Merredin Uniting Church

Welcome! It is our prayer that on this first day of the week you will find yourself renewed and strengthened for your journey as we worship together in this place. Margie and I are in Mandurah this morning. It’s my weekend off and Margie needed to see the doctor in Perth. Kevin Tengvall will share God’s Word with you today.

My heart has been stirred at the Wednesday Prayer Meeting as we have sought to understand the meaning and purpose of “Revival”. This past week we saw that when you are convinced about the truth of something, that conviction takes a hold of your life. (I touched on this last Sunday morning too, so God must be saying something!) My own conviction is that I (and probably other Christians too) are satisfied with far less than the fullness of God’s promise, and we are easily strangled by the world and its expectations. Let me illustrate, outside my study window is a lemon tree. It had been invaded by a creeper and if I had left it, the creeper would have strangled the tree. However I cut off the invading tendrils and as I look at the tree now I see the dead remnant of the creeper still twined through the branches – they have no more stranglehold but they are still a burden and they make the tree look ugly. Our lives are often like that – we come to Jesus, we cut the ties with sin but we still feel their burden, fearful that they will somehow regain power. The strangling vine of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil invaded the Tree of Life – we might have cut the life from the vine but we must also drag the dead branches from the tree if we want to know life in its fullest. A new book about the Pope John Paul II tells that he used flagellation to bring himself closer to Jesus. The idea is similar but perhaps a bit extreme. I believe that we simply need to be more certain of our faith and trust in the power of God to remove our sins from us “as far as the East is from the West.” The promise of Jesus is NEW LIFE – and it is so radically different to the old life that Jesus explained it to Nicodemus as being ‘born again’. Let’s step out in faith, believing that we ARE ‘born again’, we DO have a new life. The old has gone and the new has come – and the new life is brimming with promise. It is the abundant life!

Our new Junior Youth Group starts Friday at 5pm. It’s open for all children from Year 3 to Year 7 (Hope I got that right!) It’s going to be fun!!! (Volunteers contact me)

On Sunday evening we have our first SNAC service, starting at 6pm. Bring some food to share. After tea we will look at why the Ten Commandments are still relevant today. I will be in Southern Cross the following week so we will then have a movie on the Mighty Men’s Conference.

God bless
Rev David de Kock

Texts: Psalm 126:1-6; Acts 16:11-15; Philippians 1:1-11

Roy Robertson, a former sailor, founder of “The Navigators” and staff member of the Billy Graham organisation gives this testimony:

“My ship, the West Virginia, docked at Pearl Harbor on the evening of December 6, 1941. A couple of the fellows and I left the ship that night and attended a Bible study. About fifteen sailors sat in a circle on the floor. The leader asked us to each recite our favorite scripture verse. In turn each sailor shared a verse and briefly commented on it. I sat there in terror. I couldn’t recall a single verse. I grew up in a Christian home, went to church three times a week, but I sat there terrified. I couldn’t recall a single verse. Finally, I remembered one verse – John 3.16. I silently rehearsed it in my mind. The spotlight of attention grew closer as each sailor took his turn. It was up to the fellow next to me. He recited John 3.16. He took my verse! As he commented on it I sat there in stunned humiliation. In a few moments everyone would know that I could not recall from memory even a single verse. Later that night I went to bed thinking, ’Robertson, you’re a fake.’ At 7:55 the next morning I was awakened by the ship alarm ordering us to battle stations. 360 planes of the Japanese Imperial Fleet were attacking our ship and the other military installations. My crew and I raced to our machine gun emplacement, but all we had was practice ammunition. So for the first fifteen minutes of the two hour battle, we only fired blanks, hoping to scare the Japanese airplanes. As I stood there firing fake ammunition I thought, ’Robertson, this is how your whole life has been — firing blanks for Christ.’ I made up my mind as Japanese bullets slammed into our ship, ’If I escape with my life, I will get serious about following Jesus.’”

When it comes to finding real joy in our life, pretty much all of us are simply firing blanks. We live in an age consumed by entertainment. All around us advertisements tell us that there is absolutely nothing money can’t buy to make our lives happier. Many Christian people talk about joy; some actually show joy — at least when they’re near other believers. But all too often our experience lacks the real joy of the abundant life which the Bible promises.

Paul in the four short chapters of Philippians, uses the word “joy” six times as his frame of reference. He cared a lot about this church. He had been instrumental in founding it on his second “missionary journey”. We read in Acts 16, how Paul had wanted to go north with the gospel (through what we used to call the “Eastern-bloc” countries), but a strong vision of a Macedonian man calling-out for his help he was compelled to cross the Aegean Sea towards Greece, and the European continent.

