Genesis 9:8-17: Salvation (Matthew 24:37-38. Luke 17:26-27, Hebrews 11:7, 1 Peter 3:20-22)

Presented to Swift Current community at Lenten Lunch service, 26 February 2015; the Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army 01 March 2015; and Corps 614 Regent Park, 28 June 2015 by Captain Michael Ramsay

   

Noah and his family survived that terrible flood. Our passage today takes place after the waters have subsided. But now everything is different. They have survived but nothing has returned to normal and nothing will ever return to whatever normal was before the flood – and that was some of the point of the flood – their life has been turned upside down but their life still goes on. They did not die with their neighbours, their friends, and other extended family but everyone else they knew did. They were saved and life goes on after the flood.

This can be very traumatic. In The Salvation Army we have a lot of experience with floods and recovery from floods: floods these days seeming to be an annual event. We have sent teams from Swift Current to help out during and after floods in Maple Creek, Weyburn, Melville, and other places across the province. We have sent teams from Swift Current to help out in High River and other places across the country.  Our Salvation Army has even provided disaster relief across the continent and around the world. I am one of the national trainers actually for Emergency Disaster training and we will be training and certifying people this weekend in Maple Creek so that they can help out in a disaster such as a flood.

There are many things to consider when helping out after a flood. When God was assisting Noah and his family, we remember that even after their boat had landed they didn’t get out until the waters had subsided enough for animals to graze and for food to grow. Remember a bird first bringing back the branch and then a bird not returning. Food: This is no small provision.

I remember when Hurricane Ike struck Galveston TX, September 2008: more than 1 million people were evacuated from Texas and probably more than 100 people were found dead as a result of the Hurricane and flood. I was on the first deployment with the relief team and bodies were still being found when I left.

Food and water: this was a big part of The Salvation Army mission. We had 30 food trucks from which we served around 75 000 hot meals every day, and gave people water and ice. Ice was very important. It was around 90 F. And the food: many people told me that without The Salvation Army they wouldn’t have eaten at all. Even though they lived through the flood, they wouldn’t have continued to survive.

When we were serving down there, I heard more than one account of a contemporary miracle paralleling that of the fish and the loaves. Our food trucks were instructed to make sure that they gave away all of the food before they came in for the night. They did not want food returned when people were going without. It was getting late and one truck was seeking someone to give its last container of food to. They prayed. One person then saw a line of about 12-18 tired and hungry looking construction workers so they headed over to offer them their food. They were really appreciative.

As they were feeding these men, a number of school busses filled with people pulled up. It is my understanding that they served over 800 meals at that location – no one went away hungry. Feeling blessed by what the Lord had done they started to clean up. (Now there was a non-believer, a Red Cross worker on their canteen with them that day). Someone picked up the container from which they fed the 800 meals and read from the side of it, ‘serves 90 meals’. The Lord fed more than eight times that number and no one went hungry. The Red Cross worker who was helping them on the truck that day began to cry. He said that he had never believed in God – until now.

God provided for the salvation of not only those He spared from the flood but God also provided for the Salvation of those left behind without food or anyway of making food and God also penultimately provided for the salvation of the Red Cross worker in the same way God provided for the Salvation of Noah and his family not only through the flood but also in His provisions during and after the flood.

Now we must remember as well that this was quite a traumatic event. Friends and probably extended family of Noah and his wife and children died. And the country to which they returned after the flood was nothing like the country they left. I imagine that some of them were asking themselves why their friends perished when God sent the warnings and the ark so that none need to perish.

From our time in Texas, there was a story of one 19 or 20 year-old who stood on the waterfront, intentionally defying the storm. He was swept away to his death. I met a man who lost his home and his business and praised the Lord for his insurance but this same man wondered and asked me why his brother chose to stay behind and die. How does he deal with the fact that his brother rejected the provided salvation?

This is really the same for us today here. We have the opportunity to thank God for His salvation and we can remember it every time we cast our eyes up to the heavens and see the rainbow, the symbol of God’s salvific covenant! We praise Him today also that the early warning not only for Noah and his family but also for us as it relates to the metaphorical eschatological hurricane. This warning was sounded 2 millennia ago – through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We praise the Lord, that he gave his life so that everyone can be saved.

Jesus died on the cross and rose again so that no one needs to perish in that metaphorical eschatological hurricane. The sad thing is that some refuse to call on the name of the Lord. Some ignore the early warning system. Some defy God. Some refuse to be saved. Some friends and family are like that man’s brother. Some friends and family are like that 19 or 20 year old – defying God and awaiting death this time by fire or even sooner by other means. It is sad. It is tragic.

I want to share some good news though: the story of Scott and the story of Paul. Scott was a food truck worker who had accepted the Lord not too long before coming to Galveston to help out with the flood relief and Paul was a 12 year-old boy.

Scott was working on of one of our food trucks. Paul lives in a small apartment with 10 other people and is familiar with the neighbourhood activities of gangs and drugs. This boy saw our canteen near his home and wanted to help. He approached Scott and volunteered to help. Scott welcomed him with open arms and very quickly made an impression on Paul - he kept coming back. Scott even gave him T-shirt and hat. The look on Paul’s face was worth a million dollars or more.

The evening before Scott was to return home from his deployment, I had the opportunity to give him his debriefing. During this exit interview we began speaking about Paul. Scott told me that he had prayed with Paul on a number of occasions and that Paul was asking about Jesus. I asked if Paul had asked the Lord into his heart. Scott said ‘not yet’ and asked me to help him do that.

The next day, Sunday, Scott, Paul, and a number of other volunteers working on the canteen eagerly awaited our arrival – Paul was ready to ask the Lord into his heart. We arrived and I encouraged Scott to lead Paul in the ‘sinners’ prayer’. After a simple confession of sin and profession of faith, Paul was welcomed into the family of God. We then sang a verse of Amazing Grace and Scott presented Paul with a Bible.

