid for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with My victorious right hand. See, the first thing that God does is He reminds them of His promises to Abraham. When Abraham stood in that Promised Land, centuries before, this is what God promised him – just flick back to Genesis chapter 15, verse 18: On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham, saying, "To your descendants I give this land; from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates, the land of the Kenites and the Kenizzites and the Kadmonites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Rephaim and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Girgashites and the Jebusites. See, God's promise is that God had chosen them; God had chosen Abraham, their ancestor, God had promised this land and God said, "I will do this." Notice it is all about God! Do not fear, I am with you; I am your God; I will strengthen you. I will help you; I will uphold you with My victorious right hand. The whole thing that God relies on here in talking to His people in their fear and in their despair, is not who they are or how strong they are or how clever they are, or how well they have done because they haven't, they are there being punished. No, He is saying to them, "Look who I am, My promise, I am your God, I am with you," but how does that help them? Isn't He the God who failed them seventy years earlier? Okay, so He sends them some prophet, Isaiah, to tell them this – BIG DEAL! And that may well be what you are going through right now. You look at your circumstances – they are so fearful! Okay, so God sends you some joker on the radio with a smooth voice who says "Do not be afraid", but how can you put your confidence in that? It was exactly the same problem that the Israelites had. Their circumstances, the Babylonians, looked so much bigger than their God. I mean, you think about it in your head and you know God is bigger than the things that we are confronting but in your heart, it's so hard to believe in your heart – the fear is destroying any confidence that you might have in God. God knew that – that's why He also said this to them: have a listen to this … this is powerful stuff! So let's pick it up in Isaiah chapter 40

  3. Jul 5

    How to Overcome Selfishness and Conquer the Flesh // Eliminating Stubborn Sin Once and For All, Part 4

    Our self-life – self-indulgence, self-preservation, self-gratification – our self-life, as it turns out is a tyrant that robs us of real life. The life that Jesus has for us. And I believe that this selfishness, this craving of the flesh is something that Jesus came to set us free from.   OVERCOMING SELFISHNESS Selfishness is a word that we are all too familiar with but I wonder how often we stop to think about what it actually means! Self–ish-ness ... it's about our tendency to put ourselves, our needs, our plans, our reputations before other people. Problem is, we notice when other people are being selfish to us – we notice when they put themselves and their own interests before ours but we rarely notice when the shoe is on the other foot. We rarely notice when it's us who are being selfish. In fact, for most of my life, I never once thought of myself as being selfish when the reality was that 'self' was all I was interested in. How about you? How often do you think of yourself being selfish as opposed to other people being selfish towards you? That's why selfishness is such an insidious sin. It rears its ugly head all too often without us ever really noticing that we are the ones being selfish. And this putting of self above and before other people – it takes so many different forms. Whenever my interests are more important to me than your interests, the easiest thing in the world is to put mine before yours and that ... that's what we call selfishness. Over the last three weeks on the programme we have been chatting about overcoming stubborn sin and I know that there are a few people who might squirm at that little word "sin". I used to too. I thought of it as an outdated, irrelevant, judgemental, religious term that, frankly, belonged in the lexicon of those doddering old folk I saw wandering in and out of those places they call "church", and that ... that is a deception that the devil was happy for me to live under for many years. But "sin" – it's a very simple concept: it's falling short of all the good and wonderful things that God has planned for our lives. It's missing the whole point and the point is that God wants us to enjoy Him and worship Him and glorify Him with our lives and that brings such a great source of delight and wonder and peace and joy to us. It's the way things are meant to be, now and for all eternity – through every up and every down – every mountain top experience and every trial and temptation and hurt this world has to offer. And so those "sins" that are particularly stubborn, that one sin that keeps coming back again and again and again, is Satan's messenger to torments us; to try and rob us of the abundant life that God has planned for us. And this one, selfishness, is one that so many people suffer from. It's one that used to be right up there right on top of my list too. I couldn't see what was wrong with it either. I worked hard, I applied myself and I'm this outcome focused person who drives hard at life to achieve what I set out to achieve – my agenda, my success, my way or the highway. So what's wrong with getting my way? If other people want to get their way, well, they should be like me, otherwise tough, right? That's the world's template for success – climb over whoever you have to; roll over the top of whoever you have to; crash through whoever you have to, to get to wherever you are going. And here's how it changed for me. There were two parts – one to do with my heart, the other to do with my hands. In other words one part to do with my motivation and the other part to do with my practical "doing" – how I lived that out. I was always after