Hearing God in Hebrews (Part 1)

CPAC sermon 28 September 2008

Hearing God in Hebrews (Part 1) Hebrews 1:1-12

SLIDE 1

One of my favourite story books when I was growing up was about the adventures of Noddy.

Noddy, the little wooden, boy doll who lived in Toyland,

which was a world with real live Teddy bears, Elves and Golliwogs.

Noddy got his name because his head was on a spring and when he got excited his head just couldn’t stop nodding!

SLIDE 2

Noddy loved driving his friends around Toyland in his little red and yellow taxi.

SLIDE 3

Noddy’s best mate was Big-Ears!

Big Ears was a very friendly, cheerful gnome who was a hundred years old and was very wise.

Now even though Noddy was very kind and honest, he always seemed to get himself into trouble.

So Big Ears would often spend his days in Toyland riding around on his bike, helping Noddy work out a way to solve his problems.

Whenever Noddy got muddled or got himself into trouble, Big-Ears would often be heard to say "You funny little Noddy!"

Why was Big Ears called Big Ears?

I guess it was because he had Big Ears but above all he was probably a very good listener as he simply listened to Noddy share his problems and frustrations.

We know how vital and important it is to communicate effectively and also to listen.

We only have to look at the political scene to understand that,

or consider the importance of communication in a friendship or marriage relationship.

When it comes to communicating with God, it’s not easy is it?

Speaking for myself, the communication feels one way, on many occasions.

That is, me trying to connect with God.

I feel like I’m doing all the talking.

Sometimes it’s like I’m talking to my hand!

So sometimes, I feel a bit like Noddy.

I’m trying to do my best but things don’t always go swimmingly well.

I try to be good and kind but it doesn’t make my life easier.

More often than not I struggle to hear God speak into my life, especially when I’m the one doing all the knocking on His door.

I get frustrated and demoralised….

I know what you’re thinking –

“Gosh, if Danny feels like that, what hope is there for me!”

Don’t worry, we’re in this together!

That’s the value and strength of the “church”.

We’re a family, a team.

We must live & play the game of life with each other, and for each other.

So what hope is there for us?

Well, there’s lots of hope, in fact, endless hope.

It’s found in Jesus Christ.

The letter to the Hebrews begins by asserting the greatest single fact of the Christian revelation in it’s opening sentence:

SLIDE 4

“Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways…”
Hebrews 1:1

Alleluia! Thank goodness!

God has spoken to humankind though His Word and above all,

through His Son, Jesus Christ of Nazareth!

In Jesus Christ, God has closed the greatest communication gap of all time that exists between Him and us. Let me read some more:

1In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. 3The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

The bible is a divinely inspired history book about God and His chosen people the Jews, and it goes on to explain how we non-Jews fit into God’s purposes and plans for His world

The central figure right through the bible, in both Old & New Testaments,

is the person of Jesus Christ.

The Old Testament can be described as the New Testament concealed, and the New Testament can be described as the Old Testament revealed.

Referred to as the Messiah in the OT, Jesus is then revealed in the NT.

In the fullness of that revelation, Jesus Himself said, “I have come, not to do away with the Law (OT beliefs) but to fulfil it”.

Many first century Jewish Christians, the Hebrews, were not unlike us.

They were struggling to understand this “God”.

They were being tempted to abandon their new-found faith because of their difficulty in understanding and recognising who Jesus Christ was.

So to encourage them, the writer of the letter to the Hebrews begins his letter by describing and exalting God’s Son, Jesus.

He highlights 8 very significant points about Jesus.

SLIDE 5

Jesus is God’s:
1 prophetic voice: Adonai Shammah – Ever-Present

2 Son: Adonai Rohi - Shepherd

3 appointed heir: Adonai Jireh - Provider
4 creative agent: Adonai Rapha - Healer

SLIDE 6

5 personified glory: Adonai Tsidkenu - Righteousness
6 perfect revelation: Adonai Shalom - Peace
7 cosmic sustainer: Adonai Nissi - Victor

8 unique sacrifice: Adonai M’Kaddesh – Sanctification

Highlighting who the person of Jesus Christ is also puts the spotlight on who God is.

So in order to better trust God, and hear God speak into our lives

It is vital that we begin to understand and know His nature and character.

