Michael Faraday, the self-taught genius after whom the unit of electrical capacity is named, once asked his mother how she knew the Bible was true. This woman, uneducated, poor, caring for a sick and dying husband and with a family to rear, replied to this effect: " I know the Bible is true because I have proved it." Hi there, my name is Ian Jack and together with my wife Ruth, we have proved the reality of God; God's faithfulness, and God's word, the Bible. He helped us walk through a valley with one of our son's, during several years of his drugs, drink and rebelliousness. In the "Tree of Life" book, Mr Philip Heywood acknowledges that the best way to prove the reality of the God of the Bible is by one's own personal experience. My heart says, "Yes!", as along with millions of others worldwide, we, like Mrs Faraday, have found that the God of the Bible can be proved in all of life's varied experiences. My family had provided me with a loving home environment which continued through my engineering training as a fitter and turner, steam engineer and junior draughtsman, working in various sugar mills, here in Queensland, Australia. I have also travelled much of Queensland as a Minister, Youth Worker and Religious Educator. I came to a personal faith in Jesus, God's son, in my early teens. Then came a happy marriage and a family of three wonderful sons. One of those sons migrated towards misguided company and relationships which plummeted him into rebellion, drink and drugs. After several years in this wilderness, he turned again to the God of the Bible whose presence and power gave him not only a fresh direction and destiny, but also healed his feet and ankles from a crippling disease, so now he is very actively serving God with a well, strong body.
Please feel free to contact us if you genuinely think we may be of benefit to each other. Email us : itrjjack@hotmail.com.au Our postal address is P.O. Box 5300, Nambour, S.C.M.C, 4560, Australia. There are Christian people all around the world who have proved God's power and love who will be able to share it. Just a note on " The Tree of Life" and associated concepts, in passing. Mr Heywood's book is a classic with its concepts promoting a return to the Maker. There will be areas not central to faith on which some people will not see eye-to-eye, but what thought provoking concepts! As a Pastor/Youth worker/religious educator for more than 33 years, I commend both the book and its concepts to you. Recently I read the following thought-provoking analogy:- " The Maker of all human beings is recalling all units manufactured, regardless of make or year, due to serious defects in the primary central component- the heart. This is due to a malfunction in the original prototype unit code-named ADAM, resulting in the reproduction of the same defect in all subsequent units. The manufacturer, who is neither liable nor to blame for the defect, is providing factory repair and service free of charge." Think about it!
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We
prove the Bible by experience?
Out
of it we have both won! He proved God's power and faithfulness to free
him from his downward life spiral and disability. God enabled us to
speak into his life in his down experiences, both of God's love for
him and of our love for him. We proved that when applied, God's love
is the greatest force on earth, greater than life's biggest obstacles.
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Sermons Record as Spoken by Pastor Jack CHOICES
Folk, in between the beginning of our lives and the end of our lives, what is going to make a whole world of difference in this life and in the future is - choices. On the 28th of last month I spoke on the power of choices in our life, and I wish to continue along the same vein, with some other thoughts, tonight. And so choices is going to make a whole world of difference in this life and also to our future. The things that we choose - the things that we choose to do, the things that we choose not to do. The attention that we give to people; the attention we give to detail; the choices that we make; the responses that we make, when good things happen, and when bad things happen - choices, in our life. It is so vitally important for us to know the blessing of God and God's direction, and God's detail in our life in relation to choices. I am going to share in a moment regarding an e-mail that I received, not too long back: but before I do, I wish to just remind you of a verse I quoted from a fortnight ago: Deuteronomy 30:19, "I have set before you, life and death: blessing and cursing; choose life, that you and your seed may live." The greatest future for you and for me and for our descendants is connected with the choices that we make, now, in life. This e-mail that I just mentioned, is sad in relation to the effects that a wrong choice that a young guy made - the effects that it had upon his wife and upon his children and upon other people. According to this message, on "Watch E-mail", this guy made
a terribly wrong choice, and the wrong choice carried with it terribly