greatness – I wanted people to recognise who I was; to recognise my achievements. And I, like most of the rest of the world, thought that that was about getting 'my' way and other people going "WOW!" isn't he fantastic? Ha, well, that a deception; that's a lie, because it doesn't work that way. Jesus, in what the theologians called the 'Great Denunciation' in Matthew chapter 23, where He rips into the religious leaders of the day; people who were selfish and were ripping off those in their charge. Right in the middle of His vehement argument against their hypocrisy and selfishness, Jesus has this to say - He says: The greatest among you will be your servant. All who exalt themselves will be humbled and all who humble themselves, will be exalted. That's Matthew chapter 23, verses 11 and 12. Now, I thought about that a lot and the truth of that first sentence really ... really started to do its work in me. "The greatest among you will be your servant." The greatest people in my life; the ones whom I truly value and honour and respect are the ones who have served me more than all the others. There's a man called Graham. He was a Colonel in the Army when I was a young Captain. Together Graham and I and another man, Mark, left the Army and formed an Information Technology consulting firm. Now Graham is not only intellectually one of the smartest people I know, but he has a deep wisdom about life; about dealing with other people – about all sorts of things. Now he's twenty years my senior and over a period of seventeen years when we worked together in this consulting firm, he was my mentor; my teacher. He taught me how to listen, how not to roll over the top of people, how to influence instead of control. He taught me any number of things – many of those come out through these radio programmes, day after day, week after week, all these years later. He served me, even when I was young and precocious; even when I didn't deserve it. Ask me who are amongst the greatest people in my life and he is right up there. Once I figured out the deep truth of what Jesus said: "The greatest among you will be your servant," my motivations changed. And then ... then it was time to live that out, minute by minute, relationship by relationship, interaction by interaction. And here's what I discovered when I took my selfishness out of the equation; when I no longer had to win every time and get my way every time, all of a sudden life became much easier. James chapter 3, verse 16: For when there is envy and selfish ambition there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. And that is absolutely right! Take away the selfishness and instead of disorder and wickedness, what you get, nine times out of ten, is peace. Once I learned to collaborate instead of obliterate, WOW, what a great way to live your life! You know why ultimately, selfishness has become one of the easiest of my stubborn sins to give up? You know why? Because the rewards are so great and they are pretty much instant. Stop the selfishness and conflict reduces, peace increases, relationships improve and it happens quickly. And after a while it's really easy to get addicted to those rewards. You know, I'm wondering if that isn't what God planned all along. Have a listen to a bit more of what James chapter 3 says – verses 16 to 18: For where there is envy or selfish ambition there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace. When we give up our selfishness, we are sowing peace and whatever we sow we will reap – we'll reap a harvest which is peace. This really works.   OVERCOMING THE FLESH Well, I don't know about you, but for me this last few weeks on the programme, where we've been looking at overcoming stubborn sin, once and for all – it's been a real challenge and for me too, a breath of fresh air. See, as we have travelled through God's Word, you know what's really leapt out for me? The truth that Jesus truly does want to set us free from the terrible effects of those stubborn sins that linger on in our lives. How many people I know – I was just sitting the other day having coffee with a man; a really successful businessman who was telling me about something in his life – a stubborn sin. And as successful as he was in business, he completely resigned himself to the fact – as least he thought it was a fact – that this stubborn sin would never go away. He was utterly convinced of it. Man, that is such a tragedy! Does that mean, he believes that when it comes to that one particular stubborn sin, that Jesus died and rose again in vain? Does he believe that the cross of Christ is mighty and powerful and able to save everyone and everything except him from that one sin? Evidently so! Well, let me be perfectly blunt – too many people for too long have been living with stubborn sin; destructive patterns of behaviour that they could be completely free of through a simple, yet tenacious faith in Jesus Christ. Today, right now, I want to show you that this truth is for you too. But here's the problem: so many people want a foot in each camp. They want to be free of the destructive effects of stubborn sin, but they don't want to pay the price of letting it go. Let me paint a picture for you. The man who works in a company; he's incredibly competent at what he does – he knows his job backwards and as it turns out, his skills and knowledge and abilities are invaluable to his employer – BUT he's incredibly critical. No one else can ever do the job to his standards and so he complains about people – he almost always has a bad attitude, he grumbles and because no one else can do things to his standard, he becomes a control freak. So, valuable as he may well be to his employer, he just doesn't have any friends at work. When people organise to go out to lunch together, they somehow ... forget to invite him. The others seem to laugh together and enjoy each other's company but he's is always on the outer. He knows deep inside, that his attitudes are robbing him of those relationsh

