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Be Strong and Work

I have been considering lately how God is faithful to speak to our need.  When God told His people not to be afraid it was because they were inclined to be fearful; God's exhortation to be strong and courageous because He was with them was because they felt otherwise.  While we would be content with God validating our feelings, His wisdom and truth revealed to us transcends them.  By virtue of who our sovereign God is, His promises in his word and who we are in Jesus Christ, He gives us all the encouragement and comfort we need to keep going as we labour for His glory. We see an illustration of this in the word of the LORD through Haggai the prophet spoken to Zerubbabal, the high priest Joshua, and the people of Israel that were rebuilding the temple after a long period of captivity.   Haggai 2:3-5 reads, " Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now? In comparison with it, is this not in your eyes as nothing?...
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A Reasonable Requirement

People can have romantic notions about being more "serious" concerning their relationship with God.  This can include fanciful ideas of prolonged fasts, voluntarily giving up all hobbies for scripture memorisation, or doing something drastic like moving to Siberia.  I have heard people express they would have to pray or read the Bible more if they had a different role in the church, but I don't believe have a role with more responsibility does anything to fundamentally change a person.  God does not require outrageous things of His people, just simple obedience in following His example like it says in  Micah 6:8 :  " He has shown you, O man, what is good; a nd what does the LORD require of you  b ut to do justly,  t o love mercy,  a nd to walk humbly with your God ?" At Calvary Chapel Sydney we spoke about the Rechabites, how they were obedient to their father Jonadab hundreds of years later to not drink wine.  God used the Rechabites as...
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Magnify and Confess Christ

The Jewish sons of Sceva (a chief of the priests) took it upon themselves to be travelling exorcists, and this foray into itinerant ministry did not go well for them.  Jesus gave authority to His disciples over unclean spirits, yet these men decided to follow a formula they picked up from the apostle Paul.  We need God and a relationship with Him by faith in Jesus Christ to accomplish anything of value for His kingdom, for without Jesus we can do nothing ( John 15:5 ).  They imagined by invoking the name of Jesus who Paul preached, the demon would comply with their commands.   Acts 19:15-16 says, " And the evil spirit answered and said, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?"  16  Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded ."  There were two different Greek words for "know" employed by the spirit:  that he knew Jesus...
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The Righteous Requirement

I was recently reminded of this verse in  James 5:16 :  " Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much ."  Forgiveness by God is not earned through confession alone, nor should we credit particular words of a prayer for healing:  it is the righteous, holy and just God who forgives and heals.  Rather than seeking a person we view as righteous and placing our trust in their access to God, we ought to humble ourselves by obeying God who has spoken to us in His word, the LORD who hears and answers prayer. The final verses of a chapter I read last night connected observance of the Law of Moses with righteousness in  Deuteronomy 6:24-25 :  " And the LORD commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day.  25  Then it will be righteousness for us, i...
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The Light of Glory

The miraculous things Jesus did were connected with His claims of being the Son of God, the Messiah sent by God to be the Saviour of the world.  Early in the public ministry of Jesus, a Pharisee named Nicodemus made this observation in  John 3:2 :  " This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him ."  Jesus turning water into wine and healing the sick were signs that pointed clearly to the fact He was not an ordinary man of Nazareth.  We look for signs to help us navigate to our intended destination.  The preaching of Jesus concerning repentance and the Kingdom of God, combined with His righteous life and miraculous power, directed people to conclude He was either indeed the Christ or a charlatan.  His conduct on the cross alone signaled to a Roman soldier Jesus was surely a righteous man.  Jesus rising from the dead (just...
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Honouring Our King

It is a blessing Christians can reflect well upon God after we are born again by faith in Jesus.  Many times I have heard people testify it was the profound, positive change in a friend or spouse who gave his or her life to Jesus that was instrumental in them coming to follow and trust in Jesus themselves.  In my own family, the words of  1 Peter 3:1-2 were fulfilled in time after my mum was born again and transformed from within by the Holy Spirit:  " Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives,  2 when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear ."  My dad was not saved by faith in Jesus after being relentlessly Bible-bashed, but the love of Jesus expressed through his wife was instrumental in winning him over. People will know we are Christians by our love for one another, yet our conduct, attitudes and words can at times be far fro...
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Freely Given By God

After I landed a high-school job at McDonald's decades ago, I learned things behind the clamshell grill I never learned as a customer.  I was surprised to discover customers could add mayo, lettuce, tomato and the larger onions--or request extra of any topping except cheese--for no additional cost.  It blew my mind to consider every time I previously went to McDonald's I could have ordered a cheeseburger with lettuce and tomato and extra pickles for the same price.  Ordering this way also meant your burger was freshly cooked to order and had not been sitting for an hour under a heat lamp.  My newfound knowledge made a basic burger much better for half the price because of my employee discount. I remember when a workmate clued me in that In-N-Out Burger in California had a secret menu.  He suggested I should try a Double-Double "Animal Style."  I thought he was playing a prank on me.  I scanned the menu and did not see an Animal Style option, so I refus...
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