tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39056005883246685492024-02-08T13:16:48.907+00:00Theology for LifeWe were made by God for God therefore life is theological.Richard Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15349318589465890552noreply@blogger.comBlogger129125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3905600588324668549.post-21584743086827309002014-07-05T20:22:00.000+01:002014-07-05T20:22:41.516+01:00God is Good<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Verdana, 'BitStream vera Sans', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
God is good – there are many that doubt this, even some Christians.</div>
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This though is the testimony of scripture – God is good, and he is good because he is love.</div>
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The problem is we live in a world that’s all muddled up with what love and goodness is</div>
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Goodness mustn’t be confused with softness.</div>
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Goodness mustn’t be confused with lots of presents.</div>
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Goodness mustn’t be confused with an easy life.</div>
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Goodness mustn’t be confused with lack of discipline.</div>
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At church (<a href="http://gatewaychurchashford.co.uk/" style="color: #2970a6; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_parent" title="Gateway">Gateway</a>, Ashford, Kent, UK -) we’ve been looking at the book of Proverbs, which can seem like an awful lot of do’s and don’ts – a killjoys guide to life. Yet as we have discovered it’s about a Father who loves his kids and wants them to succeed in life, so much so that he takes the time to talk to them about the issues of life: finance, friends, sex, work, bullies …. the list goes on! (You can check out the podcasts here: <a href="http://gatewaychurchashford.co.uk/podcasts/" style="color: #2970a6; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_parent" title="Podcasts">http://gatewaychurchashford.co.uk/podcasts/</a>)</div>
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And that’s the heart of the Bible, it’s about a Father who loves those he made in his image.</div>
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It’s about a Father God who was willing to enter this sphere of lowliness and brokenness, falleness and darkness, in the person of his Son Jesus Christ in order to bring us redemption.</div>
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It’s about a Father who loves his kids so much he can’t leave them as they are, but rather wants them all to know him fully and grow to full maturity.</div>
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Though he’s merciful and gracious, he’s not soft – a walkover.</div>
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Though he gives good gifts, he doesn’t spoil his children. The reality is we deserve nothing.</div>
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Though he said my burden is light, it didn’t mean that life would be cushy – there is a cross to bear.</div>
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And because he is good he disciplines every true child of his – or have we forgotten Hebrews 12:5-13 where it says that “he disciplines those he loves.”</div>
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Perhaps part of our problem is that we so magnify the grace of God that we have lost sight of the discipline of the Father, and yet that very discipline is a demonstration of his love and grace.</div>
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We frequently testify to his blessings/gifts, and of how he graciously uses us, but do we know what he is doing in us – is this where we struggle with his goodness?</div>
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Last Sunday we sang Brian Johnson’s song You are Good. We’ve hummed, sung and whistled it in the office all week, you might like to check it out: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VI3x7WLWpo8" style="color: #2970a6; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_parent" title="You are Good">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VI3x7WLWpo8</a></div>
Richard Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15349318589465890552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3905600588324668549.post-59638093890751386212014-06-06T20:47:00.000+01:002014-06-06T20:47:32.459+01:00Going Liberal Will Not Save<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Verdana, 'BitStream vera Sans', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
In the evangelical church it’s becoming increasingly popular to go ‘liberal,’ and frequently the reason given is that a greater openness and willingness to ‘accept’ people no matter what their lifestyle will ultimately enhance the churches standing in the world, make her more attractive and people will come flocking to it – I think of the present arguments going on around the gay debate (see: Steve Chalke <a href="http://www.oasisuk.org/inclusionresources/Articles/MOIabridged" style="color: #2970a6; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Inclusion">“I’m worried that the noise of the arguments around gay marriage will cloud and confuse the real question for the Church, which is about the nature of inclusion.” </a> See also: <a href="http://www.albertmohler.com/2014/06/02/there-is-no-third-way-southern-baptists-face-a-moment-of-decision-and-so-will-you/" style="color: #2970a6; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Albert Mohler">Albert Mohler</a>, and <a href="http://www.thinkingchristian.net/posts/2014/05/matthew-vines-god-and-the-gay-christian" style="color: #2970a6; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Thinking Christian">Thinking Christian</a>, and <a href="http://www.albertmohler.com/2014/04/22/god-the-gospel-and-the-gay-challenge-a-response-to-matthew-vines/" style="color: #2970a6; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="The Gay Challenge"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline;">The Gay Challenge</span></a>).</div>
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Nothing could be further from the truth.</div>
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Liberalism has been tried and tested in the past and has always been found wanting – it was largely responsible for the demise of the historic churches/denominations, and as far as I am aware there has never been a revival in a liberal church without a radical return to the Word.</div>
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The church is not called to be popular or the same as the world in which it exists. It is called to be and bring the prophetic voice of the gospel, demonstrating and proclaiming God’s love for fallen humanity while at the same time challenging the world that it is in the wrong with a most holy and righteous God and therefore needs saving – not feeling better about itself.</div>
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The problem with the new-evangelical liberal gospel is that there seems to be less and less that we need to be saved from, and ultimately it moves towards the universal salvation of all, no matter what, because we don’t want to and can’t leave anybody out because that wouldn’t be loving wouldn’t it.</div>
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With the redefining of what the Bible teaches in regard to homosexuality comes a redefining of the doctrine of sin, and as that is further redefined so also goes the doctrine of salvation, and Jesus becomes nothing more than a very nice and easy going person who just ‘accepts’ one and all no matter what and so it makes his death superfluous.</div>
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And there is a problem word ‘accept’. It is common parlance that Jesus accepts everyone. The answer is no he doesn’t. He reaches out to us, even ‘entertains’ us – in other words he was willing to spend time with sinners, eating and drinking with them, sharing with and teaching them, even healing them, much to the disgust of the religious leaders of his day, but that is not the same as acceptance, or inclusion. Jesus challenged peoples thinking and lifestyles and called them to repentance and trust in him, some did, others turned away.</div>
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If we are to recover our confidence in the gospel, we need to recover our understanding of how far we have fallen, only then will we realise and need the full power of the Good News of Jesus Christ, resulting in powerful demonstrations of his love, mercy and grace in salvation that produces radical stories of changed lives, where having been forgiven we die to temptation and sin in what ever form it comes, and live in newness of life.</div>
Richard Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15349318589465890552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3905600588324668549.post-10562205570326561222014-05-25T21:16:00.000+01:002014-05-25T21:16:07.155+01:00Growing an Apostolic Church<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Verdana, 'BitStream vera Sans', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
The beginning and growth of the church in the New Testament is somewhat staggering. From such humble and seemingly ill-equipped beginnings it rapidly flourished and went on to impact the whole known world. Not far into it’s history it arrived at Antioch. Now from a human point of view the church at Antioch was an unintended church plant that came about as a result of the persecution that took place in Jerusalem, yet it became responsible for one of the greatest gospel expansions as the church moved into Europe.</div>
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<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Three notable things about the church in Acts:</strong><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /> The church was not institutional, it was organic.<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /> The church was not static, but full of movement.<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /> The church was not built on human wisdom and power, but on the wisdom and power of God.</div>
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<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">A Problem Today</strong><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Today churches are frequently built around a person, a style or teaching, e.g. a charismatic personality, particular style of worship, evangelism, teaching, prophetic, healing, deliverance, spiritual warfare etc.. The problem with this is that it narrows down God’s purpose for the church and ultimately means it will only suit some people. It can also lead to a settling down, as people go to churches that give them what they want and suits their personalities and tastes rather than what they need.</div>
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<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">10 things we can learn from the church at Antioch - 11:19-30; 13:1-4.</strong><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">1. They were unexpected pioneers, thrust out by God</strong>. Not that they wanted to be! They had no choice, no time to pray, no time to weigh the options. They were thrust out by God who had a far greater purpose, and to fulfill it required them being moved out of their comfort zones (11:19 – 20).<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">2. They were not ashamed of the Gospel</strong> (11:19 – 21). They knew what Christ had done for them, and they had a passion to preach Jesus Christ wherever they could.<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">3. They were a grace impacted community – they lived in and out of the grace of God</strong>(11:22). Strong says it is, “the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflections in the life.” This wasn’t easy believism – what’s been termed cheap grace. It wasn’t simply a grace received, but a grace that empowers. A grace that not only saved but enabled them to live transformed lives.<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">4. They were willing to receive from others</strong> – Though they had pioneered the church (and it was doing very well), they hadn’t got it all and they were willing to receive input from outside (11:22 – 27). In the New Testament there was no such thing as an independent church, at the same time there was no such thing as the denominations we have today. Ministry wasn’t just located in the local body, however good that may be, but in the wider body and was looked for and welcomed – The One who had said he would build his church had given apostles, prophets,evangelists, pastors and teachers.<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">5. They were willing to be taught and trained – disciples</strong> (11:25b). A disciple is a willing learner, someone who chooses to follow a teacher and learn of them. They were taught for a whole year. “They continued in the apostles doctrine.” Teaching therefore played a major part.<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">6. They were open to the prophetic ministry</strong> (11:27). Not only did you find ‘the Word’ at Antioch, but the powerful activity of the Spirit. This kind of prophetic ministry brings ‘the now’ word of God. It cuts through. It opens up. It brings clarity. It calls to action.<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">7. They were concerned about the needs of the wider body of Christ</strong> (11:27-30). There was a famine predicted. Most didn’t know anyone in Judea, but they recognise them as part of the same body of Christ, and seek to help meet their needs.<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">8. They were led by prophets and teachers</strong> (13:1). This was no one-man ministry, or just expository, it was a balanced or broad ministry. Many churches only have one style of ministry. It’s possible for people to grow fat on the Word, but when there are prophets around that stops that happening. It keeps God’s purpose right up front.<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">9. They knew how to minister to the Lord and pray/fast</strong> (13:2). This is important and shouldn’t be glossed over. Much is said today about ‘worship’ the word that’s used here in some translations, but how many know how to truly minister to the Lord? And what about the place of fasting?<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">10. They were ready to hear God’s voice</strong> (13:2-5). Because they knew how to minister to the Lord they were ready to hear and respond to his voice, and when they heard they responded.</div>