  4. Jun 28

    How to Eliminate Anger, Sexual Immorality and Low Self Esteem // Eliminating Stubborn Sin Once and For All, Part 3

    Anger, sexual immorality and low self-esteem are three of the most stubborn sins known to humanity. We know we should eliminate them from our lives, but the question is - HOW?   LIVING IN THE GOOD THINGS OF GOD Well, welcome to this third week in this series called "Eliminating Stubborn Sin – Once and For All". Over the last few weeks on the programme we have seen that God truly does want us to overcome stubborn sin in our lives – that God gives us the power to deal with every sin and whatever temptation comes our way. He gives us the way out – a way of dealing with it. Actually there are very few things that God says "Don't do!" and the only things to which He says "Don't do!" are the things, if we are honest with ourselves, the things that are going to hurt us. And today we are going to look at anger, sexual immorality and low self esteem because they are way out there. But when it comes to dealing with these stubborn sins, the issue is not so much that we should get rid of them – we kind of know that – the question is how? So let's kick off today with anger because anger is actually a big issue in this world today – it seems we're all so busy doing all the things we have to do – racing around, taking the kids to school, getting off to work and at work these days the pressure is really on. Make more, achieve more, deliver more – it used to be in the 'good old days' the pace was much slower. You had to wait for the mail to arrive and when you sent a letter out, it took a couple of days to get it all correct through the typing pool. But these days, even when people are on holidays with their families, they're answering emails on their mobile phones. We're so connected, so in demand, so busy – it's almost like we're like battery hens – the slightest thing makes us snap. Some people have more of a problem with anger than others. The more achievement oriented and outcome focused a personality we have, the more we are going to be prone to anger. And that was my 'biggie' when I became a Christian – anger. Nothing was ever good enough or fast enough for me and as I look at that, the whole "anger" thing was based on a self-centeredness and a sense of self importance. The world was there to serve ME and to fit in with MY plans and if you didn't play the game by MY rules and deliver what I wanted – well, watch out! It's a way of living and thinking and behaving that robs us of relationships and tenderness and joy. It's actually awful! But how can we change that? Well, here's how! Psalm 145, verse 8, says this: The Lord is gracious and merciful and show to anger and abounding in steadfast love. What that's saying is that God's grace and His mercy and His steadfast love make Him slow to get angry. God does get angry sometimes and that's a fearsome thing but not at the drop of a hat. He doesn't have a temper that's on a hair trigger. Why? "Because He's abounding in steadfast love." In other words, He's more focused on loving us for who we are than what we do or don't do. Imagine if this awesome and mighty God became angry with you and I every time we didn't fit in with His plans – we wouldn't last very long, would we? For me, learning to break the pattern of angry behaviour began with loving the people I was dealing with; valuing them for who they were; understanding their hurts and their inadequacies. The things that had happened to them in their lives that made them behave the way they did. And the more I did that, the less angry I started to feel. In fact, what I began to do was prepare myself for people. As I said, I am one of these outcome focused people who moves quickly, sets goals, achieves them. And it's easy when you're like that just to roll over the top of people. And then ... then I have to work with someone who just wants to have fun! You know the sort of people? They just want to enjoy the moment and I just want to get things done. But without them to help me enjoy the moment, well, I'd miss out. So I started to prepare myself – "I have to work with him today! Right! Okay! I understand him. He's not going to be like me today and that's okay", almost forgiving them, if you like, before they walked into the room. It took me a while to figure it out but that's what God is like. That's what that verse from that Psalm is all about. Psalm 145, verse 8: The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. And actually that "slow to anger" thing has a lot to be said for it. Here are a couple of verses from Proverbs that really helped me. Proverbs chapter 12, verse 16: Fools show their anger at once but the prudent ignore an insult. In other words, the moment that someone says something that triggers anger in me, well, I've learned to let it pass me by, more often than not, these days. No, I don't have to win every time anymore. I don't have to have the last say; I don't have to be right all the time. "Only fools show their anger at once, the