WHEN YOU NEED COMFORT ...

We live in a world where families are falling apart. Children are broken hearted. Many men and women with grey hair are still broken hearted children inside. 

• We so much need the healing power and love of God.

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. Psalm 147:3 (NIV) 

Jesus experienced the pain of rejection over and over again. 

When He was about 18 months to 2 years old, His earthly parents had to flee the country and live as refugees in Egypt. When Jesus was still a little boy, His parents returned to Israel and lived in a village with a bad reputation. 

Everyone knew Jesus was conceived before Mary married Joseph. Religious people can be very cruel and village gossips destroy lives.

The Father in Heaven loves you and me. He sent His only Son to live the life we live, to experience the pain of rejection with us and for us.

He is like a father to us, tender and sympathetic to those who reverence him. Psalm 103:13 (TLB) 

The prophet King David cried out to God.

Feel my pain and see my trouble. Forgive all my sins. Psalm 25:18 (NLT)

• When Jesus came as the Messiah, He answered this prayer in full. God was not a cruel father to send Jesus to be tortured to death on the cross. Jesus volunteered and willingly offered Himself for you and me.

When Jesus spoke about His intention to die on the cross. His disciples didn’t understand.

John 14:6-7 (NIV) 6  Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7  If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him." 

• When you see Jesus suffering on the cross, you see the Father loving you.

FAITH, HOPE and LOVE are FOREVER

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13 (NIV) 
If we read this verse quickly, we may miss the glory of it. 

• We know the love of God is forever. 

• We know eternal life is saturated with eternal love. 

• We know we need faith now because we must trust where we cannot see God face to face. 

We live by faith, not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7 (NIV) 

• We know there is a better world and a better life to come and we hope for what we have not yet seen.

For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. Romans 8:24-25 (NIV) 

• We live in hope for God’s process of complete salvation to unfold in supernatural perfection.

While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. 2 Corinthians 5:4 (NLT)

• If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. 1 Corinthians 15:19 (NIV) 

Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed-- in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 (NIV)

But my hope is not only for myself, to leave this world for a better world in heaven. 

• I pray for my loved ones and friends, my workmates and neighbours, that many others will come to know this wonderful new life in Jesus, with this wonderful hope of a better life in a better world.

But even that is not enough. I see this whole world belongs to God and He has an amazing plan to restore all things to goodness and peace.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. Revelation 21:1 (NASB) 

• So when all these things come to pass, we will be united with God in perfect love.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." Revelation 21:3-4 (NIV)

• So when Paul writes of FAITH, HOPE and LOVE, does he mean that love is eternal but faith and hope will one day no longer be needed? 

1 Corinthians 13:12-13 (NIV) 12 NOW we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13  And NOW these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 

The repetition of the word NOW would seem to indicate that Paul is only speaking of our PRESENT need for faith and hope.

• But Paul uses a different Greek word for NOW in verse 13. Paul is actually saying that FAITH, HOPE and LOVE are all eternal.

When you see God face to face, you love Him with perfect adoration, just as He loves you. You will also trust Him with complete trust. 

• Not only that.

Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end....Isaiah 9:7 (NIV) 

• There will always be something new and something more to expectantly hope for.

God is the eternal CREATOR. Creativity means new things all the time. The nature and character of God never changes but that also means that with God, there is never mere repetition but always new creation.

HOW DID JESUS THINK?

So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. John 5:19 (ESV)

How did Jesus see the Father doing things? 

This is a deep mystery. Jesus had an amazingly deep and clear perception of what was going on in the spirit world. This should not surprise us if we believe that Jesus was God living as a human being on the earth. 

So did Jesus live on earth with complete divine omniscience? Clearly He did not.

And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and men. Luke 2:52 (NIV) 

Jesus grew physically from a baby to a man. Jesus also grew in wisdom and this also seems to imply that He grew in knowledge. 

He learned as a child learns. He could not learn if He already knew everything with the mind of God. 

