Category Archives: Pastor’s Desk

The Great Commission

Pastor's Desk

Dear Family

The book of Matthews records the following words as being the last thing Jesus said before leaving:

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Down through the ages this has come to be known as “The Great Commission”. And it most certainly appears to be! Consider for a moment: The Messiah breaks into human history to become one of us, fully God, fully human. After His supernatural conception and kitchen birth with the hoo haa of angels and the later visitation by some eastern mystics, He lives a relatively obscure life until he reappears at His baptism. He then goes on a flat out 3 odd years of ministry, gets falsely accused of crimes He did not commit, gets put to death, then rises again after 3 days. Around 40 days later He gives those gathered around Him this incredible, scary, seemingly impossible task – “go, make disciples, baptize them, teach them.” And then he floats into the air and gets hidden by a cloud. Poof! Gone!

Okay, so He did say He had “all authority” and that He would be with us “to the very end of the age” but all the other details are fairly sketchy to say the least. I mean “read between the lines” would be somewhat of an understatement indeed! The only good thing here is that He Himself did not name it “The Great Commission” so at least there’s some pressure off. Since he left the squeeze has been on to get to the “all nations” at any and all cost. Sweat! Sweat!

Except I do not believe the Saviour ever meant it to be a pressure thing. I think that’s our idea of what we have named “The Great Commission”. I think what He meant was that as we go about our lives, wherever we are, whatever we are doing, we are to re-present Him to those around us. He has authorized us to, and He wants us to. Because He is with us, we rest in Him as we teach, baptize and obey. This is not just for a few missionaries or pastors or warmongers, but for everyone who has chosen to follow in His footsteps. Making the world a better place for individuals by demonstrating Jesus one person at a time as we move along through life.

Pressure off! Love Him, live Him, lead others to Him. You too can be a part of the “Great Commission”.

Paul

LOVED UP

Pastor's Desk,

Dear Family

I was deeply moved by the video presentation we watched recently which was shown by our visitors from the Gideons. The story line: a lady on a pathway to hell, reads a Gideons bible in her hotel room, gives her life to Jesus, goes to perform at her sched-uled nightclub, finds herself “loving eve-ryone in the room”, tells everyone there what Jesus has done for them, gets fired, goes to a friend, ends up with her entire family now serving God. Really WOW stuff!

What struck me was the fact that she battled to understand at the time after giving her life to Jesus, that she “loved everyone”. Isn’t this just so true? It is very difficult for us not to “love everyone”. It may be that we are angry with someone for a time, but it doesn’t last too long and for-giveness flows as love pours out. Jesus did say it would be like this in John 13:35 “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” The Apostle Paul, writing to the church at Rome, said: “…God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us” (Romans 5:5). You see, it’s just not possible not to love IF we are true followers of Jesus Christ. This is kind of a catch 22 situation. It al-most seems “unfair”. When someone is really different from us, when we are treated unjustly, when we desperately want to go in for the kill, WHOOSH, an-other wave of love goes surging through us and spoils our opportunity to really get the knives in. Our flesh cries out to get revenge and our spirit, controlled by the Holy Spirit, spoils it all with this love stuff.

John (1 John 3:14) actually links our ability to love to our salvation, and says quite categorically that “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.” Yes, I know, some-times it does seem highly impos-sible to love some people, but when this happens, I always remind myself that God has been there and done that en-tirely successfully. Romans 5:8 tells us, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” He died for me, the unlovable, sinful, selfish one, long before He cleaned me up. Therefore it frees me to allow Him to do the same to others through me.

Whoop! Whoop!

Paul

Bounty and Abundance

Pastor's Desk, ,

Dear Family

Well, another year flew past and another year started and if you are spinning as you watch them come and go, welcome to the club! The saying “time flies” seems to take on a deeper meaning every year I grow a little younger inside and a bit older outside. Fly it does indeed, at hypersonic speed!

I don’t know what your year was like last year, but I do know that many people, including my own family, experienced a year of monumental trial. It is never fun when the storm is raging, but it is always good to know that in the midst of the storm, He is there. He has promised He will never leave us and never forsake us and that in ALL things He is working stuff to our good. Wow! What absolute assurance of Divine commitment to us irrespective of how noisy the elements are.

