keeping going in the faith. Having deep roots

Mathew 13: 1-23 Matthew 7:21-23 New International Version (NIV) True and False Disciples 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ I am going to do a series of three talks on the subject of “Keep Going”. How do we keep going in our faith? Ginny reminded us last week that not all who join OM went on to continue to serve the lord and Steve encouraged us to look at TRUE DISCIPLESHIP. I was considering looking at this subject and what they had to say seemed to me to confirm that I should do this. Let me start by saying that I do believe that true believers do go on, and for those who do not, let us not not comfort ourselves or them by saying they are only back sliden. They may be, but perhaps they were never truly saved. I think that is clear from Mathew 7:21-23 THE MULTIUDE. We are told that a multitude gathered to hear the lord and he got out on the sea in a boat to speak to them. I think that in our day, if that happened, or if we filled a stadium, we would count that as a great success. Jesus did not look at it that way. He saw it as a fulfilment of the prophecy of Isaiah 6: 8-13 We like statistics, and as guides they are helpful in our work, but ultimately that only statistics that will really count, are the names recorded in the Lambs book of life. I want to be sure that my name is in that book READ ISAIAH 6: 8-13. Isaiah was told that people would not listen, and Jesus referring to this prophecy was saying that it was still being fulfilled. People would hear the parables, but not hear or understand them, and that was what was happening with the multitude. They heard, but did not hear. They certainly did not understand. They were like the seed that fell on the path/road and immediately the birds came and ate the seed. It did not take route, and for many they heard the word of god, but did not believe it. Some fell in the rocky places and sprung up quickly, but did not have deep roots. Others fell among the thorns and grew and the thorns choked them. I have known people, who seemed to be good solid Christians, whom I respected and looked up to, but you will not find them naming the lord as saviour any more, or if they do, they have a lesser place in the estimation of the church, because their lives no longer have a credible witness. Some went on for a good number of years before they fell away. Their roots were not deep and the cares of the world overwhelmed them. I take that as a warning. I ask myself the question, “How deep are my roots?” I take stock of my life. I want to hear Jesus say to me “WELL DONE GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT, ENTER INTO THE JOY OR YOUR LORD.” Mathew 7: 21-23 warns us that for many, that will not be the case even though they expect it. Jesus further warns us Matthew 24:12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, Gary reminded us that sometimes we grow tired, physically and spiritually and we need to take a break, eat, be refreshed and that is what God did for Elijah I think some grow tired, spiritually and give up. When we feel that way, as indeed sooner or later we all do, I find comfort in this. Matthew 24:13 But the person who endures to the end will be saved. I find that glorious. It motivates me to go on. I think that is why Mathew has recorded that for us. To motivate us to keep going with that end goal in sight of being admitted into Gods presence when we pass from this world. There are people in the bible, who seemed to be faithful believers, but proved false JUDAS Mathew 26: 17-25 All the disciples said, “Surely not I” They could not believe that any of their own company would be a traitor, yet this had been fortold. Jesus said woe to him, it would have been better for him, if he had never been born. Judas was trusted with the money. When jesus sent the disciples out and they worked miracles, Judas would have gone out like all the others and worked miracles. He seemed to be just like the others. Seeking truth, seeking the lord, lamenting his sin. Yet, his heart was turned and even when Jesus handed him the sop that identified him as the traitor, Judas still did what was in his heart. He betrayed Jesus to his enemies. Judas proved to be like the seed that grew up among the thorns. He would have heard the parable to and had it explained to him, yet that did not stop him doing what he did. Let us look at someone else Turn to Colossians 4: 1-14 (read it) From this passage I conclude we are to be alert and devote ourselves to prayer. Paul names people in this passage. People who sent their greetings to the church at Colossi, one of whom was Damas. The fact that he is mentioned here means that Paul held him in high esteem. Indeed Demas was with him in the ministry while Paul had his first spell in jail IT SEEMED TO PAUL THAT DEMAS LOYALTY TO HIM AND TO THE LORD WAS BEYOND QUESTION. Turn to 2nd Timothy 4:9-10 9 Do your best to come to me quickly, 10 for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. 11 Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry. The good, and loyal Demas had proved to be not so good or loyal. Paul is disappointed and lonely and wants Timothy to come and bring Mark with him for he was useful. In that one sentence Paul is saying that the person he relied on, “Demas” has let him down, and the person he had rejected “Mark” has now proved his worth and paul wants him. Sometimes it is the most unlikely people who truly have deep roots. Paul had argued with Barnabas about Mark and they had parted company. With passage of time, Paul has changed his mind. When I look back, I am so glad that I had a number of Barnabases who did not give up on me. They thought I was worth it. I trust they were right AMEN

