THESE ARE NOT NORMAL TIMES

To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: Ecclesiastes 3:1
In peaceful times only unbalanced people will be obsessed with disasters. 

• There are people who cannot be happy without extreme drama. There are fire fighters who start fires to create excitement and pose as heroes.

The Old Testament prophets warned Israel and Judah about their sins. They warned of disaster to come if they did not repent. 

• They were ridiculed as mad trouble makers but they were right.

In the 1930's Winston Churchill was warning Britain of the threat from Nazi Germany. He urged Britain to prepare for war. 

• It was not long before he was proved right but for several years he was seen as a dangerous extremist. 

The Prime Minister of Britain from 1937 to 1940 was Neville Chamberlain, a religious idealist who believed in human goodness. 

• He was a man of peace who believed he could keep peace with Hitler by diplomacy. 
• The doctrine of Neville Chamberlain from 1937 to 1939 was “land for peace”. It didn’t work.

When Chamberlain was finally forced to declare war in 1939, Britain was not prepared and Hitler succeeded in conquering most of Europe. Britain came dangerously close to defeat.

Events proved Churchill right and in May 1940 Winston Churchill became the Prime Minister of Britain, the leader of the British Empire and the champion Christian civilization’s resistance against the evil coming from Berlin.

Business as usual can be a good policy in peaceful times but a very dangerous policy in an emergency.

• We must be ready to respond urgently in a crisis. Like Winston Churchill we must  recognise emergencies before it is too late.

It is very good to learn from history but we must also live in the present, not in the past.

• There are some people who still see Germany as a bad nation and a potential enemy. This is quite wrong and very unjust! The enemy today is not Germany. 
• The Nazi spirit is alive and menacingly powerful in militant Islam, not only in Iraq and Afghanistan but in fanatical groups in Europe and America. 

But the enemy is not only fanatical Islam. 

The enemy is also in our own society, in the decline of our own culture, in the indifference to the love and truth of God all around us and sometimes in our own hearts. 

These are not normal times. Moral corruption and extreme violence are increasing alarmingly around the world. 

• The news is full of terrorism, random brutality and civil wars. 
• It seems strange that so many people today do not believe in a real personal devil, the Prince of Darkness and his legions of demons. 
• Your Muslim neighbours are not the enemy but rather the spirits of darkness.

As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

• For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 

• and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. 

• That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Matthew 24:37-39 (NIV)

In the book of Genesis, the days or Noah are described rather differently.

The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. Genesis 6:11-12 (NKJV) 

We see the same opposite trends in today’s world. We see horrific crisis and complacent business as usual. 

Will you listen to the voice of Jesus?

• Will you hear the urgent call of His Spirit and enter into His presence, so He can use us as His messengers.

And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.

• But he who endures to the end shall be saved. 

• And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. Matthew 24:12-14 (NKJV) 

HOW DOES GOD FEEL?

If you are a mother or a father with a heart for your children, you know what it means to be vulnerable. 

• When your children suffer, you suffer. 

• If your son or daughter has ever run away from home, been addicted to drugs or gone missing, you know what anguish can be. 

Jesus is respected by millions around the world as a great teacher and prophet but this is not what Jesus said.

Jesus said he was sent by Father God to show us what our heavenly Father is like. 

God is not a remote creator and judge, as Mohammed taught. Mohammed taught Allah is NOT a father and Allah has no son and no children. The Qur’an pronounces a curse on all who believe Jesus is the Son of God.

Jesus taught something quite different.

Jesus prayed to God as his Father.

After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: "Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.

• For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.
• Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. John 17:1-3 (NIV) 

The ancient Greeks, like the Hindus of today, believed in many gods. Like the ancient Greeks, Hindus believe some of these gods have visited the earth in human form.

But Jesus was different. 

He was born as a human baby but claimed to be the only son of the one and only supreme God.

No one has ever seen God. But the one and only Son is himself God and is near to the Father’s heart. 

He has revealed God to us. John 1:18 (NLT) 

Only Jesus revealed God as the supreme creator who is also a supremely loving Father.

... the Father himself loves you dearly because you love me and believe that I came from God. John 16:27 (NLT) 

The Father in Heaven gave his only son to reveal his love and truth to his lost children, including you and me.

Jesus always acted with love and compassion for suffering men and women.

The Apostle Peter summed up the practical love of Jesus in these few words.

You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. 

 You know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached-- 

 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him. Acts 10:36-38 (NIV)

If you are a heartbroken mother or father, God understands your pain because it is also His pain. 

• He wants you to know Him as your Father who also loves your children. 

