Romans 14:4-12: The Apocalypse is Nuanced

Presented to The Salvation Army Alberni Valley Ministries by Captain Michael Ramsay, 14 November 2021

The other week the kids and I were able to join Susan and her parents in the BC Legislature as they honoured her father for all the work he did for the people of BC. It was nice to have everyone’s names mentioned too.  

We then got to stay for question period and that was ‘a whole nother matter’. It started off innocuous enough. It actually reminded me of when I was in Grade 6. We each took turns public speaking. Someone would have a timer. You had to be as close to 2 minutes as possible and not go over. The MLAs were doing this very well. I am sure they must have all passed Grade 6 with flying colours... And then it got interesting. 

The clock was set for half-an-hour or so but unlike the 2-minute speeches, this time limit meant… absolutely nothing. The time was done and the politicians were not done; so they kept talking. The opposition, all except one lowly Green Party member who obviously didn’t get the memo, were all asking the same question over and over again about a government policy around Autism: ‘why is the government clawing back Autism funding?’  One after another would read a comment from someone in their riding and then they would ask, ‘why is the government clawing back Autism funding?’ to which Mitzi Dean, the minister responsible, would respond, ‘it is not a claw back’; the next person would read another letter and ask the very same question ‘why is the government clawing back Autism funding?’ to which the ever more frustrated minister would respond, ‘it is not a claw back!’ and this went on for well over the half-an-hour allocated for this: ‘why is the government clawing back Autism funding?’ ‘It is not a claw back!’  

I got to thinking (sarcastically) during this whole show, ‘wow. What a good use of taxpayer money this is.’ Here we have some of the highest paid employees in the province giving Grade 6 level speeches followed by asking each other questions that no one really answered and that no one was really listening to anyway, even if they did. I began to think, what a colossal waste of money is our so-called democracy. 

Then we went upstairs to a ceremony where they honoured Susan’s dad for all the work he had done as leader of the NDP, leader of the Opposition, and as an MLA and MP for this community for decades. They spoke about many of the great things he accomplished, his principles, and even read from some of his speeches. His first ever speech in the house was quoted by more than one person. In it he made a great stand for the people of Port Alberni and argued passionately the case of the local First Nations (he would of course, in later years, be the federal critic for Indian Affairs, as it was then called.) Susan also made one of the best speeches honouring her father, what he had done, and who he is. 

It struck me then that on the same day as we saw question period which pointed out how seemingly useless our system of government and our leaders can be, we also saw how useful and valuable our leaders can be: both at the same time. When I was thinking about all this Romans 14: 4 came to mind: Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall.  

Then I got to thinking – well, that is life in general; isn’t it? We can all and each be equal parts good and useful and bad and useless; sometimes all at the same time, can’t we? (I know I can!) 

Sometimes maybe we paint the world a little too black and white; sometimes we can throw the baby out with the bathwater; sometimes we can say that because so-and-so was wrong or bad on this occasion then everything they say is wrong or bad. I think sometimes we need to remember that when we disagree with each other it might even be the case that neither of us is wrong… or maybe both of us are? Maybe we are both right and wrong all at the same time too. Some examples from Romans 14:5&6:  

Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. Those who observe the day, observe it in honor of the Lord. Also those who eat, eat in honour of the Lord, since they give thanks to God; while those who abstain, abstain in honour of the Lord and give thanks to God… [And Verse 10] Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. 

There are many things going on in this world right now. I have spoken a lot about the anguish I have experienced praying and having to make decisions about vaccine passports and Covid-19; so, I am not going to go into that too much today but any of you who have heard me talk have heard me wrestle with the nuances of this. I was chatting about how troubled I was with that the other week to Nancy Wilmot and she had some words of wisdom. She said to me something along the lines of, “Who thought the apocalypse would be so nuanced and multi-layered?” That really resonates with me. I told her I’d quote her. I immediately thought of the passage in the gospels where Jesus reminds us, Mark 13:32-33: 

But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. 