Richard Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15349318589465890552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3905600588324668549.post-72649002623281251082014-04-28T19:44:00.000+01:002014-04-28T19:44:48.355+01:00Living in the Power of the Resurrection!<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Verdana, 'BitStream vera Sans', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
It’s not over! Yes, you read that right. We don’t return to life before Easter, because every Sunday, indeed every day, is Easter day for the Christian – there’s no going back. We are not caught in some pagan cycle of continual death and rebirth, but rather one of forward movement and progression, whereby having encountered Christ as Saviour, we live in the power of His resurrection.</div>
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The life, death and resurrection of Jesus brings us total forgiveness, cleansing, deliverance – total salvation, a salvation that rest’s in Christ’s work alone. Not only that but it also grants us the power to live a new kind of life, a life empowered to say no to sin, and bear good fruit to God, with a sure and certain hope of heaven.</div>
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As Paul puts it, in baptism we were baptised into Christ’s death, and just as He was raised from the dead, so we too have been raised to walk in newness of life – wonderful!</div>
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Paul said that knowing Christ, being found in Him, and knowing the power of his resurrection was everything, indeed he counted all that he previously knew as loss – and he knew an awful lot and had an impeccable religious heritage and experience, but he said, I boast in it no more, it has no value, for Jesus is everything.</div>
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If we look to ourselves we will fall into the trap of pagan spirituality, of the constant need for death and rebirth, and be continually coming to the end of ourselves and recommiting and renewing ‘our vows.’ That is to move away from the gospel, and bring us into works.</div>
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The writer to the Hebrews reminds and exhorts us to keep looking unto Jesus because He is the author (or founder), and finisher (or perfector) of our faith. And as he says a bit later, it’s not to blazing fire, darkness, gloom and tempest, with the sound of a trumpet and voice that caused the hearers to beg, ‘no more,’ that we come, but to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, who is giving us a Kingdom that cannot be shaken!</div>
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Yes, the death and resurrection of Jesus changed everything, and if you have encountered Him, your history has been permanently changed, along with your present and your future.</div>
Richard Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15349318589465890552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3905600588324668549.post-50008113638276911082014-04-28T19:38:00.000+01:002014-04-28T19:38:24.438+01:00He's The Champion! Yes!<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Verdana, 'BitStream vera Sans', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
Found myself reflecting on the words of an old hymn at Easter and suddenly realising afresh the powerful meaning of them…</div>
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Look! you saints the sight is glorious!<br style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />See the man of sorrows now!<br style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />From the fight returned victorious,<br style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Every knee to Him shall bow.<br style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Crown Him, crown Him!<br style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Crowns become the victors brow!</div>
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These words by Thomas Kelly alert us to the reality of that first Easter morning and in them he invites us to ‘look’ and ‘see.’</div>
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Yes, there had been a long, cruel and torturous fight, as the enemy sought to derail the life, mission and ministry of Jesus. He was tempted and attacked time and time again, but Jesus won every round. And then it came to this last one and this time the devil thought that he had got Him, that he had Him up against the ropes, that this time it was in the bag, but (and it’s a big one), in that last and bitter final round when Satan poured everything he’d got at Him, Jesus gave one last and devastating blow to him and to his ambitions, forever, and came out the mighty Victor!</div>
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Yes, from the fight He has returned victorious. He is Heaven and Earth’s Champion! He has won! Forever!</div>
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On Good Friday Satan and his minions had been cheering thinking they had finally got Him, but now their cheers were turned into the groans of total defeat. Satan, sin, death and hell were utterly and totally defeated, and through it all the eternal purpose of God had been worked out, the price for all our sin has been paid, and this Jesus was raised for/or because of our justification.</div>
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Yes, from the fight He has returned victorious. He is Heaven and Earth’s Mighty Champion! He has won forever!</div>
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Yes, loves redeeming work is done – the Father was completely satisfied with his Son. Now this message of victory and salvation in and through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ alone, is to be proclaimed to one and all, and all who believe in Him will be saved, and the pronouncement made to them and over them, “You are forgiven. Your sins I will remember no more! Go in peace, there is now no condemnation! Ever!” as new life is released in them through power of the Holy Spirit.</div>
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What about you, do you know Him? If not then stop and see that all is done, He has done it; change your mind, believe and be saved. It only takes a moment to be saved.</div>
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Maybe you do, but perhaps you’ve lost sight of Him and what He’s done. Then look away from yourself, your circumstances, and look once again unto Jesus. You may have failed Him – He paid for all that too. You don’t earn your way back, simply see and behold Him, your sufficient and wonderful Saviour and Sanctifier, the one who paid for all your sin and every mess up along the way.</div>
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It’s done! Hallelujah! You can’t add to it, you can’t subtract from it. Rejoice in Him the mighty Victor!</div>
Richard Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15349318589465890552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3905600588324668549.post-58565604159651175012014-04-28T19:33:00.002+01:002014-04-28T19:33:30.285+01:00The Black Friday that is Good<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Verdana, 'BitStream vera Sans', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
Some thoughts on Easter.</div>
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A black Friday that’s good?</div>
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Strange to our ears isn’t it, calling it Good Friday, after all what is good about it, it’s about someone’s death, and more particularly the death of Jesus Christ, the co-equal Son of God the Father, and co-creator with the Father and the Spirit of the universe and the giver of life.</div>
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On Good Friday, God died! That sounds like the end of the world!</div>
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Yes, that’s right. Jesus was the Word incarnate. That’s what we celebrate at Christmas, God made flesh with man residing. As it says in the words of the carol and of the great confessions, ‘Very God, begottten not created.’ We must not reduce our thinking when it comes to the cross and think only of His humanity. Yes, this was truly none other than God. And on Good Friday, the Creator dies…… shocking thought isn’t it?</div>
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At that point in time it was the most cataclysmic day in history, no day before it was like it – and there had been some dark ones, but none as dark as this.</div>
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Satan no doubt rejoiced, and his minions were delighted. The battle had been tough. Right from the day of his birth they had tried to get Him. Time and again they thought they had Him, only to be beaten back again and again, as Jesus overcame temptation after temptation, remained obedient to His Father, went on mission, forgave sinners, healed the sick, delivered those they held captive… but now, ah now, they thought once again they had him, that this was it, He was dead – DEAD. The last breath had gone, his life had expired. The lifeless body was sealed in a tomb. Surely, there was no way out of this.</div>
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But no, they hadn’t realised and reckoned on the fact that this was part of the great plan, the great strategy of the Divine counsels of eternity. He must die. He must go and face the very thing death itself – the result of the curse – and enter it completely for the price to be fully paid and the curse to be undone.</div>
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So what was black Friday turns out to be Good Friday as God in Christ defeats Satan, sin, death, and yes Hell itself, the ultimate end of the wicked, and in doing so He pays the price for all our sin, satisfying his own justice as a holy and righteous and God – but it wont be Good Friday unless Easter Sunday comes.</div>
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In the words of Charles Wesley:</div>
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O love divine, what have You done!<br style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />The immortal God has died for me!<br style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />The Father’s co-eternal Son<br style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Bore all my sins upon the tree:<br style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />The immortal God for me has died;<br style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />My Lord, my love, is crucified.</div>
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Charles Wesley</div>
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Richard Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15349318589465890552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3905600588324668549.post-88383303897465777272014-04-11T20:11:00.000+01:002014-04-11T20:11:45.427+01:00Whose Glory are You Living For?<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Verdana, 'BitStream vera Sans', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
We come to the last in this mini series on the Lord’s prayer, a phrase not in the early manuscripts but found in the later ones, ‘Yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever. Amen.’</div>
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Our own little kingdoms, power and glory are something that fallen humanity desperately craves, we want to be somebody, have some some power, achieve and be in control of something, and be applauded for it. Sinatra’s song fits well, “I did it my way” – I could do it, I did it, I deserve the credit.</div>
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Yes, power, success and fame are what we all want, what we crave – it’s exhibited in all the TV shows that offer the opportunity of stardom, and for many young people today that’s the aim, to be a great singer, a great footballer, to be a star one way or another.</div>
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It was what precipitated the fall of humanity – Lucifer wanted to be somebody other than God had created him to be, in fact he wanted the top spot, he wanted to be God, and in doing so he fell. Later he was to tempt Adam and Eve that God was not as good as he appeared to be and that he was withholding something from them – they could be like God. The thought was sown and entertained and they fell for it. And it has been humanities curse ever since. In some way or other we all want to be ‘gods’ in some way or another, having our own power, doing our own thing, controllers of our own destiny. Sadly in our hands it becomes distorted, abusive, dominating, controlling, manipulating, deceitful, destructive – we could go on, but you get the picture.</div>
