The Heart of Worship // Worship as a Way of Life, Part 2

A Different Perspective Official Podcast

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المحتوى المقدم من Christianityworks and Berni Dymet. يتم تحميل جميع محتويات البودكاست بما في ذلك الحلقات والرسومات وأوصاف البودكاست وتقديمها مباشرة بواسطة Christianityworks and Berni Dymet أو شريك منصة البودكاست الخاص بهم. إذا كنت تعتقد أن شخصًا ما يستخدم عملك المحمي بحقوق الطبع والنشر دون إذنك، فيمكنك اتباع العملية الموضحة هنا https://ar.player.fm/legal.

Know What You See with Brian Lowery

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Flight of the Monarchs: Jaime Rojo on Beauty and Conservation 31:01

منذ 10 أيام31:01

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31:01

National Geographic photographer and conservationist Jaime Rojo has spent decades capturing the beauty and fragility of the monarch butterfly. Their epic migration is one of nature’s most breathtaking spectacles, but their survival is under threat. In this episode, Jaime shares how his passion for photography and conservation led him to document the monarchs’ journey. He and host Brian Lowery discuss the deeper story behind his award-winning images, one about resilience, connection, and the urgent need to protect our natural world. See Jaime's story on the monarch butterflies at his website: rojovisuals.com , and follow Brian Lowery at knowwhatyousee.com .…

منذ عام واحد 9:34

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Love is something that begins in the heart. So is hatred. In fact, just about everything we say and do on the outside, begins with what’s happening on the inside. The same holds true for – worship.

One of the things that we all kind of know is that the great achievements that we have on the outside all start on the inside. Somewhere deep in her heart a little girl dreams of being a great athlete. She nurtures that dream. Every morning she's up at 4.00 am to go to training, day after day, month after month, year after year. It's that thing that's been going on in her heart that sustains her; it drives her to achieve her very best even when the odds are stacked against her.

Everything that happens on the outside, everything we do and say begins on the inside. It has its genesis in our hearts. It's true in every aspect of our lives, work and family and social and spiritual.

The heart is an important place. You know one of the most common things talked about right throughout the Bible, Old Testament and New Testament, over 540 times is the heart. Several times Jesus made the point that who we are on the outside is a reflection of what's going on in our hearts. Matthew, chapter 12, verse 34:

For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.

And again in Matthew, chapter15, verse 18:

But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart and these make us unclean. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man unclean.

You see for me, here's the biggest danger in thinking about worship. "Well, I go to Church most Sundays, we sing songs therefore I worship then I go home." It's kind of like saying, "Well I live in the same house and I sleep in the same bed as my wife" or maybe your husband, "I peck them on the cheek each morning before I go to work. Once a week I make sure I tell them "Love Ya" therefore I love my wife or I love my husband."

See how crazy that is? My wife is not interested in ritual, she wants to know, does my husband love me with all his heart? And secondly, do I see that love reflected in what he says and how he responds to me? That's why Jesus, when He was asked the most important commandments said:

Love the Lord your God with all your HEART, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. This is the first and greatest commandment.

It turns out that worship is something that begins in the heart, it lives there first and foremost but then it's meant to be reflected in our lives. If we just 'do' worship once a week that’s a sham. I've been there, I've been standing in a Church on Sunday morning singing the songs with my mind wandering off somewhere else, that’s not worshipping God anymore than a quick peck on my wife’s cheek is loving her. Worship is something that comes from the heart; King David knew that, listen to what he writes in psalm 24:

The earth is the Lords and everything in it, the world and all who live in it; for He founded it upon the seas and He established it on the waters. Who may ascend to the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in this holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false.

You see, David is saying here "God is above all and if I want to ascend to the hill of the Lord", what he meant there is going to the temple and worship God, "I need to have clean hands and a pure heart, a heart and a life that declare that I put Jesus first". Again in psalm 27, David writes this:

One thing do I ask of the Lord, this is what I will seek: That I will dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon His beauty and to seek Him in His temple..." "...My heart says of you, seek His face and your face Lord will I seek.

You see, what’s going on here for David is that something is happening in his heart. Can I tell you? It's the truth, just quietly between you and me, don't tell anyone else.

I am besotted with my wife, like I adore her, I just worship the ground she walks on, you know I just love her. It's a thing that starts and lives, day after day, in my heart. Some days we're both tired, some days, just quietly I'm grumpy. Some days she's a bit scratchy but the thing in my heart just never goes away and that’s how it is for worship for me.

There's something about God in my heart that overwhelms me. Like David, my heart says:

Seek his face and your face Lord, will I seek." "This one thing shall I ask, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

There's this thing of the heart, a desire, a besottedness, an overwhelming urge just to be with God where He is.

I was recently travelling with the ministry for almost two weeks and the ministry that God has me involved in here at Christianityworks is such a blessing and such a delight and I get to meet so many people but can I tell you? Each time I have to leave my wife it’s an incredible sacrifice. You see, I love her; I want to be with her. When we go out together, more often than not, we're wandering down the street or through the shopping mall, hand in hand. It's a closeness, there's a desire, there's a "want to be together".

Sometimes you know I go along to functions, you know a dinner or something like that and I watch other married couples, many of them don't ever sit next to each other at the dinner, you know something; we always do because we're close and that in a sense is what's going on in David’s heart for God.

He's saying, "God, I just want to be close to you. I just want to dwell in your house all the days of my life and gaze on your beauty and seek you in your temple. My heart says of you seek His face and your face Lord, I will seek." There it is, there's the heart of worship, a holy desire for God Himself. Not what God can do, not all the blessings, just God Himself. What about you? What does worship mean to you?

You know, I went for a long time and I thought worship was just going along on Sunday morning and singing a few songs and coming home again but if that's how I treated my wife our marriage would fall apart.

If that’s how I treat God, if I say, "Worship is just some ritual, some sham, it doesn't matter, there’s nothing going on in my heart", how can you expect to have a vital, dynamic, exciting, besotted relationship with God.

Sometimes we get dry and we feel like we've wandered off and we feel like we don't have that desire, we all go there some days, stick with me during this week because we're going to, we're going to get together and look at what it means in our lives to worship God.

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#Religion #Christianity #Christianityworks #Berni Dymet

The Heart of Worship // Worship as a Way of Life, Part 2

A Different Perspective Official Podcast

published منذ عام واحد

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For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.

And again in Matthew, chapter15, verse 18:

Love the Lord your God with all your HEART, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. This is the first and greatest commandment.

You see, what’s going on here for David is that something is happening in his heart. Can I tell you? It's the truth, just quietly between you and me, don't tell anyone else.

There's something about God in my heart that overwhelms me. Like David, my heart says:

Seek his face and your face Lord, will I seek." "This one thing shall I ask, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

There's this thing of the heart, a desire, a besottedness, an overwhelming urge just to be with God where He is.

300 حلقات

#Religion #Christianity #Christianityworks #Berni Dymet

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On the Threshold // It's Time to Take the Promised Land, Part 5 9:23

منذ 1 day9:23

9:23

When you’re on the threshold of something good, maybe something God’s promised you, the truth is, you expect it to be all sweetness and light, and yet too often, right then, it’s like all hell breaks loose. Have you ever stood on the threshold of something good, something fantastic? The promise of a promotion or the promise of a pay increase or you've just fallen pregnant or your wife has and in not too many months there'll be a new life in your family or there's a great holiday coming up or a new home or peace where there was conflict. You stand there and you think 'This is going to be fantastic, I just can't wait' and then, all of a sudden it's like all hell breaks loose. Everything and everyone kind of comes after you with a pick axe at work and at home and in your heart and in your head there's turmoil. 'Hang on a minute, I'm about to step over into this promise Land, isn’t supposed to be fantastic? What is going on?' I think we've all been there right? And so has God and today we're going to look at His specific word that He wants to speak right into that situation. This week on the program we've been looking at the whole Promised Land thing, you know Abraham was promised this land that we now know as Israel, this land centuries before Israel ultimately crossed through the Jordan into that Promised Land and it started with this beautiful promise of God to Abraham that you can read in Genesis chapter 13, verse 14: The Lord said to Abraham after Lot had separated from him, "Lift up your eyes and look from a place where you are. Look north and south and east and west for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth so that if one can count the dust of the earth your offspring also can be counted. Rise up, walk through the length and the breadth of this land for I will give it to you. So Abraham moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre which are at Hebron and there he built an altar to the Lord. Abraham was into his "70's", he was childless, he and Sarah couldn't conceive and God comes along with this stunning and incredible, almost impossible promise and then he takes Abraham on a long journey and in fact Abrahams descendants who became the nation of Israel, go on this long and winding road through, through slavery in Egypt, through death of most of the nation in the desert and finally centuries later they get to the end of that long journey. Israel is standing on one side of the Jordan River about to cross into this land that God had promised Abraham and just at that point their leader Moses, dies and God comes along with his successor, Joshua. He gives Joshua some godly advice, in fact it's more than advice, it's an admonition. Now we're going to have a read of this because it's really powerful stuff, it comes in Joshua chapter 1 beginning at verse 1, have a listen: After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua, son of Nun, Moses' aid. "Moses my servant is dead, now then you and all these people get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land that I'm about to give them, to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot as I promised to Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon and from the great river the Euphrates, all the Hittite country to the great sea on your west. No-one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses so I will be with you. I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous because you will lead these people to inherit the land that I swore to their forefathers to give them. Be strong and very courageous, be careful to obey all the laws my servant Moses gave you, don't turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful where ever you go. Do not let the book of this law depart from your mouth, meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do everything that is written in it then you'll be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you be strong and courageous? Don't be terrified; don't be discouraged for the Lord your God will be with you where ever you go. Now that sounds really encouraging but just, let’s just put ourselves in Joshua's shoes. Moses is dead; fantastic. The tried and proven leader is gone, okay it's handed over to Joshua, Joshua's been Moses aid but gee, what a rotten timing and then God repeats His promise, "This is the land I have given you. This is the land I promised to Abraham and all your forefathers and no-one will be able to stand against you." Oops, that's not good, that's not good at all. I mean all these different tribes and nations are already in the land, they're not going to invite Israel in to take their land and say, "Oh, God said you could have it, sure, go ahead, take it all." That's not likely, there's going to be opposition when they cross over the Jordan River and go and take the Promised Land and then God says, " I'll never leave you or forsake you ." Whoa, what's God saying? This is going to be really bad and three times God talks about courage, He says, " Be strong and courageous. Be strong and very courageous. Be strong and courageous and don't be terrified, don't be discouraged ." Mmm, that doesn't bode well. I mean, you are Joshua, you were there 40 years ago when you saw Moses lead the nation through the Red Sea and the whole of the Egyptian army, that mighty army was drowned. You were there up on that hill up on the other side of the Red Sea and you were part of that euphoria, "Bring it on, the Promised Land, we've won, God’s taken us here, here we come!" And then 40 years in the desert. "Surely it must over now God? I mean we're days away from crossing over into the Promised Land and now, now God’s setting me up, preparing me for a tough time. He talks about battles and wars and not being terrified and this is life and death stuff, this is, this isn't what I expected of the Promised land, it's not what I expected at all." That's why I've called this week’s series, " It's Time to Take the Promised Land" . The Promised Land doesn't get delivered to our front door like a pizza. God’s promise, a land flowing with milk and honey is wonderful and God’s reality is that there are battles along the way and we have to take the Promised Land. It's the same today; you know what I've noticed? The rest of the world doesn't want me to have God’s peace and God’s joy. The rest of the world doesn't want me to live in God’s promises. Every time God is about to do something amazing in my life, all hell breaks loose. The devil doesn't want me to live in the Promised Land and recently, these programs that you're listening to now, we were negotiating with a network of over 300 stations across the U.S.A. It was a period of a few months negotiating and talking and it was a huge step forward in reaching so many more people. I knew years before that we would come to this point, it was something that God had put on my heart but the stuff that happened in those months leading up, it's like the devil opened the doors of hell and threw everything he could at me and during that time, the Lord taught me and held me and stopped me from grumbling and changed me and I had to learn to trust more and believe more and withstand more and above all not give up but keep going. Joshua could have sat on his side of the Jordan River, heard what God was saying and thought, "nah, I'm out of here." He didn't, he believed in God’s promises, he crossed over and went about taking the Promised Land battle after battle. He knew it was time to take the Promised Land.…