If you are a young person abandoned by your parents or a wife rejected by your husband, God wants you to know He watched His son Jesus dying in agony on the cross, a victim of cruel religious leaders.

God is not the supreme puppet master who determines everything. 

• He has given you and me freedom to choose. 
• That is why this world is a mess, because of the bad choices of  men and women, including you and me.

You must choose what to believe and who to trust. 

• Will you decide to trust in the Father in Heaven who loves you enough to sacrifice His only Son Jesus for you?

Jesus suffered and died on the cross but he did not stay dead.Three days later he returned from the grave. Death could not defeat the eternal Son of God.

"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;

• and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" John 11:25-26 (NIV) 

SUPERNATURAL LOVE

But you, dear friends, BUILD YOURSELVES UP in YOUR most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. 
Keep YOURSELVES in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Jude 1:20-21 (NIV) 

It is so important to build YOURSELF up in your faith. So many of us depend too much on others for spiritual inspiration. This is a mark of spiritual immaturity but many Christians have been like this for years and years.

• It is not wrong to ask a pastor or evangelist to pray for you. I do at times. 
• But the Bible speaks again and again about YOUR faith, YOUR prayer, YOUR devotion.

These two verses speak about YOUR holy faith, YOUR prayer in the Holy Spirit, YOUR experience of the Love of God, YOUR expectation of the mercy of Jesus Christ and YOUR possession and experience of eternal life.

I love meetings where the blessing of the Holy Spirit flows and I my faith is inspired by the faith of others.

• But neither Jesus nor Paul ever described the Christian life as a series of meetings.

You can be so busy attending meetings, that you have little time or energy left for quality time with God or quality time helping and reaching people outside the church.

Does this mean fellowship is not important?

• Is it only about “ME AND JESUS”?

That is going from one extreme to the other.

Jude addresses his readers as DEAR FRIENDS.

The foundation of really fruitful Christian life is deep loving relationships, firstly with God and secondly with other believers and not only believers in your own church. 

Many Christians experience pressure to attend lots of meetings and conform to the expectations of church leaders. 

• This kind of pressure often leads to busyness and conformity but not spontaneous love or deep friendship. 

• Over organised church programmes can produce shallow relationships.

If you transfer from one church to another, some people who were friendly to you in your former church may no longer be interested in you.

• This pattern of church life is not Christian at all. 
• It is superficial sectarian religion and it does enormous damage.

On two occasions I visited churches where I had once been a member.

• In one, the pastor greeted me with cold politeness. 
• In the second, the pastor greeted me with spontaneous enthusiasm, as a dear brother. Here we see dead churchianity and true Christianity.

If you belong to Jesus, ALL Christians are your brothers and sisters.What gives true power to Christianity? 

By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." John 13:35 (NKJV) 

• Where does this love come from?

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 (NKJV) 

• Jesus did not dies only for you or for members of your church but for ALL, for every human being on the planet and for ALL Christians.

This love is supernatural.

Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Romans 5:5 (NKJV) 

How do you know this supernatural love is active in your life?

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 1 John 3:16 (NIV)

Do you actively love, serve and care for other Christians?

Do you see Christians in different churches and traditions as your dear brothers and sisters?

• If not, why not?

Is it because they believe differently, pray differently, teach differently and think differently?

Who are you to judge your brother or sister?

Who are you to judge another's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand. Romans 14:4 (NKJV) 

God is the judge and He loves everyone who trusts in Jesus.You and I cannot be right about everything.

For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 1 Corinthians 13:9 (NKJV) 

And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. 

But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him. 1 Corinthians 8:2-3 (NKJV) 

 

ARE ALL CALLED TO PROPHESY?

Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. 1 Corinthians 14:1 (NASB) 

• If you are not experiencing and enjoying God’s love for you every day, your Christianity can become a dead religion. 

GOD IS LOVE.

So many of us live at this level of dead religion, that the world has started to believe that one religion is as good as another. 
This is tragic.

God sent His only eternal Son to live as a man on this earth to show us what He is like.

When Jesus lived as a human like us on earth, He loved the Bible and studied the Hebrew scriptures but He never descended to the level of being a mere religious expert. 

He loved to spend time in the presence of His Heavenly Father.

When Jesus began preaching, He always faithfully explained the Scriptures. He believed the Bible was the Word of God but He didn’t just teach Bible courses, as many do today.

When the devil tempted Jesus to turn stones into bread, Jesus relied on the Scriptures to resist the devil.

And the tempter came and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." But He answered and said, "It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.'" Mt 4:3-4 (NASB) 

Jesus was quoting the Hebrew scripture but He was also teaching spiritual truth.

We do not sustain our spiritual life only by reading and knowing what the Bible says.

