Church of the Outback

There are times when we can be clearly be doing what I know God wants us to do and in so doing find that the going is not only rough and tough but that we are in the dark. Yes, I know that God is there and that He knows everything about what’s going on.

In living life every day for Jesus the challenge is to take it from the study and knowledge of the Bible to living it out and putting it into practice ___ that is what I read must become evident in the way we live with, “His word dwell in you”.

It says that the man took Jesus at His word and departed ___ not only did he believe Jesus but he then put that faith into action and as we know from the Bible Jesus kept His word and the man’s son lived.

How much are we like this woman in that we see the hand of God much more in the tangible things of life ___ the things that I can see, handle, touch, hear and smell rather than the hand of God in the intangible things such as peace, joy, comfort, assurance and His abounding love.

Believing in Jesus is to continue to grow in what it means to fully abandon ourselves to Jesus and to be prepared to trust Jesus fully in everything. Believing in Jesus is to continue to grow in what it means to ask for his wisdom and to be guided by His will and His way each day rather than my own will and way.

When Jesus said to Nicodemus that, “whoever lives by the truth comes into the light” ___ it’s like saying from now on I’m going to live a transparent life. Jesus went on to say to Nicodemus that when people live truthful lives, “what they have done has been done in the sight of God.” In other words if that’s you and me we have God’s tick of approval for living.

The challenge is as to whether we are still at that stage of believing about Jesus and somehow our lives have not yet translated that belief ___ so that our lives demonstrate that we truly and sincerely believe in Jesus. Are we at that place where we have put our total trust and faith in Jesus for living today and every day into the future?

“If we want to see a change in the world it’s got to start with us in church” When we are prompted to share something with Church ___ then just do it!.

From that reading in Acts 5:8 where it talks about Peter being ‘filled with’ or ‘crammed full’ (from the Greek) of the Holy Spirit. So to in my life and in all that I say and do, ___ I am to allow the Holy Spirit’s fruits to so cram my life that there is no room for coexistence with sin.

I think that that’s the digging deeper ___ going below the surface question ___ when I am prepared to deal with life that for all intents and purposes, looks to be a Godly life. Are we prepared to ask God to reveal things to us and to hang in there in prayer until God has exhausted all that He wants to say at the time.

Is it simply that we to be sharing our relationship with Jesus with others and then for us to step aside and to allow Jesus to reveal and draw others to himself?

Are we prepared to ask ourselves as to whether we are still trying to want our own will and our own way ___ and for those attitudes to co-exist with and alongside God’s will and God’s way? Alternatively do we long like John to begin to see what John saw, “his glory —the glory of the only Son of the heavenly Father!”

Nehemiah did not display anger but rather he simply stated the truth and prayed. He asked for strength to continue the work. Nehemiah knew the presence of God alongside of him and knew that he could call on God at any time.

Nehemiah didn't only pray, he became the answer to his own prayers for restoration. He returned to Jerusalem to lead the transfor¬mation effort of the city. If our community is going to be transformed, it will be as a result of our prayer and our labour with God to bring it to pass. It will require our sacrifice of time, resources, commitment, and responsibility. Maybe today God has spoken to you about having a critical spirit and you need to confess to Almighty God that you have criticized Him by criticizing one of His creation. Maybe it is that you have stopped doing what God wants you to do because you have looked for the approval of others rather that Our Father God Himself. Maybe today you are here and for whatever reason you feel that you cannot go on. Maybe you are in need of the comfort of others and to hear the reminder that, “you belong to God, …. You have already won your fight …., because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. Maybe today you need to give the alarm and have those within the fellowship of this church ‘stand in the gap’ in prayer and ask for your protection.

When Solomon showed humility, when he showed honesty and when he asked for wisdom, what was God’ response? The Lord was pleased with Solomon for responding in the way he did. Solomon did not ask for anything that would materially benefit himself or others? God not only gave him the wisdom that he asked for but he also rewarded him with • riches and honour and • the promise of a long life

David allowed sin to separate him from God by becoming proud and by looking to rely on human power and human resources. To sin in this way not only made God angry but also David and his people were severely punished for their sins. That led us onto seeing David returning to that place of respect and awe for Almighty God when he was not prepared to bring a sacrifice that cost him nothing. God does not want us to bring to him of our leftovers of time, our money or anything else. God wants to have totally, fully, completely that first place in our lives.