We believe Jesus was God in a human body but that it not all. He was God who lived as a human being with a human mind. 

Philippians 2:5-8 (ESV) 
5  Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 
6  who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 
7  but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 
8  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 

• When Jesus became a human being, He did not stop being God but He emptied Himself of His infinite abilities, His omniscience and omnipotence. 

• However, He did not give up the goodness of His divine character or the love of His heart, which was and is the loving heart of God.

Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:8 (ESV) 

Jesus became an embryo in the mother of Mary and then a baby boy in Bethlehem. Why? Because of His love for you and me.

“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) 

Jesus was born with the body of a baby and the intellect of a baby. As He grew up, He had to learn to think and know things, just as we do.

And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and men. Luke 2:52 (NKJV) 

Jesus was a MAN. 

If He was God in a human body, He could have known everything as God does and made everything happen as God does with His own unlimited power.
But Jesus said:

Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son CAN DO NOTHING of Himself, 

• unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. John 5:19 (NASB)

The key word hear is CAN. 

• Jesus had surrendered His unlimited abilities which He had as God before He became a human being.

• Jesus lived by faith. He lived on earth as a man to show us how to live by faith as human beings.

12  "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. 

13  "Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. John 14:12-13 (NASB) 

• If the miracles of Jesus were demonstrations of His own Divine omnipotence, how could He reasonably expect us to follow in His footsteps? We are not God.

• But if Jesus worked miracles as a man, by trusting in the power of His Father’s Spirit, then we can do the same through His grace. 

Remember the Grace of God is not just His mercy but also His transforming power which works in us and through us but only as we choose to trust and believe and give Him the glory.

WHO IS A FRIEND OF GOD?

Jn 15:15 (NKJV)  No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. 

You are a friend of God if you know what God is doing. 

• How can you know what God is doing? 

Only if God Himself tells you or shows you.

• How can you be sure of hearing the voice of God?

Jn 15:14 (NKJV)  You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 

God speaks to you because He loves you and He wants to be in an intimate relationship with you. 

But God also wants to help you to live a heavenly life. 

• You can only know how to live the life of Heaven on Earth if you are listening to the direction of the King of Heaven AND you are willing to follow His direction. 

Why do we often have difficulties hearing from God? 

• It may be because we have not fully believed the last thing God said to us. 

How do you know if you have really believed? 

• Only if you ACT on the last thing God said to you.

The great English preacher Smith Wigglesworth was a man of faith. We know about his faith because of his radiant holy life and the continuous stream of healings and miracles in his ministry. 

• Smith Wigglesworth said: "The Acts of the Apostles was written because the Apostles acted!" 

Jesus speaks to a lot of people but many do not hear His voice because they are confused by doubt or they do not want to believe and obey what God says to them. 

You can know what God is doing if you walk through life in His presence.

Amos 3:3 (NKJV) Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?

You cannot walk together with God unless you agree with His truth, unless your thinking is dominated by Bible truth. 

• However, there are many who are full of the Bible who are not at all in agreement with the heart of the Heavenly Father.

Jesus said to religious Jews:

You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. 

But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. John 5:39-40 (NKJV)

Do you think this only applies to Jews? I don’t think so. 

• How many Christians study the Bible so they can attack and condemn other Christians who disagree with them? 

• How many Christians use dogmas and Bible texts to bully other Christians? 

• Church members bully pastors and pastors bully church members. It makes God sick and it also makes non-Christians sick, so that many don’t want to believe in Jesus. 

Amos 3:3 (NKJV) Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?

The Hebrew word for AGREED also means MEET TOGETHER. 

• It is not enough to agree with Bible texts. It is not enough to memorise and declare Bible truths.
• We must have personal encounters with the God who speaks in the Bible. We must KNOW HIM.

Jesus said:

• I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. Jn 10:14 (NKJV)  
• My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 
• And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. John 10:27-28 (NKJV)

I thank God for good pastors but I have had to learn that JESUS is my Pastor.