God has many names which reveal His nature and character.

To know these things about God will help us better understand what He requires of us.

As an aside, some people use the name Jehovah, eg Jehovah Jireh – that is OK – God is not going to strike you with a thunder bolt if you use that term Jehovah, but it is not scripturally correct.

I prefer not to use it because of the association to the Jehovah Witnesses cult.

Even referring to God as “Yahweh” I suggest is better than using Jehovah, but as I say, if you are happy to use the term Jehovah Jireh, etc then that is fine.

God called Himself “I AM” to Moses. The Hebrews considered God’s Name so holy that they didn’t even say it aloud often. But they wrote it as YHWH (Yahweh). In addition, through the OT God is called “Adonai” meaning Lord. It was the Catholic Monk Raymundus Martini around 1270AD who came up with the name Jehovah. He took the vowels from the Latin version of Adonai and inserted them into the Latin writing of YHWH to create the new name Jehovah.

Because God is called Adonai through the OT, I have used that term as part of God’s names.

So let’s look at these names.

1 prophetic voice: Adonai Shammah – Ever-Present

God is the same yesterday, today and forever.

He knows the end from the beginning.

You will never be in a place where He’s not there with you.

He has spoken prophetically over your life even before you were born (He knew you in your Mother’s womb) - He is ever present with you – He holds your life in His hands.

2 Son: Adonai Rohi - Shepherd

God is our great Shepherd.

He sent us His Son to guide us, care for us, shepherd us, and show us the way…

3 appointed heir: Adonai Jireh – Provider

We trust God for provsion and guidance – our daily bread…

4 creative agent: Adonai Rapha – Healer.

He heals, restores, reconciles, makes whole again…

5 personified glory: Adonai Tsidkenu - Righteousness
God is Holy – no evil can exist in His presence. He is sovereign over all creation.

6 perfect revelation: Adonai Shalom - Peace
Shalom means The Lord is Our completeness

He is the source of everything we need, and our perfect peace

Christ is the Prince of Peace. He gives us a peace the world cannot give.

7 cosmic sustainer: Adonai Nissi – Victor

You will never hear the word “Oopps” in heaven!

Nothing can take God by surprise!

God is in charge! He has conquered all before Him.

We need not fear the enemy of our soul – no weapon formed against us can affect us. Be bold in Christ.

8 unique sacrifice: Adonai M’Kaddesh – Sanctification

We are saved (our broken relationship with God, through our sin, is now completely restored) through the act of Christ on the Cross, but our sanctification takes time, it is a process.

Sanctification is a process of becoming more and more like Christ, gradually maturing, growing, becoming, changing into His perfect likeness from one degree to another.

Derek Prince sums up sanctification like this:

“You were saved, you are saved, and you will be saved”.

Over the coming weeks I encourage you to meditate on and ponder the Names of God.

Now as far as hearing God speak to you is concerned, and God speaking into your life, understand that if you know the Lord then you have already heard His voice.

It was that inner leading, inner small voice of God, that brought you to Him in the first place.

You have heard God, as I have.

You and I just need to hone up on our hearing ability!

So please don’t think you have never heard God.

Here’s one key to hearing God.

Jesus always checked with His Father. See John 8:26-30.

How?

Through prayer and the Hebrew scriptures.

He was a fervent pray-er and He was a student of the Torah.

When we follow this example set by Jesus we too will be able to do what we see the Father doing and do what we hear Him saying to us.

To hear the Father’s voice is our basic right as followers of His Son.

This is not just theory.

Hearing from the Father should come out of your own adventure relationship and connectedness with Him.

It comes back to building our relationship with God, which is one of our key priorities at CPAC at the moment.

So don’t make, or think, that hearing from God is complicated.

Remember,

“ A person’s heart plans his/her way. But the Lord directs his/her steps”

(Prov 16:9)

This scripture means that God does not want to make it hard for us to hear Him.

Most importantly, He simply wants us to get our hearts right with Him, to stay humble before Him and to serve and obey Him.

Then, God promises to guide you, to direct your steps.

That’s what He promises in His Word to you and to me.

Amen.