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Long and Winding Road // It's Time to Take the Promised Land, Part 4 9:35

منذ يومين9:35

9:35

Dear Lord, give me patience NOW! When it comes to God and His promises, boy, it sometimes feels like He takes forever to deliver. When is God finally going to show up? I don't know about you but patience is not something that comes naturally to me. I just want things to happen and I want them to happen now. It's kind of the same when it comes to my relationship with God, "Well God, if you're going to promise me this stuff I want it now." I was devastated when I read that bit in the Bible, a thousand years is like a day to God. No! You don't understand, God you promise all sorts of stuff, I want it now! I'm praying about this person’s health or that relationship or this financial need or this feeling of fear or whatever it is. Okay, I've prayed about it, it's been five minutes, let's go God. And over the last 12 years I have discovered He doesn't work that way. Often it's a long and winding road and not everything along the way always makes sense. Have you found that or is it just me? Remember that old song, "The Long and Winding Road" . Sometimes that’s how if feels when we're travelling in the Promised Land. Yesterday we looked briefly at how it was for Israel, I mean it was centuries between when God first promised this land to Abraham and when Israel, under it's new leader Joshua, finally crossed over into the Promised Land and poor Abraham, you know he believed in God’s promise but he still made plenty of mistakes along the way. You can read about it in Genesis, chapter 12 and the next few chapters but the Promised Land was written by God on Abraham’s heart and ultimately he had this son Isaac and that’s the only part of the promise he ever saw. Isaac had Jacob. Jacob had 12 sons, one of whom was Joseph and those 12 sons were the heads of the 12 tribes of Israel and Israel ultimately ended up as a large nation but in slavery in Egypt and of course God sends Moses to tell Pharaoh, "Let my people go". And he does a whole bunch of miracles and ultimately they pass through the Red Sea and they spend 40 years in the desert on this exodus, on this journey and all of a sudden one day, this mighty nation of Israel is standing on the banks of the Jordan River ready to cross over into the Promised Land. Now for Israel it was a long journey, it was a long wait, hundreds of years from when God first spoke to Abraham until when they stood on the banks of the Jordan ready to cross over. How do you think the promise that God made to Abraham was known to the Israelites in slavery in Egypt? Well, like everything else it was handed down from generation to generation. It was part of the nations psyche, one day, one day God will lead us into the Promised Land, meanwhile we'll do the brutal slavery thing. Does that sound familiar? I mean Egypt was this world power, pharaoh had unbelievable power, the power of life and death, they were the dominant world power a bit like the U.S. today I guess and Israel were slaves in this place and God sends them Moses, this 80 year old burnt out wreck that God found out the back of the desert 'cause as a young man Moses murdered an Egyptian and fled to Midian in the back of the desert and uses Moses to talk to Pharaoh and then God sends these 10 plagues, you know, locusts and the frogs and the boils and turning the Nile into blood and ultimately, in killing the first born of all the Egyptians. And so Pharaoh goes, "I've had enough, yes let the people go". And then he changes his mind and pursues them. There was this miracle at the Red Sea where Moses went down and God parted the waters of the Red Sea and the whole Israelite nation passed through the Red Sea, they got to the other side and then as pharaohs army came chasing them they went into the Red Sea and the water came back and the whole mighty Egyptian army was drowned! What a journey! Can I ask, why didn't God just give them the Promised Land? I mean there they were, the other side of the Red Sea, it's been centuries, they're just a couple of weeks journey away from the Promised Land, I mean imagine if you or I were sitting up on that hill, the other side of the Red Sea, we've just come from slavery, we've seen the mighty things that God has done through Moses and we're going, "wow, wow we made it. Promised Land here I come, bring it on, the land flowing with milk and honey. Yes!" but God didn't take them the direct route, He took them the long and winding road. Look at what Exodus chapter 13 says in verse 17: When Pharaoh let the people go God didn't lead them on the road through Philistine country even though that was shorter because God said to Himself, 'if they face war they might change their minds and go back to Egypt" so God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt armed for battle. You see, the people weren't ready for the Promised Land, God knew that. They were just a couple of weeks walk away but they weren't ready. If you were with us the other day on the program you'll remember me talk about the fact that when God showed Abraham the Promised Land there were other people living in it, Canaanites. Well by this time, centuries later, there were Amorites and Jebusites and a whole bunch of other little Vegemites and when they got to the Promised Land, the Israelites, they would have to fight battle after battle and God knew that. They didn't realise it but God knew it. There they are sitting above the Red Sea with euphoria, if you read in Exodus chapter 15 they were singing songs and stuff, well why wouldn't they be? But God, God knew what was in their hearts. A couple of days later they were out in the desert, they were grumbling, there's no food, there's no water, God provided that. "Well okay, lets find something else to grumble about, we'll grumble about Moses and the food that God gives us is always the same". And they complained and grumbled. You know what grumbling is? Grumbling is a sure sign that we're not ready to live in the Promised Land. In Psalm 106, verse 21 it says this: They forgot the God who saved them who had done great things in Egypt, miracles in the land of Ham and awesome deeds by the Red Sea. So God said He would destroy them had not Moses, His chosen one stood in the breach before Him to keep God’s wrath from destroying them. But then they despised the pleasant land, they did not believe His promise. They grumbled in their tents, they didn't obey the Lord so He swore to them with uplifted hand that He would make them fall in the desert and all bar two of them died in the desert and never made it into the Promised Land. It was their children who ultimately made it into the Promised Land. See, grumbling is despising God’s promises, it shows we don't believe in Him or His promises and so He takes us on a long and winding road and the longer we grumble the longer the road. Forty years, all of those sitting in the freedom side of that Red Sea, all the hundreds of thousands or millions of them, all the adults bar two perished. Joshua and Caleb were the only ones, men of faith, men who believed in the promises. The thing that stops us getting into the promises of God is that we don't believe. What tells us we don't believe is our grumbling. Sometimes when I'm walking in the promises of God, I'm afraid, I'm uncertain or I feel under attack, that's okay to go to God with that, He's a realist but when we start grumbling we're despising the pleasant land. Now that's worth thinking about.…

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God's Promise to Us // It's Time to Take the Promised Land, Part 3 9:35

منذ 3 أيام9:35

9:35

It can be really tough. On the one hand, you look at the promises of God and they’re amazing. But on the other, you look at the reality of our own life and think, how could they ever happen for me? Have you ever struggled, struggled to believe in the promises that people make, even the promises that God makes. In fact in particular the promises that God makes? Over the last few days we've been looking at the human impossibility of the promises that God made to Abraham the father of the nation of Israel and today we're going to take another step along Abraham's journey because he too struggled to believe God’s promises. But you know something, God has this, this amazing way of leading people like Abraham and you and me through a journey, a journey that we struggle on sometimes but a journey where, ultimately we can believe in God’s promises because if we can't believe them we can never take a hold of them. It's a God thing; it's what faith is all about. First He calls us to believe and then He takes us on a journey through His promises, through the Promised Land. I'm always so incredibly touched by the story of how God reached out to Abraham. Sure it's a story about Abraham but you know he's not some Mr Perfecto Super Christian, Abraham is human and frail and he struggled to believe the outrageous promises of God, he was torn. God gently and tenderly lead him to believe in the Promised Land. You see Abraham was 70 something, he had no children, he's living in comfort in this place called Ur and God comes to him and says, "leave all of that, go to a land that I'm going to give you and I'm going to make you a mighty nation. You're going to have more children than the stars in the sky; you're going to have more descendants than the grains of dust on the earth." If we put ourselves in Abraham’s shoes for just a minute, this old man, wouldn't we struggle too? We're going to be looking at, soon on the program, what it means to cross over into the Promised Land and the battles involved in taking the Promised Land and why God does that. I mean the Promised Land, flowing with milk and honey, wouldn't you think you'd just kind of arrive and it would be like a summer resort with a swimming pool and a bell hop to carry your bags up to your suite? Well, we're going to look at that a bit later but over the next few minutes, well it's time for you and me to consider this Promised Land and whether we believe it. Faith is the key to the promise, faith is the gift that God gives us to unlock the promise and the reason that you and I are together today no doubt, is that God wants to unlock His promises in our hearts as He breathes His spirit and His faith into us through His word. You see Israel fled Egypt because they were oppressed as slaves and they passed through the Red Sea and they began this 40 year exodus in the desert. You know how many of the Israelites that crossed through the Red Sea at the beginning of the exodus crossed through the Jordan into the Promised Land 40 years later? Out of the 100's and 1,000's and probably millions, how many? Just 2, Joshua and Caleb, those men believed in God’s promises, what happened to the rest of them? Well Psalm 106 tells us exactly what happened: They forgot the God who saved them who had done great things in Egypt, miracles in the land of Ham and the awesome deeds by the Red Sea. So God said He would destroy them had not Moses, His chosen one, stood in the breach before them to keep the wrath of God from destroying them. Then the Israelites despised the pleasant land, they did not believe God’s promise. They grumbled in their tents, they didn't obey the Lord so He swore to them with uplifted hand that He would make them fall in the desert. That's why today’s program is so important, you see you and I like Abraham, we have circumstances in our lives, we look around and it's really hard to believe that God’s promises could come true. Maybe we even have a grumble about God and His promises, that grumbling, that unbelief is going to keep us out of His Promised Land. People sometimes say, "Well Berni, you, you talk about this Promised Land, it's obvious what it meant to the Israelites back then but what does it mean to you and me, here and now?" Well as we go from the Old Testament to the New Testament there’s a transition from the physical land to the spiritual one, something that people struggled with when Jesus talked about the Kingdom of God was that they thought Jesus had come to kick the Roman occupiers out of the Promised Land but He was talking about something entirely different. There are so many passages we could go through in the New Testament but a couple that really explain the Promised Land that God has given us through Jesus, His Son. Well let’s have a look at them; the first one is in Luke chapter 17 beginning at verse 20: Once, having been asked by the pharaohs is, when the Kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, "The Kingdom of God doesn't come with your careful observation nor will people say, 'here it is' or 'there it is' because the Kingdom of God is within you. You see the Promised Land that Jesus talked about is not something that’s out there, it's not a new house or a new car or all that stuff, the Promised Land is the Kingdom of God, the rule and the reign and the Lordship of God in our hearts. Again Jesus explained it this way, He said in Matthew chapter 13, verse 44: The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it he hid it again and in his joy he went and sold all that he had and bought that field. Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant who went looking for fine pearls and when he found one of great value he went away and sold everything he had and he bought it. See, the Promised Land is like a treasure, it's a treasure in our hearts, it's our relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Our Dad in heaven, hallowed be your name, Your Kingdom come. In John, chapter 14, verse 23 Jesus said: If anyone loves Me they will obey my teaching and my Father will love them and we will come and make our home with them. See, plenty of people want to believe in Jesus for their eternal life. "Jesus died for my sin therefore I'm forgiven therefore I have eternal life". And then what they do with that is they take it and they file it in their filing cabinets under "insurance policy" and then live a miserable life. Jesus promised a lot of things, a rich abundant life as well as trials and persecution, He didn't promise us it would be easy to follow after Him. What He did promise is that the relationship that we have with Him would fill us to overflowing with abundant joy and peace. You see, that's where the Promised Land is today, in our hearts, in our relationship with Him in the abundant life that He promises. Let me take you back to that starry night where, where God took Abraham out, out of the tent to look up at the Milky Way and to see all the stars and He made him a promise of land and of descendants. You see God led Abraham tenderly to that point and wrote His promise on Abraham’s heart, a promise that Abraham believed against all odds, a promise that God delivered on against all the odds. You and I are each under our own patch of starry heaven today and the Lord is whispering of His promise Land in our hearts, a land purchased by Jesus on that cross, a land of blessing that goes on forever. The spirit of God will write that on our hearts if we let Him, He'll give us the faith to believe if we'll ask Him. Is today that day?…

