Character and Nature of Prayer

I have posted up an assignment on the Character and Nature of Prayer.

Have a read and tell me what you think?

 

Predestination – What the New Testament Says.

Over the years I have had many discussions with Christians over the doctrine of Predestination. It can be a heated topic, one that can get Christians hot under the collar, and seeking the Lord regarding the truth of the matter. So the purpose of this essay is to look at what the New Testament says about Predestination.

There are four verses in the NT that translates the Greek into Predestined,

1. Rom 8:29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
2. Rom 8:30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
3. Eph 1:5 he[3] predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—
4. Eph 1:11 In him we were also chosen,[5] having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,

There are two other verses that translate it as determined and destined,

1. Act 4:28 They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.
2. 1Co 2:7 No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.

As Christ centred theologians it is important that we look at the context of these scriptures to find what it is they are really saying. Starting with Acts; the background is that Peter and John were jailed for preaching Christ Act 4:1 after they healed a man from his lameness. In the course of his sermon, Peter clearly speaks of the death and resurrection of Christ. Then speaks of what it was that God predestined, and that was that Christ would die through the hands of mankind, and would raise to life again.

Turning to Romans

Rom 8:29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Rom 8:30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

The key verse to understanding God having predestined us is in the word Foreknew . Paul says that it is those he foreknew who he predestined, and explains who was it that he foreknew ? A faithful translation of the text would be,

Those he glorified, he had justified, those he justified he had called, those he called he had called he had predestined; those he predestined were those he knew would accept his Son Jesus Christ and what he done for them.

Another important word in determining what Scripture is truly saying is the word Foreknowledge. It is used twice in the NT.

1. Act 2:23 This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men,[4] put him to death by nailing him to the cross.

2. 1Pe 1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 1Pe 1:2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

In Acts Peter speaks of Christ being handed over, that God knew it would happen. Indeed Jesus often spoke of his impending death, explaining the Scriptures to his disciples. In the 1 Peter passage, Peter is telling the Christians that they are Gods elect according to His foreknowledge, and from the Romans passage we have the explanation as to what elect means. Peter is encouraging those who suffered through the dispersion, knowing that their suffering has been a result of their obedience to Christ. Then he tells them that the Spirit has sanctified them, Christs shed blood, reminding them of Christs own sacrifice.

Moving onto the Ephesians passage we need to look at the whole passage and what it is that Paul is truly saying.

Eph 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus:
Eph 1:2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Eph 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us
in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Eph 1:4 For he chose us
in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love
Eph1:5 he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in
accordance with his pleasure and will–Eph 1:6 to the praise of his glorious grace,
which he has freely given us in the One he loves. Eph 1:7 In him we have redemption
through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s
grace Eph 1:8 that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.Eph 1:9 And
he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he
purposed in Christ, Eph 1:10 to be put into effect when the times will have reached
their fulfilment–to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head,
even Christ. Eph 1:11 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the
plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,

In verse 5,Paul is saying that God had predetermined that there would be an adoption through Christ before the creation of the world, and indeed we read a reference to this in Genesis when God tells Eve that her seed would crush the serpents head. God had determined that there would be salvation of mankind and it is in this context that Paul is speaking of Predestination – in that God had already determined that Christ would come, Christ would die, and Christ would live again.

In verse 11 the context is in that Paul is speaking of the Jews being the first born to receive the hope of Christ. God had determined that it was through the Jews that Christ would come. God determined or predestined before the creation of the world that indeed Christ would come. God determined that Christ would come through Abraham and that through him a great nation would grow.

Finally we need to look at

1Co 2:7 No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.

The word Destined is the same word translated Predestined, and here it speaks of Christ being Gods wisdom for the sinfulness of mankind. Again Paul is consistent in saying that God had determined Christ would be our savoir before time began.

Therefore we can confidently say that the NT does not speak of predestination in that God chooses some to be saved and not others, rather it says that God knows who will be saved and accept his message and that it was Christ who he predestined, 1Ti 2:6 to give himself as a ransom for all.

 

Children and communion

Check this discussion out regarding Communion and Children

 

I pray that you may prosper…

There is much angst amongst Christians about the Prosperity Gospel and there should be some about it as it does indeed pervert the true Gospel of our Lord

However much of what I read and hear in Christian circles seems to tar and feather every charismatic and pentecostal with the same brush. I think this is wrong for it is not true. Yes there are some out there who preach a gospel, in that if you come to Jesus and you will get filthy rich. But I think if you were to examine the percentages of those who do so, they are only in the minority. Yet by labling all by the same brush, it creates suspicion and division between the Bride of Christ which is the fruit of coming in agreement with the accuser of the brethren.

The Apostle John is recorded as praying for his friend,

3 Jn 1:2 “I pray that you may enjoy good health and all will go well with you

even as your soul is getting along well”

It is Biblical to pray for one another that we may enjoy good health and that indeed all will go well with us. It is also Biblical to expect God to answer our prayers, and so we can pray expecting God to prosper us and to keep us in good health. In the prayer Jesus taught us to pray he taught us to pray that we will recieve our daily provision. To be delivered from the evil one. To be filled with the Holy Spirit. He also told the disciples to pray for the sick, as well as telling us to obey all He had taught them to do.