prudent ignore an insult." And this verse – Proverbs chapter 15, verse 1: A soft answer turns away wrath but a harsh word stirs up anger. This was like being a shock absorber. When someone does something to stir up anger and dissent, how wonderful it is to respond with gentleness and wisdom, calming the situation instead of throwing fuel on the fire with a harsh word. Ignore the insult and respond with a gentle, soft answer. Can I tell you, once I decided to start loving the people around me, these two things took a bit of practice but after a while they became a habit, because they're a much, much better way of living? These days I have much more peace in my heart; much more joy in my life. Instead of always having MY day ruined by other people's failure to fit in with my plans, I've discovered the joy of fitting in with their plans sometimes too. And the biggest thing ... the biggest thing with letting the anger go is that it set me free to enjoy the beauty and the creativity and the incredible specialness of each person I come in contact with. It's like a whole new world has opened up. Do I still get angry sometimes? Course I do, so do you! It's what I do with that anger when it happens that makes all the difference. This anger thing was a stubborn sin in my life. It was one that looked like it would never go away but when I took those few simple Scriptures we just talked about and started applying them to my life, God did the rest. He set me free from a sin that would have ruined the rest of my life. Next we are going to look at another one of those stubborn sins – sexual immorality.   STARTING EVERY DAY WITH JESUS Earlier we looked at overcoming anger and right now we are going to move on to sexual immorality because it's one of the most stubborn sins of all. It seems these days that it doesn't matter how hard we try, sexuality is constantly thrust before our eyes and under our noses. Now, don't get me wrong, I have a very simple view about sex. God invented it: it's good, it's great. But the role of our sexuality - apart from the obvious thing of keeping the human race going by bringing babies into the world – is to bring a husband and a wife into a level of intimacy so wonderful that there aren't enough words to describe how good that is. But because sex sells, it's used in the media to such an extent, you can't walk down the street without the image of a scantily clad woman advertising some product on a billboard shoved in your face. Now, God's Word is pretty clear on sex and here it is in a nut shell. Human sexuality is a part of His design for humanity and as such, physical intimacy is a beautiful gift from Him but the only proper expression of that gift is exclusively between one man and one woman who have been joined together as husband and wife in the life-long bond of marriage. And people who continue in sexual immorality outside that – whatever form that takes – will NOT inherit the Kingdom of God. They are not my ideas. That is clearly, clearly what God says through what I believe to be His Word – the Bible. Now, I think that one of the biggest issues today is pornography. So many men are caught up in sexual immorality – they're married, they want to be faithful to their wives but with the internet being available 24/7, the temptation is simply too great. And so they are caught up in the cycle of addiction and shame that spirals ever downward. It actually robs them of the intimacy that God had planned for them. It substitutes a poor impostor for the real thing. And because they are carrying the burden of hidden shame around in their hearts, it robs them of the power that God has for their lives – the power to make a difference for God in this world. That's why this particular stubborn sin is so insidious. Here are some sobering statistics: over 50% of all men are addicted to pornography; over 82% percent of males between fifteen and twenty-eight have intentionally or deliberately sought out pornography in the last three months. A man whose campaign to help men addicted to pornography, Pastor Steve Davies, puts it this way – he says: "We're at war and pornography is Satan's number one weapon against men to destroy their walk with Christ." So how do we overcome this most stubborn of sins? If you are a man addicted to this cycle of pornography, how can you overcome it? If you are a woman who's living through the pain of her husband's addiction to pornography, how can you be part of overcoming it? They're tough issues and perhaps the odd person is squirming right now and maybe you're tempted to turn the radio off but God's Word speaks into every situation ... every situation and this sin is no different. For the man who is caught up in this most stubborn of sins, the first thing he needs to know and understand is this: that Jesus came to set you free from every sin ... every sin, and this sin is no different. Colossians chapter 1, verses 13 to 14, says t

  5. Jun 21

    How to Stop Sin Dead in its Tracks // Eliminating Stubborn Sin Once and For All, Part 2