24-08-08 Jesus Taught Unusual Thinking! Luke 22:24-34

CPAC sermon 24-08-08 Jesus Taught Unusual Thinking! Luke 22:24-34

Luke 22 v26 “… but among you it will be different…”

Of the many gods in our world, our God is very “different”.

We believe in a God who is extremely unique in every way – and as a result, sometimes very hard to fathom, or understand, puzzling in fact, frustrating…!

Our God teaches differently to any other god.

He even says of other gods : “they have eyes but dot not see, ears but do not hear, mouths but do not speak…” (see Psalms)

Teaching involves imparting information which requires wisdom on the part of the recipient to understand how to use that information.

Wisdom requires thinking.

God in and through Jesus, was the greatest thinker of all time. He taught unusual thinking:

to be greatest, become least

to gain life, lose it

seed falls to ground & dies, to produce a harvest

widow’s mite, she’s richer than anyone else

Jesus must die, that we may live

In other words, what we think is “natural”, isn’t.

if someone seeks your coat give them more of your clothing

the meek will inherit the earth

to show that I am God I will become a baby!

to show I have power of eternal life I will allow them to crucify me!

Jesus was showing we live in an upside down world – all is not as it is

God’s ways are beyond us - our ways are foolishness to God and God’s ways seem foolishness to us.

In some facets of life, we do begin to understand though, how the way things really are :

eg. a horse trainer knows that to get a horse to follow you is not to chase it but to turn your back on him and walk away.

eg. Mahatma Ghandi overthrew colonial imperialism not with an army but with a life of humility and gentle words

eg. Nelson Mandela helped set a nation free by spending 27 years in a jail cell.

One of God’s favourite games is the game of “surprise” – God says,

“My ways are higher than your ways. You cannot use your natural mind, or your vast experience, or wealth, or cleverness, or intellectual prowess, or fancy words, to get to know me or my ways. The only way to approach me is by faith, That is very hard for the world at large to understand”.

We must start thinking “opposite”.

Do not think as the world thinks.

Think outside the box - eg shy person must become more assertive – make themselves “break out of a shy mould” that might be holding them back from reaching their true potential…

So Jesus taught His disciples:

when someone hates you, forgive…

or persecutes you, rejoice…

reach out when you feel like hitting back

pray when you feel like yelling in anger

give when you don’t seem to have enough

To live/think/behave “outside the box” like this, is to live in obedience to God.

Obedience is following unusual instructions.

This means our overall effectiveness in life is explained by our dependence on God – Phil 4, “I CAN do ALL THINGS in Christ who strengthens me!”

Human beings were designed to submit their spirit ONLY to the Creator.

Only God can direct, wisely, how you and I should live our life.

We must constantly remind ourselves that we, and CPAC, must be dependent on God at all times.

We might have budgets, strategies and professional practices but those do not explain our effectiveness.

Our effectiveness is explained by our dependence on God, on our relationship with Him and with one another, and on the way we live our lives as an example….Jesus said, “I am a servant”.

A World Vision worker in India… an elderly Hindu lady came to him, handed him a small wooden cross and said, “I have figured out that this cross is the secret of your success in the work you do amongst us”.

Who told her this… she had observed his life, his actions and his behaviour as he helped the people in her community.

Some things we cannot explain without the hand of God.

Our God is a “different” in every way – does things differently…

Eg. Nick Vujicic and Michael Phelps – both can swim except one has no arms and legs (Nick) and the other does!

Both are known around the world for different reasons….

Nick born like that – doctors don’t know how or why. He is being used powerfully by God to speak the gospel message around the world….

In the end it is the transformed quality of our lives that will ultimately make the difference to how we live and the influence we have… it is not our skills, ability, etc… but our obedience to God and our dependence on Him in all things….

Amen.

CPAC sermon 17 Aug 2008 Matt 15:21-28

CPAC sermon 17 Aug 2008 Matt 15:21-28

For children’s talk… the McDonald brothers Dick McDonald & Mac McDonald

· Started McDonalds restaurant nearly 60 yrs ago, burger 15c, shake 20c, fries 10c!

· Ray Croc was paper cup salesman; he wanted ways to fill more cups and so sell more cups so hit upon the Multimix machine making shakes – became associated with McD bros thro these machines.