The first town Paul encountered was Philippi. His first convert was Lydia, and she opened her home for the first (and only) church Paul ever allowed to financially support his work. This church evidently had a number of members gifted by God with a giving spirit. They not only supported Paul, but, even though they were themselves poor, got involved in seeing to the needs of the poor at Jerusalem. This is a secret we see in Philippians — You are in a better position to receive when your hand is open to give.

This letter is all about the search for genuine joy. It is a call back to the roots of our Christian faith and the joy that is to be found in the life lived in Christ.

In contrast, we live in a society that has gone materialistically mad!

We have become isolated

We have lost the sense of community. We live largely in isolation from one another and the world. We are isolated in our homes, transfixed by our TV gods; protected from interruption by our answering machines and we have insulated ourselves from human touch.

Second, we have become selfish

Frank Sinatra established the anthem of the era in his song, “I did it my way”.

Third, there is a growing air of ambivalence

We used to be passionate, with fire in our bellies. We used to have a sense of right and wrong; of good and evil. Today feelings are as dependent upon the direction of the prevailing winds, as on any code of morals or values.

One of the reasons our society is where it is.. why it has no interest in life, is that we see no firmness of commitment to an ethic, or to ideals, or to each other.

Fourth, our focus is on human rights

We have become so obsessed with gender, human sexuality and empowerment issues that we have lost all clear and balanced Biblical thinking.

Our contemporary culture has made us isolated, selfish, ambivalent, individualistic and ultra gender sensitive. It seems to me that we are leaving no joy-filled legacy for the next generation.

Paul writes in Philippians about genuine joy. The one truly satisfying (joyful) condition is a surrender to the saving grace and Lordship of Jesus Christ. Only salvation, coupled with a lifetime of discipleship provides the genuine joy of which Paul speaks. Everything else is diversion!

And the most joyful people are the believers who practice their faith, faithfully everyday – pursuing this “long obedience in the same direction”. And as they do that they discover the things which Paul addresses in his letter to the Philippians:

1. JOY OF PURPOSE Philippians 1:1

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:

Paul called himself and Timothy “servants”. The word literally means slave.” That doesn’t sound particularly joyful but to go from servant, with some choices and freedom, to slave, totally bound to the will or whim of a master, has to have some strong motivation.

For Paul it was the realization that being “In Christ” was greater than anything else life offered.

Paul had a wide range of experience and education. He was self-motivated, self-actualized, self-justified and totally self-righteous. Then he met Jesus on the road to Damascus, and he discovered all that self stuff was empty and meaningless! Paul had been involved, accomplishing, and climbing social, political and personal ladders. But, compared to the loveliness of Christ, all that personal fulfillment stuff paled, lost its attractiveness and faded into oblivion.

From that moment Paul could see no further than the cross, and it drew him to offer himself as servant, then as slave of the Lord Jesus. Paul used the phrase “In Christ,” or “In the Lord” some 150 times in his letters. Much like a fish lives “in water”, Paul could feel the close, comforting, compelling presence of Jesus in every waking moment. Paul had given himself over to the cause of Christ – it had become his purpose.

There is something unique and joyful about people who are driven from within, in a noble cause that is from above.

For each of us there is a person out there whom you must face someday. It is the person you are becoming. The purpose you give yourself to now is the person you will become. Paul gave himself to Christ as Lord and Master — slave for life! The spiritual principle is that the slave will do the Master’s will, and in the doing, become like the Master. In Christ, Paul’s life was purpose-filled, purposeful, and he was focused on the “joy set before him.”

2. JOY OF PEACE Philippians 1:2

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God every time I remember you.

In his letters, Paul did a most remarkable thing which we often overlook – He brought together the words “grace” and “peace”. Grace is the Greek word, the Hebrew is peace. The order is theological; grace comes first (from God), and then peace follows.

Many people are looking for peace (both public and private), but are looking in all the wrong places. Politicians negotiate treaties, supposing that peace is the result. Policemen are sometimes called “peace officers”, supposing that legal order passes for inner peace (joy). The popularity of alcohol and drugs manifests the craving for peace, as people attempt to gain escape from the war (within and without) by getting “high” for a few hours.

The “high” that is really needed is grace. You cannot experience peace until you’ve known grace. There can never be a friendship with God — the “peace that passes understanding” – until there is a settlement of the wages of sin that comes by the grace of God. The joy of peace comes after the gift of grace through the cross. The order is important for the peace which brings the joy must be built on the solid foundation of God’s grace.

