Exeter Temple Corps Anniversary Message

Sunday 21st April 2013
Bible Reading: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Our text today may seem a strange choice for a Corps Anniversary. On such an occasion as this we have a tendency to look back and concentrate on giving thanks for past blessings, when this text looks to something that has not happened yet. Whilst wanting to avoid the speculation and controversy that surround Jesus’ promise that he will come again, we are wrong to react to some people’s foolishness by overlooking such a central part of  our faith.

The past, that we celebrate today means nothing if it is does not lead somewhere. The future we anticipate, the hope we set before us powerfully influences the way we live, the way we invest our time and energy, the way we conduct our lives. We cannot afford to avoid passages such as this, if we believe that we are called to continue to fulfil the work of God that began here many years ago.

There is a future aspect to the reign of Jesus Christ. The New Testament points to a time, when the rule and reign of Christ will be seen both in heaven and on earth. This hope hinges on the promise given to the disciples. “This same Jesus who has been taken form you into heaven will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11)
Early Christians longed for and expected the return of Jesus Christ when that Resurrection power would be unfolded in its fullness. In our text Paul is explaining that event to the Christians at Thessalonica. He has two essential objectives. One is to bring comfort to those who have lost loved ones. The other is to inspire holiness and service to the Lord.

1. The Comfort Resurrection brings
Christians in Thessalonica expected that Jesus would return and bring the Kingdom of God in all its fullness. However some of them were getting a bit anxious that as time went on some Christians were dying before this great event had taken place. Paul writes to reassure them that everyone who belongs to Christ whether alive on earth or alive in heaven will be part of the event and they will come together to usher in the final stages of the coming of the Kingdom.

Read verses 13-18 again.
This is a great thought on an anniversary Sunday when we think of all the saints of God who have gone before us and whose names fill our history book. They will all be there at the biggest reunion that will ever be.
Note the words: “in him.” God will bring those whom we love who have passed on ahead of us with Christ when Christ returns and that means that they are with Him right now at this very moment! They are not in limbo waiting for the party. They are with him.
It is hard to imagine how this will happen. The Corinthian Christians asked the same question, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?

Paul replied in 1 Corinthians 15:20 “Christ has indeed be raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes through a man. For as in Adam all die so in Christ all will be made alive.”

Ashes to ashes dust to dust are the very final sounding words spoken concerning the physical body at a funeral. But there is one person whose dead body, the words ashes to ashes dust to dust were never spoken over. The body of Jesus was not returned to dust but returned instead to everlasting glorious life!
Death could not hold him destroy him or decay him and the promise is that to those who are his can be part of a new humanity that lives for eternity with God. For all who are Christ’s there is the certainty not of immortality, that is survival as we are now but of Resurrection in which all the vestiges of the weak limited sickness prone, pain experiencing run down, mortal body will be gloriously changed.

What will that body be like? Paul gives his reply in 1 Corinthians 15:37
“When you sow you do not plant the body that will be but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined and to each kind of seed he gives its own body.”

God would one day give everyone who is a Christian a new different kind of body, one that in the present is beyond our understanding. It will as different a seed is from the flower it becomes, as different as a caterpillar is from a butterfly. It is impossible for us to envisage what our resurrection body will be like. What we do know is that the Bible says it will not be subject to decay. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:52 “For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable and we will be changed.”

2. The Call that the Resurrection announces.
Jesus will return and bring all the saints from heaven with him. What for? Ultimately it will be to finally establish this kingdom here on earth.
The picture that Paul paints in 1 Thessalonians of Jesus doing this is rooted in his ancient culture. When an emperor visited a colony or province the citizens of the country would go out to meet him at some distance from the city. It would be disrespectful to have him arrive at the gates as thought his subjects couldn’t be bothered to greet him properly. When they met him they wouldn’t stay out in the open country; they would escort him royally into the city itself from where he would remind everyone who was it was that was really in charge.
Jesus is king, he is coming back to claim the earth for it is rightfully his. He will involve all those who have already given him their allegiance in the process. For those who are not ready for this, it will be a shock but the Bible tells us “every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that he is Lord.”

This corps was one of those raised up in the very early days of the army. Indeed William Booth himself presented the first flag. One of the passionate beliefs of both William and Catherine Booth was that their work in their present was working towards a goal of winning the whole world for Jesus.
They firmly held on to the promise of the Old Testament that the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea and the idea that surely Jesus wouldn’t teach us to pray a prayer that God would be unwilling to answer. We are taught to pray, “Your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.”

This gave purpose to the very existence of The Salvation Army, and it was the passionate belief of early Salvationist that that the Army was raised up for that very reason. They were big picture people. The image before them was of the risen and victorious Christ, leading from heaven his earthly troops, who were going in to take ground from the enemy.

The battle was to see men and women boys and girls brought to faith in Christ, so that they could share in and know the power of the resurrection in their lives. They did this by seeing individuals redeemed and restored through the gospel.
Sheer compassion led the army to take care of those who were hurting but stepping in to battle against injustice, immorality and abuse was never just about trying to create a more comfortable environment.
Social action was always linked to fighting the devil himself who uses such things as greed, violence, exploitation, abuse, lies and many other evil ideas and practices as weapons to deceive people into believing that God is against them, that they are of no worth, that good cannot triumph and that there is no hope. And the Salvation Army should never lose that focus. We are not called to be social workers but soldiers.