· Croc helped with the McD branding (Speedee then Golden Arches) & he helped them open new restaurants; then in the 60’s the McD bros sold Croc the rights to the McD brand making him eventually a very wealthy man. They were happy to do that, saying, “We have all the money we need. We’re very happy with what we have”.

· Hebrews 13:5 “Don’t love money. Be happy with what you have. God has said, “I will never fail you! I will never abandon you!” (& see verse 6)

Matthew 15:21ff – key points:

· Gentile (non Jewish) woman’s daughter is very unwell. She asks Jesus for help

· Jesus ignores her, doesn’t even speak to her!

· Disciples tell her to go away; she persists

· Jesus says He hasn’t come to help her, only the Jews but she persists

· In the end He heals her daughter! Inspite of our situation, God will ALWAYS come through for us - remember His promise to us in Hebrews 13:5,6, etc. God cannot help but help us! That is His nature, His love, His mercy, His grace….

* [Use Daniel Binet in Burwood Unit in Ch’church Hospital as an illustration of persisting with God and trusting God to come through for us….]

* Refer to our ONE Prayers summarised – up to 60 prayers collected on 6 pages – fantastic! … they will be built into CPAC’s strategic planning for next 18 months… fuller details out soon

We need to talk ourselves up as a church… let us be happy with what we have – we have a great church family! Let us be proud of what God has done in and through CPAC, what He is continuing to do and what He will do in the near and distant future! When we trust God and say, “We are what we are and we are happy with who we are in you Lord”, then we are showing that we trust God, and that we are allowing God the space to “never fail us nor abandon us!”

No one said it would be easy though.

Note that there is always a cost involved to being a disciple of Christ and to making disciples. Note Jesus’ parable about the need to understand the cost and implications when planning to build something.

Obedience costs.

Real discipleship costs

What’s the price?

It is giving up our small personal agendas that can detract from what God is wanting to do.

The price is being prepared to forsake our comfortable lives (metaphorically speaking).

Being prepared to give up claims of ownership to affluence and to security.

Like the McDonald brothers, being prepared to say

“I’m happy with what I have!”

500 years ago a young Francis Xavier was a missionary in India, China & Japan.

He dreamed of returning to Paris.

Why?

So he could go shouting up and down the streets telling the students of that day to give up their small ambitions and come eastward with him to preach the gospel of Christ!

We won’t all be Francis Xavier’s but we can all be zealous for God, just like him, being obedient and accepting of our lot and of God’s call on our lives.

In putting in place a strategic plan and offering up a bunch of ONE Prayers to God (see summarised ONE prayers) we have begun the process of interacting as a church to discover what God’s will is for us collectively.

In this collective process, our corporate contribution as a church we may be talking about applying our computer skills, offering our generous hospitality,

offering our gifts in leading a small group or playing a musical instrument,

offering our gift of helping to set up chairs for a Sunday service

or get along side someone who needs help with budgeting, or simply needs a listening ear and a helping hand, prison & elderly care visiting, helping “green” our community, speaking out about social justice issues, and so on and so on.

Be very aware that sometimes, maybe we are all trying to do a little too much.

We can’t do everything in the world in which we live.

I would like to, but I can’t!!!

And we’re going to have to begin to trust one another enough to use the skills and the abilities and the giftedness of the various members of our church family so that we can be move forward in obedience to God as His church.

So obedience means giving up our small personal ambitions.

Obedience means shifting our expectations to becoming a blessing instead of merely being blessed.

Obedience means getting to a point of saying “Dear God, I am content with who I am and where I am in my life. I give you the remainder of my life for you to direct me and to use me as you will”.

Obedience is losing your life in this way, for His sake.

It is denying your “old self”, and getting your “new self” to take up the cross of Christ.

“Taking up your cross” in Jesus’ day meant you wouldn’t need to worry much about the things that most people worry about.

Taking up your cross today may mean taking up the cause of Christ.

That is, you have put yourself at God’s disposal so thoroughly

that you have nothing left to lose.

That’s not easy – it’s a huge ask.

A old African parable told among believers in Christ, pictures just how tough it is to give up our own ambitions.

It goes like this …. READ… unquote.

So whose agenda are YOU following in your life at the moment,

yours or Gods?

