‘”He will sit like a refiner of silver ...”’ Malachi 3:3 NLT

If you’re good at science you’ll know that the symbol for silver is Ag and if you’re a real whizz kid you’ll know that this comes from the Latin word argentum, which means ‘white and shining’. Silver was one of the earliest metals known to humans. It’s rare, strong, unaffected by moisture, and can be molded into different shapes. Silver possesses many special physical characteristics and qualities that make it useful. Silver is used in the Bible to describe our relationship with God.

Silver is rarely found alone, there is often other stuff attached to it. In order to create this amazing metal, a silversmith has to place it in the hottest part of a fire, watching carefully so as not to leave it there too long, but long enough to burn away all the impurities. The silversmith knows the process is complete when he can see his face reflected in the silver.

So when we read, ‘He will sit like a refiner of silver, burning away the dross’, what God is letting us know that we are precious, we’re made in His image, and He will do everything to make sure we reach our potential. When life as a Christian gets tough, as it sometimes will, don’t run away from God, trust Him. Know He is acting like a silversmith making sure all the grubby stuff in us is gotten rid of, so people can see Him when they look at us!

Time or Direction?

This Sermon was delivered on the 6th June 2010. It is Proper 5 from year Year C.

The sermon is intended to be neutral. No slights on any person are intended.

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit let these words be acceptable in your site. Amen.

Sometimes without our prompting, life will alter pace and change direction. For example: the birth of a child, sickness, work problems, marriage, and divorce. All sort of things can happen to us which take us well outside our comfort zones.

Now when these events occur some of us want to withdraw completely, to try and rest, relax and reflect on what has or is about to happen; in order to get our bearings and dealt with it.

For example, a friend on mine related the experience of the death of his mother to me. He said it had been an ongoing battle with cancer which she eventually lost.

This death became the catalyst for him intensifying his work load. Basically he hid in his work, and drove himself so hard that he ignored the signs of what was actually taking place in his life. His work had become his life, to the detriment of his family and his own well-being. The death of his mother had propelled him into an unhealthy place, while outwardly; his work seemed to be thriving. In reality, deep within he had feelings of loneliness, isolation and patheticness.
There was a current in his life that was pulling him toward a depression, and he could not find his way out. He was in unchartered waters for a first time in his life, and he realized he needed someone to help him steer a course.

Fortunately he found help in an older Christian who just so happened to be a pastoral counsellor and with time this pastor took him out of his current despair and returned him to “normality” if you could use that word.

He had looked at himself clearly from different directions, and with help, he discovered new things about himself, and about the life that was all around him that he had not noticed before. He also viewed God differently and allowed the Holy Spirit to re-alter his thinking. The heartache which he had first felt gradually changed to a deeper and stronger hope than he had ever known before. The Holy Spirit had led him to a new place in life.

As we read the Old Testament reading and the Gospel this morning it seems that both Elijah and Jesus were led by the Holy Spirit to a compassionate place; a place that God needed for them to find. Both the women in the scriptures were in a place of despair like my friend; and were hopelessly looking for a way out.

By worldly standards their situations were hopeless, but with God’s intervention, all things are possible.

Life’s destination is not really a place, but a relationship with a person; and that person is Jesus. Jesus wants to be on life’s journey with us personally; as He is our personal saviour. Jesus wants you to get to know Him better, and He wants you to let Him guide you in all manners of life; positive and negative, good and bad. God is more interested in you, than in your life’s successes or failures.

The Bible is clear about this, and that was what Paul meant in the New Testament reading this morning where he declared that his knowledge of God was revealed to him by the Holy Spirit directly. The King James version reads,

“I want you to know, brothers and sisters that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin; for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it directly through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

It was Paul’s relationship with Jesus through prayer, that received his mighty revelations that led to the forming the Christian church. Paul actually wrote most of the New Testament, and he did so by revelations revealed by the Holy Spirit Himself.

Now the bible as a whole is one big ‘journey’s’ story, and one of the best known is the story of the Hebrew slave’s journey from Egypt to the Promised Land. If you look at a map this trip should have taken 40 days; BUT it took 40 years! God’s great interest here was not in getting the Israelites out of Egypt, but getting Egypt out of the Israelites.