David’s ability to claim that God was his rock, fortress, deliverer, shield, horn, stronghold, refuge and saviour ____ was due to one reason. David had a deep and personal trust in Almighty God. He knew what it was to trust in God for himself. How do I get to have a personal faith in God? The Bible gives us this reassurance and tells us how we can have a personal faith in God just like David did. It says in the end of the New Testament in the book of 1 John these words, “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. It then says, 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

1. Idle ___ not doing what you should be doing. 2. The First Look. 3. The Second Look. 4. Fuelling the Temptation. 5. The Sin Committed. 6. Sin Exposed. 7. The Choice of Confession or Cover-Up. 8. The Consequences of Sin 9. Sin is never hidden from the One who Matters.

Our Weapon in the Battle: Our weapon in whatever you are battling with today ____ the battle is won by the power of the Lord’s Name. When David defeated Goliath, the sling and stones were merely a means. The battle was won in the Name of the Lord Almighty.

How are you going to live in the future? Are you willing to ask God to reveal His vision for your life to you? When God looks at your heart what does He see? Are you committed to being fully obedient to Him? OR  Are you someone who has committed your life to be a follower of God and yet you remain what God described as ‘lukewarm’ with you still wanting some control of your life. OR  Are you a person that to those looking on you look pretty good but you know that the way that God is seeing you, you are pretty much a mess on the inside.

Saul did NOT do what God called him to do and so lost his kingship. Chapter 16 starts with Samuel feeling pretty down about being a failure in his choice and the appointment of Saul as king. For Samuel this was to be a chapter closed. God did not want Samuel to look back in the past, now is the time for Samuel to look forward. For each of us we cannot change the past but with God’s help we can look forward to what God might have for us in the future? When Samuel was down and tended to look backwards, God gave him a revelation. What was God’s Revelation, God’s Vision for Samuel?

John warned against believing every spirit; that is, we are never to assume every spiritual experience or every demonstration of spiritual power is from God. We must test spiritual experiences and spiritual phenomenon to see if they are in fact from God. Many people even today, when first encountering the reality of the spiritual world, are too impressed and amazed to ask whether they are of God. This leads to easy deception.

What John is saying here in this passage is that to dislike someone or to love them less ___ John puts that on the same footing as you and I displaying hatred to another Christian brother or sister. What has been said right through this letter that John wrote is that unless I am working to love others without conditions then to do anything less has a critical bearing on our eternal future ___ where you and I will spend life forever and ever when our physical body dies.

Can God take you from a place of where you think that God is not listening to where God transforms and gives you a new sense of direction and purpose to move forward?

This week David Woodroofe (Woody) shares the life that Joy and he have been blessed with in their life together over the past 43 years….the family, the love, work, the challenges, the tragedies, the friends and our spiritual walk.

SALT: What type of an after taste do you leave? God’s flavour or something else? If we don’t bring God’s flavour, then we are irrelevant. LIGHT: Do people know you are a follower of Jesus? Do people think you are a church goer or someone who believes in Jesus?

Jesus did not die for me ___ He died AS ME!!! Once we say yes to God you instantly have the same DNA as God. It doesn't matter where you come from, what you did, how hard your life was ___ the second that you say yes to Jesus you become one with Him. God's plans are good. We might not understand them or see where it will lead to, but if we stand on the rock of God, trust Him with all our hearts ___ He will carry us through. Who do you put your trust in? Where will you spend eternity? Other Bible Readings: Ephesians 5:8, John 14:6 & 2 Corinthians 5:21

When we belong to Jesus we have a home waiting for us in Heaven. Is Jesus no.1 and am I keeping my eyes on Jesus. We have to fully submit to God and trust that he knows the plan for our lives much better than we do. Jesus outlines what it will cost to follow him so that we can prepare for what is to come. If I lose my job because I love Jesus is that okay with me? If I lose my life today because of Jesus is that okay?

Jesus is saying is that we are not to worry about what we are to say ___ why? Jesus says that He will give you the right words at the right time and that it will be the Holy Spirit speaking through you.

John goes on to strongly let us know that it’s not a matter of letting these words expressing love, care and concern for others to roll off our tongue. He says that’s not good enough and our love care and concern for others must be visible and evident.

Are you willing to take the test that determines what your relationship is with Jesus. John as the author of this letter makes it very clear how you and I can know which camp we are in. Listen to what he says. 1 John 3:10 (CEV) 10 You can tell God's children from the devil's children, because those who belong to the devil refuse to do right or to love each other.

