Jun 07 2010
Pastor’s notes
What are your thoughts about life and the reason for existence? Does it have anything to do with your faith, your destiny, your plans? And if you had a view based on the Bible, what would it look like?
I jotted down some thoughts … (It took just ten minutes so don’t expect a brilliant theological treatise)
1. All that is came from the pre-existent God who is sovereign, holy and omnipotent.
2. Man has a special place in God’s creation, being made in His image (likeness) and has been given stewardship as God’s representative in the created realm. (Man includes every single human being of whatever race, tribe, language, nationality, gender or creed)
3. Man sinned – he desired to be like God (knowing good and evil and thus able to make choices that do not necessarily please God). NOTE – God’s heart breaks when we sin; which by definition is when we make choices which He does not want us to make.
4. Man’s sin has its origin in the temptation which came from, and still comes from Satan.
5. Satan is the ‘ancient serpent’ – a spiritual being (an angel according to Job) who was hurled to earth (with his angels) to lead the world astray (away from God).
6. Man’s journey throughout his existence has been, and is, accompanied by the Presence and guidance of God in which He constantly seeks to bring this special creature back into relationship with Him.
7. God, who is Love, has a passion to redeem man from his consuming desire to sin.
8. This passion became a reality in the incarnation of Jesus (YHWH is my salvation) and the great love of God was shown in the laying down of His life.
9. The incarnation itself is a sign of God’s great love – God, who is infinite, omnipresent and omnipotent, became flesh, containing Himself not only in Man’s image but also within time and space.
10. The laying down of this ‘taken-up’ life was a ‘sacrifice’ in the sense that God was prepared to give up everything for the sake of the redeeming of Man. (When we say ‘by His blood’ we are referring to the fact that in God’s total self-giving He has redeemed us utterly and completely – for He who is Alpha and Omega has stopped at nothing for the redemption of the body, mind and spirit of Man.)
11. But death could not hold, or limit, the Mighty One. He is risen! The victory is absolutely complete – all that was lost is restored, all that was dis-eased is made well, all that was wronged is made right, all that was separated is brought back.
12. Satan is defeated.
13. Jesus ascended to heaven and He has empowered His church by the Holy Spirit to be His body on the earth to declare the good news of His victory and to prepare His special creation for His return.
14. The good news is that it is not God’s desire that any should be lost but that everyone should be saved.
15. Every time we show God’s love we are declaring the good news. Every time that we do not show love – in either attitude or action, we sin.
16. If I am to live as God wants me to live in this world which He created, I need to know Him. I need to know His mind and His heart. I need to know what pleases Him and what displeases Him. And when my life is lived like that then I find the real joy of life and the peace which passes understanding.
17. When I choose to do this – He fills me with His Spirit to help me live the life which is God’s gift to me.
18. And why do I have this life? Because God wants me to be His friend! (This is not a flippant comment. Somewhere in being God’s friend is a very profound sense of being!)
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