The Hebrews time spent in the wilderness was not God getting to know his people, but getting His people to know God; so they could get to know of His love, His strength and His faithfulness over and over again.

This sounds strange, after all God had delivered them through the plagues, the parting of the sea, the manna from heaven, the water from rocks and so on; but we read constantly in Exodus that all they could do was whine and complain. They even pleaded with God to take them back to the land of Egypt; back to a life of slavery; but back to the familiar.

All churches go through this when new things are on the horizon. Will we just status quo our way through life? Well know for sure, the world is changing, and changing faster than ever before, whether we like it or not; so the question we must ask is whether we bury our talents, or will we move with the Spirit and do the difficult but faithful things of God?

You maybe thinking God needs 40 years to nurture us into a new generation of followers fit for this new world, but you must be open to the suggestion that God has been nurturing us, long before we ever acknowledge him. We must therefore accept the fact that we are God’s people here on earth, and if we are not, then who is?

Trust is what God wants. God wants us to trust Him. The Holy Spirit will lead us to places that are uncomfortable and unknown, but God knows what he is doing. And by the way, you will notice that sometimes when God is firmly in control, we are not; and we are certainly not comfortable in our surroundings, as Ian said in one of his sermons, God is good, but He is not safe.

So are we eager to get through life’s challenges as quickly as possible in order to achieve our goals? NO.

The spiritual journey does not work like that, as the Israelite’s experience reminds us. Like the Israelites, our ability to discern and follow God’s leading has far less to do with our wants and feelings in a chronological sense and; more to do with what God is preparing us for, and the direction he wants to take us.

In a “Time Management” book written by Steven Covey, he writes about how fixated our culture is on the clock. The clock represents our busyness, our commitments at work, our appointments, our tasks and our schedules. The clock symbolizes how we spend our lives.

The compass, on the other hand, represents our personal vision, our core values, and the principles that shape and guide our lives. Covey suggests more reliance on the compass, and less on the clock because it is the compass that determines our direction, not the clock. Our God is not a God of time but of direction; after all, he is the alpha and the omega.

Elijah and Jesus teach us today about following in a Godly way. The world said that what they did was impossible, but they listened to that Spirit deep within; and did new and mighty things in life.

God will always send in the corrective; the course adjustments that say ‘follow me and do not listen to the world”. God’s future is always filled with love, hope and charity, but there is no mention of a timetable to succeed.

God’s plan is simple. When you seek you will find. When you ask you will receive. When it is His time it will happen. Jeremiah said of God’s ways, “If you seek me with your heart, I will let you find me” God is our hope!

The spiritual journey seldom unfolds in a straight line. We go forward and backward, left and right. We make progress, and we fall behind. Sometimes it seems we are just standing still or even going backwards, but the questions we need to ask ourselves are not, how far have we come; or how much farther is there to go, as those are clock type questions.

What we need to ask is: “am I pointing myself in God’s direction”; “am I being led by the Holy Spirit”; “Am I continually orienting myself to what God desires or what I want personally? Those are compass questions? Those are life questions.

On Wednesday night’s meeting, we had the congregation asking the Holy Spirit collectively to intervene and help our cause. To me, this is the sign of a healthy church and I for one am happy to be part it; but remember with a warning; when the Holy Spirit comes; he comes with fire; and He will make us uncomfortable; but He will cleanse, and He will heal, and He will point us firmly in a direction to suit His purpose; using our skills that He has nurtured in us over the years.

Amen

1567 words

Make your own luck in life.

Hi,
This passage was delivered to me by email, probably spam, but I like th story so much that I would like to share it. It certainly reflects myself at my best, but it makes you shudder to think the opposite. Anyway, take time and read it for yourself. I certainly agree with it, and I think everybody needs to here it, then decide whether that is the way you want to be, or do you want to make your own luck in life like the guy to got the last ticket for the Titanic!

Gordon.

Once there was an old man who lived in a tiny village. Although poor, he was envied by all, for he owned a beautiful white horse. Even the king coveted his treasure. A horse like this had never been seen before—such was its splendour, its majesty, its strength.

