Holy Spirit: the Comforter August 7, 2009

Aaron Shannon-Jansz

Our Friend

Over the course of this past week I have come to know the Holy Spirit more and more, deeper and deeper. I can now say the Holy Spirit, is my friend. We are friends! I believe we are friends. However I want to be more than friends; I know the communication I have with the Holy Spirit will never cease. What defines our friendship? He never leaves me, He is always with me; He is dwelling inside of me. In the new testament when Jesus is coming to the end of his days on earth he speaks of whom will come after he has departed; whom who will LIVE in us; always and forever. This is the Holy Spirit; He is God, in Spirit. Just as Jesus is God, he was man on earth.

I have only recently come to what means by “Holy Spirit as my friend”. Before my recent encounter with the Holy Spirit I could not comprehend how it to be so, that the Holy Spirit is really a person, who we can speak with, sit with and journey with.

Over the course of my life I have come to know the Godhead; the Trinity; the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit as three persons. I have known about this, but I haven’t known this. In my mind I believed this to be so; in my heart I felt I didn’t. Only now, do I believe this. This was a step of faith for me. I could not comprehend how the Holy Spirit could be seen any different to a “bridge” between Jesus and the Father; I saw this as His role. In scripture it points out that the Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf to God. This makes sense as God is the Holy Spirit and our spirits communicate with Him.

I know Him deeper, in these past few days as my friend. It has become clear now, when I read the Bible the disciples speak of the Holy Spirit as their comforter, as a person who is by their side in grief, and pain. They speak of a Spirit that is always present; whose presence is pure glory. It is the light. It is the life that echoes in our soul, body and mind.

It is this life where we may get to know the characteristics of our God better. We may come to understand more of his personality by getting to know him as our friend. I think we all are searching and longing to walk with the spirit that gives us life. Our spirit and His are in communication together. As we take a step, the Holy Spirit walks also.

Scripture mentions our body as the dwelling place for God. God the Holy Spirit dwells within us. He wants to guide us, teach us, heal us and comfort us; may we let him.

God our Comforter

What does it mean to Comfort?

A comforter is a person who is caring, who loves us, who seeks to be present with us despite distance, and travel; they are somebody who gives of themselves over to another, to come next to; to stop with; and just be with. We are a people of comforters. Our God is a God of comfort.
To comfort means to provide assistance or support in times of pain. “…Consolation or comfort signifies some alleviation to that pain” which we carry and or are dealing with. Comfort imparts strength, and gives us hope; which may encourage us to better our circumstances. It is this aid that is given to us, freely; by our God. In the Hebrew language Nehemiah means “Yahweh has comforted.”

He provides us with consolation in times of trouble. I think everyday life provides us with the greatest source for seeing and acknowledging God’s comforting hand. We all are made in his image; we all bear the characteristics that God bears. Therefore we are able to capture what comfort looks and feels like, where it is found and where its source lies. The God of the Bible; the one true God who is discussed all throughout the ages, can be seen to be showing comfort to His people.

• Ruth and Boaz; Boaz’s treatment of Ruth (Ruth 2:10, 13)
• Job (Job 2: 11 – 13)
• The people of Jerusalem and Judah (Isaiah 66:13)
• The woman caught in adultery
• The churches in Corinth (2 Cor. 1:3-7)

All the time God is comforting his people. Like a Father to their son, or Mother to their daughter there is a strong connection in our hearts between creation and creator. We are of God and we are vessels of comfort, to our neighbor and to all that is. Our God defines what comfort is. He is comfort; He is love; and it is in this love that we find consolation. During an encounter with the Holy Spirit Benny Hinn, (an evangelist of the last decade) had this to say;

I was so filled and transformed by the Spirit that nothing else mattered. I didn’t care if a nuclear bomb hit Pittsburgh and the whole world blew up. At that moment I felt, as the Word describes it, “peace… which surpasses all understanding“(Phil. 4:7 NKJV).
(Pg 7; Good Morning, Holy Spirit: 1990)

Comforted, Comforting, Comforters

I think God uses people and animals to provide us with comfort in our everyday lives. The emotions we express to our families, loved ones, co-workers, and even strangers; I think is an example of the Holy Spirit working through us. I think they (emotions and actions) capture God. Every expression of love I believe is an expression of the Spirit within us. When someone opens the door for you, when a stranger offers you assistance, words; when someone stands by our sides with us;  God is expressing himself through them to show us how much he cares. Like when God uses Noah to gather all the creatures of the earth; for his name implies “He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground…” (Gen 5:29). Through Noah, people and animals are comforted.

Creation breathes God’s loving hand as certain animals are a known source of affection. Our cat for instance; Spacque is always by our side during times of comfort. There was an incident that I always look back on where she displayed love when I was least expecting it.

I was at my desk one day, for whatever reason I began to feel upset, at this stage Spacque was roaming around outside. The backdoor was open, and within moments she was at my side displaying love. Something switched inside of her, and she knew I was upset. At the time I questioned her display of affection as she was outside, for she couldn’t see that I was upset.

I think God speaks through all life; animals or persons in our surroundings when we are upset and down. I think God the Holy Spirit used our cat, as an example of His desire to be close with us; just as can be seen by the words David spoke in Psalm 23; “I will fear no evil… For you comfort me.”  This passage presents the need; God longs to be with us; He pursues us.

He searches for us, He wants us to be his friend

God longs for us to be with him, for us to be as one with our Creator. In the midst of pain God stands besides us. He looks upon us as His friend; we are HIS friend.

We search our hearts for something deeper, something more this world; God can offer us. We long for connection, for communication; for comfort from another. We long to be joined with another, with God. God made us in his image. When Jesus came and sacrificed his body on the cross, He was doing so on behalf of us (and all of creation).

It was done so that we may find forgiveness; so that we may find salvation, and be re-united with our God. God longs to be with us. Scripture is filled with God longing to be with His people; take the children of Israel for example.  His heart longs to be joined with ours. He wants to be our lover; our only lover. He wants to be there in times of joy and happiness, and in times of sorrow and grief. He wants to always be present in our lives. If only we would let him, if only we would give him the space; the acknowledgement and open our hearts for Him to come into. If only we could give our hearts to him, and see what unfolds.
When I learnt I was going to be giving a sermon on the Holy Spirit; I realized I didn’t know Him. I realized I had left myself to believe the Holy Spirit to be lesser than Jesus and the Father. I realized I did not give Him proper recognition as a person.

I now hold on with this truth. The Holy Spirit wants to be our friend; our comforter. He wants to know us.  I opened my heart to him recently, whoa! … There is not a second that I doubt Him to be real. He is alive. Fully alive in me; when I lean on him, there he is. When I speak, I feel him within. He is our God. May you know him more; may you come into relationship with the Holy Spirit as your comforter; as your friend. May you go and walk with your God.

THE HOLY SPIRIT AS COUNSELLOR August 7, 2009

Paul Butler

Read John 14: 15-18, 26

There is a pseudo-gospel that has infiltrated today’s church.  It reflects the very society that we live in.  Many churches have developed courses by it. They teach and preach it. It is a gospel other than that that was first preached. Many are turning to it and are accepting it as true. It sounds good. It sounds true, all because we are trying to bring people into a real relationship with God. This gospel deals with the human predicament. Fallen human nature! It takes the broken human person and tries to deliver it into freedom.

The gospel! Psychology! In reaching out to people counselling alone is used. Now some people need psychological help and there are too many broken people. It is a result of a broken society.  But psychological jargon and theories has crept into our Christian vocabulary. Instead of using terms such as holiness or sanctification, we use wholeness or wellness. This is no different to how the secular society talks. Somehow we have psychologically compromised the gospel. We are supposed to preach something totally different. Instead of preaching Jesus we preach a gospel of good human nature and intentions. And as the church preaches it many accept it and follow it.

The words of the Apostle Paul rings true, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel…” (Gal 1:6). There are books which show ten ways to better yourself.  There are books devoted to giving you remedies to cure the broken person. The reason why this is a pseudo-gospel is because many do not attribute this type of healing to the work of Christ. It is a self help gospel. One that declares of what we can do for Christ, but not what He has and can do for us.

I have been to counselling courses and counselling myself. The one thing that strikes me is that we are trying to fix people in our own strength, not God’s. In counselling you sit on a couch and talk to another person who parrots back to you. The whole idea is to bring your problems out in the open, deal with them, fix them up and send you on your way. Often in Christian counselling, there may be sessions where God is not involved. We try to fix people in our own strength not God’s.