    Most of us have heard sermon after sermon, message after message, telling us that we shouldn't sin. That instead, we should repent and live a godly, holy life. That's great – but the real question is HOW?   STIFF-NECKED GENERATION I was never much of an accountant but I do remember learning about double-entry book keeping systems. They were really important back in manual accounting systems because they provided a double check to make sure that the accounts balanced. Basically, here's how it worked. Every financial transaction in the accounts had two entries – hence the name double entry. A credit entry and a debit entry. And the whole point of that was the double entry provided a double check. And it's not just in accounting that you find this approach. You find it in physics too. Newton's third law says that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. In other words – whenever a body exerts a force on a second body, that second body exerts an equal and opposite force on the first body. Maybe that's something we should have learned at school. And it's not just in accounting and physics that we see this two sided approach to life, we also find it in the spiritual dimension. Absolutely we do. Every spiritual transaction has two sides to it. Every spiritual action in one direction creates an equal and opposite action in the other direction. So what's the point? Well in this double-sided mystery lies our rubber-hits-the-road solution to overcoming stubborn sin – which is the thing that we're talking about in this series, "Eliminating Stubborn Sin Once and For All". And it's a powerful solution indeed. Last week on the program we saw that each one of us finds ourselves with at least one stubborn sin in life that we can't seem to overcome. Now it's different for each one of us – anger, temper, sexuality, greed, self esteem, pride … the list goes on. And somehow that one particular sine comes back again and again to defeat us. But whilst sin is all too common, it's not normal – and God's intention is to set us free from that sin. Not only His intention – it's His plan, it's His will and it's something that He has the power, the divine power to do. Last week on the program we looked at this particular passage, 2 Corinthians 10:4-5: For the weapons of our warfare are not merely human, but they have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ. Every proud obstacle in our hearts that sets itself up against the knowledge of God – and that's what the strongholds are that the Apostle Paul's talking about here – can be destroyed by the weapons of warfare which are not human, they're divine. God's divine power. And it's a power that God delights in exerting right in the moment our of our weakness – so that it's His power and not our strength that overcomes sin. Here's Paul again. We looked at this last week too, 2 Corinthians 12:7-9: To keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, but he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness." So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Don't you just love this. Instead of just taking the messenger of Satan that was tormenting Paul away – God instead gives Paul the opportunity to discover God's perfect power – the power of Jesus Himself – in His own experience in overcoming Satan. But it's one thing to know that whilst we all have a stubborn sin and even though it's God's plan to wield His divine power to overcome that sin in our lives – well, all that's one thing. But what you and I really need to know, beyond that wonderful liberating truth – is how! HOW to lay hold of God's power and how to overcome the stubborn sin that's been wracking our bodies for a lifetime. Well today, right now, I want to take you deep into God's Word and show you God's how. Not my how. Not the world's how. But God's HOW! Now I've heard this Scripture we're about to go to have a look at quoted often – but only half of it, only one side of the transaction, and not the other side. And a half truth is as good as an untruth because a half truth can easily be made into a lie. It's something the devil does all the time. The half truth – the part of this Scripture that's most often quoted – goes like this, James Chapter 4 verse 7: Resist the devil and he will flee from you. And so a whole bunch of people set about resisting the devil. Problem is that the old enemy's been around much longer than you and I have, and he's seen it all. He's wily, crafty and deceptive and he'll go to any length to catch us in his snare. He'll wait to till the most opportune moment, until we're tired or weak or distracted or frustrated or all of the above – and then he'll pounce. 1 Peter Chapter 5:8: Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. Lions wait in the long grass until they see a weak animal or a young animal or a slow animal separated from the pack – and then they pounce on their prey. The devil's the exactly the same. And what we discover when we set about resisting the devil – is that working hard just doesn't work. We don't need human weapons in this spiritual battle, we need weapons full of divine power. And it turns out that the way to access and wield those weapons involves a double-sided transaction. The half truth from the Scriptures that I gave you before – let me give the whole thing to you now – and you'll see what I mean. James Chapter 4:7-8 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Do you see the two sides of the transaction involved in defeating the devil – in overcoming stubborn sin? The first is, submit yourself to God and then resist the devil – two sides – and the result of that is that he will flee from you. When we submit ourselves to God, we rebel against the devil. When we submit to the devil – we rebel against God. It's a double sided entry, it's a double sided transaction. But some people have a foot in both camps – they want to honour God but they want to go with the devil and they're the ones who are double-minded, the ones who have to cleanse their hands and purify their hearts. We're going to look at some intensely practical examples of this after the break – but just for now think back to Adam and Eve in the garden. When they were living that perfect life prior to the fall – they were submitting to God (and getting all the benefits) – but on the other side of the ledger, they were resisting the devil. The tree in the middle of the garden, the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, it was there all the time, they just didn't eat of it – and so they lived in the benefit of God's blessing. BUT – the moment they submitted to the devil – on the other side of the ledger, they were resisting God, they were rebelling against God – in that very first, terrible, double-sided act of rebellion. Submission to God = rejecting the devil. Submission to the devil = rejection God. And in this double-sided transaction lies the practical truth of overcoming stubborn sin. If we try to do it by resisting the devil, as we've already seen – that's a half truth and it doesn't work. The answer is first to submit to God, to draw near to Him, because in so doing, He will draw near to us. And since He's the one with the power – He's the one with the weapons of warfare that have the divine power, the first thing that we need to do, is to submit our selves to Him. Resisting the devil is what flows out of that.   RULES DON'T WORK Stubborn sin – that sin that we just can't shift, sin that keeps on keeping on long after we'd hoped that we would have defeated it – is a fact in many, many people's lives. And over the last couple of weeks on the program, we've seen that not only does God understand that, but He wants to give us His weapons full of His divine power, right in the middle of our weaknesses defeat the sin. Jesus died and rose again to give us victory, to give us a new life – and so whilst stubborn sin is commonplace, it's not normal and it's not what God means for our lives. In fact, this is something that God takes so seriously – that He sends not only His Son just to die to pay for all our sin on the cross, but to rise again to give us a new life. 2 Corinthians 5:17: that if anyone believes in this Jesus, then that person is a new creation – old things have passed away and look all things are new. So, whilst many a Christ-follower is convinced that their particular brand of stubborn sin is just a fact of life, just something that they have to live with for the rest of their lives here on Earth, that's a luxury that the Gospel of Jesus Christ doesn't afford us. Jesus came to set us free from every sin. And right now we're going to continue our look at this practical "how to" – how do we lay hold of God's divine power to allow ourselves to be set free, by God – of this sin and, and it's painful consequences. Now this is something that frankly puzzled me for a long time. First, I thought I had to do it all. And so I fought against the devil and I tried and I tried and I tried to resits him and overcome these temptations … but as strong willed an individual as I am, that just didn't work. I ended up lying bloodied and beaten and discouraged and dejected and defeated on the battlefield. OK ... OK ... OK that didn't work. So, what I'll do is I'll leave it all up to God. I'll sit back and let God do it all. But let me tell you – the old "spiritual couch potato" model didn't work ei