• Jesus speaks of “every word that PROCEEDS (or IS PROCEEDING) out of the mouth of God.”

• The Bible is not just a collection of more or less inspired religious texts but the FULLY INSPIRED WORD, which proceeds out of the mouth of God Himself. 

• But Jesus did not just rely on the written text which was inspired when it was written. He listened to the Spirit of His Father who inspired the Bible writers.

If your spiritual ears are not open to hear the voice of God speaking through His words, you are in danger of living a dead religious life. 

Jesus never relied only on the inspired written text but always listened to the WORDS PROCEEDING (NOW) FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD.

Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? 

The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. John 14:10 (NIV)  

Jesus was the eternal Son of God before He was born in Bethlehem. When He lived as a man on earth, He did not stop being God but He chose to live with the limitations of human flesh. 

• He relied on the Spirit of Father God living inside Him. 

• He listened to God to know what to do and how to speak.

Bible knowledge alone cannot tell you when to correct and when to encourage. Every person you meet is unique and every situation is different.

We are called to FOLLOW JESUS, to be like Him, to live like Him.That means loving the Bible and learning to know the scriptures. But don’t stop there.

Jesus lived a totally supernatural life, constantly aware of the presence of the Spirit of His Father who lived inside Him, inside His body, in union with His Spirit and His soul.

• You are called to live in the same way, filled with the Holy Spirit, hearing the voice of God in your spirit every day, following the supernatural inspiration and leading of the Holy Spirit, hearing what God says to you and sharing God’s inspirational encouragement with others.

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. John 10:27 (NIV) 

Jesus does not say His exceptional holy ones will hear His voice but His sheep, all His followers.

"'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. 

Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Acts 2:17 (NIV) 

Peter does not say “your pastors and leaders will prophesy” but rather YOUR SONS AND DAUGHTERS WILL PROPHESY, your grandchildren, your young converts, your church members.

WHAT WILL WE DO IN HEAVEN? PART ONE

I love travelling and I am good at languages but in heaven there will be no language barriers.

• There will be no sickness or toothache in Heaven. What will doctors and dentists do?

• In Heaven the best housewives will have nothing to clean.

• In Heaven there is no need for accountants, lawyers, police officers or prison guards.                     

• Pastors will not be needed because Jesus will be our Shepherd there.

• Evangelists will have no unbelievers to convert.

• Mother Teresa will have no poor people to feed.

So what will we do? Just sing spiritual songs? 

Jesus told a story about talents. A master gave his servant two talents and the servant invested them wisely.

"The man with the two talents also came. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.' "His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! 

• You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. 

• Come and share your master's happiness!' Mt 25:22-23 (NIV) 

In this life God has given you abilities and opportunities. Sometimes these involve great achievement and fulfilment but there is also often a lot of responsibility which can be stressful, boring or unpleasant.

In the Kingdom of Heaven which is still to come, God will reward your faithfulness with your talents and give you even more responsibilities 

• but He will take away the boredom and frustration.

In Proverbs Chapter 8 we see a picture of Jesus in happy partnership with the Father, working together to create the universe.

Proverbs 8:22-31 (NKJV) 

22  "The LORD possessed me at the beginning of His way, Before His works of old. 

23  I have been established from everlasting, From the beginning, before there was ever an earth. 

24  When there were no depths I was brought forth, When there were no fountains abounding with water. 

25  Before the mountains were settled, Before the hills, I was brought forth; 

26  While as yet He had not made the earth or the fields, Or the primeval dust of the world. 

27  When He prepared the heavens, I was there, When He drew a circle on the face of the deep, 

28  When He established the clouds above, When He strengthened the fountains of the deep, 

29  When He assigned to the sea its limit, So that the waters would not transgress His command, When He marked out the foundations of the earth, 

30  Then I was beside Him as a master craftsman; And I was daily His delight, Rejoicing always before Him, 

31  Rejoicing in His inhabited world, And my delight was with the sons of men. 

The Kingdom of Heaven is here and now, alive within every believer. 

• If you are a believer and a follower of Jesus, God has appointed you to be His partner on earth, working with His Spirit and representing His eternal Son here and now. 

• We are called to help establish the Kingdom of God on earth and to prepare the way for the return of Jesus Christ.

But the Kingdom of Heaven or the Kingdom of God will one day be totally fulfilled.

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Revelation 21:1 (NKJV) 

But this will not be the end. 

We will sing love songs to God but there will also be much more to do.

Your Dreams are Keys

When people say untrue things about you and you believe them, you begin to build a false identity. Your understanding of yourself is not based on reality. 