sad consequences. And so, this guy unfortunately did not take notice
of what the Word of God says, when it says, "Choose life, that
you and your descendants may live and enjoy life." Bud Hancock
wrote in this e-mail: "Recently I attended a funeral of a gifted
and a caring young dad, who had made some bad choices. In his hopelessness
he made the final, fatal choice of ending his own life. The shock, like
a huge earthquake, shook his friends and family without warning. All
present at that funeral were keenly aware of the fragility of life and
the critical choices that determine whether time here is our friend
or our foe. God has given us the freedom to make choices, but we cannot
choose the consequences of those choices. In this case, the choices
resulted in a life snuffed out, children left fatherless, a grieving
wife, family, and friends." Here is a tabulation of a case study that was done in the United States. Back in the 1960's I first came across this. The effect of choices - destiny is all tied up in choices. This story is of two men - Max Jukes and Jonathon Edwards. We are going to look at Jonathon Edwards in just a moment, but we will look first at Max Jukes. Max Jukes was a non-believer in the gospel of Jesus Christ. He was a man who was not interested - Godless, not God-fearing. (Also, his children wished to go to the house of God - wished to go to a place of worship - he refused to let them go.) So Max's descendants and his wife - both ungodly people - they had 1,900 descendants over 5 generations, and generally they all followed this ungodly example. 300 children died from neglect. 400 had social diseases. 771 were known criminals. 39 were murderers. 190 were prostitutes; and 300 were chronic paupers. God said, "Choose life, that you and your children may live." When people make the opposite choice, it has an onflow - a downflow effect - on those that follow them, as well. For instance, with Jonathon Edwards; let's look at him. Jonathon Edwards was a preacher who not only believed in the Gospel, and loved God, but he ensured that, week by week, Sunday by Sunday, his family was in the house of God - had a Godly influence upon their lives. And so, he was used of God in bringing revival to America, and the case study showed, in relation to him, that he had 1,400 descendants over 5 generations; (these guys both lived about the same time) - ok - they lived in New York Sate. 120 were Yale graduates. 165 graduated from other colleges. 100 were college professors. 13 were college presidents. 300 were ministers and missionaries. 100 were lawyers. 80 were elected to public office. 75 were officers of the navy or army. 60 were prominent authors. 30 were judges. 3 were U.S congressmen, and 1 was a vice-president of the U.S.A. It has to do with choices - making right choices, in our life and our living. God says, again, let me repeat, from Deuteronomy 30:19, God speaking, saying, "I have set before you life and death; blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life, that you and your descendants may live." Folk, the Bible, and also that particular case study - human experience - show that powerful choices make for powerful outcomes. God says, "Choose life; choose blessing; choose the area of God's best way; choose to be a God-pleaser, choose to hold on tight when things are going against you; to that which God has entrusted into your life." I would like you to turn with me, if you have your Bibles, to Hebrews 2, verses 1, 2 & 3. Here the writer of Hebrews says, "Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things that we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?" Here the Word of God says that every single one of us without exception need to hold fast to what God has granted and to what God has given into our life. Lest we drift away from the security of that eternal Rock, Jesus Christ. Here it is also saying to us that we need to give more earnest heed to the things that we have heard. Here it says, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? Choices are so vitally important in your life and my life, and I am sure that every single one of us here realize that powerful choices result in powerful outcomes, either for good or bad, in our lives and also in our living. Bud Hancock wrote this, further, in that e-mail that I quoted from before. He said, "In a few years or less it will not matter what kind of car we drove, what movies we saw, what endless hours we spent entertaining ourselves, what kind of house or neighbourhood we lived in; it will not matter how much money we made, or saved, or how many plaques or trophies we have accumulated. It will not matter, how many toys we treasured, stroked and polished. What matters, when all is said and done, is our relationship with God and others; and what we have done with that which God has given us." Jim Elliot, who gave his life to reach a remote tribe of people in South America - actually, in Ecuador - said these words (I'm sure you've heard them): "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose." Choices. Choices. Choices. What