Abounding Love

Sep 29, 2024

Garry spoke from Phil 1:3-11 this morning, about Paul’s prayer for the Philippians to grow in love, a love which abounds in knowledge and depth of insight. God is a God of abundance – not for Him stingy measures or ‘just enough’. His miracles of provision in the Gospels show this lavish abundance (see Matt 14:18-20) and as Matt Redman says, God’s grace is ‘not even halfway empty.’ (‘Halfway Empty’) God wants our love to overflow (1 Thess 3:12), for He is the God of overflowing, lavish love.
Love is not blind, however. It needs to be rooted in truth and knowledge (see 1 Cor 5:1-7). So often, we don’t appreciate God’s love until we experience it for ourselves. Paul prays for a depth of personal knowledge that will make God’s love real to the Philippians. He wants them to have depth of insight, not just taking things at face value, but getting to the heart of the matter. Peter professed great love for Jesus before the crucifixion, but Jesus knew his every weakness and prayed for him (see Matt 14:27-31). He knew that the self-reliance in Peter had to be broken before his love could be fully mature. Yet He did not give up on Peter and was able to reaffirm His love for him, despite the denials that had so broken Peter. God is able to take our flaws and weaknesses and bring strength into our love. We simply need to understand that we cannot love as God wants us to love – lavishly, with extravagance – unless we have first experiened, sampled and tasted His love for us and continue to grow in that love in knowledge and depth of insight.

You Are Being Built Together

Sep 22, 2024

Guest speaker Joy Gascoigne spoke tonight from 1 Peter 2:5 which tells us ‘you are being built together.’ The church is meant to live for the glory of God; individuals are described as ‘living stones’ who are being built together to make a house fit for God to live in.
Nehemiah in the Old Testament gives us an example of what this building together looks like – even when this involves problems, difficulties, opposition and setbacks.
Nehemiah was involved in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem after the exile. Tearing things down is a lot easier than building up, but ultimately is less rewarding! Building the church is not easy but is immensely rewarding.
To build successfully, words and action must go together (see Col 3:17). Today’s decisions make tomorrow’s stepping stones (see Neh 2:13). We have to start building; there is a need for both sowing and reaping.
Good connections are necessary to produce good results. Who do we connect with? How do we influence those around us? Nehemiah had great influence on all around him; how do we impact others and how are we impacted by others? Church building is a corporate effort; we need each other.

God’s Unfailing Love

Sep 22, 2024

In our quest to discover our true identity in God, we looked today at the book of Hosea, a prophet who preached in the northern kingdom of Israel during the troubled times before the fall of Samaria in 721 BC. He was especially concerned about the idolatry of the people and their faithlessness towards God, and in the opening chapters of his book, we see Hosea ‘living this out’ in his own life. In what is possibly one of the most shocking things we ever read in the Bible, he is told by God to “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.” (Hosea 1:2) His very life becomes a living parable of Israel’s unfaithfulness and God’s faithfulness.

The children Gomer bears to Hosea are given names which symbolise what is happening in the nation: Jezreel (as punishment for what happened there (Hos 1:4-5)), Lo-Ruhamah (‘not loved’) and Lo-Ammi (‘not my people’) (Hos 1:6-9). Moreover, Hosea is urged to take Gomer back, even after adultery, as a symbol of God’s unfailing love even when His people have abandoned Him. (Hos 3:1) Despite the shocking living parable Hosea presents, with its reminder of judgment, we see that God remains faithful, offering a door of hope to His people in the Valley of Achor (trouble) (Hos 2:15) and the hope that once again they will be known as His people. (Hos 2:23)

The Bible story is a love story, a story of God’s unfailing love towards His people. Jer 31:3-4 and Isaiah 54:6-8 testify to this unfailing love and the New Testament echoes this truth (see John 3:16-17, Luke 15:20). Even though discipline and judgment come to us when we stray from God and this is painful to bear, this is intended to restore us (see Heb 12:5-11). John assures us twice in his first letter that God is love (1 John 4:8, 16) and Paul is convinced that nothing will be able to separate us from God’s love in Christ. (Rom 8:35-39). The Bible reminds us that we are loved people. God loves us. He loves us with an everlasting love, with an unfailing and unchanging love. That gives us reasons to hope, to be positive, to keep going, no matter what. If God loves the unlovable, there is hope for us all!