The Apocalypse is nuanced and multi-layered. We don’t know how precisely everything is going to unfold and when all this will end. There are many challenging things going on right now that require us to seek the Lord’s leading: all the questions around Covid-19 but also the opioid crisis and race relations and gender identity and a re-interpretation of history, and, and, and...  

I could really go on about some of the dangerous policies in place around ‘harm reduction’ these days. I have some real concerns about the way some of these policies are harming those who want to break their addictions and are even creating environments where new people are falling prey to addiction. I can get really worked up about this and Covid-19 policies and other things that directly affect us here. These are some of the many things that I am struggling with – and I know many of you have even more important, more immediate, and more personal things that you are dealing with right now. There are people we walk with on a daily basis whose actions often leave us wondering what is going on or can tempt us into anger, judgement, or frustration – but, in the midst of our frustrating time, here are two things I am learning from Romans Chapter 14 right now. 

One: outside of the body of Christ, we are not a Christian Country so, Romans 14:4, who am I to pass judgement on servants of another? Someone who doesn’t follow Christ, can’t be expected to act as if they do. (But we still should!) 

And two: even within the body of Christ, Romans 4:10-12: Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.” So then, each of us will be accountable to God. 

Even amongst those of us who serve the Lord sometimes we are led to do different things. We shouldn’t despise one another. Life, even in our trying times, is confusing. As Nancy said, “who thought the apocalypse would be so nuanced and multi-layered?” It is - or at least our present time seems to be. 

There are many things happening right now. There are people making every kind of decision and as for myself, I probably won’t get everything right. You may not even get everything right- but maybe you will. The Lord, however, is always true and the Lord is always faithful. We need to seek Him in all we do. Verses 5&6 and this whole passage really speak to this: we need to seek the Lord in all of our decisions and whatever He tells us to do, we need to do it. As we are faithful to the Lord, He will provide.  

I will leave you with 2 testimonies here about this truth. One: Many of you know that it looked like we would have to lay off employees from the Thrift Store who are not able to get vaccinated for health and other reasons. This did not sit right with a lot of us. As we approached the Lord, He provided a way that we could provide for them and obey Headquarters’ vaccine mandate all at the same time. Both of those employees are able and willing to work at the Bread of Life until such time as they are allowed to work with the Army again. We faithfully sought the Lord in prayer and the Lord provides. 

Two: Some of you know that consultants that the government hired were trying to force us to hand out crack pipes and syringes to people struggling to be free from addiction in order for us to receive government funding that we had already been promised. We weren’t going to do that. The Salvation Army, the Bread of Life and the Drop-In Centre need to be safe places for people to go. People can already get whatever drug paraphernalia they want at ACAWS, the OPS, Island Health; what they really need is a safe place to go and be allowed to be sober if they so choose. To make a very long story short, we sought the Lord and the Lord provided. God used one of our employees to speak to people higher-up at the city and the consultants were over-ruled. We are still able to provide a safe place for people to go who are struggling with addiction. The Lord provides. 

Likewise, whatever you are struggling with today, whatever it is that is causing you to lose sleep or be preoccupied, whatever it is that threatens your peace of mind, your heart and soul, as we bring it to the Lord and stand firm in the way the Holy Spirit convicts us, He will deliver us. He will. Whatever you are facing today, He is able more than able to handle. He will bring you through to the other side. In Him and Him alone, we can place our trust. Let us pray. 

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Alberni Valley Remembrance Day Service, November 11th 2021

FIELD OF HONOUR

CAPTAIN MICHAEL RAMSAY

PADRE, ROYAL CANADIAN LEGION # 293

1. O CANADA

 

2. INVOCATION: Grace be unto you and peace, from God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ. The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God. Their bodies are buried in peace; but their name liveth forever more.

 

At the 11^th hour of the 11^th day of the 11^th month, time stands still for a moment; and we remember those who died, not for war, but for a world that would be free and at peace.