The Holy Spirit is our counsellor. This has a total different meaning to what we think. We may think that the Holy Spirit is there help us through our problems. Well He is. Yet there is a lot more. From our reading there are three attributes of the Holy Spirit in regards to counselling. They are: teacher, truth and comforter.

1. olyHhHoly Spirit as teacher “…the Holy Spirit who the Father will send in my name will teach you all things.” (14:26)Thye Holy TTtt

The Holy Spirit shall teach you all things, as a Spirit of wisdom and revelation Christ was a teacher to his disciples. Christ was preparing his disciples for when He wouldn’t be with them. The Spirit shall teach them. He shall be their tutor. He shall teach them all things necessary for them either to learn themselves, or to teach others. For those that would teach the things of God must first themselves be taught of God; this is the Spirit’s work.

A part of the Spirit’s teaching is that He shall bring all things to your remembrance. The writing of the Gospels was done a couple of decades after Jesus’ ascension. The Spirit of God was active in helping the writers remember the words of Jesus.

The Spirit’s teaching is all about revealing Jesus.  Who Jesus is! What Jesus did! The Spirit’s role in revealing the truth about Jesus is like lights on billboards. The function of the lights is to make the message on the billboard clear to those who pass without obscuring the message.  The Holy Spirit’s ministry is discreet and meant to bring glory to Jesus.

1. Holy Spirit as truth “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor…the Spirit of truth.” (14:16-17)

The Spirit of truth –  reveals, testifies, and defends the truth as it is in Jesus. All who do not love or fear God, cannot receive the truth, because they do not see him. Having no spiritual senses, they cannot discern him; nor knows him. He shall be in you – As a constant guest. The Holy Spirit witnesses to our spirits.

The Spirit, whose essential office is to manifest, support, and apply the truth. The Spirit exposes falsity, removes error, and teaches the knowledge of the true God. He shows the way to him, saves from vanity and illusive hopes, and establishes solid happiness in the souls of those who believe.

The Holy Spirit is active in uncovering lies. The Gospel of Christ is about absolute truth. Truth we can live by. Truth which give us a clear direction! If there is no absolute truth then all that is left is Chaos. The Holy Spirit brings order.

1. Holy Spirit as comforter. “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” (14:18)

Jesus promises that he would continue his care of them. His relationship with his disciples was like a father and sons. He was going to leave his children. The disciples feared that they would be like orphans. His imminent departure was not final, but God would come back to them in a different way. Through the Holy Spirit!

Jesus was a source of comfort to His disciples. He was a source of comfort to all people that came to him. People found refuge in him. Lives were turned around because of Him. There would have been a degree of fear that this would diminish. Jesus assured His disciples that they would not be left alone and that he would be sending a helper; the Holy Spirit.

As I have alluded to before, people are broken. Our fallen state makes it impossible for us to be fully functional; as God intended. Jesus was a source of comfort to those who were changed by Him, people experienced comfort from their sinful state. The fear of the disciples was that they would be left alone and once again, left to their own devices! What the Spirit does is to provide people with the comfort of Jesus, as He did for the disciples.

Counselling by itself provides comfort to people. However it does not give the comfort that Jesus offers. It only addresses the problem. It cannot fix the situation. Jesus is the only one who can do this fully.  In some Christian counselling courses, many theories about human personality may be taught and many tools may be given to help people see the ‘error’ of their ways. I cannot remember a time in my counselling course sadly where Jesus was taught as an answer, and when I myself at one stage was receiving counselling from a Christian, I cannot remember Jesus being offered as an answer.

This is where Christian counselling fails. It seems no different to what the world offers. We read self help, personal development and pastoral care books to find answers and comfort. Often the only thing that is evident is the way we can do it ourselves. I need comfort from Jesus for my life. We all need comfort. Yet sometimes all we may receive is confusion.

It wasn’t until I received prayer ministry that I realised what the Holy Spirit as a comforter was all about. Prayer ministry is about praying into the problem, asking Jesus to be present! It allows the Holy Spirit to point out the areas in our lives that He wants to comfort and heal. Prayer ministry involves all parties to be involved in prayer; there is not one person talking while the other is merely an observant.

When we think of the Holy Spirit as counsellor, we must not think counselling room. Sometimes our association with the word brings us to what we know. The Holy Spirit is more than a detached observer; He is active. The Holy Spirit as counsellor is more than one who deals with personal problems.

The Church must stop pretending. We are under the allusion that Christian Counselling is one way of spreading the gospel message. The Holy Spirit is a counsellor, so HE must be involved as well. Christian counselling without the Holy Spirit is about us doing the work. Prayer ministry is about the Holy Spirit doing the work.

We must stop the compromise. We are offering one gospel for another. We simply cannot do this. There is only one true gospel. We have been charged with the spread of its message. We must be true to the God who has given us this responsibility.

The Holy Spirit teaches, He is the truth, and He is the comforter. These three attributes are working together to bring ‘wholeness’ to the person. Or should I be bold as using a biblical term; HOLINESS!

Women, freedom and leadership! May 25, 2009

Pastor Julie Shannon

I could speak for a week on the topic of women and how God created them to be in the image of Him just the same as he created men to be, however today my main focus is the issue of women in ministry.  A woman has the God given ability to be in leadership, to teach, to lead and to train up others as much as any man does. If a person; man or woman is called by God to lead, then we need to recognise that call and release them into it. Now I’m a woman, a senior Pastor and I am also the Director for the Global Church Network for CCWM worldwide.  Yet I struggled with this issue for many years, and while I knew in my inner being what God had called me to do, I had to work it out so I could back up with my mouth what I already know.  I believe many people are in the same position and just want the tools so to speak to present their case for women in this area.  While we may believe something in principle we sometimes lack the evidence to back up what we believe. So this is about equipping you to have a better biblical understanding of how God made women so you too can speak when you have to explain your beliefs in this area.

In the beginning:

If we go back to the beginning of time: the book of Genesis 1:26-27: “Then God said “Let us make human beings in our own image, in our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created human beings in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (TNIV)

From scripture we see that God created both men and women to be covenant partners – to be the image of God together, to be co-stewards of Gods beautiful creation, and to share together in Gods purposes on the earth. The differences that God designed between the two sexes were to be a joy and delight, to enhance the other, to mutually work beside each other for the Glory of God and His creation. There is no mention of man ruling over the woman before the fall, there are no strict role descriptions according to gender, and there was no devaluation or competition in their relationship. Some teach that because man was created before woman that naturally he should be superior: a lady friend of mine once teased that “God got it right the second time around!” Just joking! But if we look at this theory of man first it does not fall in line with other “firsts” in the bible: for example, women were first at the tomb of Jesus (Jn:20) first to proclaim the resurrection of Christ( Mt 28:8) and first to witness to the Jews( Acts 16:14). Once sin came, the dominance of man over woman twisted the wonderful responsibilities that God had given.

History from that time is a story based on a fallen nature, fallen gender relations and much pain resulting from this sin.  It’s a sad story of abuse, adultery, dominance, competition, and fear.  We are speechless when we hear of the atrocities that our human race is capable of, and we can easily blame God when we see no hope or don’t have the answers.

From the Washington Post (1993)

From South America to South Asia, women are often subjected to a lifetime of discrimination with little or no hope of relief. As children, they are fed less, denied education and refused hospitalization. As teen-agers, many are forced into marriage, sometimes bought and sold for prostitution and slave labor. As wives and mothers, they are treated little better than farmhands and baby machines. Should they outlive their husbands, they frequently are denied inheritance, banished from their homes and forced to live as beggars on the streets.

Boys are generally breast-fed longer. In many cultures, women and girls eat leftovers after the men and boys have finished their meals.

Women are often hospitalized only when they have reached a critical stage of illness, which is one reason so many mothers die in childbirth. Female children often are not hospitalized at all. A 1990 study of patient records at Islamabad Children’s Hospital in Pakistan found that 71 percent of the babies admitted under age 2 were boys. For all age groups, twice as many boys as girls were admitted to the hospital. Mary Okumu, an official with the African Medical and Research Foundation in Nairobi, said that when a worker in drought-ravaged northern Kenya asked why only boys were lined up at a clinic, the worker was told that in times of drought, many families let their daughters die.

“Nobody will even take them to a clinic,” Okumu said. “They prefer the boy to survive.”