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One Man's Promise // It's Time to Take the Promised Land, Part 2 9:36

منذ 4 أيام9:36

9:36

God promised Abraham lots of children and lots of land. At the time, given he was 75 years old and he and Sarah were without children, that “promise” must have seemed absolutely impossible. Yet somehow, God went about bringing that promise to life in Abraham’s heart. I guess most of us are familiar with the term, "The Promised Land" . Well it comes from the fact that God promised the land that we now know as Israel to His people through a man, the father of that nation, Abraham. Now we're going to take a look at that story today on the program because its one that applies so much to who we are and where we are today in the 21st century. So many people are wandering round through life aimlessly. Oh, they may have heard God’s promises, maybe they may have even believed them; eternal life, peace, joy, a relationship with God. We can believe those things more or less but when you really take a good hard look at God’s promises and then at your own life and circumstances, well the two can be just a little bit hard to put together, how do they fit? That's a problem Abraham had too and God knew it and did something about it. And you know something God hasn't changed. So where does this term The Promised Land come from? Well it all begins when God promises some land to Abraham. This is how God first engages with His chosen people, ultimately He comes to Abraham who's the father of the chosen nation, Israel. Now Abraham is living this really comfortable existence, he was quite wealthy, he lived in a placed called Ur which is near Babylon or around the modern day Baghdad. Now God calls Abraham out of that place, if you have a Bible grab it, go to Genesis chapter 12 beginning at verse 1 and it says this: Now the Lord said to Abraham "Go from your country and your family and your father’s house to a land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. That is an incredible promise because Abraham and his wife Sarah were old, I mean they were well into their 70's and the greatest hurt of their lives was that they were childless, they had no children, they couldn't conceive and here God comes to them in their, well their latter years you'd think, with a two part blessing of land and children and not just a few children but "… I will make of you a great nation." So God’s talking about here an abundant blessing. There they are in their comfort and their wealth and they're old and God comes along, we quite don't know how, with this outrageous promise, what do they do? They up and leave, they take their possessions and their servants and their animals and they hit the road and go westward to a land called Canaan and we find out what happens when they get there, you can read about it a few verses later in Genesis, chapter 12, verses 6-8: When they'd come to the land of Canaan, Abraham passed through the land to a place at Shechem to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abraham and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So Abraham built an altar to the Lord there who had appeared to him. Now just think about God’s promise to this old man, He says, "I will give you descendants." He's 70 something years old! He has no children, God says, "I will make a great nation of you." Really? "And I will give this land to your descendants." Do you think Abrahams looking there saying, "God, I'm in my 70's, I don't have any children, this land is occupied by the Canaanites." It all must have seemed pretty impossible but right here, right in the middle of all this impossibility, the Promised Land is born. God speaks this promise into Abraham’s life and Abraham believed it with his life, how do we know that? Because he left his comfortable existence in Ur, the place where the toilets flushed and the buses and the trains ran on time and all that sort of stuff and he followed down the dusty trail of God’s promise over hill and dale. That is a pretty outrageous decision to take and he gets to this land of God’s impossible promise, a land filled with the Canaanites who weren't about to say, "Well, God said you could have it. Sure Abraham, take our land, we don't mind." This childless, 70 something Abraham gets there, what does he do? He builds an altar to the Lord, he honours God, he bows down and says, "Well God, even though this doesn't make a whole bunch of sense, I am going to believe you." God knows what going on in Abrahams heart, He knows that this is a tough call so He takes him up a hill and makes the promise again, Genesis chapter 13 beginning at verse 14: The Lord said to Abraham after Lot had separated from him, "Raise up your eyes now and look from the place where you are. North and South and East and West, for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth so that if anyone can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. Get up, walk through the length and the breadth of the land for I will give it to you." So Abraham moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre which are at Hebron and there he built and altar to the Lord. I love this, I love how, how God lays out the land before him, this picture on top of the hill, God’s speaking to Abraham and breathing His promised land into this old mans heart. "Go on, walk through it as far as the eye can see. I have made this outrageous promise to you, you'll have so many descendants it's more than the grains of dust in the whole earth." And Abraham builds an altar and honours God. You see what’s going on here? God is taking him through a process, this huge leap this old man with no children, this huge leap to the Promised Land full of children, God leads Abraham gently into a place where he can believe but like you and me he's human, he's struggling with all this in his heart. You read about that in Genesis, chapter 15. Abraham goes to God and says: I still don't have a son, this other mans going to end up being my heir, how is this promise ever going to happen? Look at what God says, Genesis chapter 15, verse 4: This man shall not be your heir. No-one but your very own son shall be your heir. God took Abraham outside and said, "Look towards the heavens and count the starts if you're able to count them." Then God said to him, "So shall your descendants be." And Abraham believed the Lord and the Lord reckoned it under him as righteousness. What a beautiful picture, Abraham is aching, he wants to believe in God’s promises, the land and the descendants and this mighty nation but it's so hard isn't it? So God takes him outside to look at the stars and look at the milky way without the city lights and the smog, there are so many stars, it's a glorious sight and finally the word of God, the promise of God, God’s Promised Land drops into Abrahams heart. He still made plenty of mistakes along the way. You read about it in the next few chapters of Genesis but the Promised Land was written in Abrahams heart. And centuries went by in the history of Israel, in Egypt and all that stuff they went through in the Exodus, centuries went by but it happened, the Promised Land happened. And on that night under stars alone with God the Promised Land was written on Abrahams heart, he believed. Today will you let God write His promises on your heart?…

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Promises, Promises, Promises // It's Time to Take the Promised Land, Part 1 9:50

منذ 5 أيام9:50

9:50

So many things in life are full of promise and then after a while, well, they feel empty. God is full of promises too. He talks a lot about the Promised Land. The question is, how do you get a hold of His promises? How can you actually live in His Promised Land? There are many, many people in this world who feel that they're wandering aimlessly through life. Sure there have been some good things and maybe there are some more to look forward to and yeah, we all have bad things that happen in our lives, we all do but this feeling that we're wandering is somehow separate or independent of whatever is going on around us. Where am I going? Isn't there some destination other than a coffin at the end of it all? So many things in life, family and career and possessions, they hold out so much promise and for the most part they're great but where's it all headed? That's why today we're kicking off with a new series called, "It's Time to Take the Promised Land" . Maybe it sounds a bit odd but indulge me, it could be one of the most important things we ever do together. I am really excited starting this new series called, "It's Time to Take the Promised Land" . Now what sort of series title is that you might ask, It's Time to Take the Promised Land, well let me unpack what I've been thinking. We live in a world that promises so much, a world of brands and products and experiences and travel and luxury, you know all that stuff that they cram in on us, a world that promises so much. The marketeers, they talk about the "brand promise" , for example my favourite on TV, you see the ads for margarine or breakfast cereal or low fat milk right. Ever noticed them? Here's what they look like, here's the setting. It’s a trendy, today kind of kitchen; the sun is always streaming in through the window. You ever noticed it's never raining outside, it's never cold and wet and mum, mum's pretty good looking, she's slim, she's happy and she's well adjusted. She's smiling preparing the breakfast. And all of a sudden a well adjusted teenager bounds in and the teenagers smiling and spreads the margarine on their bread or pours the milk on their cereal whatever. And then, a cool, good looking 40 something dad in a suit and a white shirt strolls in and he grabs a piece of toast and the newspaper and kisses his wife and this is the sort of family at breakfast we'd all like to have but for so many people the reality is so different to the ad. I mean when you think about breakfast, I don't know about you but for us it's always busy, my daughters a teenager, she's racing off to school and its nothing like the ad. The reality is millions of people watching that ad don't know where their next meals coming from. The reality is, families who are watching that ad are falling apart, the reality is even if they aren't they're bringing up teenagers and that's a tough gig. The reality is that most peoples family's and kitchens and lives and breakfasts look nothing like this ad and they're selling margarine or cereal or milk and the brand promise is, if you buy this product this is what your life will look like. Now you and I look at that in the cold hard day and think, "well that's absolutely nuts", right? I mean it's crazy, margarine could never do that for you. But we swallow this kind of marketing every day. New car ads are the same, have you ever noticed that the cars always are the only cars out on this open road, "buy me and you'll have the freedom to roam". Never stuck in peak hour traffic ever. You see so many things hold out a promise that they can't deliver. On the one hand we want to live out those images of success that the marketeers kind of dangle under our noses, on the other hand somehow we never do, we never quite get there, it never quite works the way it looks on the ad or on the cooking show or on the, on the home makeover show and that's the psychology of marketing. You create an image that’s desirable, people look at it they want it and they see the gap between where they are and where that image is and that gets us to spend our money because we feel inadequate. And then we get there and we discover it doesn't deliver and then they dangle the next thing under our nose and round and round and round we go on this treadmill of broken promises. I mean it makes our consumer economies go round and here you and I are on this treadmill with brands that never deliver on their brand promise and God comes along with a promise. God makes a lot of promises: I'll be your God and you'll be my people and I'll walk among you and I'll bless you and keep you and comfort you and guide you. Jesus said: I've come that you might have life in all of its abundance. It's almost like God’s painting this picture of a promised land, a land that's almost too good to be true. A land, a life, well to you and me some days it seems a bit like that kitchen and that family in the margarine ad. It's hard to swallow God’s promises when we're on that treadmill of broken promises going round and round and round. So I think in this day and age God’s promises are harder to accept than ever. Now, now we're getting close to the heart of this new series that I've called, "It's Time to Take the Promised Land" . You see God is a god of promise and brand Jesus is the one brand that actually delivers. God’s plan is to lead you and me into His promised land, into a land flowing with milk and honey and we're going to look at, over the next few days, about exactly what that lands about. It's a land of blessing but, here's the but, He involves us in that process and we have a part to play and the first step that we're talking about today, is accepting God’s promise. Letting Him write that promise on our hearts and believing it with all that we are, believing it with every fibre of our beings, with our very lives. What you discover when you get to looking at what God says is that you can't have the promised land, you can't go there, you can't settle there unless first we believe it with our hearts. Tomorrow we're going to look at the time when God promised this land to Abraham. You know something, Abrahams just like you and me, he really struggled with a promise because it was impossible to promise. You see, you can't have it until first you believe then He calls us to cross over into that land, to take the land. Now that’s a shock and that’s a surprise and we're going to be looking at that too, over the coming weeks. It's really important to understand the journey and it can be tough and there can be battles along the way, it isn't home delivered like a pizza as I said before. We'll be looking through the book of Joshua in the Old Testament, all about Israel crossing over into the promised land and how battle after battle they had to take the promised land but up front, something for us to think about today and the next couple of days on the program, up front we have a decision to make. Do I really want God’s Promised Land? I mean really and if I do am I going to let Him write His promises on my heart and then carry those promises around with me through thick and thin on the bright sunny days and the cold and the wet and the windy days? Because they will come too. It's about letting Him write His promises on our hearts, His plan for us to dwell in His promised land. We've got a choice, we can go round and round and round on this treadmill of broken promises and live an empty and unfulfilled life or we can take a decision, a decision that sometime soon it's time to take the promised land.…