• Maybe you are intelligent but you had learning difficulties at school. Your parents or teachers said you were not very smart and you believed them.

• There are also parents who idolise their oldest or youngest child. He grows up thinking he is a genius who knows better than everybody else. How sad!

• A girl who grew up in a very dysfunctional family. She had serious emotional problems and her parents told her she was schizophrenic. As a young adult she saw a good psychiatrist. After careful assessment, the psychiatrist confidently assured her she was not schizophrenic at all.

• Supposing a very intelligent person goes through troubled times and cries out to God. He joins an apparently dynamic Bible based church and God begins to help him with his serious problems. This young convert has a good education, a lively imagination and a God given gift for bold, creative, original and sometimes critical thinking. 

• The first church he joins is rigid and authoritarian. Conformity and passive submission is expected and often harshly enforced. The young convert is told he is rebellious, proud and demonised. 

• If he accepts the teachings of the religious preacher, he believes a mixture of truth and lies. He no longer knows who he is.

God sees you differently.If you are a truly converted believer in Jesus Christ, you may be assured that:You are a son or daughter of the living God.God loves you with all of His heart.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV) 

God made you as you are and He never makes junk. 

• Not only that but what you see in yourself now is only a pale shadow of the wonderful person God sees you as, a man or woman created in the image of the glorious eternal God Himself.

But Bible truth alone is not enough. You must come to know the ONE who stand behind His promises.

• If you learn to know God personally, He can teach you who He is and who you are. 

If you only know what other people teach about God, your faith can become a copy of someone else’s thinking rather than the personal adventure of discovery that God wants you to have. If you base your life on other people’s thoughts, you cannot fully understand who God is or who you are.

• Even good Bible teaching or accurate prophecy is not enough by itself. 
• Heavenly truth is like a seed. You must learn to apply it to your life and situation. 

Only the Holy Spirit Himself can make the good seed grow in you the way God intends. Only with God can you discover who you really are.

God made every one of His sons and daughters for a unique purpose. You are not a copy of any other believer, nor should you try to be one.

One key to finding release from this prison of unknowing is our dreaming, our daydreams and secret desires.

We can see this clearly in two Bible characters.

• Saul was a young Jewish scholar who dreamed of becoming a great rabbi. He was a champion of the truth and righteousness of God. He hated and persecuted the Christians but when he was converted, he became the great theologian and apostle of the New Covenant of faith and grace. 

• His original dream was not entirely wrong. It was a God given clue to his destiny.

Moses dreamed of liberating his captive Hebrew countrymen but he got it wrong. He killed an Egyptian and was seen by both Egyptians and Hebrew as a murderer. His dream was from God but he needed to be changed by God, so he could fulfil his dream WITH God.

• God has created you. You have dreams and desires. 

• Why not ask God to shine His light on your secret dreams and reveal the true purpose of your life?

GOD LOVES REJECTED PEOPLE

The Father gave His only son Jesus for ALL mankind. In return, the Father wants to give ALL mankind to Jesus. 

Why do not all come to Jesus? 

All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. John 6:37 (NKJV)  

Does God only draw some to Himself and to His Son?

• NO. 

Jesus said:
And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw ALL people to myself.” John 12:32 (ESV) 

Jesus was lifted up from the earth on the cross, when He willingly died to pay the penalty for our sin, to receive the punishment for our rejection of our loving God because we chose to live as though He did not love and care for us.

Jesus died but He did not stay dead.

• After three days in the grave, He was bodily raised up from the grave by the Holy Spirit.

• He spent 40 days encouraging and teaching His followers before He was raised up from the earth again. 

While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. Luke 24:51 (ESV) 

The heart of the Father is to save every one of His lost children. 

• Without Jesus in your life, you are separated from God by your own choice because you have chosen not to live in the Father love of God. 

• You have lost your right to be called a son or daughter of God.

• God is the source and giver of all life and goodness. 

• If you die without Jesus, you will still exist and you will experience the darkness and emptiness of death for ever.

If you are not enjoying the love and forgiveness of God but you are reading these words, God is speaking to you calling you to come to Jesus.

• God sent His son into the world to restore everyone to Himself but He was rejected and put to death.

• It is the same today. 

• He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, John 1:10,12 (ESV) 

Why did God do this? Because GOD IS LOVE. 

He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1 John 4:8 (NKJV) 

God’s plan is that you would find His love in a church but sadly this sometimes does not happen. 

• If you have not found the love of Jesus in a church, don’t give up on God. 

• If churches have rejected you, Jesus has not stopped loving you.

