Psalm 146: Set the Captives Free (Now)!

Presented to TSA Alberni Valley Ministries by Major Michael Ramsay, 03 August 2025

 

We have a lot of scripture readings again because I want to chat some more about a truth that this is a common theme throughout the Bible: “Set the captives free!” Most of the time when we, in church, read about the captives being set free it is in the context of the Kingdom of God. The Gospels say that the Kingdom of God is at hand. In theology we use the term ‘prolepsis’ to refer to the time when the Kingdom of God begins, which is now, the time between the resurrection of Christ and His return at the eschaton. This is the time we are living in now and as Christians it is our responsibility to try to make this time as close to what the world will be like when Jesus comes back at the end of time – which is perfect.

 

The Bible repeatedly tells us what Christian nations look like, what we as Christians need to work toward in our country. Psalm 146 is example of how we can be a part of God’s Kingdom:

 

Psalm 146

1 Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, my soul.

2 I will praise the Lord all my life;

I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

3 Do not put your trust in princes,

in human beings, who cannot save.

4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;

on that very day their plans come to nothing.

5 Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,

whose hope is in the Lord their God.

6 He is the Maker of heaven and earth,

the sea, and everything in them—

he remains faithful forever.

7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed

and gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets prisoners free,

8     the Lord gives sight to the blind,

the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,

the Lord loves the righteous.

9 The Lord watches over the foreigner

and sustains the fatherless and the widow,

but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

10 The Lord reigns forever,

your God, O Zion, for all generations.

Praise the Lord.

 

Verse 7 says, “The Lord sets the prisoners free”; you can also see this sentiment in Zechariah 9:11, Psalm 68:6, Psalm 102:20, Isaiah 42:7 and elsewhere. Jesus, as recorded in Luke, quotes Isaiah 42 letting people know that the time to set the prisoners free is now. I think this is important. I think we do need to do what the Bible tells us to do. I was reading one African Liberation Theologian’s essay (I believe it was Bongajalo Goba) this week in Hammering Swords into Plowshares, a book dedicated to the Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He said that one main difference between capitalist western churches and the Universal Christian Church is that western churches either spiritualize everything (for example: God doesn’t’ really want us to let people out of jail, that is just a metaphor for something else…maybe being free from our personal bad habits) or they try to say that the things that God tells us to do as a society are only in the future and God will do it; it is not our responsibility (we shouldn’t try to give sight to the blind now; we shouldn’t end hunger or homelessness now – even though we can!- God will do that when Jesus returns at the end of time). But the real Church including the churches in the third world realizes that when God tells us to make it so that no one is hungry; no one is lonely; no one is homeless; no one is thirsty, and no one is in prison; He is telling us to do it now! We are not supposed to go on propping up (western capitalist ‘democratic’) systems that are opposed to the expressed will of God and just say “oh well, when we all get to heaven we will all be okay” -both me who has so much and my neighbour who doesn’t. When we all get to heaven what a day of rejoicing that will be.

 

I have been really convicted and cut to the quick with the sentiment I shared at the Summer Rain festival: Jesus speaks about a salvation society as one where the sick are healed, the captives are freed, the hungry are fed, the lonely are visited, the perpetrator is forgiven, relationships are healed. In our world, in our country, in our province, in our city there is still conflict, abuse, addiction, poverty, homelessness, murder, mental illness, hate, violence, unforgiveness… What if we didn’t have to wait until we die to experience a world without all of this? What if Christ was right and he wasn’t lying to us? What if the Kingdom of God is actually at hand? What if the Church (and our churches) is actually the body of Christ and what if we actually do this?  

 

Recently I read Wrongfully Convicted by Canadian lawyer and Founder of Innocence Canada, Kent Roach and this week I have been reading Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson, an American lawyer who has spent his career working with death row inmates. The horrors that people suffer behind bars in the USA are as bad as you imagine and even worse. Think of the TV shows you have seen and then place yourself or your loved ones in the place of the prisoners being abused by prisoners or guards, or judges, or whomever. When I studied Restorative Justice from Simon Fraser University a decade ago, we read stories of inmates who were actually lost in American prisons – it came time to release them and they had no idea where they were.

 

I have a story relating to that – when I was just a new Salvation Army Officer, I was appointed to the small town of Nipawin, Saskatchewan (Go Riders!). On Sunday a congregation member asked me if I could go see another congregation member, Zerah. “Sure” I said. “He is in cells” they said. Apparently, shortly before we had arrived to town Zerah had gone on an arson spree, lighting the town on fire. I spent the next weeks and months meeting Zerah whenever he was in town for the circuit court. In between court dates they would ship him off to prisons in Prince Albert or Regina – and I think his court cases were in Nipawin, Carrot River, or Tisdale. I would meet him in whatever small community courthouse the circuit court was meeting on that day of the week.