While we were celebrating Paul’s proclamation of salvation, two apparent ‘good-ole boys’ rolled up in a pick-up truck with their radio blaring Hank William’s “I Saw the Light.” They were angels. They were messengers of God who had come to celebrate with us, then they were gone.

In the midst of all the turmoil and all the suffering God was there just like in the midst of all Noah’s turmoil and suffering, God was there. And just like in the midst of all our troubles and all our sufferings, God is here. He offers this very same salvation to us that he offered to Galveston, Texas in 2008 and to Noah in Genesis 9-16.

Today we have the same choice as the people of Noah’s day and people of Galveston Island. We can either defy the eschatological hurricane and perish like the nineteen year-old boy or we can heed the warning; we can see the light, accept salvation, turn our eyes upon Jesus and celebrate with the Angles sent from God in Heaven. I know that I will never be able to hear Hank William’s, ‘I Saw the Light’ again without being reminded of God’s glorious Salvation through that flood. And I am sure that whatever else happened in Noah’s life that he could not ever see a rainbow again and not remember that glorious salvation the God provided for his family through the flood. And it is my hope today that if we haven’t boarded the Ark of eternal salvation yet that we do so today.

For those of us that have already experienced the salvation that Noah, that Scott, that Paul, and that so many others have experienced, it is my hope that every time we see a rainbow or even hear the song ‘I Saw the Light’, that indeed we might turn to Lord thank the Him again for His glorious Salvation.

Let us pray.

www.sheepspeak.com 

Week 22: Romans 1:16: Good News

A devotional thought presented originally to Swift Current Men’s Prayer Breakfast, Thursday 26 February 2015. Presented to River Street Cafe, 18 December 2015  

Read Romans 1:12-17

I remember one July 1^st in Victoria when our eldest daughter was very little. We went to Canada Day celebrations at Fort Rodd Hill. It was fun: they had a lot of things to do and see: We could see people in historical costumes. There were also mascots dressed like various animals walking around: great for kids, right?

There was even one person who was dressed like a tree giving balloons to children and telling them about the environment; this tree came to say ‘hi’ to us and leaned over to offer Rebecca (who was 2 at the time) a balloon and asked her, “Do you like trees?” To which she responded, as sweet as can be: “not trees that talk and walk.”

Young kids are not ashamed to speak their mind. Romans 1:16. Paul says, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes…”

The word gospel literally translated means ‘good news’. No one is ashamed of good news, right? And what is this good news? This good news is that we can be saved from eternal death and damnation.

I have done a fair amount of disaster relief work in my time. Can you imagine if you were the first to hear that a tornado, a hurricane, or a flood was going to hit your community? What if you lived on an island and you heard that the hurricane was coming and you found out there was one last ferry leaving the island so that everyone who lived on that island, whether they owned a boat or not, could be saved? Wouldn’t you call that good news? Wouldn’t you share that good news of salvation with everyone so that everyone would know of the opportunity to be saved? You wouldn’t be ashamed of the good news of that salvation.

Paul is saying that, even now, the world is facing an eschatological hurricane but there is no need to worry. He has good news. Even though death and destruction are coming, we can be saved. There is even more to this good news. Paul says that we don’t need to worry anymore. Through the power of God we can start to experience this new life this very day! And this is good news and we should definitely not be ashamed of this!

Now it is our responsibility to share this good news for, indeed, the Gospel is the power of God for all to be saved both now and forever. To this end then, I encourage us all to seize every opportunity to share the good news of salvation so that all of us may turn to God and be saved.

Who have you had the opportunity to share the good news of God's salvation with this week? How will you make sure you take advantage of opportunities to share the Gospel from now on?

www.sheepspeak.com

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[1] Based on the sermon by Captain Michael Ramsay, Romans 1:16: I am not ashamed of the Gospel! Presented to Swift Current Salvation Army, 05 July 2009. On-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2009/07/romans-116-i-am-not-ashamed-of-gospel.html

Mark 3:20-35: The Family of God

Presented to Nipawin and Tisdale Corps of The Salvation Army on February 17, 2008; Swift Current Corps on February 22, 2015; 614 Warehouse Mission on 06 May 2018; Alberni Valley Ministries on 21 April 2024

By Captain (Major) Michael Ramsay

To read the 2008 version, click here: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2008/02/mark-320-35-family-of-god.html

To read the 2018 Toronto version click here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2018/05/mark-320-35-family-of-god.html 

To view the 2024 Alberni Valley Ministries version, click here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2024/04/mark-320-35-family-of-god.html

On a quiet winter day somewhere here in Saskatchewan, there is this fellow – John. Now John has just finished a long tiring day of work and he is quite happy to be home. He comes in and sits down on his chair and picks up his newspaper.

Now John has a wife, Janet, and when she sees John sitting nicely in his easy chair, she asks him what he is planning to do before supper.

 “Well, I’m planning to read my paper,” John answers, but from the look on Janet’s face he can tell immediately that he has actually gotten the answer wrong. That isn’t what he is planning to do.

He looks at her in that searching way, trying to discern what the right answer to her question could be: what is he planning to do? …Is he planning to  - pick something up at the store? …Is he planning to …pick up the kids from somewhere? …Is he planning to…John didn’t know.

“Shovel Mrs McMillan’s driveway,” says Janet. “You’re planning to shovel Mrs McMillan’s driveway.”

“But its 40 below![1] …I mean…Yes dear, yes, Mrs McMillan’s driveway,” says John who, until this very moment, had no idea that he was planning to shovel their elderly neighbour’s driveway. So John grabs his shovel and heads out the door…

At just this time, as John heads outside, providentially around the corner of the house comes John Jr., his 15 year-old son: “What are you planning to do before supper?” John Sr. asks.

“Play on the computer…” says John Jr. who, just like his father, has gotten the answer wrong. John Jr. is of course now planning to shovel the driveway.

“Just let me put my school stuff away,” says Junior who is hoping to escape into the house and forget all about this plan to shovel Mrs McMillan’s driveway - that he never knew that he had made in the first place.