we do with our life. How we invest the time, the days, the hours, the minutes, and so on. And everyone of us here tonight, without exception, knows the reality of life's greatest choice, that is to receive the gift of that great eternal life that God has offered to us in His wonderful Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. God gave reference to it back in the book of Deuteronomy. I wish to read from verse 20, just over from that verse 19, where God said, "I have set before you life and death; blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that you and your seed may live." And listen to the very next verse, verse twenty; "Oh, that you and your descendants may live, that you may love the Lord your God, and that you may obey his voice, and that you may cling to Him." Three things are distinctly spoken about there. We won't go down that track, but listen to what it then says: "For he, for he, this God, is your life, and the length of your days." He is your life, and the length of your days. And life's greatest choice, as we know, each and every one of us tonight, has been in our individual lives, the time when we said, "God, you have sent your son, representing the whole Godhead, Jesus Christ, who came and stood upon planet Earth and said, "You can come to the Father through me."" We acknowledge the truth of what John wrote in his letter to the Church, when he said, "In Jesus is life. He that has the Son has life; he that has not the Son of God has not life." And thank God for the opportunity that you had, and that I had, with life's greatest choice, to say, "I receive this one, Jesus Christ, who brings me into fellowship with the Father, where I come into the family of God." And then we have come to realize, folk, life's second greatest choice: in the words of the Lord Jesus: "The greatest commandment is to love God with all of our heart, with all of our mind, all of our soul, and all of our strength," the second, that we might "love our neighbour as ourself." And so, a life that is not centered around ourselves, choices that include others, where we don't isolate ourselves, we don't withdraw and say, "It's me, it's us; it's just our lives, and our family that counts," but where there is an overflow to reach out to include others. Folk, I have, one other time, showed this to you - ok - "Because I am totally dedicated to God's idea of blessing others, I will always win, because Jesus in me will never quit." The heart of the Son of God is for others. Hallelujah! From what we have received, there will be an overflow out into the lives of others. There will be the choice that we make, so that when there are times when we need to choose - "Is it just me, or is it others to count in?" - we decide, oh, hallelujah, "he is no fool" (as Jim Elliott said) "who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." Powerful choices that we are called to make… Like Abraham, saying, "God, you have called me. God, you have called me, to come out of the familiar." Where Abraham obeyed the voice of God, and God said, "Come out from among your kindred and people, come out." The "called out one", the "Hebrew one". And where he chose to obey God, to come into new territory, to come into new areas that God was bringing him into - something fresh, regardless of the cost, and regardless of having to give up what they had in the city life, and going out as bedouins, out in the desert and out in the wilderness areas, to obey the call and the voice of God, "not knowing where they went". A choice that he made. And for your life and for my life, folk - it's so involved with and made up of choices - remember Moses - Hebrews 11 - when he came to maturity, he chose to give up the pleasures of the palace of Egypt and the easy lifestyle, he chose to give up the passing pleasures of sin, and to throw in his lot with the people of God. Choices that he had made. Choices in relation to God's call upon his life. I remind you again of that scripture in Joshua 24:15 where Gods says, - or rather, where Joshua says - "Well, you can choose this god, or you can choose that god; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. This is the choice that I am making." Hallelujah! "This is the choice that I am going to make, and I am going to stand by it. As for me and my house, we will serve the lord." As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord! I encourage you to keep that as a daily confession of your life, for members of your family and for other people as well, who are not walking in the ways of the Lord. To confess that as a daily word confession. Hallelujah. I believe that there is something eternal, and something established in the heavenly, in what we believe in our heart, and we confess with our mouth. Believe it for your family. "As for me and my house!" - the choices that we make, affect our descendants after us. Folk, very briefly, as I draw my thoughts to a conclusion, in relation to powerful choices with powerful outcomes, how does it affect how we live, where we live?