What does it mean to ask God to provide our daily bread? It means to come to God with the expectation that he will indeed provide for all our needs as we ask him for them; whether they be spiritual, physical or even emotional needs. I believe that it is keeping in faith for us to expect things to go well for us; for God to answer our prayers, in that

• The church plant to keep growing and be fruitful and effective.

• Home group / cell group be fruitful and effective.
  

• That all will go well in our families.

• That all will go well in our work place or business so that we can provide for our families and be generous to others – or that we will get a job, pass our exams etc.
  

• That God will grant us health / or heal us from illness

• That we will have boldness, wisdom, knowledge etc

• That we will grow in the fruit of the Spirit

and many more.

What it doesn’t mean though is that we can expect God to answer our prayers based on greed, to prosper our own sinful nature, that he is some kind of a genie in that we only have to rub the bottle the right way, or pray the right way, or…. what ever and he will do our bidding.

We have to ensure that our thoughts, our attitudes, our lives and our prayers, are lined up with Gods mind on the issue and then we can be sure that God will indeed answer our prayers.

 

Existing & non existing sin

Today I shared the communion message at church. I spoke about sin, and how there is only 2 kinds of sin.

1. Existing Sin
2. Non Existing Sin.

I used the story of Adam and Eve, Cain and Able to show how 3 people refused to deal with their sin issues when confronted by God about them. .. each time when God asked them what it was they had done, they said, “It was another person, or what do you mean?”

I brought into the message what John says about confessing our sins and being cleansed of them by the blood of Christ. I then said that if we have confessed and forsaken them, then those sins are now non- existent, that in Gods eyes they are as if they had never happened.

Thank God for the blood of Jesus, for his broken body on the cross, for his ressurection and for his eternal intercession for us before the throne room of God, where His blood cleanses us from all unrighteousness.

 

The Cross

The Cross unites us and divides us.
It unites us with our living God, that is if we believe!
It divides between those who believe and do not!
The repentant sinner on one side, the unrepentant the other.
Its a message of hope for those who are willing to follow the way of the cross.
Its a message of foolishness to those who don’t.
Its the greatest foolish story if its a lie.
Its the greatest story of hope, if it is true.
If its a lie we are to be pitied.
If it is true, you those who don’t believe are the pitiful ones.
There is nothing moral about the cross if it is a lie.
Its all about morality if it is true.
Was Jesus a liar, was he a lunatic, or just a moral man?
He was none of them, for he himself does not give us that option!
He had to be who he said he was.
What side of the cross do you stand?

 

A chilling truth

I wonder what the community’s reaction about the rain was. What was it like to suddenly realise that Noah was right after all, and they were wrong? It was to late to board the ark as it had been sealed shut by God. Do you think perhaps they could have been crying out,

“Why God why?”

only for their cries to go unheard or unheeded. For one hundred years, Noah was warning them of what was to come. For one hundred years, Noah felled trees, made lumber, hammered, chipped, gathered and stored and coped with every one’s disbelief. For one hundred years his community ignored his message of hope, and call to repent and turn back to the Lord. Yet it was not only Noah preaching they ignored; they also had the history of their ancestors also rebuking them. Adam and Eve, Cain and Able, Enoch, all bore witness to the mercy and severity of God. However instead of turning back to the Lord their creator and walking in right relationship with Him, putting to death their sinful ways, they continued to ignore Him and went their own ways.

Paul cries out, o wretched man that I am, who will save me from myself……

Knowing full well that it is Christ Jesus who saves and if any one sins, we have an advocate with the Father who is faithful and just and will forgive us of our sins, if we come to him and confess them to him. If we say we have no sin, then the truth is not in us….

Thank God for the cross.

 

The ark is built, the message is preached

Not only did Noah have to cop flack from his neighbours, he also had to cop it from his family; his brothers, sisters, cousins, uncles, aunties, nephews and nieces. Not only them, but also his in-laws – though most likely they were all related any way. I wonder what Lamech thought of it all. He died about two years before the flood; did he come alongside and help Noah build the ark? Did he encourage him by telling him stories about his grandfather Enoch as well as what he knew about Adam? Perhaps Lamech was a typical boy who loved his grandfather and trailed him about wherever he went? Was Lamech there when God took Enoch? Was he a witness just like Elisha was a witness of God taking Elijah? We don’t know, in fact we don’t know any thing about their relationship. We do know however that someone told Noah about the past, for it is recorded for us today, and that most likely would have been his father. And in the same way Noah passed it onto his sons.

Imagine the conversation that could have gone on between his wife and her mother if she was alive, or her siblings.