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As we come to the end of this prayer it reminds us that to God alone belongs the kingdom, the power and the glory and we do best when we recognize that and live within it. The breath that we have is given to us by God, it’s in him that we live and move and have our being. It’s God who gifts and enables. It’s God who saves and sanctifies…..</div>
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Yes we are reminded that the best life lived, is a life under God, a life that lives for and returns the glory to God.</div>
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Sadly though the passion for power and glory creeps into the heart of God’s people. There can be rivalry and competition between churches, ministries, streams. It has wrecked lives, relationships and ministries. None of us is immune, we are all prone. If we are honest with ourselves we love opportunities to exalt ourselves – evidenced in the desire to trump the story someone has just told us, or tell a better joke, to score a point in some way. We can be more concerned about what people thought of us in how we led worship last Sunday, how the preach went, than whether God was glorified and people encountered him. When I’m blogging I can can be more concerned about what people think of me about me than conveying the heart of God and seeking his glory.</div>
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In the world in which we live there is a lot of talk about the need for significance, which in reality is much the same thing under a different guise. In reality there is a big difference between living for the glory of God and the desire or need for significance. Significance is more about me, about leaving my mark on the world, making a name for myself, and be known for and getting the glory for it. It can be more about the big things than the small things. It can be more about what is seen than what is not seen, and even our serving can be become very subtly self-serving.</div>
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It’s also evidenced in the cult of personality, something Paul faced when he wrote to the church at Corinth – if we can’t glory in ourselves then we’ll glory another, in who we follow, and for the Corinthian Christians it was about who was the best teacher/preacher, and Paul would have none of it. He points them back to God as the one in whom it all works, and summed it by saying, ‘It’s because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who he has been made unto us wisdom from God, that is our righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that we should not boast in ourselves, but in the Lord.’ (1 Cor. 1:30,31), and bit later, ‘It’s God who gives the increase.’ (1 Cor. 3:7).</div>
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That’s why this prayer is important, and this particular phrase in it. We need the reminder, we need the challenge it brings as we honestly pray it. It gets under our skin. It challenges why we are doing something and who we are doing it for. It leads us from the place of control to one of surrender. It leads us from pride to humility. It leads us from confidence in ourselves to confidence in God and the way he leads, gifts and talents us. It leads us to say, He must increase, but I must decrease.</div>
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As Paul said, ‘By grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not a result of our own efforts, so that no one would boast in themselves’ (Eph. 28,9), and again,</div>
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Yes, the kingdom, the power, the glory are all his forever! Amen!</div>
Richard Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15349318589465890552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3905600588324668549.post-33880639062630038372014-03-31T12:03:00.000+01:002014-03-31T12:03:07.130+01:00Temptation and Deliverance<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Verdana, 'BitStream vera Sans', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
As we come towards the end of the Lord’s prayer we are confronted by a request for very specific help about living in this world.</div>
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Temptation and sin are common to all humanity. It doesn’t matter where you live, east or west, north or south, whether you have money or none, educated or uneducated… we all know temptation, we all know sin.</div>
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To that end we need a saviour, a deliverer, for none of us is able to save or free him or herself from it’s strangle hold. We all live under the prince of the power of the air and are subject to the passions/lusts of the flesh. As much as we might try to extricate ourselves we can’t.</div>
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Praise God Jesus came to do just that. He beat the devil and temptation at every twist and turn of his life. When dragged before the courts on trumped up charges, he was found to be not guilty. Yet, the masses wanted his death, and he was scourged and cruelly crucified on a Roman cross.</div>
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In the sovereign purposes of God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – his death is part of the great plan of to bring salvation and deliverance from sin and it’s consequences, and make right with Him all those who would hear and believe the message of salvation – a salvation wholly achieved by Jesus Christ, and not by anything that we have done.</div>
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Let me ask you, do you know Him? Have you come to a saving knowledge and experience of Jesus Christ? He is able to save you, forgive you, set you free and give you a new life. The scripture calls us to repent (change our minds and direction), and believe in Him and we will be saved.</div>
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Becoming a Christian though doesn’t mean we will never be tempted or not sin again. We still live in a fallen world. We still await the redemption of our bodies. We do have an enemy. Hence the necessity of this prayer, “Lead us not into temptation but deliver from evil (or the evil one).”</div>
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Yes, there will be times when you will have thoughts, unexpected thoughts and desires to do wrong. Sometimes they will will be connected to your own particular passions, at others totally out of the blue, like, where did that come from?!</div>
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This is about living the saved life. Yes, we are saved and no longer under condemnation, and have a sure and certain hope, but we are still living in a fallen world, and we need saving day by day. Our enemy is extremely cunning, having lost us to the Kingdom of God he is constantly devising strategies to cripple us in our Christian walk. Paul says “we are not ignorant of his devices,” but it would appear today many are – we need to wise up.</div>
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Part of our daily praying should be, “lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil/evil one.” 1. It will alert us to the fact we can and will be tempted and help to set our antenna, and set our hearts and minds on knowing God’s presence and help, and 2. It will keep us alert to the fact that it’s not our will power or strength that beats the enemy but knowing the presence and power of the Lord.</div>
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One last thought, temptation doesn’t define us. You may be powerfully and sorely tempted. The devil might suggest it’s unique to you, that you are an exception. Don’t believe him. Temptation is not sin. Adam and Eve were tempted prior to the fall, Jesus Christ being without sin was nevertheless tempted in all points as we are. Don’t allow the fact that you are tempted to define or bind you. Go forward knowing that Jesus is present to rescue you from every temptation, to deliver you from the power of the evil one, and that he always provides a way of escape.</div>
Richard Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15349318589465890552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3905600588324668549.post-33633616489835842812014-03-24T21:07:00.000+00:002014-03-24T21:11:38.618+00:00Forgive us as<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Verdana, 'BitStream vera Sans', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
Forgiveness is something we all stand in need of. We’ve all missed it and we’re all messed up.</div>
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No matter how hard modern man or woman tries, guilt still runs deep. We still stand in need of redemption.</div>
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Down through the centuries humanity has sought to deal with it and it’s consequences, above all the need for absolution, to be freed from guilt and blame, and released from the consequences, obligations or penalties.</div>
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Yes we all need it, we still need it. The modern world may well want to excise us of it, but we cannot run from the reality of it or excise ourselves of it, and the Lord’s prayer reminds us that as much as we need our daily bread we also stand in need of the daily mercy and grace of God.</div>
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As someone once said, “forgiveness for man is the plainest of duties but for God it’s the profoundest of problems.” We should forgive as we are all on the same level, but for God to forgive is another matter.</div>
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In the heart of the triune fellowship of the Trinity the Son volunteered to come and deal with the guilt and blame, to release us from the consequences, obligations and penalties of our sin.</div>
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In time Jesus came and lived the life we should have lived, and then died the death we should have died, the Just for the unjust that we might be reconciled to God.</div>
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Today, from the death and resurrection flows the gospel proclamation, calling all to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. It was and still is the emancipation proclamation!</div>
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All sin, every sin is covered, past, present future, the word stands true – there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ, none, period. Hallelujah!</div>
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But because we still fall short, we still mess up, there needs to be the daily appropriation of it to our lives.</div>
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We’re not perfect and we need to admit it; own up to the fact that we haven’t arrived, that we still fail, sometimes bigtime – yes, confession is good for the soul.</div>
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“As we forgive….” It shocks us to hear those words, it sounds like a condition, but no it’s the kingdom, as we pray it in ourselves experiencing the massive mercy and extreme grace of God the natural outcome is to forgive. There is a wonderful cycle going on here, the two are tied together. The person who can’t forgive hasn’t understood the forgiveness they receive. For the kingdom to come as we pray, we need to be both forgiven and forgiving.</div>
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Yes, God’s grace is that big, it truly is hyper-grace! It covers all our sin, at the same time it extends it through us to others also!</div>
Richard Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15349318589465890552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3905600588324668549.post-76552510181419769182014-03-11T16:43:00.000+00:002014-03-11T16:43:16.666+00:00Give us Today our Daily Bread<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Verdana, 'BitStream vera Sans', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
Daily bread, we all need it.</div>
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Bread represents what’s necessary for life – there’s a lot we think we need that we really don’t. There’s a lot that we want and seek and when we get it actually adds to our perceived needs rather than reducing them.</div>
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When David said in Psalm 23, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want…” he didn’t for one moment mean the wants of the 21st century, he meant the daily needs of his life.</div>
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It’s good to have food to feed and sustain our lives, but life is so much more than that. We are more than flesh and blood, we are body, soul and spirit.</div>
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It had been a busy and tiring day for Jesus and his disciples when they finally arrived in Sychar in Samaria. As they were hungry the disciples went into town to get some food and left Jesus sitting down by the well. When they came back and found Jesus ministering to a spiritually hungry woman they were amazed. Wasn’t he tired? Wasn’t he hungry? Where did he get the energy? They thought perhaps someone had given him something to eat and he was feeling renewed, but Jesus said, “I have food to eat that you do not know about…” (John 4:32), but by implication they were going to!</div>
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Yes, food and drink go so far, but they don’t and can’t sustain the spirit. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God” says the scripture. Yes we need the Word, food for our souls, the bread of heaven. To that end God has given us his Word, the scriptures, God-breathed and profitable in every part. Not just the favourite parts but all of it. The whole counsel of God. We need to feed on them.</div>
