Monthly Archives: March 2016

What is man?

Pastor's Desk,

Dear Family

If we truly take a good, long, honest look at ourselves as the human race, it takes very little effort or imagination to realize that we are indeed a motley bunch of creatures. We have enormous capacities to injure one another, to hate, to deceive, to trample on and to do just about anything else which, if left unchecked, would ultimately result in the extinction of mankind in a ridiculously short space of time! The bible puts is like this in Jeremiah 17:9: “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” Is it any wonder that when God adopts us into His family that He deems us “new creations”?
And yet we have a Father, the God of all creation, who has said of us in Psalm 8:4: “what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” I find it incredible that God actually has us in mind in the first place. That He actually loves us, and actually sees us as we can be, and actually invites us into His kingdom, and actually chooses to adopt us as His sons and daughters. Mind blowing stuff! Is it just not possible to meditate on these things without being gobsmacked by how wonderful, loving and kind our God actually is, especially seeing as we do not and cannot deserve His kindness.

Psalm 103:13-14 puts everything into perspective: “As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.”
What a relief—He knows we are dust and He chooses therefore to have compassion on those who fear Him!
As we witnessed the goings on in parliament recently and saw the gods of our country doing their very best, we became acutely aware again that outside of submission to Almighty God and the fear of Him in our land and powers of parliament, we have nothing and instead find ourselves bent on a road of self destruction. We will continue to point fingers and blame until we all find ourselves on another planet, but nothing can change until we remember who we actually are and who God actually is.

He has compassion on those who fear Him. He knows how dusty we are. He knows how to fix and what to do. He knows! Now more than ever we need to be in secret in our cupboards praying for our kings—the pattern to use is simply “The LORD has compassion on those who fear Him”. Let’s keep on keeping on, praying our leaders into the will of God.

A New Command

Pastor's Desk,

Dear Family

This edition of “Chronicles” has several articles referring to Pastor Colin and Judy and deservedly so! We shall greatly miss them and their amazing personalities. Our lives were immeasurably enriched just because we knew them and for that we are grateful to our loving Heavenly Father. We do not idolize them, but we do as the scripture calls upon in Romans 13:7 “Give everyone what you owe him: …if honour, then honour.”

I was just thinking about some of the things that I learned from Pastor Colin and one thing really stuck out for me. He would often remind me that we should be careful to tell people how much they mean to us while they are still alive. He would say that it’s pretty useless to wait for a funeral to hear how much people appreciate you. He would then proceed to tell me what I meant to him and I would then reciprocate. A little ritual we held every now and then!

But how true this is! I’m sure all of us have been to funerals where there is either so much syrup flowing from the eulogies that we do not recognize the person, or where we sit in regret that we did not say what we could have said while the person was still with us.

Of the more than 1000 commands found in the New Testament, there is only one which an author claims as “new”. The Apostle John records Jesus as saying: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34,35
The concept of loving one another has its roots in Jesus, our example giver. This was different to any other explanation, this was about the example that Jesus himself modelled for us. Totally un-deserving, totally unselfish, totally without reciprocity and very, very specific—one another. The spin off is obvious—the world will know!

How sad it is when we instead live in a world where Christian chews Christian and spits him out without a thought. A world in which the church spends a fortune in courts of law fighting against the church for their denominational or other rights. We are the laughing stock of the earth and will be until we decide to heed Christ’s new command. And it starts with appreciating one another.

Will you join me in 2016 in finding ways to value the people in our lives?

In His Presence

Pastor's Desk,

Dear Family

I am enjoying our “Journey through the Psalms” on a Sunday morning so much. Never before did I realize just how rich and complete the psalms actually are. It’s clearly no wonder that these were used by the ancient (and present) lovers of God to express their devotion, confidence in, inner feelings, fears, faith, hope and pure love for the God of Gods. They are filled with real life people, in real life situations, with real life questions and answers as they interact with a real life God.

One of the many questions which can be found in the Psalms is David’s human attempt to understand who is actually entitled to be found in God’s presence. In Psalm 15 he provides an answer to his question, “Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary”, listing 11 things:- blameless walk, does what is right, speaks truth, no slander, no wrong to neighbour, no slur against fellow man, despises a vile man, honours those who fear the LORD, keeps his word, lends money without interest, does not accept a bribe. That’s quite a list! It would become a burden above burdens were we to attempt to follow that for the sake of following it by the letter, every day, all day. If you think otherwise, just start with always walking blamelessly and always doing the right thing or being righteous. It’s just not going to happen—if you think you are then you’ve already missed the plot!