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The Mustard Seed of Faith // Five Ways to Overcome Fear, Part 5 9:47

منذ 8 أيام9:47

9:47

Maybe you’ve been listening to me this week talking about getting rid of fear and worry out of your life – and thought, well, OK – but I just don’t have enough faith to do that. Well – if that’s the case then this message is definitely for you. We're talking this week, on the program, about banishing worry and fear from our lives. Five practical things that we can do. And my hunch, my hunch is that there'd be a few people. Maybe one or two. Sitting there, listening to it all, saying, "Well, I'm not sure if I can believe that". The guy is saying pray and let God take the worry away. That's what His word promises (Philippians chapter 4, verses 6 and 7). Replace the negative thoughts with positive thoughts (Philippians chapter 4, verses 8 and 9). Believe that you can do all things in Christ Jesus who strengthens you (Philippians chapter 4, verses 10 to 13). And get still before God. Let Him give you gladness and peace (Psalm 46). It's all really good stuff. That's what we've looked at over the last four days on the program. But there is someone saying to themselves right now, "Yeah right. That all sounds really good but I'm not sure that I can believe that it works. Maybe it works for other people who have more faith than me. But I just don't think it's going to work for me. In fact, I know it's not because I don't have enough faith." And if that little thought is running through your mind today, it's okay. Because you are not alone. Truly. Lot's of us have those thoughts from time to time. If you want to get rid of the worry and fear and stress and anxiety in your life. If you kind of believe that maybe, just maybe this stuff might work but you don't feel as though you have enough faith. Then this program today, well it's just for you. Each one of us has at least a few issues in our lives causing us stress. We do. No-one's immune. Sometimes they're external. Sometimes they're internal. And sometimes, in fact, most of the time it's both. It's not just the circumstances we're faced with but how we see them and process them and react to them and deal with them. I don't have to go through some exhaustive list. You know exactly what they are in your life. And I know what they are in my life. And we know them because they tower above us like, like big mountains. So big and so dark and so impossible and so immovable. The person who hurts us who's just never ever, ever going to change. The sense of inadequacy and inferiority that we have inside that it's just never ever, ever going to go away. The anger we feel, the resentment. The financial hardship. There I go, I'm making a list. Couldn't help myself. These are dirty great immovable mountains. They just won't move and budge out of our lives. They're too tall and steep and frightening to climb. They're too wide to go around. And as for shifting them out of the road. Well that's completely and utterly impossible. Got the picture, right? And as we each survey the landscape of our lives. The relationships, the circumstances, the situations. Pretty quickly we can spot those mountains. Two, three, four, perhaps a half a dozen. Maybe even a mountain range where they're all kind of linked and we can't really tell where one of them stops and another one begins. And it's those mountains that we worry about. The thought of what they mean that strikes fear in our hearts. They rob us of sleep as our minds look at them. Just the sight of them. Just the thought of them. You can feel the knife of fear stabbing in your heart. And even when we turn our backs on them. Or shut our eyes. Or pretend that they aren't there. The worry eats away inside us like a, like a worm eats away inside an apple. And that joker on the radio has the hide to get up and say that we can be free from fear and worry in our lives if we do this or do that. I just don't have enough faith to believe that. That's good. Because nor do I. Truly. Invariably we start off with just a tinsy winsy little bit of faith. It's all we have. There was a time when Jesus saw a fig tree and He was hungry. So He walked up to it and there wasn't a single fig on it. And the reason was, it wasn't fig season. So He curses the fig tree. Now, it's not exactly what we might expect the Son of God to do. But He does. And the next day, He and His disciples are walking past that very same fig tree and it's all withered and dead. And Peter says, "wow, look at that! That fig tree you cursed, it's dead." At this point, Jesus stops in His tracks. Turns around to them. And as if to tell them the blindingly, glimpsingly obvious. As if to say, "You still don't get it do you?" This is what He says, Mark chapter 11, verses 22 to 24. He says: Have faith in God. Truly I tell you. If you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea', if you do not doubt in your heart but believe what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer believe that you have received it and it will be yours. Now you and I, we find that pretty hard to believe. We've heard this extreme faith preaching. Name it and claim it. Blab it and grab it. So what we do is we say, "Mmm, I know it's in the Bible but actually, I can't cope with that. It doesn't work. So mentally I'm going to strike it out. At the very least I just don't have enough faith. I can't believe it in my heart. So it's no good for me." Well evidently, His disciples had the same problem. Because in another particularly impossible situation, He explains it to them in a slightly different way. In a way that would have made a whole bunch more sense to them. See, they asked Him why it was, that this boy they tried to heal but they couldn't and Jesus turned around and healed him. And they thought, "well, how come we couldn't heal him?" And this is what Jesus told them in Matthew chapter 17, verse 20. He said to them: Because of your little faith. For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain 'move from here to there' and it will move and nothing will be impossible for you. Now my Holman Bible Dictionary says this about the mustard tree and it's seeds. Let me quote it directly. "Mustard – a large annual plant which grows quite quickly. Its seeds were once thought to be the smallest seed in the world." See, I have this tiny little mustard seed in my hand. Insy winsy little thing. We have them in our spice cupboard in the kitchen at home. The thing you see is not so much the seed but the empty hand. What you see is how much faith you don't have rather than the faith that you do. But there are two things about this mustard seed that the people that Jesus was talking to would have understood. Firstly, how small it is. And secondly how quickly it grows when you put it in the ground. Jesus is saying something powerful here and we all need to get a handle on it. He's saying you only need the smallest amount of faith to get started. When we put that in the ground, when we put it to work, not only is it enough to move those mighty, immovable, impossible mountains. But as sure as God made little green apples, it's going to grow quickly. And you know, that's exactly been my experience. We can sit there and bemoan the fact that we only have a small amount of faith. Or, we can take Jesus at His word. That this little mustard seed is more than enough and start praying with just that amount of faith. Plant it. Put it in the ground. Put it to work. Come on, just don't sit there: I can do all things in Christ Jesus. Put the faith to work because faith without works is dead. Do It! And when we do that. We get up in the morning. We take those Scripture verses. We read them. We say them. We memorise them. We stop still for a moment during the day. We remember them again. We rest in them. Before we go to sleep we do the same thing. Let me tell you, two things are going to happen. Firstly, one by one, our mountains will be lifted up and will fall into the sea. And secondly, our faith is going to grow so quickly. Just as sure as God made little green apples.…

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Be Still and Know That I am God // Five Ways to Overcome Fear, Part 4 9:37

منذ 9 أيام9:37

9:37

So many people out there are running round like chooks with their heads cut off. Flapping and carrying on. And we wonder why stress and anxiety are the scourges of our lives. It’s time to sit down and shut up. This week on the program we're looking at five practical ways to banish worry and fear from our lives. Today is the fourth of those and it's really simple. It's this. Sit down and shut up. Sorry to be that blunt and that direct. But sometimes I think that what happens is that we get so caught up in the hurley burley of life that we never stop to rest and reflect. You know what happens. Everybody else is so caught up racing around and doing this and doing that. And so we all go racing around and crashing into one another. It's like a pressure cooker without a release valve. And that pressure causes stress and anxiety. Worry and fear. We lose sight of the big picture. And there's something very special that happens when we just get still for a bit. Just pull away from it all and get still before God. So if you remember just one thing from today it's this. Sit down and shut up. Get still. Get still before God. That's what we're going to be talking about today on the program. And I can tell you, from my life. Which is far busier than I would ever like it to be. This really, really works. God's peace. God's rest in our hearts. How do we get our hand on that? How do we actually experience that amidst a busy life? Well the answer is in one of my favourite psalms, Psalm 46. Let me share it with you: God is our refuge and strength. The very present help in time of trouble. Therefore, we will not fear though the earth should change and the mountains shake in the heart of the sea and the waters roar and foam through the mountains. Though the mountains tremble in it's tumult. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God. The holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of that city. It shall not be moved. God will help when the morning dawns. The nations are in uproar, the kingdoms totter. He utters His voice and the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Come; behold the works of the Lord. See what desolations He had brought on the earth. For He makes wars decease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear. He burns the shields with fire. Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations. I am exalted on the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. See the psalmist here, at the beginning, with the earth-shaking and the mountains shaking and the sea foaming. He's painting a picture of uproar and tumult. I mean the Hebrews love picture language like that. Now when it comes to fear it seems that we have short memories. We go through something scary and God shows up and somehow it works out fine. Perhaps, maybe we remember to say, "thank you God". Maybe we don't. And then things calm down again. And they go along just brilliantly for a while. And then BANG, the next storm hits. And it's raging and we're afraid and we're fearful. And life's a mess. We're running around like chooks with their heads cut off. And we're living through that excruciatingly, debilitating, immobilising fear that comes when the ground moves beneath our feet. And we forget. We forget to look back and remember all the times that God's brought us through those storms before. And even if we don't have many of those to look back on. Let's say we have none of those to look back on. Let's assume, worst case. Let's assume that you and I have just, this moment, given our lives to Jesus Christ and come to faith in Him. Just this moment, we've put our lives in His hand. So we don't have a single experience to look back on. Where we know without a doubt that He's stepped in and saved us. What we then do, we forget to look back on the God of the Bible and see how many times He's stepped in to help His people. It's what He does and that's what the psalmist is reminding us here, with these words: Come, behold the works of the Lord. See what desolations He's brought on the earth. He makes wars decease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow. He shatters the spear. He burns the shields with fire. God’s saying, "Don't you realise, this is what I do? I protect my people. I make sure it all works out. Get a handle on this." But God, how? How can I get a handle on this? You don't understand. I've got all this pain happening. I've got all this fear happening. People are after me. My finances are in a mess. My loved one is sick. My emotions are on a roller coaster. The mountains are falling into the sea. The sea is angry and foaming. The ground is shaking. The nations are raging. How can I get a handle on what You want to do for me? Here's the answer. Here it is. Right here in God’s word. Listen to it. Remember it. Let the Spirit of God write it on your heart. Psalm 46, verse 10: Be still and know that I am God. For I'm exalted among the nations. I am exalted in the earth. Sounds so simple. Be still and just know. But you know something. When we're afraid, often the last thing we do is to get still before God. Even when we're praying. We rant on. We don't shut up for long enough. We don't stay there for long enough to hear God speak. Over and over and over again, I've had to learn this one. I'm like you. This doesn't come naturally. It's something I've had to learn. When I'm travelling through fearful places and situations and times, more than ever, I take the time to get still before God. I open a few simple passages. This psalm is my favourite one. And Philippians chapter 4, verse 13, that we talked about yesterday: I can do all things through Him who strengthens me . Romans chapter 8, verse 31: If God is for us, who can be against us? I let these passages just rest on my heart. And just sit still and focus on God and wait. Draw away from the noise of the day. Get alone with God. Remember these passages. Say them out loud: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I can do ALL things. If God is for us, who can be against us? Because what Psalm 46 tells me is that there's a reality of a God of gladness and power and protection that is so far above my circumstances. Psalm 46 promises me that. And then tells me just to sit still and wait. And you know what happens when I do that. I just sit and wait on God and His Spirit touches me. And I experience the confidence that I need to make it through. Not self-confidence but God confidence. I get a handle on the great unseen reality - God Himself. His power flows into me and through me. All of a sudden the panic goes away. All of a sudden the fear is replaced with faith. God does that. We don't do it. He does. But we just have to sit down and shut up. All of a sudden I have the clarity to think through the problem. To face the realities and to do what I have to do and to trust God for the things I can't do. Oh, and let me tell you. 10 minutes later, half an hour later, half a day later, the panic wants to come back, it does. The fear wants to come back. And when they come knocking on my door I just get still with God again. I go back to Him, wait on Him. Expecting and waiting. That's what it means to live in that city and drink of the streams of that river that make glad the city of God. We need to drink, to drink Him in. His presence. His Spirit. His word. And then a peace that surpasses all understanding guards our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus. Be still and know that I am God.…

