Sermon notes for “Hearing God in Faith & Politics” October 12th 2008 by Roger Ellis
Good morning, it’s good to be here today to speak about Faith & Politics. Some of you will have noticed the beginning of campaigning for this year’s Parliamentary general election. In view of this I thought it might be helpful to discuss how Christians are to relate to government. Hence this sermon on Faith & Politics.
· Define “politics”
· Should Christians be involved
· Some practical applications for us today
1 Peter 2: 9-17
The Apostle Peter was writing to the people of God. From the beginning God has chosen people to influence the world for His purposes. In the Old testament times he used the nation of Israel. In the New testament the life death and resurrection of Christ enabled all people to be part of God’s kingdom if they want to be. Peter also tells us to “live as free men” he then tells us to “live as servants of Christ”. At first this seems like a contradiction. But God’s economy is different to man’s. Peter reminds his readers that we belong first to Christ. We are aliens or strangers in this world. We live in it, we can influence it and we are charged with changing it. But we do not belong to it. Rather we belong to the Kingdom of God. Peter tells us to submit to the authorities. He is not alone in this. The Apostle Paul repeated the same instructions in Romans 13;1 which says “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities”. These passages and others like them speak of the interaction of the early church with political entities.
What do we understand by the term politics?
I think we can consider politics in two ways:
1 the life of the city state (polis) the Greek original from which we derive the English word “politics” by which the Greeks meant the way in which people live together in community; and
2. the activity of government concerned with policy development and the embodying policy in legislation.
Should Christians be involved in politics?
Was Jesus and the early church involved in politics? According to definition 1 – yes they were. But according to definition two – No they weren’t.
However, just because Jesus and the apostles weren’t involved in politics in the narrower sense of government is this a valid reason for us in the 21st century not to be involved in politics?
According to evangelical scholar – John Stott – the early church operated in a brutal Roman dictatorship – not a parliamentary democracy. The bottom line is that they couldn’t get involved in parliamentary politics even if they wanted to. John Stott believes that if they had the opportunity then they would have got involved in politics.
First century Christians did not demand the abolition of slavery. But are we not glad and proud of the 19th century Christians who did? Their campaign was based on the biblical teaching regarding human dignity and was a legitimate extrapolation from it.
As John Stott says:
“The apostles did not build hospitals either but Christian hospitals are a legitimate extrapolation from Jesus’ compassionate concern for the sick. Just so, political action (which is love seeking justice for the oppressed) is a legitimate extrapolation from the teaching and ministry of Jesus”
Another great evangelical leader – James Packer – agrees with Stott. Packer says:
“the New testament does not speak about active political participation, for the very good reason that this was not an option for the first century believers. They had not political influence nor any prospect of gaining any. So the only politically significant things they could do were:
· Pay their taxes (Matt. 17:24-27; 22:15-21; Rom. 13:6-7)
· Pray for their rulers (1 Tim 2:1-4) and
· Keep the peace (Rom 12;18; 1Thess 5: 13-15)
Present day representative democracy, however, opens the door to a wider range of political possibilities and thereby requires of us more in the way of responsible commitment than circumstances required in the new testament times.”
James Packer also warns us against what he calls “pietistic inhibitions which take the form of political passivity and unwillingness to be involved in any level of civil government.”
The “so what” factor.
I think that we are on solid ground to say that Christians should not only obey the government but should live in a way that is responsible for a citizen in a democratic society. The church enjoys freedom of speech and freedom to worship. The least we can do is to play our part.
Our faith demands that we live out the greatest Commandment and the Great Commission. Part of this missional approach to worship will involve the prophetic function that reminds both the church and the community of the need for acting justly and loving mercy (Micah). As citizens of the kingdom we are to be salt and light in our communities and in the world.
This brings us to the question of
How do we at CPAC apply biblical teaching in 2008?
· Everyone should be well-informed. We need Christian researchers who could make the information on various issues available to Christians in easily understood form. Sojourners. The Sojourners website is www.sojourners.com I recommend it.
· Everyone should vote in elections
· Everyone should pray for those in authority 1Tim. 2:1-4 + 1 Corinth. 14;15
· Some should seek to lobby their MPs and other elected representatives on critical issues and make submissions on behalf of their constituents.
