7th September 2023
Pray (ACts) Read (Romans 12v1) Message (Scott Woodburn) The book of Romans is nothing short of a gift from God. It powerfully instructs us in our Christian theology and it finishes with a strong call to Christian living. Paul's first eleven chapters ended with a song of praise to God (Romans 11v33-36) and the Apostle opened chapter twelve with the word "therefore" In other words if you're tempted to ask "what good is all this theology?" Paul answers with the practical outworking of God's truth in our lives. Theology, which is the study of the words written about God, should never just be for the mind. If you study the Bible just to know things then you have taken a wrong turn. Theology informs both mind and soul, it impacts our belief and our everyday walk. Therefore, Romans 12 acts as a pivot, as if Paul is saying "I've explained your theology, now go and live it out" It should go without saying that we are saved apart from works. Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Nevertheless, faith without works is dead and the reality of a transformed heart should be evident in a Christian's life. It is no wonder then that the Apostle exhorts us in light of God's mercy to offer ourselves as living sacrifices (v1a). C.T. Studd, a Christian of another age, showed us this connection when he said “If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.” Indeed! Good theology leads to a sacrificial life. What does this look like in practice? Firstly, we meditate upon the mercies of God. How often do you contemplate God's mercy? You deserve His wrath every single day and instead He pours out grace, mercy and peace upon you. It is by the mercy of God that He chose you before the foundation of the earth, it is by the mercy of God that He raised you from spiritual death, it is by the mercy of God that He enabled you to call upon the name of Christ and it is by God's mercy that He will surely keep you until the end. We can never divorce the Christian life from the mercy of God and so our response to the Gospel is rooted in the Gospel. By the mercies of God we are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. The Christian is not called to climb upon an altar to be killed like the sacrifices of old. Instead we have been made spiritually alive in Christ. In newness of life we respond to the grace of God by living wholeheartedly for the Lord. We present our bodies daily to the Lord or in other words we present our whole selves. As Christ has caused us to be born again to a living hope, so we respond by living each day for the glory of God and love of our neighbour. Such a lifestyle is holy and acceptable to God (v1b). This is not to say that you and I are perfect this side of glory - by no means. Yet by virtue of our union with Christ we are considered holy before the Lord and our works are acceptable to Him. The Westminster Confession of Faith is helpful in this matter saying that we only do good works because we have been raised with Christ and enabled by the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, even when we are at our best we are still "unprofitable servants" but the Lord accepts our imperfect works because we are united to Christ by faith. This is what a life of "spiritual" or reasonable worship (v1c) looks like. We have been transformed by the Gospel and respond to it daily with a wholehearted commitment to the Lord. So in summary, God's mercy is so great that our only reasonable response is to glorify God and enjoy Him both today and forever. Good theology should always lead to Christ centred devotion, therefore the Apostle speaks loudly and still declares "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship." May it be so to the glory of God! Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q38 What benefits do believers receive from Christ at the resurrection? At the resurrection, believers, being raised up to glory, shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment, and made perfectly blessed in the full enjoying of God to all eternity.
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6th September 2023
Pray (ACts) Read - 1 Samuel 12:6-19 Message Alan Burke Wee question for you, how faithful are you? I’m not talking about being a faithful friend, or a faithful spouse but a faithful child of God? As we pick up in this next section from v6-19 Samuel brings to mind the people history, he reminds them of the ultimately reality, that God has been faithful even when they were faithless. What Samuel does here is important, the recalling to their minds their own history which is our history as the church, from the time from the beginning of the book of Exodus through the time of the Judges, even to how they had rejected God’s rule and looked for a king that they now have was all for a purposes. The picture laid out couldn’t be clearer, the pattern is one that had been repeated time and time again. God’s faithfulness and the people were faithlessness. How the people were quick to forget all that the Lord had done for them, they were quick to go after what their sinful hearts desired and time and time again they had went astray and got into trouble. Then they cried out to the Lord God and he answered. For He remembered the covenant that he had made with their forefathers, he remembered his faithfulness and he provided them deliverance. Samuel is saying all of this to act as a reminder, and as a warning to them about their future. They have been given an earthly king, Saul has brought them victory over their enemies the Ammonites, they might assume that God would give them victory after victory no matter what but here Samuel