All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. John 6:37 (NKJV)  

If you come to Jesus by watching Christian TV or reading the Bible alone, God is loving you and not casting you out. If you are an isolated believer in Jesus, God wants something better for you.

And the LORD God said, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him." Genesis 2:18 (NKJV) 

If you are a man or woman who is following Jesus alone, God is proud of you for not giving up on His Son but He wants you to have human companionship. 

Ask Him to lead you into Christian friendship. 

• This is more important than marriage. Marriage can be a blessing or a curse.
• This is more important than going to church or joining an organisation.
• Churches can be loving or they can destroy love.

But one great truth remains. 

Jesus is with you if you love Him and He is very powerfully present when two or three believers come together because they love Him.

• I pray that you will know the love of Jesus.

• I pray that you will find a loving church.

• I pray that you will enjoy loving family life.

• But even if you do not find a loving church or family, I pray that you will discover the blessing of believing friendship.

For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them." Matthew 18:20 (NKJV) 

GOD IS CALLING YOU

In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus likens the Kingdom of God to a wedding feast. 

A king sends out servants to invite suitably prominent people to attend the wedding of his son. 

Every person on the guest list declines the invitation. All said they were too busy with their own personal lives.

One had just bought some land. Another had just bought some oxen and a third had just got married.

The King then sends out his servants to invite everyone and anyone, both good and bad, to come to the wedding.

This is clearly an illustration of evangelism, in which God sends out His messengers to invite people to believe in Jesus. The first round of invitations went to people on a select guest list. Jesus told this story to his fellow Jews and Matthew’s Gospel was written mainly for Jews. 

The Jews were the chosen people, the first people to be invited to the Kingdom but the majority of them refused, particularly the prominent Jews and religious leaders. 

This should not make us anti-Jewish, because Jesus Himself was a Jew and so were most of the first generation of Christian leaders.

THE NEXT INVITATIONS WENT TO THE PEOPLE IN THE STREET, TO EVERYONE.

Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’

• And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. 

So the wedding hall was filled with guests. Matthew 22:9-10 (ESV)

The majority of believers in the early church were common people although there were notable exceptions, such as Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea and later prominent Gentiles like Lydia, a rich businesswoman in Greece, the first Christian leader in European history. 

When Jesus invites us to receive eternal life, He does not prefer rich, intelligent, religious, respectable or morally upright people.

• Everyone is invited. 
• Everyone is called. 

Everyone is welcome because everyone is loved by God.

John 3:16-17 (NLT) 
16  “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 

God loves the world, which means everyone in the world.

17  God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. 

God wants to save the world, which can only mean everyone.

But did the Son of God really die for everyone? 

• Did he die for Judas Iscariot, King Herod, Osama Bin Laden, Hitler and Stalin?

Jesus taught us to love our enemies and He practised what He preached. 

As He died on the cross, He cried out to the Heavenly Father.

Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." ... Luke 23:34 (NIV) 

The Apostles Peter, John and Paul plainly tell us that Jesus died for all and that God wants to save everyone.

• ...He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9 (NIV) 

• He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 2:2 (NIV) 

For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

• who gave himself as a ransom for all men ... 1 Timothy 2:5-6 (NIV) 

For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour,

• who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 1 Timothy 2:3-4 (NKJV)

In John’s Gospel, Jesus says He intended to die to save everyone.

But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." John 12:32 (NIV) 

• The original Greek does not say all men or all peoples (NKJV) but simply ALL. 

Don’t say no to God.

• By rejecting Jesus, you reject God and in the end you reject life itself.

This story of Jesus shows that you have a choice and God will respect your choice, everlasting life or endless misery and darkness.

YOU ARE FREE TO CHOOSE LIFE

If we want to understand the Bible, the best place to begin is by reading the Bible.

The most important person in the Bible is God.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1 (ESV) 

And God saw everything that he had made, 

• and behold, it was very good... Genesis 1:31 (ESV) 

God is perfectly and infinitely good and there is no evil in him. 

Because God is totally good, everything he made was good in itself and he will never do anything that is not completely good.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. James 1:17 (ESV) 

However, when we look at our world and our own lives, we see a massive black hole. Where does all this evil come from?

The answer is in Genesis 1, 2 and 3. The answer is not expressed as a theological statement but in the form of a story. 

Then God said, 

"Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion ..... over all the earth ....

So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Genesis 1:26-27 (NKJV) 

God created Adam and Eve in His own image, with His own perfect character, good in every way, not contaminated by evil. 

Adam and Eve were to be the representatives of God on earth.

• God was (and is) good. Adam and Eve were good.

• God was (and is)  the ruler of His creation. Adam and Eve were created and appointed to rule over the earth.

• God is eternal, without beginning or end. Adam and Eve were created immortal.    

Not only were they immortal but there was no such thing as sickness or death on the earth in the beginning. 
Nevertheless, God sees the end from the beginning. Before there was evil in the world, God spoke about evil.

And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. 

The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, 

• and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 2:9 (ESV) 

Before death came into being, God spoke about it.

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 

• but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Genesis 2:16-17 (ESV) 

Why did God allow evil to enter His totally good creation.

• There is only one logical answer and it is not mysteriously hidden in the majestic counsels of a sovereign heavenly dictator (as God is sometimes portrayed by confused theologians). 

The logical answer is clearly implied in the creation story and it is so plain that a little child can understand it.

God gave Adam and Eve a choice.

• Either they would trust his word and obey him or they would eat the forbidden fruit and suffer death.

The reason for evil is that God values freedom so much, that he gave human beings the freedom to choose to love Him or to turn away from Him.

There is no conflict between Divine Sovereignty and human free will. 

Why?

Because God created humans in His own image and likeness. God is the ultimate decision maker, so He has also given us the power of free choice. 

• This is the sovereign decree of God Himself.

Creation is the result of His free choice to bring the heavens and the earth into being, together with all the angels and the human race.

When Adam and Eve chose evil, God chose to forgive them and to restore the entire fallen human race.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 (ESV) 

But clearly not all are restored, only those who choose to believe and are willing to come back to their loving creator.

HUNGRY FOR REALITY

Who or what is God? Who am I? What is truth?

So many people are so confused. 
If you pick up a magazine, you see articles about UFO’s and advertisements for fortune tellers, psychics or astrologers. 

There has to be something more, something or someone out there. 

There is great confusion all around but also a deep hunger for spiritual reality. 

Fifty years ago, socialist atheism was very popular. The supernatural dimension of life was explained away as primitive superstition. There was a great power struggle between Socialist Atheism and Democratic Capitalism. 

The news media are full of politics and economics but our hearts are sick and our souls are left empty.

• You and I long for a sense of supernatural reality, to know there is something waiting for you after you die. You go to a funeral and people talk with a vague wishful longing about what that special someone is thinking up there. 
• People are hungry for adventure, so they do crazy and dangerous things that put them in wheelchairs. 
• The tame orderliness of our materialist society is driving us crazy. 
• Plasma TV screens and super fast internet create fleeting glimpses of superficial excitement. 
• But hi tech entertainment cannot compensate for the frustration of senseless red tape, control freaks in work places, broken family relationships and lives without purpose. 

What is the answer? 

The traditional Christian explanation is sin. What is sin? Turning away from the only true God.

• The trouble is, that people look at Christians and often they do not see enough supernatural drama to make them think this God is worth turning back to.

• Unfortunately there are some Churches like food companies that sell tasteless milk with water added.

Why don’t you read the story of Jesus for yourself? Jesus was never boring or mediocre.

• Jesus went to a wedding and turned water into wine. 

• Jesus went to funerals and bodies came to life.

• Jesus went to “church” (the Jewish synagogue) and scandalised the leaders by performing healing miracles in deliberate defiance of the rules and doctrine of his day, and he did it over and over again.

• Jesus met a demon possessed maniac and instantly transformed him into a sane and immensely influential evangelist.

Many churches today don’t want to have their tame routines interrupted by people screaming as demons are driven out of them.

• I know a man who interrupted church routines by healing sick people and he had to leave his church. 

• Real Christianity can and will dramatically show people who Jesus really is.

• Everywhere there are also Christians in churches and not in churches, believers who long to rediscover real Christianity.

There are real followers of Jesus today who do what Jesus did, making friends with social outcasts and prostitutes, visiting suicidal people and loving them back to a life of hope and meaning.

• I know a group of women in Germany who decided to do something about human trafficking. They regularly visited brothels and in one year they helped four women escape from prostitution and return to their homes and families.

For the last few years I have been involved with a church where we expect the unexpected and we are not disappointed. 

I have a friend who sacrificed his life to show people the love of Jesus. He spent his savings preaching and teaching about Jesus in a poor country and he died before his time, exhausted. 

 Before he died, he was ministering in a small church. He spoke to a girl who came to church and he asked her if she was happy. She said she was a Hindu and he said she was welcome. He gave her a New Testament to read. She read it and was impressed but did not understand many things. 

One night Jesus walked into her room and told her to pick up a pen and paper. She wrote the message Jesus gave her and she became a believer.

Jesus is the Eternal Creator, the Son of the Heavenly Father.

• If you meet Him personally, your life will never be the same again.
• Why not ask Him to come to you and show you who He really is?

