Year 3 Day 107
Pray (ACts) Read - Acts 12v6-19 Message - Scott Woodburn “First posted Year 2 Day 10 - 1 April" Peter was forced to sleep between two soldiers. He was bound with chains and sentries outside the door were guarding the prison (v6). Peter was done for. There was simply no way he was going to get out of this predicament. In the 1980s the A-Team would often find themselves held captive in an old buidling or garage. However by the time the bad guys would return, the A-Team had made a tank out of carboard, chewing gum and three lumps of coal. The A-Team were hard to find but thankfully Peter didn't need them. The church were passionate in prayer for Peter and the answer comes as Peter awakes at an angel's command (v7). His chains fell off (v7b) and the angel leads Peter past the guards and out the iron gate into the city (v10). Peter thought that he might have been experiencing another vision (v9) but as he walks down the street the angel departs and Peter realises that God had rescued him from Herod's hand (v11). Meanwhile the church continued to pray for Peter as they gathered in the house of Mary (v12). Again we see their committment to prayer and yet when Peter literally knocks on their door they don't believe it. Rhoda tells the gathering that Peter is outside but they think she is out of her mind (v15a). She insisted that Peter was knocking at the door but they told her "It is his angel!" (v15b). Finally they were amazed when they saw the Apostle with their own eyes (v16). Herod was not prepared to give up on his prize. The next day came the soldiers couldn't understand what had become of Peter (v18) and Herod's search for the Apostle was unsuccessful (v19). Peter was gone...safe in the hand of Almighty God. I'm encouraged by these verses. We see a miraculous escape by the hand of God - there is nothing too hard for the Lord! We see a fellowship committed to prayer - here is the duty and privilege of the Christian church! We see that even those zealous for the things of God sometimes doubt the answers He provides - see the grace of God towards those weak in faith! Regardless of the current strength of the church and regardless of the ferociousness of the current antichrist, the Lord answers prayer and He will not abandon His people. The current age might seem like a wilderness but the Lord breaks the chains and frustrates the enemy. We find a beautiful picture of how God cares for His church in the book of Revelation "But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time." (Revelation 12v14) The enemy rages, the Lord nourishes, the church will endure! Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q100 What doth the preface of the Lord’ s prayer teach us? The preface of the Lord’ s prayer, (which is, Our Father which art in heaven, (Matt. 6:9)) teacheth us to draw near to God with all holy reverence and confidence, as children to a father, able and ready to help us; (Rom. 8:15, Luke 11:13) and that we should pray with and for others. (Acts 12:5, 1 Tim. 2:1–2)
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Year 3 Day 106
Pray (ACts) Read - Ezekiel 11:4-13 Message - Alan Burke There could be a question asked in many congregations across this land, or about many former congregations, “How did it happen?”, “How did it get to this?”. There is often much ink spilled to detail the reasons but I’d suggest that this passage has the answer. God’s people here in Ezekiel’s day were trusting in themselves, the Lord knew their very thoughts, He knew what was going through their mind, what motivated them and it wasn’t anything to do with His glory. Here the Lord told Ezekiel that he is to tell His people that he knows what is going on in their mind and it is because He is God, He knows all things, He knows our thoughts whether good or bad, and He remembers even if we can’t remember our thoughts. (see Ps 139:1-6; Dan 2:30; Acts 1:24). Nothing was hidden from God, nothing is hidden from God today, He knows our hearts and He knew their heart. God’s people had rejected the prophets’ warning and exchanged God’s laws and decrees for idolatry, they had murdered the inhabitants with their devious schemes. So the Lord speaks in judgment against them, the city was not going to be a safe place, they would be thrown out of the pot referring back to their confidence as the meat in the pot (v3). The Lord would hand them over to the foreigners the Babylonians bringing judgment. To them the city would not be a safe place a pot, they would face the judgement and the reason why is so that they would know that the Lord is indeed the Lord. How did it happen, how did it get to this? That’s how we started today, it is a question that when asked the blame is put at the failure of the Church to move with the times, or that it has failed to proactively plan, or to look for ground breaking initiatives, or they failed to creatively respond to God-given opportunities, or one that seems to be used a lot and it is that demographics have changed. But for the church, both the church in Israel and the church today there is an answer that comes, a simple answer, when a church closes its doors, when the Glory of the Lord departs, it is given to us here and it is an answer that no one seems to face up to and it is there in v12, as the Lord speaks through His prophet He says “for you have not followed my decrees or kept my laws but have conformed to the standards of the nations around you.”