And William Booth believed that the battle was winnable. He asked,

“Why should not Jesus Christ have all the world? Has anyone got any sufficient reason? Do any of our readers know of any?” He then went on to note that there was no reason to be found in Hell, nor in Heaven, or even in the “mind of God why His salvation should not cover the earth as completely and as plenteously as the rolling ocean covers the mighty deep.”


3. The Confidence that the Resurrection brings

Do you still believe that we can win the world for Jesus? Sometimes we see so little fruit for our labour we can lose heart and we can start to think that our labour is in vain. The encouragement from our text this morning is to keep going, don’t give up, Jesus is risen and he has promised to return. He will return personally. “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven and he will return in power. The word translated in the NIV “with a loud command” is a military commander’s authoritative cry to direct his troops. Jesus will return with such authority and “with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God.”
How can we trust that Jesus will keep his promise? Well we can trust him because Jesus has proved faithful to every other promise he made.
The resurrection is not simply a guarantee of our personal survival after death. It does assure us of that but it does more. It also shows us that all that Jesus said and claimed for himself is true. It assures us that goodness and love are indestructible.

Here is what Paul has to say about that in 1 Corinthians 15:56
“The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God he gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord because you know that your labour is not in vain.”
Tom Wright (Surprised by hope)
"You are not oiling the wheels of a machine that is about to fall over a cliff. You are not restoring a great painting that’s shortly going to be thrown into the fire. You are not planting roses in a garden that’s about to be dug up for a building site. You are, strange though it may seem, accomplishing something that will become in due course part of God’s new world. Every act of love, gratitude and kindness; every work of art or music inspired by the love of God and delight in the beauty of creation; every minute spent teaching a severely handicapped child to read or to walk; every act of care and nurture, or comfort and support for one’s fellow human beings and for that matter one’s fellow non-human creatures, and of course every prayer, all Spirit led teaching, every deed which spreads the gospel, builds up the church, embraces and embodies holiness rather than corruption and makes the name of Jesus honoured in the world all this will find its way through the resurrecting power of God into the new creation which God will one day make. God’s recreation of his wonderful world which began with the resurrection of Jesus and continues mysteriously as God’s people live in the risen Christ and in the power of the Spirit means that what we do in Christ and by the Spirit in the present is not wasted.”

Saviour and Lord, we pray to thee,
Thy people ever would we be;
To thee whose love our lives has sealed,
To thee our lives we gladly yield.

A people called by thee to fight,
We stand united in thy sight,
One in our aim to vanquish sin,
And bring thy glorious Kingdom in.

In this glad moment while we sing,
Thy Army, we salute our King;
By thee we live, on thee rely,
By thee, we'll conquer or we'll die.

Our strength for warfare is thy might,
Our hope of guidance is thy light;
Pour out thy Spirit while we wait,
And let thy love thy will dictate.

Beneath thy standard still we'll stay;
Thy cause shall every purpose sway;
Nor will we lay our armour down
Till we exchange it for a crown.
(Thomas Hodgson Mundell)
(SASB  692)

Blessings
Carol

Wake up O Sleeper

Exeter Temple Message notes:  14th April 2012
Bible Reading:  Ephesians 5:14


1. Wake up- God wants your attention
Sleep in the Bible is often used to indicate spiritual indifference and avoidance of God. The Bible gives us many examples of how God awakens the indifferent or the rebellious to his presence, plans and purposes. Jonah, asleep on a boat as he travelled in a different direction to the one God wanted him to go in was sharply woken up by a storm. Shepherds sleeping on the hills surrounding Bethlehem were startled into alertness by heavenly choirs and strange instructions. It is not always obvious to other people who is spiritually awake and who is actually asleep. John Wesley warned that the “quiet, rational, inoffensive, good-natured professor of the religion of his fathers and the zealous and orthodox Pharisee were just as likely to be spiritually asleep as each other, despite the difference in their outwards behaviour.”
How do we know when God, through his Holy Spirit wants our attention?
a) Inner restlessness
What is it that wakes a baby up apart from a wet nappy? It is hunger. When we begin to feel a longing for answers, when we start asking ourselves, “Where is my life going?” When we cease to be satisfied with material things, it really could be that the Holy Spirit wants your attention.
b) Pain
Do you know that in a reversal of what I am saying our pain gets God’s attention? Long ago when the Hebrew people were in slavery in Egypt, God appeared to Moses in the burning bush and he said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them.”
When we are suffering, for whatever reason, know this; you already have God’s attention. God had to use a burning bush to let Moses know that he was on hand to help. It is not a method he uses often. But maybe he is saying the same thing to you. I am here and I want to help. Turn to me.
CS Lewis: God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
c) Guilt
Our modern world of course doesn’t like guilt. It almost always portrays it as a negative thing, unless we feel we are the ones sinned against and then we want someone to feel really bad about what they’ve done.
The Bible sees guilt as God’s way of drawing attention to the fact that we have crossed a line we should not have. It is an in-built alarm system. Sometimes culture and our own attempts to override the system mess it up a bit but it is there for our benefit. Jeremiah lived at a time when the people of Israel were living in a state of low morality. Jeremiah said that it was lack of conscience/ guilt that would be their downfall. “Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; “(Jer 6:15)
We know when it is the Holy Spirit who is activating our conscience because he will always be specific. The devil will try to make us feel bad full stop, the Holy Spirit only to help to the place where we seek forgiveness and cleansing from God.
d) Repetition
God is actually very patient and he will often send us the same message through various means. We might read something that impacts us in the Bible, then go to a meeting and someone will quote the same reading, someone raises the same issue. Eventually it dawns- God must be trying to say something.
If God is trying to get your attention in any of these ways please don’t turn off the alarm or fail to pick up the receiver. Wake up O sleeper and rise from the dead!