 

3. OPENING REMARKS

·       MC

·       Mayor

 

4. SCRIPTURE READING: A Reading from the 23^rd Psalm.

 

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:

he leadeth me beside the still waters.

 

He restoreth my soul:

he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness

for his name's sake.

 

Yea, though I walk through the valley

of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;

thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

 

Thou preparest a table before me

in the presence of mine enemies:

thou anointest my head with oil;

my cup runneth over.

 

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

 

5. PRAYER: Almighty God. You are our refuge and strength; we humble ourselves in Your presence, and, remembering the great things you have done for us, we lift up our hearts in adoration and praise. As you have gathered us together this day, we give You thanks for all who served their country in time of trial.

 

In remembrance of those who made the supreme sacrifice, make us better men and women, and give us peace in our time, O Lord.

 

6. LAST POST

 

7. SILENCE – 2 MINUTES

 

8. REVEILLE

 

9. LAMENT

 

10. ADDRESS: This is our second Remembrance Day where, instead of gathering in the Glenwood Centre, we are obliged only to gather outside in the cold and the weather. More than 100 years ago, from 1914-1918, Canadians, First Nations, our allies, and our foes, stood outside on days such as today and days with weather much more miserable than today. They stood in the trenches, they stood in the mud, they lived in the mud, they died in the mud.

They were in the mud in a foreign land out of loyalty to us; they were there out of love for us, their friends and their families. 1-in-5 Canadians never did return to experience the warmth and love of their home. In the Alberni Valley, of the only 1 600 people who lived here in 1914, 116 signed up to go overseas in just the first few months of the war alone. Many of them never did return home.

To put this in perspective, many of us know someone who has died in the current pandemic that is tragically sweeping our world and our country. 29 022 people out of our current population of 38 million Canadians have died of Covid-19; In World War II, when Canada had only 11 million people 45 400 of them died in that war and in World War I, when our population was a just more than 7 million people, 61 000 Canadians gave their lives. If you were alive then, someone you knew and probably someone you loved, died in the mud and in the rain and in the war. We are here to remember them today.

This July it is 100 years since the Great War Veterans Association (one of the forerunners of our Royal Canadian Legion) adopted the Poppy as our flower, our symbol of Remembrance.

The symbol comes from Lt.-Col John McCrae’s now famous poem, “In Flanders Fields”. Lt.-Col John McCrae served in World War I. He treated the wounded during the Second Battle of Ypres in 1915 when his friend, Lt. Alexis Helmer, was killed in battle. Lt. Helmer’s burial inspired the poem, "In Flanders Fields", written on May 3, 1915. Less than 3 years later, on January 28, 1918, while commanding No. 3 Canadian General Hospital (McGill) in France, Lt.-Col. McCrae died of pneumonia he caught while serving in weather much more miserable than today: serving in the trenches, serving in the weather; He died in part from the weather and entirely due to the war. McCrae’s legacy has lived on from his poem and today as we wear our poppies, let us remember all of those who have laid down their lives for us. Let us not forget. We will remember them.

In the Christian faith, of which I am a pastor, we have a hope for a future where there will be no more wars, no more death, and no more sorrow – only peace. May that day come soon! And let us always remember all those who have lived and died so that you and I may have a chance, even now, to live out our lives in peace and security. Let us remember.

 

We will remember them.

 

11. LAYING OF THE WREATHES

 

12.  BENEDICTION: Almighty God, as You have gathered your people together this day in hallowed remembrance, we give You thanks for all who laid down their lives for our sake, and whom You have gathered from the storm of war into the peace of Your presence. Let the memory of their devotion ever be an example to us, that we at the last. Being faithful unto death, may receive with them the crown of life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

13. GOD SAVE THE QUEEN

 

First Nations Graves

 

O Almighty God, the great Ruler and architect of the Universe, we offer thanks for the life of those who have gone on before and we ask your divine help for the future. We desire your presence with us this day and may your guiding light penetrate the hearts of all assembled here. We pray you at this time to cherish the mothers, the widow and the fatherless of our brave men and women who made the supreme sacrifice. Give them strength to overcome. Be near them in their solitude and give us all the will to be an inspiration to all the world that the peace of God which passeth all understanding may be with us now for all eternity.