 

One time I was in the court room in Carrot River and they called Zerah’s name to stand before the judge. No answer. They called it again. No answer. The judge then said, “We will need to issue a warrant for his arrest for not showing up for court.” At this point I popped up from my seat and awkwardly raised my hand. I was in uniform so he knew I wasn’t Zerah; so he asked me “do you know where Zerah is?” “Yes. He is in prison in PA” I said. Everyone in the courtroom laughed. I didn’t. The judge didn’t. “Then we better not issue a warrant for his arrest – that would look pretty bad” the judge said as he instructed the bailiff to try to find Zerah and figure out how they lost him in the system. Eventually, they did find Zerah in prison; but can you imagine if I wasn’t there? This warrant issued from the bench would be on his record. They lost Zerah in prison.

 

I was reading some research this week. Did you know that quite a few people in U.S. jails, federal, and US state prisons have never even been convicted of a crime? What percentage of people in US jails do you think have never been convicted of a crime? 80%! 80% of people suffering all that they are suffering in prison have never been convicted of an offence and some of them never will be and some of them will have their convictions overturned on appeal. I didn’t find the stats for Canada but, from experience, I wouldn’t be surprised if they are similar.

 

A member of our church in Toronto when he immigrated to Canada from Dubai about 10 years ago, they held him and his sister in jail until they processed them – I am not sure how many months they were in jail. He was separated from his sister (she was put in a different jail) and quite concerned about her. I wound up having to go to the consulate with him to figure out a whole bunch of things – this is Canada.

 

I spoke to my friends in Stony Mountain Penitentiary when I was there for two years. They told me that the prison organized the wings by gangs: the Indian Posse had one wing, the Hells Angels another. They set the rules. They told me that you never make eye contact with anyone. It was hard not to be part of a gang. We put people who have never been convicted of a crime through this and more in Canada. And they can lose you in this system, like they did Zerah. Can you imagine if it was the day of your release and no one knew where you were to release you?

 

In 2023, in Canada, 61 people died in custody.  According to StatsCan, from 2017-2020 there were 169 deaths in our prisons: there were 20 suicides, 11 confirmed homicides, 19 drug overdoses and many other natural and suspicious deaths. In 2019 alone in the USA 143 were murdered while in the care of the State.

 

We, the Church, are called to free the prisoners; we, the Church, are supposed to be good stewards of the money God entrusts us with too. The estimated total court spending in Canada for 2014 was $1,614,017,311. That is not even including the incarceration and other costs! We could provide everyone the mental health and addiction support they need in this country for that amount of money. The average hotel cost across this country is $211.00 per night. The daily average cost of keeping someone in prison here is $326.00 per night which works out to $9780.00 per month. We could afford to put everyone in a hotel and give them the mental health and addition help they need for less than putting them in prison – and there are lots of safer cheaper ways to contain someone still. The average rental cost in Canada is $2200 / month which works out to $74 a day (as opposed to the $326 /day that it costs to put someone in a cage!); the average mortgage in Canada (including Vancouver, etc.) is just $2100 a month which works out to just $70 a day. We can feed and house people at the Bread of Life, Tiny Homes, or a shelter here for a lot cheaper than that too – with all the supports to keep themselves and others safe! So why do we lock people in prisons? It doesn’t help them. It doesn’t help us! – oh and btw I read that over 70% of those in Canadian prisons have diagnosed mental health conditions.

 

Instead of locking someone up to be tortured in the cages we call prisons, we could send someone somewhere actually safe and secure for mental health and addiction support – we just choose not to! Derek, one of our regular friends at the Army and the Bread of Life, every time he gets out of jail he is healthy-ish, well fed and not visibly fighting his demons for a week or so – but when they toss him out of prison they toss him out on the street with no support; so his own mental health demons torment him so much until he hurts himself and others in unimaginable ways and then winds up back behind bars where he suffers everything that one suffers there. That doesn’t make society safe. That doesn’t make Derick safe.

 

That doesn’t need to be the case. My friend Zerah was eventually sentenced to mental health care and weekly injections for his schizophrenia instead of jail and he was able to contribute to society. Why don’t we help everyone who needs help like that? Why do we torture people like we do to Derrick instead? Why? Just because Zerah ‘lucked out’ and had a compassionate judge? Because he had a TSA Officer with him the whole time? We are called to set the captives free. There is no reason for anyone to be tortured in a cage, let alone the 80% of the people we are doing this to who have never been convicted of a crime. And how can we punish people with mental health and addiction issues for acting in manners consistent with their mental health and addiction issues?

 

And… why am I asking us this question? And to 25 people here who actually do a lot for people in our community? What do I want us to do? Are we able to go speak with Judge Wolf and ask that he never sentence someone to incarceration again? – maybe; I wouldn’t object to that. Do I want a volunteer to start a court worker program here like we had in Saskatchewan that helped keep people out of prison? - maybe; I wouldn’t object to that. Am I asking us to write letter or speak in person to Josie (our MLA) and Gord (our MP) and ask them to change the legislation so that we try to help heal our community heal rather than punish the sick and even innocent people this way; maybe. I wouldn’t object to that.

 

I guess the main thing I am asking us is to keep our eyes open; keep our ears open. Remember that Jesus and the Bible does command us set the captives free and we as members of the church are asked to do that, just as we are asked to forgive one another like we have spoken about the previous few weeks. So today, I ask that we please just leave here knowing and believing that our world can be changed and it can be changed now; there are other solutions, let us look for them; let us pray for them, and let us fight for them. Jesus tells us to set the captives free.