And do you always need to know exactly WHY God is asking you to do a certain thing at a particular time in your life?

Sometimes as a follower of Christ, "ours is not to wonder why ,

ours is but to do and to die".

Who said these words and what do they mean?

It is from a poem called "The Charge of the Light Brigade" by Alfred

Tennyson. It was written after Tennyson read about The Charge of the

Light Brigade that happened during the Crimean War:

'Forward, the Light Brigade!'
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldiers knew
Some one had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do & die,
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

It basically means that soldiers on the battlefield must follow orders. They don't have time to consider the validity, or consequences, of the orders or their actions, lest they be killed in the moment that they do so.

Sometimes the Christian disciplines of denial of self, of solid prayer and reading and studying the bible, seem pointless.

But remember, whose agenda are your following?

Discipleship is a discipline with a purpose.

Jesus didn’t pander to the non Jewish woman. In the end, He did meet her needs though.

In the same way, Jesus doesn’t pander to our self-seeking instincts, and He will meet our need. This is what He says to us - I finish with these passages: Matt 10:37-39, Mark 10:21, Luke 9:61-62) … Amen. Pray….

Practicing the Presence of God 10 August 2008

CPAC sermon 10 August 2008 Practicing the Presence of God

John 5:31-40

If I was to ask each one of you if you want to go deeper with God

I would expect you to simply say,

“Yes I do want to go deeper with God”.

Going deeper with God must lie at the heart of every Christian’s walk.

Our priority focus at CPAC over the next 18 months is to go deeper with God and to build our relationship with Him.

The consequence of going deeper with God is like tossing a pebble into a large pond – the ripples begin at the centre and continue outwards affecting a greater area of the pond in a seemingly unlimited way.

The pattern on this nautilus shell has the same affect, with the spirals moving unceasingly outwards.

God is at the heart of this movement.

The spiralling

indicates an ongoing unceasing journey,

indicates growth,

indicates connectedness.

We are connected to God,

connected to others on the journey,

and we can invite still others to join us on that journey.

So referring once more to this small gift card (more available for those who missed out last week), our key priority over the next 18 months is to

build and deepen our relationship with God,

with others here at CPAC,

and with the wider community.

If I were to ask you, “What do YOU mean by the term “going deeper”?” I would expect to get some different responses.

Going deeper with God might mean,

wanting to hear God’s voice more clearly

having a more fruitful prayer life

wanting to feel a growing closeness and presence to God

wanting more knowledge of the Bible and understanding what God

is saying about Himself and about us

wanting to grow in confidence and help others commit their lives to God

wanting to work with God to help people replace apathy with desire and passion for more of God, and so , and so on…

Understand that God’s Spirit is always moving to draw you to Himself in new ways.

How do you take your own walk with God to a deeper level

especially when depth looks different to different people?

I believe the answer lies in entering into God’s presence.

Yet what does such a lofty sounding act really look like on a Monday morning or on a Wednesday afternoon when the dust of life is gritty on our faces?

We know that

without God’s presence a Bible study is simply a gathering of people

offering knowledge, but not life

without God’s presence a prayer time is simply a recital of wants and desires

without God’s presence, our Sunday worship can become nothing but a meaningless routine

I find it hard to imagine God’s presence in something like this – listen to this…

from the Dom Post July 2008… “Sunbathers wishing to attend a Sunday service without the bother of getting dressed have been given the chance to try an inflatable church on a beach on the Italian island of Sardinia. The bouncy church is 30m x 15m costing tens of $1000’s of euros.. yesterday the structure had to be deflated hastily because of a strong wond which threatended to lift it into the sky!” ….

Here’s a trap that we too easily fall into :

Being in God’s presence is not a means to an end, it is the end itself.

There is nothing that can compare to “being present”.

Let me explain it like this – the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Bejing…fantastic to watch on TV, BUT…. one really had to be present to experience and appreciate it fully!

No matter how much we read the bible, go to church, pray, and so on, in the end God calls us into His presence. He yearns to be with us and us with Him.

It is there, in God’s presence, that we find refreshment for our soul.

It is there we find the true meaning of love.

It is there we find our deepest longings fulfilled.

That is why St Augustine prayed,

“O Lord, my heart is restless until it rests in you”.