wants them to reflect on the past because what is required is their faithfulness to their faithful God. It is what God requires of his people throughout the ages, to be faithful to our faithful God, our covenant keeping God. Although I’m sure we can all think of times in our own lives when we cried out to God for help because of the consequences of our sinful actions, only going back when we have been brought face to face with the reality of sin. We all need reminded of what we are like, of who we are and who God is, that while we are faithless God is faithful. Even though Samuel said all this as a warning to the people it also is a reminder that it is never the case the the Lord will not hear our cries for help, if we know God, if we turn to him and repent for the Grace of Christ is sufficient, he will help us in our weakness. What ever it may be the Lord will hear us and forgive us. Let us choose to be people who look to him at all times not only when we are in times of trouble. If you are burdened with the weight of sin, past or present, turn to him, his grace is sufficient through the blood of the Lord Jesus, don’t hold on to that guilt in your life. It may be many years after the time of Samuel but his reminder to the people to keep God at the centre of their lives, that he was the king over every area of their lives is just applicable to us. We must recognise the true king in our lives, and it should impact every area of our relationships, our work life, home life, everything. God is not a tyrant, he’s not going to force you to obedience but there is a reason why he has given his moral law, given us his word as the only rule to direct us how we may Glorify and enjoy him, because it is for our best, it is how we are to live, it’s not to spoil our fun, but to help us to live life to the fullest, to help us to flourish. Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q37 What benefits do believers receive from Christ at death? The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness, (Heb. 12:23) and do immediately pass into glory; (2 Cor. 5:1,6,8, Phil. 1:23, Luke 23:43) and their bodies, being still united to Christ, (1 Thess. 4:14) do rest in their graves, (Isa. 57:2) till the resurrection. (Job 19:26–27) 5th September 2023
Pray (ACts) Read (Romans 11v33-12v1) Message (Scott Woodburn) I have been Edengrove's minister for fifteen years and in that time I've preached through Romans on two occasions. I believe Romans to be a monumental book and one that deserves to be read and understood by every Christian. The opening eleven chapters are full of rich theology outlining God's glorious plan of salvation to both Jew and Gentile. What do those chapters teach? In summary, the Lord has kept and fulfilled His promises to Abraham, salvation has come to the Gentiles who have been justified by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone and there is reason to hope and expect a great many Jews to turn to Christ before the Lord's return. As Paul reflected on everything he had written, he broke into praise with a doxology (Romans 11v33-36). A doxology is a song of praise which ascribes glory to God and shouldn't be confused with a benediction which is a pronouncement of blessing from God to His people. Paul's doxology drew from Isaiah and Job (v34-35) and marvelled at the scale of God's plan of redemption. The Apostle knew his place and released that even in the midst of weighty theology, he still could not fully know God's judgments or completely understand God's ways (v33). How should we respond to Romans? With utter humility. God owes us nothing and we can give Him nothing to better or complete Him. Nevertheless, God has moved in history and has worked a glorious salvation for His people. Everything finds it's source in God (v36a), everything comes to pass through God (v36b) and everything works to His glory (v36c). The Lord alone deserves all the glory both now and forever (v36d). We have no room for arrogance and if your theology produces pride in your heart, then your theology needs to be reexamined. Paul's Spirit inspired theology deserves a lifetime's study and his doxology should be memorised and sung. But what now? Romans 12 acts as a cry for each Christian to respond to God's mighty work. The faith is not a passive one whereby we sit idly on the sofa waiting for the Lord's return. Instead Paul states "therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God...present your bodies as a living sacrifice" (12v1). We'll consider what that means in the days to come but today I simply call upon you to meditate upon the size, scale and grandeur of the Christian faith. Paul would summarise the Gospel in this way "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5v21) Commit this verse to memory and allow yourself to contemplate the significance of it throughout the day. Jesus was sinless but became sin for us, He was our substitute, His righteousness was swapped for our depravity in a great exchange and by His stripes we have been healed. If all of this is true then brothers and sisters we must heed Paul's exhortation and respond with a Christ exalting life. We have been well taught by Paul in Romans 1-11 and we have joined with him singing a doxology to our God in Romans 11v33-36. Therefore, in light of all that we have heard, we offer ourselves as living sacrifices to Christ our King. Soli Deo Gloria, to God alone the glory. Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q36 What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification? The benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification, are, assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end. 4th September 2023