 

Let us pray

www.sheepspeak.com

Romans 2:11—29: Stop ‘In the Name of the Law’.

 Presented to TSA Alberni Valley Ministries, 27 October 2024, by Major Michael Ramsay

Who has had a chance to read through Romans? We have spent the previous 3 weeks here on Chapter 1 of Romans. Who has at least read Chapter 1? This week I will speak on Romans 2 and then next week Susan may do the same or she may still have some things to say about Romans 1 or something else – so this week, if you can spare 10 minutes in your busy lives, I encourage you to read at least Romans 1 and 2. (That is how long it takes to read those two chapters out loud really slowly – 10 minutes.) When you read them, you can also check up on what we are saying in our sermons! Keep us on track!

 

Before we begin today, there is some prerequisite knowledge required; so, let’s have a review quiz. Let’s see how we do. Quiz (Review):

1.     ‘Romans’ is written to people living in what city?

a) Damascus

b)    Rome

c)     Philadelphia

d)    Port Alberni

2.     What is a Jew?

a)    A descendant of Abraham

b)    One who was subject to the Law

c)     One of a people chosen by God to share His message of Salvation

d)    All of the above

3.     What is a Gentile?

a)    Someone who is quiet and calm

b)    A type of flooring

c)     A Greek or other non-Jewish person

d)    Short form of ‘Gentleman’

4. What is the significance of circumcision?

a) A sign of a covenant with Abraham

b) A sign that you are a Jewish male

c) A painful ritual practice

d) All of the above

5. What is the Law?

a) A note to follow ‘So’…’Doh, Rae, mi,,,’

b) Something I fought and it won.

c) Rites and rituals that are an important part of ancient Israelite covenant, culture and tradition.

d) A type of Tee-Dah; a Law-Tee-Dah

6. Who wrote Romans?

a) Roman Polanski

b) Julius Caesar

c) William Shakespeare

d) Paul

7. Who was Paul?

a) A Jew

b) A Roman

c) A Christian

d) All of the above

8. What is a Christian?

a) A follower of the Law

b) A follower of Jesus

c) A follower of Moses

d) A follower on Facebook

The Law comes up a lot in the New Testament. Today we are looking at Romans 2 and how Covenant Law relates to us as Christians. Remind me again: what does Paul mean when he refers to ‘the Law’? 

 

Those of us who have been studying Acts on Tuesday nights at the Gruenhages’ know that the early Christians struggled a lot with whether to follow the Law or not and how to follow it or not follow it. Two weeks ago at Bible study, we spoke about the Council in Jerusalem and how James and the other leaders proclaimed that the Gentiles shouldn’t have to follow the Law – but that they should follow some rules that are included in it? Do we remember what those rules are? (Acts 15:19: “...to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood.") And last week in Bible Study we spoke at great length about what Paul had to say about the Law in Galatians 5:2, “Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all” versus what he encouraged Timothy to do, as recorded in Acts 16? What happened to Timothy? Timothy was circumcised (Acts 16:3). This shows some of the early confusion around the role of the Law in the lives of early Christians. It is finally more or less settled as Paul explains it to the Romans here.

Romans Chapter 2, written around the same time as Paul’s letter to the Galatians, and probably after the Council in Jerusalem, gives us a good insight into how the Law applies to believers: both Jews and Gentiles.  Remind me: What is the difference between and Jew and a Gentile? What is the Law again? Reading Verses 11-13:

11 For God does not show favoritism.12 All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.

 

In this chapter Paul explains that even though they were chosen by God for His purposes that, as Douglas Moo writes, “contrary to popular Jewish belief, the sins of the Jews will not be treated by God significantly different from those of the Gentiles.” [1]  In Verses 12-16 Paul makes it clear that it is not those who hear the Law (Like every Jewish person attending synagogue would regularly) but rather those who obey the Law that are justified – whether they attend synagogue or not or whether they even know about the Law or not (v.13).

 

An analogy to our local laws here today: If our law says that you are not to run a stop sign, the fact that that law exists, and the fact that you know that law says you aren’t supposed to run a stop sign aren’t going to save you. What is going to save you (and others!) is if you don’t run the stop sign!

 

But there is more. Reading Verses 14-16:

14 (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.) 16 This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.

 

Verses 14-16 talk about the Gentiles in relation to the Law: even some Gentiles who do not even try to follow or even know Jewish Covenant Law are able to do some of what the Law states.

 

These verses refer to the new covenant of Jeremiah 31:31-34 where it is recorded that the Law will be ‘written on the hearts of the Israelites’ but even more than that, it is reference to the good news of Genesis 12:3: the promise to Abraham that he will be a blessing has been fulfilled – not just for the Jews but for all the nations of the earth.