. God’s glory will not remain, God’s glory will depart when His people do not follow his decrees, or keep His law, when they conform to the standards of the world around, it happens this day, and it happened as He withdrew His glory from His people in Ezekiel’s day. Today sadly we are told that what we need is to move with the times, proactively plan, look for ground breaking initiatives, creatively respond to God given opportunities, maybe move because demographics have moved but we are not being told that we must follow the Lord’s decrees, keep His laws, repent from how we have conformed to the standards of the nation around us. Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q99 What rule hath God given for our direction in prayer? The whole Word of God is of use to direct us in prayer; (1 John 5:14) but the special rule of direction is that form of prayer which Christ taught his disciples, commonly called The Lord’ s prayer. (Matt. 6:9–13, Luke 11:2–4) Year 3 Day 105
Pray (ACts) Read - Acts 12v1-5 Message - Scott Woodburn “First posted Year 2 Day 8 - 30 March 21” Nothing spikes the interest quite like a discussion of the end times. Will we have barcodes on our foreheads? Will the Russians attack Israel? Is Beyonce a member of the Illuminati? I preached on such things before and will not jump into then fully today apart from introducing you to an antichrist called Herod. Notice I didn't call Herod THE antichrist. I believe that before the return of Christ the world will see THE antichrist. Paul calls him the "man of lawlessness...who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God." (2 Thessalonians 2v3-4) Until those tumultuous days arrive, we must be aware that many other antichrists have already come (1 John 2v18). They may lack the significance of the final antichrist but they are nevertheless fierce opponents of Christ and His church. Herod played the part well. He laid violent hands upon the church (v1) and even killed James with the sword (v2). James was the brother of John, one of the sons of Zebedee (Matthew 4v21). Jesus had warned him that just as the Christ would die, James too would face death like his Master (Mark 10v38-39). The Jews were pleased at Herod's actions (v3) and this encouragement drove him to arrest Peter. Almost certainly Peter's death was at the front of Herod's mind but because it was during the days of unleavened bread, Herod left Peter in prison guarded by four squads of soldiers (v4). The situation looked lost. How could the church stand against the fury and resources of a man like Herod? James had been killed and it seemed Peter was next. The dark clouds of persecution were threatening to destroy the church. This is a story that is as old as time. The serpent rages against the church and will continue to do so until Christ returns. Until then the church responds with steadfastness in prayer (v5). It was Charles Spurgeon who once said "we shall never see much change for the better in our churches in general till the prayer-meeting occupies a higher place in the esteem of Christians." His challenge is one for every age. In times of comfort and in times of distress, the Christian church is to be zealous in prayer. Not even antichrists can rob the church of the precious gift of prayer, nor can they stand when Almighty God answers the cry of His people. Pray (acTS) Sing WSC 98 What is prayer? Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God, (Ps. 62:8) for things agreeable to his will, (1 John 5:14) in the name of Christ, (John 16:23) with confession of our sins, (Ps. 32:5–6, Dan. 9:4) and thankful acknowledgement of his mercies. (Phil. 4:6) Year 3 Day 104
Pray (ACts) Read - Ezekiel 11:1-3 Message - Alan Burke Now to give you an idea of how the people like Ezekiel ended up in Babylon in exile it was because the Babylonians came in and took the best of the best to Babylon. The political and ruling classes had been deported. Not only that, along with them the leaders of the army, craftsman, anybody who was of any use to the Babylonian empire and had any wit was taken (2 Kings 24:13-16) and those who were left were the poorest of the people. What had happened in Jerusalem was that in this power vacuum, some rose and led the people, it took time, but a new leadership emerged from among the people. As Ezekiel sees the vision of the Lord and there at the entrance of the eastern gate there were twenty five men. These are not to be confused with the twenty five sun worshippers back in chapter 8(16). The thing is that those who were left behind, who weren’t taken into exile believed that they were the fortunate ones, and those who had been taken into exile were under the judgment of God and not them but they were wrong. Those who are initially mentioned here in verse 1 are nobody’s in the grand scheme of things, they had risen to power under the rule of Zedekiah but they are never mentioned anywhere else, and we are told that they were plotting evil and giving wicked advice. They thought they were fine, Zedekiah had upgraded Jerusalems fortifications, they thought God had left them in peace so they could live as they wanted (8:12), and in their ignorance, or rather in their sinfulness, they were arrogantly asserting the security of their position. Look what they say in v3, ‘Will it not soon be time to build houses? This city is a cooking pot, and we are the meat.” Now these aren’t common saying today, so what do they mean? Well lets break it down, first of all, “‘Will it not soon be time to build houses?”