The Holy Spirit

June 25-27 is our evening church weekend away. I have given myself a big task. I am speaking about the person of the Holy Spirit and looking to specifically apply it to the issues of doubt and assurance.

I have 3 statements and looking for any feedback, good illustrations to blatantly steal, any articles worth reading, etc.

Here are my three statements.

1. The Holy Spirit unites us to the work of Jesus

Thinking specifically in this talk about the benefits of union with Christ.

2. The Holy Spirit gives us new life (regeneration)

In this talk working over why we need new life and the joy of being regenerate.

3. The Holy Spirit is a deposit/seal

Talking about getting the Spirit which is something that belongs to the new age.

Got anything for me?

He's not a traitor

Benji stays strong amongst those who are deserting league. Cough, cough ... Israel Folau.

With a name like "Israel" he was never going to be faithful. Huh, huh, get it?? .... yeah ok, maybe it wasn't as funny as I first thought.

New layout

So, what do you think of the new background and layout?
Too black and white :)

Hosea and Marriage

This post is written by Luke Thomson who works with me at Norwest

Implications for Marriage from Hosea 1-3
Hosea chapters 1-3 form a pivotal point in the Bible for our understanding of marriage. The story of Hosea & Gomer help us to bridge the gap in our understanding between the institution of marriage in Genesis, and the New Testament understanding of marriage. Here, I will very briefly explain some of these important links. (There is much more to say on this topic to do it justice. I highly recommend Christopher Ash’s book “Married for God”)

Genesis
The account in Genesis 2 of Adam and Eve establishes a foundation for how we understand marriage in the Bible. After all, it’s the very first marriage. In creating Eve, God says in verse 18 “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” Eve is to help Adam in his task in caring for and ruling over God’s creation (1:28, 2:15). We are told at the end of Genesis 2 in verse 24 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh”. We see in this chapter, some of the basic elements of marriage – it is an exclusive relationship, with the intended aim of serving God in fulfilling his purposes.

Ephesians
Skip over to the New Testament. Ephesians 5:22-33 has a lot to say about marriage, but one significant theme runs through it: the marriage between a husband and wife is to be based on the love Christ has for the church. The whole passage intertwines these two images – marriage and church – in such a way that it’s easy to lose focus on which Paul is talking about in any one particular sentence. In his mind, so linked are the ideas of marriage and of God’s relationship with his people that he can jump back and forth between the two images.
In verse 31, Paul quotes Genesis 2:24 – which we know to be about marriage between a husband and wife. But then in the very next verse Paul says “This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.” In other words, Paul sees the very creation and institution of marriage as talking about God and his people. Marriage is to be a display of God’s covenant of grace with his people. Paul calls it a ‘profound mystery’ because this has always been the purpose of marriage, but only in Jesus do we see the full purpose of marriage displayed clearly.

Hosea
Hosea fits in between these two significant passages we have looked at on marriage. Chapters 1-3 have shown us that God called Hosea in a marriage relationship that would reflect God’s relationship with his people. The idea is best captured in 3:1, where God tells Hosea to love his wife once more, even though she has been unfaithful. God says “Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods”. The purpose of Hosea’s marriage is to help Israel (and us!) understand God’s covenant relationship with his people. Hosea’s marriage points us towards, and helps us understand what Jesus has done.

Marriage
The ultimate goal of any marriage is to display what God’s relationship to his people is like. Marriage is fundamentally more about God than it is about us. Marriage was created in the pattern of God’s relationship with his people, and its purpose is to display the pattern from which it came. Our marriages best serve God by pointing towards Jesus and his relationship with God’s people. Hosea is an amazing picture of this reality.

How might this look in practice?
• We should strive to make our marriages an example of God’s love for his people, knowing that we will be imperfect reflections because of our own sin.

• Husbands must see themselves as the spiritual leaders of their homes. They are to diligently lead their wife and children in knowing God and helping them to live out their faith. It will mean sacrificing other desires and opportunities for the sake of their family’s godliness. This is the most important task that husbands are called to.

• Wives should gently encourage their husbands in their role, and help them to lead the family.

• Marriage is for making disciples of Christ… whether that be your own children, the children of others, or even other adults.

• Marriage provides many opportunities to show forgiveness and grace. As we experience the challenges of marriage, we ought to remind one another of how great it is to be forgiven and graciously rescued by God.

• Our language of marriage should be positive. Marriage is a wonderful gift that helps us understand God’s love, not a burdening restriction of our freedom. Whilst being honest in its challenges, we must uphold the positive value of this gift that God has provided.

• We must be careful not to make marriage the goal of life. Marriage does not ‘complete’ a person as their ‘other half’ (thereby rending the unmarried ‘incomplete’). A life of singleness is equally as valid and complete.

I have stolen...... a question!