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Then again there is the Bread of the Word that he quickens to us in a moment – a scripture perhaps we’ve known and read many a time that suddenly comes alive by the Spirit in that moment of need and speaks to and energises our lives.</div>
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There is also the Bread of his Presence – he himself is the Bread of life. It means spending time in His Presence, being<em style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> with</em> Him, sharing fellowship, listening to His Voice – didn’t Jesus say, “my sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me”? God’s voice is not locked into the printed page, he still speaks today, and we, you need to hear Him. One Word from Heaven (the context of the prayer) can make all the difference!</div>
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Today we hear a lot about the right kind of diet, what we should and shouldn’t eat – we take great care of our bodies, but what about our souls, what kind of diet are you living on? Are you spiritually malnourished? Are you getting a complete spiritual diet? Do you only read certain parts of the Bible? Do you ever stop to listen to his voice?</div>
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What is the bread you really need today?</div>
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Go ask Him for it.</div>
Richard Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15349318589465890552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3905600588324668549.post-17771250666470718472014-03-05T16:22:00.000+00:002014-03-05T16:22:46.003+00:00Your Kingdom Come<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Verdana, 'BitStream vera Sans', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
The next phrase in the Lord’s Prayer, ‘Your kingdom come,’ reminds us that God is King, he is sovereign. His will and word are final. All the rights are his. He is the One who creates. He is the One who sustains. He is the One who makes the big decisions. His will, will be done.</div>
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In Genesis we discover that God created humanity in his own image, male and female he made them, and following their creation they were charged with subduing and ruling the earth – in other words they were made to be vice-regents.</div>
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This wasn’t to be done as they chose, but in relation to their creator King. Day by day they would come into the garden, God’s temple on earth, and meet with God, and receive from him the wisdom, strength and provision to fulfill his purpose on the earth. They then went out to subdue, to rule.</div>
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Then one day they listened to the wrong voice. Not only did they listen, but they took heed to it, and did as was suggested, and suddenly things were turned upside down. The world in every way was not as it should be. Something happened in them (they were spiritually corrupted), something happened in their relationship with God (they found they didn’t look forward to or like God’s company anymore), something happened between them (they started blaming one another).</div>
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A sad and sorry story. Suddenly blame, victimization, power plays, control, intimidation, fear, injustice, exploitation etc. entered their universe – the world was not as it should be.</div>
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But God the Trinity had a plan, to right the wrongs, and put things the right way up, and that plan was Jesus. When Jesus came, he came proclaiming the kingdom (or reign) of God. He declared that it was at hand, that he had come to destroy the work of the evil one. As the Servant King he modeled a different way of being and doing. He healed the sick, cast out demons, raised the dead, proclaimed the Good News, confronted sin, forgave sins and ultimately went to the cross paying sins price, and defeated death itself.</div>
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When asked by his disciples how they should pray Jesus said, “Our Father… Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven…” Our Father is a King, the King, and he has a kingdom, and we are called on to pray it in.</div>
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What a way to pray, praying down heaven, something of heaven now – praying something of the not yet now, something of the future into the present.</div>
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It means acting as vice-regents once again.</div>
Richard Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15349318589465890552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3905600588324668549.post-4235937933137634302014-02-16T21:22:00.000+00:002014-02-16T21:22:56.249+00:00Our Father - Who is in Heaven<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Verdana, 'BitStream vera Sans', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
This wonderful Father of ours lives in Heaven, or literally ‘the Heavens’ – we tend to use the singular, but the Greek has the plural – those in Bible times would speak of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd heaven. Paul says he was caught up to the third heaven and saw amazing things which the language of this world would not do justice to!</div>
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Heaven is used in different ways: to refer to the atmosphere; to outer space – the realm of the stars and planets; and to the place where God dwells.</div>
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Earth is what is tangible to us, we can see it, touch it, work it, eat of it, run and play on it etc… but the heavens are not so, they are a spiritual dimension, we can’t physically see them, but no less real.</div>
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<span style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">In biblical understanding it’s another dimension, if you like an alternate dimension and as real as any physical dimension. The Bible tells the story of Elijah and his servant being surrounded by the armies of Assyria, and his servant fretting over it – and not without reason! So Elijah prays, </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><em style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">“O LORD, open his eyes and let him see!”</em> and it says, <em style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">“The LORD opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.”</em> (2 Kings 6:17). Wow! The armies of God were there! Relief!</span></div>
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There are many such stories in the Bible and down through church history, stories of another realm intercepting and impacting the earthly; of angels speaking to, guiding and protecting God’s people.</div>
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‘In the Heavens’ – we tend to think of Earth as being here and Heaven(s) as somewhere over there – usually a long way over there, far, far away… but this isn’t exactly how the Bible pictures it.</div>
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When Jesus ascended into heaven, where did he go? How did he go? It’s interesting that artists generally don’t know how to paint the ascension – yes he ascended and a cloud received him out of their sight, but did he just keep going up or did he ascend and move into another dimension? One things for sure he didn’t just keep going further into space, travelling across billion of miles of cosmos to get there, rather he ascended into the realm where God the Father is, he moved from one dimension to another, but with a physical body!</div>
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Jesus in teaching us to pray like this didn’t want us to understand that God was far away – that certainly wasn’t the experience of Jesus – actually as it says elsewhere <em style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">“he is not far from any of us” </em>(Acts 17:7) – speaking of all humanity. The materialists of today are the equivalent of those of a bygone era who held that the earth was flat, they want us to believe in a flat universe, a one-dimensional material universe that can be explored and explained, not so the Bible, which speaks of a multi-dimensional universe, consisting of the physical and the spiritual, the earth and the heavens, the seen and the unseen, the tangible and the intangible.</div>
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What does this mean for our praying? God isn’t far away! It means we don’t have to try and get across some vast gulf to get to him; we don’t have to shout just in case he can’t hear us over the distance, especially among the myriad of voices clamouring for his attention.</div>
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Though Jesus doesn’t want us to think of Father has far away, nevertheless, he does want us to think of him in a different way. The fact that he is in Heaven means that he is not like our earthly fathers, fallen and frail, subject to ups and downs, an image that is full of disappointment for many. No, he is the Father who is so much other than we are, he is the holy Father. The one who is perfect and complete in every way, whose love is not restricted by human frailty, and power not tainted by human fallenness. Jesus says, “If you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father in the heavens give good things to those who ask him!”</div>
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But he’s also the Father who reigns, Heaven speaks of his throne – <em style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">“Heaven is my throne”</em> says the Lord in Isaiah 66:1. Yes he is sovereign, he has the power and the authority, all he needs to do is speak the word and it will be done. This gives us great encouragement in prayer, we are not praying then to one whose sphere of influence and ability to get something done is limited, we are praying to the very maker and sustainer of the heavens and the earth and all that is therein! Pray says Jesus is powerful!</div>
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“Our Father in the Heavens” So much in such a short phrase!</div>
Richard Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15349318589465890552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3905600588324668549.post-55764707692748181502014-01-31T16:15:00.000+00:002014-01-31T16:15:36.699+00:00Our Father (3) We are Family<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Verdana, 'BitStream vera Sans', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
Jesus said when you pray say ‘Our Father…’</div>
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Thank God for the personal witness that he gives to each one of his children that we are indeed his children and entitled and enabled to say those amazing words ‘Abba, Father.’</div>
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Thank God too for personal prayer, that each one of us can come to God through Jesus Christ and through the Spirit personally pray, ‘Father…’</div>
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But there is more to it than that. Jesus taught us to pray ‘our Father.’ He’s not just my Father, he is your Father, he’s our Father. So in the prayer that Jesus teaches his disciples there is that calling to attention of one-another, of our brothers and sisters in Christ, of the Father’s family.</div>
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In a self-centred world then this prayer calls us to think about more than ourselves, to think also, and especially, about others. It’s not a you in your small corner and I in mine prayer. It’s not about a private faith but a shared one. It’s not about being in it on our own, but a shared life where we bear one another’s burdens, weeping with those who weep, rejoicing with those who rejoice.</div>
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To say ‘Our Father’ calls for the recognition and appreciation of our brothers and sisters in Christ. They have been given life by and share the same wonderful and glorious Father, they are part of the same family. They may be rich or poor, black or white, educated or uneducated, got a handle on life or struggling with it, introvert or extrovert, like pop (whatever that is these days) or classical music, etc.. Whoever they are, they are family, our brothers and sisters in Christ.</div>
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Let me ask you, do you appreciate your church, your family, everyone of them in all their great variety? A bigger question still is, are you joined to one, do you know the fellowship of true commitment?</div>
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Someone once said that ‘no man is an island,’ too true, but many try to live as if they are, even Christians. The prayer that Jesus taught us reminds then that we are called to live a shared life, to be a family sharing communion together with Father.</div>
Richard Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15349318589465890552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3905600588324668549.post-41606248832332750692014-01-21T16:36:00.000+00:002014-01-21T16:36:51.807+00:00The Lord's Prayer - Our Father<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Verdana, 'BitStream vera Sans', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Jesus said when you pray say, “Father/our Father.” </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">What a wonderful way to begin a prayer, from the beginning it speaks of one who gives us life and secondly cares for the life that he gives us. We are his children – wonderful! A relationship has been established, a relationship that can never be lost, however young or old, however weak or strong etc.. God is our Father, we are his forever children. There’s no need for striving here, we are not trying to become his children, we are, and he is our Father.</span></div>