But Dad, who is wise to Junior’s plan, hands him the snow shovel, takes his school bag, sends him off to Mrs McMillan’s and then John promptly disappears into the garage so as to avoid finding out from Janet if indeed there is anything else he had planned to do that he didn’t know about…

Now as John Jr. is standing outside Mrs McMillan’s driveway, who should come walking by but his little brother, Mark, and a group of his friends…Jr. yells to his 10 year-old brother and his seven or eight friends, “guess what you guys are planning to do?!”

Mark and his friends are all very good-natured and they do start out in earnest shovelling the walk but they only have 3 shovels between the eight of them and it doesn’t take too long for one of the boys to realise that this snow today actually packs quite nicely.

This friend of Mark then quite innocently makes one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight and even more snowballs and stacks them beside the shelter of a hedge. When he has got a nice lot of snowballs in front of him, Mark, who has actually been working quite diligently, notices him and asks his friend - as forcefully as he can muster - “and what are you planning to do with all those snowballs?” to which his friend replies by throwing one right at Mark. Within 10 minutes the eight boys are in a full-blown snowball fight. Having completely forgotten about any of their work when Dad comes around the corner.

“What do you think you are doing?”

Now Mark, in the boldness of a 10 year-old surrounded by his friends, takes the initiative to show his dad exactly what he is doing and promptly hits him with snowball. This is too much for John who then dives behind the car where he and his eldest son assemble their own arsenal and try to hold off the pack of eight year-old boys.

They are now divided into two groups and they have quite a bit of fun until all of a sudden everyone goes quiet as John and all the boys notice Janet –mom- standing, arms crossed, asking,  “And what are do are you doing?”

“Shovelling the snow?” Answers John  - and indeed for the next hour that is exactly what John, John Jr. and Mark are doing with their three shovels as Janet and Mrs McMillan look on from her front room.

If you’ll turn with me to Mark Chapter 3, you’ll notice that today’s pericope is also about a divided house and a bit of a family conflict as well. You remember, of course, how our story begins today, V. 20: “Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat.” Verse 21, “When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, ‘He is out of his mind.’”

Jesus is portrayed here as almost a workaholic (not quite because of course Jesus’ shows through the dessert temptation account that he does not give into temptation – cf. Lk 4; Jas 1:13). He is working late and he takes his work home with him and his work right now is casting demons out of people and he has a lot of work to do.

Can you imagine the scene? It is dinnertime. He comes to a home to eat with the twelve, his disciples, and there is so much going on. There are so many people crowding into the house that they aren’t even able to take time to eat. There must be people everywhere. This must be so noisy – and Jesus is just working away – he and his disciples are just ploughing through people healing them, casting out demons and doing what needs to be done.

His family no doubt is worried about his health. They are no doubt worried because he’s not eating anything. They are no doubt worried because he is not taking enough time for himself. He is not taking time to relax. He is just working, working, working – without a break – this can’t possibly be healthy can it? Is it any wonder that his mother and brothers, throw up their hands when they hear all of this and say, Verse 21,“He is out of his mind” – “he’s crazy” – “he’s nuts.”[2]

How do you respond to those whom you love who won’t stop working? Well, Jesus’ family decided that it is time to go and take charge of him. They are going to make him rest and take care of himself. (Now this is interesting because the Greek word KRATESAI is actually the same word that is used when you go to ARREST someone. So this is serious.) They are concerned about him and if Jesus won’t take care of himself, they will take matters into their own hands, they will take charge of him because, as they understand it, “he is out of his mind.”

“He is demon possessed,” the teachers of the Law say. “He is [even] possessed by Beelzebub…the prince of demons,”[3] Verse 22 records the learned, esteemed, intelligent, and respected teachers as saying – “[It is] by the prince of demons [that] he is driving out demons.”

So this is interesting. Both Jesus’ family and the religious experts agree that Jesus is not acting normally here. He is out of his mind; he is demon-possessed. And again, in this crazy scene, we can probably understand what they are saying to some degree, can’t we?

Jesus understands and he answers the teachers who –unlike his biological family (cf. 3:31-32)[4] - are right there maybe in the house with him and his disciples. Jesus understands what they are saying.

Now what the Pharisees might actually be doing here –unlike his family- is probably more than just looking out for his well-being. What they might be doing is probably more than just mocking him or writing him off. What they might be actually in the process of doing is gathering evidence or at least inspiration to formulate an official charge against him.

In our society today we think nothing of people using the language of demon possession and witchcraft: we hear it everyday on TV, radio, in pop culture and in casual colloquial language. It is so common that many times we don’t even twig when we hear it but it is different in Jesus’ day (cf. Dt. 18:10; 1 Sam 28:9; 2 Ki 19:22; 2 Chr 33:6; Micah 5:12; Na 3:4; Gal 5:20).

Witchcraft is a serious crime. It is a sin punishable by death (cf. 1 Sam 28:9).[5] These religious teachers cannot be left to make these remarks unchallenged. It must be addressed. They are in essence accusing Jesus of divination, of witchcraft, of sorcery, and in those days people won’t stand by and let that evil go unchecked.

And Jesus won’t let these accusations go unchecked; he speaks to them in a couple of very short parables or metaphors.

Verse 23ff: “So Jesus called them and spoke to them in parables: "How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come.

Think about it in terms of our world today…

Afghanistan was torn apart. It has been balkanized and polarized for many, many years; so when we -and our allies- launched the most recent attack on their country. The country didn’t stand.[6] Civilians are dying and the drug trade there -which had been virtually eliminated before we invaded- it now provides the bulk of the world’s opium supply.[7] A divided house cannot stand. How can they ever be liberated, if they cannot even be united? How can we ever be liberated if we are not united?