· Some should seek political office or work within political parties. If the Mordecai’s are not within the decision-making body then Haman’s most certainly will be. Consider the vocation of Joseph, Moses, David, Daniel and Nehemiah.
I believe all of us need to pray about that and to carefully consider how we can use our vote to further the kingdom of God.
Remember Peter’s words: we are to live in such a way in community with others that we can be credible influencers where God calls us to be. That could be in our schools, in our neighbourhoods, communities, workplaces and government. Living and working alongside people of all perspectives while also remaining distinctive and centred on Christ is central to the Christian journey. It calls for tolerance and diversity while also ensuring that we retain our integrity and behave in a way that is consistent with the greatest Commandment and the great Commission.
In entering the political arena Christians must recognise that they are entering the public square where decisions of State are being made. It is an arena where policies must be advanced on the basis of their merits, where the way we communicate is just as important as what we communicate and where people are entitled to respect for the views they hold regardless of whether we support those beliefs. Ignorant statements presented in a self-righteous “holier than thou” attitude will not only fail to succeed in the political arena but they also do a great disservice to the cause of the gospel.
In relation to political parties which are branded as “Christian” my own view is that there are more risks than benefits involved in such organisations. The risk to the credibility of Christians is great. All of us are in some way impacted by whatever so-called Christian political parties say – regardless of whether it is biblical or not.
In addition from my experience the views of Christians on political issues are almost as diverse as those of the general population. Some attach high priority to more extensive government involvement in the economy – others prefer market-based solutions to solve policy problems.
Assuming we agree that freedom and responsibility are important and that the eradication of poverty and injustice are also important the debate really becomes about the most effective polices for delivering those outcomes. And that is what the political process is about and why the existing political parties came into being. There is no point reinventing the wheel. Christians are entitled to their say as citizens. Those who are called to enter the political arena should do so because other people influenced by other values certainly will.
Our minds need to be renewed to think Christianly and our resolve stiffened if we are to be relevant and make a difference as people with dual citizenship both in earth and in heaven. This morning I want to encourage you to be thoughtful and prayerful voters. Don’t be swept along by every tide of prejudice or selfish thinking as some are. Make this election about more than just who will give me more in my bank account.
As Christians we need to think globally about development issues, HIV-AIDS, starvation, and the Iraq War. Closer to home we need to consider the plight of people who are sick, unemployed or who suffer in ways that we don’t. Child poverty and illiteracy continue to trap far too many kiwi children and adults in lifestyles which are far from the dignity God intended them to have. It seems to me that these issues are at least as much in keeping with biblical values as those perennial hot-button issues which are guaranteed to get an emotive response – issues like abortion or prostitution or civil unions or the repeal of s.98 of the Crimes Act – the so-called “anti-smacking” bill. Don’t misunderstand me, these too are issues we need to consider but they are far from being the only issues on which we should select a preferred candidate or party.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we are to be Salt & light in the world (Matthew 5: 13-16).
We need to play our part. So, please, get informed, think Christianly about how to use your vote in the service of His kingdom and then do so.
In a democracy we have an urgent duty to re-enter the public arena to preserve and promote law and order for the welfare of society and to restrain evil.
We need to serve the nation in a similar way to how we serve each other – for His glory and setting aside selfish goals. We are citizens of God’s Kingdom first.
This election, don’t just vote on either blind party loyalty or old prejudices. Rather think carefully about how you can use your vote to fulfil kingdom goals.
ENDS
I acknowledge the work of Christian leaders such as Jim Wallis, John Stott, Tony Campolo, and Charles Colson who have informed my understanding of the interaction between faith and politics. I also want to thank Rasik Ranchord for his paper to the National Leaders Summit.
Roger Ellis is Convenor for CPAC’s Social Transformation ministry, Anglican Wellington Synod Representative and a professional Government Relations executive.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Hearing God in Hebrews (part 2) 5 Oct 2008
Hearing God in Hebrews (Part 2) Hebrews 2:1-4, 14-18
How the Jay family (Chris, Anne, Matthew) heard God tell them to move from the UK to NZ…
The Jay Family - “Why we came to New Zealand ….”