2. Wake up- God has something to say
One of the things that I have felt a burden to speak about to God’s people is about how we respond to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe the simple message is, “Stay awake!”
I believe our annual focus on the cross and resurrection of Jesus is much more than sentimentality. As we remember the sacrifice and the victory of Christ I believe we genuinely lift our hearts in adoration at the grace of Christ. That’s really good but if that is all we take away from Easter, we need to wake up. Easter for us is not a commemoration of Christ but complete identification with him. The truth is that it is not only Jesus who had to die and rise again but each one of us. We are called to Resurrection life. There is huge value in following an annual Christian calendar so that we think about different aspects of our faith at some point during the year. Holy days and special focus Sundays are important but there can be a tendency for us to fall into the trap of celebrating Christmas and we have “done” the incarnation, we celebrate Easter and we have done the cross and resurrection, we celebrate Pentecost and we have “done” the Holy Spirit. The truth is we have to live in the light of these momentous things every single day.
Paul wrote in Ph 3:10 that his ambition was this. “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings. “ And in Ephesians he prayed that the Church would know God’s “incomparably great power for us who believe. The power is like the working of his might strength, which he exerted in Christ, when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms.”
Will the enthusiasm of Easter week-end be translated into committed prayer, consistent holy living and radical obedience? There is no reason it cannot be because resurrection power is ours. The thing that will stop us is, is falling asleep again, when a week or two has gone by.
The interviewer asked, “What’s it like to wake up one day and realize you are a great success?” The reply was, “That doesn’t happen; if you are a success you haven’t been asleep.” (source unknown)

3. Wake up and get up.
God may have got your attention. You have woken up and it’s necessary to stay awake. What keeps us awake? - Arising
Remember the story of Prodigal Son. He goes off to spend his father’s money on wine, women and goodliving. Then there is a credit crunch and he ends up, destitute. But the sinking down into further degradation is halted when Jesus uses a significant little phrase in his story. V 17 “Then he came to his senses…” In other words he woke up and realised that he didn’t need to be in this mess. He could go home. But the real turning point comes when the prodigal says, “I will set out and go to my Father.” And v 20 says “he got up and went.”
There is a difference between awareness of need and action. Paul does not just say, “Wake up O sleeper” he also says, “And rise from the dead.”
Following awakening to any word from God there must be an arising.
It is so easy to wake up, smell the coffee, even drink a drop or two but remained entrenched in the old ways. We must trust and obey or we will go back to sleep.
Is that a bad thing? Absolutely. Spiritually speaking, sleeping is as neglectful as a sentry closing his eyes on duty. He fails to protect himself or others. It is as dangerous as allowing someone who has taken an overdose to doze off. They may go into a coma. It is as deadly as a lorry driver having forty winks at the wheel. There will be a crash.

The phrase “Wake up” in the Greek comes from the word “Ginomai” Its direct meaning is “to become.” When we wake up spiritually it is to enter into something and become the person God plans for us to be. It is not about losing who we are but fulfilling the potential God has put within us.
Whilst in Kenya, the mission team were deeply moved by the singing of the choir at Thika School for the Blind. Their leader is himself blind and writes all the songs for the choir. One of their songs had a particular impact upon us because it was so full of desire and hope, that they would become all that God wanted them to be.
I want to be a message for others
Faithful among ourselves
Ready to carry a message of love
That we all may glorify you
So revive my heart
Renew my vision
Prepare my heart for your purposes alone
Take me deep into your presence and your power
That we all may glorify you
May that be the prayer of every one of us.

God bless

Carol

A Noisy Beggar

Exeter Temple Bible notes

Sunday 10th March 2013
Bible Reading: Luke 18:35-43

Don’t you sometimes find that you miss the significance of the moment you are in? Looking back on the different decades that we have lived through, historians tell us they will be remembered for particular trends, crucial turning points that bring important political and social change, the emergence of new art forms and cultural experiences.
The crowd told him the blind man, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” Here was a moment that needed to be recognised for what it was. Jesus was passing by and this was important. This should not be missed, misunderstood or minimized. By his Holy Spirit, Jesus continues to “pass by” It is crucial that we do not miss, misunderstand or minimize what that means for us.

1. The Blind man didn’t let Jesus pass by because he realised who he was
The blind man whom we know from Mark’s version of the story is called Bartimaeus, was told that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. However in v 38 Bartimeaus used the title “Jesus! Son of David,” The term “Son of David” was one reserved for the coming Messiah’ a title of Divine power. This blind man understood that Jesus wasn’t to be someone who was meant to be recognised as a minor celebrity. He wasn’t someone to queue up for as you might as a film premier or vaguely offer support to, by wearing a wrist band that supports His cause.
When Bartimaues called out for the Son of David to have mercy on him, he was expressing his belief that Jesus was the Messiah, and that He could heal his blindness. He knew who Jesus was and he knew what Jesus could do for him.
This blind man was a beggar and for most beggars the most they can expect is that some days there might be a bigger donation in the pot than usual but in calling Jesus the Son of David, Bartimaeus was expecting more than money.
Sometimes Jesus, the Son of the Most High God, the creator of the universe, the image of the invisible God, is passing by and we nod our head at Him as we would a stranger. The same Jesus who cleansed the leper, restored the sight of the blind, banished demons back to hell and even raised the dead passes by us and we ask him for a sticking plaster. If He can restore sight to the blind, He can grant you the deepest longing of your heart.
We don’t all want to admit that we are in need of Christ’s mercy and our need for a work of grace might not be so obvious as that of a blind beggar but in our hearts we know. We need to stop Jesus as He passes by. We need to recognise who He is and ask Him to meet with us.