I put the following in the village news letter. I had previously written an article in it where I said that faith was vital to life. Someone wrote a letter, that was not signed or addressed and left it at the chapel in response saying that they felt that they had to say that I only said faith was vital to life because I was not confident person. This is laughable, but it made me realise that what I had written was not clear and that I had to write something that was. Once I had written and submitted the following, I realised that if it were printed, it would come out at the same time as the "Uncover" course that the Quinta Church and St Johns plan to do as an evangelism event in the village. I think this is Gods providence. It could not be better. It is like saying we all have a problem and this is sin. If you take part in the course you will find the answer. Here is what I wrote in the village newsletter. Most people do not actually read the bible, yet they think that they know what is in it. When you actually read it a great deal of it will surprise you Mathew 5 and 22 reads as follows "Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. It is for this reason that I said in the last Wren that faith is vital, as indeed it is. This life is the journey to court and God is the judge. We are told in ~Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, This means we are all guilty of sin, it is our nature. We are all on the way to Gods Judgement, the question is will we settle with him now and accept the payment for our sin that he has provided in Jesus dying on the cross, or will we face him still guilty and face the penalty. In Pauls letter to the Romans Chapter one from verse 29 we read Being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, full of envy, murder, strife deceit, malice, they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents. Without understanding, Untrustworthy, unloving, Unmerciful and although they know the ordinance of God that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but give hearty approval to those who practice them. I therefore say to all from 2nd Corinthian chapter 6 verse 2 For he says, "In the time of my favour I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you." I tell you, now is the time of God's favour, now is the day of salvation. The point is, we all need to settle the matter now. Tomorrow may be too late. In romans 6 and 23 we read For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. This is what we must do to get the gift of God, we must surrender and trust in Christ completely. When we know how unworthy we are, we marvel all the more at his love.

I found a frizbee

I found a Frizbee this evening as I walked round the office checking that it was locked up. I realised that it had to belong to the group in the conference centre who are mainly children. I took it in. I approached one of the men. He did not recognise it, but one of the girls thought that it belonged to a particular boy. I left, but I could hear a lot of young voices talking from the windows across the courtyard. They were terribley excited. I found it a great atmosphere. I loved it. Those who do not live here miss the opportunities for moments like it. I had heard one of the young women telling them the night before to say yes to Jesus. To invite him into their lives and there was nothing they could do but say yes and let Jesus in. Bearing all that in mind, as I heard all those young voices tonight over the courtyard. I prayed for the group. I have no idea who they are, but I prayed that many, if not all of them may be saved. I prayed that young womans message to them last night would bear fruit. AMEN

solved

As I expected, there were technical problems today after the upgrade, but they seem to have been solved.

Gods provision

I have returned from holiday. I hope I never forget the following. I recently upgraded my phone as I saw one at a price I thought good. this was my first holiday with it. I used my sat nav to get to destinations. However, one of the places I was booked into could not be found by my sat nav. Only the week before, I had seen my friend use his phone as a sat nav, so I decided to try mine to find out if it could locate the hostel I needed to go to. It did. My old phone could never have done that and without the new one, I would have been stuck for the night. I see it as Gods provision. He provided the phone, the bed to go to, the money and by watching my friend, I had instructions on how to use the phone as a sat nav just when I needed it.