Testimony for CPAC ‘Hearing from God’, 5th October 2008
In March 2006, while we were still in the UK, we asked several friends to pray for us without telling them what we wanted them to pray about. We just asked them to pray and see if they felt God was telling them anything to tell to us. These particular friends have worked as missionaries in Amsterdam and worked full time for a Christian charity organisation. They often talk of how God has answered their prayers, so we felt they may be more able to hear what God was saying than us.
They came to us with 3 “words” that they felt were from God:
1) Life is an adventure
2) Children are adaptable
3) Chris was smiling.
Another friend who we had asked to do the same said he had a picture of lots of bottles of wine in a room, but there was no-one there, and of a church being built – brick on brick (I’ll come back to that later). Another (who knew what he was praying about) read us a bible passage about Jesus leading his sheep, and we must follow (John 10).
All these answers seemed to link to the possibility of moving to New Zealand – a land filled with wine and sheep!!
We were considering this as both Chris and I had seen job adverts for jobs we could both do in Wellington – there had never been jobs advertised for us both in the same place at the same time since we have been married!!
We took the above answers to prayer as confirmation that it was right to at least explore the possibility of moving. I was a bit reluctant at first because of my family situation – my brother died in 1992, and my dad in 2004, so I was leaving my mum on her own. I really needed to be sure that exploring this possibility was the right thing to do.
Chris contacted the pharmacy dept at Capital and Coast where the job for him was advertised, and he applied for the job. I contacted the Head of Department where the job had been advertised for me – and was told I could have a part time, school hours only job, which he would sort out when I arrived in Wellington – this was exactly what I wanted!! He also happens to be an ex-colleague of mine from where I worked in the UK.
I was quite worried about leaving my mum, so I prayed a rather cheeky prayer, to which I didn’t really expect an answer!! I said to God “Ok God, if this is right, and you want us to go to New Zealand, let the words New Zealand be mentioned in a sermon!!” – and it was, on Mothering Sunday ( I have the tape to prove it!!)( play 1 minute of the tape if possible).
When I heard that, I was convinced that we were doing the right thing. However, there were still lots of things that needed to happen. Firstly Chris had his interview and was offered the job – so he accepted it. The next step was to sell the house. We decided that we would not move to New Zealand unless the house sold – I suppose in a way we were testing God again, and prayed that if God really wanted us to go ( although he’d already shown us pretty clearly that this was the case) that he would sell the house. The whole process of selling a house takes much longer in the UK, and 12 weeks after the house went on the market, we received an offer (July), and we eventually exchanged contracts towards the end of October (2006) ( the same a going “unconditional” here).
The delay in exchanging contracts on the house led to a very stressful few months, but also another answer to prayer!! Once we had the offer on the house, we applied for our visas, and had our medicals and police check done. We then found out that the rules for pharmacists registering in New Zealand were changing at the end of November 2006. At that time, registration here was a fairly straight forward process, but was being changed to involve a written exam, which had to be passed in the UK before a pharmacist can come and work in New Zealand. Because of these changes, Chris wanted to get to New Zealand in time to register under the old rules (the easy way). Also, the first proposed date for the new exam was set as March 2007, which would be nearly a year after Chris was offered the job. We were not sure that the department in New Zealand would wait that long for Chris to join them, and also we would have to undergo the whole visa and medical process again – and pay again, as these documents were only valid for 6 months.
Chris needed to give 2 months notice at work, and so we really had to exchange contracts on our house sale by the end of September for him to be able to get to NZ by the end of November. We tried desperately to get our buyers to sign contracts by the end of September, as we did not think it would be wise for Chris to hand in his notice before the house sale was secure. By the beginning of October, they still had not signed, and we were beginning to panic. I met with a small group of Christian friends one Tuesday night (home group), and we were praying about this – I was feeling rather stressed!! I felt quite strongly that I should suggest to Chris that he sent an e-mail to the pharmacy council in NZ, asking if the last date for him to register really was the end of November, or he would have to wait until March.