What helps us come into God’s presence then?
We find the clues to this deeper level of knowing God sprinkled through Scripture.…

“Let us come before Him with thanksgiving…” (Psalm 95:2)

“Come before His presence singing with joy…" (Psalm 100:2)

Congreg read :

“Come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most” (Hebrews 4:16)

and Psalm 36:7,8 - when we are hungry and thirsty our first stop must be God – not alcohol, not drugs, not anger taking it out on those closest to us, not our job, not sex, not food, not shopping…

God knows the deep yearnings of our hearts.

He knows we will be hungry and thirsty from the journey.

It is God Himself who puts the desire in our hearts for something that will have true and lasting value.

Then He offers the answer to that longing…He offers us Himself and His presence.

He tells us to feast on and enjoy His abundance.
Feasting on His abundance simply means responding to the greatness of God, being in His presence.

Feasting on His abundance means looking beyond the hardship of the moment to the power and majesty of God.

He meets us with His strength in the middle of the storms of life.

In God’s presence, feed your soul with the knowledge that …

He is the wisdom you need. 1 Corinthians 1:24,25

He is faithful always. Deuteronomy 7:9

He is your strength. Isaiah 12:2

He is your restorer. Psalm 23:3

He is your resting place. Matthew 11: 28,29

He is your refuge from the storm. 2 Samuel 22:2,3

He is Almighty! 2 Corinthians 6:18

Ponder these things.

Let the reality of who God is settle over your soul and wash off any dust of discouragement.

Lay the truth of His character over your circumstances.

As you let your thoughts dwell on the greatness of God, and allow yourself to be taken into His presence thankfulness will begin to come to the surface.

Boldness will come again as you remember you are invited to come to Him.

Singing with joy will result, because your eyes of faith see the hope He brings to your heart.
Go deeper with God by entering into His presence.

The longing of your heart will be satisfied there.

In fact we cannot NOT live our lives in the presence of God.

CS Lewis (Letters to Maolcolm : Chiefly on Prayer) : “We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade, the presence of God. The world is crowded with Him. He walks everywhere incognito”.

Look for God sightings in your day!

In The God Hunt by Karen Mains she suggests that practicing the presnce of God is like going on a “God hunt”. It is a way we keep our soul awake to God. God can jump out at us anytime and say, “Boo! Here I am!” … like Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden God searched for them saying “Where are you guys?!”… He greatly desired to be with them but they were hiding from Him.

French monk Brother Lawrence – he maintained a continuous conversation with God through the day regardless of what he was doing…

Above all, understand that practicing the presence is more about personal relationship than strategy.

It is about staying connected to God, connected to Christ…to bring healing, hope and life to ourselves, and ultimately to others who we encourage to get connected to Christ.

It is about building and deepening our relationship with God….

Amen

Getting Better with Age! 03-08-08

Getting Better with Age! 2 Corinthians 4:5-18 03-08-08

I am of an age now where age matters to me!

It’s a sobering thought that the minute we are conceived, not born,

we begin dying. There is that inevitable decline.

In the decades that follow

· the eyesight begins to go

· the aches and pains become more prominent

· the muscles are not as strong as they used to be

· the mind is not quite as sharp as it once was

· weariness becomes a more common companion

and rest and sleep become highly sought after

Trying to ensure long lasting physical health is like trying to stem the tide with a pitch fork! - a scarey image!

It’s not like that for our spiritual bodies though! Thank God!

It is possible to get better and better with age!

That’s what St Paul meant when he said (2 Cor 4:16),

“…we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day”.

In this sense, the older you and I get, the better we become!

Those who believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that is, the church, grow stronger day by day by day.

Getting better with age involves getting spiritually fit.

We must invest in our spiritual well being by digging deep into God’s Word.

God’s Word is the foundation on which we must build our earthly lives.

God’s Word is more than just a bunch of written words.

Those words have life.

John tells us in his Gospel news that The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

He also says God created life itself through the Word.

That Word is, of course, Jesus Christ, the Son of God,

our Lord, our Master, our Saviour, our friend and brother, our God.

Jesus Christ is the foundation on which we must continue to stand.

The closer we become to Jesus, the more we will be like Him.