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A Word in Time // Five Ways to Overcome Fear, Part 3 9:34

منذ 10 أيام9:34

9:34

Fear and worry and stress and anxiety are out there in plague proportions. But there’s one thing – just one thing – that can make a huge difference in this area of our lives. In fact this one thing is the most important thing I know about banishing fear from our lives. Isn't it amazing what a difference a comforting word can make from a friend. You know, when you're under pressure and stress and racing around. And someone just gives you call to say, "I was thinking of you. How are you going?" Or they see the pressure you're under and they say, "Have you ever thought of this?" Or they just give you different slant on things. And in an instant, a word from a friend can calm the spirit. It can set at rest the racing heart. Its like it's a word in time. Just at the right time. Problem is, in this busy hectic world that we live in, it seems to happen less and less these days, doesn't it? But fortunately God hasn't stopped speaking. Fortunately He has some words of wisdom. And encouragement. And comfort. And when He drops them into our hearts, just at the right time, they have this incredibly calming, healing effect. Even for the most harrowed of souls. A word in time from God. That's what we're going to be taking a look at today. I want to share with you the most important thing that I know about banishing fear and worry from our lives. The most important thing. The most affective thing. And it comes from the last part of chapter 4 in the Book of Philippians. It's what we've been looking at this week on the program. It's the apostle Paul. He is on death row. He is writing to his friends in the Church in Philippi. In the process he's sharing his experience and teaching us how to banish fear from our lives. From the most dire circumstances, you or I, could ever imagine. He's on death row. Here's what he says. Philippians chapter 4, verses 10 to 13: I rejoice in the Lord greatly but now, at last, you have revived your concern for me. Indeed you were concerned for me but you had no opportunity to show it. Not that I'm referring to being in need for I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry and of having plenty and of being in need. For I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Paul was an itinerant minister who travelled across much of the known world and a good part of that time he spent in jail. And he's writing here, to his friends in Philippi, about his physical needs. Obviously they've cared for him and provided for him. And sent him money and resources when he's been in need. And he's been saying 'Thank you', that's a good thing. I love how much of God’s word, you know, is about real practical things in people's lives. But even in this he takes the opportunity to teach them something. And I believe that God, today, is taking this opportunity to teach us something. Here it is: For I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have a little, I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry. Of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Paul's saying, "You know something, it doesn't matter what circumstances I'm facing." How often do you and I think that our joy and our peace depend on our circumstances? Paul’s saying, "No, no. Forget the circumstances. Doesn't matter what's going on in my life. Good or bad. Plenty or little. A full stomach or starving. I have learned, learned practically in my own experience, how this works. I have learned the secret. The secret of getting through any or all circumstances and that secret is this." I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Paul’s saying, "It doesn't matter what the world throws at me 'cause God is the one who strengthens me. And when I'm hanging close with Him. When I'm relying on Him, He comes through. He does the things I can't do. He saves me. He encourages me." And Paul had been through this so many times. There were so many riots. So many people tried to hurt him. So many people criticized him and misunderstood him. And rejected him when he was telling them about Jesus. Over and over and over and over and over again. He learned this truth in his life: I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. And do you know why this is so important? Because whenever I feel a sense of despair, I come back to this Scripture. Whenever I feel overwhelmed or hurt or rejected or alone or distressed or afraid. I stop. I clear my mind and I speak this passage of Scripture: For I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. This is the word of God. And what I've discovered is that when I rest on the word of God. I'd say this three times out loud. I use it as an offensive weapon against fear, against disappointment, against destructive thoughts. God gives me peace. In fact, I've made it a habit in my life. Every day I get up. I do the best I can. This may shock you. I get things wrong a lot of days. But I do my best. I pray. I rely on God. I honour Him. And you know what, that means I'm one of His kids. And that means I can rely on Him. And I have a number of Scriptures. Some of them I've memorised. I don't find it easy to memorise them. Some of them I have on my mobile phone. One that I have memorised is Mark, chapter 11, verses 22 to 24: Jesus answered them, ‘Have faith in God. Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, be taken up and be thrown into the sea and if you do not doubt in your heart but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours.’ I go to God’s word, these particular Scriptures that speak powerfully to me and encourage me again and again and again and again. In the times when it's scary. In the times when I'm dejected and all I want to do is sit there and mope. I have disciplined myself to say, "No, I am not going there for I can do all things in Christ Jesus who strengthens me." And the more I do this, the more I find myself able to do all things that God calls me to do. Through Him who strengthens me is absolutely the most important thing that I know about living the life that's free from fear and worry. When the company you work for is retrenching people. When you lose your job and think you might lose your house. When your wife or you husband's had an affair. And I know there's someone listening today who's been through that. When it feels like the sky is caving in. Let me tell you this. Philippians 4:13 says that you: Can do all things through Him who strengthens you . The most important thing I know about dealing with fear is to fill your mind and your heart with the word of God because it has a healing power. It builds your faith. It changes your outlook. It is the stuff of healing and transformation. Go grab some Scripture verses that really speak powerfully to you. Put them on some cards or in your mobile phone or memorise them. Go to them again and again and again. I tell you something, if you do this just for a week or two, you will learn what Paul learned through the school of hard knocks. That: You can do all things through Him who strengthens you. God does not want us to be afraid. God has not stopped speaking. His word is here for us to use. Not to leave on a dusty shelf somewhere.…

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Your Mind Matters // Five Ways to Overcome Fear, Part 2 9:37

منذ 11 يومًا9:37

9:37

Each of us has about 70,000 thoughts each day. That’s rather a lot. And it’s what we do we our thoughts – our think time – it’s the thoughts we have, that have such a huge impact on the lives we lead. Worry and fear are a plague on the lives of so many people. Oh sure, we don't like to admit it. We don't like to show it. Although the reality is, you can't really help it. Ever sat on a train or a bus or even on a park bench for that matter, and looked at the faces of the people around you? Some of them are bored but many, many others have a furrowed brow. And when they move, you can just tell, through their body language, that they're suffering from stress. In fact, stress is one of the greatest ills in our society. Depending on where you live, the surveys tell us between 1/2 and 3/4 of all people suffer from unhealthy levels of stress. Stress is just today’s word for worry and fear. So today, today we're going to take a look at just one thing. One really practical thing that you and I can do that will help banish worry and fear and the stress that comes from those two, from our lives for good. I have to warn you, this actually works. So if you don't want to get rid of fear and worry and stress, do something else right now. If you talk to a pastor, he'll probably tell you that the thing that you have to do to get rid of fear and worry is to have faith. That's what you need. Trust in God. It will all work out. Actually, I agree with him. But there's something else. It's knowing how to have faith. It's knowing how to apply our faith to the realities of life. Today I want to share with you, one very practical 'how to' tip. We're going to do that through the apostle Paul. Locked in a dungeon on death row. And if anyone had any reason to worry it was this man, Paul. We're going to look at what he wrote to his friends in Philippi. It was a letter that he wrote. We now know it as the Book of Philippians in the New Testament. We'll have a look at what he wrote about this whole subject of not being afraid. It comes from Philippians chapter 4, verses 8 and 9. He says: Finally my beloved. Whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, pure and pleasing, whatever is commendable. If there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me and the God of peace will be with you. Now I want to start with that last bit first. And there's a reason for that. Because what Paul's telling us here, is that he himself has discovered how to have God’s peace. How not to be afraid. How not to spend his life worrying. See, this is not some theory lesson. This is a guy on death row explaining how to have peace. He says: Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me and the God of peace will be with you. So Paul's saying, 'You guys know my life. You know how often I've been threatened. You know how often people have risen up against me when I got up to speak and how often they've wanted to harm me and kill me. You've seen all of that. You know that. You've seen me in action and you've seen how I coped with the pressures and the threats. You want to have the same peace as I've got? You want to have a life free from fear and worry? Then do the things that you've seen me doing and the things that I'm telling you about now and you will have that peace too. God’s peace.' I think that's fantastic. Because what we're about to look at is proven. It works in the direst of circumstances. Doesn't that excite you? You know, there's not a one of us who doesn't have some reason to worry. There's not a one of us who isn't going through some storm right now. And just in case there's the odd person who isn't. Just recognise that it's only because you're between storms. The last one's blown out and the next one hasn't swept in yet. So what's the practical guidance that Paul gives us in this passage about how to dispense with fear and worry out of our lives? Let's take a close look. Philippians, chapter 4, verse 8: Finally beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable - if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. You know what he's saying here? What we do with our mind matters. A man by the name of Norman Vincent Peale, in 1953, wrote this book. The Power of Positive Thinking . And I used to be really skeptical about this. Because my attitude was, faith in God is not about positive thinking. Positive thinking has a self-help connotation for me. It's like, I can get out of all my problems, without God, by thinking I can. All I have to do is think positive. But that's not what Norman Vincent Peale meant. And actually, it's not what Paul means here either. Paul's just setting out a simple truth. We only have so much brain band with each day. We only have so much time that we can spend thinking. Only so many hours to think. Some of that time we spend sleeping. Some we spend doing things that require our total attention. So we don't have time to think about much else. I guess some of us spend time vegged out in front of a TV show, not really thinking about anything. And then there's the rest of the time where we have time to think. And we either think good thoughts or bad thoughts. Encouraging thoughts or discouraging thoughts. We can think thoughts that look at our situation. Which may be difficult. Which may be scary. Which may be whatever. And we can think good or bad thoughts. And the way we think is going to influence how we see things and how we feel things. The human brain, believe it or not, has about 70,000 thoughts each day. Busy little thing isn't it? And what Paul's saying here is, 'Look, spend your brain time, your 'think' time thinking good thoughts. True, honourable, just, pure, pleasing, commendable, excellent. Thoughts worthy of praise. Think about these things.' You know what, that makes a lot of sense. And it's something we have to learn. We have to teach ourselves. Because if our mind is used to thinking bad thoughts, unhealthy thoughts, destructive thoughts. If that's our habit, we need to break the habit. We need to get into Paul's habit of thinking. Here's how it works for me. A negative thought comes into my mind. "You know, that guy over there, he doesn't get it. He's never going to get it. He just drives me nuts." Well maybe he doesn't get it. Maybe he has some issues but I've decided something. If I think that way, it's going to influence how I treat him and how I feel. So when one of those thoughts comes floating in, I just boot it out. It's not that I'm unrealistic. I'm not sweeping things under the carpet but I replace the bad one with a good one. I think to myself, "Okay, I'm not thinking that. Instead, how can I care for him today? How can I support him today? God, you love him just as much as you love me. Show me Father how I can build him up and develop him and grow him. Father, be my God, help me with this." Does it make sense? This is a discipline, it's a habit we need to learn. And the more we do it, the more we come to a habit of booting out the destructive thoughts and replacing them with good thoughts – God thoughts, here's what happens. Our whole outlook changes. God honours it. And where things once threatened us. Now God gives us solution. Where things once scared us, He gives us faith and peace. And all of a sudden, we find ourselves in the habit of resting our mind in the good things. And good things grow from that. Peace is one of them. Joy is another.…