2. The blind man didn’t let Jesus pass by because he realised that this was a moment that might not come again.
Bartimaeus responded immediately to the information that it was Jesus passing by. This is a powerful example of how great opportunities pass in front of us. Bartimaeus was faced with a split-second decision. If he remained still and silent, his opportunity for healing would be gone.
He could have thought, “There’s a crowd here today, maybe I’ll catch Jesus the next time He comes through Jericho.” Bartimaeus understood the significance of the word now. What Bartimaeua didn’t know was that Jesus never did pass through Jericho again. He went straight from Jericho to the cross.
Jesus is passing by right now, what are you going to do? “I’ll catch Him next time I come to church.” 2 Corinthians 6:2 states that, "Now is the time of the Lord’s favour, now is the day of salvation”. Jesus is passing by. You may not have another opportunity just like this one to hear Jesus ask you, “What do you want me to do for you?”
3. He didn’t let Him pass by because he realised that a changed life was more important than the obstacles in his way.
And there were a few even for him. Bartimeus was a beggar, he may not have had a lot of dignity left but even so loudly pleading for mercy showed his desperation and the hope that he placed in Jesus. To cry out to Jesus who might not respond and upset the crowd that were usually good for a few sheckels was to take a risk, to take a leap of faith.
Surely we will not let embarrassment stop us crying out for mercy? And if this is Jesus passing by, we know that we can trust Him.
Jesus has been running from one event to another. He knows His mission. He has set His face toward Jerusalem, knowing full well what He will find there. There will be a cross. Yet despite the pressure of the moment and the seriousness of the mission, this Jesus stops, faces Bartimaeus, calls him to Himself.
Faith is the first step you must take to receive mercy from God. Faith is not just believing God exists, it is acting on that belief. It is staking your entire eternity on the offer God has extended for you to have a personal relationship with Him.
The crowd sought to shut Bartimaeus up of course. There will always be those who criticise your desire to get near to Jesus or who underestimate the urgency of your desire. Bartimaeus would not be put off.
Luke’s version doesn’t include this obstacle but Mark does. He tells us that before being taken to Jesus Bartimeaus took his cloak off. That cloak was perhaps the only security he had ever known. It had kept the heat off by day and the chill off by night. And there really wasn’t anything wrong with him having that cloak but the text gives the indication that it was getting in the way. It was somehow keeping him from getting to Jesus. And Bartimaeus realizes that, “I’m not going to let anything keep me from getting to Jesus.” So he cast away that old cloak and he rose and came to Jesus.
What is there in your life that you need to cast aside so that you can get to where Jesus is?
Passing by
There are many times in the Bible, when the Lord does wonderful things when He is passing by. In the Old Testament the phrase “passing by” is charged with meaning.
It is found where God makes himself known in an awesome appearance to His people. He has brought revelation of his nature. At Mount Sinai the Lord in his glory passed by Moses. We are told, "He passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, 'The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin'" (Exodus. 6&7).
There was an occasion at Mount Horeb when the Lord "passed by" the prophet Elijah in the wind and the earthquake and the fire, and then in a still small voice that spoke to him. This lifted Elijah out of negativity to carry on his ministry.
In the New Testament, we find Jesus passing by Lake Galilee, and calling Peter and Andrew to follow Him. It was as He was passing through Samaria that He met a woman by a well and offered her living water. One day when the disciples were out on the lake, Jesus walked out on the water towards them. We are told, "He was about to pass by them". We might think of it in terms of Jesus continuing his journey without noticing them but Jesus walking on the water was showing His nature and His glory just as God had shown His nature and His glory to Moses and Elijah.
After the resurrection as Jesus walked unrecognized with two of His disciples we are told He walked ahead of them as if He were going on. But it is clear that what He would do to help depended on their response. He had no intention of forcing himself upon them. If they had not wanted Him, He would have passed by if they had not urged him to come and stay with them. (Luke 24:28-30).
Jesus is passing by, let’s cry out to him for his mercy, let’s listen to him ask “What is it that you want me to do for you?

God bless

Alan and Carol

Two Brothers and a Pushy Mother

Sunday 3rd March 2013

Bible Reading: Matthew 20:20-28

During January and February we have been looking at our Corps Core Values. We can find each of these values in this story. There is nothing wrong with a mother wanting the best for their children - but we all know that there is a difference between that and expecting favouritism for them and being competitive.

Experience God through worship
This first value is all about putting our relationship with God first, about knowing Him, making Him and His priorities central to our lives. The priorities of James and John’s mother were somewhat different.
As came to Jesus she seemed sincere, but she worshipped Him not for love of the Saviour or gratitude for His blessings, but because of what she thought she could get from Him for her boys. It wasn’t enough to her that they were following Jesus or serving Jesus. They had to have people under them.
It is easy to criticise this pushy mother and her sons but we also have to ask ourselves some difficult questions.
Have I neglected to seek God’s will and purpose for my life or for my church by being too occupied with my own dreams and ambitions?
Am I more concerned about the name of Christ than my own reputation?
Am I more concerned about the spread of God’s word than I am about the spread of my opinions?

Embrace a discipleship lifestyle
James and John left everything to go with Jesus. They were not just interested in Jesus; He was not just a hobby or a pastime. They had embraced being with Jesus and they were trying to obey His teaching and do the things He did. But the definition of a disciple is also someone who is not only committed to a person but who constantly learning. The two brothers and even their mother had grasped something of the teaching of Jesus and had gone out in His name and done those things themselves.
But perhaps they had become a little above themselves in their assessment of their ability.
When Jesus received the request from James and John and their mother He quickly responded, “You don’t know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?”
They replied yes, without them having any idea of what was in the cup.
How often we have acted on the presumption that our knowledge of the purposes of God and our own abilities is all sewn up in a neat package. Sometimes like James and John we think we are ready for more than we are capable but perhaps for many of us the opposite is true and we think we are ready for nothing. The key is to keep a teachable spirit, a readiness to receive the word of the Lord and act upon it.

Extend God’s kingdom through mission
Jesus explains that He has come not to be served but to serve and; “to give his life as a ransom for many.”
A ransom is the price paid to purchase back a person or a group of people who are in captivity or who are facing punishment.
Jesus came into a world that is under the dominion of a rebel enemy of God and where men and women, boys and girls who are bound by sin. If the Kingdom of God is going to come, then rescue and salvation are needed.
Colossians 1:13: “For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
Whilst dealing with internal squabbles in his team he maintained an outward focus. He wasn’t just a kindly rabbi he had come to be a Saviour. It is easy to concentrate on the internal politics of our church or denomination. It is easy to be diverted from mission by secondary issues. Jesus never was. And if we are to be His followers we must not be either.

Engage in authentic Christian fellowship
The two sons were prepared to use their mother and sacrifice their loyalty to their friends to fulfil their ambition.
When the ten heard about the actions of James and John they were indignant. They were really mad that these two were trying to get special treatment and they weren’t going to give up the top spots without a fight. They weren’t appalled by the brothers’ lack of understanding of true servant-hood; they were mad that these two got to Jesus first.
What we see here is that selfishness always results in dissension. When we think only of ourselves, community breaks down and unity is replaced with division and backbiting.
In the context of a row among His disciples, Jesus pointed out the way to engage in authentic Christian fellowship which is our fourth value.
In Matthew 20v 25-27 Jesus said; "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave.”

Encourage everyone in their ministry
The mother of James and John saw leadership roles as positions of importance and anything else as something less. She was looking for significance for herself and her sons. She had to learn that one of the values of the kingdom is that everyone whatever they do is significant and important. The real key to success is not the job you have but whether you are obedient to God’s call upon your life however much that might cost you. When Jesus asks James and John if they can drink the cup He is going to drink our immediate thoughts go to the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prays. “Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will but as you will”
So Jesus’ challenge to us about the role we play in God’s kingdom is not what it is but whether we are doing what God wants. There would have been nothing noble about Jesus being crucified if it hadn’t been an act of obedience.
When done in response to the call of God on our life even the most ordinary things count.
1 Corinthians 15:58 says; “Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort.” (The Message)

Express Christian love through service to others
In the family of God there is only one category of people: servants. Matthew 20v 26 “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave.”
It was counter-cultural and radical for Jesus to define greatness in terms of servant-hood because slaves were considered to be socially inferior.
In saying what He did, Jesus offers a complete rejection of the world’s way of doing business.
The Greek word used here refers to a maid or a house servant. Jesus deliberately chose a very lowly word to impress upon His disciples that being a servant was a very humbling occupation.
What is a servant? It’s someone whose heart is intent upon, and whose will is bound to, the will and wishes of another.
This last value deliberately links service with love.
There is such a thing as self-centred serving, which isn’t really serving at all, because it’s motivated by pride, and has self at the centre, rather than being motivated by humility and love.
Richard Foster in his book Celebration of Discipline.
"Self-righteous service requires external rewards. It needs to know that people see and appreciate the effort. It seeks human applause -- with proper religious modesty of course. Self-righteous service is highly concerned about results. It eagerly waits to see if the person served will reciprocate in kind.
The flesh whines against service but screams against hidden service. It strains and pulls for honour and recognition. It will devise subtle, religiously acceptable means to call attention to the service rendered."

No doubt Jesus’ words about servant–hood caused the disciples to reflect upon their own hearts as He brought them back once again to look at their motivation and their attitudes.

Do these values reflect my own values?

What needs to change in us for us to be the people of God - He calls us to be?

Whilst He corrected the mother He did not berate or criticize her. Neither did He condemn James and John for their naivety or the other disciples for their grumbling. He uses the whole incident to help them and the other disciples grow in their understanding of kingdom values.

  God bless Alan and Carol

Expressing Christian Love Through Service

Exeter Temple Bible Notes 24th February 2013
Living a life of sacrificial loving service is inherent in the DNA of the Salvation Army. Every soldier declares that they are “saved to serve”. That is what the two “S” on the uniform stand for. The Salvation Army hasn’t just made this idea up. It is a call that comes straight from the word of God. Philippians 2:5-8
“You attitude should be the same of that of Christ Jesus who being in very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself and became obedient to death even death on a cross!”
Many of us have been taught to be a bit wary of ambition. We have perhaps had experience of people with ambition and they have been rather selfish and ruthless.
Jeremiah 45:5 asks the question, “Should you then seek great things for yourself? Seek them not.”
Yet these verses don’t tell us not to have ambition. In other parts of the Bible Jesus us to engage in asking, seeking and knocking. Paul talks about pressing on towards a goal. Peter talks about making every effort to gain possession of certain things. The important thing is to make sure we are ambitious for the right things. Jeremiah, Jesus, Peter and Paul show us that we are should be seeking to do God’s will, to be the best God can make us both individually and corporately. We are to seek the rule and reign of God in our own lives and in the world around us.
But how do we do this? Normally when we want something badly enough the method is to be first, push, shove, use and exploit every avenue to get it.
But this is not the way of Christ. He calls us to fulfil our ambition to build His kingdom through our mission by demonstrating sacrificial love.
It runs counter to conventional wisdom.
In society greatness is measure by how many people serve you and cater to your wants and needs. Servant-hood is not what the world would suggest as the best method to make gains, win friends and influence people but it is the way of Christ.
1. To Serve Christ we must serve other people
This does not mean we put ourselves completely under the influence of another person that we need to be someone’s puppet or a people pleaser. When we do things for other people so that they will be grateful to us and reward us accordingly that is not service but manipulation.
It is Christ who should be our master and our Lord. Nevertheless we will find very quickly as we read God’s word and we are led by the Spirit of Christ that we will be challenged to give service to others. There may be some who want to separate their service for God from serving mankind but Jesus never did.
Warren Johnson who was part of the Salvation Army’s Spiritual Life Commission said, “Service is a practical ministry. It is not only a reaching out into the body of believers with the heart of a servant it is also reaching out to a desperate and dying world with love in action.”

2. We are called to simple service.
Most of the time, we will be called to do very ordinary things usually for one person at a time.
DL Moody: “I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything but I can do something and that which I can do by the grace of God I will do.”
John Wesley: “Do all the good you can by all the means you can in all the ways you can in all the places you can at all the times you can as long as ever you can.”
Our service doesn’t have to be complicated, but to the level to which we are capable. This means it will cost us something. It will go beyond our convenience. We are called to sacrificial service. In Matthew 25:35-36 feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, caring for the sick and visiting the imprisoned are all areas that we can get involved in on lots of levels. Feeding the hungry can mean helping out a neighbour with a food parcel or it could mean organising a petition to governments to reduce third world debt.
Being a servant isn’t about a list of things we do. It is an attitude of mind and a daily lifestyle.
AW Tozer: “Before the judgment seat of Christ my service will be judged not by how much I have done but by how much I could have done. In God’s sight my giving is measured not by how much I have given but by how much I have left after I made my gift.”
If we are to be true servants of Christ then personal sacrifice will be involved. The Good Samaritan took risks; the risk that he would be viewed as the assailant, that the man was a decoy and he would be robbed; that the robbers were still there. There was the cost of time, the oil and wine, the cost of the inn. The compassionate person may also pay an emotional price as well. It is hard to go through times sharing the burdens of others. It is difficult because it affects you emotionally.

3. Service opens the door to people’s hearts.
There isn’t anybody who really cares how much you know. There isn’t anybody who really cares how much you have and where you been but when you care for them it opens a door to their hearts. In our modern world where all ideologies are suspect, where family and community is often broken down, it is loving, caring open Christian communities that will be profoundly attractive. Sacrificial loving serves opens hearts.
People are not just minds who need to receive the information of the gospel. Before they can hear its truth they often have to see it work and feel it it’s affect through us in ways that touch them materially, physically and emotionally.

Sometimes being a servant stinks. Superstar’s demands entertainment. Servants risk getting frustrated, bored and disappointed. Sometimes you can invest hours of time in a person they seem to respond to you. Sometimes you will be the ones who do all the running around, listen to someone’s problems over and over again, help them out time and time again and then they might join another Church. Servants can feel used and unappreciated.
Being a servant is tough and means facing the challenge that sometimes you don’t want people to move forward because your need to be needed.
At times it is making the choice of forsaking appearances for the sake of the ones you are trying to help. Sometimes it’s risking displeasure because to give people what they ask for is not what we should do. We also need to finish what we start. Jesus the servant king was able to say on the cross “IT IS FINISHED. We haven’t really served if we haven’t finished.” We need perseverance and loyalty.
We need to be very sure of our relationship with Jesus.
I read in my preparation that there are three kinds of servants. Slaves who are driven by fear, hirelings who are driven by wages and Sons who are driven by the love for the Father.
We belong to an organisation that is known for compassionate service, but we have to keep reminding ourselves that we are not driven by love of service or of busyness or by guilt or by the reward of a good reputation but by love for Christ.
Staying in love with Him is absolutely crucial to being a servant. The command to serve is impossible when we rely only upon our own love.
The promise of the Bible is that we don’t have to.
Romans 5:5 “And hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom he has given us.”

God bless

Carol

Experiencing God through Worship

An Army corps should be a place where people encounter a relevant, personal and dynamic God. It is not all about religion but relationship

Laurence Singlehurst, author of Future Church, Loving the Lost says, “The underlying thrust of everything we do should be people meeting with Jesus and being changed by him. We want every church member to be regularly encountering the presence of the living Christ, whether through scripture, being prayer for, seeing God through other members of the church or experiencing him personally.”
It is tragic when the trappings are there, there is a lot of activity and churchy language is used but the people don’t actually connect with the real God.
The letter to the Hebrews reveals a people who had been trying to connect with the living God in a satisfactory way. The ways they used were not intrinsically wrong but they were inadequate. The letter explains how since Jesus came there is a better way. Through his sacrifice on the cross a way has been opened for all who believe on him to enter into the very presence of God and meet with him without having to rely on a complicated ritualistic system, which didn’t work properly anyway. The people to whom this letter was sent knew all of this but were being pressured to reject the new way and settle for back to the old religion instead of embracing God’s amazing promise. 
Hebrews 8:10 “I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts I will be their God and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbour or a man his brother, saying, “Know the Lord because they will all know me form the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

Internal power
“I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts”
The Jews had been given the law and they recognised that it was good. The Ten Commandments summarise the law and in them we see what our attitudes and actions should be towards God and to our fellow human beings. Love God, value life, respect other people, recognise you are part of a community so don’t live selfishly are all sentiments contained in these ten laws. The laws are good and a person who did these things we would say was a good person. We also sense that fulfilling the law will please God.
But human beings struggle with this. They see the standard but fail to meet it. And it becomes a terrific burden to them and a source of huge guilt.
The solution that people tend to come up with is to put a huge emphasis on doing. They say, “Do as much good as you can and eventually if you keep on doing good; you will become good. They say, tell the truth and keep on telling the truth and you will become honest. They say, think good thoughts, keep on thinking good thoughts and you will become pure in mind. They say, go out and help people and you will learn to love them. Then you will be good and then you will please God.
What we end up with is a person who often outwardly does the right thing but inwardly desires to do something else. That person ends up with inner conflicts that often result in a moral explosion.
But God says he will put his law in our minds and write it on our hearts.
Jesus tells us that we can’t really do any good unless we first become good.
Matthew 12:33-35 “How can you being evil speak good things? An evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil things. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart brings forth good things.”
An attempt at becoming good by doing good things is like taking a bag of apples and tying them onto a telephone post thereby expecting the telephone post to become an apple tree! The tree must be an apple tree then it will produce fruit after its kind.
What God is saying he will do is change us on the inside so that doing the right thing will be the natural outcome not something we force ourselves to do.
2 Corinthians 5:17 “If any man be in Christ he is a new creature old things are passed away behold all things become new.”
If your religion has not transformed you it is not worth very much.
At times the Christian church has lost sight of this. Instead of emphasising what we can obtain through Christ we have urged people to attain a standard of behaviour. Instead of asking people to accept a gift through us we have only accepted them when they have fitted into our way of doing things. We have said try when the Bible has said trust.

Intimate Relationship
“I will be their God and they will be my people”
The promise of God is intimate relationship. The promise of relationship with the Father comes through Jesus. Jesus said, “He who has seen me has seen the Father.”
Religion places emphasis on principles and creed the gospel emphasizes a person. When Jesus was asked what was the most important commandment he spoke in terms of relationships “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind and all your soul and your neighbour as yourself. A religion that forgets relationship is best forgotten.

Individual Access
 “No longer will a man teach his neighbour or a man his brother saying, “Know the Lord” because they will all know me from the least to the greatest.”
What God promises is that knowledge of him will not be confined to a privileged few but too all. You need to remember that in the Jewish religion only the High Priest could enter the holy of holies where God was said to dwell. And he could only enter after fulfilling the strictest of regulations and he could only go in once a year. But with Jesus as our high priest we can all go in whoever we are. We have his invitation.
There is no second class with Jesus. There is a leadership role for some but this is not about prestige or acceptability to God. It is a distinction of function not of importance or access to God. God does not listen any more readily to the prayers of the General than he does to the little lass in the primary.
But we must also issue a warning here. If this better way means that everyone can have access to God through Christ, it means that no one can rely on someone else to sort out their relationship to God for them. With Christ there is no such thing as second hand religion. You cannot rely on the fact of birth or association for it to work for you. No one but you can make the decisions that need to be made about committing your life to Christ. As much as we desire our loved ones to come to Christ we cannot make the decision on their behalf
Whilst we would want no-one to feel threatened or pressurized churches can become so desperate to make people feel comfortable that they begin to feel embarrassed about the passion they have for their God. We are so frightened of our enthusiasm and our own confidence putting people off that seekers after God can be left wondering if we our faith means that much to us after all.

Incredible answer to man’s deepest need
 “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
Man’s deepest need is to be forgiven by God.
The need for forgiveness is not just of isolated wrongs that we have committed but the meaning of the word in the Bible has often got the meaning of “Crookedness or twisted nature. We need God’s forgiveness to straighten us out to unravel the tangle we have to ourselves into by our attempts to play God. We’ve all sinned. We’ve sinned through our acts. We sinned through our attitudes, things like anger, lust and envy and pride. But we’ve also sinned through our nature. We aren’t sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners. The answer to guilt is not denial or cover up or trying to balance out our bad deeds with good ones. It is forgiveness. And when God forgives he will not bring it up against us anymore.
If we are to be essentially Christian then we are going to have to talk about the “S” word. Sin is mankind’s biggest problem. This is not to make people feel bad but because God promises that he can deal with it effectively. How we can call ourselves Christian if we avoid dealing with this issue? Yet the temptation is to do so because it is not fashionable to do so.
The Church can become the place we go to find release from tension and frustration or adversely a place to get a spiritual high. It can be a place where we make social contact, meet people of like mind and get to know the neighbours. Churches can be places to act on our social conscience. It can be a place where our minds are intellectually challenged as the Bible is studied with depth and the scholarship of great theologians is grappled with. It can give us a sense of place, as maybe we follow on from the tradition of our loved ones who have gone before us.
None of those things are wrong. In fact many of them are very important but they are not what Church is about if whilst we engage in them we seek to avoid dealing with the issue about which Jesus died.