I prefer to think that these things are the fruit of true God-lovers. These things will follow those who follow hard after God, who love him with fullness of heart, soul, mind and strength. God’s attributes flowing through his people. The new covenant teaches us in many different ways that “It does not depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.” It’s really all about what he has achieved on our behalf—his righteousness become ours because of what he has done for us. What a relief! My end of the agreement to is keep loving him and allowing him to change what needs to be changed. Co-operation with his ways, led by his Spirit is what’s needed, not an exhausting attempt to keep a list of rules and regulations.

When I look around at the practices of some “Christian” churches and see the cloaks of religious practice in order to please God, I am just so thankful that this is not what Jesus came for! I choose to enter His rest rather than my struggle.

THE SPIRIT OF CONVICTION

Christian Life, , , ,

THE HOLY SPIRIT – THE SPIRIT OF CONVICTION

The disciples had a powerful role to play in the spread of God’s kingdom on earth, but so did the Holy Spirit, and they were to be sure that they did not get their roles confused. The disciples’ role was to make disciples by identifying them with and initiating them, through mikvah – ceremonial washing – Into the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them everything Jesus had taught them. Nothing less, nothing more (Matt. 28: 18-20). This was what Jesus had authorised them to do.

The role of the Holy Spirit was the inward part. It was His work to convince three categories of beings who they were and how they were to respond.

When He comes, He will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment; in regard to sin because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. (John 16: 8-11)

This statement of Jesus will confuse us if we do not separate the three categories from one another and apply the appropriate truth to each. Who was He talking about?

  • The world

These are the ones who do not believe in Him. What is the role of the Holy Spirit in the world? No disciple can convince an unbeliever that he is a sinner. One can use logical arguments and even get him to admit that he is a sinner but that will not convince him to the extent that he will turn to the Lord and receive forgiveness of sins and new life. All he does is give intellectual assent to the truth, but that will not save him.

Only the Holy Spirit, working within the heart and conscience of the sinner, can bring life to a dead spirit by awakening him to the truth of who Jesus is and what He has done. The role of the Holy Spirit in the unbeliever is twofold; He convinces him of sin and points him to the Saviour.

  • The believer

It is not the Holy Spirit’s primary role to convict believers of sin. We may think it is because we feel bad when we have sinned. We are tormented by guilt and keep on begging for forgiveness as though we need to be saved all over again. But the Holy Spirit is not the accuser – that’s the devil’s role in the world.

Then of what does the Spirit convince the believer? Jesus said that He convinces believers of righteousness. Why do we need to be convinced of righteousness? Satan plays a pivotal role in the life of a believer. He is called “the accuser of the brethren”. He works very hard to get us to believe that the work of Jesus on the cross was not enough. Every time we wander off the path, he comes at us with all his guns blazing. “You see! You can’t be saved. Look what you’ve done? How can you call yourself a Christian when you did that?” Condemnation heaped upon condemnation! That’s who he is and that’s what he does.

The Holy Spirit comes to convince us that we have been made righteous by the gift of righteousness that comes through Jesus. It’s not what we have done for God. It’s what Jesus has done for us. His sacrifice took care of all our sin for all time. In order to lose our salvation, we would have to make a conscious choice to renounce and walk away from what He has done for us.

God expects us to fail from time to time because we still have the pull of the old nature in us. He does not stand over us with a whip to beat us when we fail. He calls us to live up to the righteousness He has already given us through Jesus. We are His sons and daughters. We are in the process of becoming replicas of Jesus, our rabbi and His Son. We are both righteous in our standing with God and becoming righteous through the purifying work of the Holy Spirit in us.

Righteousness, not condemnation, is our motivation for living in obedience to Him.

  • The devil

The devil hears only one word from the Holy Spirit – judgment! He hears no word of comfort – only condemnation 24/7. What he hears, he speaks. How can he hear anything else but judgment when he has sealed his own fate? How can he speak anything else but condemnation when that’s all he hears? He wants to take God’s people down with him, to unsettle them and drag them into doubt with his lies. He is a liar. Lies are the only language he knows.