Pray (ACts) Read - 1 Samuel 12:1-5 Message Alan Burke There is lots today written about what makes a good leaders, accountability, active listening, courage, communication, patients, integrity are but a few of the traits that I can see are key, others like being a visionary, adaptable, being a trend setter may sound great in the world of business but when it comes to the church they should be relegated to the sidelines. Today we come to a man who wasn’t a good leader, he was a great leader here in his farewell speech to the people we can see how he was a man who was accountable not to man but to God, he had listened but only acted when it was the will of God, he was courageous enough to say no, he communicated to them, he was patent and he was a man not only publicly but privately of integrity. That being said in this chapter he wants the people to focus not on him, or the one who follows him, instead he wants the people to look to the Lord. That is what every good leader should be doing, directing us to the Lord rather than themselves for we are but a breath, a fleeting shadow (Ps 144:4) but the Lord reigns forever. Let’s look at these opening five verses of 1 Samuel 12 today as we think of Samuel and his time as leader over the people of God as he passes the baton over to Saul who is now the peoples king. Firstly Samuel draws their attention to how he had been their leader from his youth. Note the word that is translated as leader is literally the word ‘walk’ in Hebrews, so what Samuel is saying to them is I have walked before you, I have lead you, cared for you, devoted my life to you and now I am old and grey. Not only had he walked he had listened. Now there is something that we should note, Samuel listed to everything they said which is true but he did not give them every whim of their heart. He only responded to them as the Lord allowed, his task was to obey God not obey them as any leader who is apportioned by God. A Leader’s Integrity is vital to the health of the people of God, and although Samuel listen to the people, he was ultimately obeying God first before the people. If the Lord had said no then Samuel would have also acted with integrity in not listening to the people. He had not turned a blind eye to things that they had done in order to gain an easy life for himself, nor had he lead them for his own personal gain, Samuel was the kind of leader that we all long for, whether that is in the workplace, the political sphere or among the people of God. In all of this Samuel was not saying to the people, “look how great I am” but he was impressing the gravity of this transition, from judges to monarchy. The integrity of Samuel had been such that the people could not make any claim against him, against how he as acted on the LORD’s behalf or against his personal character. You may have heard the phrase “absolute power corrupts absolutely" but this was not true of Samuel. His character and his conduct were crucial to his office as a man of God, the people testified to the truth of Samuel’s integrity. So here is a question for you to consider; if we were to ask those around us to give us their honest opinion about our character, how would they respond, would their comments be positive and encouraging? Or would their opinion be anything but? Would we be willing to stand like Samuel and risk the accusations come, the character faults be listed, the sins that everyone knows about but we are blind to? We are to be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God (Eph 5:1) We are to be imitators, imitate God’s holiness in all of our conduct. We are to be people who imitate our saviour and who are of integrity. Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q35 What is sanctification? Sanctification is the work of God’ s free grace, (2 Thess. 2:13) whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, (Eph. 4:23–24) and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness. (Rom. 6:4,6, Rom. 8:1) 2nd September 2023
Pray (ACts) Read (Hebrews 11v22) Message (Scott Woodburn) First posted on 3rd December 2022 Jacob's son Joseph lived until he was 110 spending the rest of his days in Egypt. Additionally he was blessed by seeing multiple generations of his family. But as each of us knows, death cannot be avoided. Joseph knew that his death was about to arrive and so he spoke words of truth to his brothers. The family at this stage were well settled in Egypt but Joseph reminded them that God’s promise still stood. Joseph said “I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” Joseph had done well in Egypt. The Lord had blessed him with much favour and yet in his bones, Joseph knew that God’s plans for his people would not be fulfilled in the land of the Sphinx. One day God would visit His people in Egypt and bring them home. Joseph wouldn’t live to see the glorious day but regardless he looked to it by faith. He made his brothers swear that they wouldn’t leave him in Egypt. After his death he was embalmed and placed in a coffin but one day Jospeh wanted his remains to go to the land of promise. He impressed upon his brothers “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.” We can only imagine what Joseph’s life was like. The Scriptures paint a vivid picture but our minds are limited and time travel to see for ourselves is impossible. Regardless, we have much in common with Joseph of which we can be sure. Joseph was a man of faith who died without seeing the fulfilment of God’s promises. He died in a foreign land without setting foot in the land of promise ever again. Yet his faith did not waver and he was