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. Matthew 7:7 (NIV) 

ARE YOUR FEET BEAUTIFUL?

When did Jesus wash the feet of His disciples? 

• It was just before he walked out to the Garden of Gethsemane where He was arrested. 
• From there He walked to His trial and then to His execution where His feet were nailed to a cross.

After that Jesus died and was buried in a tomb. 

• After three days He returned walked along the dusty road to Emmaus with two disciples. 
• Later He walked into the room to visit His disciples. 
• He walked straight through the door as though it was not there. 

After that Jesus spent 40 days with His disciples, walking with them as He had done before the cross.

• But the day came when Jesus was taken up into Heaven. 

• Before He left them, Jesus gave them a command to go. They did not have horses or chariots but they had feet and they went.

He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Mark 16:15 (NIV) 

• The King James Version says EVERY CREATURE.
• In Ancient Greek, the word for CREATION could also mean human cities built by men.

...God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who WENT ABOUT doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. Acts 10:38 (NKJV) 

• If you drive to church, you do well but if you have new neighbours, do you walk to their front door with a cake or a bunch of flowers?
• If you see a beggar in the city, do you walk across the road to talk to him?
• When you see a lonely person at a party, you can walk across the room to start a conversation.

Abraham was the Father of our faith and our example. He heard the command of God to GO and he WENT.

He left Iraq and walked to Syria and from Syria he walked to Israel. Then he walked up and down the Holy Land when he was well over 70 years old. As he went, he prayed and worshipped God and people SAW his faith.

• If nobody sees your faith are you a follower of Jesus? 

• Jesus did not just say BELIEVE. He said FOLLOW ME. To follow Jesus in those days, you needed to WALK with Him and it is still so today.

The Apostle Paul walked from city to city to take the Good News of Jesus Christ to men and women who had never heard. As he went, he prayed. How did he pray?

What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding. 1 Corinthians 14:15 (NKJV) 

• I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all; 1 Corinthians 14:18 (NKJV)

Paul’s target for mission was cities and towns. He was a busy man, working as a tent maker and preaching and teaching. 

How could the busy apostle find time to pray in tongues more than any of the enthusiastic tongue speaking Pentecostals in Corinth? 

Part of the answer is this: PRAYER WALKING.

• As Paul walked to a meeting, he prayed in tongues.

• As Paul walked from one town to the next, he prayed in tongues.

For Paul, faith meant WALKING.

Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And WALK IN LOVE, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. Ephesians 5:1-2 (NKJV) 

When the Jewish High Priest killed and burnt a lamb to atone for the sins of Israel, the burning flesh was a sweet smell to God because He delighted to have mercy.

• God’s justice demands the death penalty for all sin.

Jesus walked to His execution as the sacrificial Lamb of God. He paid the penalty for my sin and your sin. 

• Will you walk with Him and GO to your neighbours?

• Will you buy a ticket, fly to the nations and walk the streets of foreign cities?

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news... Isaiah 52:7 (NIV) 

SET THE SLAVES FREE. RELEASE THE PROSTITUTES.

O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save? Habakkuk 1:2 (ESV) 

• Every day we see reports of murders, assaults and suicide bombings. 

• Every day we read reports of the world’s fastest growing industry, the abduction of women and children for sexual slavery. 

• Millions are bullied and drugged while men line up to rape the victims over and over again.

If a woman is attacked in her home, we see it on the TV news but in every city there are brothels, prisons where serial rape is a daily business.

• So does God hear our prayers? 
• Was Habakkuk right when he thought God was not listening?

Nearly ten years ago I installed equipment to watch Christian TV channels broadcast free via satellites.

• I was inspired by some programmes but one thing grieved me. I saw excellent ministries campaigning against abortion (and who could disagree with that) but I saw only a few reports of human trafficking and forced prostitution. 

I was upset. 

Why so much indignation about the killing of unborn babies but so little fuss about millions of girls being kidnapped and raped all the time?

Think about it. How many abortions must there be in the sexual slavery business? How many? 

• Terrible as abortion is, I reasoned that the murdered unborn babies must go to heaven but the girls who are kidnapped and routinely raped will go to hell if we do not reach them with the Good News of Jesus.

My wise wife told me to stop fretting and start praying. I cried out to God.

I cried to God that He would raise up Christian leaders who would fight just as hard for sexual slaves as they do for the rights of the unborn. 

Several years later, I saw my prayers beginning to be answered.
Famous preachers like Cindy Jacobs and Joyce Meyer are fighting hard to save women forced into prostitution by force or by poverty.

• If you don’t agree with women preaching, read my last blog and think again. 