 

David as King

Sep 20, 2024

2 Samuel 5 brings us to the point where David is made king over all Israel and not just Judah. It’s the moment we have been waiting for since Samuel anointed him in 1 Samuel 16, and we are curious as to what kind of king David will be. Will he prove to be arrogant, like Saul, assuming he knows better than God? Will he prove to be bitter and vindictive like so many other Middle Eastern kings of this time?

His first action is strategic: to find a capital city that can unite both Israel and Judah. In taking the city known as Jebus and transforming it into Jerusalem, the city of peace, the city of David, David shows vision and faith. He sees not only the place as it is – unassailable, hostile, rejecting God’s ways – but as it can be, and this spiritual vision and faith will be key to David’s reign. He is willing to embrace the friendship offered by Hiram, king of Tyre (who offers materials and labourers to establish David’s home in Jerusalem) and to resist the attacks of the Philistines. The phrase ‘David inquired of the Lord’ (2 Sam 5:19, 23) is one we have seen repeatedly through his life (see 1 Sam 23:2, 4; 1 Sam 30:8, 2 Sam 2:1), and it is the defining measure of his greatness. When David seeks God and acts in obedience to His commands, he is assured of victory and greatness; David’s success just cannot be separated from his relationship with God: ‘And he became more and more powerful, because the Lord God Almighty was with him.’ (2 Sam 5:10)

The wilderness years on the run as a fugitive, feigning madness before foreign kings, have not destroyed David’s faith. Instead, he has learnt patience and perseverance; he has learned to trust God and put his hope in Him. Now, with the establishment and growth of his family and his palace in Jerusalem, he ‘knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel and had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel.’ (2 Sam 5:12) David has learned the principle which Jesus would later reiterate: ‘For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. (Matt 23:12, Luke 14:11) True greatness comes as we humble ourselves before God and allow Him to exalt us.

 

Revealing The Treasure

Sep 15, 2024

Garry started his sermon with a video of an antiques show, where a man who paid $345.95 for a watch in 1975 subsequently had it valued for between $500,00 and $700,000. This watch was essentially his hidden treasure, for he had never worn it. We too have something of great value; Paul talks about a ‘treasure in jars of clay’ in 2 Cor 4:7.
We have the treasure of sins forgiven and a relationship with God Himself. We can be set free from addictions that controlled us; we are given new purpose in living. We have a life-changing gospel, a hope that lasts for all eternity. Peter tells us that we have an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade (1 Pet 1:4). The treasure God gives us has the potential to change lives.
We can live differently (see Rom 12:1-2, Eph 2:3-5, Is 8:11-13). We can make the choice to be what we really are, but it is so much easier to live as we have always lived and to just carry on as before. If we do this, we are missing out, living like paupers when we are in fact rich.
Paul urges us to grow up (Eph 4:14-16), to be who we are made to be – the light of the world. (Matt 5:14-16). Our witness to this treasure is to three groups: those we see daily (often family and close friends), those we meet frequently and those we see rarely. God wants us to have His treasure and enjoy this, but He also wants us to share His treasure.

Confidence In God

Sep 15, 2024

Dave spoke this morning from Phil 1:3-6, about the confidence we can have in God. Ps 19:1 reminds us that the heavens declare the glory of God, that the whole universe reminds us of God’s greatness and power. Confidence is a quiet assurance, but our confidence can easily be shaken by difficult circumstances or unanswered prayer. We need to have confidence in God and not ourselves!
Paul writes to the Philippians to encourage them to have confidence in God’s people, God’s plan and God’s provision. Paul is thankful for the Philippian believers and for their partnership in the gospel. They have lived out the truth of the gospel, supporting Paul financially and helping him. We too can be grateful for the people God has placed with us in our church.
We can also be confident that God has a plan for us (individually and corporately) and that He hasn’t finished with us yet! God provides in abundance for us, answering our prayers as we step out in faith. The truth is that Jesus is still building His church and we can have confidence in Him. We remember the past, live in the present and are confident of our future in Him.