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Do Not Worry About Anything // Five Ways to Overcome Fear, Part 1 9:47

منذ 12 يومًا9:47

9:47

What if you and I could discover a way to live, so that we don’t worry about anything? Not necessarily changing our circumstances, but changing the way we live them out. We’d want to know how, right? So many people spend so much time being afraid in their lives. Maybe it's a crisis. Or just a sense of this nagging, ongoing thing that something bad is going to happen. A negativity. A pessimism. Always thinking the worst. Always imagining the worst. Always expecting the worst. That's why, last week on the program, we looked at this whole "fear" thing. The reality that scary things do happen to us in our lives. And they're going to happen again. And the reality, whether we care to believe it or not, that God’s heart is for us not to be afraid. So often we put on a brave face. Or a cool, calm exterior. But inside, inside so many people are torn apart. Shaken to the core by fear and worry. So this week, we're going to do some "rubber hits the road" stuff in a series that I've called "Five Ways to Overcome Fear." Five very practical things that you and I can do to banish fear and worry. Now let me make this clear. I am talking about living a life that, by and large, is free from fear and worry. Scary things will still come at us in life. It's about living through them with a calm delight and resolve. With a deep knowledge that actually, God is in this place with us. The first thing I want to share with you today is that our mind matters. What we do with our thoughts really matters. Back in 1953 a bloke by the name of Norman Vincent Peale wrote a classic book. It's called, "The Power of Positive Thinking" . And for a long time, I have to tell you, I pooh-hooed it. "It's not about positive thinking" I said. "It's about trusting in God". Even when I started reading this book, not so long ago, I was pretty skeptical. But what he expounds in his book is exactly what God talks about in the Bible. Our mind matters. Let me take you to a passage that I personally often go to. It's the apostle Paul, on death row, writing to his friends, the Philippians. Listen to what this man writes from his dank prison cell. This comes from Philippians chapter 4 beginning at verse 6. He says: Do not worry about anything but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just and pure and pleasing and commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you've learned and received and heard and seen in me and the God of peace will be with you. I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now, at last, you have revived your concern for me. Indeed you were concerned for me but had no opportunity to show it. Not that I'm referring to being in need for I've learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little. I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances, I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry and of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Let me just start with the first 2 verses here. Look at them again with me. Philippians chapter 4, verses 6 and 7: Do not worry about anything but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. How do we not worry? Let me ask you that. You see, in my experience, worry is something that just happens. I've wanted to turn the worry tap off so many times. But this stream of worrying thoughts just keeps on flooding into my mind. Now I'm as strong-willed and as disciplined a person as you'll find anywhere. When I've set my mind to achieving something, invariably I do. It's been like that all my life. But you know something, I am powerless to turn off the worry tap. It's horrifying when you worry. It grips your whole life. You wake and you sleep and you toss at night and, have you ever noticed that? And it's believing in these 2 verses that's enabled me to end the worry in my life. And you know something, when you stop worrying, you have peace. And that's exactly what Paul tells us. That's exactly what God wants to tell us today: Do not worry about anything but in everything ... How do I stop worrying? Not by turning the tap off myself. But by replacing it with something else. With the 'but in everything' that Paul writes about: Do not worry about anything but in everything ... So what's the but? What's the thing that we should replace the worrying with? All that time, that energy we spend worrying. What do I do with it? I transfer it to something else. To what else? ... but in everything .. Now that means everything. In everything that's causing me worry: ... by prayer and supplication ... What does that mean? By praying and entreating and asking God, seeking Him. So instead of wasting all that time and energy on worrying. Spend it instead on praying and asking God. Imagine how different our lives would be. Every time a worrying thought comes to haunt the deepest recesses of our minds. We say, "Hang on a minute. Stop. I am not going to think on that. I am not going to dwell on that worry. I am not going to brood and worry. But instead, I am going to pray." How? With thanksgiving. "God, I thank you I'm in this place. You know something, I thank you that I have an opportunity to trust you. I thank you, that unless you show up here, I'm in trouble. Now Lord, here's my problem. Here it is. Will you help me? Thank you God." If every time we go to worry, instead of worrying we do this instead. Here is what the Bible promises us. Now listen very carefully to this promise because it's a promise that's going to change your life: Do not worry about anything but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God. Now here comes the promise: ... and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. There it is! And you know something, that is exactly, exactly what happens. I'm going to challenge you. If you've got worries in your life. If you've got fears in your life. Try this for just a few days. Every time you start worrying, go to God. Stop worrying, go to God and do the "but" thing. "But instead, in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God." And here's what happens. He's going to turn the worry tap off. See, no amount of strength or resolve or anything else that you and I can do is going to turn that worry tap off. Only God. And He's going to replace it with an amazing peace. An incredible peace. So the storm can still be raging, the circumstances could be getting worse but you've been praying and entreating and thanking God instead of worrying. And you think to yourself, 'I can't explain this. I have this peace. How? Why? How can it be?' That's why Paul calls it a: ... peace that surpasses all understanding ... God turned the worry tap off while you were praying. And He did what you and I couldn't do: ... and the peace of God, that surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. It's because the worry just can't get in. This is where the rubber hits the road.…

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God Speaks When We're Afraid // Do Not Be Afraid, Part 5 9:32

منذ 15 يومًا9:32

9:32

When we’re afraid, it seems as though nothing anyone else says or does can make a difference. But – well, what if God has something to say? And what if it does actually make a difference? Would it be worth listening to? You know what I've noticed about those times when I am truly, truly afraid. It seems that nothing anybody says or does can make a difference. When you're going through some really tough times. And you just don't know what the future holds. And everything looks bleak and grim. Every eventuality we imagine has a bad outcome. Because when we're afraid, it seems to me that we lose hope. And hope is being able to see into the future and believe that something good is going to happen. A place without hope is a dark and dangerous place indeed. And yet that's where we so often find ourselves in life. Yesterday on the program we saw how one of Israel’s kings, Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, was faced with overwhelming odds. A massive army. Three nations coming against him at the same time. There was no way that his small army could ever win that battle against this mighty enemy. No way. Or was there? Now old Josh, he didn't panic. Nor was he frozen with fear. He went to God and told God just the way it was. 2 Chronicles, chapter 20, verse 12: O God we are powerless against this great multitude that is coming against us. We do not know what to do but our eyes are on you. There you have it. Well, right now, we're going to take a look at what happened next. Did God respond? Did He? And if He did, did it make any difference? Because, as I said right at the beginning, so often when we're afraid, it seems that nothing anybody else says or does ever makes a difference. Well let’s have a look. We're going to read the next part of the story. It begins in 2 Chronicles, chapter 20, verse 13: Meanwhile all of Judah stood before the Lord with their little ones, their wives and their children. Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel, the son of Zechariah, the son of..." (a whole bunch of lineage). Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel, the son of Zechariah, one of the Levites in the middle of the assembly. He said, ‘Listen all of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat. Thus says the Lord to you. Do not fear or be dismayed at the geat multitude. For the battle is not yours but God’s. Tomorrow, go down against them’ ‘They will come up the ascent of Ziz and you will find them at the end of the valley before the wilderness of Jeruel. This battle is not for you to fight. Take your positions, stand still and see the victory of the Lord on your behalf O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not fear or be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them and the Lord will be with you.’ Then Jehoshaphat bowed down with his face to the ground and all of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord, worshipping Him. And the Levites stood up to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice. They rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. And as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, ‘Listen to me O Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Believe in the Lord your God and you will be established. Believe in His prophets.’ When he had taken council with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to the Lord and to praise Him in holy splendor. As they went out before the army saying, ‘Give thanks to the Lord for His steadfast love endures forever.’ If you didn't know better you would say they're nuts. I mean, right in the middle of this frightening time, God ups and speaks through this man. The Spirit of God falls on this man, Jahaziel. It wasn't such a funny name to them back then. And what does God say? Do not be afraid. Do not be dismayed at this great multitude. For the battle is not yours, but God’s. Again, in verse 17: This battle is not for you to fight. Take your positions, stand still and see the victory of the Lord on your behalf. Do not fear or be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them and the Lord will be with you. Now I want to just think through that for a bit. Because this is so important. This is the crux of the whole story. You see, we think in our human thinking. We've always been taught to be self-reliant. God helps those who help themselves, right? But here, God is saying exactly 180 degrees the opposite. This nation of Judah. God’s chosen people. The remnant of Israel. The rump if you like. These people who've put their faith in their God against overwhelming odds. In fact they had nowhere else to go. They are facing certain, absolute annihilation. Remember, we're not talking about some football match here. This is not like your team annihilating my team on the weekend and on Monday morning we talk about it. This is complete death and destruction. So they turn to God with fear in their hearts. That's what it said right at the beginning. It said: Jehoshaphat was afraid. And just like you and I would be. But he set himself to seek the Lord and he proclaimed a fast through all Judah and they waited on God. They could have panicked. They could have been immobilised with fear. But instead, he waited on God and God spoke. And God said, "This is my battle and not yours." We don't expect that do we? Oh sure, we expect God to do it for other people but not for us. Let me give you an example. You're married. Your wife or your husband seems to have drifted away from you. You long for them. You yearn to be close. But it doesn't matter how much you try or what you say or do, it just doesn't happen. You can see your soul mate drifting away from you and from God and you start thinking the unthinkable in your heart. This is going to end in divorce. How do you respond? Panic. Frozen in fear. Start behaving badly yourself. Or do you set yourself to seek God, to enquire of Him, to discover that what God really wants to say to you is: This battle is not for you to fight. Take your position. Stand still and see the victory of the Lord on your behalf. Do not fear or be dismayed. Tomorrow go out and the Lord will be with you. Come on! This is where the rubber hits the road. And look, look at how Judah and the King Jehoshaphat responded to this incredible message from God. Did they scoff in disbelief? Did they have a Church council meeting to debate the matter? How did they respond? Jehoshaphat bowed down with his face to the ground and all of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord, worshipping the Lord. And they all sang. They went out to meet this massive army, singing God’s praises. Come on! This is where it's at. God is a mighty God and He's a loving God. And when we go and enquire of Him deep within our fear, He'll take charge. He fights the battles we can't fight. And sometimes it's not about defeating some enemy out there. No, sometimes He has to do a work of grace in our hearts to change us and heal us. So often we think we know what the answer should be but actually we haven't a clue. So often we plan this victory or that. But when we put it in His hands, His victory and His outcome are so perfect. We don't have time right now but if you read on in this chapter, 2 Chronicles chapter 20, you will discover that God won a mighty victory against the impossible enemy that day. And God’s chosen people just stood there and watched. They didn't have to lift a finger. It was God’s battle and God’s victory. He wants to do that sometimes in our lives. And when we're racing around panicking or when we've closed our ears, frozen in fear, we miss out on that. On that day, God’s chosen people discovered that the battle truly belonged to their God.…

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Don't Panic // Do Not Be Afraid, Part 4 9:47

