Issue 20 - Day 7

Romans 10

Romans 10:8-11
8)  But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
9)  That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10)  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11)  For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

The big difference between us as believers, and the Jewish nation pre-Christ, is that we are not bound to follow a set of laws in order to be part of God’s chosen people. All we need is the word of faith. There are two ways to treat this statement and both are a challenge.

Usually we emphasise the belief side of the equation. It is easy (we say) to say the right words, but unless you also believe in your heart then you will not be saved. It is my misfortune to recall a friend from school, he was part of the church youth group, said all the right things, prayed with us, say miracles of healing take place, and generally looked the part of a Christian. Sadly, meeting him in later years he said that it had all been a pretence to fit in as he felt so lonely as a kid. He said the words but it was not in his heart at all.

On the other hand I feel we are often stuck the other way round. We are happy to believe in our hearts as long as we never have to say anything. We are scared we will look stupid, we think we don’t know what to say. However scripture is clear. If we confess with our mouth, that involves telling others what you believe. The word is in our mouth to preach. So preach. I don’t mean everyone gets into the pulpit, but everyone must speak of his faith to his friends. Do not be ashamed, and in fact believe and you WILL not be ashamed.

Issue 20 - Day 6

Romans 9

Romans 9:1-3
1)  I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,
2)  That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.
3)  For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:

Do you have relations who don’t know the Lord? Do you have relations who know him yet are not following him? How do you feel about that? Paul felt so strongly about his fellow Jews, his physical relations, that he had continual sorrow in his heart. In fact he wished that he could take their punishment so that they could be saved, though he knew this was not possible, Christ has already done that.

What needs to change in our lives is that we don’t have that desire to see our relations saved. We certainly therefore don’t have that desire to see total strangers saved. Yet this is exactly what the bible instructs us to do. We are told time and again to share the gospel, to reach the lost, and to love one another as Christ loved us. Why have we lost that urgency to see people saved?

It is time to change. Pray that God would give you a heart for the lost. Ask him to let you see others as he sees them. One of the things that happens as we follow him is a renewing of our minds so that slowly we come to have the mind of Christ. How fast or slow that process is depends on us. Now what will you do with that new heart? Get practical. Write down the names of two relations, and two friends, that do not believe in Christ, and resolve to pray for them daily until they are saved. go will give you that heart for the lost, when you remember who those lost are.

Issue 20 - Day 5

Romans 8

Romans 8:35-39
35)  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36)  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
37)  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
38)  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39)  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

There is nothing that we face that can separate us from the love of God. For most of us we will never face anything like the trials listed here. The early church were thrown to the loins, burned alive, tortured, boiled, and generally attacked all the time for their faith, yet they stood strong, because anything that happened to them just meant they would arrive before the Lord that little bit sooner.

For us it is more subtil. From God’s point of view this is all true, nothing at all can get between him and us except for sin, for which we seek him for forgiveness. so even with sin, we can still get through to God in order that we may be forgiven. From our point of view it is not so bright. It seems that family, friends, work commitments, sports and TV appear to separate us from the love of God. Imagine that you are standing in a field with God by your side. There is indeed nothing that can get between you. Even if you run as fast as you can he will always stay with you. Unfortunately we often look away from God to other things. God is still with us. God still hears us. We however do not see him or hear him as he is stuck standing behind us. Time to turn around!

Babylon Blog - Part 1

Over the past few weeks we have been looking at what it means to be separate from the world and therefore looking at Babylon in the Bible.“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” 1 John 2:15

When we first start looking at Babylon (which is located in Modern Iraq) we firstly look back to Babel where the people decide to build a city. 

Babel – A world without God

Genesis 11:1-9

One

The Whole earth was united in one speech

The start of man not looking to God is being united as one and no longer seeing the need in God. 

We are always looking to ways where our communication is better I now have a phone where I can call, text, facebook, instant message, email, tweet and so on. Why? So i can communicate to more people than before. However apart from reading my bible on my bible app none of these things help me in looking to God.

When the world is united the first thing they forget is God. 

Staying

They build a City

When we build cities they are for us to stop at and dwell. 

God tells Noah to be fruitful, multiply and replenish the earth.  You cannot replenish the earth unless you are dwelling in the whole earth.  If you stop and build a city the statement is made that we are not moving. 

In application to us: Jesus says Go into all the World (Mark 16:15) – but we worry about buying a house and settling down.  The world tells us to settle – God tells us to Go.  The world tells us to make a home – God tells us He is making us a home.(John 14:2-3) 

God tells us to look for His coming – to live as if He is about to return (Titus 2:13, 2 Timothy 4:8).  So why then do we emphasise the need to settle down, buy a house, dwell?  Because that is what we have been taught by the world. 