We had already had lots of e-mails stating this, but I felt we should ask once more. He sent an e-mail on Tuesday evening, and received a reply back almost immediately. This reply said that the Pharmacy council had met the week before and decided to change the deadline for registering under the old system until the end of January. Not only did this immediately reduce our stress levels, but it meant we could stay in the UK for Christmas – I didn’t feel at all happy about leaving my mum just before Christmas. Our house sale was eventually secured mid October, and we then booked our flights for the 1st January 2007.
I would like to tell you about just one more very clear answer to prayer relating to our move. One week, we were sitting in a service in our church (St John’s) , listening to a sermon about giving. One thing Chris and I have always believed in quite strongly is that as Christians we should give away some of our money. We have always tried to tithe, which means we give away 10% of our income. I was sat in the sermon, and a thought popped into my head that said “You should tithe the profit you make on your house”. This was a substantial amount of money, and I was not keen on this idea!! I had a feeling that this thought had probably come from God, as it would not go away. So in my head I prayed the following: “OK God, if this is a word from you, and you really want us to do this, put this thought into Chris’s head too, and make him raise the subject in conversation”. At the end of the sermon Chris whispered to me “I think we should tithe the equity in our house”. I told him what had happened to me, so we had to obey God and do this!! Whenever Chris and I have been considering our giving, we always pray about it separately and then discuss it together. We both came up with exactly the same four things that we wanted to give the money to.
Throughout 2006, we had many very clear and amazing answers to prayer, and God answered our prayers in many different ways. We really needed to know that we were doing the right thing, and God confirmed that over and over again throughout the year.
We have now been here for almost 2 years, and have seen God work in many more ways since our arrival, He led us to Churton Park, found us a rental property here and led us to CPAC. When we heard that CPAC was praying about building a church, we realised the significance of Denis’s second picture in the UK, of a church being built brick on brick. It was not until I received an e-mail this week from Danny, that I realised the full implications of Denis’s other picture – the bottles of wine. Danny pointed out to me that, “The wine image may be a picture of CPAC being founded on the concept of a vineyard. CPAC’s founding text is from John 15:5-8 where Jesus is The True Vine and we are the branches. Also, we call our Sunday brochure The Winepress because of this vineyard concept.”
So we believe that while we were still in Birmingham, God gave our friend a picture of CPAC!! God has also blessed us with many new and wonderful friends, and led us into new areas of ministry here at CPAC.
(Summarise)
Hearing from God…. Question: How many different ways did God speak to us?
I have 8 props top represent each different way…
1) Pictures and words from other people (prop is a black dog and wine bottle)
2) His Word – the bible (bible)
3) Directly through a sermon (the tape)
4) Circumstances – (house details)
5) Thoughts during giving sermon (cheque)
6) Thoughts during prayer (home group – picture)
7) Through a Gift – (“I know the plans…”)
8) Chris and I agreeing in thoughts (who to give money to – Mary and Joe’s picture (names changed for confidentiality))
Testimony by Anne Jay, 5 Oct 2008
Danny continues….
One way I heard from God recently was thro the Dom Post (01-10-08)… Article headed “Quake Ready Warning” said,… “NZders need to be shaken out of their complacency before an EQ shakes things up instead…It’s a challenge to get it through to people… there’s general awareness of issues but little understanding of what that will mean for them and their families… preparing for major disasters needed to become part of mainstream activities”
As it is in the natural so it is in the supernatural – there is a time of severe testing upon us in both realms (financially = global recession, physically = huge stress on family/work relationships, and so spiritually = testing & stretching of our faith/trust in God in such difficult times).
Hebrews is a book to encourage us for a time such as this!
Severe persecution was beginning to rock the 1st century church. They didn’t want to face the “disaster” and were thinking of abandoning their newfound faith in Christ and lapsing back into Judaism, for an easy ride. The writer of Hebrews exhorts them, in the face of testing times ahead, to hold fast to their confession of Christ as Saviour and Lord… “we must pay greater attention to what we have heard so we don’t drift away…He (Christ) is able to help those who are being tested” (Hebr 2:1, 18).
More now than ever before do we need to “hear from heaven”.
If you struggle to hear from God then you’ve come to the right place here!
Don’t beat yourself up!
I said last week that if you know the Lord then you have already heard His voice because it was His inner voice and leading that brought you to Him in the first place.
To hear God’s voice is your basic right as a child of God.