منذ 16 يومًا9:47

9:47

We’ve all heard someone scream out “Don’t Panic” – it’s normally when they’re panicking. But panic, as natural a reaction as it may be to fear – panic is pretty useless. And it burns up a whole bunch of energy! In this day and age, one of the things that they teach us is to be self-reliant. To have confidence in our own abilities. Well, it's okay to a point I guess. But what happens when the situation we're in or the circumstances we face are so far beyond our own abilities to deal with them? That any notion of self-reliance is completely ridiculous. I mean, what happens when the tsunami hits our lives? What do we do when the enemy that gathers around us, completely outnumbers and outguns us? What do we do? And this isn't some theoretical exercise. It's life. It's my life and it's your life. Because this happens. It's real. There are many times, in our lives, when the enemy, whoever or whatever that is. When the enemy is so much bigger than our ability to survive. It happens in families. It happens in work places. And it happens in our hearts. When depression hits for no good reason. When a loved one is taken in their prime and the grief overwhelms us. It happens when retrenchment hits us. When the economy takes a nose dive. When there isn't enough food to feed the family. When sickness strikes. This is life. It's real life. Let me ask you something. When the enemy is so much bigger and so much stronger than anything you could ever handle, what do you do? Well, some people panic and run around in ever decreasing circles. And that is a waste of their precious energy. I mean, panicking takes a lot of energy. You've seen it. I've seen it. We've both been there. Some people, they pull over and stop. They're immobilised by fear. That's what happens you know. But neither of those things cut the mustard. Neither of them help. Running around like a headless chook is exhausting. And wallowing in self-pity is destructive. What do you do? I want to introduce you today to one of the kings in Israel’s history. Actually he was the king of a couple of the tribes of Israel, Judah and Benjamin. His name was Jehoshaphat. That's a long name but he was one of the good guys. And there was a time when he was confronted with an enemy that was way, way beyond his ability to fight. Have a listen. This story comes from the book of 2nd Chronicles beginning at chapter 20: After this the Moabites and the Ammonites and with them, some of the Meunites, came against Jehoshaphat for a battle. Messengers came and told Jehoshaphat, ‘A great multitude is coming against you from Edom, far from beyond the sea. Already they are at En Gedi.’ Jehoshaphat was afraid. I just want to establish here that Josh was human just like you and me. Not some super human king. Armies were coming against him. He was completely out numbered. This was a life and death situation and he was afraid. He's just one of us but it was what he did in his fear that made all the difference. He didn't let fear immobilise him. He didn't get into a flap and a panic. Have a listen. We'll read on in 2 Chronicles, chapter 20: Jehoshaphat was afraid. He set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. Judah assembled to seek help from the Lord. From all the towns of Judah they came to seek the Lord. Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem. In the house of the Lord before the new court and said, ‘God of our ancestors, are you not God in heaven? Do you not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? In your hand a power and might so that no-one is able to withstand you. Do you not, O God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people of Israel and give it forever to the descendants of your friend Abraham? They have lived in it and in it they have built your sanctuary. If disaster comes upon us, the sword of judgement or pestilence or famine, we will stand before this house O God and before you. For your name is in this house and cry to you in our distress and you will hear and save.’ ‘See now, the people of Amon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt and whom they avoided and did not destroy. They reward us now by coming to drive us out of your possession that you have given us to inherit. God, will you not execute judgement against them? For we are powerless against this great multitude that is coming against us. We do not know what to do but our eyes are on you.’ In the face of overwhelming odds, Jehoshaphat turned to God. Sometimes that's the only way. By the way that God can get our attention. I'd like to tell you that I first turned to God because I was wise and loving and prudent and understood that Jesus was the Son of God. But that would be lying. I turned to God because I was facing overwhelming odds. That's what did it for me. Now a king is supposed to have all the answers. A king like Josh should have a powerful army and contingency plans based on a detailed threat assessment. He should have been self-reliant. But listen again to what Josh says when he's praying to God: O our God. Will you not execute judgement upon them? For we are powerless against this great multitude that is coming against us. We do not know what to do but our eyes are upon you. I really relate to this story. When I stepped out of a secure, well paid job as a consultant into full-time ministry. It was leaving security behind to serve God. And I cannot begin to tell you how many times, since then, I've been in that place that Jehoshaphat and his people were in. I started out with this naive notion that if I was going to go about God’s work it would have to be easy. And yet, so many times people and circumstances have conspired to be against God’s work. Every couple of years our board gets together to do some strategic planning. That's good. It's important. It always looks good on paper. And then, it seems that all hell breaks loose. That's what’s going on here against Jehoshaphat and Judah. Remember they're God’s chosen people. They're in God’s Promised Land. Now Jehoshaphat is a king who honoured God. By all accounts, he is wise and prudent and competent. But in the face of overwhelming odds, he admits to God, 'I don't know what to do. All my plans. All my strategies. All my contingency plans. I don't know what to do.' So what was his solution? How did he cope with this? In the same breath he said, ... but our eyes are on you God. I wonder sometimes, when I see people who profess to believe in God, running around in panic. Wasting so much of their energy. Complaining and worrying and being afraid. It takes a lot of energy to be afraid, do you realise? I wonder if they spend even half that amount of energy having their eyes set on God, how much better off they'd be. You and I, we can't help but be afraid. Jehoshaphat was afraid. It's a natural human reaction. I'm not here to tell you somehow to pretend that you're not afraid when fear is rocking you to the core. But it's what we do when fear strikes that makes all the difference. You can panic and burn energy. You can freeze and be immobilised. And that's probably the end of you. Or we can just look at God and say, "You know something Lord, this is so huge. I don't know what to do but my eyes are on you. I'm just going to wait on you. I don't know what you're going to do. I don't even know if you're going to show up. But my eyes are on you." Tomorrow we're going to come back to see what happened. Did God do anything? Did God say anything? Or was Jehoshaphat’s faith just a fantasy? See, that's the question that we each have to face when we dare to look to God from the midst of our fear.…

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Not On My Own // Do Not Be Afraid, Part 3 9:37

منذ 17 يومًا9:37

9:37

It’s great for people to tell you that when you’re afraid God says, “Do Not Be Afraid.” Great! But, well, when I am afraid, what do I do with that feeling? How do I make it go away? How do I get back on an even keel? Fear is a subject that frankly, we don't much like talking about. But that's exactly what we're talking about on the program this week. Because fear, fear is something that we all go through. You know when there's that 800 pound gorilla in the room. It's hard, it's incredibly hard to believe that God is bigger than the gorilla. Of course He is but it just doesn't feel like that when that gorilla is so up close. And the hardest thing, I think, in overcoming fear in life is actually getting to that point where we have a high level of confidence in God. Where we put our confidence and our trust in this God who says, " Do not be afraid." Instead of in the gorilla, who's so here and now. Where we put our confidence in who God is. What He's done. His might and His power and His sovereignty. They all sound great in theory. God created the universe. He's all-powerful, great. That's the theory but what about in practice? What about when the rubber hits the road? Then what? See, I used to think that it was up to me and I guess, in part, it is but not completely. Just as well. You and I, we're human. I can't conjure up confidence. I can't take this theory about who God is and let the theory wipe away the fear. Because fear is real. I need something more than just theory. I need more than promises on a piece of paper. Yesterday on the program, we looked at what God had to say to His chosen people, Israel, when they were afraid. They'd lost their Promised Land, they were slaves in Babylon, in exile. Yeah, God’s chosen people. It sort of seemed that God had deserted them. When it feels like the Babylonians, who after all were the dominant world power, well it felt like they were more powerful than the God of Israel. So God, as we saw yesterday, points out creation to them. The heavens, the trillions of stars. The stars that the Babylonians, by the way, worshipped. He said, "I made them. I made the heavens and the earth. Don't you think I can save you from the Babylonians?" You see, for the Israelites, the Babylonians were the 800 pound gorilla in the room. It was seemingly impossible. And if it were left up to the Israelites to work up the courage to believe that God would save them from the Babylonians, it was never going to happen. They didn't have that much faith. They were slaves, they were in exile for 70 years. No, God had to do something. God had to help them. God had to change their hearts and touch them deep inside. And fortunately, that's exactly what God had planned to do. He didn't want to leave it up to them and here and now, He doesn't want to leave it up to us either. He wants us to actually experience His peace. Not our strength. Not some confidence or peace that we wave up with a magic wand. But a peace and a strength that come, only, from God. Let's pick up the rest of the story. We began in chapter 40 of Isaiah yesterday and we'll begin at verse 28: Haven't you known? Haven't you heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He doesn't faint or grow weary. His understanding is unsearchable. Great, there it is again - the theory but now, watch what comes next. In Isaiah chapter 40, verse 29: God gives power to the faint. He strengthens the powers. Even youths will faint and be weary and the young will fall exhausted. But those who wait for the Lord will renew their strength. They'll mount up with wings like eagles. They'll run and not be weary. They'll walk and not be faint. Do you see the point? The power and the strength, where do they come from? Do I conjure them up? Do I somehow magically work hard enough to be confident? No. God gives power to the faint. God strengthens the powerless. See, even young people will faint and be weary. Even the strong will fall exhausted. But, and here's the but, here’s the glorious, wondrous, powerful "but" : But those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not grow faint. You know what it means to wait? When we wait, you know when we're in a tough place. When we're afraid and scared and uncomfortable. You know what we want to do? We want to grumble. We, I got to tell you, we want to grumble. 'God, what are you doing? Why are you letting me go through this? Can't you deal with this? Look at that person over there, they're doing all the wrong things and you're blessing him.' We can find so many things to grumble about can't we? That's not the sort of waiting that God is talking about here, you know: But those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. You know what that word "wait" means? It doesn't mean to wait with a bad attitude. It doesn't mean to wait with grumbling in our hearts and on our lips. It means to wait expectantly. To wait on God with the expectation that He is who He says He is. That He will do what He says He's going to do. To wait there right in the middle of our fear with the 800 pound gorilla in the room and say, "You know something, I can't do anything about my slavery in Babylon. I can't over throw the Babylonians. I can't do anything and God seems like a million miles away. But I'm just going to wait here expecting God to do something. Expecting God to show up. I know other people will tell me I'm a fool for doing that. I know it's not rational. I know it's not logical. But God’s word says that": Those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not grow faint Right with our emotions on that roller coaster ride. With our enemies around us. With our hearts cast down. To wait with an expectation somewhere deep inside that God's going to act. That God’s going to show up. And you know, I've been in those places so many times and it invariably doesn't feel good. It's easy to listen to some guy with a smooth voice on the radio and think, "Well it's okay for him. You know, he's in a nice safe radio studio. And it's nice and clean and clinical. And, what does he know?" No, I've been in those tough places. I've wept over this scripture and waited and it never feels wonderful and spiritual. It always feels hard. But God means to do what He says He's going to do. Who knows? Will God give us victory over our enemies or not? I don't know. More Christians have been martyred in the 20th century than in the 2000 years before that combined. We all die sometime. Is He going to deal with this cancer or let it take its course? I don't know.But there's one thing I know. God is saying, Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. God gives us His peace and His strength when we wait expectantly on Him. It doesn't matter how big or ugly or bad the enemy is. It doesn't matter how fearful we are. Why? Because He gives us His peace. That's the promise. My friend, do not be afraid. Let your confidence rest on God Himself. And then, let Him do the rest.…