When we are God's children, we need to be prepared to make good, powerful
choices. I began to list some choices that I would like to personally
keep on making, in this year and the years ahead. When desires come that are lustful, that are impure, folk, what am I going to do with them? My top, number 1 desire is Jesus, King, hallelujah, I am pursuing after you! And so this desire that comes across my path, or comes into my mind, or the thought that the enemy would like to shoot into my life - oh, hallelujah, in Jesus' wonderful name, is going to get the chop, because the Word of God says, in the book of Phillippians 4:8, "Whatever things are good, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, whatever things are of virtue, whatever things are praiseworthy - meditate and think upon those things." And so the choices that I am making - and I call you to make similar choices - is, Jesus, number 1, the kingly desire of my life, as king of the desire that I allow into my life, and into the area of my meditation. Secondly, another choice is that I am going to be - with the grace and the help of God - a thankful, grateful, praise-giving person - instead of being mean-spirited and grumpy and whinging and fault-finding. What is the Word of God, in that same verse I quoted before, Philippians 4:8? "If anything is praiseworthy, think and meditate on these things" - and so, this choice that I am making in my life, hallelujah, and have been making, and desire to keep on making, is, "God, I am going to be a praising, thankful, grateful type of person." Thirdly; I choose to hang in there and become a conqueror rather than giving in easily and giving up without a fight. What does Paul say? "Fight the good fight of faith." Husbands and wives - those that are married - fighting with your husband or your wife isn't a good fight. Guys, you usually end up losing, don't you? Ok. Fighting the good fight of faith. Fighting means, "Hanging in there". It means 'stick-ability'. It means endurance. It means, just hanging on, when it's hard even to hang on - instead of giving up. And folk - ok, I'm the same as you, with human desires and so on, and I've got to confess that the times when I have sinned and failed God is when I have given up too easily and too quickly, instead of fighting the fight of faith. Instead of hanging on there. I think it's correct, and English teachers and different other ones here can correct me if this isn't correct, but I think it was the old city of Constantinople, many years ago, in the Middle Ages, that was being attacked and was being besieged, and there came the time when the people on the inside of the city of Constantinople said, "Ok, with our water supply and with our food supply and with our armaments we can only last another 30 minutes." They began to talk about giving up and surrendering to the besieging forces on the outside. During that 30 minutes, they suddenly noticed - some of the lookouts - suddenly noticed that the army began to pack up and began to retire and began to disappear over the hills. It was found out later - by some deserters from that besieging army - that they had said, on the outside, during this particular time when they were considering giving in - "We will never win. They will never, ever, surrender. We may as well pack up, get on our way, and go home." And, oh folks, you and I are sometimes inclined to give up in the area of temptation, when the enemy is niggling and nagging, and thoughts are coming our way, and we are inclined to give up too soon, when we are just about there in relation to God's intervention on our behalf. What does 1st Corinthians 10: 13 say? Oh, that God is faithful - there is no temptation (test or trial) given to a person, where God is not able to give a way of escape, that we might be able to bear it. God is faithful. God knows how much we can endure - how much we can take. God is interested in us being overcomers and going over the top. And so, "Fight the good fight of faith." Hang in there. So, thirdly, choose to 'hang in', and become a conqueror, rather than giving in easily and giving up without a fight. And then, fourthly and lastly; I choose to be a God-pleaser. Not a man-pleaser. Not a crowd-pleaser. Not pleasing this person or that person. Not even primarily being a husband pleaser or a wife pleaser, but number 1, being a God-pleaser. I don't know about you, but I desire, I long for the constant presence of my Father. A sense of God's closeness and intimacy, and just the very presence of God - that's what my heart is desiring, wanting more and more. I am reminded in the Scriptures in John 8:29 where Jesus said, "The Father hasn't deserted me, because I do always those things that please Him." And so, choices that you and I make are important in our life and living. "Father, thank you that you are the God who has given us free will. You have given us the opportunity of choice in our life. You want us to choose that which will bless us, that which will change our lives, that which will change our family, that which will have an effect for good and with consequences that will bring blessing upon or descendants as well - sons, daughters, parents, whatever our particular situation may be - husbands or wives - God, we want to choose, we are asking for your help. Alone, we