David Fowler Faith Hope and Love

The parable of the weeds

Posted on 23/11/2014 by davidfowlerpreacher

Matthew 13:24 – 30
24 Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. 27 “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’ 28 ” ‘An enemy did this,’ he replied. “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ 29 ” ‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’ “

I am not much of a gardener, but it never ceases to amaze me how well the weeds grow in my garden.

I can sow seeds or put in plants, but no matter how careful I am the weeds thrive and the plants don’t.

No matter what I plant, the weeds invite themselves to my flower beds.

Earlier in Matthew 13 Jesus had told the “parable of the Sower” where he likens what happens to the seeds to people’s response to the Gospel. Some gets eaten by birds, some falls in a rocky place, others are in soil that is too shallow to grow in and yet more get chocked by rival plants. However the rest falls in good soil, sprouts and produces a harvest.

Here in our passage we have the “parable of the weeds”, which really is a sequel to the parable of the sower. A “what happened next”.

Now we read about a farmer who sows good seed in his field. But unseen an enemy sows weeds amongst the wheat. The farmer decides to leave the weeds in the field until the harvest when the harvesters will pull up the weeds and burn them and then return to harvest the wheat.

It is thought that the weeds referred to in our reading are “darnel”. Darnel, a type of rye grass, is considered a weed and as it grows, it is very similar to wheat. In some places it is referred to as “false wheat” Hence the farmers decision to leave it to grow alongside the wheat as in the early stages of growth you may pull up the wheat instead of the darnel. The farmer’s servant must have been very observant to spot the difference between wheat and darnel before they are ripe.

It is only when the ears appear ie it is ripe, that you can really tell it from wheat. Ripe darnel is black in colour whereas wheat is brown.

I am not sure how western farmers with combine harvesters would be able to separate the wheat from the darnel unless of of course they use herbicides to stop the darnel ever growing in the first place.

The real danger with darnel is that it is poisonous. Clearly something you would not to have mixed with the wheat.

Its Latin name “ebriacus” means intoxicated, because of the effect caused by eating the plant which is drunken nausea . It can be fatal.

Hence why the darnel must be collected first and destroyed before the wheat is harvested. Otherwise if the darnel seeds get mixed with the wheat the effect could be disastrous.

This must have been a real situation that the Jews would have been aware of, as Roman law at the time prohibited the sowing of darnel in an enemy’s field.

Later in Matthew 13 the disciples ask Jesus to explain the parable. The good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom ie believers and the bad seed are the sons of the evil one.

Its not always easy to tell wheat from darnel just as its not easy to tell believers from deceivers.

We can have someone in a church who seems to be the real deal, but does not actually believe in Jesus. This something that Sue talked about in her recent series of talks on 1 John.

Some years ago I was at a church where we had a man who could be rather difficult. However the minister described him to me as a “holy man”. I said that I didn’t agree with that description, and was told “but he knows the Bible”. Well, so does the devil, as we know from the way he used scripture to tempt Jesus in the wilderness.

Often people are deluded into thinking they are Christians simply because they attend church and do lots of things around the church. Others are taken in, but God knows the truth of the matter.

“He must be a Christian because he does so much in the church.”

In a way that is confirming Dr Billy Graham’s statement from years ago “you can sit in a garage as long as you like but you’ll never turn into an automobile.”

I came across a man who did so much in the church some years ago. He seems to collect jobs and positions, like other people collect stamps or model cars. Some of the jobs were offered to him and others he just took. But he never attended a bible study or a home group or a prayer meeting. Indeed as he was involved with the music ministry you would have thought he would welcome joining other musicians, singers and those leading the service in prayer before the service, but he inevitably tried to avoid it. He would be out of there faster than the hare at Romford dog track. With the benefit of hindsight you could see that he did what he could to slow down or indeed stop church growth. Then there were the toxic letters he would frequently write to the church leadership. Some of the letters were so nasty it’s a wonder his typewriter didn’t explode as he used it.

Some people have interpreted this passage as saying we must be tolerant of heretics and allow them to continue doing what they do. After all, they would argue, all roads lead to God. So what if someone is going by a different route to us?

Jesus makes it perfectly clear that there is no other way to God except though him. John 14: 6 “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Also we are saved by our faith in Jesus not by doing things. Ephesians 2: 8 & 9: “8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.”