filled with a righteous anticipation that all things would be as God had promised. I have no idea about the when, where or how of my death. I could currently be in the final year of my life or I might see my 100th birthday. Equally, the Lord may return before I breathe my last. As we gaze into the future we do not have all the information but with eyes of faith we can be sure that the promises of God are yes and amen in Christ. At death we can be sure that our souls will be made perfect and go to be with Christ. During the intermediate state (the time between our death and resurrection) we will know unspeakable joy. At the second coming of Jesus we can be sure that our bodies will be raised imperishable and reunited with our soul. In eternity we can be sure that we will dwell with Christ forever in a world without sin. None of this is “pie in the sky” nor should we be pitied for believing idle tales. God has promised and it will be so. Like Joseph, we believe even though we do not yet see in full, but a day is coming when our faith will be turned to sight. Until then we cling to the promises of God. On occasion we will cry “I believe, help my unbelief” (Mark 9v24) but even so the Lord will remain faithful and He will preserve us until we cross the finish line. What a day that will be! We'll be finally home! Come quickly Lord Jesus! Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q34 What is adoption? Adoption is an act of God’s free grace, whereby we are received into the number, and have a right to all the privileges, of the sons of God. 1st September 2023
Pray (ACts) Read - 1 Samuel 11 Message Alan Burke It’s always hard to know what to pull out of these passages in the devotions, so far we’ve thought about Jabesh-Gilead’s failure to look for help in God or his King and how the only right response for all people is to look to God and the true King Jesus Christ. Then on Wednesday we focused on the response of Saul at the news of what is happening to the people of Jabesh-Gilead, how the Spirit of God rushed upon him and he burned with anger, learning how not all anger is sinful, how our Lord and Saviour got angry, anger can be righteous and the wrath of God that Jesus received on the cross was because of our sin. Today we focus on the result of what unfold. Isreal musters, three hundred thousand and the men of Judah thirty thousand, this is a massive fighting force that have gathered at the call of Saul, the messengers of Jabesh-Gilead take the news back and the city are glad, elated, deliverance is coming for them. The Ammonites are slaughtered, the detail that we are given, the completeness of the defeat is total, no two of them are left together, in contrast to the Israelites who turned out as one man we are told at the end of v7. Our modern sensitivities mean that often we recoil at this idea, How could God have sent his Spirit on Saul for this task, how could he have allowed his people to do such a thing, to kill so many. It even seems to some that it is contradictory to the New Testaments ‘God of love’. God before, the God of the Old Testament is all about the wrath, God now is all about the love, but God warns the judgement that will come upon all those who do not repent and believe. Jesus was clear about the fait that awaits all who do not put their faith in him, while many who refuse to handle such passages, say they believe that Jesus never said anything about judgement or hell and they imagine the Lord to be always loving and gracious. Indeed some even go so far as to say that there will be nobody sent to hell and there will be some sort of universal salvation. Scripture clearly rejects all of this. History comes to a close with Christ on the judgement seat giving heaven to His sheep and hell to the goats. Here the completeness of the defeat foreshadows what we will see at the end of history, of those who are not on God’s side. With the victory won, Samuel calls the people to go to Gilgal to reaffirm the kingship, they go as the united people, and they worshipped the Lord their God at Gilgal, they made sacrifices and offerings and their was a great celebration. This marks the starting point of Sauls reign and it started so so well for him, God has given Saul everything he needs to be a good king, to rule the people well, God had called him, anointed him, equips him, he had everything he needed, he was set up for success, but Saul would eventually fail. The failure of Saul as the King over God’s people rests on his own shoulders. We will see his failures before very long, this is the high point of his reign and this acts as a warning to all who lead, or who have been called, or equipped by God and our it is our own hearts that are deceitful above all else. For all of us we need not look to earthly leaders, we should not follow personality, we need to look to the true king Jesus Christ who obeyed the law of God perfectly on our behalf so that we might be forgiven. You know the thing that marked out the next king that followed Saul, King David? It wasn’t that King David was any less sinful it was that David was a man who knew the necessity of repentance in his life and as a result was a ‘man after God’s own heart’ (1 Sam 13:14, Acts 13:22). Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q33 What is justification? Justification is an act of God’ s free grace, wherein he pardoneth all our sins, (Rom. 3:24–25, Rom. 4:6–8) and accepteth us as righteous in his sight, (2 Cor. 5:19,21) only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, (Rom. 5:17–19) and received by faith alone. (Gal. 2:16, Phil. 3:9) |
Alan
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