For most girls, however, the biggest barrier — and the one that locks generations of women into a cycle of discrimination — is lack of education.

Across the developing world, girls are withdrawn from school years before boys so they can remain at home and lug water, work the fields, raise younger siblings and help with other domestic chores. By the time girls are 10 or 12 years old, they may put in as much as an eight-hour workday.

In Kenya and Tanzania, laws prohibit women from owning houses. In Pakistan, a daughter legally is entitled to half the inheritance that a son gets when their parents die. In some criminal cases, testimony by women is legally given half the weight of a man’s testimony, and compensation for the wrongful death of a woman is half that for the wrongful death of a man.

Some teach that because of the fall and sin entering the world God commanded that man rule over women to keep them in line, this has been drawn from the passage in Genesis 3:16 where God says: to the woman “your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” This verse could be taken in two ways: if we see it as prescriptive; like an order from God on how men and women should relate to one another, the words “rule over you” may be taken as men having authority over women.  If this was the case though, as with other prescriptive text or commands, it would be re-enforced as law throughout the bible, which is not to be found…anywhere…

Another way of taking the text in Genesis 3 is to see it as descriptive, or God describing the sin condition that will occur because of human disobedience.  Looking at it from this perspective reveals that men have and continue to rule over women purely because of sin, and that it is not God’s plan at all.  Maybe this explains why so many women are devalued in our sinful world.

Godly women leaders:

While the Old Testament is full of instances where women were treated as inferior describing the sin condition that we still see in many societies today; there are also stories of women being righteous, courageous and quite capable of leading men.  They were recorded as having broken customs, defeated enemies against all odds and having an enormous amount of influence and respect from many.

Deborah for example had all the qualities of an administrator, ruler, prophet and teacher; much like a modern day Pastor or church leader.  She was also married and supported by her husband who saw the call God had placed on her life.  She broke customs, by travelling with Godly men to war and through her position as a Judge over all of Israel, she held the highest social and religious responsibility of the time.  In Biblical times, the culture normally only recorded men’s names, it wasn’t normal to record anything about women and if ever they did the husband was always written down first.  Yet in the case of Pricilla and Aquila; a New Testament couple sold out for Christ, the wife is mentioned first, was this a deliberate attempt at breaking cultural traditions?

What did Jesus say on the subject of women?

Jesus never spoke of men having authority over women.  He instead went out of His way to speak to and to heal women, normally in the presence of large crowds.  Was he beginning to restore the equality of women in a culture that was dead against such a thing?  Jesus had many women disciples that followed him, he even invited at least one woman (Joanna) to travel with him without her husband, and she along with other women supported him from their own pockets! (Luke 8:3a) He also allowed a woman to wash his feet, and to anoint his head, which was totally against the custom of the time.

The Apostle Paul and women

While Paul spoke very highly of the many women that worked beside him in ministry, there is some confusion in a few of his letters where he appears to restrict women from speaking or teaching in church. Sadly many Christians look at this text as prescriptive (as law) and don’t consider that these few texts are contradictory to Pauls other writings.  Paul clearly encouraged Godly women to prophecy, pastor and teach (1 Corin 11:5, Romans 16:1-2, Romans 16:3, Romans 16:6, Romans 16:12). So what is he meaning in these texts? We can only assume that there were certain issues in the particular churches that he was addressing that attained to women and that it was dangerous to allow them to teach.  There is evidence of a pagan cult that worshiped a goddess called Diana and that many new women converts to Christianity at that time may have come from this cult. Maybe the women in these churches were “lording it” over the men, which is just as bad.  I know that if I had people here that were not submitting to Godly authority, male or female I wouldn’t allow them to teach either, we need to look after our flock. Also remember that in those days, because of the oppression of women, women had little or no training, they were not important enough to teach, so what would they have taught anyway? The same applies to the passage where the apostle Paul in his letter to Timothy stated that “I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent” (1 Tim: 11-12) Paul here does not say ALL women or FROM NOW on women, he says A woman.  Paul also gives this command himself, he does not say it is from Jesus or a law to be followed.

Paul saw no male superiority when he addressed the church in Galatia: stating “whether Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, because all are one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28)

With any understanding of scripture it is important to form our beliefs from passages that are not obscure or appear to contradict other areas of scripture.  This applies to every area of our lives, not just the issue of women in ministry.

History

Looking at church history there are numerous women who forged new ground, leading large groups of men and women, preaching, teaching, pastoring and working in the prophetic. In the holiness movement of the 18^th and 19^th centuries there were often more women than men in positions of authority in the church! Phoebe Palmer (1807-1874) for example, through her Methodist revival meetings brought over 1000,000 people into the church.  Common sense tells us that God wouldn’t rule out half of the population to be able to bring His word and to lead His people.

The present

Well, the same old sin condition exists just as it did way back in Genesis; many cultures still oppress their women, forbidding them to learn in case they teach. They’re made into slaves rather than partners and like possessions rather than people.  It’s interesting to note though that where Christianity has infiltrated culture there is generally more freedom for all people including women’s rights.  William Wilberforce a committed Christian spent 26 years pushing for the abolition of slavery, he also campaigned for missionary work in India, and the creation of a free colony in Sierra Leone. Wilberforce also founded the society for the prevention of cruelty to animals. This was one man!! Differences of class, race, and gender, of which human prejudices are built are meant to be washed away in the waters of baptism, then we are to be transformed into individuals that contribute to the common good, full stop… There is no room for jealousy or envy, no room for superiority in the church, “for we were all made to drink of the one Spirit” (1 Cor 12:13).  Our differences should become opportunities for healthy interdependence, mutual vulnerability and transparency and an appreciation of others as equal in Christ.

Remember Jesus came to set the captives free, it’s up to us to model women

as equals within our homes and churches so we can influence the world with

the freedom Jesus has promised every human being.

Independence May 4, 2009

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful garden in the midst of a beautiful kingdom.  Now the kingdom had many people there, all living happily together, and also with other kingdoms around them.  Rarely was there trouble, and if there was, discussion and a meeting was arranged to sort it out.

One day a gardener in the beautiful garden, was upset because he was asked by the head gardener to not touch a certain tree because it was special, and only he knew how to care for it.  The gardener encouraged by others, decided he knew enough about the tree (his knowledge was as good as if not better than the head gardener), that he would see what work the tree needed, and what was so special about it.

It didn’t take long for him to see its beauty, even the fruit was tasty.  However, not long after, he felt sick and went home.  The head gardener sought him out to talk to him, but he was nowhere.  Eventually he did though, and asked the reason he went to the tree, “We didn’t see a reason not to visit the tree, and you didn’t tell us.  I believe I have enough knowledge of the tree, even more than you, but now I’m sick.” “That’s because the tree has a poison in it” replied the head gardener.  “And it can only be handled by me, because I only have the knowledge”.

The gardener left the beautiful garden and didn’t return.  The head gardener was extremely sad.  The sickness he got from the poison started to spread to others through contact.  Meetings and discussion were held to try and stop it.  Eventually the whole kingdom and surrounding ones got sick also, death eventually came to all, but each new generation passed it on.  The head gardener tried to help with the remedy, but was largely ignored, and his knowledge and help wasn’t required.

The first sin was Pride by Satan himself.  He wanted to be God, he wanted to take over, sit in his own seat, rule and reign the way he wanted, to make all the decisions, to be accountable to no one; he wanted his independence. Satan; A once perfect creation sinned, then God sent Satan and all his followers packing.  So then when Satan saw God create man, he decided; “I’ll help man be his own boss, to be independent of God”.  So in the garden of Eden, that’s what happened.  As we know, Eve took the verbal enchantments of the serpent, and with no protest from Adam, they ate and the rest is history.

Read Gen 3:1-7

Now we should all believe here, that God is good and perfect.  But if doubt is inserted by our own minds, then Satan offers to help us with our independence from God. We agree and wham oh, we have independence.  But it starts with us, no one else.  Independence is rebellion against God.  What did Israel do; they rebelled time and time again.  They got into hot water, then prayed to God for help, and God in His mercy answered every time.  Sadly they rebelled again and again; they even asked for a king instead of God (1Sam 10:17-19).  Saying in effect; “We don’t trust you God, we want our independence from you, so give us a king”.  Where did that get them, more trouble!  Yes, great kings came and went, but their rebellion produced more pain.