  6. Jun 14

    Where There's a Will There's a Way // Eliminating Stubborn Sin Once and For All, Part 1

    Stubborn sin – the sort that just keeps coming back again and again, no matter how hard we try –is a fact of life for so many. And we have a choice – we can just accept it and its devastating consequences, or we can believe God's Word that where there's a will, there's a way.   THE BIG CON Today we are kicking off a new series of programmes for the next four weeks. It's called "Overcoming Stubborn Sin – Once and For All." And God triggered in my heart, just the other day, when I was sitting talking to a man – but more about him later. Now let me ask you, have you ever had a pen in your pocket and it's leaked? More common for men, I guess – we'll put a pen in our shirt pocket or maybe on the inside pocket of our jacket and then, for one reason or another, the pen leaks and you end up with an ink stain all over your shirt or your jacket. Now that stain, it's called a stubborn stain, isn't it? At least that's how we refer to it where I come from. And the reason we call it a stubborn stain is that, no matter what you wash it with or scrub it with – it doesn't matter what you do to it – it just won't come out. I remember when that happened to one of my favourite jackets, years ago now. I mean, I really liked this jacket; it was soft and comfortable and it looked great. I spent a fortune at the dry cleaners, but it doesn't matter what they tried, the stain didn't come out. And so I simply couldn't wear it out any more. I mean, it would have looked ridiculous. But isn't it funny, these days, when we have a stain like that on our characters, it seems we almost wear it out with pride, or at the very least, we just put up with it. After all, it's a stubborn stain – nothing we can do about it. And that's the attitude of that man that I was telling you about at the beginning of the programme. Here's the thing: he rang the other day and wanted to catch up for a coffee. I agreed and as we sat down in the cafe, we had a bit of small chit-chat and then the crunch issue – the thing he wanted to talk to me about. Well, it was his sin. It was a sin he'd been struggling with all his life. It turned out that his particular Achilles heel was his temper. A lovely man but he has a hot temper and just flies of the handle at the drop of a hat. He was sharing with me what had happened just a few days before. A situation where he'd hurt some people that really mattered to him and the more I listened, the more I got this impression that as far as he was concerned, this was something he was stuck with and the best he could do was to manage the symptoms. There wasn't a single thought in his head of treating the disease. And the reason this shocked me was this man is a Christian with a powerful heart after God and a commitment to God's Word. So I listened without saying too much but the more I turned this conversation over and over in my head, the more disturbing it became. It was like he had a stubborn ink stain on his jacket but he was intent on wearing that same jacket out, day after day, with that stain on it. There was no thought of changing the jacket. Do you see the point? We wouldn't think of wearing an ink stained jacket out to work and yet we'll take who we are - with this great big stubborn stain, smack bang in the middle of our character and our personality, so prominent; so obvious that nobody could ever miss it - and wear it out day after day after day, for a whole life time, resigned to what we think is the fact that there's just nothing we can do about it. Changing the jacket never crosses our mind. Have a listen to this. In the context of what we have just been talking about – stubborn sin – Galatians chapter 3, verse 27: "As many of you as were baptised into Christ, have clothed yourselves with Christ." And again this: Ephesians chapter 4, verses 22 to 27: "You were taught to put away your former way of life; your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds and to clothe yourselves with a new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbours, for we are members of one another. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil." Both of these Scriptures from the Word of God are very, very clear. They're about putting on a new jacket; they're about clothing ourselves in Christ; clothing ourselves in the new creation that we become when we put our trust and our faith in Him. There's nothing ... nothing, so far as I can find in God's Word which says that sin is normal. Sure, it's common; all too common but normal it ain't! Have you put your trust in Jesus Christ? Have you? Then you are a new creation. The old things have passed away and all things ... ALL THINGS are new. That comes from Second Corinthians chapter 5, verse 17. We all have one or two stubborn sins in our lives. For some people it's temper and anger, for others it lust, for others it's always seeking glory and recognition, for others again it's low self esteem or un-forgiveness or gossiping or slander. Other people are addicted to gambling or perhaps it's worshipping other gods. Some people don't seem to be able to help themselves – some are involved in the occult. My friend, the list goes on and we sometimes behave as if the only person who has this stubborn sin stain on us is us! Listen to me – it's everyone! I've never met a person who hasn't had to grapple with at least one stubborn, persistent, ongoing form of sin in their lives. So many men are addicted to pornography, which now with the internet, has over half ... over half of all men addicted to this – something we are going to talk about in the coming weeks – and they live in secret shame, imagining that there's nothing they can do about it. And over half of all women, in Western society as least, suffer clinically from low self esteem. And each one of these stubborn sins is the devil's way of robbing us of life. Sure, so many of them are dressed up to look respectable – so seductive; so normal. Now the person who puts their faith in Jesus, kind of knows they're not right, but like that man that I was talking about at the beginning of the programme, they've kind of resigned themselves into believing that there's nothing they can do about their particular brand of stubborn sin. Whether it's a red stain or a blue stain or a black stain, "Well, that's just my coloured stain and there's just nothing I can do about it." Let me give you this very direct and very blunt response to that kind of thinking: rubbish; its absolute rubbish! That's a deception of the devil and you won't find it in the Bible. Jesus said, quoting Isaiah chapter 61, verse 1. He said: "God had sent him to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners." Now, there's no fine print in there that provides you or me with a personal exclusion for our particular colour of stubborn sin. Now, I'm a man who has had more than his share of stubborn sins to work through – anger, temper – all sorts of stuff and because I am one of those strong willed people, those things have had even a stronger hold on me than most. And here's what I've discovered along the way and I'm still discovering it – Jesus came to set me free from every sin that robs me of life. He came to set you free from every sin that robs you of life – to clothe us in Christ, to make us a new creation that shines His glory and His image into this lost and hurting world. That is the truth!   WAKE UP One of the worst feelings that we can have in life is that sense of being trapped ... trapped in a place, trapped in our circumstances, trapped in our own destructive patterns of behaviour. And try as we might, we just can't get out. Now, God has a name for those destructive behaviours; a much shorter name – He calls them 'sin' and that's exactly what sin is – behaviour that's destructive; behaviour that misses the whole point of life. And it seems to be the case that pretty much each one of us has one particular pattern of destructive behaviour; one sin that seems to be stubborn in our lives. Like a stubborn stain that just won't wash out – as much as we wish we could get rid of it. We've tried and tried and tried and tried over the years – we just can't. For many people it feels like they're trapped; like there's no way out. It's a pattern of behaviour that we seem to be locked into – repeating over and over and over again. And so many people have just resigned themselves to the fact that that's the way it is and that nothing's ever going to change – they're trapped; hopelessly trapped in sin and there's no way out and so they just have to live life with the painful consequences of that sin. Well, if that kind of resonates a bit with you, I have some good news for you – in fact, it's some great news. Stubborn sin comes in so many different forms. Have a quick listen to this list written by Paul the Apostle, a couple of thousand years ago. It comes from Galatians chapter 5, verses 19 to 21: "Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God." Some people are just naturally prone to being critical or argumentative. Some are locked into patterns of jealousy or sexually immorality. And in this world of 'anything goes', where cheating on your wife or your husband has been reduced to a lifestyle choice, it's easy for us to rationalise our particular form of stubborn sin away, as being just that. "Well, the world's moved on, you know – we think differ