And there is of course ISIS, ISIL, IS or whatever it is called now that has been created out of the divisions made when the West invaded Iraq. Or there is Libya. Did you know that before Canada and others began bombing that country it was one of if not the most stable and prosperous countries in all of Africa and now they are so divided that they even have two rival governments in two rival cities and people are dying every day there. Let us not forget Ukraine as well. Hundreds of thousands are dead and still dying and millions have fled and are still fleeing after we in the West toppled their elected government in a coup. The country has been divided. It is now broke and fighting a civil war. Divided countries cannot stand. This is what Jesus is saying right in this parable.

And this is the kind of thing that is playing out in our very houses here today. If husband and wife aren’t on the same page, how can their children grow up in the strength of a solid family? If mom won’t stop yelling at dad and dad stops coming home altogether, how can little Janet learn to be kind to her future husband and how can little John learn to stick it out when life gets difficult? If the house is divided, how can it stand?[8]

We’ve seen in this country, Canada, very quickly, the results of divided houses, haven’t we? Many of these houses are no longer standing: “Between 1965 and 1988, Canada's divorce rate went from being one of the lowest among industrialized nations to being one of the highest.”[9] Divided houses do not stand.

Like with John and his sons, John Jr. and Mark, from our introductory story, when they were divided, their work did not get completed and they faced the wrath of mom.

This is what Jesus is telling his accusers. He is saying that if he is on the same side as Beelzebub, if he is on the same side as the devil, he wouldn’t attack him because then he would be in essence – if he WAS working for the devil – by attacking him, he would be destroying himself. So why in the churches do we sometimes attach each other why do we sometimes attack ourselves?

Jesus’ casting out demons is like shovelling the walk in our earlier analogy. If that snowball fight had persisted then that driveway would never have been shovelled.

If Jesus were working for the devil why would he cast devils out? Why would he let them continue to play in driveway of the demon-possessed man’s soul? He wouldn’t. He doesn’t. Jesus comes out as stern and as commanding as Janet and orders that driveway cleared.

There can be many reasons and motives for the Pharisees to accuse Jesus of working for the enemy but he lets them know that their argument doesn’t make any sense.

Jesus uses the analogy also of robbing a house. Jesus says that, Verse 27, “In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house.”

If Jesus were on the same side as the devil, why would he even want to rob the devil of his prize? He wouldn’t. If he was working for the devil, then he would not be freeing this man from Satan’s power; because by casting out the demons, he is weakening the Republic of Evil and in the process strengthening the Kingdom of God and when one is at war, one tries to kill one’s enemies and one’s not allies. And this is what Jesus is saying: Jesus is showing those present that indeed he is intentionally attacking the devil’s dominion, freeing his captives, liberating his territory and in these stories Jesus is reminding us, in effect, that no one intentionally kills with ‘friendly fire.’ If Jesus were on the same side as Satan, he says in this parable, he would not rob him of his prize. Instead, as Jesus is more powerful than Satan, by freeing the demon-possessed man, he binds the metaphorical strong man and robs his house.

Jesus makes his point. He makes his point well. We realise, as we have seen, that divided houses cannot stand. Houses cannot be robbed without first taking care of the security guard. But Jesus doesn’t stop at making this point.

You’ll notice that this story doesn’t end here. Jesus now has some strong words for the people who are accusing him of working for the Beelzebub. He says, Verses 28-30, “I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin.”[10] He said this because they were saying, “He has an evil spirit.”

So do you see what the author of Mark here is doing as he relates this story about Jesus? He is showing us that Jesus is warning the Pharisees not to say that he is demon-possessed. He is telling them point blank that all other sins will be forgiven – EXCEPT for blaspheming the Holy Spirit – He says that there is no sin as bad as this one that they may be committing here. Calling the Holy Spirit evil, rejecting God in this way. There is nothing worse Mark tells us that Jesus says here.[11]

But what about Jesus’ family? Remember that as the Pharisees said ‘he has an evil spirit (v. 30)’, his own family said that he was ‘out of his mind (v. 21)’ and they came to take charge of, or even ‘arrest’ him; what about his flesh and blood relatives?

What does Jesus say when they arrive to ‘take charge of him (v.21)?’ Verse 31. You’ll notice that they don’t even come in. It says that they are still standing outside. They don’t even come into where Jesus and his disciples are working. They don’t come in to arrest him, to take him home. They, instead, want Jesus to come out to them.

I’ve seen people act like that more than once. They come even a very long way to take control of someone and then refuse to even come in but instead try to force their target to come out. People who do that, they can’t be up to any good, can they?

Jesus’ family, vv. 31 & 32, send someone in and the crowd tells Jesus that his family- his flesh and blood – those who think he’s out of his mind for doing the will of God – those who gave birth to and those who grew up with him – Jesus’ family is here. The crowd tells Jesus, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”

What does Jesus reply? This is important to our story, I think. Jesus replies, verse 33ff, “‘who are my mother and my brothers?’…Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother.’”

Jesus denies his mother and brothers. Jesus doesn’t go out to his family in this story. He denies them. His mother and brothers are not supporting Jesus doing the work of God and he is not acknowledging them.

Just like Jesus told the Pharisees, that “whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven” because they said he has an evil spirit. He now says of his mother and brothers, who went to take charge of him, “Who are my mother and brothers?” They are not my family if they are opposing the work and the will of God!

My family, Jesus says, is “whoever does God’s will.” In our passage here today, the author of Mark has revealed a great truth to us. The family of God is not necessarily the educated, the theologians, the scholars and the pastors. The family of God is not necessarily those who are born into the churches, Christian families and their loved ones.[12] The family of God is quite simply those who do the will of God, which, of course, we discern as we pray and read Scripture.

So today, as we have looked at divided houses –those of the parable: of the Jewish teachers,[13] of Jesus’ own biological family – as we have looked at these divided houses, I think we need to consider something ourselves. Are we really members of the family of God, or are we more like some of the others represented here?

Are we like the Pharisees? They knew a lot about God, probably more than anyone but they thought they knew better than Jesus. Do we think we know more than God? Do we reject, by our words and/or actions, that Jesus Christ is real in our society today? Do we treat what he says and what he does as if it is not truly of God?  This is what the Pharisees did in today’s story. Are we like them?