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The problem is so much of our Christianity can be about performing up to God, earning his love, earning the right to pray and get our prayers answered. We end up concerned with saying it the right way, doing it the right way, saying it long enough, saying it loud enough, but in the model prayer that Jesus gave us there’s none of it – none. Jesus just says, “when you pray say, ‘Our Father…’”</div>
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That’s it. That phrase enables us to relate to God the Father just as Jesus the Son does. To be with him as he is, to talk to him as he does. It gathers us up and draws us into the very fellowship of the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.</div>
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Prayer before anything else is about encounter and relationship with God the Father, and the Father with his children. It’s about being, rather than doing. And that’s part of our problem, we live in an action world, there’s stuff that needs to be done, and our praying can be more about doing, getting something done, albeit for the kingdom. We are more interested in the gifts than the Giver.</div>
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The Psalmist spoke about being still and knowing God. I wonder whether we might reinterpret that in a New Testament way and say, “Stop, be still, stop your activity – even all your prayerful activity – and know that God is Father.”</div>
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<span style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Why not find some time, and just pray, “Our Father..” No more, just be with him. Get to know him. Talk to him without request, delight in him and what it means to be Father/son or Father/daughter.</span></div>
Richard Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15349318589465890552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3905600588324668549.post-35676281619619261922014-01-16T16:17:00.002+00:002014-01-16T16:17:55.977+00:00Our Father<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Verdana, 'BitStream vera Sans', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
We’ve just started a new series at church focussing on the Lord’s Prayer, and in turning afresh to it I’ve been impacted by the sheer simplicity and profoundness of it.</div>
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Many of us if not all (truth be known) struggle with, or have struggled with prayer – it sounds simple but how do you do it. I remember as a young Christian tying myself in knots over it. How should I address God? How should I structure/order my prayer? There’s ACTS: Adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication. There’s silence, contemplation. Some said confession first, others said praise – you know how it goes, the list goes on…</div>
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But hey, following the disciples request, Jesus gave us a pattern, a model, and one thing that strikes you about it is the lack of religious phrasing and it’s sheer simplicity, I mean it’s so natural, so relational. In fact the Jews of the day would have been stunned to hear Jesus say, “when you pray say, ‘Our Father’”. Yes they had a general concept of God’s fatherhood, but they certainly didn’t relate to or speak to him in this way.</div>
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The disciples had observed Jesus, the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, and they had been staggered by the way he prayed, the way he related to God. I mean it was so... intimate, so... real, so... meaningful, so... personal, and they wanted to know how to have the same relationship.</div>
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Some desire, but Jesus doesn’t hinder them, he leads them right in!</div>
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When you pray, say, “Our Father…”</div>
Richard Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15349318589465890552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3905600588324668549.post-14437701707047924502014-01-11T18:38:00.000+00:002014-01-11T18:38:13.997+00:00New Beginnings<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Verdana, 'BitStream vera Sans', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
New years like new days provide new beginnings, new opportunities.</div>
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Some would have us believe that we are caught up in an unending repetitious cycle of events, but that is not the way the Bible has it.</div>
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Yes there are seasons that come round year by year, that’s good, there is order to life.</div>
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But there is also movement, advancement.</div>
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The story of the Bible is just that – that the God who created has a purpose in it all. He made us for himself, to enjoy him and serve his unfolding purposes. His desire has always been to bless and make us a blessing. The enemies (Satan) is one of cutting us off from God, of curse and cursing, of being locked into a fallen, downward hopeless cycle of life.</div>
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Praise God that’s where the Christmas story comes in (though it begins way before that!). God came in Jesus to break the curse, the endless cycle of fallenness and hopelessness – Jesus came to destroy all the power of the evil one and in doing so to bring the reign of God and therefore his Fatherhood, blessing and purpose back into our experience.</div>
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It’s a lie of the enemy that ‘whatever will be, will be.’ God can and does breaks in! Jesus saves and delivers, and gives power to live a new kind of life. And if you know him and have messed up (as we all do) the Father’s still loving you, you are still his child, and like any good father he wants to clean you up and set you on your feet again.</div>
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With God everyday is a new beginning, his mercies are new every morning and his lovingkindness makes everyday worth living, and with him advancement is on the agenda!</div>
Richard Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15349318589465890552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3905600588324668549.post-86333135062565941682013-12-29T21:23:00.000+00:002013-12-29T21:23:05.742+00:00God Invades Humanity<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1.3em;">
The Christmas story is staggering in all respects, a virgin, angels, a star... but the most staggering aspect must be that God invades the realm which he had created and takes on the dirt of the earth that he had taken and fashioned and given his own breath to - flesh! God himself becomes a human; yes, real flesh and blood, without ever stopping being God.</div>
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That is the staggering nature of the Gospel, the Good News - God has come, he has invaded 'our space'!</div>
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We were on the run, we were hiding, and God came to find us and put things right.</div>
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He couldn't do it from 'out there', he had to come here.</div>
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He couldn't send someone else, he had to come himself.</div>
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<li>Our salvation necessitated it.</li>
<li>Our restoration required it.</li>
<li>Creation's renewal demanded it.</li>
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He had to be both God and man, not one or the other. He must represent, and be both sides.</div>
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He alone could bridge the gap, the distance brought about by the Fall.</div>
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He alone could save and heal. As the early church Father Gregory said "the unassumed is the unredeemed." God must assume the very likeness of our broken sinful flesh in order to redeem and heal it.</div>
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How? By the Holy Spirit - that's all the Bible tells us; or in the words of the hymn writer - "God contracted to a span, incomprehensibly made man" (Charles Wesley). Mystery. But that doesn't mean it's not true.</div>
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The first few verses of Wesley's Hark the Herald Angels Sing express it well:</div>
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Hark! The herald angels sing,<br />“Glory to the newborn King;<br />Peace on earth, and mercy mild,<br />God and sinners reconciled!”<br />Joyful, all ye nations rise,<br />Join the triumph of the skies;<br />With th’angelic host proclaim,<br />“Christ is born in Bethlehem!”</div>
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<em>Hark! the herald angels sing,<br />“Glory to the newborn King!”</em></div>
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Christ, by highest Heav’n adored;<br />Christ the everlasting Lord;<br />Late in time, behold Him come,<br />Offspring of a virgin’s womb.<br />Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;<br />Hail th’incarnate Deity,<br />Pleased with us in flesh to dwell,<br />Jesus our Emmanuel.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="line-height: 1.5em;" style="line-height: 1.5em;">Hail the heav’nly Prince of Peace!<br />Hail the Sun of Righteousness!<br />Light and life to all He brings,<br />Ris’n with healing in His wings.<br />Mild He lays His glory by,<br />Born that man no more may die.<br />Born to raise the sons of earth,<br />Born to give them second birth.</span></div>
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Then there are two verses that rarely ever get sung, and they are gospel loaded, a prayer applying the truth of the incarnation to one and all who will believe:</div>
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Come, Desire of nations, come,<br />Fix in us Thy humble home;<br />Rise, the woman’s conqu’ring Seed,<br />Bruise in us the serpent’s head.<br />Now display Thy saving power,<br />Ruined nature now restore;<br />Now in mystic union join<br />Thine to ours, and ours to Thine.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="line-height: 1.5em;" style="line-height: 1.5em;">Adam’s likeness, Lord, efface,<br />Stamp Thine image in its place:<br />Second Adam from above,<br />Reinstate us in Thy love.<br />Let us Thee, though lost, regain,<br />Thee, the Life, the inner man:<br />O, to all Thyself impart,<br />Formed in each believing heart.</span></div>
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Hark the herald angels sing,<br />Glory to the new-born King!</div>
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Loaded verses indeed! Full of Gospel truth. He has invaded 'our space,' taken it on, healed, redeemed and reconciled it in order to reinstate us in his love.</div>
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We were made by God for God, and God's invasion of 'our space' is a declaration that God is for us.</div>
Richard Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15349318589465890552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3905600588324668549.post-4458999178015020142013-12-24T22:14:00.000+00:002013-12-24T22:14:28.901+00:00What if Jesus hadn't come?I found myself wondering the other day what would the world be like if Jesus had never been born, and the more I thought about it the more I began to realise it would be a vastly different place to what we know now and certainly not a better one.<br />
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Unfortunately the liberal West loves to blame Christianity for many of the world's ills and keep people ignorant of the positive and profound impact Jesus, and consequently, those who have believed in, and followed him, have had upon the world.<br />
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Let me list a few...<br />
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The coming of Jesus has transformed lives, relationships and communities.<br />
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It has brought liberty and justice, education, medicine and health care to the masses.<br />
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It has brought deliverance from false and futile religion and dark satanic practices.<br />
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It has provided relief to the poor, lifted the downtrodden and broken the yoke of the oppressed.<br />
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It has impacted politics and law and given dignity and rights, freedom of speech.<br />
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It has been a stimulator and contributor to the whole arena of science.<br />
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It has given dignity to work and the rights of employees.<br />
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It has contributed enormously to music, literature and the arts.<br />
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It has provided the biggest season of goodwill the world has ever known.<br />
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And so we could go on....<br />
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Which reminds me, not so long ago I read a report that had come out of atheistic China that said that all that is good (note that) about the West derives from Christianity and therefore from Jesus. That is some statement!<br />
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Yes, if Jesus had not come into the world it would have been a far worse and poorer place.<br />