(It is not wrong to buy a house but if your home becomes more important than going where God wants you to be or takes you away from where God wants you to be then it is)

Glory

Now they start building a Tower that will reach to the sky (heaven meaning sky in this context).  And the reason for this is to make a name for themselves.  They again forget God and rather than giving Him glory they give themselves glory. 

This is enmity with God

We worship only one God and only His name should be praised.  (Matthew 4:10)

God is in control

In verse 5-9 – God turns up realising what is happening He messes with the one thing that unites – Communication.  This results in the people scattering across the world (what God wanted in the first place) and the city is left unbuilt thus no one making a name for themselves – except the place is called “Babel” the Hebrew word for “confusion”

Conclusion

The World is confused – They want to be One, Settle down and make a name for themselves.  However they are confused as they do not have a space for God.  

We are enlightened – God wants us to be One in Him, Look to the Home He is making for us and bring glory to His name.  However when we do not listen to God we easily fall back into the thinking of the world.  

Issue 20 - Day 4

Romans 7

Romans 7:18-21
18)  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
19)  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
20)  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
21)  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

On an early morning visit to Smithfield market it is interesting to watch the people passing by. There are three sorts of people there at four in the morning. Of course the stall holders, who always seem to busy to serve anyone. Then there are those who are striding from stall to stall, full of purpose, checking the meat, asking prices to find that special bargain. Finally you see a few people in coats over their pyjamas who are clearly wondering why they got up so early, totally lost, and unfocused. They also haven’t realised that they look like they have been dragged through a hedge backwards!

Paul finishes up this chapter with a bit of a moan. “Oh wretched man that I am!”. Like the early morning shoppers at Smithfield we are all too often wondering through our lives, unfocused and not noticing the state we are in. As soon as we begin to focus on what God has done for us, and who he is we begin to see ourselves in that light, like Paul, oh wretched men we are! Every time we try to do the right thing we find ourselves doing the opposite. For every step towards God we seem to take three steps back. The mirror of God’s word, the “law” reveals the sin in us like the unwelcome mirror in the early hours of the morning revealing our physical state. what then do we do?
Serve the Lord with a glad heart, and rely on him for the spiritual clean-up.

Issue 20 - Day 3

Romans 6

Romans 6:5-8
5)  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
6)  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
7)  For he that is dead is freed from sin.
8)  Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:

How many dead people have you seen sinning? Well, okay, it is true that you only ever see dead people doing anything in zombie films where even being a zombie is pretty evil to start with. But outside of fiction, dead people don’t tend to get around much. Somehow when we come to Christ we turn into zombies. Our old nature, it says in scripture, is dead. It is nailed to the cross with Christ. Why is it then that we still sin? Clearly the zombie urge is strong.

What we fail to realise is that our old nature is indeed dead. That body of sin was destroyed. Not that we will no longer sin, but so that we do not have to serve sin. All too often we live our lives in bondage to sin. At every turn the same old temptations hold on to us. But we don’t have to give in to them anymore. In fact we won’t even contemplate that sin if we are fulfilling the word of God and living in him.

Imagine you are the head butler for David Beckham, then you get offered the job as head butler to the Queen. Day after day the purpose of your life is now to serve the Queen. How much time will you have available to serve David Beckham as well? None at all of course. It is the same with God, if you are serious about serving him 100% then there is simply no time remaining to serve sin. Live your life for Christ and you will see your old nature truly die. Don’t be a spiritual zombie.

Issue 20 - Day 2

Romans 5

Romans 5:3-5
3)  And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
4)  And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
5)  And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do things always go wrong for me? Is it not possible for us to get through an entire month without something breaking! These are all questions we ask ourselves, and all too often. For non-believers it is even more confusing as they mistake the occurrence of disasters, both natural and human, for evidence of a lack of a caring God. We on the other hand know that there most definitely is a caring God, however he has given over depraved man to the consequences of sin. And it matters little if we ourselves did nothing, for the sins of the previous generations still have consequences for us.

However, personal difficulties are not just random for the believer. The source of tribulation for us is the devil, and God allows it to happen to the limits of what we are able to handle. He has promised we will never be tested beyond our limits, and he knows them far better than we do. the question is, how will you react to these trials? In light of Romans, we know that God not only allows these things to happen, but is actively using them to help us grow. We all need more patience, experience and hope. And hope leads to love of God, and then to witness.

Next time you face trials in your life how will you react? Will you grow in patience? Will you learn from the experience? Will your hope in Christ increase as a result? I hope so. This is why we are given the Holy Spirit in us.