It is our rebellion that causes us so much pain and hurt, and others.  Rebellion from God destroys relationships and often leads to physical, emotional and sexual abuse.  Damaging or ending friendships, dividing families, workmates, neighbours, marriages and so forth.  Rebellion eats into the very core of all that is good.  Extreme selfishness is one of the signs that we are in rebellion: I want this, I need this, I must get this, I’m unhappy, make me happy, I have a right to this, it’s mine.  I’m doing it my way, on my terms, you should do this for me, you owe me, I’ve done so much, I’ve worked my butt off for you.  You must meet my needs, because if you don’t, I’ll run or go away.  I want your help, and I’ll get it to.  You must give in to my demands.  Self, self, self!  Me, me, me!  I, I,I!  Very selfish, it demands its rights of God and particularly others.  It/we are never satisfied; our rebellion has an insatiable appetite, more… more.  Why, because we have left our true source.

Now you may say: “Hang on, I’m not like that.  Yes I can see others; like the children of Israel were.  But I’m nowhere near that bad”.  But you are… we all are!  Rebellion coming from our independence drives us away from our true and original source.  Your rebellion may not be as obvious as Israel’s, but it’s there, you just don’t realise or see it.  Our carnal sin nature is an enemy of God, that’s why he’s trying to kill it.  Rom 7:14-20.  Rom 8:7-8.  1Cor 3:3. Rom8: 12-13.  We must purposely, deliberately help him.

We do not see the impact our independence and rebellion does.  We think we are righteous, not too bad.  We tithe, we go to church for 2 hours a week, we don’t do much harm.  You know, God is more concerned with the other 90% and other 6 days, than our compliance with the minimum religious acts of the 10% or less, and the 166 hours left in the week.  We truly are robbing God in our rebellion.  The impact and effects go far and wide, our choices, decisions etc, all are influenced by our independence.  Why, because we think we can do it better, we think God restricts our choices and fun.  We think, because he gave us freewill, we’ll use it, and he’ll still let us into heaven, he loves and won’t prevent us.

Freewill was God’s plan right from the very start.  He didn’t want robots, slaves or to force us to love him.  He desired relationship to share his exquisite creation with.  His heart’s desire and longing was for mankind to freely love him in return for ever; with no pain, hurt, fear, problems, grief, heartache and the endless results of sin.  Wow, what a deal!  Who in their right mind would reject that?  God’s gift of freewill was thrown back in his face like trash, and we said:”Take that, have it, we’ll do things on our own from now on, thank you very much”.  Another little symptom of our independence that plays out is a very little word with great ramifications.  Who here enjoys playing games especially when you are winning?  It’s a great feeling isn’t it, to know that our skills or knowledge or prowess have put us in a position of strength over our opponent.  The little word is ‘control’!  Julie talked about control last time, self control as a fruit of the Spirit.  She pointed out that control of self is what self control is, as well as our desires, motives, attitudes etc.  She inserted the self-IN-control.  We need to take the self out and put the help in.  In other words, help me God- reliance on him; Let God have control.

As fallen humans; we took control (supposedly) from God, we decided to take the wheel, drive our own destinies and lives.  Cause we can do it better, can’t we!   Apart from the remote control always in a man’s hand, where does control act out? Do we control situations?  Do we control people? Or maybe, seek to control by manipulation, deceit, lies, emotions, coercion, force, subtle pressure, withdrawal, criticism, judgements and so on.  Now are we seeing how selfish, how rebellious, how independent we are?  I’m not going to submit to God, I’m not accountable to him, no way.  What’s the answer?

We must begin to recognise how independent we are really.  Face up to the fact that God’s ways are better- more perfect, ours aren’t and never will be.  That he is our true source of life, destiny, happiness, peace and needs.  That submission to him in interdependence is the only true way, not our way.  Isa 55:8-9….his ways higher- his thoughts……  His heart of love controls him, not anything else.  He has nothing but the perfect best for us.  Think of all he promises us in the bible, is that truth to you, is that reality?  Now Satan doesn’t want you to see your independent spirit, he’s mad if you do, because that’s how he works.  He’s deceived, lied, duped us for so long into thinking that God doesn’t have what it takes, that God certainly doesn’t have our best interests in mind, and that we should probably do it our way, but he’s been subtle about how he does that.

Do we desire independence or interdependence?  Make your choice today, have your plans worked?  Or are you willing to try God’s plans?   Jer29:11NLT .  He loves us so much, He so wants to work with us so that we have a full and happy life.  That all we do succeeds; that amazing joy and happiness are ours continually.  That we achieve results for him in service and our lives shine out that our extravagant Lord is on our side for our good.

This sermon is not meant to make you feel condemned or sad.  It’s to make you think, to challenge you to strive to be perfect, to reach more for Jesus, to display him, not yourself.  But you know, it’s not about us, we need to see our independence, but also see those out there who don’t see it, because they’re on their way to eternal death because of it.  Pursue interdependence people.  Reject the independent spirit, and pursue Jesus and his kingdom.

Fruit of the Spirit – Self Control April 20, 2009

Pastor Julie Shannon

Self control – what is it? Lets first focus on understanding the opposite of self control; being out of control.  Our world around us in many ways appears to be out of control, everywhere people are financially out of control; even our banks are in panic mode at present.  Physically out of control, emotionally out of control and morally out of control.  These things are easy to pin point, excessive borrowing and debt, abuse of both our own and others bodies, emotional outbursts and dysfunction, and a slow disintegration of the morals our governments and us once held to be normal and right.

Paul in his second letter to Timothy speaks of terrible times in the last days: “People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, and conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God – having a form of godliness but denying its power.  Have nothing to do with such people.”  These are very strong words!

All of these attributes stem from an underlying selfishness that seeks to glorify self rather than God, that seeks to attain at any cost; self gratification, self importance; and self sufficiency.  This attitude comes from the very centre of Satan himself, it is the root of evil and resides in many a human being because of the fall.  Adam and Eve took it upon themselves to know better than God, they sought to gratify self, resulting in an attitude of “wanting to do it their own way”- self sufficiency.

The Greek word for “without self control” as in the passage in second Timothy is akrates, meaning; powerless, morally impotent, unrestrained and incontinent.  People who have grown up in dysfunctional relationships; those who have suffered various forms of abuse or those who have had bad modelling can grow up with feelings of being  out of control; a feeling of being vulnerable, unsafe  and extremely powerless often results.  Sadly when this happens we can decide to take things into our own hands; children and adults can learn very quickly to withdraw internally or become very aggressive to try to take some form of control back.  We can form addictive or compulsive behaviours to help quell the feelings of being out of control; anything to take our own control over our lives. A woman who has suffered sexual abuse may subconsciously do everything to make herself unattractive to men, or take control another way by manipulating men to her own whims.  These are examples of humans trying to do things in the place of God, It is inbuilt sin in us to seek to preserve our selves, it is a difficult and often terrifying task to give God the reigns of our life.  In doing this though we are controlling our self, gratification, self importance and self sufficiency through the power and authority of the Holy Spirit.

As I was writing up this sermon yesterday I had on four occasions with four different people opportunities to have self control.  One I felt extremely hurt and misunderstood, the other I was angry, another time I could have made someone look bad… and me look wonderful, and yet another time where I could have screamed out of frustration because my agenda was completely thrown out the window.  While I still struggled through some of these emotions I am proud to say I was reasonably self controlled, I was able to rationally think through my feelings and only say and do what was needed.  This doesn’t always happen, I put my foot in my mouth sometimes but God showed me that it can be done in him.  The key yesterday for me I believe was the fact I had been focusing on this sermon and I was in a Holy Spirit frame of mind.  I had been worshipping the Lord and trusting Him with my day, no matter what happened.

It’s fitting that the last aspect of fruit Paul lists as reflected in a mature Christian is self control, for without a deep relationship with the Lord; and an attitude of submission to the Holy Spirit our attempts at self control can only be self IN control.  When we insert the IN between self and control the Holy Spirit is kicked OUT, and messages from God and people become distorted because our filter is one of self IN control, no matter what.  Unfortunately this then gives the demonic rights to come and help us to take control.  Spirits of control, witchcraft, manipulation, religion, jezebel and the like love this type of soil in a person.  And just like a virus infiltrating a computer, these demons will cause the individuals rational and reasoning processes to deteriorate.  The longer a person operates in a controlling and manipulating way without repenting of this behavior, the stronger the demonic influence is.

This all sounds very depressing, and many of us are probably wondering if there’s any hope?  I can tell you there is hope; our hope is the Lord Jesus Christ.  He died so we could have life, a life of freedom from sin and bondages.  Not only have we been given freedom from death with a promise of eternal life; seated with Christ in heaven.  But our freedom begins from the moment we receive Him as our Lord and Saviour.  The apostle Paul earlier in his letter to the Galatians writes “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”(Gal 2:20)

In Titus 2:6 the apostle Paul encourages his spiritual son to teach older men to “be temperate, worthy of respect, self controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance.” He instructs Him to teach women to be self controlled and pure and to encourage the young men to be self controlled. “

The word for self control in the Greek is sophroneo it implies: to be in the right state of mind, to be self controlled, clear minded, and to have sober judgement.

Aristotle : “I count braver him who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies, for the hardest victory is over self.”

And

Confucius: “He who conquers himself is the mightiest warrior”

Check yourself out, see how many times in one day you use the words I or me or mine, compared to his, hers or the Lords.

Ask yourself, “are my thoughts and actions, glorifying God, and am I edifying others?

Paula mentioned the Faithfulness of God to us; He is very faithful in answering us, do you want to hear his answers though?  It may mean his agenda is different to yours, it may mean you have to give up your desires for the benefit of another.  One thing it will mean is that when God is in control and you are controlling self – (having self control)… your self wont get in the way any more.

Throughout the New Testament we hear the term taking off our old self, and putting on our new self, (Rom 6, Eph 4 and Col 3). If we don’t determine to kill off self and allow the Holy Spirit to control us, none of the other aspects of the Fruit of the spirit will be seen properly.  We will sour the fruit with selfish motives and controlling actions.  We will seek to glorify ourselves and fill our own desires above Gods desires for us.  Put pure and simply we are in rebellion against God when we refuse to kill off self and the desires and control that comes with it.  The sad thing is as long as we are in this rebellion; we cannot experience the full blessing of God.

In some translations the word flesh is used, in this context it is meaning all that is sinful in human nature. So how do we crucify the flesh or self?  Our first step is to admit that our selfish desires need to be killed off, and to determine that we will have nothing more to do with them.  Then after seeking forgiveness for our rebellion we need to put ourselves so completely under the control and love of Jesus Christ, who died and was raised from the dead.  When we die to ourselves we are raised from the place of death and destruction; from the thoughts, inner desires and wrong motives that interfere with our relationship with God and others.  Self control is when you are so filled with and led by the Holy Spirit that your actions or reactions in any situation glorify God and build up others.  It takes each of us individually to take the In out and let the Holy Spirit rule.

After Paul lists the traits that reveal the fruit of moving in the Holy Spirit in Galatians chapter five, he reminds us also that those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.  He encourages the Christians in Galatia and also us as we read these anointed words to keep in step with the Spirit.

To walk in the spirit with the fruit of the spirit is to live ones whole life in accordance with the mind of Christ.  Take out the IN, kill off your self… when you do, you will at last be free.

Fruit of the Spirit – Faithfulness April 20, 2009

Paula Robinson

I felt that it would be helpful to start with discovering the meaning of faithfulness.

In William Barclay’s commentary the Greek word for faithfulness is “pistis”.  This is translated trustworthiness.

However, to further understand faithfulness I looked up some dictionaries.

The following is the best of what I found, combined with some of my comments.

So faithfulness can mean:

Strict/thorough in the performance of duty.  As in the term “a faithful worker”.

True to one’s word, promises, vows etc.. As in someone who can be depended on.

Firm, steady and constant in maintaining unswerving allegiance, affection, or attachment. Loyal.

Eg. Faithful friends, being loyal to a cause or idea (eg. One’s country)

Reliable, trusted or believed.

To follow through with a commitment regardless of difficulty.

Long, continued, stable and steadfast fidelity to whatever one is bound to by a pledge duty or obligation.

Synonyms for faithfulness can also help us to discover its meaning.

Some of them are:  adherence, adhesion, allegiance, attachment, care, constancy, dependability, fidelity, trustworthiness, truth, sincerity, stability and devotion.

My daughter Jacqueline also wanted me to include the word staunch in this description of faithfulness. The word staunch means steadfast and strong.

Faithfulness in these terms is definitely a very attractive quality or fruit of the spirit to possess,

as well as to be thankful for when we see it displayed in those around us.

especially when we are recipients.

As I pondered faithfulness as the fruit that I had been assigned to preach about,

I wondered at its significance to my life

and also wondered how much fruit was working through me.

Initially I felt condemned, but realised that comes from the evil one.

After that passed I felt encouraged

and also challenged to continue in faithfulness in areas that I find it difficult to be faithful.

I also thought about the people around me who had been faithful to me in different ways and was thankful for their faithfulness.

So let’s pause for a moment and think about whom in our lives has been faithful to us in some way. What is it that they do that enables you to see their faithfulness.

To look into the purest form of faithfulness I felt that it would be essential to explore just some areas of God’s faithfulness to us.

Ps 100:5 says

“For the Lord is good and His love endures forever, His faithfulness continues through all generations.”

So God remains faithful always.

2 Timothy 2:13 says

“If we are faithless, He will remain faithful, for He cannot disown Himself.”

So God will be faithful in line with His word, regardless of our loyalty.

God reminds us with rainbows of His faithful promise to Noah and all generations that the whole earth will never again be flooded.

In Matt 24:35 it says:

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”

So all of Gods’ words, the bible are completely reliable and are guaranteed fulfilment.

God was also completely faithful to His people the Israelites in the O.T..

They continued to stray from Him and fall into slavery and bondage.

Each time they turned back to Him, He faithfully received them and delivered them.

Jesus lived a life of complete faithfulness to His calling, to suffer and die for us. He knew what He had to go through and yet still chose to do it.

1 Thess 5:23,24 encourages us greatly with;

“May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you, through and through.  May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  The One who calls you is faithful and He will do it.”

These are but a few examples of God’s faithfulness expressed to us.

If you study the bible you will discover that there is not any area of our lives

that God will be unfaithful in since He cannot be what He is not.

I can recall many times in my own life where God has been faithful to me.

One particular remarkable occasion that I remember was many years ago when I was leading a women’s group in our home.

That summer we had a bug infestation.  Those bugs used to crawl into your bed and bite you as you slept.

I had just finished preparing my home and the bible study for the next morning with the women and was ready to go to bed in the air conditioned lounge room, when I noticed some bugs beginning to march right in.This normally meant that by morning they would be all through the house.  I was very concerned about this, as I knew that I would not have time to vacuum them up before group.  I also had a young baby to care for and it just was not possible to deal with them on time.

I lay down and prayed a desperate prayer explaining my circumstances, which God knew anyway, and I asked Him to take the bugs away somehow.  The next morning I got up to see what the damage was.

I found one half dead bug in the sink and one somewhere else.  I was overjoyed.

I assumed my husband Andrew had vacuumed them up for me before work. So I called him to thank him.  Andrew however had not vacuumed, which left me to believe that God had used a heavenly vacuum, in the form of a miracle, faithfully taking care of circumstances that would not have been very nice for a women’s group.

In prayer many times God has encouraged me to ask for the things I need and want so that He can bless me and show me His faithfulness.

How about you?

In what ways can you recall God’s faithfulness to you?

I also realized as I studied faithfulness that it is best displayed in adverse circumstances. It’s easy to be faithful when everything is going well.

The bible character Job had his faithfulness tested when He lost everything including his health.  Yet He remained loyal in His devotion to God.

Many people blame God when everything goes wrong rather than turn to Him and rely upon His faithfulness to help us through and to overcome.

In the end Job was blessed and had everything restored to Him in far greater measure than what he had lost.

God rewarded His faithfulness, as God also rewards ours.

In Matthew 25 in the parable of the talents, the servants who were faithful with their masters’ goods in His absence

were honoured, given more responsibility

and invited to share in their master’s happiness.

Sometimes we get to enjoy rewards on earth and other rewards will wait till heaven.

So, how does this faithfulness develop in us?

The bible teaches us that we are made in God’s image.

Therefore it is reasonable to expect that as we mature

we would also develop faithfulness to reflect the character of our creator.

John 15:5  reads

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit: apart from me you can do nothing.”

These are Jesus words to His disciples.

So Jesus gives us an instruction to remain in Him

so that we will naturally bear fruit just like plants do.

What does it mean to remain in Jesus.

I think the implication is to be very close to Him

.

We can do this through;  regular prayer, worshipping Him,

reading the bible, His word to us,

and also regularly meeting with His people,

who are other image bearers of Himself.

I believe we have a choice whether or not to position ourselves close to Jesus making fruit development possible.

So how close to Jesus are you?

What opportunities are you giving Him to grow fruit in you?

Romans 12:1 says

“Therefore, I urge you brothers in view of God’s mercy to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.”

I think this not only describes worship but a call to faithfulness with every part of our beings.

So what might faithfulness look like in practical terms?

Rev 2:10 Challenges us

“Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.”

Romans 12:12 says to

“Be faithful in prayer.”

1 Corinthians 5:18&20 commends us to

“Flee from sexual immorality. You were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”

This is calling us to be faithful in our sexuality.

1 Corinthians 13 calls us to be faithful in our love, ensuring that every form of service expressed through us, has love as its base.

I would even say that faithfulness is also an expression of love.

2 Corinthians 9 talks about being faithful in giving generously, even describing it as an act of obedience to God’s purpose.

Galations 6:9 & 10 encourages us to be faithful in doing good. For it says

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”

I think “doing good” is a useful blanket term to cover a multitude of services that would bless other people as we faithfully choose to do good.

This doing good could cover;

being hospitable, helping the injured, giving practicle help, being a listening ear, offering your expertise, and generally assisting in the hum drum things of life.

There is not a cap on what doing good could encompass.

We are also called to be faithful in our readiness to witness who Christ is to us.

1 Peter 3:15 says

“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”

I also read this challenging question on the internet regarding our faithfulness in our calling to serve in the ministry of the Church.

Note, this question is not for condemnation,

as each person’s call to service is unique to themselves.

However it is useful at times to ask questions of ourselves to highlight areas of weakness.

It goes like this: “If everyone were as faithful as I am, what kind of church would this be?”   or    “what sort of church life would we see?”

Like Jesus was we also will be tempted to be unfaithful.

However,1 Corinthians 10:13 tells us that

God always provides a way of escape from the temptations.

It is important to get up again when we fall, just like Peter did after denying Jesus. Jesus restored him and Peter became a beacon of faithfulness.

We need not become discouraged in faithfulness as Lamentations 3:21-23 reminds us

“Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

Because God is faithful to us we can safely be faithful to Him, knowing that He will reward us,

lift us when we fail,

And return faithfulness back to us.

So, again in reflection what does faithfulness look like? Or how can it be described?

Faithfulness implies consistency and unchangeability in its allegiance.

Its devotion is steadfastly and sincerely attached to the cause,

in this case, Jesus, whom it completely trusts in, believes in  and has pledged itself to.

It is something that won’t be shaken, but endures no matter what may come.

Fruit of the Spirit – Gentleness April 20, 2009

Paul Butler

(Fragile Handle with Care)

Consider you are sending something fragile interstate. It has to be there quick. You have no choice but to send it by air mail.  The baggage handlers see your package.  It has a big sticker on it that says, HANDLE WITH CARE!  It gets to the destination.  The person receives the package, opens it, and it is broken.  You ring up the baggage company and complain.  Later you find out that A Current Affair ran a story about the lack of care the workers had for their job. The attitude they had was toward their pay packet. They lacked gentleness.

What is gentleness? The dictionary definition includes:

1.    Kind: having a mild and kind nature or manner

2.    Mild: being moderate in force or degree so that the effects are not severe

3.    Using little force or violence e.g. a gentle tap on the shoulder

4.    Not steep: not rising very steeply e.g. a gentle slope

5.    Upper class: relating to or having a high social status or class

6.    Chivalrous: having a gracious and honourable manner

The Apostle Paul in writing to the Galatians states gentleness is a fruit of the Spirit.  Therefore, we who live by the Spirit ought to display this fruit.  What does Paul mean by gentleness? The Greek word here is “prautes” [pronounced prah-oo'-tace].  This means mildness of disposition [temperament, character], gentleness of spirit, meekness.

“Gentleness, such a sweetness of temper, and especially towards our inferiors, as disposes us to be affable [pleasant, friendly, easy going] and courteous, and easy to be entreated when any have wronged us” – (Matthew Henry). This means our character is so friendly, and easygoing that others will naturally feel comfortable in approaching us, especially when seeking forgiveness.

Gentleness is more than an action.  It starts as a character.  The character of Christ!  He displayed it and wants us to have it.  Gentleness is something we need to strive for.  It is something we need to clothe ourselves with.  Finally we need it to be effective in our witness.  I am going to expand a little on what gentleness is.  The Apostle Paul gives us some very good advice.

1. Christ needs to be displayed in us.

Christ’s character consisted of gentleness.  We also must display it.  The Apostle Paul writes, “Now I, Paul, appeal to you personally by the meekness and gentleness of Christ (I who am meek when present among you, but am full of courage toward you when away!) 1 Corinthians 10:1

The character of Christ was divinely ordained.  The gentleness of Christ displayed is a heavenly temperament.  Paul recognized this. He addressed the Corinthians through the heavenly temperament of gentleness.  If this temperament was available for Paul it is available for us.

In counselling one is taught the art of empathic listening.  The counsellor listens to the client then repeats back what they have heard.  Gentleness of spirit is required.  The counsellor has no room for judgements.  Unconditional acceptance of the client is what is required.  This displays the temperament of Christ.  In dealing people Christ showed unconditional acceptance for those he ministered to.

1. Strive for gentleness!

But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. 1 Timothy 6:11 (New International Version).

Paul is saying that we need to strive for what is good. Flee from all sin and pursue all that is good and noble.  This is a Paul’s major themes in some of his letters.  Move away from evil, the selfish desires of living for yourself.  It is Christ that lives in us (Galatians 2:20).  The old man has gone, and the new has come.  Put on those things of Christ.

When Paul uses the term pursue he is saying that we need to follow, run after, press forward.  Pursue is a verb which means a doing word.  Gentleness is something that is good and noble.  It is a way to live a holy life.  We need to continually strive forward towards it.  Gentleness is a key character for living a holy life.

1. Wear gentleness!

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Colossians 3:12 (New International Version).

Gentleness may come naturally to some people.  Yet others have to strive for it. Whether it is natural or not, we are urged to clothe ourselves in gentleness.  No matter what the situation, we must clothe ourselves in it.

Wearing of gentleness towards those who have provoked us is a divine temperament.  In this Easter period we are reminded of the way Jesus was treated.  He was flogged, betrayed, ridiculed, shamed He remained gentle to those around him.

We can easily fall into resentment of the wrongs and neglects against us.  Paul urges us to wear gentleness as clothes.  To do this gentleness requires us to curb our own anger, and patiently bear the anger of others against us.

1. Witness in gentleness!

But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.” But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. 1 Peter 3:14-16 (New International Version).

Confess Christ as the ground of your hope with gentleness and fear.  The answer to foes is to be made, not with arrogance and offensive, but modestly, meekly, reverentially.  Some Christians preach the gospel as to ram it down the throats of others.  This turns people away from the gospel. Gentleness is attractive.  In time your witness will reap the benefit.

Recently I conducted a funeral. It was an interesting experience. I am not a pastor, minister or a celebrant. The lady who asked me was someone I had known through College. Her father was a religious man. Close to his death he stipulated that he didn’t want a minister or celebrant to conduct the ceremony. Because of my theological studies I was the first person she chose.

In dealing with the family I had to be gentle. There were hurting family members who were sad and disillusioned. The lady’s brother in particular! He suffers from a slight form of schizophrenia. During a visit he had a bit too much wine to drink. He became aggressive, not to the point of hurting anyone, but in anger. With gentleness I was able to hear his hurt and pain. I was able to find positive traits in him. This helped build some relationship. In the end, he had calmed down and was apologetic for his behaviour. This was only obtained because I was gentle with him.

In this situation, I was able to be a witness for God. I wasn’t rash or obtrusive rather I was positive through gentleness. This was a trait that Christ displayed in his life and this is a trait that he wants from us as his witnesses.

CONCLUSION

People need to see Christ.  Gentleness is bringing Christ’s character into our character.  Others will then see.  Christ will be displayed.  There can never be too much gentleness.  We constantly need to strive for it.  We need to clothe ourselves in it so we are covered by it.  Doing this others will see Christ.  He will be witnessed.

Gentleness corresponds with the other fruits of the Spirit. Without it kindness has no works, patience cannot wait.  Gentleness is the character and kindness the action which flows from it.  Gentleness affects the way we behave towards others.  How is our character?  Is gentleness evident in our life?

Fruit of the Spirit – Goodness April 9, 2009

Pastor Julie Shannon

We are continuing on with our series on the “Fruit of the Spirit” based on the scripture in Galatians chapter 5,.So far we have  learned that the term fruit in this passage is meaning one whole fruit and not separate “fruits”, and just like a beautiful and healthy apple tree produces large and juicy fruit; we Christians are wanting to produce good fruit also.  To this point we have learnt about love, joy, peace, patience and kindness as qualities that will help us to be fruitful as Gods children.  We laughed and empathised with Sheree as she taught on patience and were convicted when Peta reminded us all on what the meaning of being kind is, especially remembering our experiences as drivers on the road!

Today I will be speaking on goodness… the word good is thrown around a lot in our culture, people mix it up with the word kindness or something that can appeal to our personal taste: a good show on tv, a good restaurant etc etc… we can even see good as an adjective to describe totally the opposite, “good in bed”  “good at hiding the truth” “a good cook” gets used a lot in my home!.

I’ve heard the term many times, “the fight between good and evil”, and rightly we can refer this to the fight we have as Christians here on earth between the things of God and of our enemy Satan. But for us to win this fight and not be consumed with evil; we need to understand Goodness.

The word the apostle Paul uses here in the original language is Agathos – this word describes the disposition and character of a person who is benevolent, or full of good will or charity – towards others.   Goodness is quite different from other qualities like gentleness; it also defines more than what the word kindness reveals to us. A way of understanding what Paul was meaning here is to think of goodness as – our inner qualities of love, peace joy etc, of virtue and obedience being energized and brought to the fore, made obvious through our behaviour. We can’t hide goodness under a rock, it is something that is eventually seen.  Goodness has to involve other people, throughout scripture when the same word has been used; it indicates an almost zealous activity in doing good, whereas kindness or gentleness is more passive.  Jesus showed Agathos (goodness) when he cleansed the Temple and drove out those who were not honouring the Father.  Whereas he showed Chrestotes (kindness) to the sinning woman who anointed his feet.  Christians need this quality… goodness is both kind and strong.  Agathos or goodness might and can rebuke and discipline, whereas chrestotes or kindness can only help.

Now for us to produce goodness our other fruit traits need to be present.  Goodness without love is impossible; it becomes just nice, have you ever said, “oh that person is nice, they are sweet and caring , wouldn’t hurt a fly?” Never say a bad word to anyone”, that’s not goodness… that’s niceness!!   Goodness has gutz, a person acting out of goodness will love the other so much that they may say the hard word, and they say it through a heart of love, with a patient demeanour, with an inner joy and through kind and gentle expression.

God the Father is a great example of showing us goodness – God is good, is he not? He heals, restores, blesses and saves us.  Yet he corrects us, sometimes severely, just as we as parents need to correct our children so they become responsible adults that produce good fruit.  The apostle Paul gives us a clear sense of what goodness is in Romans 15: 14 ” Now I myself  am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with knowledge, able also to correct one another.”

The word in the Greek is in the active tense, it could even be said to be “aggressive”.  So when we are wondering why we are so passive sometimes, check out your inner motives. ..How are you going in the other areas that have already been spoken about in this series?  Because aggressive goodness results when the other traits reflect a heart whose righteousness flows from inward devotion and love to God. Goodness comes when our central and most inner motives love God and regard His will and heart in ALL things.

This involves commitment and cost, it takes sacrifice to grow and mature…it doesn’t just happen, it takes risk to allow goodness to begin to work in and through us but without an outworking of goodness flowing out from Christians and into the world we are no good to anyone.

A practical example:

Few people could do the same action of kindness, but only one may do it through goodness. In giving a glass of water to someone it may be…

1. Because they should =obedience only

2. So they can feel good about themselves =pride

3. With a strong and sincere desire to do the right thing = goodness

Stephen King once commented on goodness “It’s better to be good than evil, but one achieves goodness at a terrific cost.” -

He appreciated goodness when he saw it, but realised the sacrifice of self that it involves…

This understanding of goodness means that before we can call any action good, our inner motives must be right.

A good person may have failures, they may struggle in areas, and they are not perfect. What sets someone apart as reflecting goodness is the direction of a person’s inner desires, his motivations.  The character that is being moulded by God often makes mistakes…but goodness in a person shows an almost moral excellence in allowing God to work in and through you.  Only Gods goodness is perfect or absolute, He is our standard to measure ourselves with any area we are growing in.  However God expects us to work this one out just as much as he does in other areas; e.g kindness, patience etc.  Amos: 5: 14 “seek good, not evil, that you may live.  Then the Lord almighty will be with you, just as you say he is.  Hate evil, love good…”

The key to goodness is to love the Lord, it is to seek His will in all things, it is to die to self completely and aggressively pursue your own healing and freedom so you can “fight the good fight of faith”, so you can “abound in every good work”, and so you can “have a good reputation with outsiders.”  Remember “He that began a good work in you will bring it to completion”, and while He does ;”do not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time you will reap a harvest if you do not give up.”

Paul says it well in Galatians 5: 16 “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature…”

Work on goodness, look inside yourself, allow Jesus to look too, he knows what’s there anyway. Aggressively pursue the fruit of the spirit in all areas and you will be able to stand.  When we are moving in and through the Holy Spirit, it is not difficult to choose good over evil.  Jesus is our example of goodness, today as we remember Palm Sunday and our Lord entering Jerusalem into certain death on the back of a donkey.  Reflect on His goodness, as His motives both then and now reflect pure goodness.

Fruit of the Spirit – Love April 9, 2009

Stephen Hills

Galatians 5:22

Well, well, well.  What a subject to start off with.  It’s as broad a subject seems in the universe.  Thousands of songs have been written, books, movies – a whole burgeoning industry.  Is it right or wrong?  How do we apply it, understand it, and comprehend it?  When we first fell in love, what was that strange force, feelings and emotions that made us do crazy things for someone else; like buying flowers, jewellery, chocolates?  There was an invisible drawing power that overcomes our natural reserve, inhibitions, common sense and personalities.  It made us do weird things – kissing, cuddling, staying up all night, and who knows what else.

We all need to feel loved and secure in life.  Through love, we can get the greatest joy and the greatest pain.  Then the heart is right if a person, with pure and honest motives, love flows and brings pleasure.  The opposite is true when a heart is distorted by sin.  The cross is an example of the greatest joy and pain, and a right heart (who better but Jesus).  Our broken world with multiple heart-broken relationships is an example of distorted hearts of sin.

In this passage, the love spoken of is agapé love which means in the Greek: the unconditional love of God – active for His son and people, and an active love His people need to have for others, God and ever our enemies.  There are 3 Greek words in the Bible for love, Agapé – God’s love, Philia – friendship love, and Eros – sexual love.  We’ve all probably heard about those, the obvious being Eros – translated today as erotic love.  But, first and foremost, we need agapé love; it is the lynch pin as it were of all the fruit.  Without love for God and others, we cannot have joy, peace, patience etc, it’s nigh impossible.  Who wants to be kind or good, if you’re loveless, what’s the point?  Who cares about anything or anyone else in this world, if they have no motivation to love?  The real focus in this case is self; me first – please me – I want it now mentality of this world.  No the real description of love is of course 1 Corinthians 13.

All the fruit – all these character traits we need to have if we call ourselves Christian stem from commands to love.  Everything hangs from the commands in Matt 22:37-39.  It’s vital we get this point.  Why are you here today?  Would you even bother to come if you didn’t have some kind of love for God, or being here with other people you know?

I have personally struggled with giving and receiving love all my life.  As the love modelled to me growing up was a twisted, conditional, legalistic type, where one must be nice and act in a certain way to receive it.  I had to fight for it sort of, not always was it offered or offered freely.  A child needs love shown in action and word, it brings life into a child when this happens, and often I got death.  The same is true for some of you out there.

Love is the very nature of God.  Just like God, he can’t be bottled, packaged, contained, limited in anyway.  So is with Love, even time doesn’t affect it, and God is timeless too.  To understand love, if we ever can, you must attempt to begin to understand God – the creator of Love.  If we enjoy and value love so much, then we must value who instigated it.  In our appreciation of its benefits, we can marvel and wonder at the heart of love that it came from.  Wow, what a mind boggling thought!