Or are we like his biological family? They grew up with him. They knew him but they wanted to ‘take charge’ of him. Do we ever want to ‘take charge’ of Jesus, like his family whom Jesus even refused to acknowledge in this story? Do we ever try to ‘take charge’ of Jesus and mould him to our idea of what Jesus and God should be rather than to let him make himself know to us? This is what his biological family was doing in this story. Are we like them?

Or are we like his true family, his real family, the family of God? …the disciples and others with them here who were doing what Jesus is telling them to do? Do we in our daily lives discern through prayer and Scripture the will of God, and seek to do it?  Because when we do then we will we truly be Jesus’ brother and sister and mother. Then will we truly be a part of the family of God. And this is what Jesus wants. He wants us all to be members of his family and heirs in His kingdom.

Let us pray…

www.sheepspeak.com

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[1] As I was informed that a snowball fight at –40 was not probable in Northern Saskatchewan, let’s assume for the sake of the story that John is speaking in hyperbole here.

[2] Cf. C.L. Mitton. The Gospel According to Mark. London: Epworth, 1957, p. 26: “If they reveal his family's failure to understand him, they are also a measure of their concern for him.”

[3] Cf. Williamson Jr. Interpretation: Mar., Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1983, p.84. Beelzebub literally means, “Lord of the flies”; this was a derogatory term derived from ‘Beelzebul’, which was the name of a Canaanite deity. By Jesus’ time the words had come to be associated with the accuser, Satan, the prince of demons. Cf. also RCH Lenski. The Interpretation of St Mark’s Gospel. Minneapolis, Augsburg Publishing House, 1964, p.148.

[4] Walter W. Wessel Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Mark/ Introduction to Mark, Book Version: 4.0.2 suggests that the family is probably in Narareth but Jesus himself in Capernaum. RCH Lenski, pp.5-20 discusses the idea that he is possibly even in the house of John Mark himself. Lamar Williamson Jr., p.83, points out Jesus may now be at the house of Simon and Andrew. Either way his blood family does not appear to be actually with him now, cf. v.31.

[5] Cf. also Gal 5:20 for a NT comment on its seriousness

[6] Esp. re: drugs which had been albeit eliminated as a problem before our invasion according the UN and other sources: http://opioids.com/afghanistan/index.html Andrew North BBC correspondent in Kabul, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/ 3476377.stm states that since the invasion “an opium farmer may be earning 10 times as much as the government soldier or policeman whose job it is to enforce the law against growing the crop.” And the number of civilian deaths has greatly risen as a direct result as well: http://www.unknownnews.net/casualties.html

[7] “U.N. drug control officers said the Taliban religious militia has nearly wiped out opium production in Afghanistan -- once the world's largest producer -- since banning poppy cultivation last summer.” - Afghanistan, Opium and the Taliban: JALALABAD, Afghanistan February 15, 2001

[8] CBC put our rate at almost 40% in 2002: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2004/05/04/divorce040504.html  cf. Ambert, Dr. Anne Maire DIVORCE: FACTS, FIGURES AND CONSEQUENCES. Child and Family Canada. http://www.cfc-efc.ca/docs/vanif/00005_en.htm

[9] http://family.jrank.org/pages/191/Canada-Divorce.html">Canada - Divorce

[10] Walter W. Wessel Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Mark/ Book Version: 4.0.2l: The words of v. 29—"will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin"—have caused great anxiety and pain in the history of the church. Many have wondered whether they have committed the "unpardonable sin." Surely what Jesus is speaking of here is not an isolated act but a settled condition of the soul—the result of a long history of repeated and willful acts of sin. And if the person involved cannot be forgiven it is not so much that God refuses to forgive as it is the sinner refuses to allow him. Ryle's famous words are great reassurance to any who might be anxious about this sin: "There is such a thing as a sin which is never forgiven. But those who are troubled about it are most unlikely to have committed it" (J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels [New York: Revell], 2:59). On the other hand, those who actually do commit the sin are so dominated by evil that it is unlikely that they would be aware of it

[11] Ibid: "because they were saying, `He has an evil spirit'"—suggests an explanation for the unforgivable sin. Jesus had done what any unprejudiced person would have acknowledged as a good thing. He had freed an unfortunate man from the power and bondage of evil (cf. Matt 12:22; Luke 11:14). This he did through the power of the Holy Spirit, but the teachers of the law ascribed it to the power of Satan. Taylor (p. 244) says that the sin described here is "a perversion of spirit which, in defiance of moral values elects to call light darkness." Further, Mitton says, "To call what is good evil (Isa 5:20) when you know well that it is good because prejudice and ill will hold you in bondage, that is the worst sin of all. The tragedy of the `hardening of heart' (as in Mk 3:5) is that it makes men capable of committing just this sin" (Gospel of Mark, p. 28). Perkins, Pheme. NIB VIII: The Gospel of Mark, p. 547: The evangelist’s comment in V. 30 shows that the judgement saying is directed against those who have charged Jesus with using Satan’s power.”

[12] Grant, F.C. The Gospel According to St. Mark. Vol. 7. IB. New York: Abingdon, 1951, p. 694: “In place of broken family relations, ostracism and persecution, was the close and intimate relation to the Son of God.”

[13] With Jesus on one side and his opposition on the other…

Week 21: Romans 5:3-4: Rejoice

A devotional thought presented originally to Swift Current Men’s Prayer Breakfast, Thursday 19 February 2015

Read Romans 5:1-5

One morning when we were missionaries on Vancouver's downtown eastside, I was mugged. It was early in the morning and I was on Main and Hastings – that most infamous intersection in this most infamous neighbourhood - and I was on the phone with my wife who was out of town at the time.

Someone came running up behind me, grabbed my briefcase and tore down Main Street. In the briefcase was my laptop and all the information for the summer school program I was running for the kids in the area; so, like anyone mugged in the depths of skid row, I…well, I chased the mugger.