A foreman was once called to inspect a concrete basin at a sewerage plant. He asked a worker if the bottom of the basin was solid. The man replied, “Solid as a rock”. The boss, being a man of action, promptly waded in. To his great surprise he slowly sank up to his waist in the gooey mess, and as he was going down he yelled at the worker, “I thought you said this bottom was solid?” The worker replied, “It IS, boss, you just ain’t come to it yet!”

If you’ve looked for your peace in a better job or bigger car, a prettier wife, more leisure time, or anything else, you may be a person of action, but you haven’t come to THE SOLID ROCK! Peace comes after the grace which is found in the relationship with Jesus.

3. JOY OF PRAYER Philippians 1.4, 5 (NIV)

In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now,

The Philippian church had been faithful. Their gifts, prayers and encouragement had followed and undergirded Paul throughout his ministry.

Many times during the ministry I have felt low, struggling with issues and people. When both my brother and my Dad died in the same year I experienced a particularly depressive time. But it was the prayers and messages of comfort that came from my congregation which undergirded me. It was the fact that my family dropped everything to stand by me that pulled me up. It was the elders who granted me two month’s Sabbatical leave who showed me that I could refind that joy.

It was those who are in partnership with me in the gospel who through prayer and support gave me back my joy. Real joy is undergirded with prayer.

4. JOY OF PERSUASION Philippians 1.6

“being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

The world is constantly bombarding us with new thoughts and plans but without confidence in what you yourself know to be right, you cannot function like God intended. You need to be sure of what you believe.

A minister was doing his usual “children’s sermon” during the morning service. They were gathered on the floor around him. “Tell me, kids, what is furry, gray and lives in a tree?” No reply. “Okay, let me give you a better hint. What’s furry, gray, lives in a tree and eats nuts?” Nothing! “One of you must have the answer.” Dead quiet. “All right, see if you can get it on this; what’s furry, gray, has a long bushy tail, eats nuts, and lives in a tree?” Little Johnny only half-raised his hand. “Ahh, John, you know?” “Sir,” said the hesitant Johnny, “I know the answer must be Jesus, but it sure sounds like a squirrel to me.”

What are you absolutely certain about? What really important things (i.e.: that which will still matter a hundred years from now) are you certain about? Paul was convinced about the salvation which comes by the love of God.

“For I am CONVINCED that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Rom 8.38, 39

Are you confident in God’s love and His plans for you? In that confidence you will know joy.

5. JOY OF PARTICIPATION Philippians 1.7 (NIV)

“It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me.

There’s a certain joy about participating together in kingdom work. Oh yes, there is a camaraderie that develops when people work together in other fields but there is nothing quite like being involved in Kingdom work in the fullness of the grace of God.

Gary Inrig, in his book, “Hearts of Iron, Feet of Clay” tells the story of an evangelist whom God had used in a significant way in England, and how he drifted into a life of sin. Most of his sin was private, but the burden was so great that he left the ministry. Finally, when the man realized what a fool he’d been, he came back to the Lord like the prodigal from the pigpen. He found exactly what the prodigal son had found, a loving Father who received him back, blessed and re-strengthened him.

After a long period of waiting, he felt called back to ministry. However, he constantly feared that his sin would come back to haunt him and cripple his ministry. After a time, he was finally able to rejoice in the forgiveness of God. One night in Aberdeen, he was given a sealed note just before the service. It described the shameful events of his sin years ago. His stomach churned as he read, “If you have the gall to preach tonight, I’ll stand and expose you”.

The evangelist took the letter and went on his knees. When he stood to address the crowd. He began by reading the note … every word. Then he said, “I want to make it clear that this letter is true. I’m ashamed of what I’ve done. I come tonight not as one who is perfect, but as one who is forgiven”.

He knew the grace of God and he knew that he was in partnership with God in His work – despite his past.

What have you done?

What letter – if the truth be known – would you have to read? “Sinner” describes all of us, and it is all “first degree,” premeditated! So where’s the joy in that you may ask. That’s just the point – joy isn’t in sin! It’s in Jesus!

This letter to the Philippians is a call back to the community of faith (away from our isolation); it is a call back to self-denying serving (away from our selfish ways); it is a call back to standing for Christ-likeness and Godly living (in spite of today’s pluralistic trends); and it is a call to respect and cooperation between men and women of God – a partnership in the gospel. It is a call to servanthood – that which Jesus was, and what He wants us to be. It is a call out of the place of “no joy”, and into the kingdom of God. And there we would find our purpose, our peace, our prayers in partnership, our persuasion, our participation in the gospel, and our joy …real joy!