If the pastor of your local church controls your life, you are in deep trouble. 

I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. Jn 10:14 (NKJV) 

The words SHEPHERD and PASTOR mean exactly the same thing. 

Church pastors have the high calling of helping people to become friends of THE GOOD SHEPHERD, so that each believer is personally directed by JESUS. 

FINDING GOD IN THE DARKNESS

He made darkness His secret place; His canopy around Him was dark waters And thick clouds of the skies. Psalm 18:11 (NKJV) 

You look around you and you see darkness, you see storms and disasters, you see the storm clouds of war and corruption obscuring all hope, you see a constant stream of bad news in the media. 

But GOD..

But God is in there somewhere. God made this world and He has never left. 

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16 (NKJV)

God is waiting for you to cry out to Him. He is not hiding FROM you. He is hiding FOR you to find Him.

for in Him we live and move and have our being ...Acts 17:28 (NKJV) 

We know the visible world is made of atoms which are too small to see. We know this because we trust in the teachings of science.

We know that God loves us and is always with us because God sent His Son Jesus to show us what the Heavenly Father is like, even though our natural eyes can’t see Him. 

Many people say they can’t believe in God because of the suffering around us but the Bible says God put men and women in charge of this world and that is more and more obviously true, as science and technology give human beings more power, for good or evil. We have messed up this world which God has given us. 

• Many people say they cannot believe in Christianity because of the horrible history of cruelty in religion, sadly including the Christian religion. We cannot dispute the terrible facts of history. 

• But science has also produced a tragic mixture of good and evil, through the good and bad application of technology. We know about Weapons of Mass Destruction but most of us still believe in the basic teachings of science.

Christians and Christian churches have done much good but also much evil but very few people would suggest that Jesus was not good.

If the darkness in this world has invaded your personal life, you cannot see clearly to perceive the light of Heaven. 

So why not cry out in the darkness? Why not call out to Jesus?

• He loves you.
• He died for you. 

He is alive in Heaven and His Spirit is with you, waiting to answer when you call.

YOU CAN BE GOD'S LIGHT

Light is sown like seed for the righteous And gladness for the upright in heart. Ps 97:11 (NASB) 

• Light-seeds are planted in the souls of God's people, Joy-seeds are planted in good heart-soil. Ps 97:11 (MSG)  

When God created the trees and the flowers, He put seeds in them, so they could produce offspring.

And he said, "Let the earth burst forth with every sort of grass and seed-bearing plant, and fruit trees with seeds inside the fruit, so that these seeds will produce the kinds of plants and fruits they came from." Genesis 1:11 (TLB)  

When you received the New Life of Jesus, God changed your dead, dark spirit. God turned on the lights inside you and you began life all over again.

• By God’s mercy, love and life giving power, you became a new person, a new creation.

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 2 Cor 5:17 (NLT)  

Sometimes this change is dramatic and obvious from the outside. 

An evangelist drives demons out of a dangerous and evil person and the tormented soul believes in Jesus. The new believer is  suddenly happy and shines with the goodness of God.

Other times a person seems to change gradually. 

A prostitute came to church and believed in Jesus but returned to her old life. She kept coming to church and started to be more gentle and kind but still in the context of her life of prostitution. 

Then she began to give money to the church from her earnings. Finally she reached the point where she had the courage to walk away from prostitution and learn to live a normal life.

• Exactly when was she saved? God knows.

God uses believers to sow the seed of light and truth in the souls of men and women. 
The faith, hope and love that come with the message of light are given to you as seed. 

What will you do with the seeds of heavenly life? 

• Will you cultivate the garden of your new heavenly life, so your life becomes like window with a view of heaven itself?

• Will you sow the good seeds God gives you, so your life becomes a gateway to the garden of God, so others can find blessing and truth?

Whatever seed you sow will be multiplied in your own life and in the lives of others around you.

Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Gal 6:7 (NLT)  

•  If he sows to please his own wrong desires, he will be planting seeds of evil and he will surely reap a harvest of spiritual decay and death; Gal 6:8 (TLB) 

• but if he plants the good things of the Spirit, he will reap the everlasting life that the Holy Spirit gives him. 

I am sure you would love to shine with the glory of God, so if your heart is hungry for the glory of God, be like the insects that come to the light. 
The light of God will not burn and destroy you if you love Jesus. 

Come into the wonderful presence of God and ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you through His life giving words. 

When God Himself speaks, it changes the way you understand the Bible.

• We cannot be a blessing to others if we teach the Bible with a dry religious spirit.

He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant--not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 2 Cor 3:6 (NIV)

When we receive the light and joy of Jesus, we know Him as the light of the world.

 

... Jesus said to the people, "I am the Light of the world. So if you follow me, you won’t be stumbling through the darkness, for living light will flood your path." Jn 8:12 (TLB)

Then we ourselves can shine from the life of Jesus within us.

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. Isa 60:1 (ESV)  

RELIGION SAYS "STAY" JESUS SAYS "GO"

Genesis 2:8 (NKJV)  The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. 

I just heard a TV preacher expound on this text. It was dangerous nonsense.

• God planted a garden for Adam and put Adam in the garden. 

“Therefore wherever you are is where God has put you and it is where you are supposed to be.”

.....REALLY? 

God called Jonah to preach in Nineveh but he disobeyed.

Jonah 1:3 (NKJV)   But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He ... found a ship going to Tarshish...and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.

• How many of us are living mediocre Christian lives because we have not listened to the voice of God when HE has called us TO GO? 

How often have you heard preachers teach this strange idea?

• “If you are in this church, it must be because God has planted you here and therefore you must not leave or go anywhere else.”

Then they quote Scripture to make the teaching or prophetic utterance appear true.

Ps 1:3 (NKJV)  He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper. 

The text is then expounded like this.

“A tree is planted in one place permanently. A tree does not uproot itself and move from place to place, so you should stay in this congregation permanently.” 

IS THIS TRUE???

The Bible gives us examples of people who lived by faith and we are supposed to follow their example. 

• Abraham was a wanderer, sent out by God to seek the Promised Land.

• Moses was sent to lead the Hebrews out of bondage and go to the Promised Land.

• Paul was an itinerant preacher and Apostle.

Jesus said:

Mt 28:19 (NKJV)  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit... 

• The Great Commission is not a commandment to stay where you are!

Many local churches send out missionaries and support them but many do not. 

There are preachers who emphasise staying where you are.

• They are ministers of spiritual death, not life.

Pr 18:21 (NKJV)  Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit. 

• The false doctrine of staying is death to the souls of people who are not being reached.

• The false doctrine of staying is death to the God given destiny of church members. 

• The false doctrine of staying is death to the spiritual gifting of Christians who are persuaded to be busy in their home church rather than training for overseas mission, writing books, ministering on TV or publishing gospel literature. 

Jesus says GO but the ungodly spirit of control over many churches deceives Christians and persuades them to STAY. 

The false spirit of religion tells Christians the pastor has a vision to fill the building with church members, so they should give up their own visions and be busy in church.

God likes to see buildings full of believers but filling church buildings is not an end in itself.

Every believer in a church meeting has a God given destiny to change the world outside the church. 

When church leaders concentrate on filling buildings they miss the whole point of the Kingdom of God.

• The dream of a pastor might be to preach to a crowded building 

• ....but the dream of God is to send multitudes of believers into a lost world to love the lost, heal the sick and demonstrate the creative goodness of God outside the church.

Is it right to attack the teaching of ordained pastors and preachers? 

A lot of the teaching of Jesus and Paul was a reaction to bad teaching in their own day. 

• Nothing has changed.

• You are planted by Rivers of Waters, the Washing of the Word of God, which is in your heart wherever you go.

• You are called to drink from the waters of the River of Life, which is the Holy Spirit, who empowers you to GO!