 

Back to our stop sign analogy: Some people who may not even know the law about stop signs will actually arrive at an intersection and come to a complete stop. They will realize, without anyone telling them, that maybe they shouldn’t drive straight out into the traffic. Paul would say that though they were never told this law, it was indeed written on their heart. I think there are many times in life when you and I probably obey laws by accident. Maybe a speed limit would be a better example: maybe you are driving down the street and never do see the sign but find yourself going the speed limit quite by accident. This is like Gentiles who do not have the Law, following the Covenant Law.

 

 

Verses 17-24:

17 Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and boast in God; 18 if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; 19 if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— 21 you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who boast in the law, do you dishonour God by breaking the law? 24 As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”

 

Paul here addresses a Jewish claim that they can ‘know [God’s] will and determine what is best because [they] are instructed in the Law (v.18)” and that they, because they have this Law from God, are even “a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and truth (19-20).” Paul disagrees! He says basically, “How can one claim to be a teacher of a Law when one does not even obey the Law oneself (cf. 2.1)?” Theologian N.T. Wright goes as far as to claim that “if the [Law] was put in place to deal with evil in the world, then the failure of the covenant people [under the Law] to be the light of the world means that the [Law] itself seems to be under threat.”[2] In other words, if the purpose of the Law was to bring salvation to the world then it failed.

 

This would be like if people were bragging that we are the best drivers in the world because we have the most laws: no speeding, no running stop signs, always signal, stop for pedestrians, don’t drive on the sidewalk… but then we don’t follow all those rules. What good are those laws if no one follows them? Paul says that this is what his fellow citizens are indeed doing – claiming to be great because of all these great laws– but then not following them; Claiming to be great because they have THE LAW but then not following it any better than people who don’t have it.

 

This always reminds me of when we or our allies invade yet another  country in the name of 'democracy' and then when it comes to participating in democracy most of us don’t even bother to show up! Most of us don’t attend local political debates and read party platforms so that we can at least cast an educated ballot. And most of us certainly don’t bother to participate in more legitimate or more meaningful avenues of democracy on a regular basis (the VAST majority of people in our country don’t bother to do this at all). This is like the LAW. What good is it to you if you don't participate in it?

 

Verses 25-29:

25 Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised. 26 So then, if those who are not circumcised keep the law’s requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised? 27 The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker. 28 A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. 29 No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.

 

Verses 25-29 speak specifically about circumcision and the Law. Two groups of people are being addressed. The first is a circumcised people, Jews who do not keep the Law (cf. vv. 25, 26, 27) and the second is an uncircumcised Gentiles who do keep the Law.  Paul points out that the Law of the Covenant is only valuable if you obey the Law and he says that the circumcised Jews are not obeying the Law and thus “The Name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles (v.24; cf. Isaiah 52:5).”

 

The role of Law is to reveal how we are guilty of sin (cf. 2:1, 17-24; 3:19) like our local laws show us how we are guilty of a crime. Covenant Law points out how and where we fall short. It is the ‘doing’ of the law that counts more than having or even knowing the Law (2:13-14,18, 25-26). Both Jews (who received and know the Law) and Gentiles (who don’t and aren’t) are equally able to ‘do’ or ‘not do’ the Law (cf. 2:3, 14-15, 17-14, 25-26, 3:19-31) – just like anyone ,whether they know our laws or not, is equally able to drive through a stop sign or not, or speed through a school zone or not – and just like no one born in this country will probably spend their whole life without breaking the law - no one will likely ever keep all of the Covenant Law.

 

Just like it is really not possible for you and I to obey every law in Canada, even if we know them. And it probably isn’t even possible for us to obey every traffic law. The Lord knows I have had a few tickets and one or two accidents. But if it was possible for anyone not to break the law then they would be able to look down their nose at the rest of us. Likewise, if it was possible not to break the Covenant Law (cf. 3:20), the Gentile who did so without even knowing the Law would stand in judgement of those who did received it, knew it, and don’t follow it (contrast 2:1-3).

 

So, at the conclusion of the second chapter of Romans, it is clear that the Jew and the Gentile stand on equal footing before the Law. Neither of them can be saved by it, whether they know it or not.

 

The Law “cannot be the means of demarcating the true covenant people; they merely point up the fact of sin (3:20). Instead, the covenant faithfulness of the creator of the world is revealed through the faithfulness of Jesus, the Messiah, for the benefit of all, Jew and Gentile alike, who believe.” [3]

 

Salvation, as will be argued later in Romans, comes not through The Law, any laws or anything else. Salvation comes through Christ alone.

 ---

[1] Douglas J. Moo, The Epistle to the Romans (NICNT 6: Grand Rapids, Michigan / Cambridge, UK: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1996), 126. Cf. also NT Wright, The Letter to the Romans (NIB 10: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1995), 440, where he acknowledges that God’s national impartiality was not totally unconsidered in Jewish tradition.

 

[2] N.T. Wright, “Romans and the Theology of Paul,” Pauline Theology, Volume III, ed. David M. Hay & E. Elizabeth Johnson, (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995): 37.

 

[3] Douglas J. Moo, p. 126.

Jonah 3-4: But What if You Don’t Love Your Enemies?