Here are some of the upcoming events to put in your diaries.

• The morning KYB Bible study starts Monday 1 February at 10.00am
• The evening KYB Bible study starts Wednesday 3 February at 7.30pm
• Junior Youth Group starts Friday 5 February from 5 – 6.30pm
• SNAC (Sunday Night At Church) begins Sunday 7 February at 6.00pm
• The Great Eastern Gathering – Saturday 6 February in Quairading
• Mighty Men’s Conference 26-28 February. Please give your completed registration form and money to Dave Quinn or you can register online at www.mightymensconference.org.au.
• KUCA Camp is on 5-7 of March. Please see Lisa Arthur for more details.

Welcome to 2010…I know that we’ve been here some while now, but this is the first time that I get to write about it. New years create new beginnings and strangely seem to give us a new energy to do new and better things with our life. Of course the recent sweltering heat may have dissipated any energy that you may have woken up with in 2010 but it will get cooler so don’t lose the good thoughts with which you began the year.

In this connection I have been meditating recently on Ps 126 whose theme is about the turnaround which God brings into our lives. The people had been captive in Babylon for 70 years and the Lord has suddenly set them free .. they feel like men who had dreamed; their mouths were filled with laughter; they are stunned by the turnaround in their fortunes. One of the delights of the Lord is that things will not always be as they have been, there IS a promise of a new day and so as we live now, between the burden of yesterday and the restoration of tomorrow, let us always keep our joy. And we do that by simple trust in the Lord who always makes good His promise.

While the year is really only just getting started, we have some good plans in hand to meet our objectives of reaching out to the community in 2010. A lot of these are related to finding our own motivation and the encouraging of one another. I intend for this year that the morning sermons will help us to walk worthily with Jesus in the new life He has given us. We will also start a SNAC (Sunday Night at Church) service in the evening from February 7^th.  We will start with a shared tea and then have a service. I intend that the service will appeal to all the young at heart, will be different, interesting and upbuilding. I’ll tell you more about it next week. Specifically I hope to reach the worldview of the young adults but I am sure that it will be very encouraging even for older folk (and beside, they have to bring the food!).

Aiming at the younger children we have Toddler Jam started up soon and also another group on Friday evenings for older children and young teenagers. We start on February 5^th. And children, don’t forget to register for KUCA Camp Out which takes place over the weekend March 6 to 7.  Sunday School starts next Sunday.

On Wednesday evenings our prayers continue to be focused on revival in our town. We are being encouraged by Ken Terhoven’s book, Breath of Heaven – a selection of inspirational messages from Revivals of past centuries. Please feel free to come along for the hour.

I am still sorting out times when I will definitely be at the church office during the day but if you need to get hold of me at any time, call 90411117. Even if I am not home, the call will transfer to my mobile, at no additional cost to you.

May our Lord bless us with abundance in the year ahead.

Rev David de Kock

Texts: Isaiah 49:1-7, 1 Corinthians 1:1-9, John 1:29-34

Life is an interesting journey, it is filled with all kinds of apparent anomalies and yet it is perfectly balanced … if we could only see beyond the immediately apparent situation into the greater vistas of God. 

Much of life, particularly when we are caught up in its pain and struggle, is filled with us calling out to God for His help  and yet, in a kind of paradox of the faith, His help only comes when we respond to the call that He has already placed on us.

I remember when I first understood God’s call to me to enter the ministry – I was 27 years old and a brand new Christian. I was struggling with a lot of things in my life – I suppose it was that time when you finally have to shrug off the vestiges of bachelordom and accept the fact that with two children in the house you have to settle down, be more careful of your money and look beyond the immediate satisfaction of your desires. I looked at my life thus far and found it wanting … but I didn’t know what it needed.

I called out to God in the nights, when everyone was asleep …. “what is my life? what must I do? where must I go?”

I had not yet accepted Jesus as Saviour and Lord of my life and yet I knew that there was God. I had been to a church boarding school and knew all the jargon and ceremony .. But I did not yet know Jesus ..

And in my calling out to this unknown God, I discovered that He had been calling out to me for a long time already.

He spoke to me one night …. Clear as anything, I heard His words, “Many times I have longed to come to you but I have been prevented from doing so until now ….” I later discovered that these are the words of Romans 1:13 and these words were clear and powerful enough to wrench me out of my own struggle to understand life, and to put meaning to it …

It would be another 16 years before I would be ordained into fulltime ministry but it set a revelation in my heart that when we call out to God we will discover that He has already called us.