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Praise God, Jesus did come!<br />
<br />Richard Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15349318589465890552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3905600588324668549.post-89705189645197487552013-12-20T16:20:00.000+00:002013-12-20T16:21:35.367+00:00God Couldn't Just Turn Up - Israel's Role in the Incarnation<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1.3em;">
The incarnation didn't just happen, as we observed in the previous post God took a long time preparing for that first Christmas, and for very good reason.</div>
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There was indeed much to be done, God couldn't just turn up. For God to come in Christ as he did, he needed to prepare the way, to prepare peoples hearts and minds that they might truly know him, his ways, and how they could relate to him.</div>
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That's where God's calling and dealings with Israel come in. To that end the story of Israel is one of the revealing of God to those whom he had created - the breaking in of God upon the hearts and minds of humanity, a humanity broken, distanced and separated by sin.</div>
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For that reason he chose Abraham, a man from a pagan background, and no special individual. He gave him a family, and from that family chose and brought forth the people and nation of Israel, a people who were no more special than any other nation on earth, the least of all people's, and as it turned out, a stubborn, rebellious people at that.</div>
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Over a period of time God made himself known to them in different and varied ways, ways that would distinguish him from the non gods of the surrounding nations as the only true and living God, a God worthy of their praise and devotion.</div>
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Part of that was a variety of rules and religious rituals, rules and rituals that may seem strange to us today and somewhat of a palaver, but they were all a necessary part of how he revealed himself to them and how he educated them in their knowledge of and relationship to him. They enabled them to understand exactly who he was, the difference and distance between them and God, and how they should relate to him.</div>
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It would tell of his undeserved covenant love and faithfulness, his unending mercy and grace, the nature and depths of sin, the way of redemption, forgiveness, atonement, salvation. It would tell of prophet, priest and king, and the promise of Messiah which would ultimately lead to the womb of a young virgin girl and the incarnation of the Saviour God.</div>
Richard Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15349318589465890552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3905600588324668549.post-76691352943107868572013-12-14T18:50:00.000+00:002013-12-14T18:50:50.331+00:00God Prepares for Christmas<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Verdana, 'BitStream vera Sans', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
Preparation is a must – ask any decorator. It’s vitally important to the finished job.</div>
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The same applies to Christmas. In the run up to Christmas people prepare in many different ways and over different lengths of time, nevertheless preparation there must be, otherwise it just wouldn’t happen.</div>
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What most people fail to realise is that God took a long time preparing for Christmas, a lot of time and a lot of effort, it didn’t just happen spontaneously one idyllic night.</div>
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From the beginning, before the foundation of the earth, God had a plan to display his love, but to do so he needed to prepare a people, and bring everything together at the right time and in the right place. The plan was conceived and formulated in the blessed fellowship of that holy community, the Trinity, and there it was set in motion.</div>
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He started by calling Abraham, giving him a family, making them a nation, raising prophets, priests and kings, taking that nation on a journey so that they would get to know him, understand his ways, and be a witness to him among the other people’s and nations of the earth.</div>
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It was a long and eventful journey, but eventually we arrive at the crucial point in human history, and God finds the right person to conceive and bring forth his Son Jesus, his co-equal and co-eternal partner with himself and Holy Spirit.</div>
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The womb of the incarnation had been a long time in forming, through a family, a nation, an individual, but one day it was ready, and the time was right, that point in human history, that juncture of nations involving political, cultural and religious development.</div>
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Yes it took God a long time to prepare for Christmas.</div>
Richard Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15349318589465890552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3905600588324668549.post-87983792299772032722013-12-09T12:28:00.000+00:002013-12-09T12:28:57.566+00:00Christmas is coming - has come!<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Verdana, 'BitStream vera Sans', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
It suddenly dawned on me last week that we are in the run up to Christmas! No, it’s not like I didn’t know, after all at church we’ve been preparing for weeks, but rather in the busyness of life I hadn’t realised it was that close – I mean, <em style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">that</em> close!</div>
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I wonder whether it was a bit like that that first Christmas, everyone was going about their daily routines as one day followed another, even as one year followed another. Of course it hadn’t happened yet, so it wasn’t on the annual calendar, nevertheless they had the prophetic promise, a promise that had been passed on from one generation to another, the promise of a Saviour. And O, how they longed and prayed for that day when he would come. But hey, life goes on, living and hoping, hoping and living, and you can get lost in it and not realise where you’ve got to, or what’s going on.</div>
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Now I’m guessing that they really didn’t have that much idea either on what that would look like as they had no previous experience, so when the promise finally came to pass they were just going about the usual business of the day, and then….. when he does turn up he looks like the rest of us, a vulnerable little baby, dependent in every way on his mother and father.</div>
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I mean, in many ways it was so ordinary, <em style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">too</em> ordinary – could this be God? In fact it was so ordinary it needed angels to announce the fact that this was not just another child just like every other one, but <em style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">the</em> Child, <em style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">the</em> promised One,<em style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> the</em> prayed for and longed for Saviour. Life didn’t pause or wait for everyone to get all spiritual, feel right good and ready, no, suddenly in the middle of the hustle and bustle of Eastern life he made his appearance, he was born – fact. Not in a synagogue, or at the Temple, or some other religious setting, not even the comfort of a home, but a simple stable. I mean what a way to wrap a present!</div>
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I wonder how many today are going about this Christmas, not realising where they are at, and missing the fact that he has come – not as superman or some powerful macho all conquering hero, but as a vulnerable little baby who cried (Yes, I don’t think ‘Away in a Manger’ is correct on this point!), and was as dependent as we were on those around him when we first entered this world. Nevertheless he is none other than the Promised One, the longed for Saviour and we don’t need to wait for another. He <em style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">has</em> come, and he came ‘veiled in flesh.’</div>
Richard Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15349318589465890552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3905600588324668549.post-73237139843584814112013-12-02T13:01:00.000+00:002013-12-02T13:01:14.317+00:00Strange Fire and Prophecy<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Verdana, 'BitStream vera Sans', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The recent Strange Fire conference (and book) has attempted to restate an old argument of cessationists re the gift of prophecy, that there was only ever one type, and that it was inerrant and totally authoritative and the basis of the Word itself, and therefore all other prophecy is false and such prophecy and people should be rejected.</span></div>
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The problem with this view is that it totally ignores the fact that there was prophetic activity of what might be called a secondary nature in the Old Testament. Such prophecies didn’t find there way into Scripture (apart from the mere reference to it’s activity), and they weren’t considered inerrant and totally authoritative, i.e. the Spirit coming on the 70 in Numbers 11: 24–27 with the result that they prophesied, plus the two who weren’t in the right place (Moses response interestingly was that he wished that all of the Lord’s people were prophets); the schools of the prophets mentioned in Samuel and Kings, and Saul’s particular experience, and then we have Joel’s prophesy (inerrant and authoritative and part of scripture) that the Spirit would be poured out on all flesh and they would prophesy.</div>
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Turning to the New Testament we find second level prophecy as a very real and necessary part of church life. It’s there in the book of Acts, and in the letters we find Paul writing to the church in Corinth and strongly encouraging them in it, and again in his writing to the Thessalonians he tells them not to despise it.</div>
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Though it is to be encouraged and not despised nevertheless Paul makes it clear that all prophecy is to be weighed, meaning that it may not all be of the Lord, but in doing so, in no way does he suggest that if turns out not to be of the Lord and therefore not to be accepted should the person giving it be rejected or stoned. And even if it were accepted as from the Lord, the individual still had the choice as to their response, i.e. Paul’s response to the word not to go up to Jerusalem, but he went.</div>
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Even so the fact that it is ‘second level’ doesn’t mean that when it occurs it is any less ‘of God.’ This is truly an activity inspired of the Spirit and is to be treated as such, and for this reason Paul writes, “Don’t stifle the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies,…”</div>
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In my own personal experience I have been blessed, encouraged, helped and guided by the prophetic word, churches that I have been involved with likewise, and I can’t imagine a Christian and Church life without it. Hearing God is vitally important. Taking heed to the prophetic word is as well. Too many churches are living in the past because they are not willing to hear God today.</div>
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If you are someone who has been thrown off course on the things of the Spirit due to Strange Fire (the conference or the book) I would encourage you to go back to the Word to see whether these things are so, and also to find out and talk to those who are experienced and have integrity in these things. Please don’t allow the enemy to rob you of the gift(s) that the Father gives through his Spirit for the benefit of his people.</div>
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Have you ever been blessed by the gift of prophecy?</div>
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Have you ever prophesied?</div>
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How seriously do you take prophecy?</div>
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When was the last time you responded to such a word?</div>
Richard Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15349318589465890552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3905600588324668549.post-75396156925785193522013-11-20T19:27:00.002+00:002013-11-20T19:27:31.743+00:00Speaking in Tongues Today<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Verdana, 'BitStream vera Sans', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">A Controversial Gift</strong></div>
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As exhibited in the recent Strange Fire Conference in the States, the subject of speaking in tongues is probably one of the most controversial of Christian subjects and elicits all sorts of reactions, from the genuine and beneficial, to gibberish and unhelpful, all the way through to being demonic and dangerous, and as such it’s probably the most widely discussed phenomena in Christian experience and has resulted in many messages and books both for and against.</div>
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For those who don’t speak in tongues it can often sound mysterious or even frightening, though on closer inspection maybe it shouldn’t.</div>