Just imagine of you can, a world without love.  No smiles, no hugs, no feelings or emotions, no kind words – no life.  Like robots, we would just exist, going about doing work and that’s all.  Like the robot Data in Star Trek, he was always trying to understand humans and their emotions and care for each other, wanting to emulate them.  Or being like Spock, who was devoid of feelings or emotions, but was humanlike.  Can you imagine a world like that?  We would be living, but we would have no life – no love.

But a God absolutely bursting with love could never create a world like that – impossible.  He desired relationship to share the essence of His character – love.  That’s why humankind that’s why Calvary, that’s why salvation.  “For God so loved . . .” John 3:16 Love, love, love!  So coming from that, the fruit of the spirit might manifest in our lives.  We are nothing without love, l we can do nothing of worth without love and we certainly can’t live in eternity without love.

So learn and practice love, not just the lovable, but to the unlovable also.

Fruit of the Spirit – Patience April 9, 2009

Sheree Falzon

When I heard that I was going to be talking on this subject I thought ‘Wow, that’s perfect for me and what God has been leading me through lately’. Being trialed in some tough areas of my life I really felt that he was growing my patience. I discovered that also when Charlie all of a sudden started to throw the 2year old tantrums out of know where!

Now for starters, I’ll answer an easier question, what is patience?

The English dictionary states:

Patience (pā-shəns) is the state of endurance under difficult circumstances, which can mean persevering in the face of delay or provocation without becoming annoyed or upset; or exhibiting forbearance when under strain, especially when faced with longer-term difficulties. It is also used to refer to the character trait of being steadfast

The Greek word for patience is Hypomone, which is made up of two other words. Hypo which means ‘under’ and moneo which means ‘remain’ or ‘abide’. So patience is to remain under and abide while under hard circumstances, when it is not possible to escape or avoid them. Patience is the ability to endure.

Patience may denote calm, self-possessed, and un- repining bearing of pain, misfortune, annoyance, or delay. It describes a person who has the power to exercise revenge but instead exercises restraint.

• So in theory we know what patience means, what about in practical, in life? And in our walk with Christ?

Patience is needed every day of our lives. For example: waiting for important news, waiting in line, sitting in a traffic jam, or those from Sunbury would know the road works on vineyard road! We NEED patience for every single thing we do in life, I mean the little things as well, like cleaning or cooking tea, at work on the computer (you need a great deal of patience with computers! I discovered that when typing this sermon!) , And of course one big one is waiting for a baby to come along! Which Nickie and myself experienced not that long ago!

Margaret Thatcher once said “I am extraordinarily patient provided I get my own way in the end” We can be extremely patient when things are going ‘our’ way. It’s when things are turned upside down that we are truly tested on how patient we are.

• So the next question is why do we need patience?

Imagine if humans had no patience at all…. Nothing, not one thing ever would get done or happen because we couldn’t be bothered even waiting one minute for it, or everyone would do things out of compulsion and things would never be done correctly or safely. So it’s a pretty important part of our everyday lives and a major part of us as humans. We need patience to get through the smallest things in everyday life to the greater disasters and challenges we encounter along the way.

As a parent I believe patience is something that needs to be taught to us at a young age, Now I am sure there would be many people out there who would probably disagree with my beliefs however when talking about raising children its always going to happen. Even from an infant stage like little Josh’s age and younger, learning to be patient starts from then. Teaching a baby to wait for its milk until the right time (gently, without letting it get distressed etc) A child learning to wait to play with a new toy until you get home, Eating the vegetables before the sweets come out and more, a baby will very quickly adapt and learn making it so much easier for them and the parents from that stage onwards and is often reflected in the coming years whether they had early teaching in patience or not.

At an age of two like Charlie’s age I have noticed him getting frustrated if something doesn’t do what he wants etc. eg: the other day he was trying desperately to put his match box cars onto the back of another truck, not all of them would fit and they kept falling off. I was in the other room and all I could hear was him growling and crying and things banging around. It’s a normal part of a child’s development to experience this and is needed for them to learn how to problem solve and learn patience. Now imagine a child who doesn’t get to experience this may have parents or guardians that always jump in and do things for them or fix it for them. This child doesn’t get to experience frustration and learn to problem solve themselves, someone else usually does it for them. They miss the opportunity to have patience in these most important times in childhood. As a teenager it’s very much the same, learning to solve issues and frustrations like exams, friendships, school, new jobs and massive changes in life. As adults and/or parents it’s important to help children and teenager’s problem solve and be patient with situations.

• The other day I was out the front of my house and a family walked passed a mother father and their two kids. The father was falling behind a lot with the little girl who was very obviously learning how to ride her bike. Now they came to the intersection and she struggled to stop the bike and kind of fell off just before she hit the road, she was upset but got back on very reluctantly. After crossing the road the little girl realized there was a huge hill to go down on the other side and she was terrified. She got off her bike and wanted to walk down however the father wanting to catch up to the mother was very angry and upset wanting her to ride down the hill. He was showing great impatience with the girl and she was balling her eyes out. I went inside not knowing what happened and thinking of how an episode like this could affect a child and what they are like when their older. A child who could experience this may never choose to ride a bike again when their older because of the fear that occurred, Could struggle to be around impatient people for fear of being forced into something, Could take on the impatient as being ‘normal’ and model that in their lives and to their children which is extremely common not only with impatience, So many more repercussions I can’t name them all. It shows just how important we are as parents or adults just how we react to situations and whether we

A child who has a good experience with an adult that has patience would feel safe, not out of control, or fearful. This child would replicate these actions; we would hope anyway and apply it to their own lives even as a young child.

It’s all reflected in our adult years whether we were given opportunities to have patience or not, now our parents were not perfect and we are not perfect, no one is except Jesus of course so we’re never going to always get it right. That’s where Jesus comes in, helping teach us patience because he is our father and us as children still need to be taught how to handle tough situations.

• As Christians we are meant to reflect Jesus and walk in his ways. Jesus is incredibly patient on a level that we find hard to comprehend. It’s hard in our sinful nature to reflect it to that level however this is why Jesus is always stretching us and growing our patience, so we become more like him.

Importantly, we need patience to do Gods will and to live like Christ in this fallen world. God will allow us to go through trials, each one testing us differently and helping us to grow more.

It says in

James 1:2-4

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing.

Becoming a Christian does not automatically exclude a believer from difficulties. The proper attitude in meeting troubles is to ‘count it all joy’, this doesn’t mean an actual emotional ‘joy’ however a deliberate appraisal of the situation from Gods perspective (so seeing the situation through Gods eyes), viewing trials as a means of moral and spiritual growth. We do not actually rejoice in the trials themselves but in their possible results. Patience isn’t a passive recognition of tough circumstances and troubles it’s a positive steadfastness that bravely endures! Only under the pressure of trials can the believer test the true depth of his faith in God. The established Christian heart will not waver, but will rejoice in the knowledge of the goodness of God.

A good example of someone suffering and standing firm in faith and patience is Job. Job was a child of God; He was a man who was extremely blessed by the Lord with great wealth, family and land. Now it happened that Satan tested the Lord and basically said to God that Job wouldn’t stay true to the Lord and would walk away from him if he was put under horrible circumstances.

Job 1:13-22

So the Lord knowing Jobs faith said okay I give you Job but spare his life. So God allowed Job to go through major suffering from losing his great property, servants, animals, his children (7 boys and 3 girls), and then his health suffering boils over his body from head to toe. He grieved greatly for these however he knew that he was not being punished and stood in his love and faith for the Lord. Undergoing terrible circumstances but enduring with patience and hope, abiding still in the Lord.

Next time you encounter a difficult circumstance or are faced with longer-term difficulties, what will you do? Crush under the pressure, lose faith in God or even get angry at God? He is strong and can handle that J However try and see things from Gods eyes next time, even with the tiny little things that can make us impatient. Have a read and Think about the story of Job and what he suffered and why God allowed it to happen. It’s forced me to ask questions like why am I really getting upset here? Is it going to help the situation at all? Who else am I affecting with my impatience?  Is God testing my faith in this situation?

Psalm 37:5-8

Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause lie the noonday sun.

God keeps us in ‘training’ pretty much all the time in our Christian walk. Now this is not to annoy us or punish us in any way. He has his perfect timing and a time for everything. God is good and only wants good for us, so him teaching us patience is for our own good and for the good of those we will affect in our lives’. This is so we can handle more and harder situations and people, for the glory of his kingdom.

I’m going to finish on that note, and pass you on to Peta who will now talk on the next aspect of spiritual fruit ‘kindness’

Thank you