  7. Jun 7

    Choose Your King // On Solid Ground, Part 4

    When the storms of life hit, as they do, right, what we do is that instinctively we grab a life vest, we look for a lifeline here on earth, a worldly solution if you will … instead of turning to the One who can calm the storm. So, you have to ask yourself then, who exactly is the Lord of our lives?   Just Like the Rest Over these last few weeks we have been looking at what it means to get our feet back on solid ground in life. You know, when we are going through storms we are bobbing around like a tiny little boat floundering on an angry sea and sometimes we don't know which way to head – which way is up, which way is down. All we want to do is put our feet back on solid ground. And it turns out that you don't always find that solid ground exactly where you expect to find it. And we have been exploring this whole idea of getting our feet on solid ground through the story of a humble woman called Hannah who honoured God and turned to Him in the midst of her storm - and at completely the other end of the scale, a priest called Eli and his sons Hophni and Phinehas. They were evil guys and they got their just rewards and the nation of Israel who struggled with their God. If you've got a Bible, grab it and open it up. Over these last three weeks we have been looking at the first seven chapters of the Book of First Samuel. Now First Samuel appears about a third of the way through the Old Testament. We are going to finish off that series today with the crux of what this is all about. We are going to have a look at the decision that ultimately determines whether our feet are on solid ground or not. It's a decision between the obvious and the not so obvious. What is it that you and I can decide to do that will absolutely ensure that no matter what comes our way, our feet are on solid ground? Now the pivot of this whole story – the contrast of Hannah on the one hand and Hophni and Phinehas and their dad, Eli, on the other – happens, if you remember the verse – if you have been with us over these last few weeks – in First Samuel chapter 2, verse 30, where God says: Those who honour Me, I will honour but those who despise Me will be treated with contempt. We are going to pick up that story today. The priests are dead, they've got their just rewards, Hannah's son – she couldn't have a son remember, but she now has a son, he is grown up – Samuel is the judge and the prophet and the leader over all Israel. Now that's a really important concept – they didn't have a King. All the other nations had a King but Israel did not because Israel's system of government was a theocracy – that meant that God was their King. And God appointed judges and prophets to declare His Word over the people of Israel. So He administered justice – this was Samuel – he was a prophet who declared the will of God and God was the King to the people. Now that was unique among the nations and as we saw over the last few weeks, when they honoured God; when they obeyed Him, that nations' feet were on solid ground. Now the story takes an interesting twist. We are going to pick it up in chapter 8 of the Book of First Samuel. Here's how it goes: When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel. The name of his first born son was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah and they were judges in Beer-sheba. Yet his sons didn't follow in his ways but turned aside after gain – they took bribes and perverted justice. Then all the elders of Israel came together and they came to Samuel at Ramah and they said to Samuel "You are old and your sons don't follow in your ways, appoint for us then, a King to govern over us like the other nations." But this displeased Samuel when they said "Give us a King to govern us. So Samuel prayed to the Lord and the Lord said to Samuel "Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being King over them. Just as they have done to Me from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this day, forsaking Me, serving other gods so also they are doing to you. Now then, listen to their voice – only you shall solemnly warn them and show the ways of the King who shall reign over them." So Samuel reported all the words of God to the people who were asking him for a King. He said these will be the ways of the King who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horse men and to run before his chariots and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties and some will plough his ground and reap his harvest and to make his implements of war and to make his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and your vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his courtiers. He will take one tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give them to his officers and his courtiers. He will take your male and female slaves and the best of your cattle and donkeys and put them to his work. He will take one tenth of your flocks and you shall be his slaves and in that day you will cry out because of your King whom you have chosen for yourselves but the Lord will not answer you in that day. But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel. They said "No, we are determined to have a King over us so that we may also be like the other nations and that our King may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles." Isn't that interesting? All this time you go right back to the slavery, when Israel was in slavery in Egypt and God released them through some major miracles and through the parting of the Red Sea and then into the Promised Land and they captured the Land, battle after battle. All this time it was a simple, simple principle that God honours those who honour Him. And God did and God won the battles for them and God delivered them. And now they reject their King, their God who is able and willing to bless them and to protect them. Why? Well, actually, first they blame Samuel's sons and no doubt there is something in that, but actually you find out the reason towards the end of that verse. Look again at the passage we have just read: verses 19 and 20 of chapter 8: But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel. They said "No, we are determined to have a King over us so that we also may be like other nations and that our King may govern us and go to battle and fight our battles for us." They wanted to be like all the other nations. Now, let's think about that. Israel is unique – God is their King, He promised them the Promised Land, He has the power to make it happen. Whenever they honour Him He does make it happen and yet they want to reject Him – why? So that they can be like all the other nations! Is that stupid or what? None of the other nations have an invincible god as their king so why do they want to be like the other nations? Because in the heat of the battle they want a king they can see – a king of flesh and blood! Their enemies have a king at the head of their army so they want one too and they are prepared to give up the perfect power of the King of Kings for a poor substitute so that they can have a king that they can see! How often do we do that? How often do we put our faith in things that we can see – in our investment portfolio to provide wealth is fine until the economy goes belly up, in our career, which is fine until our health fails, in other people, which is fine until they desert us or fail us? See when we hit a storm you know what we want to do? We want to reach out and put a life preserver on instead of go to the One who can stop the storm. We want something we can see and touch and feel, instead of putting our faith in the One whom we can't see. A favourite Scripture you hear people quote is Second Corinthians chapter 5, verse 7 that says "We walk by faith and not by sight" and that's great until the storm hits, when we will definitely go for something that we can see and touch and feel, ahead of someone we can only see by faith – we'll pick that anytime. And that's the point – when we step off solid ground onto a stormy ocean.   What's the Problem? Yea, just like Israel, we want to be just like everyone else some days; just normal, everyday people who put our faith in things that we can touch and feel. It is something the Apostle Paul rejected – have a listen – Second Corinthians chapter 5, beginning at verse 1. He says: We know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, if indeed, when we have taken it off, we will not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan under our burden because we wish not to be unclothed but to be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing, is God, who has given us His Spirit as a guarantee so we are always confident, even though we know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith not by sight. Yes, we do have confidence and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. See, here Paul is talking about the struggle between the temporal and the eternal – between what we can see and what we can't see. And Paul is saying "Look, I have got a body; I've got a tent but one day that is going to pass away and my faith isn't in the "here and now" – my faith is in God – I walk by faith not by sight." It's about where he puts his confidence. Now, let me tell you how easy it is to appoint an earthly King, like what Israel was trying to do and to reject the King of Kings – even when we are out and about doing God's work. This ministry that I am involved in, Christianityworks, i