 

O God of peace, may the memory of wars strengthen our efforts for peace.

 

O Father of souls, may the memory of those who died inspire our service to the living.

 

O Builder of the Kingdom  of Love, may the memory of past destruction move us to build for the future.

 

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Exodus 12:24-27 and 1 Corinthians 11:23-26: Lest We Forget

Presented to The Salvation Army Alberni Valley Ministries by Captain Michael Ramsay (Padre, Royal Canadian Legion Branch 293), 07 November 2021

The Exodus passage that we read from today references the Passover. The Passover was deliverance that God brought to His people through some terrible times. We have been struggling through the plague of Covid-19 since about March of 2020. The Passover occurred after the people had suffered through, not one plague (like we are struggling to do now) but 9 plagues. Can you imagine? Can you imagine if when we get through our current plague there are 8 more of these things waiting to greet us? …Each arguably worse than its predecessor? The Israelites suffered not one plague of Covid-19 but 9 plagues of various kinds: 

1. The Nile River turns to blood (7:14–25)

2. Plague of frogs (7:25–8:11)

3. Plague of gnats (8:12–15)

4. Plague of flies (8:20–32)

5. Plague on the livestalk (9:1–7)

6. Plague of boils (9:8–12)

7. Plague of hail (9:13-35)

8. Plague of locusts (10:1–20)

9. Plague of darkness (10:21–29) 

It was after the Ninth plague, when I am sure that everyone is completed exhausted from it all, that the Passover happens: the Angel of Death comes and kills the eldest child of every person and animal in a household, in a family – unless they were fully prepared. God saved the Hebrews. The Angel of Death passed over them. This salvation was so important that God instructed those who lived through the Passover to never forget it. They were to have a ceremony that they practiced annually down through the generations. Exodus 12:24-27a again

“Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants. When you enter the land that the Lord will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.’”

The ancient Israelites were asked to never forget the trials and tribulations that their forebearers suffered through hoping that future generations would never suffer in that way. They shall remember, lest they forget. 

This is Remembrance Sunday in the Church. In Canada we are asked never to forget what our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents went through in the World and other Wars. It is important that we remember so that we don’t have to live through those times ever again. I can’t imagine what Reinhart and Christa lived through with bombs dropping on their town and near their home. I can’t imagine what it is like to see a soldier attacking your town. I can’t imagine what Kirk, who is a member of our group here is going through right now even. As we speak he is back east getting treatment for PTSD brought on by some of the things he has seen in wartime and some of the things he has done. We are asked to remember our veterans and we are asked to remember the horror and sorrow of war so that future generations never need to live through what others experienced.

Just like with the World Wars and the Passover, Jesus and his disciples tell us that we are never to forget what Jesus has done for us between the cross and the empty tomb. Just like we have ceremonies here on Remembrance Day and the Israelites commemorated the Passover we are told in the Gospels and 1 Corinthians here to remember Jesus’ death and resurrection, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, Paul says:

For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Some denominations may take communion every day, every week, or every month to remember Christ’s death. Sundays are traditionally in the Church a time when we come together to remember Jesus’ resurrection; when people take communion they do so in remembrance of Christ’s death and resurrection. Just like the ancient Hebrews remembered the Passover in a ceremony every year, Good Friday, even to this day, is a time when we in the Church gather to remember Jesus’ death and Easter Sunday is a time when we gather to remember his resurrection and look forward to his return. We will remember Him. Lest We Forget.