OK, look I know this blog is sporadic at best and my apologies for that.
But I have stolen this question from over here

“What segment of the community that surrounds your church would seriously miss you if you suddenly disappeared from the face of the earth over night?”

If you normally just read and don't post a comment I would really love to hear from you. Even if you're not Christian or you don't go to Norwest, your thoughts on this question would really interest me. Even if the answer is the church wouldn't be missed at all - that's still an answer. So go on, have a go! You can do it

Allegiance to Jesus: Priorities & Shame

A couple of weeks ago at church I finished a 4 week series on 'Discipleship'. I had way too much in my last talk and so I cut out my last two points. So here they are in summary form. If you want to listen to the talks go to http://www.norwestanglican.org.au/sermons/

The main point of the whole talk was that Discipleship is about your allegiance to Jesus.

And we are unpacking the radical nature of following Jesus on our lives and the text is Mark 8:34-38 and we have just seen that following Jesus is an all or nothing deal.

Priorities
Jesus doesn’t want to be 2nd in your life
He hits hard us to what I prioritise in my life
This passage keeps telling me
Jesus is number one
And he deserves to be number one.

A little later after Luke’s account of this incident he writes
Lk 9:57-62
As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." 58 Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." 59 He said to another man, "Follow me." But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." 60 Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God." 61 Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family." 62 Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."

Doesn’t it get any clearer than this?
Jesus sounds harsh and confronting
You want to follow me?
Then he goes first in ALL things

You don’t make up what it means to follow him
‘I will follow you, but first let me go and do this and this….’
or
'If I follow you then I'll still get to do this and this, won't I?'

There is no going back
Following Jesus is about leaving the old world behind
The old person behind
Denying all those things
And walking the road to the cross behind our Lord Jesus
And pursuing these priorities FIRST
will start to unpack for you what it means to 'take up your cross'

The priorities can be explained like this
What profession do you do?
Whatever it may be
You are not that first
You are a Christian first and your job second

Even amongst our church family
A great question to ask ourselves as a church is
What is our priority?

I am arguing and have been for the last 4 weeks
that our priority as a church family should be about discipleship and all that it entails


An ashamed disciple?
This can be a big one for a lot of people
V38 can pack a massive punch
If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels

Think of how Peter took them as he denied knowing Jesus later

The founder of McDonald's, Ray Krock, was asked by a reporter what he believed in. "I believe in God, my family and McDonald's," he said. Then he added, "When I get to the office, I reverse the order."

It's easy to be ashamed of Jesus
It's easy to deny you are a Christian at work, school, uni, wherever
B/c people will assume you are somewhat normal
But say to people that you love Jesus
You live your life in total service of Him alone
People think you are weird
And no one is really putting up their hand to take on that job description
Wanted: one weird dude

Do we lack the courage to do it?
Are we scared?
Are we ashamed of Jesus?

Our tendency is to go towards acceptance and the status quo
But following Jesus is normal for Christians
It is my prayer that we would be rocks in this area
That when we walk away from our church family and friends
Go to work on Monday
That we wouldn't change
That we wouldn't be ashamed
That we would openly and freely confess our allegiance to Jesus

'Be strong and corageous brothers and sisters'

Conclusion
As I said at the beginning I feel like I’ve been saying the same things over the last few weeks
Just in different ways

So let me summarise
A disciple is someone who
Loves the Word
Loves others
Bears fruit
And puts Jesus first

What can you do now?
Work on your allegiance to Jesus

What lack I yet?

Question: What was the 'one thing' the rich young ruler lacked?

You can find the account of the rich young ruler in Lk 18:18-30, Matt 19:16-22, Mark 10:17-31. The following answer is stolen from Bonhoeffer's book "The Cost of Discipleship" (p30).

The young man has now been twice brought face to face with the truth of the
Word of God, and there is no further chance of evading his commandment. It is
clear there is no alternative but to obey it. But he is still not satisfied.
'All these things have I observed from my youth up: what lack I yet?' Doubtless
he was just as convinced of his sincerity this time as he was before. But it is
just here that his defiance of Jesus reaches its climax. He knows the
commandment and has kept it but now, he thinks, that cannot be all God wants of
him, there must be something more, some extraordinary and unique demand, and
this is what he wants to do. The revealed commandment of God is incomplete,
he says, as he makes the last attempt to preserve his independence and
decide for himself what is good and evil. He affirms the commandment with one
hand and subjects it to a frontal attack on the other.

The guts of Bonhoeffer's answer lies in the words:
The revealed commandment is incomplete and seeking to preserve his independence and decide for himself good and evil.

Bonhoeffer then goes on to add that what he really lacked was (p32):

He had great possessions. The call to follow means here what it had meant
before - adherence to the person of Jesus Christ and fellowship with him. The
life of discipleship is not the hero-worship we would pay to a good master, but
obedience to the Son of God.

It's good stuff - thanks Mr Bonhoeffer!