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Tongues have been viewed as:</div>
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<li style="line-height: inherit; list-style-position: inside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px;">Gibberish or baby language.</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; list-style-position: inside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px;">Purely psychological – a form of primal speech; the result of some kind of emotional deficit.</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; list-style-position: inside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px;">Angelic speech.</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; list-style-position: inside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px;">Human languages that have been unconsciously picked up.</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; list-style-position: inside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px;">The miracle of Pentecost was simply that they were speaking praises to God in the common language, as opposed to the religious language of the temple which was Hebrew.</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; list-style-position: inside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px;">Demonic, some would even go so far as to say it’s ‘the language of hell.’</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; list-style-position: inside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px;">Still others would say, how can you possibly know whether the tongues people speak in today are the same as in the Bible – the problem with that is you could say that about any experience related to the Bible.</li>
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<span style="line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The first thing we should note is that speech and language are the gift of God, Genesis and the story of Babel makes that clear, and I don’t think for one moment that cessationists would call what happened at Babel gibberish or of the devil.</span></div>
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The second thing is that there are an estimated 7000+ languages in the world of which 90% are used by less than 100, 000 people, and over 1,000,000 share 150 – 200 languages between them, and 46 languages have one particular people group (figures from the BBC). That is an amazing number of languages!</div>
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These kinds of figures tell us something about the amazing nature and complexity of language, with their varying sounds and articulation. So, when people judge the gift of tongues as simply gibberish, I wonder whether they have ever taken the time to listen to some of the languages around the world, where it can be far less easy to hear a distinction in tones and phrase when compared to say the English language.</div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">A NEW GIFT</strong></div>
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The first thing we should note about the gift of tongues is that it is a New Covenant phenomenon, the Old Testament knows nothing of them even though some have tried to find them in Hannah’s prayer in Samuel. The promise of Jesus was and is, “these signs will follow those who believe … they will speak with NEW tongues” In other words they would be tongues they hadn’t heard of before, didn’t know, and hadn’t learned them, either consciously or sub-consciously.</div>
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Secondly, the subject of speaking in tongues occupies quite a few verses in the New Testament, far more than some other topics, so maybe we should sit up and take note! One might ask if God had not intended them to be for today, why would he have inspired the writer to give that amount of time to them and allow those particular manuscripts to be preserved for us today – documents which give no hint of their ceasing at the end of the apostolic era.</div>
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Since the early 1900’s there has been a resurgence of speaking in tongues initially through the Pentecostal movement which resulted in a major evangelistic thrust into the nations, and later the Charismatic movements as people in the historic denominations, of which many were struggling and in decline, began to have fresh encounters with God and an abundance of new life began to break out.</div>
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<strong style="line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Origin</strong></div>
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The Greek noun <em style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">glossa</em> (“tongue”) along with the verb <em style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">laleo</em> (“to speak”) combine to makes<em style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">“glossolalia,”</em> which means to “speak with tongues.” Translations of this vary considerably. The ESV translates it literally as “speaks in a tongue,” whereas some now use the word “language/s.” Sometimes they also add various interpretative adjectives to help us understand what is meant, i.e. “unknown” (1 Cor 14:2,4 KJV), “ecstatic” (1 Cor 14:5 NEB), and even “strange” (1 Cor 14:21 NIV, NAS, ASV, ESV), and by doing so the translators emphasise something of the supernatural and unusual nature of the gift, and the difficulty in describing it!</div>
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The Bible simply says that their origin is in and through the Holy Spirit, not a state of mind or emotion. On the day of Pentecost they spoke in tongues as the “Spirit gave them utterance” or “enabled them,” (Acts 2:4). On each subsequent occasion they occurred because the Spirit was at work (Acts 8, 10, 19 also 9 with 1 Cor 14). They are says Paul a “gift of the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:4, 10, 11), and should not be despised, and though some turn to 1 Corinthians to find reasons not to speak in tongues, no-where in 1 Corinthians does Paul forbid it, or suggest that tongues/other languages are demonic. Paul understands them as meaning-ful utterances and not useless babbling.</div>
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They operate then in the spiritual dimension, and are not reliant upon the mind. The problem for those who are part of the materialistic West is that we are more accustomed to operating in the intellectual and material realm. But God is Spirit, and speaking in tongues are a gift of the Spirit that operates through the human spirit – they flow out of the spirit, by the Spirit, bypassing the usual faculty of the mind whether known or known (1 Cor. 14:14, 15).</div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Their Nature</strong></div>
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Some see a difference between the tongues in Acts and those in 1 Corinthians – At Pentecost they were particular known languages, in Corinthians they appear to be unknown, or even non-human languages. Many studies of tongues focus on the Pentecost experience and deduce certain things from it, i.e. that they were recognised therefore all tongues should be recognised.</div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></strong>In Acts 2 we read that, “They spoke with other tongues … they all heard them, each in his own language/dialect.” From this two options face us:</div>
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<li style="line-height: inherit; list-style-position: inside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px;">They spoke a variety of human languages, and the people recognised them.</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; list-style-position: inside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px;">They spoke in an unknown/spiritual language and there was a <em style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">miracle of hearing</em>whereby they each heard them all speaking in their own language.</li>
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Now we must allow the text to do the work, and the problem with the second is that there is no suggestion in the text that the Spirit came on those who heard them and performed such a miracle of hearing, the text tells us that the Spirit came upon the speakers and <em style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">the miracle was in the speaking! </em>The languages they spoke were recognisable and identifiable.</div>
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Now when you turn to the other occurrences in Acts there is no doubt that these are spontaneous, unlearned languages/tongues, again no miracle of hearing but miracles of speaking, but it is not so easy to ascertain that they were recognisable languages, that has to be read into the text – not a good thing to do.</div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></strong>Corinth was a cosmopolitan city, or multi-cultural, and therefore a place of many languages. As William Baxter Godbey describes it, “It was really a mammoth mongrel of all nationalities.” In such a context it would seem very unlikely that someone entering the church at Corinth would have had any problem with people speaking in different languages/tongues, and they certainly would not have thought that they were out of their minds, and it would not have caused the type of chaos that Paul was dealing with. The Tongues in Corinth to all intents and purposes do not appear to have been recognised human languages from their known world. Paul even refers to the possibility of speaking in the tongues of angels.</div>
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<span style="line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Taking Scripture as a whole it seems that tongues could be human, angelic, or other/spiritual tongues all miraculously enabled by the Spirit. For this reason the translators use phrases like ‘unknown’ or ‘strange.’ Paul himself also refers to the ‘tongues of angels.’</span></div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Their Purpose</strong></div>
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Some have held (particularly cessationsists) that the gift of tongues was for the purpose of evangelism, but there is no clear evidence that this is the case, either from Scripture or church history – this was no short cut to learning new languages. On the day of Pentecost, they were not preaching but magnifying or praising God, and when it came to the preaching it says that Peter stood up and preached the gospel, explaining the dynamic of what was taking place out of the Old Testament prophecy of Joel.</div>
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Some have noted Paul’s comments that they should seek the greater or higher gifts as meaning that tongues were at the bottom of the pile. I don’t think for one moment that was Paul’s intention rather that in the gathered community they should seek that which is beneficial to all.</div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">1. They are a witness of the Spirit’s presence.</strong> They are frequently experienced after the reception of the Spirit. Pentecost being the prime example. In Acts 10:45, 46 it is the speaking in tongues that is a witness that the Spirit has come to the Gentiles.<br />
<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">2. They are for personal edification.</strong> They are full of meaning-ful content. For Paul this was the main benefit of the gift. “The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself,” (1 Cor 14:4,14-17,28), he utters “mysteries in the Spirit” (1 Cor 14:2). Paul himself says, “I thank God that I speak in (other) languages/tongues more than you all,” (1 Cor 14:18). Note, he does not say “I speak in more languages.” He certainly gave time to speaking in tongues even though as the next verse shows he did not understand what he was saying. When did he do it? At home, privately.<br />
<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">3. They are for the edification of others.</strong> 1 Cor 14:26 speaks of bringing “a tongue” to the corporate gathering of the church. There are some differences among pentecostals and charismatics as to how this works out. <strong style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">1.</strong> Some would say that ‘tongues’ is no more than thanksgiving or praise to God, “If you bless (praise/thank) in the Spirit only, how will the person who is ungifted be able to say Amen to your giving of thanks, since they do not know what you are saying? For you are giving thanks well enough.” (1 Cor. 14 16). Taking this approach the corresponding gift of interpretation is always interpreted as that individual’s response in praise or thanks to God. <strong style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">2.</strong> Others take a much broader view. ‘Mysteries’ (14:2) it is pointed out are more than giving thanks or praise to God, they are about God and his glorious purposes, and calling upon 1 Cor 14:3-5,6,13-17 view tongues when interpreted on a par with prophecy, which means that they can be a means of edification and encouragement – they can express revelation, blessing, giving thanks, prayer, praise and the prophetic.<br />
<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">4. They may be used to worship God.</strong> Luke refers to the speaking in tongues on the day of Pentecost as proclaiming “the wonderful/magnificent works of God,” and in Acts 10:46 he describes them as “speaking in tongues and extolling God.” The context of 1 Cor 14:15 “I will sing praise with my spirit,” would seem to suggest singing praises in tongues, and some would also see such praise in the spiritual songs of Eph. 5:18 “Be filled with the Spirit speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs …”. Speaking in tongues is very often connected to exuberant praise.<br />