I followed him down Main Street through Chinatown across busy streets and around the myriad of mazes that are Vancouver’s back alleys. Scaring rats, jumping over sleeping street folk, I pursued my assailant. When I was within reach of him… I fell right in front of a bus and though I escaped with my life, the mugger escaped with my briefcase, my laptop, and the program files for the kids.

It was when I was walking back, completely distraught and despondent, that I experienced a miracle: I encountered an angel, a messenger of God, in the back alleys of Vancouver’s storied downtown eastside. I can still remember vividly; he looked like a ‘dumpster diver;’ he prayed with me and he offered me these words of encouragement from Romans 5:3,4 “...but let us also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” Inside I sighed. I knew he was right. God gave me these words to encourage me. . God sent His messenger to prepare us for impending challenges ahead.

In the next months a number of tragedies and struggles would confront our family. We were to receive serious, vocal, practical and other opposition from the Enemy through even people very close to us. We had to consciously protect even our children from harm; the foe is relentless.

The Apostle Paul says here that we should rejoice in our suffering because - if indeed our suffering is for the gospel - it will produce perseverance and you know what perseverance is good for, right? It gives us the ability to get through more suffering and difficult times and you know why God gives us the ability to get through more suffering and difficult times? …Because we’ve got more suffering and difficult times to get through still. So as we rejoice in our perseverance through difficult times we can rejoice because we will be ready for the even more difficult times that lay ahead.

Romans 5: “...rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” And this hope will never disappoint us (v.5).

When have you had an opportunity to experience that hope that we experience as we rejoice in our suffering?

www.sheepspeak.com 

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[1] Based on the sermon by Captain Michael Ramsay, Romans 5:3,4: Hope and an Angel on the Downtown Eastside. Presented to Swift Current Salvation Army, 09 August 2009 and Nipawin and Tisdale on 20 April 2008. On-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2008/04/romans-534-hope-and-angel-on-downtown.html

Week 20: Genesis 39:2: Prosperity

A devotional thought presented originally to Swift Current Men’s Prayer Breakfast, Thursday 12 February 2015. Presented to Riverside Cafe, 27 November 2015.

Read Genesis 37:36,39:1-3

Genesis 39:2, “The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered.” This prosperity of Joseph’s is not wealth. He is a slave. It is not luxury. He is a slave. It is not freedom to do what he wants, when he wants. He is a slave. Joseph is a teenager who has been sold into slavery in a foreign country. He is a slave against his will without specified terms for release. This is the condition he is in when the Bible records, “The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered.”

Even more: While Joseph is a slave, his master’s wife wants to have an affair. Joseph spurns her affections. She gets so upset at Joseph’s rejection that she accuses him of sexual assault and his master throws Joseph into prison. This is what it looks when it says that the LORD was with Joseph and he prospered.

Joseph is sitting in prison in a foreign country charged with a crime he didn’t commit with no specified end to his sentence. How many of us would consider this prosperity? Remember this the next time someone tells you that when you are a good Christian you won’t get sick and you will always have all the money and freedom you want. It is not true. That is NOT what God’s prosperity looks like.

What God’s prosperity looks like is when God’s work is being done through us. Joseph prospered with no money, no luxury, no freedom, just sitting in a dungeon in a foreign country with no hope of parole for a crime he didn’t commit. Genesis 39:23 reiterates in the prison context, “that LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.” And this success and this prosperity are mentioned only after he is sold into slavery and when he is in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.

The Lord’s blessing Joseph is NOT mentioned in the context of his being released from slavery and prison. Genesis doesn’t say that Joseph prospered when he was receiving all the benefits and privileges of being second in command of the entire Egyptian empire. And it doesn’t tell us that Joseph prospered and the LORD was with him when he was the favourite son of a well-to-do herdsman receiving special attention and pampering from his dad. His prosperity is only noted in the 13 years (almost half his life to this point) that he spends in slavery and in prison.

This is significant. God’s prosperity is not financial well-being and a self-indulgent, easy life. Prosperity is when God’s work is being done. When Joseph is worshiping, serving, and giving credit to God in the midst of suffering is when we hear of the LORD blessing Joseph.

I think this is important for us today: We need to realize that prosperity is when God’s work is being done through us. When we are in the dungeons of our lives, when life is its most challenging, when we are completely overwhelmed and when we know we cannot solve our problems on our own; as we take the focus off our predicament and our own selfish desires (as legitimate as they maybe) and instead concentrate on the LORD, fully trusting and worshiping Him, then we will find that even and especially in these times of trouble we will prosper as the LORD is with us.

When have you experienced God’s prosperity in the midst of adversity in your life?

www.sheepspeak.com 

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[1] Based on the sermon by Captain Michael Ramsay, Genesis 39:2a: The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered. Presented to Swift Current Salvation Army, 10 July 2011. On-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2011/07/genesis-392a-lord-was-with-joseph-and.html

Week 19: Genesis 9:24: Complacency

A devotional thought presented originally to Swift Current Men’s Prayer Breakfast, Thursday 05 February 2015

Read Genesis 9:24-29

A short history of humanity from Adam to Noah:

Ø      God makes mankind (Adam and Eve) and He loves us

Ø      We sin horribly and suffer the consequences

Ø      God still loves us and makes provisions for our safety

Ø      Man (Cane) sins horribly by killing his own brother and suffers the consequences

Ø      God still loves us and makes provisions for our safety

Ø    Mankind sins horribly – ‘doing only evil all the time’ – and suffers the consequences of the flood

Ø      God still loves us and makes provisions for our safety

Ø    Mankind sins horribly with this incident involving Ham and Noah, and humanity (Canaan) suffers the consequences

And around and around we go…

What about today? Are we any better? How many times do our lives get so overwhelming that we cry out to the Lord, we see how miraculously God delivers us from our problems; and then over time we drift further and further away from the Lord, drifting closer and closer to sin and death in the process? How many people have said at some point, “God if you do such and such for me, I will do such and such in my life” only to have God help you and then you forget –maybe not right away but over time you don’t uphold your part of the bargain? Or how about those of us who have known God for a long time? There was a time when we realized that we sinned and fell short of the Glory of God.