People offered fabulous prices for the steed, but the old man always refused. "This horse is not a horse to me," he would tell them. "It is a person. How could you sell a person? He is a friend, not a possession. How could you sell a friend?" The man was poor and the temptation was great. But he never sold the horse.

One morning he found that the horse was not in the stable. The entire village came to see him. "You old fool," they scoffed, "we told you that someone would steal your horse. We warned you that you would be robbed. You are so poor. How could you ever hope to protect such a valuable animal? It would have been better to have sold him. You could have gotten whatever price you wanted. No amount would have been too high. Now the horse is gone, and you've been cursed with misfortune."

The old man responded, "Don't speak too quickly. Say only that the horse is not in the stable. That is all we know; the rest is judgment. If I've been cursed or not, how can you know? How can you judge?"

The people contested, "Don't make us out to be fools! We may not be philosophers, but great philosophy is not needed. The simple fact that your horse is gone is a curse."

The old man spoke again. "All I know is that the stable is empty, and the horse is gone. The rest I don't know. Whether it be a curse or a blessing, I can't say. All we can see is a fragment. Who can say what will come next?"

The people of the village laughed. They thought that the man was crazy. They had always thought he was a fool; if he wasn't, he would have sold the horse and lived off the money. But instead, he was a poor woodcutter, an old man still cutting firewood and dragging it out of the forest and selling it. He lived hand to mouth in the misery of poverty. Now he had proven that he was, indeed, a fool.
After fifteen days, the horse returned. He hadn't been stolen; he had run away into the forest. Not only had he returned, he had brought a dozen wild horses with him. Once again the village people gathered around the woodcutter and spoke. "Old man, you were right and we were wrong. What we thought was a curse was a blessing. Please forgive us."

The man responded, "Once again, you go too far. Say only that the horse is back. State only that a dozen horses returned with him, but don't judge. How do you know if this is a blessing or not? You see only a fragment. Unless you know the whole story, how can you judge? You read only one page of a book. Can you judge the whole book? You read only one word of a phrase. Can you understand the entire phrase?

"Life is so vast, yet you judge all of life with one page or one word. All you have is a fragment! Don't say that this is a blessing. No one knows. I am content with what I know. I am not perturbed by what I don't."

"Maybe the old man is right," they said to one another. So they said little. But down deep, they knew he was wrong. They knew it was a blessing. Twelve wild horses had returned with one horse. With a little bit of work, the animals could be broken and trained and sold for much money.

The old man had a son, an only son. The young man began to break the wild horses. After a few days, he fell from one of the horses and broke both legs. Once again the villagers gathered around the old man and cast their judgments.
"You were right," they said. "You proved you were right. The dozen horses were not a blessing. They were a curse. Your only son has broken his legs, and now in your old age you have no one to help you. Now you are poorer than ever."

The old man spoke again. "You people are obsessed with judging. Don't go so far. Say only that my son broke his legs. Who knows if it is a blessing or a curse? No one knows. We only have a fragment. Life comes in fragments."

It so happened that a few weeks later the country engaged in war against a neighboring country. All the young men of the village were required to join the army. Only the son of the old man was excluded, because he was injured. Once again the people gathered around the old man, crying and screaming because their sons had been taken. There was little chance that they would return. The enemy was strong, and the war would be a losing struggle. They would never see their sons again.

"You were right, old man," they wept. "God knows you were right. This proves it. Your son's accident was a blessing. His legs may be broken, but at least he is with you. Our sons are gone forever."

The old man spoke again. "It is impossible to talk with you. You always draw conclusions. No one knows. Say only this: Your sons had to go to war, and mine did not. No one knows if it is a blessing or a curse. No one is wise enough to know. Only God knows."

The old man was right. We only have a fragment. Life's mishaps and horrors are only a page out of a grand book. We must be slow about drawing conclusions. We must reserve judgment on life's storms until we know the whole story.
I don't know where the woodcutter learned his patience. Perhaps from another woodcutter in Galilee; for it was the Carpenter who said it best:

"Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself." (Mt. 6:34)
He should know. He is the Author of our story and he has already written the final chapter.