  8. May 31

    Pushing God Away // On Solid Ground, Part 3

    It's so easy to look at God and come to the conclusion, well I want that part of Him – but not that part. And definitely not that bit. It seems that all too often, we want Him on our terms rather than His. But God just doesn't work that way.   Take it Back Have you ever wanted something in life – I mean really, really, really wanted it and then when you finally get it, you just want to give it back? I think we have all experienced that at some point and you know, I think that for some people, it can be the case with God. I know people, lots of people, who hunger to be close to God. I know there are people listening today – maybe you are one of them – and all their lives they have wanted God – whatever that means. But can I tell you something? Even something really good – I mean really, really good like God, well, it can be a shock to the system and the reason is that we have these idealised, unrealistic notions of what that good thing will be like. Take the young woman who wants more than anything else, to be married and she meets her knight in shining armour, she marries him and a year later she is wondering, "What happened to all my ideas of romance 24/7?" Today on the programme we are going to take a look at some people who got God and couldn't wait to give Him back. Now over these last few weeks we have been working our way through the story of Hannah and Eli and his sons in the Book of First Samuel. And the crux of it is that Hannah honours God but Eli and his sons don't and the turning point of the whole story comes in the verse First Samuel – if you have a Bible, grab it, open it up here in First Samuel chapter 2, verse 30. God says: I will honour those who honour Me but those who despise Me, will be treated with contempt. And we have seen how the central reality of that verse has played itself out in the lives of Hannah, who was blessed when she couldn't have a son and she honoured God and God gave her a son Samuel and the opposite is Eli and his sons Hophni and Phinehas who didn't honour God and were greatly punished, in fact they lost their lives because of that. This story plays its self out in the storms of life. I mean Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, they were the priests; they should have been bringing God's people close to God yet they were living life of Riley, as we saw last week on the programme. And God had them killed. They're job was to bring people close to God and yet they were not honouring Him. Instead they had led Israel to a place of defeat. We saw last week in First Samuel chapter 4 where the Philistines attacked, Israel thinks "Oh well, God is always on our side – we will go to battle" and they had a huge defeat – thirty thousand of their soldiers were killed. The Ark of the Covenant, the presence of God itself, was captured by the Philistines. See the Ark of the Covenant was where God actually sat in the midst of His people. You see that in the journey through the Exodus – forty years in the Tent of the Meeting and later on in the temple. The Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies; it is the very presence of God. And strangely, you know, when the Philistines are close to capturing the Ark they kind of realise, with a sense of foreboding, what this is about. It says in First Samuel that: When they learned that the Ark of the Lord had entered the camp of the Israelites, the Philistines were afraid. "A god has come into their camp" they said "we are in trouble. Nothing like that has ever happened before. Woe to us. Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods?" And so it goes on … Well, it turns out that they should have followed their instincts. Today we are going to look and see what happens to the Philistines and to the Israelites when the presence of God comes close to them. Let's have a look at it. If you've got a Bible, open it up at First Samuel chapter 5, we are going to begin the story at verse 1. After the Philistines had captured the Ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. Then they carried the Ark into Dagon's temple and set it beside Dagon. When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, their god, who had fallen flat on his face on the ground before the Ark of the Lord. They took Dagon and put him back in his place. The following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the Ark of the Lord. His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold – only his body remained. That is why to this very day, neither the priests of Dagon or any of the others who enter Dagon's temple in Ashdod, step on the threshold. The Lord's hand was heavy upon the people of Ashdod and its vicinity. He brought devastation upon them and afflicted them with tumours. When the men of Ashdod saw what was happening they said "The Ark of the God of Israel mustn't stay here with us because His hand is heavy upon us and upon Dagon our god." So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and ask them "What are we going to do with this Ark of the God of Israel?" And they answered "Have the Ark of the God of Israel moved to Gath." So they moved the Ark of the God of Israel but after they had moved it, the Lord's hand was against that city, throwing it into great panic. He afflicted the people of the city, both young and old, with an outbreak of tumours so they sent the Ark of God on to Ekron. As the Ark of God was entering Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out "They have brought that Ark of the God of Israel around to kill us and our people." So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and said "Send that Ark of the God of Israel away. Let it go back to its own place or it will kill us and our people," for death had filled the city with panic and God's hand was very heavy upon it. Those who did not die were afflicted with tumours and the outcry of the city went up to heaven. Do you see? The Philistines looked like they had won and yet they take the presence of God; the Ark of the Covenant, they put it in their temple next to their god and Dagon falls down, face down in front of the God of Israel. And the second time his head and his hands are cut off and then wherever they took the Ark of the Covenant, the impact of God, as a captive in their midst, was devastating – they got tumours, we will see later, there were plagues of mice. They had captured God – in human terms, they had won but you know what they had forgotten, in fact they had never realised it in the first place? God is not subject to people – God is not someone you can capture and stick in your temple. He is not someone you can tame and subdue. Why are we talking about this stuff today? Because you and I, deep down, we try and tame and subdue God – we try and swing Him around to our way of thinking; to meet our needs. We put Him in the temple of our choice; we put Him in the town and the city of our choice. You know what happens when we try to do that? We discover exactly what the Philistines discovered – we discover that God is not someone you can push around. "Well, I'll just take this God and He'll bless me whenever I want Him to." Ok, we can't see Him! Our present circumstances perhaps, appear much more powerful than Him but if we want to have our feet on solid ground, amidst the storms of life, (that's what we have been talking about over these last few weeks) we look at this maelstrom of the storm; the battle between the Philistines and the Israelites – thirty thousand Israelites killed because they didn't honour their God. Who appeared to win? Who should have been, according to our simple human expectations, on solid ground? The Philistines – they won the war. They captured Israel's God but who they captured was the God who created the entire universe – not some idol; not some tin pot little god. They captured God and He wrought destruction upon them because they tried to subdue God. So much so they couldn't wait to get rid of Him. Do you get it? When we try to take God by force – force of argument, force of opinion, force of anything – anything that doesn't recognise Him for who He is – watch out! There are so many people playing "church". There are so many people playing at being Christians; playing at religion, putting God here, putting God there. That's not what it is about. As Dagon found out, the only way you honour God is when you bow down before Him because of who He is – the sovereign God, above every name and every power and every authority in heaven and earth. That's what Hannah discovered; that's what Eli discovered; that's what Israel discovered and that's what the Philistines discovered, the hard way. You can't have God on your own terms. You can only have Him on His terms.   We Don't Want Him Well, the Philistines finally came to their senses. They realised they couldn't have God on their terms. They had a choice – you either accept God on His terms or you get rid of Him. So they decided to send Him back from whence He came. Now, let's have a look at how they did that. We are going to pick this up in First Samuel – grab your Bible – First Samuel chapter 6, beginning at verse 1 – it's a great story. When the Ark of the Lord had been with the Philistines for seven months, they called for the priests and the diviners and they said "What are we going to do with this Ark of the Lord? Tell us how we should send it back to its place." They answered "If you return the Ark of the God of Israel, don't send it away empty, but by all means, send a guilt offering to Him then you will be healed and you will know why His hand has not been lifted from you." The Philistines ask "What guilt offering should we send Him?" and they replied "Five gold tumours and five gold rats, according to the number of Philistine rulers because the same plague has struck both you and your rulers. Make models of the tumours and of the rats that are destr

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There is such incredible power in God's Word! Power to change. Power to make an impact in this world. That's what Christianityworks is all about – in depth teaching straight out of God's Word. Join Berni Dymet as he opens God's Word to discover what God has to say into your life, today.

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