can't do it, we can't do it by ourselves. Holy Spirit, we need your help. You have come as the great helper. And so, in this week, Lord, in life experiences, when we are faced with particular choices that we need to make - and, oh, God, there is always an enemy that wants to whisper in our ear in relation to a particular choice on a particular thing - whatever it may be - but we are asking, Holy Spirit, that we will hear louder and that we will hear clearer, the voice of the Holy Spirit, saying, "This is the way: walk in it; choose to walk in this way." In Jesus' wonderful name. And so, Lord, we thank you, that not only have you given us the freedom of choice, thank you Lord that you haven't left us alone with a rotten Devil who wants to wreck our lives and wreck our future and wreck our descendants' lives as well. But God, we thank you that you have sent the Holy Spirit as a great comforter - helper; the one who is beside us; the one who is within us. Oh, God, we have got so much going for us. Help us to be God pleasers. Help us to be - bless us, we pray - help us to be people who are praisers; people who are grateful, people who are thankful, in our life and living, in Jesus' wonderful name. And what we have experienced in our lives, like Peter and John at the temple gate - Lord, they didn't have this or that that the man who was lame wanted - but they said, "Such as we have we give unto you." And let there be an outflow of the blessing of God upon the lives of others through our lives and through our witness and through or words. Oh God, we pray; on our homes, on our streets; in this community; towards the lives of those we touch, that you bring across our paths; what we have, of the choices we have made, of coming to you; and of finding that great salvation, that will overflow into the lives of others."
GOD'S MAJESTIC NAME
As the earth rose over the surface of the moon (Psalm 8): "O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! Who hast set thy glory above the heavens.When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!" Living Translation: "O Lord our Lord, the majesty of your name fills the earth. Your glory is higher than the heavens." New International Version: "O Lord our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. You have set your glory above the heavens." The Message: "God; brilliant Lord; yours is a household name!" If you go to the very center of Africa: if you go to many parts of Asia: if you go to South America: the name, Coke, is so prevalent. Everybody knows about Coke. A lot of these places as well - a lot of these places on planet Earth - you hear the name MacDonald's - people know exactly what you are talking about. There is coming a time, the Word of God says, and it shows you and I exactly - that all of these names of various products upon planet Earth, all the names of the major statesmen that have been and the leaders of countries - whoever the world leaders are at this particular time - there is coming a time when all these well-known leaders, and these people who have risen to prominence for various reasons and various causes and so on, and the products that we have upon Earth that we use that are so well-known around the planet Earth - the names of the products and the names of the people are going to fade and they are going to pale into insignificance - they will be forgotten in a few short years. But the name of the sovereign God of the universe - your God and my God - the God of the Bible, the God of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, his name passes on, unchanged, full of meaning, full of truth, full of an ability through which you and I can experience so much of the goodness of God as we realize what his name means and also who he is - the one who stands behind his name, from generation to generation. People will rise and will go - products will come and then will fade away, superseded by new products - the Word of God says (Psalm 8) "0 Lord our Lord, how excellent, how majestic, is thy name in all the earth!" And this God that is spoken about here, that is mentioned with his great name, is not the Allah of the Muslim world - this God that is being spoken about in the Word of God- this God of the Bible- this God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ - is the God who is eternally existent - the three persons in the one Godhead - the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit - (Romans 1:20) "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead ". So this God, whose name is Excellent, this God who is majestic in all of the earth, is a God who is a being that we can't quite fully understand - we will understand in the future - he is the one spoken about in the book of Deuteronomy (6:4): "Hear, oh Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord". The Lord Jehovah, the self-existent and eternal one, our God, our Elohim - our Gods (in the plural) - the Lord Jehovah (singular) - is one, so the Lord Jehovah our God Elohim is one in a singular form, he is one and he is only one and we don't fully understand regarding the being of God, but God said, "this is who I am, I am the God of the Bible." I want to just remind you that whereas the record of history and the record of human experience on our planet earth is of men in