Hearing God’s voice comes out of your growing relationship with God.
Read John 8:26-29… Jesus always checked with His Father first; He always listened for His Father’s voice… motivated by His desire to please His Father.
If your aim is always to want to please, obey, serve, and surrender to our Heavenly Father then you wont have difficulty hearing from Him.
So don’t make hearing from God, and guidance from God, complicated.
“A (wo)man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps”
Prov 16:9
If you stay humble before God He WILL direct your steps; He promises to guide you by speaking to you (in various ways).
If you don’t believe that you hear from God then I encourage you to try this :
Get in a quiet place on your own and ask God,
“God, I know that you love me more than I could ever imagine, but is there anything about my behaviour and attitude that you don’t like?”
…then, wait for God’s answer… He will surely make Himself heard!
God will convict you of any “corrections” you need to make in your life so that you will be restored to Him in a greater way.
In other words, He will convict you of those things in your life we call “sin”.
Sin is an abomination to God.
Sin is the reason for the Cross.
God will surely make Himself heard by you when you raise this issue of personal “sin” with Him.
You and I will hear from God alright!
Here are 3 simple tests to help you begin to hear God’s voice to a greater degree:
1 Submit to His Lordship
2 Resist the enemy of your soul
3 Expect an answer from God
1 Submit to His Lordship
Surrender your entire self to God
Get serious in prayer – keep a pen and paper handy – jot down any thoughts that might distract you so you can pick up on them later outside your prayer time (eg. to do list things which come to distract us, clear the clutter from your mind – see 2 Cor 10:5…) – then also, jot down what God might be saying to you (ie. images, impressions, pictures, thoughts, feelings, ideas…)
As you prepare to hear from God, trust Him.. “Trust in the Lord…He will direct your path” see Prov 3:5-6
God knows what’s best for you – His guidance will always be beneficial.
2 Resist the enemy of your soul.
When you are seeking God and wanting to hear from God, Satan will always try to deceive you. Use your authority in Christ to silence the enemy’s voice!
See James 4:7 “Submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you!”
The devil has no choice – He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world!
Read Ephesians 6:10-20 and literally put on the armour each time you read it.
The devil will only affect you if you have given him legal right to do so through the consequence of any sin in your life.
That is why it is always good to ask God on a regular basis:
“God, I know that you love me more than I could ever imagine, but is
there anything about my behaviour and attitude that you don’t like?”
3 Expect an answer from God.
When you ask God anything, pause to give God a chance to respond. You may hear from God straight away, or you may not. It may take a long time to hear from God! Always expect to get an answer though regardless of how long it takes.
See John 10:27 “My sheep hear my voice…”
See Exodus 33:11a “So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face…”
Here’s a good one - Ps 69:13
“But I keep praying to you Lord, hoping this time you will show me
favour! In your unfailing love O Lord, answer my prayer with your sure salvation”
Always expect an answer! Don’t ever give up. Keep praying, asking, seeking, imploring, listening, & waiting to hear from God.
Allow God to speak to you in the way that He chooses.
That is, don’t crowd God with your agenda; don’t tell God what he can and can’t do.
Yes, we can “test” God to get clarification and confirmation as the Jay family did, and as Gideon did when he put out a fleece
The important point about “testing God” is that we don’t do it for purely selfish, indulgent, self-serving motives. We test God to get clarification and confirmation about issues, actions, people, and decisions which when acted upon by us will be of benefit to others, will help us grow and mature as disciples of Christ, and ultimately will bring glory to God.
So don’t dictate to God.
He is the Lord and Master and we are His servants whom He delights in exalting.
Have young 7 year old Samuel’s attitude,
“Speak Lord, for your servant is listening!” (1 Sam 3:9)
It doesn’t matter how old or how young you are, you can learn to hear from God, on a regular basis!
So don’t make guidance and hearing from God complicated.
Submit to God’s Lordship; surrender yourself totally.
Resist the enemy with the authority of Christ
Expect an answer from God
Allow God to speak to you in the way HE chooses;
Stay humble before God and ask for His patience (more fruit of the Spirit)
Amen.