There was a time when we came to realize we couldn’t make it without God. There was a time when we realized that we needed to board the Ark of Eternal Salvation. There was a time when we asked Jesus to come into our hearts and there was a time when we turned our lives totally over to God. Then for many of us, as time goes on, there is the temptation to either doubt or forget all that God has done for us; for many of us then, as time goes on, there is the temptation to either doubt or forget exactly how important it is what God has done for us; and then, some of us, as time goes on, are we ever tempted to do whatever is our equivalent of the sins of Genesis 9?

Today, if there are any of us who haven’t boarded the Salvation Ark, I would invite us to do so before we are engulfed in the eternal flood. And for those of us already on board the boat, I encourage us to please keep strong. Let us remember how God saves us and let us turn not on our Father who is in Heaven but rather let us turn to our Father who saves us (cf. TSA doc 9).

A question for those of us those of us who boarded the Ark of Salvation even many years ago: have we now –like mankind to Noah’s time - been caught in that seemingly endless cycle of sin, consequence and deliverance? Have we since fallen into the waters of the sin of complacency?

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[1] Based on the sermon by Captain Michael Ramsay, Genesis 9:18-29: Idiomatic Noah. Presented to Swift Current Salvation Army, 29 Sept 2013. On-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2013/09/genesis-918-29-idiomatic-noah.html

Matthew 23: You Hypocrites!

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 08 February 2015 

by Captain Michael Ramsay

What is the main criticism that people say about church about Christians? Complete this sentence: I don’t go to church because they are all a bunch of _____________ (Hypocrites).

Some things never change look at Verse 13: ^‘Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!’ Verse 15: ^‘Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!’ Verse 23: ^‘Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!’ Verse 25: ^‘Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!’ Verse 27: ^‘Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!’ Verse 29: ^‘Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!’ Some things never change. So today I thought that we would look at some of the things people in the worshipping community did and do that if possible could very well impede someone’s salvation. Let’s take a look together and see how we can avoid the millennia old charge of hypocrisy.

Reading from Matthew 23:1-4:

23 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: ² “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. ³ So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. ⁴ They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

Here we have one or two groups of people.[1] Verse 2, Jesus mentions the teachers of the Law, the Pharisees. We run across this group of people a lot in the NT. They are primarily Jesus’ rivals in the Gospels and many of them – like the Apostle Paul – later are His followers; do we know who the Pharisees were? What was a Pharisee? A religious group but very loosely determined. They weren’t priests or pastors necessarily. (Scribes would imply a formal education of some sort.)[2] Pharisees (some of whom would be scribes) were ordinary churchgoers who had the same sort of general theological-political outlook.[3] Rather than being a denomination like Baptist or Anglican or Methodist, today they may more be like ‘Conservative Christians’ or the ‘Christian Right’ or south of the line they may even be ‘Tea Party’ supporters. They aren’t a denomination so much as a general type of person holding onto a general set of beliefs.[4] Some of the beliefs a Pharisee might have are they’d see themselves as a holiness movement: good, clean-living people (if they were in our world, they wouldn’t ever drink, smoke or swear). They are evangelistic (which is good) and they believe in the resurrection (which is right). Jesus says as – I believe – a hyperbolic statement of these stereotypical good synagogue/church-going types,[5] Jesus says:

⁵ “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; ⁶ they love the place of honour at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; ⁷ they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.

⁸ “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. ⁹ And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. ¹⁰ Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. ¹¹ The greatest among you will be your servant.¹² For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

The Pharisees and others today like them, they (and hopefully not we) are the ones who love to be seen helping in church. They want to make sure that someone thanks them for their work.[6] They don’t want to miss being a part of anything that the ‘important people’ do. They wear their best church clothes or - in our context - their neatly pressed uniforms on special occasions – so someone might see them and say, “good for you for being a ‘helper’ to those people;” “good for you for being a ‘servant’ of those people.” “Good for you for being a ‘teacher’, ‘leader’, ‘coordinator’ of those people” Jesus says, in effect, don’t let anyone praise you, calling you ‘helper’; don’t let people puff you up with flimsy praise and don’t do things just to be lauded;[7] when titles and praises are your reason for doing things, that’s a waste because you will be always humbled. Jesus says:

¹³ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.

¹⁵ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.

The Pharisees are evangelists. This is good. In our world today those like them, they would be great at telling you to pray. They would even tell you WHAT to pray for, I think; they would even tell you how to pray for it and they would even tell you which Christian authors you should read, which Christian musicians you should listen to, which politicians you should vote for and which ones you shouldn’t. They would be like so many right-or-other-wing radio shows south of the line, informing us that Christians ONLY act in this one way in everything they do. If we are like this Jesus says we are hypocrites. Even more, Jesus says, Verse 16ff.

¹⁶ “Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’ ¹⁷ You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? ¹⁸ You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’ ¹⁹ You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? ²⁰ Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. ²¹ And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwell in it.²² And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.

²³ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. ²⁴ You blind guides!  You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

²⁵ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. ²⁶ Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

²⁷ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. ²⁸ In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

Jesus is saying that the Pharisees and any of us here today to whom these comments apply may be very good at doing all the right church things: watching the right shows, wearing the right clothes, voting for the right people, helping out in church, and even tithing; but Jesus says they don’t do what is really important. Jesus doesn’t care whether you read Max Lucado or watched Joel Olsteen (for two random examples) this week; He doesn’t worry about which radio station, Christian CD or MP3 you are going to play; you’re not going to go to hell because you listen to a Newsboys song – or some other like song. Jesus says we shouldn’t focus on this stuff. Jesus wants us to love Him. Jesus wants us to love God and love our neighbours, engaging in prayer, study, justice, mercy, and faithfulness. When we seek God through this, all acts of righteousness will naturally overflow in our lives but when we spend our time trying to look good or trying to look right about God then it does nothing but drive people away from us, away from church and away from God. Jesus says: Verse 29,ff:

²⁹ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. ³⁰ And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ ³¹ So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. ³² Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started!