1
Who Created the Stars? // Do Not Be Afraid, Part 2 9:44

منذ 18 يومًا9:44

9:44

You know I’ve heard all the theory – you don’t have to be afraid – because God is in that place with you. Hmm. That’s the theory. But how do I know – how do I know that I can really rely on Him to be there and to be on my side and to act? Well? Fear is something that, quite frankly, we don't much want to talk about. And yet it's something that's so very real for so many people in this world. We don't want to admit, to the rest of the world, that we're afraid. And so we kind of put on this brave face as though everything's fine. But on the inside, fear can be eating away like a cancer. So often it's the case that the things we used to place our confidence in, they're not working anymore. People place their faith in all sorts of things. Their stock portfolio, until the stock market takes a dive. People place their faith in relationships until those relationships fail. And so we lose confidence and when we lose confidence, the deep rot of fear sets into our hearts. Well truly I tell you, God wants to deal with that so decisively in our lives. Now that doesn't mean that we're not going to go through things and situations and challenges that aren't scary. Of course we are. That's life. But God’s plan is that, when we do, that we'll be ready. That our confidence will be in Him. Imagine a life where these times of fear are replaced with a quiet confidence in God Himself. That's His plan. That's why He keeps saying to us: Do not be afraid. Us being afraid falls so far short of His plan to fill us with His peace. That's why I really encourage you to stick with me over these next few minutes as we discover how to live out God’s ideal of not being afraid. I was talking with a friend recently. Great guy, one of "nature’s gentlemen" as the saying goes. He's kind and considerate and competent. He's just a delight. I've worked with him about 15 years but over the last few years our paths have headed off into different directions. Now I had cause to call him about something. Expecting to hear his cheerful, bouncy voice on the other end of the phone. But what I discovered was a shell of the man I once knew. His world had fallen apart. His family was gone, his career seemed over. It was an incredibly difficult and painful time for him. He said, "I'm sitting on a beach at the moment, wondering what, if anything, the rest of my life holds." Now none of us want to have the stuffing ripped out of us. But you know something, it happens to all of us at some point. It doesn't matter who we are, where we live, what we believe. And you know, I've heard some preachers preach as though, "Well if you believe in God, bad things won't happen to you." That's a load of rubbish. Bad things happen to God’s people too. In fact, sometimes especially they happen to God’s people, they just do. Take Israel, God’s chosen people. They found themselves in this scary, fearful place. They'd been in slavery, exiled in Babylon for the best part of 3 generations. It's a long time. Only a handful of their elders can ever remember living in God’s Promised Land – Jerusalem. So what does God have to say to these people who are cowering in fear under the yoke of slavery? Have a listen. It comes from the Old Testament, the Book of Isaiah, chapter 41, beginning at verse 8: But you Israel, my servant Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham my friend. You whom I took from the ends of the earth and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, ‘You are my servant. I have chosen you and not cast you off. Do not fear for I am with you. Do not be afraid for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you up with my victorious right hand.’ See the first thing that God does is He reminds them of His promises to Abraham. When Abraham stood in that Promised Land, centuries before, this is what God promised him. Genesis chapter 15, beginning at verse 18: On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram saying, ‘To your descendants I give this land. From the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates – the land of the Kenites and the Kenizzites and the Kadmonites and the Hittites.’ And all the other little vegemites. God gave that land to Abraham and his descendants. It was God’s promise. God had chosen them and had promised them the land. So God had gathered them from the ends of the earth and he said: I will not cast you off, I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my victorious right hand. The whole thing that God relies on here, in talking with His people and their fear and their despair. Is not in who they are or how strong they are or how clever they are. No, He's saying to them, "look at who I am. Look at my promise. I know it's tough. I know you're confused. I know it's scary but I am your God. I am with you. You are my servant. I have chosen you. I took you from the ends of the earth. Don't be afraid." But how does that help them? See isn't He the God who failed them 70 years earlier? Okay, so He sends them some prophet and he says, "don't be afraid' but He's got more. He's got so much more. See He said, 'it's not just my promises, have a look at who I am." And just in that chapter before, we were looking at Isaiah chapter 41, just in the chapter before, He tells them who He is. He says: To whom will you compare me? To an idol? A bit of mulberry wood made by an artisan? Don't you realise? Haven't you heard? Hasn't it been told to you from the beginning? Haven't you understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth and it's inhabitants are like grasshoppers. Who stretches out the heavens like curtain and spreads them like a tent to live in. Who brings princes to nothing and makes rulers of the earth as nothing. Scarcely are they planted, scarcely are they sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them and they wither and the tempest carries them off like stubble.’ ‘To whom will you compare me? Who is my equal?’ says God the Holy One. ‘Lift up your eyes. Look and see who created these stars. Who brings them out by their hosts and numbers them and calls them by name because He is great in strength? Mighty and power, not one is missing.’ ‘Why do you say O Israel, My way is hidden from the Lord and my right is discarded from my God? Haven't you known? Haven't you heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He doesn't grow faint or weary .’ This is powerful stuff: Don't you get it? He's saying, 'I'm the God who created the whole 'shoot and match'. See those trillions of stars up there? I created them, I make them come out each night. I am so much bigger than your circumstances. It makes absolute sense for you to put your confidence in me. I have been in those fearful places in my life. And you know what happens? All you can see it the dirty great big 800 pound gorilla in the room. All you can see are the people or the circumstances that cause us to fear and that's human. We don't know what the future holds. We imagine all the bad things are going to happen at the same time. And then, I don't want to get preachy but I've discovered in my life, that when God steps into my situation, no matter how scary it is. When He steps in and whispers in my heart: Do not be afraid . He means it. Do not fear for I am with you. Do not be afraid for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my victorious right hand. My hunch is that today, today He means to whisper those words into your heart and mind. Do not be afraid.…

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The World is a Scary Place // Do Not Be Afraid, Part 1 9:38

منذ 19 يومًا9:38

9:38

You know something – the world can be a scary place. We all travel through times when fear eats away inside and it’s right in the middle of those times, that we need to know what to do. I don't know about you but as I look around, it seems to me that the world can be a scary place. Take spiders and snakes for instance. Depending on where you live in the world, they're dangerous or they're not. Here in Australia we are seriously over-represented in the top ten list of the worlds most venomous creatures. So growing up as a child I had a good reason to be afraid of them. And still today, the idea of a spider crawling into my bed. Well it's one of the scariest thoughts that I can come up with. Let me tell you a funny story. One of the most venomous snakes on the planet is called the Death Adder. Good name huh? When I was training to be an officer in the army, we had not only Australian students but New Zealand students. And if you know anything about New Zealand, you will know they don't have venomous snakes at all. And we were training and we were doing a grenade practice. So we were down in the bunker. And one of the New Zealanders went up, out of the bunker, to throw his grenade. And while he did, we found a dead Death Adder. So we put it down right where he had to sit down. So when he sat down, when he came back, he saw it and I tell you, it was so funny. His legs were going before his backside was up off the seat, running out of the bunker. Terrible stuff isn't it? But there you go. We can laugh but the world can be a scary place. Especially with friends like me. That was a long time ago, I have to say. I was young and stupid then. So this week we're starting a new series on the program that’s called, " Do Not Be Afraid" . There's a reason for that. There are lots of people in this world who spend much of their lives living in fear. Sometimes it's because they're living in a war zone. I mean there are plenty of people today, listening, who know that only too well. There are people in the Democratic Republic of Congo for instance. And there are parts there where there's war raging right now. There are some people, sitting in their homes, listening to this program today, wondering whether or not they're going to see tomorrow or next week or next year. Other times, life threatening things happen. You have a health scare. The morning I sat down to prepare this message was the morning of the funeral of a good friend of mine. He was just a few years older than me and he died suddenly of a heart attack. It's easy to be afraid of things. And when we're afraid it rocks our confidence. And yet other people, they just kind of live life with a real sense of dread. Always something there for us to dread. Always something lurking out there that we can be afraid of. For me, honestly, if I allowed it, I could be afraid of quite a few things. There are a few things in my life right now that could cause me fear. I mean this ministry that I'm involved in at Christianityworks. It's a global media ministry. We're just a small team of people and we don't know where the funding’s going to come from to do all we have to do over this next year. We just don't. So you either live in fear or you live in faith. If God doesn't provide that funding, we'll fall flat on our faces. That's the stark reality. And that's the thing, it doesn't matter who we are or where we live, we can live in fear. And that fear can rob us of life itself. And yet, time and time and time again, you read God’s word and these are the words from God, that He speaks to His people. He says: Do not be afraid. And He utters them, invariably, right at the time when the people He's talking with have every reason to be afraid. The people and the circumstances that are confronting them, conspiring against them. We experience fear too and yet God wades in and says: "Do not be afraid." Now if God doesn't want me to be afraid, when I have every reason to be afraid. You know something, I want to have a piece of His brand of confidence, don't you think? I mean, think about it. What's the point of God saying, "Do not be afraid" when we have no reason to fear. It's right in the middle of fear that we need His brand of confidence. I definitely want that, how about you? Well, how can we have that confidence? That's a good question. That's what today’s program is about. That's what this whole week is about. It's about discovering, right in the middle of where we live. Right in the middle of all the stuff that goes on in our lives, how not to be afraid. So I invite you to come on a journey with me this week. And we're going to start that journey with an account of a time when God’s chosen people, Israel, were very afraid. They had every reason to be afraid. They'd been living in the Promised Land for several hundred years and then, all of a sudden. Because they were struggling with God. They were worshipping idols and other God’s. Eventually God lost His patience. And in 586 BC, the Babylonians, the world power at the time, the dominant power, invaded Jerusalem. They destroyed the place. They destroyed the temple, the place where God’s presence dwelt. And they took God’s people back into slavery, to Babylon. Now talk about a crisis of confidence. Think about it. God makes all these promises. To Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob. And then, when Israel are in slavery in Egypt, He sends them Moses and He does amazing miracles. The whole Red Sea thing, the exodus through the desert for 40 years. Everything, and got them finally to the land that God had promised to Abraham centuries before. And once they got into the Promised Land, under the leadership of Joshua. They fought battle after battle against nation after nation that was bigger and stronger than Israel. And yet, God was with His chosen people and they took the land that God had promised to them. And now, now all of a sudden, Babylon wins. God’s own temple's destroyed. Where's God? What happened? Is the king of Babylon stronger than our God? Are the Babylonian God’s stronger than our God? The Israelites had a loss of confidence. And when we lose confidence, we get afraid. It's a big deal. I mean, you look at share holder confidence, consumer confidence. That feeling when you go to sleep at night, having that falling sensation. You know, you wake up in a panic and you're grabbing onto the bed. Confidence is being able to, to trust the earth beneath our feet. And people trust the stock market, they trust the plane they're flying in, they trust their governments, they trust whatever. And then it's like things get pulled out from under your feet and you lose confidence and panic and fear set in. Because we're no longer safe, we're no longer able to trust what we've always trusted. That's where Israel was. They had a complete loss of confidence in their God. He was punishing them but they didn't see it that way. It's like they were flying along, in a plane, at 32,000 feet above the ground and all of a sudden, all of the engines got switched off. Panic and fear and fair enough too. So what does God say to them in the middle of their fear and panic? In Isaiah chapter 41, verse 10: Do not fear for I am with you. Do not be afraid for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand. I often wonder, how can He say that? How can God bowl up to us in the middle of our fear and circumstances where it's logical and reasonable and human for us to be afraid and say: Do not be afraid. How can He do that? Well, that's what we're going to be looking at over the rest of this week on the program. We're going to take a look at fear, well ... from a different perspective.…

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A Different Perspective Official Podcast « » The Heart of Worship // Worship as a Way of Life, Part 2

The Heart of Worship // Worship as a Way of Life, Part 2

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The Heart of Worship // Worship as a Way of Life, Part 2