By Max Lucado

When the Battle is Over.

This sermon was delivered in St Oswald Church in Maybole, Scotland on the 11th April 2009; year C Easter 2.

“Father I ask that the words I speak are your words and not my words; that they speak for you, and glorify you. Amen."

This morning we are going to look at today’s readings in reverse order, starting with Revelations and ending up in the book of Exodus. You may think, you cannot do that, because everything works in chronological order, and you cannot start with the end before the beginning, but God can. God is omnipresent, and time means nothing to him as “He is the great alpha and omega; the first and last; the beginning and the end”; the great “I am”.

Rev 1 4:8
In revelations this morning, we heard the verse, “All praise to him who always loves us and who set us free from our sins by pouring out his lifeblood for us.” God, through Jesus has freed us from our sins; and I believe that is past, present and future sins, but today I want to talk about being free from our past sins; in the way God has promised us.

Acts 5: 27 32
In Acts this morning we read the apostles say “We are witnesses of these things, (that is the death and resurrection of Jesus), and so is the Holt Spirit, who is given by God to all; who obey him.” By taking communion we are obeying Gods command by becoming his body, by the eating of His flesh; and receiving his atonement, by drinking his precious blood of forgiveness; thereby we allow the Holy Spirit to enter and take control of our lives.

The disciples were boldly proclaiming in this verse that they witnessed the death and resurrection of Jesus, and by doing so, they could not help but preach the good news; that is the gospel of Jesus Christ to everyone, regardless of circumstances. They knew and felt the power of Jesus, and could do nothing to contain there excitement. Could you imagine how that felt, they were afraid of nothing, and busting with excitement. They just could not contain themselves, regardless of personal consequences.

Moving back further to John 10
“My sheep recognize my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. No one shall snatch them away from me, for my father has given them to me.”

In plain language, we belong to Jesus, and he is keeping us for himself, letting no one near us to snatch or take us away. I find this very comforting, as this verse is saying, we belong to Jesus, He is all powerful, and He is always looking after us.

I know it does not feel like it at times, but that is what the bible tells us, and we can be forgiven for thinking that the “biblical theory” and “life reality” are totally disjointed at times.

I do not know about you, but I certainly have had more that my share of problems this winter. So under these circumstances, how can I proclaim that God is looking after us, and is always with us?

Well to start with, I think we all agree that He is God and an all powerful God at that; otherwise he would not be God. If he was a God of hate and destruction, we would worship Him, but fortunately He is a God of love. In fact, God is Love, and we are His children.

Secondly we all acknowledge that we are His; we belong to him. Jesus paid the price for us at Calvary. If do not belong to God, why are we here this morning. We have given ourselves to Jesus Christ, and according to the bible, we belong to him. I think we can agree on that as well, but now here is where we can part company; why are bad things happening to us good people, and where is God while all this is happening.

Well the cop out for me this morning is that I cannot answer that fully, but I will give it a go. To start with, the bible tells us that God never leaves our side, because he loves us, because of Jesus, and that God is Omni present; God is everywhere, but importantly He is beside us, (or in us) in the form of the Holy Spirit. We do not feel his presence at all times because we have our own spirit, with our own agendas, and God does want us to have our own free spirit. In fact it says in Ecclesiasticus 15:14, “God made man from the beginning, and left him in the hand of his own counsel.”

But sometimes, well many times, these two spirits part company, and God has to bring them back together somehow.

Now, there are many many reasons why these two spirits part company, but one major reason they part company is over past sin, that is, what we did wrong in the past.

How many of us have been hindered by our past sins, how many of us are ashamed of them? How many of us are afraid that someday, somebody will point them out when we are at our least able to defend ourselves?

These past sins are therefore no good to God, and because of them, we cannot perform in ways God want us to perform; that is one reason he sent his son Jesus to pay the price of our sins, so we can be free to live as God has intended us to live. To live as God wants us to live. Are you with me now? Your past sin has been dealt with on the cross at Calvary 2000 years ago.