How the Jay family (Chris, Anne, Matthew) heard God tell them to move from the UK to NZ…
The Jay Family - “Why we came to New Zealand ….”
Testimony for CPAC ‘Hearing from God’, 5th October 2008
In March 2006, while we were still in the UK, we asked several friends to pray for us without telling them what we wanted them to pray about. We just asked them to pray and see if they felt God was telling them anything to tell to us. These particular friends have worked as missionaries in Amsterdam and worked full time for a Christian charity organisation. They often talk of how God has answered their prayers, so we felt they may be more able to hear what God was saying than us.
They came to us with 3 “words” that they felt were from God:
1) Life is an adventure
2) Children are adaptable
3) Chris was smiling.
Another friend who we had asked to do the same said he had a picture of lots of bottles of wine in a room, but there was no-one there, and of a church being built – brick on brick (I’ll come back to that later). Another (who knew what he was praying about) read us a bible passage about Jesus leading his sheep, and we must follow (John 10).
All these answers seemed to link to the possibility of moving to New Zealand – a land filled with wine and sheep!!
We were considering this as both Chris and I had seen job adverts for jobs we could both do in Wellington – there had never been jobs advertised for us both in the same place at the same time since we have been married!!
We took the above answers to prayer as confirmation that it was right to at least explore the possibility of moving. I was a bit reluctant at first because of my family situation – my brother died in 1992, and my dad in 2004, so I was leaving my mum on her own. I really needed to be sure that exploring this possibility was the right thing to do.
Chris contacted the pharmacy dept at Capital and Coast where the job for him was advertised, and he applied for the job. I contacted the Head of Department where the job had been advertised for me – and was told I could have a part time, school hours only job, which he would sort out when I arrived in Wellington – this was exactly what I wanted!! He also happens to be an ex-colleague of mine from where I worked in the UK.
I was quite worried about leaving my mum, so I prayed a rather cheeky prayer, to which I didn’t really expect an answer!! I said to God “Ok God, if this is right, and you want us to go to New Zealand, let the words New Zealand be mentioned in a sermon!!” – and it was, on Mothering Sunday ( I have the tape to prove it!!)( play 1 minute of the tape if possible).
When I heard that, I was convinced that we were doing the right thing. However, there were still lots of things that needed to happen. Firstly Chris had his interview and was offered the job – so he accepted it. The next step was to sell the house. We decided that we would not move to New Zealand unless the house sold – I suppose in a way we were testing God again, and prayed that if God really wanted us to go ( although he’d already shown us pretty clearly that this was the case) that he would sell the house. The whole process of selling a house takes much longer in the UK, and 12 weeks after the house went on the market, we received an offer (July), and we eventually exchanged contracts towards the end of October (2006) ( the same a going “unconditional” here).
The delay in exchanging contracts on the house led to a very stressful few months, but also another answer to prayer!! Once we had the offer on the house, we applied for our visas, and had our medicals and police check done. We then found out that the rules for pharmacists registering in New Zealand were changing at the end of November 2006. At that time, registration here was a fairly straight forward process, but was being changed to involve a written exam, which had to be passed in the UK before a pharmacist can come and work in New Zealand. Because of these changes, Chris wanted to get to New Zealand in time to register under the old rules (the easy way). Also, the first proposed date for the new exam was set as March 2007, which would be nearly a year after Chris was offered the job. We were not sure that the department in New Zealand would wait that long for Chris to join them, and also we would have to undergo the whole visa and medical process again – and pay again, as these documents were only valid for 6 months.
Chris needed to give 2 months notice at work, and so we really had to exchange contracts on our house sale by the end of September for him to be able to get to NZ by the end of November. We tried desperately to get our buyers to sign contracts by the end of September, as we did not think it would be wise for Chris to hand in his notice before the house sale was secure. By the beginning of October, they still had not signed, and we were beginning to panic. I met with a small group of Christian friends one Tuesday night (home group), and we were praying about this – I was feeling rather stressed!! I felt quite strongly that I should suggest to Chris that he sent an e-mail to the pharmacy council in NZ, asking if the last date for him to register really was the end of November, or he would have to wait until March.