Jesus had this to say to the religious leaders who claimed that God was their Father in spite of the fact that they were planning to kill Him:

You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (John 8: 44)

How important that we learn to identify the voices we are constantly hearing! The voice of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the believer is always positive – pointing to Jesus and speaking the truth.

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or Kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Do you like this post? Then buy your own copy of my book, Learning to be a Disciple, which is also available from www.amazon.com or www.takealot.com in South Africa. You can also order a copy directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com

Watch this space!

My latest book, The Heartbeat of Holiness, will also soon be available.

Christian Life, , , ,

THE HOLY SPIRIT REVEALED

Except for the few times Jesus mentioned the source of His power, His disciples did not know this Spirit whom He said was coming. He spent the final precious hours before He would be torn from them to fill them in on the Person who would take His place, both with them and in them. He told the disciples, in what we call the “Upper Room Discourse”, everything they needed to know about the Holy Spirit so that they would learn to walk with Him as they had walked with Jesus for three years.

  1. Jesus’s “other” self

So close and one were Jesus and the Holy Spirit that He could call Him His “other self”. He could say with confidence.

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. (John 14: 18)

But how could He come to them since He had told them that He was going away? After His resurrection, He was only around for forty days before He left them for good. Ah, but He had another “self”, the Holy Spirit who would take up residence within them forever. He would not come and go as Jesus had done. He would not be confined to a geographical location as Jesus was. He was spirit, not flesh and blood, and would soon come upon them to be fused with their spirits in an unbreakable union. They would be His temple, individually and together. He would make real the name that was given to Jesus prophetically in the Tanakh – Emmanuel – God with us.

The Holy Spirit withdrew from fallen man in the beginning because He could not dwell with sin. Jesus atoned for and removed sin forever, and promised that He would send the Holy Spirit from the Father to be in them permanently once again. Everything that Jesus was to them, He would be.

  1. The “Paracletos”

Jesus promised that “another Parakletos” was coming – one who would do the same things He had done while He was with them. The word parakletos comes from two Greek words – para, meaning “alongside” as in the word “parallel” – and kaleo, meaning “to call”. “Parakletos” is in the passive voice – “one who is called alongside”.

Who was this Parakletos and what would He do? Firstly, He was “another Parakletos”, implying that Jesus was the first Parakletos. Therefore He would take Jesus’s place and do everything Jesus did. To His disciples Jesus was their rabbi and their model. He was their protector and provider. He was their teacher and mentor.

This “another Parakletos” was called alongside them to support them in their human weakness. He would help them when they tottered under the weight of their burdens by carrying the burdens with them. He would be there to enable them to walk “upright” on their journey to the Father.

  1. The Spirit of Truth

Jesus described the Parakletos as the Spirit of truth. He was not just any spirit. He was the Spirit of truth. Jesus identified Himself as the “truth”. Pilate asked rather cynically. “What is truth?” and did not even stay long enough to hear His answer. What would Jesus have said to Pilate? Would He have defined truth in abstract terms? No. As a true Hebrew, Jesus would have simply said, “Look at me. I am the truth.” In other words, everything He was, everything He said and everything He did was the truth.

Now He said to His disciples, “Just as you watched me and saw truth in action, the Holy Spirit will be in you to teach you how to be truth in action.” If they listened to Him as they had listened to Jesus, they would be in no doubt at all about who and what the truth was.

  1. The Spirit of Jesus

But how would they be able to differentiate between the voice of the Holy Spirit in them and every other voice that clamoured to be heard? Jesus gave them a simple test.

All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. (John 14: 25-26)

I have much more to say to you, more than you can bear now. But when He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. (John 16: 12-14)

What the Holy Spirit says and does is always in perfect harmony with what Jesus said and did. The test is simple and backed up by a powerful witness:

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (John 14: 27)

How would they know they were on the right track? Jesus promised that He would replace their insecurity with the same confirmation that powered Him – peace. Peace in the heart always follows truth in the mind. Emotional disturbance is God’s warning sign that there are lies in the mind that contradict what God has said. Jesus assured His disciples that, as long as they followed the Holy Spirit who would lead them into the truth embodied in Him and His word, His supernatural peace would confirm that they were in the truth.

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or Kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Do you like this post? Then buy your own copy of my book, Learning to be a Disciple, which is also available from www.amazon.com or www.takealot.com in South Africa. You can also order a copy directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com

Watch this space!

My latest book, The Heartbeat of Holiness, will also soon be available.