Presented to Alberni Valley Ministries, 21 January 2024, and to the Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 13 May 2012 by Major Michael Ramsay

 

This is the 2024 BC version. To view the 2012 Saskatchewan version, click here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2012/05/jonah-3-4-get-rid-of-your-enemies.html 

 

Many times the Gospel has been boiled down to something as simple as loving one another. The Law and the prophets are summed up by Jesus (Matthew 7:12) as “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” and (Matthew 22:37-40) “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind… Love your neighbour as yourself.’ But what happens when we don’t? The story of Jonah.

 

Jonah hates. Jonah hates the Ninevites so much that rather than obey God and point them to salvation, he runs in the opposite direction (Jonah 1:1-3).  Jonah hates the Ninevites so much that when the opportunity presents itself, he decides that he would rather die than obey God by pointing them to salvation (Jonah 1:12). Jonah does not want to preach to the Ninevites because he knows they will be saved (Jonah 4:2); he hates them so much that he wants them destroyed (Jonah 4:3). He wants no part of their salvation.

 

Are we ever like this? Do we ever hate a person or group of people so much -a political party, country or leader, neighbour, family member, boss, colleague… that we wish they just didn’t exist or that they would just be wiped off the face of the earth? That is the way Jonah feels that way about Nineveh…

 

Jonah was an Israelite. An Israelite was a citizen of ancient Israel. We know that when Jonah’s story was taking place, it is many years since Israel’s civil war split the nation into two countries (1 Kings 12, 2 Chronicles 10): Judah in the south and Israel in the north. Jonah was a northerner, an Israelite.

 

Nineveh, the city whose citizens Jonah hated, was the capital of Assyria. Assyria was a country near modern day Iraq and Assyria would eventually destroy Israel (721 BCE; cf. 2 Ki17). Sargon II, King of Assyria (722/21–705/4) wrote:

At the beginning of my royal rule … I besieged and conquered [Israel’s capital city,] Samaria, led away as booty 27,290 inhabitants of it. I formed from among them a contingent of 50 chariots and made remaining (inhabitants) assume their (social) positions. I installed over them an officer of mine and imposed upon them the tribute of the former king.

About Ninevah and Assyria, J. Robert Vannoy tells us:

The brutal Assyrian style of warfare relied on massive armies, superbly equipped with the world’s first great siege machines… Psychological terror, however, was Assyria’s most effective weapon. It was ruthlessly applied, with corpses impaled on stakes, severed heads stacked in heaps, and captives skinned alive.

 

Assyria, like all Superpowers past and present, could be brutal. King Esarhaddon of Assyria, to show his power, even hung the captured King of Sidon’s decapitated head around the neck of one of his nobles and then paraded him through the streets of Nineveh with singers playing on harps leading the way. This is Ninevah.

 

From the Bible, the prophet Isaiah reports the Ninevite King boasts (Isaiah 10:13,14; cf. Nahum 2:12):

By the strength of my hand I have done this, and by my wisdom, because I have understanding. I removed the boundaries of nations, I plundered their treasures; like a mighty one I subdued their kings.

As one reaches into a nest, so my hand reached for the wealth of the nations; as men gather abandoned eggs, so I gathered all the countries; not one flapped a wing, or opened its mouth to chirp.

 

The prophet Nahum says of Nineveh: “Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without victims!” (Nahum 3:1) Nineveh rose up to be a Superpower as brutal, as prideful, and as terrible as Superpowers tend to be and Nineveh was to unleash that terror on their enemies. Israel was their enemy. Jonah was her enemy.

 

These are the people Jonah was told to love so much that he would point them to salvation. Tolstoy said, “To get rid of an enemy one must love him.” The Bible says, “… Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you,” (Luke 6:27-28); (Matthew 5:44:) “… Love your enemies…and pray for those who persecute you…” (Matthew 6:14-15), “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” Psalm 103: God is compassionate and forgives all our sins.

 

We know this and Jonah knows this and he did not want his enemies forgiven – not after what they did. Jonah 4:2:

He prayed to the Lord, “O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.

 

You and I here today, we know that we are supposed to reflect God and we know that God is compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. We know that, as Jesus said, if we do not forgive people, God will not forgive us. We know that, as Tolstoy said, “To get rid of an enemy one must love him;” so…

 

How do we do with that? How do we do at sharing the gospel and God’s love to see an enemy – or even a friend - saved for now and eternity? Are we any better than Jonah?

 

God asks you to love your neighbour and to share the gospel; do you love your neighbour who borrowed that thing from you last year and never gave it back so much that you want to tell him about Jesus so that he may be saved both for now – in all his struggles whatever they may be - and forever?

 

As God asks you to love your neighbour and to share the gospel, do you love your neighbour whom you did so much for over the years and she never even bothered to say ‘thank you’ so much that you want to tell her about life with Jesus?

 

As God asks you to love your neighbour and to share the gospel of salvation, do you love the policeman who pulled you over so much that you want to tell them about Jesus so that they can be saved?

 

As God asks you to love your neighbour and to share the gospel, do you love the person working at Tim Horton’s who gave you a double double instead of a black coffee for the third time this week so much that you want to tell them about Jesus so that they can be saved?