We had already had lots of e-mails stating this, but I felt we should ask once more. He sent an e-mail on Tuesday evening, and received a reply back almost immediately. This reply said that the Pharmacy council had met the week before and decided to change the deadline for registering under the old system until the end of January. Not only did this immediately reduce our stress levels, but it meant we could stay in the UK for Christmas – I didn’t feel at all happy about leaving my mum just before Christmas. Our house sale was eventually secured mid October, and we then booked our flights for the 1st January 2007.
I would like to tell you about just one more very clear answer to prayer relating to our move. One week, we were sitting in a service in our church (St John’s) , listening to a sermon about giving. One thing Chris and I have always believed in quite strongly is that as Christians we should give away some of our money. We have always tried to tithe, which means we give away 10% of our income. I was sat in the sermon, and a thought popped into my head that said “You should tithe the profit you make on your house”. This was a substantial amount of money, and I was not keen on this idea!! I had a feeling that this thought had probably come from God, as it would not go away. So in my head I prayed the following: “OK God, if this is a word from you, and you really want us to do this, put this thought into Chris’s head too, and make him raise the subject in conversation”. At the end of the sermon Chris whispered to me “I think we should tithe the equity in our house”. I told him what had happened to me, so we had to obey God and do this!! Whenever Chris and I have been considering our giving, we always pray about it separately and then discuss it together. We both came up with exactly the same four things that we wanted to give the money to.
Throughout 2006, we had many very clear and amazing answers to prayer, and God answered our prayers in many different ways. We really needed to know that we were doing the right thing, and God confirmed that over and over again throughout the year.
We have now been here for almost 2 years, and have seen God work in many more ways since our arrival, He led us to Churton Park, found us a rental property here and led us to CPAC. When we heard that CPAC was praying about building a church, we realised the significance of Denis’s second picture in the UK, of a church being built brick on brick. It was not until I received an e-mail this week from Danny, that I realised the full implications of Denis’s other picture – the bottles of wine. Danny pointed out to me that, “The wine image may be a picture of CPAC being founded on the concept of a vineyard. CPAC’s founding text is from John 15:5-8 where Jesus is The True Vine and we are the branches. Also, we call our Sunday brochure The Winepress because of this vineyard concept.”
So we believe that while we were still in Birmingham, God gave our friend a picture of CPAC!! God has also blessed us with many new and wonderful friends, and led us into new areas of ministry here at CPAC.
(Summarise)
Hearing from God…. Question: How many different ways did God speak to us?
I have 8 props top represent each different way…
1) Pictures and words from other people (prop is a black dog and wine bottle)
2) His Word – the bible (bible)
3) Directly through a sermon (the tape)
4) Circumstances – (house details)
5) Thoughts during giving sermon (cheque)
6) Thoughts during prayer (home group – picture)
7) Through a Gift – (“I know the plans…”)
8) Chris and I agreeing in thoughts (who to give money to – Mary and Joe’s picture (names changed for confidentiality))
Testimony by Anne Jay, 5 Oct 2008
Danny continues….
One way I heard from God recently was thro the Dom Post (01-10-08)… Article headed “Quake Ready Warning” said,… “NZders need to be shaken out of their complacency before an EQ shakes things up instead…It’s a challenge to get it through to people… there’s general awareness of issues but little understanding of what that will mean for them and their families… preparing for major disasters needed to become part of mainstream activities”
As it is in the natural so it is in the supernatural – there is a time of severe testing upon us in both realms (financially = global recession, physically = huge stress on family/work relationships, and so spiritually = testing & stretching of our faith/trust in God in such difficult times).
Hebrews is a book to encourage us for a time such as this!
Severe persecution was beginning to rock the 1st century church. They didn’t want to face the “disaster” and were thinking of abandoning their newfound faith in Christ and lapsing back into Judaism, for an easy ride. The writer of Hebrews exhorts them, in the face of testing times ahead, to hold fast to their confession of Christ as Saviour and Lord… “we must pay greater attention to what we have heard so we don’t drift away…He (Christ) is able to help those who are being tested” (Hebr 2:1, 18).
More now than ever before do we need to “hear from heaven”.
If you struggle to hear from God then you’ve come to the right place here!
Don’t beat yourself up!
I said last week that if you know the Lord then you have already heard His voice because it was His inner voice and leading that brought you to Him in the first place.