Paul speaks of it as “changing into His glorious image” (2 Cor 3:17).

The more we become like Him, the more He expects of us as we live on this earth.

This close relationship with Christ will enable us to finish all that we have been called to accomplish.

Our eye sight will improve with age, not get worse.

And so, our eyes will be open to heavenly plans, and we will know just what to do.

With the Holy Spirit’s help, we will begin to see supernaturally as our eyes maintain focused on Jesus.

Our vision and focus will not be on problems but on solutions.

That is why Paul says in verse 18 :

“…don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, let’s fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen…divine things which will last forever”

When we do this our outlook will change from negative to positive,

and from hopeless to hopeful.

Let’s use the story from 2 Kings 6:15-20 as an illustration of what I mean.

READ ….

Elisha had supernatural vision to see the hills full of heavenly horses and chariots of fire, ready to do battle.

If we could see supernaturally what is happening all around us, we would never have cause to fear.

As Elisha said to his servant,

“Don’t be afraid… those who are with us are more than those

who are with them”.

Elisha’s servant was given supernatural vision, and his faith grew exponentially!

God wants us to be victorious in this life too.

He will give you and I supernatural vision through the power of the Holy Spirit as we live our lives founded on Jesus Christ.

John 15:5ff – see small card given as a gift to you this morning… He is the Vine and we are the branches…

I want to help you see with supernatural eyesight….

Once you see something in the Spirit, your faith will grow.

Thinking about the next 12-18 months in the life of CPAC, if God would answer only ONE of your prayers for CPAC, what would be your prayer?

(attached)

I want you to spend the next week waiting on God for that ONE prayer.

Then next week I want you to have written that prayer down and hand it in at the service.

Then all the prayer themes will be collated and assessed by our leadership team and we will see and hear what the Spirit is saying to the church, to CPAC.

And we will build those insights into our strategic plan for the next 18 months.

You might get that one prayer in the next 5 minutes, or 5 hours or 5 days.

Time doesn’t matter here. Even if you get a prayer in the next 5 minutes please continue to hold it before God for the next week… then hand it in at next Sundays service.

What matters here is that God will give you and I His vision to see with supernatural eyes what His will is for CPAC.

Over the last two or three months our CPAC leadership team have been waiting on God for His vision for us.

Some of the fruit of that is shown on the "gift card" you received this morning, ie. we believe a key priority for CPAC right now is that God is impressing upon us the need to build and deepen our relationship with Him, with others at CPAC and with the wider community.

The task of the Ministries Team in recent days has been to formulate some goals to achieve this key priority.

I don’t want to divulge any of the detail of those goals this morning because I don’t want to influence your visioning as you press into God in prayer over the next 7 days.

Let’s see what God wants to reveal to you.

Believe that He will reveal something to you.

I expect to see some common themes coming through all of our prayers.

Please ask the Holy Spirit to guide you and to show you the way ahead for CPAC. Don’t be nervous about using a personal prayer language in your private prayers ie the gift of tongues. God knows what you are praying even if you don’t! The best way to begin using the gift of tongues is to literally make a “babble” like a child learning to talk the first time. It will feel and sound strange and weird at first. But because you are doing it in faith and trust in God, and for His benefit, it is legitimate and very biblical (eg 1 Corinthians 14). Have ago and keep persevering. You are learning a new language, a divine language. It will benefit your personal prayer life immensely. In my quiet times I like playing some favourite Christian music as I pray like this.

As you begin seeing supernaturally, your faith will be ignited!

Then we will have a God-given strategy and momentum to accomplish that which we have been called to do as a church.

The greatest victories come from the most difficult battles.

Remember, the war has already been won by Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary.

But the battle still rages for God’s church.

The god of this world, Satan, is not totally overcome, yet.

So we must be determined as a church to play our part in this spiritual battle.

We must set our faces like a flint toward God,

asking for His help and guidance, and never turning back from the calling He has placed on our lives, through this church, CPAC.

You and I can do it, because we have God on our side.

We can accomplish what seems impossible because with God all things are possible.

All things are possible.

Believe it!

Be encouraged!

As Elisha prayed, let me pray for you now…

“O Lord, open the eyes of your people and let them see…. “ Amen.