 

God is compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. God says “… Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…” (Matthew 5:44). “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” (Matthew 6:14-15).

 

Tolstoy, reflecting God’s sentiments said, “To get rid of an enemy one must love him.”  It is my hope that none of us here would have any enemies.

 

To Jonah’s story there is an interesting ending. Jonah is introduced at the beginning of this story as being on the inside of God’s blessing as a prophet of God (Jonah 1:1); he winds up, however, on the outside of Nineveh as it is saved: his own hatred is eating him up just as the worm is eating up the vine (Jonah4:5ff). The Ninevites, whom Jonah feels perfectly justified in not wanting saved, are worshipping God and presumably having a great time as they live out their salvation here, now and forever. Jonah, on the other hand, is not having a great time as he stays outside of the wonderful party of Salvation going on inside the city.

 

Let me tell you one more story. This is actually a paraphrase that I couldn’t readily corroborate but you’ll understand the sentiment even if the details may not be entirely accurate: Billy Graham was at a service with his wife, Ruth. The offering plate was passed around and he put in his money. Later he was looking in his wallet and he complained to Ruth, “I put a $20 in the plate by accident. I only meant to put in a five.”

 

Ruth replies, “Now that you’re complaining about it, not only are you out the twenty but you’ll only get credit for the five.” God received His twenty dollars from Billy Graham but Billy did not receive the full credit or the full blessing of that offering.

 

Jonah delivered God’s news of salvation to the Ninevites but he did not get the full blessing, the credit of eternal joy. Billy Graham gave God the twenty but only got credit for five. Today it is my hope and our prayer that as God asks each of us to love our neighbours enough to share with them the peace and joy of the Lord, that indeed, we won’t try to hold anything back from them but that we will experience the joy of our salvation as even our worst enemies come to the Lord because, as Tolstoy wrote, “To get rid of an enemy one must love him;” so then when we see them in paradise, what a day of rejoicing that should be. And if God can forgive even Nineveh when they repent, and if God can forgive even our own real and imagined enemies when they repent, then -when we repent- God can forgive even us; and then, like the hymn says, when we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be.

 

Let us pray. 

www.sheepspeak.com

Deuteronomy 8: Thanksgiving Day

Presented to The Salvation Army Alberni Valley Ministries, 08 October 2023 and 09 October 2022, by Major Michael Ramsay

 

This is the 2023 version, to view the earlier version click here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2022/10/deuteronomy-83-20-and-psalm-100.html

  

Deuteronomy 8 reminds us of an important truth that, Verse 3, because He loves us, God hungers us blessing us to rely on Him but, 8:10-11, as we enter times of abundance we must give thanks to the Lord because, 8:19-20, forgetting the Lord will result in our destruction.

 

    The book of Deuteronomy here records the time after the Hebrews had fled Egypt and before they reached Canaan. They had only what they could carry and – as they were nomadic – obviously, no farms to grow food, no permanent water source or anything like that. They were hundreds, thousands or even more people without a permanent home wandering around the desert.

 

    As the Hebrews followed God around the desert like this, He provided for them. Even their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell during this time. God provided for them when they had nothing. God provided for them. Deuteronomy 8:15,16:

 

He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you.

 

    Even though one generation of Israelites was faithless upon leaving Egypt their actions did not nullify the faithfulness of God (Romans 3:3,4) who provided this desert experience as a means to their salvation. The next generation, who was born in the desert, learned to rely on God in their time of real need and God provided for them in the desert. God, through Moses and then Joshua, reminded the people not to forget this: in the desert God and God alone provided for them, preparing them to receive the Promised Land.

 

    But alas, as God warned them, these times of relying on God passed when the people acquired stability, income, relative ease and apparent self-sufficiency. They didn't think they needed Him once they settled in their promised land so they left Him and then they didn't have Him. And so when life's hard hand dealt them their blows they turned to look for God's protection but they had turned their backs, walked away and left Him behind. God didn't leave them. They left Him. They exchanged the safety of God's love for the death of wealth and the myth of self-sufficiency.

 

    In our country too: Canada was arguably founded on the Word of God: notably Psalm 72:8: that is from where our old name came – when I was growing up this country was called the Dominion of Canada; Canada Day used to be called Dominion Day. We used to have the Lord's Prayer in Parliament and Gideon Bibles in the schools. Now we don't seem to think we need or want Him anymore.

 

    This is sad but there is some good news. There is still time to return to our Lord. As long as we exist as a nation there is still the opportunity for our nation to return to acknowledging God. Now I am not pretending that Canadians of the ‘olden days’ were better than today. We made mistakes then, like we do now. We are making improvements and we are making some serious errors. We are just people after all. The key is whether we try to serve the Lord or not. He loves us and wants us on His team, as part of His family. Maybe our country as a whole never will be. We, as Christians, however, should do our best to help build God’s Kingdom here as it is in heaven, to help bring people into the family of God’s love and support. We can do this by continuing to serve God by taking care of our neighbour as well as reading our Bibles and spending time in prayer with God and, of course, also sharing about the blessings of doing all these things with others so they can experience it as well. God loves us and as such He wants us all to be part of His Dominion. As long as we exist it is not too late: we can all and each still return to the Lord.