To hear God’s voice is your basic right as a child of God.
Hearing God’s voice comes out of your growing relationship with God.
Read John 8:26-29… Jesus always checked with His Father first; He always listened for His Father’s voice… motivated by His desire to please His Father.
If your aim is always to want to please, obey, serve, and surrender to our Heavenly Father then you wont have difficulty hearing from Him.
So don’t make hearing from God, and guidance from God, complicated.
“A (wo)man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps”
Prov 16:9
If you stay humble before God He WILL direct your steps; He promises to guide you by speaking to you (in various ways).
If you don’t believe that you hear from God then I encourage you to try this :
Get in a quiet place on your own and ask God,
“God, I know that you love me more than I could ever imagine, but is there anything about my behaviour and attitude that you don’t like?”
…then, wait for God’s answer… He will surely make Himself heard!
God will convict you of any “corrections” you need to make in your life so that you will be restored to Him in a greater way.
In other words, He will convict you of those things in your life we call “sin”.
Sin is an abomination to God.
Sin is the reason for the Cross.
God will surely make Himself heard by you when you raise this issue of personal “sin” with Him.
You and I will hear from God alright!
Here are 3 simple tests to help you begin to hear God’s voice to a greater degree:
1 Submit to His Lordship
2 Resist the enemy of your soul
3 Expect an answer from God
1 Submit to His Lordship
Surrender your entire self to God
Get serious in prayer – keep a pen and paper handy – jot down any thoughts that might distract you so you can pick up on them later outside your prayer time (eg. to do list things which come to distract us, clear the clutter from your mind – see 2 Cor 10:5…) – then also, jot down what God might be saying to you (ie. images, impressions, pictures, thoughts, feelings, ideas…)
As you prepare to hear from God, trust Him.. “Trust in the Lord…He will direct your path” see Prov 3:5-6
God knows what’s best for you – His guidance will always be beneficial.
2 Resist the enemy of your soul.
When you are seeking God and wanting to hear from God, Satan will always try to deceive you. Use your authority in Christ to silence the enemy’s voice!
See James 4:7 “Submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you!”
The devil has no choice – He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world!
Read Ephesians 6:10-20 and literally put on the armour each time you read it.
The devil will only affect you if you have given him legal right to do so through the consequence of any sin in your life.
That is why it is always good to ask God on a regular basis:
“God, I know that you love me more than I could ever imagine, but is
there anything about my behaviour and attitude that you don’t like?”
3 Expect an answer from God.
When you ask God anything, pause to give God a chance to respond. You may hear from God straight away, or you may not. It may take a long time to hear from God! Always expect to get an answer though regardless of how long it takes.
See John 10:27 “My sheep hear my voice…”
See Exodus 33:11a “So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face…”
Here’s a good one - Ps 69:13
“But I keep praying to you Lord, hoping this time you will show me
favour! In your unfailing love O Lord, answer my prayer with your sure salvation”
Always expect an answer! Don’t ever give up. Keep praying, asking, seeking, imploring, listening, & waiting to hear from God.
Allow God to speak to you in the way that He chooses.
That is, don’t crowd God with your agenda; don’t tell God what he can and can’t do.
Yes, we can “test” God to get clarification and confirmation as the Jay family did, and as Gideon did when he put out a fleece
The important point about “testing God” is that we don’t do it for purely selfish, indulgent, self-serving motives. We test God to get clarification and confirmation about issues, actions, people, and decisions which when acted upon by us will be of benefit to others, will help us grow and mature as disciples of Christ, and ultimately will bring glory to God.
So don’t dictate to God.
He is the Lord and Master and we are His servants whom He delights in exalting.
Have young 7 year old Samuel’s attitude,
“Speak Lord, for your servant is listening!” (1 Sam 3:9)
It doesn’t matter how old or how young you are, you can learn to hear from God, on a regular basis!
So don’t make guidance and hearing from God complicated.
Submit to God’s Lordship; surrender yourself totally.
Resist the enemy with the authority of Christ
Expect an answer from God
Allow God to speak to you in the way HE chooses;
Stay humble before God and ask for His patience (more fruit of the Spirit)
Amen.
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