What Jesus Says to a Complacent Church

Words can have a lot of power in people’s lives for both good and bad, and the power that words carry can stay with people for many years.
 
Words can identify two kinds of people in the world.
Some of us are open to opportunities to trust God in faith, and others of us are naturally supportive.
 
Today we’ll see why it is important for each of us to do what comes naturally but also to listen for God’s voice throughout.

Listen now as Pastor Peter unpacks his thoughts.

Truly, the mysteries of God’s ways are beyond my comprehension. In His loving grace, God works out His supreme purpose within and in spite of my human nature.
 
So, when my life doesn’t make sense, I will:
1) remember God’s promises,
2) rely on God’s purposes,
3) recognise God’s provision, and
4) rest in God’s presence.
 
In His presence, I find -
peace in the midst of the chaos,
perspective that overshadows the questions, and
power to overcome the
pressures, expectations, and responsibilities.
 
Because it doesn’t make sense doesn’t mean it’s senseless.

Gideon was a man who shows us how to live up to the potential God knows we have.
 
We can live a significant life when we listen to what God says about us, go in the strength we have and watch God use our weaknesses.
 
God uses our weaknesses to bring Him glory.
He does it through reducing our resources, magnifying our need, showing us someone who trusts God with what little they have, and using our meager resources to show how great He is.
 
While we may want to hide in our weaknesses, God wants to use them.
 
Then He can use us to accomplish His purposes.

Listen now as Pastor Peter unpacks his thoughts.

The word itself is so intimidating … it can make one feel fearful and paralysed but if we learn to trust the unknown future to a known God, things become clearer. If we look at Scripture, God is all about the future and who He has called us to be. One of my favourite passages in the Bible says the following:

"For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11

We know that God has called us with a purpose and a plan. Many of us are sitting comfortably and coasting through life but God has called us to reign as Sons and Daughters of the most High God. What does that look like? How do we walk that out practically as Christians?
Its starts by us trusting God with our Futures….

How conscious are you of what happens at the end of the Sunday worship service when the benediction is pronounced?
Are you internally thinking, "Great, the service is over, now I can have my tea  & biscuits?”
Do you take any notice of the benediction? Anyway, what is the benediction?

It derives from the Latin words “bene” meaning good and “diction” meaning speech or word.
Thus benediction means a good word  i.e. a blessing. The benediction after the worship service is an example of a word or words of blessing prayed over us.
Who would not want to receive a blessing from God?

This morning we are going to look into the subject of blessing in the scriptures and its practical application in our lives.
Our initial scriptural reference will be the “Aaronic Blessing” in Numbers 6: 23-27.
“May the Lord bless you and keep you………… ,and I will bless them.”

May God bless you and may you be a blessing to others.

We get told to be afraid – of germs, of terrorism, of missing out on something, of climate change. Sometimes this is a genuine warning and sometimes fear is used to manipulate.

Fear can stop us doing things or make us do things. God’s message is “Do not be afraid”.

There were 4 angel visits around the time of Jesus’ birth and each time the message is the same. Angels came to Zechariah, father of John the Baptist, to Mary and to Joseph, Jesus’ parents and to the shepherds.

They weren’t promised that life would be easy. They were promised that God was with them, they were promised that God was doing something wonderful. God doesn’t tell us life will be easy. But the promise that God is with us is the same. “Do not be afraid”.

Listen now as Pastor Peter unpacks his thoughts.

The purpose of Christmas can be summed up as:
“God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life!” (John 3:16).
 
And wrapped up in the gift of Jesus are more gifts that God wants us to have.
 
When we receive the gift of Jesus, God adds a new identity, new abilities, a supportive community, and an eternal destiny. He wants every person He creates to have these, but they follow from the first gift - Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us.
 
May God bless our “believing in him” this Christmas.

Listen now as Pastor Peter unpacks his thoughts.

As His ministry on earth was about to end, Jesus surprised His disciples by disclosing He was about to leave them, and they would be on their own to carry out His work on earth. But He explained God would send His Holy Spirit to be within them and He would provide them peace of mind and heart: a peace the world cannot give.
 
It would be an authentic peace with God, peace in the midst of all their circumstances, an outward peace with others, and even peace in the face of death. Now it was their job to become peacemakers throughout the world.
 
Through God’s grace, Jesus gives that authentic peace to us so we can share that peace everywhere we are.

Listen now as Pastor Peter unpacks his thoughts.

If some of us were honest about it, we’re not overflowing with hope right now.  And we’re not even looking forward to Christmas 2016.  In fact we’re going to be glad to see 2016 come to an end because this year didn’t turn out like we’d hoped it would.
 
Jesus is the one who knows that loss doesn’t have to be our story.  He meant it when he said “Come to me all of you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.”  He meant it.  And he’s the one that can bring hope to us this Christmas.

Listen now as Pastor Peter unpacks his thoughts.

We’re living in a time when it’s tough to tell fact from fiction, the truth from a lie, right from wrong.  There are more ‘shades of grey’ than there have ever been.  We don’t have a standard truth by which we can judge what’s real and what’s not.  What should we believe? 
 
Jesus told us, “I have come to tell you the truth,” and on another occasion he said, “I am the truth.” 
 
We can line our life up next to Jesus and know whether we're in line or out of line, whether or not we’re living near the truth.

Listen now as Pastor Peter unpacks his thoughts