. Well here economically and politically as well in their relationships with surrounding nations these twenty five men thought it will be soon time to build houses, things are going well, economic recovery is coming. So they are positive, things looked good, they were on the up, but they couldn’t see that the reality was far from the case. Next they say “This city is a cooking pot, and we are the meat”. Think big clay cooking pot, what you put in the cooking pot is the best bits, the bit that you don’t want are the bits of entrails, hoofs, the stuff that’s thrown into the fire. What they are speaking of is their perceived safety, it's better being within the walls of the cooking pot, that is city of Jerusalem than it is outside it. The contrast is being made between those who are inside the city and the exiles, those whom they believed God’s judgment was upon. They were an arrogant, they were self deceived people and Ezekiel is to prophecy against them. These people although God’s people were trusting in themselves and the fortifications of the city of Jerusalem, they were not trusting in God, they were wise in their own eyes but they were barking up the wrong tree. The scriptures reminds us that we are to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil”. Prov 3:5-7. In His impending crucifixion in John’s gospel Jesus said “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me” (Jn 14:1), our place of trust in the midst of all of life is not to be the things of this world, in our strength, in our mind, in our wealth, it is rather to be placed in the creator of this world. He can be trusted in what ever we face. In fact it is in Him we must trust, when we start to trust our own abilities and strength, we will end up in a dire situation that things may look good here but God is gone, His glory has left and His judgment is coming. Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q97 What is required to the worthy receiving of the Lord’ s supper? It is required of them that would worthily partake of the Lord’ s supper, that they examine themselves of their knowledge to discern the Lord’ s body, (1 Cor. 11:28–29) of their faith to feed upon him, (2 Cor. 13:5) of their repentance, (1 Cor. 11:31) love, (1 Cor. 10:16–17) and new obedience; (1 Cor. 5:7–8) lest, coming unworthily, they eat and drink judgment to themselves. (1 Cor. 11:28–29) Year 3 Day 102
Pray (ACts) Read - Titus 3v3-15 Message - Scott Woodburn It was the Greek poet Epimenides who described the Cretans as liars, evil beasts and lazy gluttons. I'm sure he had no clue that one day he would be quoted approvingly by the Apostle Paul. But while Paul agreed with Epimenides' assessment of the Cretans, Paul knew that at one time he was no better. Once upon a time says Paul we were "foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another." (v3) This is a rather bleak picture of the individual who does not know Christ and yet it is the consistent testimony of Scripture. In Romans Paul would state “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” (Romans 3v11-12) It wasn't just the Cretans who needed Christ, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Thankfully, there is a "but" in verse four. Paul testifies that the Lord saved us not because of our good works but because of His own bountiful mercy (v5). We deserved anger and instead we received grace. We have been washed clean by the regeneration of God and renewal of the Holy Spirit (v5). The Gospel was preached and the Spirit was much at work causing us to be born again and to receive Christ by faith. As we believed the Gospel, God declared us to be righteous - He justified us by grace alone and so we are now heirs to the hope of eternal life (v7). Once we were lost and without hope in this world and now, through Christ, we have hope of glory. In a few short verses the Apostle comprehensively outlines the good news of Jesus. All of this is "trustworthy" says Paul (v8) and therefore Titus was to insist on these things. He was to preach Christ and Him crucified, he was to proclaim the glory of the Gospel at every turn. What for? So that the church on Crete would devote themselves to good works in response to the Gospel. This would be both excellent and profitable for the Cretans. What was neither excellent nor profitable were foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law (v9). These things were the territory of the false teachers and no good would come from focusing on them. The emphasis placed on law observance and endless debates about ancient traditions and discussion of the teachings of long dead Rabbis would not bring any fruit to the church on Crete. As far as Paul was concerned they were both unprofitable and worthless. Indeed anyone who deliberately stirred up division was to be warned once, twice and then finally they were to be shunned (v10). This seems incredibly harsh but Paul saw constant division as a sure sign of a warped and sinful heart (v11). The