This is no anomaly of life, this is reality in the spiritual dimension – God is focussed on us,

He is intent on restoring us back into relationship with Him. I don’t know why that is, but that’s what the Bible is all about – God’s pursuit of intimacy with that part of His creation made in His own image.

We are presently in the season of Epiphany – that period in the church calendar which comes after Christmas and in which we begin to explore the incredible purpose of the incarnation of Christ. Why did God become Immanuel? God with us!

Epiphany is a hard word to explain – it is a state of sudden and unexpected realisation of an eternal truth. Paul Cannon defined it in our first combined service two weeks ago as an “a-ha moment”.

It’s a flash of the revelation of glory – in this instance, the realisation that Jesus came amongst us as part of the eternal plan of God to restore the lost relationship between God and that part of His creation made in His image.

And the dawning realisation that this is not just about us who think that we have already found the way, but perhaps especially for those who are lost on the way: the strugglers and stragglers and ragamuffins who grab at hope in so many wrong places.

Our text from Isaiah sums up this spiritual reality in a most profound way …

God calls out to creation ….             “Listen to me, you islands ;             Hear this, you distant nations …”

And then we have a prophetic pre-incarnate word from Jesus, of how the Father called Him to His task in incarnation …             “Before I was born, the LORD called me … He said to me, ‘You are my servant and in You will I display my splendour’ …

He formed me in the womb … TO BE HIS SERVANT .. ….TO BRING JACOB BACK TO HIM AND GATHER ISRAEL TO HIMSELF.”

Before Jesus was born … when He was in unity with the Father in the heavenlies, He was called to bring Jacob back to God ….and Israel to Himself …

NOW LETS JUST PAUSE HERE A MOMENT … Follow this with me….

Jacob and Israel are the same person … the son of Isaac.

The name is also used interchangeably to speak of God’s people – the sons of Abraham.

In the physical realm we see this nation as representing Judaism, but in the spiritual realm Israel and Jacob represent all of God’s people – EVERYONE : believers and surprisingly, also those who are not yet believers.

“Jacob” was the name given by Isaac to his son. It means deceiver or grabber. It is used frequently to refer to those who still doubt, those who have not yet fully come to faith in Christ Jesus.

“Israel” was the name that God gave to Jacob after wrestling with him through the night at Peniel on the Jabbok river.

That night Jacob became a believer and God changed his name from “Jacob the deceiver” to “Israel, the one who struggles with God.”

Interestingly though, God most often continues to identify Himself as the God of Jacob … He longs for the deceivers and grabbers to come home to Him.

Most of us are on a journey to God but we have not yet arrived ..

Its true that we all want to be there, even those who are still very far from God – deeply lost in sin and transgression – but its also true that we are confronted by many obstacles. Just living in this world is one of them.

The point though is that God is focussed on restoring us all back to Him … the believers (Israel) and the world (Jacob).

The church is an important part of this as the prophecy from Isaiah continues to tell us.

“I will make you a light for the Gentiles that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth ….”

We are called also to follow in the way of Christ, as servants to also “restore the tribes of Jacob and to bring back those of Israel that I have kept.”

We have the same task as Jesus and yet the church has often been slothful in its fulfilment of the task. Perhaps its pride … that’s what God seems to imply.

He remarks in the text from Isaiah that while Jesus was formed in the womb to be a servant to bring back Jacob, we might consider it too small a thing to be God’s servant in this task

And that is true. Often the church is so full of pomp and ceremony that one wonders if she really has a servant heart at all.

And the servant heart is not so much about talking about social awareness as being hands on in the task of bringing backslidden Israel and reluctant Jacob back to God ..

This is the task of Jesus and it is the task of the church.

The Son of God was revealed (born of the flesh, son of the Virgin Mary, Immanuel – God with us) to take away the sin of the world. He is revealed by the Holy Spirit to Israel – to those who believe – that we might be strengthened and encouraged to fulfil the task to which we are called.

And so, lets go back to where we started …

God has called us into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord … long before we had called out to Him .. Paul says that he was called … that the church of God is called -  to be holy … and that all those everywhere who call on the name of Jesus … are given grace in Him .. are enriched in Him, in speaking and in knowledge .. and that they do not lack any spiritual gifts ..

Why? For what reason are we given grace and knowledge and spiritual gifts?

Because this is our task and we have been equipped for it.

He who is faithful and true has called the church to fulfil the task of restoring the lost back to God … We call out to God.. often with selfish intentions but He has already called us to a task – to minister His grace to Israel and to Jacob – to the church and to the world.