Perhaps you lost sight of His goodness due to a difficult time in 2013? Perhaps the bad stuff seemed just too bad? Perhaps He seemed far away and disinterested in what you were going through? Well, we know that He never changes and His word is completely true and secure, so maybe the problem is on our side. As we launch into this new year, let us not drag with us all the scars and negativity of last year, but rather position ourselves again squarely in His will for us. The psalmist points us to an encouraging promise of God in Psalm 65:11 regarding 2014: “You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance.” Whoop! Whoop!

I have the distinct impression that this year is going be a time of “getting the inside out”. For some, it will mean an overflow of the heart in a positive sense – gushing my faith all over people, situations and circumstances. For others, it will mean an exposure of hidden wickedness. Getting rid of that secret sin of unbelief, of trust in man, or loving the things of the earth. God’s heart is set on conforming us to His image and He has promised to finish what He started.

Let us embrace His peace as we navigate His will in 2014 – crowned with bounty and abundance!

Paul

Rest! Rest! Rest!

Pastor's Desk, ,

Dear Family

I just love the invitation we read about in Matthew 11:28 from the Lord of the Universe: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Wow! What other “god” has ever issued such an invitation? In all religions we see lengthy rituals and rules meticulously laid out for blinded devotees to follow in order to try to appease the said “god”. There is just no end to the burden laid upon their shoulders as they strive day in and day out towards satisfying the demands of their deity.

In our case, the invitation is quite simple: “You earth people, you owe me big time. You have zero chance of ever pleasing me. Zero chance of ever matching my standards. Zero chance of ever being able to pay me what you owe me. So, now here’s the deal: stop trying, lay down your efforts, accept that I have stood in your place, and now enjoy my rest!”

How can we ever begin to understand or to define the grace of God? That He should love people enough to do the unthinkable in order to make a way that people can enjoy fellowship and oneness with Him.
I do try to understand that many people today do not feel they need a god, that they do not need forgiveness, that they do not need any cosmic favour outside of their selfish existence. But the fact remains, “the wages of sin is death”! In the midst of this hopeless and helpless condition, Jesus issues an invitation to all, “Come to me.”
Resting in God’s grace can only be accomplished by coming unashamedly and unconditionally to the Author of grace, Jesus Christ. How often we come with our agendas, our preconceived ideas, and possibly even our religious notions. But Jesus invites us to come just as we are to Him, exchanging all our stuff, for His glorious rest and indescribable peace.

Why not reply to that Heavenly Invitation today? “Thank you, Jesus. I come. I lay at your feet every bit of weariness in trying to appease you and please you. I bring every burden of just never being good enough, and swop it all for your rest!” Whoop! Whoop!

Paul

It’s all about unity

Pastor's Desk

Dear Family,

From the very beginning of human activity on our planet, the solitary ploy of the enemy has been to disturb unity. It does not take much mental exercise to realize that if unity can be disrupted, then everything else simply falls apart at the seams. God’s plan: perfect unity in the Trinity in perfect unity with His creation, man being the crown of all creation.

Unfortunately we know the story:- the unity which Adam and Eve enjoyed with the Creator was disrupted. The unity in the first family was further damaged by the murder of a brother by a brother. Disunity then snowballed until God determined to start again with a righteous man and his family after the world wide flood. And even with a new start, it did not take long before that too produced what we have until today. Even unity in creation started unraveling after disunity took effect. We learned recently how some of the teeny tiny bacteria became rogue and continue to plaque man.

Jesus is all about unity. Jesus is all about reconciling man to God – back to unity. The Second Coming and the consummation of the ages is all about restoring unity by the destruction of the final enemy, death, which arrived through disunity! Think a bit in our terms. What happens when disunity enters a family, a marriage, a business, a church, a sport club, or anything else? Death and destruction which lasts for many generations! On the other hand, think about the pictures we have in the Bible where God emphasizes unity, for example, the Oneness of God; marriage; God and His bride, the church; the Scriptures of promised blessing upon unity.

The Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 4:3-6: “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit— just as you were called to one hope when you were called— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

“Every effort” implies that we must do whatever we can, whatever it takes, at whatever cost or personal expense, to ensure that division is not allowed to find a comforting corner in the halls of our humanity. You see, once the unity is breached, the walls always come tumbling down. So, will you commit to “every effort” to keep in line with the Father?

Paul