When did you last hear a sermon on Helpers and Administrators?

Thought so. Me neither.

At church we are currently working our way through Exodus in the evening service. It fell to me to preach on Exodus 17: 8 - 18:27. I have preached on the Exodus 17 verses before and you can find that here. It's all about prayer triplets (also here). But the Word of God is a never-ending well-spring of blessing and riches. This time, I was shown the seeds of what would become a nation of priests, a royal priesthood.

There is a direct parallel to Exodus 18 in  Acts 6. Factor in what constitutes priesthood and kingship, examine the ministries of the Holy Spirit (see here) and a sermon on Helpers and Administrators was born.

The overall theme of the series is "The God who rescues." Here we see Israel beginning to grow into maturity. The lessons are key to Christian maturity as well.

I forgot to record the sound, but the PowerPoint is fairly comprehensive.

The power of Ten - and a bit of catching up.

The catching up bit.

To all my occasional readers and some regulars, my apologies. Life has been very busy as I have taken on new responsibilities in the Deanery as well as my responsibilities at Church. In addition, we have begun to seek a new home as our current house is not configured for hospitality.

In the middle of all this, I seek to maintain a Bible Study group, a prayer triplet, a preaching ministry of sorts and support, as well as chivvy the Vicar. ( Chivvy - Br. Eng. - for 'nag, be a pain in the neck, encourage, goad etc.')

The power of Ten.

I recently preached two sermons based on the Nicene and Apostles' Creeds. Essentially, the 'I believe in God' bit. I'll post the PowerPoints below.

Whilst preparing the second one, I was struck by a link across the Bible of ten pronouncements, by God, on one particular topic. Since then I have done work on Romans for my Bible Study Group and, as Paul builds much of his argument on Genesis and God's promise to Abraham, I was obliged to revisit the work I had done for the group on Genesis.

To summarise:

There are 10 commands to create the universe in Genesis 1. These are all introduced by the phrase, "And God said". Check this in a good translation of the Bible and not a paraphrase. The NIV does not qualify as it is designed for reading aloud and smooths out essential, but awkward grammatical structures.

There are 10 promises to Abraham to establish the covenant of Grace. I'll list them below.

There are 10 commands that form the basis of the Torah and create the nation of Israel and the covenant of Law.

There are 10 promises of the Holy Spirit, given by Jesus that form the Church.

Each of these Tens are part of the command structure of what has been brought into being. They are, to use computer jargon, the Built In Operating System or BIOS.

The commands can be, and were, broken. The promises are built on God and cannot be broken.

Spiritual Israel/The Church comprises all those who believe through faith in the Jewish Messiah, Jesus, being both Jew and Gentile. They are saved by Grace and this cannot fail.

Physical Israel is based on the Torah and will be saved, by Grace, but the law kills. Which is not to say that the current  restoration is anything but a work of God. It is a sign of the times.

Unbelieving Gentiles are stuck with Adam's broken universe ( see PowerPoints below) and the modifications made for Noah.

Genesis 1 vss, 3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26, 28, and 29.

All God's promises to Abraham

1. Genesis 12:1-3. The promise involves a blessing and a curse for "all the families of the earth".

2. Genesis 12:7.  The first promise of the Land of Canaan

3. Genesis 13:14-17. God's promise emphasises the physical reality of the land and the number of descendants Abram will have. Dust

4. Genesis 15:1. The Lord is Abram’s shield and reward.

5. Genesis 15:5-6.  Descendants.  Abram's belief was counted for righteousness (v6). Stars

6. Genesis 15:12-16. The "deep sleep" and "dread and great darkness" that overcame Abram were because of the Presence of God and to protect Abram.

7. Genesis 15:18-21.  Promises confirmed by sacrifices became a covenant relating to the Land.

  

8. Genesis 17:1-8. Abram’s name was changed (v5) to “Abraham” (father of many nations). His personal possession of the land will be everlasting (v8). Circumcision becomes a sign of the covenant with Abraham’s direct line.

9. Genesis 18:17 – 19 God’s conversation in Abraham’s presence before the Judgement of Sodom and Gomorrah.

10. Genesis 22:15-18. The promise was confirmed with an oath. The seed in v17 is singular.

The Ten commandments 

Really? 

The 10 Commandments List, Short Form

1. You shall have no other gods before Me.
2. You shall not make idols.
3. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
5. Honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet.

The promises of the Holy Spirit. 

Christ’s Promises of the Holy Spirit’s coming

Luke 11:13. The Father gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him

John 4:10-14 The promise of Living Water to the Samaritan Woman.

John 7:37 – 39 The promise of Living Water at the Temple

John 14:16-17 The Counsellor and Spirit of Truth

John 14:25-26 The Paraclete and Teacher

John 15:26-27 The Counsellor, Spirit of Truth and witness

John 16:7-11The Advocate who convinces

John16:13 – 15 Spirit of Truth and our Guide

John 20:22-23 Authority to forgive

Luke 24:49 Acts 1:8 Power from on high, power to witness.

 

What the blind can teach us about walking by faith - and why so many churches are empty.