It may be that over the weeks you have quietly said to yourself that “I want to live a right life, one that is full on for Jesus and I do want to be holy in all that I say and do”. And so the question arises, "how can I do it?"

What message are you and I conveying to others. Yes, we regularly attend Church and we look like good examples. Do our lives clearly demonstrate that we have God's Holy Spirit power within us and that in all we do there is an expectation to see God's hand at work? What about when it comes to telling the truth no matter what?

We have advocates today in all sorts of roles. We may have a financial advocate, we may have a solicitor or legal advocate or a union steward may advocate for people in the workforce. I could go on with many more. The primary difference between these advocates and Jesus acting as our advocate before God is this. Jesus is an advocate of a different kind; He not only speaks out for us ___ but it also cost Him personally. For Jesus to be my ‘stand-in’ and to take my place came at a cost to Him personally.

When it says here that Jesus will be our advocate He is not just being an impersonal spokesperson but rather the Greek translation had the meaning of someone who feels for you, will come alongside you and will bring you comfort in your time of failure.

Regrettably over the last 10 to 15 or 20 years it has become progressively unpopular to talk about the blood of Jesus that poured out of His body and caused His death when He was crucified. We need to constantly keep in mind that it was only through Jesus allowing Himself to be brutally treated and his blood lost, that our sins today, can be forgiven.

I am not one for giving my talks a title but if I were to do that today, it would probably include something about ‘abiding in Christ’ or in today’s language, “maintaining my relationship with God”. I would probably have included somewhere in the title something about ‘encouragement’.

God says, “I know”? Each letter starts the same and it is a reminder that there is nothing hidden from Almighty God. God sees our good times, God sees our bad times and God sees us when we please Him and He also sees us when we let Him down.

The interesting thing is that the Ephesian church had a pretty impressive record Christianly. Even though God turned to them and acknowledged all their attributes yet He considered these attributes cancelled out because they had lost their first love for Him and for others.

There is freedom in the furnace. Are we willing to live our lives completely submitted to God and willing to be thrown into the furnace? When we are willing to live in the furnace God will be with us before, during and afterwards. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the furnace unharmed when they put their total and absolute trust in God.

Let me begin this year by saying that I would not want to face whatever happens in 2019 without having a personal relationship with Jesus where, with his help I will give up my way and seek to make Jesus Christ Lord of my life. You too can know what it is like to have that personal relationship with Jesus today.

If you want to enter God’s kingdom and to be part of God’s family, then just as Jesus said to this respected Jewish ruler, ___ it is “the Holy Spirit (that) gives new life from heaven. So don't be surprised at my statement that you must be born again.”

We can make the decision this Christmas to listen to the voice of Jesus___ our Shepherd ___ get to know Him. This Christmas what decision will you make? Will you just leave things as they are and face the consequences of that decision or will you make that decision today to start following the way that Jesus offers? What decision will you make?

“Am I willing to hand over my life to God and for him to use me in whatever way he wants to?” The angel told Mary that the Holy Spirit would be with her and that she would know God’s power in her life. I wonder is it more important to you to be seen and respected by others or would you be willing to be obedient to what God was saying no matter what others may think.

We are reminded of Shepherds, Angels and Shepherds but what was it like for Mary and Joseph and when Jesus was born and ___ where does this bloke called John the Baptist fit in with Christmas in 2018?

An introduction to my friend Jesus __ the person that we celebrate at Christmas

When we read chapters of the Bible like Romans Chapter 8 sometimes there are part that are difficult to understand OR somehow they just become knowledge without what we now know making any change to how we live in our society today.

Romans 1:16 (MSG) 16 It's news I'm most proud to proclaim, this extraordinary Message of God's powerful plan to rescue everyone who trusts him, starting with Jews and then right on to everyone else!

15 So you should not be like cowering, fearful slaves. You should behave instead like God's very own children, adopted into his family--calling him "Father, Dear Father."

If being a follower of Jesus is such a struggle___ if being a Christian is so hard ___ what hope have I got?

When Luther was again asked, in humility he apologised for the harshness of what was written and then respectfully but boldly stated, "Unless I am convinced by proofs from Scriptures or by plain and clear reasons and arguments, I can and will not retract, for it is neither safe nor wise to do anything against conscience. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen."