WHAT IF…?

What if … Iran had the nuclear capability to arm an intercontinental missile with the capacity to reach the East Coast of America?

What if … Russia formed an alliance with many Middle Eastern countries and fully equipped their armies with tanks and rockets and all the weapons of war?

What if … many Arab nations called Israel the little Satan and America the great Satan and stated their intentions to not rest until they had completely wiped both nations from the face of the earth?

What if … some Arab nations became radicalised by Islamic extremists who believed the only way to be absolutely certain of gaining a place in paradise was to sacrifice ones life by killing ‘infidels’ (a secular person or of a religion other than ones own) in Jihad or Holy war?

What if … radical Islam planned to infiltrate nations through immigration and refugees and once established in countries cultivated radical Islam and put pressure on governments to gradually introduce Sharia Law as a means to allow Islam to influence a nation?

What if … Western countries increasingly accepted abortion and homosexuality as natural and normal and those who opposed this as judgemental, intolerant and unloving?

What if … governments became more concerned about animals and the environment than people and spent millions to preserve and protect the environment while tens of millions of humans suffered and were dying of famine and disease?

What if … violence, immorality, sexual abuse, drug and alcohol addiction reached epidemic proportions so that people became increasingly incapable of leading normal, productive lives?

What if … divorce and dysfunctional families became the norm and many children grew up with only one parent and couples formed pre-nuptial agreements as a foundation for marriage?

What if … an increasing number of Christians rarely read their Bibles and pressured preachers and Bible study leaders to present ‘lite’ sermons and studies because many found the Bible heavy and boring?

What if … prominent Christian preachers taught tens of thousands of Christians that health and wealth is God’s will for every obedient Christian and only sinful and disobedient Christians are poor and unhealthy and the reality of hell and belief in Jesus as the only way to God is questionable?

What if … increasing numbers of young adults left the church because those who controlled the church were more concerned about the past than the future?

What if … Christians gave less financial support to the church and stepped back from involvement in ministries and only attended the church when convenient to their lifestyle?

What if … words like commitment, hard work, sacrifice, loyalty, faithfulness, conviction, devotion, obedience and submission were seen as legalistic and contrary to God’s grace by a cynical generation of Christians?

What if … Christians lives became dominated by materialism, leisure, pleasure and self-seeking and the church became increasingly indifferent to communicating with family and friends the realities of heaven, hell, salvation and judgment to come?

What if … all of the above and more were true of the world in which we live, would you be convinced it is the last days and what do you think God wants you and the church to do in response to these realities? I’ll give you a clue, two words both beginning with R; ­­R _ _ _ _ _ and experience R_ _ _ _ _ _!


Brian

This week is National Volunteers Week so as a church we want to thank everyone in the church who gives both time and expertise to benefit Edwardstown Baptist Church. Without your involvement the church would not achieve much - if anything! Volunteers are at the core of what churches do.

As I thought about volunteerism and how popular it is in Australian culture and how the church has so many volunteers I began to realise there is a significant difference between volunteering and ministering. Volunteering is performing a task for free to benefit someone or to benefit a non-profit organisation. Ministering is performing a service, whether paid or unpaid, to assist others, an organisation, or a church in Jesus name. The three words “in Jesus name,” makes all the difference to whether we are volunteering or ministering.

Volunteering makes us feel good and benefits others, ministering not only makes us feel good and benefits others, but most importantly it advances God’s work and glorifies His Name on earth. Ministering therefore, is volunteering with a spiritual purpose that will last for eternity. The Scriptures emphasize the importance of ministering to others by voluntarily serving them, utilising our gifts and abilities to do so. In many ways this is not actually serving God for non-payment because payment will indeed be made in the form of rewards at the coming judgement.

In some ways working for reward takes away from the generosity of heart to give freely of our time and skills in response to God’s love and blessings to us. I tend to view future reward as a bonus to serving God rather than an expectation. If God wants to reward us for serving Him we can only praise Him for His generosity but in reality He has done more than enough in forgiving, cleansing, transforming, adopting and securing our eternal destiny. That seems to be reward enough and should inspire a total surrender of our lives to His service.

So as you volunteer here at Edwardstown Baptist Church be aware that you are considered much more than a volunteer, but a minister of Jesus Christ bringing glory to His Name, serving His purposes on earth, and benefiting His people. Thank you for your generosity of time and effort - we couldn’t do church with you.

“And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.” (Matthew 10:42)


Brian

The marriage of Prince William to the ‘commoner’ Kate Middleton was a fairy tale come true, bringing joy to millions of people around the world. It was estimated that almost two billion people watched the wedding on Television while a crowd of a million people crowded the streets of London to catch a glimpse of the happy couple and perhaps see the kiss on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.

Two things about this wedding stood out to me. Firstly everyone who was anyone wanted to be a part of this spectacular event but invitations were few and far between. Those who did receive invitations were considered to be greatly privileged as their names were published, and many news articles talked about who had and who hadn’t been invited. You were indeed considered part of the ‘A’ class of society if you were invited to this wedding.

The second thing that seemed to dominate many people’s minds, and the myriad of news items, was the bride’s wedding dress. The crowds and the media were delighted with the bride’s choice of dress as their comments demonstrated; The lace appliqué for the bodice and skirt was hand-made by the Royal School of Needlework, based at Hampton Court Palace. The lace design was hand-engineered (appliquéd) using the Carrickmacross lace-making technique, which originated in Ireland in the 1820s. Individual flowers have been hand-cut from lace and hand-engineered onto ivory silk tulle to create a unique and organic design, which incorporates the rose, thistle, daffodil and shamrock… This ongoing detailed description of Kate’s dress is probably most appreciated by highly skilled seamstresses but it emphasizes an important point that an incredible effort went into the bride preparing herself for the big day.

While William and Kate’s wedding was significant it is not the most important marriage. The Bible tells us that all of creation has looked forward to one wedding for millennia. That wedding is the marriage of the Lamb when Jesus Christ will be united to His bride - the Church. The day is coming when we will attend a heavenly wedding ceremony that will be incomparable to any in human history and there will be a lot more than two billion people watching this wedding!

Just as people focused upon two things about William and Kate’s wedding, two things will be focused upon at the Wedding of the Lamb – one, who will be invited and secondly what will the bride wear? Those invited will be the most privileged of people and like any wedding not all will get an invitation and only invited guests will be allowed entry. Secondly the bride at this wedding will look even more stunning than Kate Middleton on her wedding day.                                            

I wonder as Christians if we truly comprehend the honoured position we are in, for we are more than invited guests to the marriage supper of the Lamb! As members of the church, the bride of Christ, we are the bride! If Kate Middleton is regarded as the luckiest woman in the world what does that mean we are? Realising her privileged position Kate did all she could to prepare herself for her groom and she excelled in her presentation. What about you and I? How well prepared is the church, the bride of Christ, to be presented to the groom, Jesus Himself?

Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory,

                      for the marriage of the Lamb has come,

                        and his Bride has made herself ready; (Rev. 19:7)


Brian 

The crisis in Japan continues as the full impact of last week’s earthquake and tsunami are felt. We now know that possibly thousands have been killed and hundreds of thousands have been made homeless. The crisis continues with the explosions at the nuclear power plants and there is much debate about whether they have already or are about to go into nuclear meltdown. What an absolute tragedy of epic proportions, it is enough to make you want to sit alone in silence and weep……

Perhaps that is exactly the place God wants us to be as human beings that we might come to an end of ourselves and recognise our own frailty and deep need of a saving relationship with God’s Son Jesus Christ.

Few nations in the world are as technically advanced as Japan whose computer and engineering brilliance has helped humanity develop many electronic wonders of the 21^st century. Thousands of electronic devices have been designed and manufactured in Japan, allowing us to be more productive and to feel more empowered and capable as human beings.

When creation momentarily twitches however, all of our self-confident brilliance comes crashing down and we suddenly feel vulnerable, frightened and completely overwhelmed by the ferocity of the elements. From dust we have come and to dust we shall return – whether we are a high-powered businessman lording over a multi-national corporation, or whether a simple tribesmen eking out a living off the land. We are all poor, blind and naked and desperately in need of a meaningful relationship with the omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent God in whose world we reside.

It is His world and we are His invited guests, born to experience the wonders of His creatorial power. Our visit to His domain is brief and our claims to own a portion of what is His is in reality comical – no matter how well known or well heeled we are. He has reminded us in no uncertain terms that our grip on this world is tenuous at best and we are foolish to think otherwise.  His and His alone is the power and the glory and the wisdom and the strength and all that we have and are is simply a contract of loan until we breathe our last and our bodies expire.

While we tremble in awe at the immeasurable power of His creation we are reminded that what to us is quite overwhelming is to Him just a footstool, a place worthy only to rest His feet!

This is what the Lord says: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things and so they came into being?” declares the Lord.  (Isaiah 66:1-2a)

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9)

Did you know that within days of Hosni Mubarak being deposed as the Egyptian leader two Iranian navel ships went through the Suez Canal. So what? “With the move, Iran may have succeeded in establishing its political and naval presence in an area previously reached only through its proxies -- the Gaza-based Hamas terrorist group and the Lebanon-based Hizbullah terrorist organization. Iran, also closely allied with Syria, has recently tightened ties with Turkey as well.” (IsraelNationalNews.com)

One commentator suggested it was possible one of the ships may have been carrying long range missiles destined for the Islamic terrorist organisation Hizbullah. Historically they have had no hesitation at firing short-range rockets at Israel. Imagine what they would do with long-range missiles? Even worse what if they were armed with nuclear warheads? It is noteworthy that no Iranian ships have travelled through the Suez Canal since 1979 because Hosni Mubarrack, who was in power for forty years, wouldn’t allow it!

Are we seeing significant steps closer to World War III? It is clear war is looming as nations are in constant turmoil and there are never ending threats against Israel and America. If America wasn’t Israel’s ally, Israel would have been attacked long ago while European nations watched from the sidelines wringing their hands and arguing about the ‘correct’ way to handle things. What a mess our world is in!

World political instability is just one symptom of a world in social, political, and environmental turmoil. What it should tell us as Christians is that the return of Jesus Christ is ever nearer. As Biblical scholars repeatedly tell us, no other prophetic event is to be fulfilled before Jesus’ return. That means the rapture of the saints could happen at anytime! I recently preached a message from Luke 12 about Jesus warning us to make sure we are ready for His return. Jesus put it this way, “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning” v35.

My interpretation of what Jesus was saying is that Christians need to be devoted to Him and occupied with His business. Our walk with Jesus is to be the first and greatest priority of our lives and flowing out of that devotion to Him is our service for Him. Sometimes we think that ministry only involves helping the church when in actual fact involvement in ministry is an important part of personal preparation to meet Jesus. It is certainly His expectation that when He returns for us it’s what He’ll find us doing.

As we see the end times unfold before our eyes, perhaps we should be regularly asking ourselves, “how am I preparing to meet Jesus?”

Well we made it! Christmas is here and the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011 is upon us. Whatever you may have experienced this year I’m sure you can find reason to give thanks to God for his faithfulness to you. Even if you have faced some dark times through the year, God is always faithful and is there for us - even when we can’t sense it or don’t obviously experience it. Faith is so important in the Christian journey; it helps us to begin our walk with God, and then guides and sustains us through all the ups and downs of life.

I think we sometimes forget that faith ultimately comes from God and is His gift to us. A gift to believe and trust in Him, in any and every circumstance - what a blessing! Faith is not God’s only blessing to us. Perhaps the end of the year is a great time to reflect with gratitude for giving us the gift of life, health, strength, love, family, friends, food, employment, homes, clothing, transport, the list goes on. There is no greater gift however than that of Jesus, God’s own Son.

We receive so many gifts at Christmas, but how could anyone give us their own Son as a gift and why? As strange as it may seem, we need God’s Son. We need Jesus, whose sacrificial death became the payment to a righteous and holy God for our sin. Without Jesus, and belief in Him, God remains righteously angry because our sin is an offence to Him. Sin must be dealt with by the sacrifice and shedding of pure blood before we can become right with God.

The loudest message of Christmas is perhaps the fact that God loves us dearly, more than we can know or think and He longs for us to be brought into a right relationship with Himself. We were made to know and experience God as we live our lives on earth. We are His image bearers and are most fulfilled in life when we know Him. The gift of His Son Jesus is a very real demonstration of the extent of God’s love and desire to bring us back to Himself to experience His love and abundant life.

This Christmas as we think about Christmas maybe you need to make some adjustments in your life, your thinking, your values, your choices? Maybe it’s time to hand your life over to God and give Him first place, not just a second thought.

On behalf of Edwardstown Baptist Church I extend to you and your loved ones Christmas greetings and may you enjoy a spiritually prosperous and peaceful New Year.

“To YOU a Saviour has been born, He is Christ the Lord!”

Brian

Pastoral ministry is a very challenging and rewarding experience, it also holds one of the greatest privileges in serving both God and man. Like many occupations it has its up and downs, its successes and failures.

The Apostle Paul often records the challenges he faced in ministry and the many hardships he endured, but even in the toughest of times, he never lost sight of the fact that he was in a spiritual battle. A spiritual battle for the souls of men and women – to bring them to Christ and to build them up in Christ! A ministry that we are all called to, whether we are pastors or not. Paul knew he was in a spiritual battle and even when he was being criticised for not being up to scratch as a pastor, speaker and leader, and he was repeatedly forced to defend his ministry, he never lost sight of the fact that he was called and approved by God.

I wonder how you respond when you feel discouraged in life, when others criticise or doubt you, when you learn you’ve been gossiped about. It’s never any fun to have that kind of negative attention, but it happens – even amongst Christians. Paul was probably one of the most godly and Spirit-filled Christians who has ever lived, yet he could not avoid the judgement of others, and neither can you or I. Sadly our world is full of victims of unfair treatment of others, whether it is abuse, slander, judgement, condemnation. Husbands and wives criticise and accuse each other, parents and children, employers and employees, even our ‘great’ political leaders, absolutely flog each other verbally as seen in this week’s parliamentary debate. Life is full of people having a go at someone else, whether justified or not.

So when the pressure is on and you’re under the spotlight, when life just doesn’t seem fair, when you’re trying your best and your best is not seen as good enough, when you’ve been misunderstood, misrepresented and misjudged… what can you do? The Christians response is simple – rejoice!  Rejoice because God can use adversity to shape your character. Rejoice because you’re in good company! Jesus, Paul, Moses, Joseph, David, Jeremiah… the list goes on… all faced the pressure and burden of adversity of one kind or another.

So, feeling hard pressed? Rejoice! Humble yourself under God’s mighty hand and He will lift you up. If you have fallen short, the answer is equally simple - repent! Change things for the better. Rejoicing and repenting sounds easy, but we all know its not. It’s only possible as we draw strength from God in a close walk with Him. He will help, He will strengthen, and He will encourage, because He loves you! God’s greatest desire for you is not so much that you be a great pastor, teacher, labourer, mother, carer, accountant, programmer or sales assistant, but that you be a Godly child of His, becoming more and more Christlike as you experience the ups and downs of life. Wait on God, He will always come through for you. 1 Peter 5:6-7

Rejoicing in Him,
Brian