Just like on this Thursday upcoming we will gather in the cemetery to remember our service people, who offered their lives so that we may one day see an end to war; Easter, every Sunday and every day we have an opportunity and a responsibility to remember Christ who died and rose again so that we can all live forever more (if we so choose) and so that there may one day be an end to all war and a future time and place, a future realm of peace when even we ‘ain’t gonna study war no more’.

Let us pray

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Luke 11:14-28: The Parable of the Haunted House

Presented to Swift Current Corps 31 October 2010; Corps 614 Regent Park Toronto, 01 November 2015; and Alberni Valley Ministries, 31 October 2021 by Captain Michael Ramsay

 

This is the 2021 Version presented to Alberni Valley Ministries. Links to the other versions are listed at the conclusion of this post. (There is also a video below, if you would prefer to see and hear this message)

 

Today is October 31^st so I thought that it would be good to start off with an October 31^st quiz today:

 

1)     What historic event happened in Wittenburg on this date in 1517? (Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the church.)

2)     True or False: Ghosts are mentioned in the Bible. (True, especially The Holy Ghost in the Authorized Version)

3)     True or False: A king of Israel went to a witch to speak with the spirit of a dead person (True, 1 Samuel 28).

a.      Bonus Marks name the King (Saul), the dead person (Samuel), and the witch (the Witch of Endor)

4)     How many people can you name who the Bible records God used to raise others from the dead?

a.      God used Elijah to raise the son of the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:17-23),

b.     God used Elisa to raise the Shunammite woman's son (2 Kings 4:32-37);

c.      There was the man they through into Elisha’s grave (2 Kings 13:21)

d.     Jesus raised:

                                                    i.     the widow's son (Luke 7:12-15),

                                                  ii.     Jairus' daughter (Luke 8:49-55),

                                                iii.     Lazarus (John 11:43,44),

e.      God uses Peter to raise Dorcas (Acts 9:37-40)

f.      Paul raised Eutychus (after he had bored him to death? Acts 20:9-12)

5)     The man possessed by so many demons that they called themselves Legion, where did he live? (In the tombs, the graveyard near Gerasenes; Mark 5:1,2, Luke 8:26-27)

6)     True or False: Jesus tells a parable about a haunted house? (True, Matthew 12:25-29, Mark 3:23-27, Luke 11:17-22)

 

The parable in Luke talks about a demon-possessed man and a demon-possessed house. Luke 11:24-26: “When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first.” The house is haunted by more demons than it was in the first place. This is in the Parable of the Haunted House.

 

There are many important things to come out of this Parable of the Haunted House. We obviously don’t have time today to spend on all of them. One of the key things to come out of this parable is that God is more important than anyone in the Christian’s life. This is highlighted in the Mark’s version (Mark 3:20-35). We are not to be distracted from serving the Lord by anyone – not even our family. This is very important.

 

About the Haunted House, Luke 11:17-18, “…Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? ...” And Luke 11:23, Jesus says, “He who is not with me is against me” Jesus is drawing the line here. He is being quite clear. Jesus has had a serious accusation levelled against him. He has been accused of exorcising demons by demonic power.

 

Jesus is accused of driving out demons by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of demons (Luke 11:15, Matthew 12:24, Mark 3:22). We are familiar with the term Beelzebub, right? Milton named one of his characters in ‘Paradise Lost’ Beelzebub. In Milton’s story he was the devil’s henchman but Beelzebub here in scriptures isn’t the right-hand man of the devil. Beelzebub is the devil himself. Beelzebub is another name for the Satan. We remember that the ancient Israelites – long before the time of Jesus’ birth– were often split between those who worshipped YHWH and those who worshipped a Canaanite god by the name of Baal. One of the names people who worshipped Baal used to call him was Baal-Zebul - which literally means ‘Baal the Prince’ (Cf. 2 Kings 1:6; Matthew 10:25; 12:24,27; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15, 18-19). Knowing this, the people who didn’t worship Baal gave the Canaanite god a nickname. They called him Baal-Zebub, which sounds like Baal-Zebul, ‘Baal the Prince’, but in reality means Baal, Lord of the flies; Baal the pest; or Baal, Lord of the dung heap. It wasn’t a favourable name, Baal-Zebub. It was a derogatory name. By Jesus time, with Baal-worship relegated to the dustbin of history but they couldn’t let this good nickname go to waste though; so they applied it to the devil, Satan inherited this nickname. Beelzebub, in the first century CE, was a common derogatory name for Satan. Jesus in our text here is being accused of working for the devil.