positions of power and nations etc - there is a competitiveness that comes between those who feel that they are of equal power and of equal strength and there is nation against nation, there is family against family, there is individual against individual, there is man against man, there is leader against leader - but such is not the heart of God. Equally the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And yet there is not a competitiveness in the Godhead. There is harmony beyond human understanding in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit - praise God, you and I experience it. The Bible speaks of something at the coming of the very end of the age at Jerusalem when there will come streams of living water that will pour out of the city and it says in Zechariah (14:9): "And the Lord shall be King over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one". The Lord is one and His name one, "This God," the psalmist says, "His name is excellent, His name is majestic," "Who," Zechariah says, "in the future his name shall be one, and there will be one Lord." This God in the plurality in the Godhead; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Between the three persons in the Godhead there is a oneness, there is a great unity of mind and of purpose and of heart in this wonderful Godhead, so that they perfectly complement and they add to each other. So different to Mankind on this planet - they don't seek to pull each other down, but the Father seeks to exalt the Son; the Holy Spirit seeks to exalt the Son; and the Lord Jesus seeks to exalt the Father and seeks to exalt the Holy Spirit as well. Praise God, what a unity there is in the persons in the Godhead, in this one God that we worship, whose name is Excellent, whose name is Majestic. For instance, so satisfied, so pleased, so appreciative, and I can't think of all of the adjectives we could use there - with the life and the death and the work and the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ as he hung upon Calvary's cross - outside Jerusalem's city walls - so pleased and so satisfied was the Father and the Holy Spirit with the sacrifice of the Son, that it says in Philippians 2:3 & 8, (after we are told of Jesus' self - humbling of himself, the laying aside the glory of his part in the Godhead, his humble taking of human form) - so pleased and so satisfied was the Father and the Holy Spirit, that he was given a name that is above every name, so that the God whose name is Excellent, whose name is Majestic - now, with his Son, shares and exalts His name above every name - the name of Jesus - and now, every knee - your knee, my knee, the knee of every person upon planet earth - should bow, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. He now becomes the Lord over things in Heaven, things in earth, and things under the earth. I wish to bring this - what I have been sharing so far - down to where we live, the street where we live - to your experience and to my experience. How does this apply to you, as an older person or a younger person, how does it apply to me, that God, the great God of the universe, the God & Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus with a high and exalted name given by the Father now - how is it real to me, what is the application to us in day-to-day living? Firstly:
Think with me of the Apostle John. He was a buddy of Peter who served
back there in the Temple forecourt or the temple courtyard of the high
priest. Later in life he records that Jesus said these words: "As
many as received him, to them gave he right and privilege to become
the children of God, even to those who believe in his name." Salvation
is tied up in a name. "Those that believe in his name." And
so the whole Godhead now - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit
- the God who's name is Excellent and Majestic - says, "Hey, there
is a way to us, and it is through this name, the name of Jesus."
The Lord Jesus Christ. Hallelujah! So God's offer of eternal life is
wrapped up around him, and God says to us that we can live forever.
To Joseph, the angelic personage said, "You will call his name
Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." And so salvation
is all wrapped up in this person. Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3:18;
"Who does not believe in him is condemned already, because he has
not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God." And so folk, tonight, if you haven't put Jesus' life into your life, then you'd better get cracking. The Word of God speaks so to you and me. The majority of us here tonight say, "Oh yes, praise God, I have committed my life to this one who's name is Jesus." God says "Rejoice in it, hallelujah!" Don't just sit there; rejoice that your names are written in Heaven. Our names are affected because of this name. The precious, living Son of God. And so, we have the privilege to receive abundantly from a great, majestic excellent God, the God of the universe. We also have a responsibility - to live to the honor of that name - the name of him whose name is Excellent, who is majestic. There is a responsibility that comes to every single one of us. We confess our faith in Christ, in the name of Jesus, and so, as God's 'kids', God says, "You have a responsibility