³³ “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? ³⁴ Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. ³⁵ And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. ³⁶ Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation. [Verse 30 again] And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 

They just had Martin Luther King Day south of the line. This year I read a lot of quotes from MLK.[8] In many ways, he really was a great man. I read some of his sermons and speeches. Everyone in the US really loves him and it is interesting. I looked at some of the Facebook pages of people who re-posted his quotes recently. You know MLK was very much a pacifist, right? He didn’t necessarily begin as such but the more resistance he personally received the more he was convinced that we should never bear arms under any circumstance and MLK was rightly determined that the only way to solve the world’s problems was forgiveness, emulating Christ’s in that way. The startling thing as I read more and more about him was the number people who posted his quotes and re-tweeted his comments who are war hawks! The number of war-mongers, the number of vengeance-seekers, the number of hate-peddlers and fear-disseminators, the number of people who support contemporary invasions of foreign countries who then re-tweeted MLK on MLK Day was astounding. I would never have guessed from their other tweets and posts that they would ever support a pastor who was pro-forgiveness and anti-war. MLK was opposed by powerful people in a war-like country and he was violently killed. I have a feeling that those who posted his quotes in one moment and then applauded aggressive military intervention in the next, I have I feeling that they may say that if they were there in MLK’s day they would never have, Verse 30, taken part in the shedding of his blood. To which Jesus responds, in essence, Verse 31-32, “you testify against yourselves [by your politics] that you are the descendants of those who murdered [him]. Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started!”

How many times do we applaud someone for standing up to evil and then turn around and celebrate that very evil that they opposed? How many times do we do and say things that look right while failing to stand up for, say, and do things that really are right?This may be why we in the churches are often called hypocrites.

Let me tell you a story. This is a story of our Christmas Day and Monday Night Dinners. I love these. These are community meals served in Jesus’ Name to everyone regardless of race, creed, religions, wealth, smell, appearance... These meals, I believe are Christian communion when our time and food is dedicated to our Lord and Saviour. Let me explain.

I have seen many soup kitchens in my time. I have seen some good ones, some okay ones, and some other ones. I have seen some meals that alienate, isolate, antagonize, and marginalize the people they aim to help. When you have a meal that is made by ‘good church people’ for ‘those other people’, when you have a meal that is served by ‘good church people’ for ‘those other people’, when you have a meal where the set up is done by ‘good church people’ for ‘those other people’, when you have a meal where the tear down is done by ‘good church people’ for ‘those other people’, then, maybe like Pharisees, like the hypocrites, we are doing our acts of righteous to other people instead of for God with other people…but our meals here are not like that.

Those of you who have been apart of it know that there is no ‘them’ in our gatherings; we are all family. Anyone can help Sylvia make the dinner; anyone can help Ron set up tables; anyone can sit and eat dinner with me or you; anyone and everyone can help tear down the tables and sweep up the floor. We are a community and I don’t know if anyone has ever stood back and looked at the wonderful lively conversations that occur not only across the table but also across socio-economic and other cultural and societal lines. My friends, at our Monday Night Meals there is no designation of Jew or Greek; male is not separated from female, rich people do not eat apart from poor people, people with university degrees aren’t fed before those without high school. We are one in the body of Christ. This is important and this is only one example of many we have right in our little church family of loving God and our neighbour. To those who aren’t blessed with serving Christ in this or like ways, Jesus says, Verses 37-39:

³⁷ “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. ³⁸ Look, your house is left to you desolate. ³⁹ For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

So to those of us who really do love our Lord and really do love our neighbour. For those of us who really do serve our Lord through serving our neighbour in a multitude of way, Jesus promises –like we read in the Sermon on the Mount[9]- that as our hearts are pure so will our actions be – not the other way round (Matthew 6:33). So today I have this encouragement to all of us here. We are going in the right direction. Keep on, keeping on. You are doing well. Keep on serving your brothers and sisters in Jesus’ Name; you are doing well; keep on helping your younger, older, weaker, stronger and other brother or sister in Jesus ‘Name, you are doing well. My friends keep and praying, reading your Bible and keep seeking the Kingdom of Heaven and our Saviour for He promises that as we do we will find Him and then righteousness and all the rest will be added unto us as indeed we proclaim, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

Let us pray.

www.sheepspeak.com

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[1] The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Matthew/Exposition of Matthew/VI. Opposition and Eschatology: The Triumph of Grace (19:3-26:5)/A. Narrative (19:3-23:39)/8. Opening events of Passion Week (21:1-23:39)/e. Seven woes on the teachers of the law and the Pharisees (23:1-36)/(1) Warming the crowds and the disciples (23:1-12), Book Version: 4.0.2

[2] M. Eugene Boring, Matthew, (NIB 8: Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 1995), 430-431

[3] NT Wright, ‘Matthew for Everyone Part 2: Chapters 16-28’ (NT for Everyone: Louisville Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004),, 99

[4] Cf. NT Wright, ‘Matthew for Everyone Part 2: Chapters 16-28’ (NT for Everyone: Louisville Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004), 107.

[5] Cf. R. T. France, Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1985 (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 1), S. 326

[6] Cf. William Hendriksen, Matthew, (NTC: Baker Academic: Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2007), 819.

[7] Cf. William Hendriksen, Matthew, (NTC: Baker Academic: Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2007), 824.

[8] But cf. Douglas R.A. Hare, Matthew (Interpretation: Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox Press, 1993), 270 for a slightly different angle.

[9] Cf. The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Matthew/Exposition of Matthew/VI. Opposition and Eschatology: The Triumph of Grace (19:3-26:5)/A. Narrative (19:3-23:39)/8. Opening events of Passion Week (21:1-23:39)/e. Seven woes on the teachers of the law and the Pharisees (23:1-36)/(1) Warming the crowds and the disciples (23:1-12), Book Version: 4.0.2
* Different coloured text was omitted from preached version of the text.