<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">5. They are a sign to unbelievers.</strong> Un-interpreted tongues can also function as a form of judgment to the unbelieving since they will not be able to understand what’s going on (1 Cor 14: 21-23). The reference here is to the Assyrian army who invade Israel speaking another language, but Israel didn’t recognise what God was saying/doing. The context here has to do with clarity, with understanding.<br />
<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">6. They are useful in praying.</strong> What some would refer to as their ‘prayer language.’ Paul speaks of ‘praying with the spirit’ (1 Cor 14:14, 15; poss. Rom 8:26), which taken in context can only mean praying in tongues, a means whereby we may go beyond the rational intellectual approach to prayer and enter a mode of prayer directed and enabled entirely by the Spirit. Many testify that they are more spiritually aware when praying in tongues; more aware of God’s presence.</div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The ‘Mechanics’ of Speaking in Tongues</strong></div>
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<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">1. Who may? </strong>– Paul says, “I want you all to speak in tongues …” (1 Cor 14:5 ESV). This wasn’t a wish, it was a strong desire. Every Christian may.<br />
<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">2. It is spiritual not natural.</strong> In normal speech the mind working through the understanding enables the tongue, but when someone speaks in tongues the words are not from the speakers understanding but the Holy Spirit. They flow from the human spirit as opposed to the mind.<br />
<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">3. How?</strong> Some people fear that if they speak in tongues they will lose control, but 1. “They spoke as the Spirit enabled them.” So it wasn’t made up, coerced, forced or psychological, but by the Spirit. 2. Paul says , “I will pray with the spirit … I will sing with the spirit.” Our will is involved, not neutralised.</div>
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So tongues are a part of the New Covenant blessing of God, they are miraculous, varied, and extremely beneficial when used according to Scripture.</div>
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Why not seek God for the gift?</div>
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Maybe you have the gift, and you’ve not used it in awhile, then be encouraged to stir it up.</div>
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What place does it have in your life?</div>
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What place does it have in your church?</div>
Richard Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15349318589465890552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3905600588324668549.post-15684728868159756402013-11-11T15:44:00.000+00:002013-11-11T15:44:58.768+00:00Christianity is Supernatural<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Verdana, 'BitStream vera Sans', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
The recent debate over Strange Fire has made me think again about what it means to be a Christian, and for the church to be truly Christian.</div>
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One of the dangers of the debate over Strange Fire, and a danger for those who call themselves Reformed (I don’t particularly like labels as you are not always sure as to what they mean to others, but if you are wondering I guess I’m reformed with a small ‘r’), is the reducing of Christianity to that which is cerebral, solely of the mind, an intellectual exercise, something which we have power and control over.</div>
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But, one thing that stands out with just a cursory reading of the Bible is that being a Christian is far more than assenting to the truth (though there is and must be that), it is supernatural, there’s no two ways about it, and you can’t be one without it!</div>
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<li style="line-height: inherit; list-style-position: inside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px;">To be a Christian involves a supernatural new birth.</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; list-style-position: inside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px;">To be a Christian involves the supernatural baptism and continual filling of the Holy Spirit.</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; list-style-position: inside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px;">To live as a Christian requires daily dependence upon God, a life lived in the Spirit.</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; list-style-position: inside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px;">To be a Christian is to be resourced by the Spirit with all his wonderful gifts.</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; list-style-position: inside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px;">To be a Christian involves mortifying the flesh, the old passions, by the Spirit (not strength of mind or will).</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; list-style-position: inside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px;">Our praying is to be in the Spirit.</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; list-style-position: inside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px;">Our worship is to be in the Spirit.</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; list-style-position: inside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px;">Our meetings are to be led and enabled by the Spirit.</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; list-style-position: inside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px;">Our witness is to be empowered by the Spirit.</li>
<li style="line-height: inherit; list-style-position: inside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px;">Etc.!</li>
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Christianity is then an experience, a powerful supernatural experience, and without it we end up with sterile form – cold, disciplined religion. For Paul it wasn’t simply a case of giving mental assent to the truth, it was what do you know of the Spirit’s presence. In Reformed circles it has been traditional to speak of justification by faith alone, through grace alone, in Christ alone, as the foundational truth of the church – lose it and you have no church, and there is a measure of truth to that. The problem is it’s not the whole truth, and on it’s own it’s like a plane with only one wing. Paul’s great challenge to those who professed belief at Ephesus was ‘did you receive the Spirit when you believed?’ According to Paul then there is another fundamental and foundational truth to the church – the reception of and experience of the Spirit.</div>
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My question is do you <em style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">know</em> Him? Have you truly encountered the Saviour? What do you know of the Spirit’s presence? You can’t have One without the Other. If you don’t then you don’t have to wait to go to church, you can meet him now. Recognise your sin and need of a Saviour, turn from your sin and helplessness to Christ, believe in Him and receive the gift of his Spirit.</div>
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And if you do know him, what place does the Spirit have in your life? Do you know what it is to be filled? Do you know his Presence and Power? If not, why wait, open up your heart afresh to him, seek his renewal and filling….</div>
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What place are we giving in our churches to the Spirit?</div>
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What place are we giving in our churches are we giving to the Word?</div>
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We need both Word and Spirit, without them we are in trouble, but with them, wow! who knows!</div>
Richard Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15349318589465890552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3905600588324668549.post-32072874752802634672013-11-03T15:14:00.000+00:002013-11-03T20:13:43.569+00:00Strange Fire and Speaking in Tongues<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Verdana, 'BitStream vera Sans', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
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Speaking in tongues is a big issue for John MacArthur and Co. and it was also for the apostle Paul, except that their take on it is completely different.</div>
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Part of MacArthur’s problem, a major part, is one of hermeneutic, how you interpret the Scriptures. MacArthur works within a moderate dispensational framework, a framework which tends to divide human history into particular periods of God’s activity, so within this framework the baptism and gifts of the Spirit were for the founding of the church, after which they were withdrawn as they were no longer needed.</div>
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The problem with such an approach is that you have nowhere to place any demonstrations of the Spirit today, so you are left with no other course of action than to describe them as false, gibberish and at worse demonic. Sadly this was seen at the Strange Fire Conference, yet perhaps we shouldn’t have been surprised as it can be seen in John MacArthur’s Study Bible (a huge amount of which is very good) where in regard to tongues in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians MacArthur appears to be at a complete loss in how to deal with them and in order to win his point must argue that Paul is actually dealing with counterfeit tongues and not the real thing.</div>
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MacArthur says in commentating on chapter 4:2 <em style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">“<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">he who speaks in a tongue.</strong> This is singular, indicating that it refers to the false gibberish of the counterfeit pagan ecstatic speech. The singular is used because gibberish can’t be plural; there are not various kinds of non-language”,</em> and again in chapter 14 v. 14-17, <em style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">“Paul continued to speak sarcastically (cf. v. 16; 4:8-10) about counterfeit tongues, so he used the singular “tongue”…, which refers to the fake gift. He was speaking hypothetically to illustrate the foolishness and pointlessness of speaking in ecstatic gibberish.”</em>Again in 14:26 MacArthur says<em style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> “<strong style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">each of you has</strong>… <strong style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">a tongue</strong>. In the singular, this refers to the counterfeit.” </em>Now nowhere in the context is there any suggestion that Paul thinks they are uttering false tongues or speaking in gibberish! Absolutely nowhere. That is simply being read into the text.</div>
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The first thing to note is that MacArthur trys to make a difference between a ‘tongue’ and ‘tongues,’ the <em style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">“singular ‘tongue’” </em>he says<em style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> “refers to the fake”,</em> the latter plural “tongues” the genuine. Again this is being read into the text, and it should be noted that you can only speak in one tongue at a time, so Paul’s terminology, his Greek, is quite correct. Paul is not saying the gift is false, and he is certainly not saying they should stop it, rather he is saying, look, this is one of the gifts of the Spirit and it is of great benefit, but only if it is interpreted.</div>
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Secondly, Paul’s problem then is with their use and abuse of the gift, and his great concern is not in stopping it but getting them to exercise it in the right way. In chapter 14:13 he says<em style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">“Let him who speaks in a tongue </em>(note the singular)<em style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> pray that he may interpret.” </em>Not for one moment does he say, “stop, it’s gibberish, don’t you know, it’s of the devil,” rather, what he says is that unless an interpretation is given what they say will not benefit those who are listening, so pray for the interpretation.</div>
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Thirdly, as Paul goes on there is no way that he is being sarcastic, <em style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">“For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding.” </em>This is not sarcasm, that is being read into the text by MacArthur to suit his own belief and experience, something that we all need to be aware of – reading the text from where we are. Rather Paul says when I pray in a tongue my spirit is praying, not my mind, and so I don’t understand what I’m saying, so I will do both, pray in a tongue and pray with my intellect/understanding – the argument is for one of balance and edification.</div>
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Paul said that he himself welcomed the gift and spoke in tongues more than all of them (14:18). What about you?</div>
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Richard Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15349318589465890552noreply@blogger.com0