 

    We know that Israel's Messiah did eventually come, even after all the unfaithfulness. Jesus is their and our Messiah. Jesus was born, died, and rose from the grave. And we know that Jesus will come back too and he will reign forever not only as King of the Jews but also as King of the whole world (cf. TSA doc. 6). When he does, will he find that we are walking with him or that we have walked away from Him and His Kingdom?

 

    There is a children’s book, Thanksgiving Day in Canada – it is a favourite book of mine. I have quoted it quite often for many years when speaking about Thanksgiving in Canada – my children all know the book very well too. As I have shared from the pulpit here on a previous Thanksgivings, the other year I found out something very interesting. You know that Susan, the kids and I lived and worked in Toronto prior to being posted here. We were the Officers responsible for The Salvation Army`s Warehouse Mission as well as 614 in downtown Toronto. One year during our time there, with Thanksgiving coming up, I happened to be speaking with our worship leader, Krys Lewicki, about the book and it turns out that he wrote that book (it was promoted by CBC as part of Canada`s 125 anniversary). Krys also wrote a Thanksgiving song that is in that book that we sang earlier and will probably sing again before we leave. About Thanksgiving, from the book:

 

The origins of Canadian Thanksgiving are more closely connected to the traditions of Europe than of the United States. Long before Europeans settled in North America, festivals of thanks and celebrations of harvest took place in Europe in the month of October. The very first Thanksgiving celebration in North America took place in Canada when Martin Frobisher, an explorer from England, arrived in Newfoundland in 1578. He wanted to give thanks for his safe arrival to the New World. That means the first Thanksgiving in Canada was celebrated 43 years before the pilgrims landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts!

For a few hundred years, Thanksgiving was celebrated in either late October or early November, before it was declared a national holiday in 1879. It was then, that November 6th was set aside as the official Thanksgiving holiday. But then on January 31, 1957, Canadian Parliament announced that on the second Monday in October, Thanksgiving would be "a day of general thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed."

Thanksgiving was moved to the second Monday in October because after the World Wars, Remembrance Day (November 11th) and Thanksgiving kept falling in the same week. Another reason for Canadian Thanksgiving arriving earlier than its American counterpart is that Canada is geographically further north than the United States, causing the Canadian harvest season to arrive earlier than the American harvest season. And since Thanksgiving for Canadians is more about giving thanks to the Lord for the harvest season than the arrival of pilgrims, it makes sense to celebrate the holiday in October.

 

    In this day and age of the Holy being replaced by the secular in so much of our society, it is a good encouragement to each of us as individuals and as the Lord’s children here to remember that even our Parliament once declared Thanksgiving as "a day of general thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed."

 

     Please this weekend let us remember not only to be thankful but to be thankful to God; and with all else that we are indeed thankful for let us not neglect our gratitude for the harvest that the farmers have reaped this year and all those who the Lord will and does provide for through that.

 

    This weekend and this day let us remember to offer thanksgiving to Almighty God for all else and for the bountiful harvest with which we have been blessed.

 

Let us pray.

 

 

www.sheepspeak.com

www.facebook.com/salvogesis

Ezekiel 2:3-8, 3:4-11: Working with Dad.

Presented to The Salvation Army Alberni Valley Ministries, 17 September 2023

 

God is sovereign. Do we know what that means? It means that in any situation God is in charge. God is the boss … and more. The job He wants done will get done. His business is always successful. The question is simply do we work for the boss or not?

 

The Salvation Army Doctrines 6 and 9 read:

• ·       We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has by His suffering and death made an atonement for the whole world so that whosoever will may be saved.
• ·       We believe that continuance in a state of salvation depends upon continued obedient faith in Christ.

 

Monday, I heard these two stories from two different people within moments of each other. First, Rena came to chat with me. She shared that on a particular day, she was able to pray with a friend about their family member whom Rena did not know. Later in that same day she met that very family member! God then used Rena to connect with her friend again and now whatever happens, I am sure Rena will continue to pray for them and Rena will forever be a part of that miracle and all of them and each of them will see some of where the hand of God is moving. At the very least God has used this Divine encounter to encourage those who needed encouragement and I am very sure God will use that meeting to inspire more prayers, more support, and more miracles!

 

Within moments of that, Nancy, our Admin person at the Army here shared with me this story: She was called for jury duty. And of all the people that I have heard who have been called for jury duty in all my years living in this community she is the first one who actually had to show up in person. When myself, Susan, Lisa were all called, we each showed up to see a sign on the door that read that jury selection was cancelled for the day. This was not the case for Nancy. Now I don’t know whether this was good news or not because I don’t know whether she was eager, willing, or wanting to do jury duty or not.