SHOULD WOMEN BE PASTORS AND TEACHERS?

• We desperately need wonderful anointed preachers like Joyce Meyer and Cindy Jacobs.

I also thank God, that God TV channel is actively campaigning on this issue.

http://www.god.tv/

One of the key concepts in the Bible is RIGHTEOUSNESS.
All of us are sinful and therefore UN-righteous. We need the forgiveness of God.

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV) 

The Living Bible makes the meaning very clear.

For God took the sinless Christ and poured into him our sins. Then, in exchange, he poured God’s goodness into us! 

2 Corinthians 5:21 (TLB) 

But in God’s mind, there is no RIGHTEOUSNESS without JUSTICE.

• In Hebrew, Greek, French, German, Italian and Spanish the word RIGHTEOUSNESS also includes the meaning of JUSTICE. 
• In English these are two different words.

• God loves RIGHTEOUSNESS, which we often think of as moral and spiritual virtue.

• God also demands JUSTICE. We must do something to help victims of violence, cruelty and oppression.

Jesus preached in His hometown and announced His manifesto.

"The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; 

• He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, 
• To proclaim liberty to the captives 
• And recovery of sight to the blind, 
• To set at liberty those who are oppressed; 

To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD." Luke 4:18-19 (NKJV) 

Jesus announced the year of the Jubilee. 

• Every 50 years in Israel, all slaves had to be released.

I believe God is saying again: NOW IS THE TIME.

SHOULD WOMEN BE PASTORS AND TEACHERS?

I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. 1 Timothy 2:12 (ESV) 
Based on this one text alone, in the entire New Testament, some people want to exclude women from senior church leadership positions and from ministering as Bible teachers.

• It is true that other texts instruct women to be quiet in meetings but this is to do with orderly behaviour when listening to teaching. 

• It has nothing to do with whether women are allowed to address meetings or exercise spiritual gifts.

...the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. 1 Corinthians 14:34 (ESV) 

The Old Testament Law does not forbid female leadership. 

• Deborah was one of the best rulers of Israel in the book of Judges. (Judges 5:7) 

• The prophetess Huldah gave instructions to King Josiah. (2 Kings 22)

• The Prophetess Anna announced in the Temple, that Jesus was the promised Messiah. 
• Her special ministry was endorsed by Luke and the Holy Spirit and also allowed by the Jewish religious leaders under the strict Law of Moses.

In 1 Corinthians 14, Paul urges all believers to prophesy.

Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. 1 Corinthians 14:1 (ESV) 

We know Paul was also including women because he gave specific instructions to women prophesying in chapter 11.

...but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonours her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven. 1 Corinthians 11:5 (ESV) 

But some say women should only be allowed to pray or prophesy aloud in meetings for women. The New Testament says nothing about special meetings for women. 

When Paul tells women to be quiet in meetings, he is teaching them to be orderly and not to interrupt when they should be listening. 

If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. 1 Corinthians 14:35 (ESV) 

Women in Corinth, who often had little formal education, were interrupting the meetings by asking their husbands to explain what was being taught.

• Were there women in the New Testament who exercised teaching gifts?

• Were there women to gave instructions to men in important matters of doctrine? 

We don’t know how many there were but there is one striking example of an important female teacher who gave important doctrinal instruction to a prominent male preacher.

Apollos was a powerful and influential preacher who had not been taught about the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. Acts 18:26 (ESV) 

Priscilla and Aquila were important leaders in the early church and they are mentioned six times, three times in Acts and three times in Paul’s letters. 

• In four of these six texts, Priscilla is mentioned first, which indicates her ministry was more significant than that of her husband.

In both Old Testament and New Testament times, female leadership was exceptional but certainly not forbidden by God.

• Why did Paul write that he did not permit a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man?       

• If this is a general rule excluding women from preaching, teaching or leadership, why did Paul only mention it in one letter to one church leader? 

Paul wrote 13 letters to different churches. He taught about leadership and ministry in much of his writings but only here does he appear to restrict the role of women.

• The last words in 1 Timothy 2:12 are “rather, she is to remain quiet.” 

This might indicate that Paul is not excluding women from preaching, teaching or leadership but rather insisting on women behaving themselves properly in meetings and in relationships.

• In 1 Timothy 2:12 , Paul refers to a relationship between A woman and A man and then speaks of Adam (A man) and Eve (A woman). (1 Timothy 2:13-14)

• This says nothing about women addressing meetings and in 1 Corinthians 11, Paul says women did and should prophesy in meetings.

So if you are a woman, PLEASE do not bury your talents or gifts.

• If you are a man, PLEASE be an agent of change and set women free.