A bit late for church on Sunday, but it was God's timing , all the same. As I drove down Trinity Street towards the church, I saw one of our elderly members walking away from the church. This was most unusual for a faithful member.

We are currently meeting in the church hall, as we have scaffolding up in the main building whilst workmen carry out essential repairs.

I parked my car and walked back to meet with him. He is almost blind, somewhat deaf and quite elderly. It turned out that as he could not get into the main entrance and he only knew how to get to the hall from the church, he was going home. He thought that if he entered the church from the side (North) door he would have to negotiate some very difficult steps, for him, so he was returning home.

By then two more of our congregation had arrived and we convinced him to let me take him, by car - it was quicker -, to the hall and that this would avoid any steps. I eventually arrived with him holding on to my arm.

It was during the service as we sang 'By Faith' that I realised what the Lord had shown me.

Blind people need a mental map to help them get around their homes, streets etc. This is made up, not of visual cues, but cues from the other senses. It get harder if they are deaf as well. They also need to trust friends, family and neighbours more than most of use do. Finally, they may also have the help of a guide dog.

Our brother simply did not have the mental map to get him, by another route, to the church hall. He had no guide dog, he thought that he was alone, so he gave up and was going home.

When we walk by faith, we also need a map. God has provided us with one. It's called 'The Bible '. 

When we walk by faith, we need to trust our brothers and sisters in the Lord all the more and not less. It's called being built into the Church.

When we walk by faith, we have one other guide, a Guide God. He's called 'The Holy Spirit'.

If we take away reading the Bible and the faithful teaching of the whole counsel of God and listen to false teachers or no teachers;

If we take away a loving Christian fellowship and treat Church as a club or don't even go;

If the Holy Spirit is quenched, derided and mocked, or simply not listened to;

Then we cannot walk by faith, and like our elderly brother, we will have no choice but to give up and go home.

And this is why so many Western churches are empty.

Dreams from my Father concerning the Church (Part Three)

This was a complex dream with three distinct parts.

In the first part, I dreamt that I was to build a town. This future town was in a desert place. I was being asked, most persistently and several times, what I would build first and where in the town would it be. 

I was equally certain, indeed adamant, that I would build a Church and a place of prayer. I was also certain that they would be in the centre of the town and that the other essential buildings, law courts, financial institutions (all the stuff one finds in the centre of towns) would be built later.

In the second part of the dream, I had started to build and as I cleared away the dust to build the foundations I discovered the foundations of an older church with a tiled floor. The foundations were sound, but some of the tiles needed attention and/or replacing with new ones. In my dream I was engaged  in this process.

Finally, I was told that God would be calling Evangelicals to account. Some individuals would find themselves called into God's Presence, by accident or illness, to account for their failure to evangelise. They would then be sent back to finish the job. Somehow, some evangelical churches would find themselves having to give the same account before being released back into His work. How this will come about, I have no idea.

My interpretation is as follows:

The town is the present state of Western civilisation. It needs re-building with the Church at the centre. It is in a desert place as it is Godless. The additional building for prayer is often a practical essential as many active churches can find it hard to provide proper places for continuous prayer.  This resonated with my vicar as we often have that difficulty.

Nevertheless, it also means that  continuous prayer needs to exist alongside the other proper activities of the Church.

When this is in place then the other institutions of the town can be built.

In the West, we tend to think that Law and Money can sort out everything. We are surprised when we discover the level of corruption inherent in our society. See also here.

The second part of the dream showed me that sound foundations for the Church already exist, to wit, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Prophets and the Apostles. Ephesians 2:20.

Also, many mainstream denominations have sound statements of faith based on these foundations. For example, the Church of England needs to start enforcing the 39 Articles.

The tiles in the floor, are individuals who have been built into the church but may need repair or replacement (pruning again).

The third part of the dream is self-explanatory and somewhat disconcerting. It shows again how seriously God is taking the current state of His Church. He is already acting to renew His Church. He will take sovereign and miraculous action when it is needed.

This is not a picture of foundations in a desert place, but the ruins of Egglestone Abbey near my home town. I couldn't resist it.

If my people, who are called by my Name, humble themselves and pray (Part One)

The text, for those who have trouble with a rather individual cursive, reads as follows:

Scandal after Scandal. No institution safe. Not even the Church or the media ( inc. news)

     God will bring his people to  their knees in prayer. He will horrify even those who are a little awake in order that they might pray. He will terrify the sleepers that they might awake , repent and pray.

22.8.92

Thirty-one years (it now being October 2023) ago a Christian in prayer heard from the Holy Spirit. But what to do? Who would listen? Blogs were unheard of.

Nontheless, it has all come horribly true and not just in the UK. The Church was singled out as judgement begins in the House of God.

The media (news), meant the TV news and especially the BBC which was enjoying a partially deserved reputation for accuracy after the Falklands War. It never meant the newspapers.  Who ever believed them?

We have been horrified with 9/11 and 7/7 as well as the aftermath of these events. We have been terrified with a beheading on the streets of London.

But still no prelate, priest, politician or prince calls out for prayer and repentance.