church is not a place for constant fighting and arguing. If someone repeatedly seeks to divide the fellowship then that person must face the discipline of their leaders. Paul wanted Titus to come to him at his winter lodgings in Nicopolis (v12) and he would send either Artemas or Tychicus to Crete. Zenas and Apollos however were to be sent on their way with all the help Titus could muster (v13). The Cretans were to devote themselves to good works making sure that they helped those in urgent need (v14) and with a word of farewell, the letter to Titus came to a close (v15). I have never been to Crete but I wonder if there is still truth to the words of Epimenides...are Cretans liars, beasts and gluttons? I hope not but truthfully they (like you and I) are even worse. Thankfully in this final chapter Paul reminds us of the Gospel that takes liars, beasts, gluttons and transforms them by the power of God. Brothers and sisters, in Christ your life has been changed. You are not what you once were and by the grace of God you are being sanctified daily. Therefore put away all division, foolishness and argument. Focus on that which is both excellent and profitable. Devote yourselves to doing good, for once you were lost but now by the grace of God you have been born again. Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q96 What is the Lord’s Supper? The Lord’s Supper is a Sacrament, wherein, by giving and receiving bread and wine, according to Christ’s appointment, his death is showed forth; and the worthy receivers are, not after a corporal and carnal manner, but by faith, made partakers of his body and blood, with all his benefits, to their spiritual nourishment and growth in grace. Year 3 Day 101
Pray (ACts) Read - Ezekiel 10:18-22 Message - Alan Burke Today I’ll sum up what happens in these closing verses with the words ‘A Sad Departure’. Ultimately the Lord was departing from among his people, He did so on His throne chariot but we must not forget the reason why the Glory of the Lord departed. It was because of the corrupt corruption of the people, they were rebellious, idolatrous, they had exchanged the truth of God for a lie and the Glory of God and the sin of man cannot coexist, for one will displace the other. God would return in time but at this stage of the vision of Ezekiel nothing is mentioned. God would return when the sin of His people had been dealt with, when the nation had been judged, that they had been purified in His redemptive purposes. God had warned His people that this would happen, (Deut 31:17 and Hosea 9:12), if they strayed from His ways, if they went their own way. In Samuel’s day the people experienced a similar departure of the Glory of God as they were judged for their sin, for their faithlessness, Eli’s grandson was called ‘Ichabod’ (1 Sam 4:21) meaning the glory of God has departed. Once again the glory of the Lord had departed for the very same reason, God’s people rejected their Lord, their sin continued unabated. They had thought that this wouldn’t happen, they had taken confidence in how God dwelt among them, they had in Samuel’s day been foolish enough to take the Ark of the Covenant to the battle field, but this time they did not, but it made no difference, God would not tolerate the sin of His people, for the Glory of God and the sin of man cannot coexist. This was a sad departure, for the Glory of God did not return, the Temple was destroyed and it wasn’t until Christ came that the Glory of God came amongst His people again (Jn 1). Jesus has made His dwelling among us, the physical temple was so defied by their sin that the Lord departed but in his judgment was redemptive in its purposes, it was to bring His Glory in His only begotten Son, whom now lives in us though the Spirit. No longer is the temple necessary, for the people of God are the temple, the dwelling place of God in this world. We must in what we do seek to commit ourselves, our families, our churches to God. We must remember that the Glory of God and the sin of man cannot coexist, for one will displace the other. When God’s people choose sin, and as they do they turn from Him and reject His word then the Glory of the Lord will depart. On the flip side, when the Lord God makes His Glory known in a place sin will move out. The church in Sardis in the book of Revelation (ch3) was the church of the living dead, the angel calls them to remember what they had received and heard, they were called to repent (3)! They had forgotten the centrality of the word of God, the truth of God. There are many places today that have the reputation of being alive but are dead, they have forgotten the centrality of the word of God, they have forgotten what they have received and heard. For us as a church in what lies ahead and our desire first and foremost should be to please God, for His Glory and sin cannot coexist. Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q95 To whom is baptism to be administered? Baptism is not to be administered to any that are out of the visible church, till they profess their faith in Christ, and obedience to him; (Acts 8:36–38, Acts 2:38) but the infants of such as are members of the visible church are to be baptized. (Acts 2:38–39, Gen. 17:10, Col. 2:11–12, 1 Cor. 7:14) |
Alan
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