 

In our society today we think nothing of people dressing up like evil characters or using the language of demon-possession and witchcraft: we hear it everyday on TV, radio, in pop culture and in casual colloquial language. There were on TV last night alone dozens of movies and TV shows trivializing or glorifying evil. It is so common in our contemporary Canadian society that many times we don’t even twig when we hear references to sorcery or divination but it was very different in Jesus’ day.

Witchcraft was punishable by death (1 Samuel 28:9, Galatians 5:20). These religious teachers who are accusing Jesus of being an agent of evil here cannot be left to make these remarks unchallenged. It must be addressed. They are accusing Jesus of divination, of witchcraft, of sorcery, and in those days people won’t stand by and let that evil go unchecked. 

 

Jesus doesn’t stand by and let these accusations stand. Knowing their thoughts Jesus tells them: “…Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? I say this because you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebub. Now if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your followers drive them out? So then, they will be your judges” (Luke 11:17-19; cf. Matthew 12:15-17, Mark 3:23-26). Jesus tells them that if he is driving out evil with evil than his opponents are doing exactly the same thing when they perform exorcisms and even more than that Jesus says, one won’t and one can’t even drive out evil with evil: a house divided against itself will fall. Jesus says, Verses 21-22, “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armour in which the man trusted and divides up the spoils (Luke 11:21-22; cf. Matthew 12:29, Mark 3:27)” And, Verses 24-26, “When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first” (cf. TSA Doctrine 9). These are the only two options. A divided house cannot stand. So just like an American president said not too many years ago as they were embarking on one of their many wars, “You are either with us or against us.” Jesus says, Luke 11:23, “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters.”

 

Well, on this Halloween Day, on this Reformation Day, 2000 ₊ years after the birth of our Lord, where do we stand? Are we with him or are we against him? Jesus defeated sin and death between the cross and the empty tomb (TSA Doctrine 6) but if we look back in our text to Luke 11:27, we notice that a woman who hears what Jesus is saying and who witnesses what Jesus is doing; she calls out to him, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.” Jesus then gives her an answer which should be our answer to the deliverance he has offered each of us through his death and resurrection. Jesus replies, Luke 11:28, “blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” Luke 11:23, “He who is not with me is against me.”

This is the choice set before us today. We can ask Jesus to sweep our life clean of the demons that haunt us – whatever it is that is troubling us - and he will. But in that we have to choose whom we will serve. We can serve ourselves, our own desires, we can serve the Enemy; we can invite the demons back in to haunt our lives again or we can serve the Lord and live life abundantly (TSA Docs 6 and 8).

 

Please remember too that any and all of us can ask our Lord Jesus to come and clean our haunted houses of whatever is haunting us. Even if he has already cleaned it once or a hundred times and we have subsequently messed it up. While we still have breath in our body, we can invite him back into our lives to clean them up and sort us out and then, we can continue on to receive the Lord’s blessing of eternal life, Luke 11:28, “blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” As we do this, we will continue in the blessing of the Holy Spirit. This is holiness and this holiness is available to all of us but we must make a choice (cf. TSA Doctrine 10). And, as Joshua said on the very border of the Promised Land, when faced with this very choice, Joshua said ‘as for me and my house we will serve the Lord’ (Joshua 24:15) and I pray that that will be the same response for each and all of us today.

 

Let us pray.

Swift Current 2010: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2010/10/luke-1114-28-matthew-1225-29-parable-of.html

Toronto: 2015: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2015/10/luke-1114-28-haunted-house.html