If it was not, is Jesus going to come back to earth, live and died again so that you maybe forgiven again. No. Your sins were dealt with 2000 years ago. Your shameful past with God has gone. God does not see it because of Jesus. Jesus took that sin away from us, even though we did not deserve it. And that is grace.

Now, we do not escape our past, but we escape the power of our past sins; or rather, we escape the power our past sins have over us.

This power must be broken; otherwise it will chase us for the rest of our lives. We cannot break it, only God can do it for us, and normally this is done through hard times of trials and tribulations, or as some people call it times of testing.

Zacharias 13:9
The trials and tribulations we Christians go through are extremely painful, and from where I have been, they seam to be far worse than anything my non Christian friends have endured. However, I am not them; but I am a completely different person from what I was because of such hard times, and knowing God was in control of my life. God moulds and re-moulds us through his fire as written in the book of Zacharias 13:9 “And I will refine them as silver is refined: and I will try them as gold as tried. They shall call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say: Thou art my people: and they shall say: The Lord is my God.”

We boldly say, the Lord Jesus Christ is our Lord. So far, we have all been tried, but to varying degrees, and so far we have come through. We are better for it, but I just wish this could be done less painfully.

Anyway, when you break free from something that keeps trying to recapture you, (like past sin), it's crucial to get victory over it, and away from it: otherwise we can not move forward and enjoy the blessing God has in mind for us.

Exodus 10
Let us now go all the way back now to Exodus 10 where Pharaoh chased the Israelites across the red sea. Remember, it was God who permitted Pharaoh to pursue the Israelites, because God could have stopped Pharaoh at any time. So why did he allow Pharaoh to chase them?

I can think of two reasons really: the first is given in Exodus 10:1 '...that I may show [you] these signs of Mine...’ God wants you to see that when you put your trust in Him, obstacles and opposition mean absolutely nothing to him. He wants this experience to be a 'landmark memory' or victory for you, so you can draw faith from, for when sadly; you face your next problem.

How many times have you said “how am I going to get through this”, then you add, “I did it before, but it was easier then”. You see you draw from your past experiences, (and faith), and you use that to defeat your present problems; which you will agree, are often much harder and more difficult, but necessary to strengthen your faith.

Basically God wants you to strengthen your faith, but He wants you to put your trust in him, and He wants to do the work for you. You must therefore let him do it for you, as you cannot do everything yourself.

The Second reason God permitted Pharaoh to pursue Israelites all the way to the Red Sea is as written in the next verse of Exodus '...that you may tell... [your children]... the mighty things I have done...'

You do not have to live under Pharaoh’s, (or Satan’s rule), any more. (Pharaoh is a term often interchanged for Satan). Like the Passover, when the blood of Jesus was applied by faith to the doorposts of your heart, your status changed. You're no longer a slave, but a child of God. The generational curse is broken, and your children can now grow up under God's blessings.

Abuse, alcoholism, ambition, anger, drugs, greed, sex, selfishness, spiritualism, violence and many other horrible vices as well, may have been your story of your past; but it's no longer the truth about your future. Is it?

God can solve your problems in different ways, but sometimes He takes you `through the Red Sea so that when you get to the other side you can look back and see Pharaoh and his armies 'dead on the seashore'. Then you know the battle is over, and you are truly free!

Amen.

God’s “OMNI” Attributes

The OMNI attributes of God have be stumped one day while writing a sermon. I only wanted a quick definition, but struggled to find the answers in the bible. The word Omni is not mentioned. I therefore search the Internet to find this fine paper written by Andrew S. Kulikovsky B.App.Sc.(Hons) which answered many question.

It is not definitive, but it is logical and readable, unlike many papers I have seen. In fact I felt it was such a good paper that I include it in my Blog for other to read. I hope Andrews finds this acceptable, if not please contact me immediately.

One interesting point in this paper is that it I could easily add to this paper with my own comments and logic, as some of the arguement have been left hanging, if they were not this paper would have been turned into a book. Anyway, feel free to comment.

Gordon.

God’s “OMNI” Attributes
By Andrew S. Kulikovsky B.App.Sc.(Hons)
November 12, 2000.