Mother – I’m worried about you dear… Is Noah alright? … I think he needs to see someone…

Wife – Don’t worry about me mum…Noah is fine mum… He is seeing someone; he talks to God every day…

Mother – That’s just what I mean dear…don’t you think he has gone to far with this God stuff?… I mean it’s all a bit of a mythical story about God and how he made Adam and Eve, and kicked them out of the so called Garden of Eden…

Sister – I’m worried about you as well sis; don’t you think you are taking it all a little bit too seriously about this God stuff? … I mean who believes you? … Surely God would have spoken to other people about it as well, if it was really going to happen … if he really does exist that is…

Brother – Sis, this has gone far enough, who does Noah think he is? … Why would God pick him? … Look at him, Mr Goody two shoes… Does he think he is better than us?…

Wife – Come on mum, you know full well that God is not a mythical leg-end! …. You all know the history of Noah’s great grandfather, the history of Cain and Able, and that Adam and Eve were real… You really know that the Garden was real…. You only have to look around at what is happening today to know that sin is prevalent in today’s society… Noah believes God, he knows God, and I believe God as well… Come on guys, don’t get left behind, come help us build it, and you too can be saved…

Mother – What will the neighbours think?…Nothing is going to happen dear… just wait and see…Rain, what an imagination…I wonder what he will think of next…I just hope no one will think to badly of you dear…

While the above conversation is fiction, we do know that only 8 people boarded the ark, Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives. There was no one else. No neighbours, no extended family; only Noah and his family. So perhaps there could be some truth to what I have written after all?

In speaking of Noahs family issues, lets turn to our own walk with God and ask ourselves some questions about where we stand with God.

1. What does your neighbourhood think of your faith?
2. What does your family think of your relationship with the living God?
3. How do you cope with criticism?
4. What has God asked you to do?
5. What have others said to about that?

So Noah and his sons built the ark, which took them one hundred years to do so. The ark was 136 metres long, 22.7 metres wide and 13.6 metres high. I live on a quarter acre block of land, which is 50 metres long by 20 metres wide. The ark was over two and a half times the length of my block of land and slightly wider. And it was about 3 times the height of my house, which is a normal single story home.

One hundred years of sawing, cutting, nailing, chopping and sanding. They didn’t have the luxury of being able to duck down to the local hardware if they needed something. They didn’t have the luxury of power tools nail guns, and chainsaws. Nor did they have a local timber mill to go to, and give them the order for all the timber they needed, pre cut into all the different lengths and sizes that they needed. If they needed a plank; they had to cut a tree down to make it. If they needed tools, they had to make them themselves, or perhaps there turned to their distant relatives who were tool makers and had them make them for them.

At first Noah worked on the ark by himself, perhaps with the aid of his wife and father. Two years after God asked Noah to build it; his wife gave birth to his first son Shem. Picture Shem, following Noah about as he chopped, hewed, heaved, carried, and nailed or tied every thing together, and asking his father questions about what he was doing. Can I help you dad? What’s this for? What was it like for him to grow up in awareness that the community around him did not share his father’s enthusiasm nor heed his warnings? Then there were his other two sons who were born afterwards, and not only them, they met and married their wives. What was their reaction to father in-laws antics? Did they have the same kind of discussions with their families like I wrote of Noah’s wife having with hers?

The time came, when God had them cover the inside and outside of the ark in pitch to seal it from leaks. They started the gathering of food, both for them-selves and for all the animals who would come on board. What sort of questions do you think Noah was going to ask God while he created and gathered? How much food do we need? How long will we be on the ark for? And his sons as they helped him asking, “Have we made enough hay dad?” How much longer dad? And yet for one hundred years they kept at it, gathering, cutting, heaving, making, storing. Talking to God as they went about doing what he called them to do. And then the rain started to fall, and God brought the animals to them, two pairs of every kind of unclean animal, and seven pairs of every kind of clean animal. Finally Noah and his family entered the ark and God shut the door on them.
I wonder what the community’s reaction about the rain was. What was it like to suddenly realise that Noah was right after all, and they were wrong? To late to board the ark for it had been sealed shut by God. Do you think perhaps they would have been asking questions, crying out,

“Why God why?”

only for their cries to go unheard. For one hundred years, Noah was warning them of what was to come. For one hundred years his community ignored his message of hope, and instead of turning back to the Lord their creator, walking in right relationship with Him they continued to ignore Him and went about their own ways.

 

More Generational Trivia

1. Adam was 522 years old when Enoch was born
2. Adam was 887 years old when Enoch was taken by God
3. Adam was 874 years old when Lamech was born.
4. Lamech was 56 yeas old when Adam died.
5. Lamech was Noahs father.
6. Lamech died 2 years before the rain came.
7. None of Noahs brothers and sisters believed God, or Noah – as they did not get on the ark.

 

The generations between Noah and Abraham

Did you know,

1. That Shem, Noahs son, was 100 years old when his first son was born?
2. Noah was still alive when Abram – Abraham was born?
3. That Abraham was 90 when Noah died?
4. That Shem, Noahs son, was 340 when Abraham was born and lived for another 160 years?
5. That the when the tower of Babel was being built, Noah was still alive?
6. That Noah was still alive when God called out to Abraham?
7. That there were 9 generations between Adam and Noah, and that there were 9 generations between Noah and Abraham?
8. That Terah, Abrahams father was 70 years old when Abraham was born….Though Abraham was an old man when his son was born, perhaps some of his faith knowing God would indeed give him a son came about from his forebears being blessed in life later by the Lord in the same way?