 

On the day in question she showed up, was let into a room with a bunch of other people, and then they had a lottery of sorts. They drew 12 names to be on the jury (or more, I do not know) and the rest of them were told to wait around in case one of those chosen was disqualified. Most people went outside. Nancy returned to the courtroom. Lo and behold, the accused was able to come out from behind the plexiglass cage and walk out into the courtroom. Nancy could see that she was obviously distressed and asked her if she was a praying woman and if she was could she pray for her. She did. She was able to pray with this woman in her time of real significant need. She was used by God to offer some comfort and access to the Lord’s strength in the lady’s time of need. Now whatever happens in this trial: whether the woman is convicted, absolved, imprisoned, released or something else; Nancy will inevitably be praying for this woman. And whatever miracles the Lord performs in her life from this point on, Nancy was able to be a part of it.

 

God has used Nancy and Rena and the others in these stories to do His will. They were invited to participate in praying with people and in following God’s lead and they chose to do so. Forever they then will experience the blessings related to that.

 

I think that is the way that the Lord works with us all every single day – just maybe sometimes not as noticeably as it was this past week with Rena and Nancy. God loves us all and as a result, He not only wants us to be with Him, He wants us to be a part of what He does! This is important!

 

This is something I think that our society is losing as we drift further from God in our community. We have less people volunteering for things. More people want to exchange everything for money – they sell things they don’t need any more instead of giving them away; they want to be paid for everything that they do – and they want to make sure that they are paid what they are worth! (Whatever that is!? Like a monetary value can be attached to our time and effort... that whole idea sounds ludicrous to me.)

 

Do you know what both the richest and the poorest people in our country have in common? Neither of them have to work! Rich people fly of to Paris for lunch and poor people walk down to the Bread of Life. Most rich people make their money from ‘investments’ – whatever that is – not producing anything at all, just making money off the work of others.

 

Poor people; people struggling with addiction, people struggling with unemployment, people living with physical disabilities, people living with mental health issues… I think we do all of us a big disservice when we don’t let each other work. We strip all meaning from our lives. I think this is very, very wrong. I am always encouraging our folks to let people volunteer.

 

God doesn’t need any of us to accomplish what He wants accomplished. God can do anything. God just loves all of us. And as a result, God lets us join Him in His work that He is doing. God is taking care of the lady Nancy met who is charged with murder and God is taking care of everyone else related to that case. He didn’t need to ask Nancy to pray for her and He didn’t need any prayers to help this lady. God however let Nancy pray with her. God loves Nancy (just like He loves that lady) so God gave Nancy the opportunity to help this lady when she is in significant need.

 

God loves us and so He wants to work with us. He wants to spend quality time with us working on something meaningful. Some of the most wonderful times in my life have been working alongside my children at Toy Runs, Fall Fairs, Parades, Food Drives, Soap Box Derbies, Christmas Meals, Kettles, and many other things. My children have been helping me out since they were in pre-school or before. Maybe sometimes I didn’t need their help to get done what needed to be done but I did need their help for the experience of us working together to serve God by serving our neighbours. We build memories and a relationship through loving God and loving others.

 

No one needs to starve in our world much less our country. God has provided enough food for everyone to be taken care of – it is the same with shelter and other necessities. God has provided for each and every person on this planet. There are more than enough resources. God loves each and every person – if He didn’t He could just place our food in front of us like a guard and slide it under the door of a prison cell never engaging with us whatsoever.

 

God loves each and every person though so He chooses not to do it that way. God wants to involve us in what He is doing. He hands us the food and tells us to pass it on to one another. He does that because He loves us.

 

I am going to tell you one more story. When I was young my father was watching some telethon on TV and I was there. They were asking for money. My dad then took out $5 and gave it to me for helping with the yard work for the summer. He said I could spend it on anything that I wanted to spend it on. I knew he was watching the telethon. He said I could spend it on absolutely anything that I wished. I could see that the telethon was on. He told me that I could have it now. I knew that he wanted me to donate it to the telethon. He told me that money was up to me to figure out how to spend as he dialed the 1-800 number to the telethon. He told me that really I could spend it on whatever I liked as he handed me the phone. And  - though I was really tempted not to - after all of these not so subtle hints I donated the money to the telethon. As a result, yes the people who received money from the telethon benefited but even more than that, I did. I remember this moment to this very day. My dad could have given that $5 directly to the telethon and sure they could have and would have and did use it – but this way its use was magnified – as this little encounter affected me – and by extension everyone that I have ever helped in my entire life (and I work with The Salvation Army!) and probably that donation was magnified 1000 times over.

 

This is the same with God and us. God loves us and wants to involve us in what He is doing. He has given you a metaphorical $5 and He wants you to feed your neighbour with it; will you do it? He has given you a gift of something else and He wants you to pray for your neighbour with it; will you do it? God has given you something else and He wasn’t you to talk to your neighbour; will you do it? God wants to spend time with you as you spend time with your neighbour – working alongside them, helping them, praying for and with them; will you do it?

 

My friends this is integral to the Christian faith. God doesn’t need us to do anything. But because God loves us He wants to spend time with us doing what He loves to do. He loves us so He wants to work alongside us helping our fellow person who is in need in our community – and you know what – when we do that, do you know who gains the most in this encounter? Not the person you are supposed to help (though they gain too). It is us – and God. Because we get to spend time working together helping and loving others and each other.

 

Let us pray.