now to bring glory, to bring honor, to add something to this majestic name" - by the way that we live. God requires of you and I, to carry his name before others, to do so "24 - 7" - for God to reign in our lives. I go on a month's holiday - and Ruth and I have just been - "Okay, Lord, we will come back later and pick you up when we have had a good time, when we have lived how we wished, according to the leisures and pleasures of life?" Holiday time - whatever time - not just Sunday time. God says: "No; through the week - okay? - through the week" We don't live as people who are mean: people who are mean-spirited. We don't live as people who are dishonest, in our business, in our daily life, in our home life. We are not to be people who are angry and mean and untruthful and deceitful and impure and immoral - you know. Monday to Saturday and then, we put on a halo, and we come to church, and we say, "Well, listen to me, look at me, folk!". Hey, it's 24-7, seven days a week. God, let me bring honour and glory to that name that is Majestic, that is Honourable, hallelujah, that is Excellent - by the way that I live. I wish to remind you of the words of Jesus in the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:6 & 7). Jesus said, "Let your light so "- everyone say with me -"so. Let your light so shine before men." Jesus didn't say, "Okay…ah…maybe… ah…okay… in the area that…," you know, "that they may see our dishonesty, and they see our anger outbursts or untruthfulness or whatever it may be. But that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven." I don't know about you, but I want to be amongst those - and I believe I am amongst those - that are saying tonight, "Oh, God; Oh God; God of the Bible, God and Father of my Lord Jesus Christ; the God of eternity; Hallelujah; the God whose name is Glorious; your name is Majestic; your name is Excellent; and God, I just wish to add something, by the way I live, '24-7', to the glory of your wonderful name." No sense of irreverence as I share this: he wants us to be "chips off the old block," folk. You know what I mean. He wants us to be as 'cool' - to put it in younger terminology - 'cool' like the Heavenly Father is 'cool' - Oh, God says, "Just live by me". I don't know about you, but I was blessed a couple of days ago as I read in 'The Word for Today' - and I am sure some of you have read it - in case you didn't, let me read from Thursday, 18th January. "Small Seeds, Big Harvest." Pastor Tony Evans. " I was born and raised in inner city Baltimore. By the time I was about 10, my parents looked to be heading for divorce. Then one day everything changed. Someone witnessed to my father and he accepted Christ. My father developed the habit of getting up at midnight, praying that God would save his family. This went on for some time. One night my mother came downstairs to the living-room when my father was praying. She began crying even before she reached the living-room. When my father asked what was wrong, with anguish and tears she said the unforgettable: "The worse I am to you, the better you are to me. So whatever you have must be real. How can I have it too?" My father led my mother to Christ. Not long after, my parents led their 4 children to Christ. I was the oldest. I was saved at eleven. I felt the call to be a minister, by the time I entered my teens. I was totally ministry oriented by the time I was 18." Since that day, Tony Evans has built a great church in Texas, preaches daily on hundreds of radio stations, and reaches multitudes for Christ each year. Folk, just so living before his wife and his children, that they saw his good works, and they too came to glorify his Father - your Father and my Father - in Heaven. Hallelujah. I like the statement I have read on a ministry publication recently: "Make his praise glorious." Ephesians 1:12 says to me and says to you, that now that we are in the family of God, now that we belong to Christ, that we now should be "to the praise of his glory." Father, thankyou, in Jesus Wonderful name, thankyou, that you whose
name is Glorious and Majestic, that you didn't keep that to yourself,
but you wanted to share your love, and yourself, with others. And so
you created Mankind and Womankind upon planet Earth, that you might
have someone, Lord, to share your love and your grace with. We thank
you that though Mankind, and segments of Mankind, reject your love -
don't feel that it's necessary - yet we thank you that, through your
grace, and through your goodness, that, Lord, you have given each and
every one of us here the opportunity to be able to say, "God. God,
out of your glorious name you have given and you've sent your Son, Hallelujah,
whose name is Saviour, whose name is King, whose name is Lord, the Lord
Jesus Christ - and, God, thankyou for the opportunity that each and
every one of us have, and, oh, in varying experiences and times in our
life, and Lord, in human living here upon this planet Earth, so many
of us have said, 'Yes, yes, yes, Jesus, I want you to come into my inner
space. You come from 'outer space' that you might dwell in my inner
space and that you might change me and that you might fill me with God's
salvation - and oh, Lord Jesus, thankyou for this privilege."
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