In the end it is not an anaesthetic or a teapot or political banner or a family photo album that is at the heart of Christianity but a cross.

And if we forget that we can call ourselves whatever else we like but we cannot call ourselves Christian.

God bless

Carol

Embracing a Discipleship Lifestyle.

 It is vital that we make up our minds that Jesus’ claims are reliable, that he is to be trusted. If he were a politician we would want to be convinced that his policies make for a fulfilled personal life and a better society. However as a Christian Church we need to do more than canvass for votes for Jesus. Being a Christian is not just about ticking a box which says I choose Jesus as opposed to Communism, Islam or Secularism. Becoming a Christian is entering into a new relationship with Jesus, which touches every aspect of life.
AW Tozer “There is nothing in the Bible to suggest that we can decide to enjoy the forgiveness of Christ and then have nothing more to do with him. Salvation apart from obedience is not possible.”
Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
The word that sums up what we are really after is the word disciple which literally means “one who learns”. In the ancient world it was used of a follower or a student. However we must not think of disciples simply as people who turned up for lectures so many hours a week in order to get a certificate.
For the first disciples, following Jesus meant coming with him, living in his presence, going wherever he went, allowing him to direct their lives, obeying him. It involved a commitment to him as a person, not just as a teacher. In a practical sense being Jesus’ disciples means not just adding Jesus to your life but Jesus becomes your life.
Definition of a disciple
“A disciple is someone who decides to be with another person in order to become capable of doing what that person is capable of doing or even becoming what that person is”

1. Being with another person
When Jesus called his disciples it says in Mark 3:14 that he did so that "they might be with Him."
He called them to intimate communion and fellowship with himself. His desire was to impart his life to them, to reproduce himself in the disciples. The only way life can be imparted is to spend time sharing that life.
Many people want an automated faith where they make a deposit and then someone else takes care of the rest. Many Christians rely only upon the spiritual food provided for them by professional preachers and teachers but left on their own they are unable to feed themselves.
The first priority we have is fellowship with Jesus. If we would make real progress in our own Christian lives, we must partake of the life of Jesus by being with Him. Apart from spending personal time with Jesus in fellowship through his word, prayer, and listening to the Holy Spirit we simply will not grow. Jesus calls us to communion with him to share His life.

2. Becoming capable of doing the things he was capable of doing.
What did Jesus do? The gospels show us that he preached the Kingdom; he healed the sick, exercised his authority and laid down his life for the world.
They also show us that Jesus expected his disciples to do those things.
Mark 3:14 “He appointed twelve -- designating them apostles -- that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach.”
Matthew 10:1 adds “and to heal every disease and sickness.”
Jesus proclaimed the good news and as his goal was to reproduce himself in the lives of his disciples they were all called to be messengers of the truth of the Kingdom of God.
Nothing changes in this regard for the people of God. All have been called to proclaim the gospel message by what we do, by what we say, by our example, by our priorities, by our commitments. We are to speak loudly to the watching world.
The job of the Church is not to impact the Church but to impact the world. Everywhere Jesus went there were desperate people who flocked to Jesus for help. It is in this context that Jesus chose His twelve disciples. His divine strategy of Jesus for meeting the needs of the world was to be through his disciples. His method of expanding the Kingdom of God was through the multiplication of his own ministry in the lives of others.
Having our character transformed by Jesus is absolutely essential but sometimes we have believed that we can imitate his attitudes but not his actions. We all need to have attitudes like Jesus but what good would the attitude of compassion been for the leper if Jesus had simply said, “You have my sympathy” and done nothing else. He would still have been a leper. Good actions come out of good attitudes.
The gospels indicate for us that with Jesus’ authority the disciples did go and do what Jesus sent them out to do, including preaching, healing and casting out demons. They were called to teach Christ’s truth and act in his power. This means those first disciples also knew being a disciple meant risk. Jesus was taught and did radical things, which ran against the grain of the traditions of men
“Christ is not a happiness capsule; He is the way to the Father. But the way to the Father is not a carnival ride in which we sit and do nothing while we are whisked through various spiritual sensations (Calvin Miller, quoted in God – What the Critics Say, Hodder & Stoughton)
When Jesus issued the call to be disciples his early followers had a decision to make: Would they come to Jesus? It would mean forsaking all the worldly things, which they held dear, to follow a man who would likely get them into serious conflict. Would they, could they identify with such a man? That is the same question we are facing today. We are asked to count the cost.
3. Becoming what that person is
It has been said, “A student learns what his teacher knows but a disciple becomes what his master is.”
2 Corinthians 3:18  “And we all with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” Being a Christian differs from being religious, just as players differ from spectators. Players prepare before the game, players play the game and players learn while playing. They get better at their sport and receive the blessings of victory when the game is over. Spectators don’t grow, learn or improve for having watched the game.
But for the player or the disciple to learn there has to be willingness to keep moving on.
“Superficiality is the curse of our age. The doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary spiritual problem. The desperate need today in not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people but for deep people.” (Richard Foster “The Celebration of Discipline” )

“The Church is 3,000 KM wide. We are everywhere but we are 3 cm deep.” (Jim Packer)
We cannot afford to be content with gloss and spin. Jesus calls us to a deep life with Him, a life where boundaries are constantly pushed, where baggage from the past is cleared out and the things in our lives that stop us becoming like Jesus are decisively addressed.
Christianity without discipleship is not the real thing.
Learning to live as Christ’s disciples is our lifetime quest.
Our task as a people together is to help each other in that quest.

God  bless   Carol