You can’t earn your way into heaven through good deeds.

The great reformer Martin Luther preached a sermon on the parable in which he affirmed that only God can separate false from true believers and noted that killing heretics or unbelievers ends any opportunity they may have for salvation.

We know that God wishes all mankind to be saved, which is different from all mankind will be saved. So we must do our part to bring people to faith, to bring them to a place where God can heal them of whatever hurts that prevent them from truly believing in Jesus Christ.

Sometimes people are so blinded or deluded by the enemy that they cannot see the necessity for salvation. As it says in 2 Corinthians 4:4 “ The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

The last verse of our reading talks about judgement. I know that this is not a subject people want to hear about. But it needs to be said.

Jesus frequently talks about judgement and the reality of hell.

We can’t just dismiss it as just a threat to get us to behave.

Neither is God like the mother in the supermarket who threatens her children with punishment for their bad behaviour which she never delivers, but rather she just gives in and buys them more sweets.

I’ve had people say to me that a loving God would not judge and condemn people to hell. The Bible must clearly be wrong.

However how can a pure and holy God tolerate sin? He can’t. But through the death of Jesus on the cross the price for our sin has been paid and we know we are forgiven. Romans 8:1” there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

So we read in v30 “Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.”

Judgement is final. Some people think that hell is not forever. But look at the weeds. They are not put in the naughty corner until they turn into wheat. No they are burnt. Once they are burnt they can’t be unburnt.

The wheat on the other hand is brought into the barn ie heaven.

Jesus expands on this at the end of the chapter as he explains the parable to his disciples. We read in Matthew 13: 39a – 45 “ The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. 40 “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42 They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”

We can gather from our reading that we are always going to have to cope with heretics, those who misunderstand the gospel or misinterpret it or just deny it.

For his own purposes God has decided to leave them in the midst of believers.

So we must make every effort to bring them to faith as well as minimising the damage they can cause. We certainly should be careful about such people in positions of leadership or influence in a church.

And finally a question for us all: Do we know if we are wheat or are we darnel?

You may have been coming to church meetings for years but have you ever taken that step and come to faith in Jesus?

If you are not sure, then speak to me our one the deacons and we will help you in your walk of faith.

Posted in Talks | Tagged harvest, heaven, hell, Jesus, judgement, parable | Leave a comment

Tempted?

Posted on 16/11/2014 by davidfowlerpreacher

This morning I preached at Becontree Avenue Baptist Church in Dagenham and dealt with the subject of temptation, something that we all face every day.

Hebrews 4:12 – 16

12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. 14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are–yet was without sin. 16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Over the past few weeks Sue has been talking to us about 1st Letter of John, chapters 1 & 2 where amongst other things we learnt about the Gnostics who claimed they had special knowledge about God. John in his letter deals with the Gnostics and in particular the thought of being without sin. 1 John 1:8 tells us “ If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”

We do sin and get things wrong from an early age. After all no parent every has to teach their children how to misbehave. We have to teach our children how to behave.

Sin is in our human nature right from the very beginning, what the Bible terms the fall, when indeed mankind did fall from grace through listening to the devil. Genesis 3 tells the story when Eve and then Adam gave in to temptation. When God asks what’s going on, Adam blames Eve and indirectly God, whilst Eve blames the serpent. Genesis 3:11-14 “Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” 12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me–she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” 13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Ever since when people have been found out or caught doing wrong the excuse has come “The devil made me do it!”

To be honest unless you are suffering from demonic possession you have control over your actions. So the devil didn’t make you do it, but he could have been very persuasive in making sure you did what you should not have undertaken.

Even Paul the apostle bemoans the human condition and our tendency to give in to temptation and sin. In Romans 7: 18 – 24 we read “18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do–this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. 21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?”

Recently Sue preached from Ephesians 6 about putting on the armour of God. A lot of our fight with the enemy occurs in our minds. So it is important to have God’s armour to protect us.

The devil is very subtle in his approach. After all we are all different and we have different weaknesses.

You may remember years ago there was an advertising campaign to get us to eat more cream cakes. The tag line on the TV adverts and the posters was “Naughty but nice”. It was clearly meant to encourage you or seduce you into having one or more cream cake no matter how bad it may be for the waist line or the cholesterol levels. As I am lactose intolerant I know what kind of trouble I would be in if I succumbed to that temptation.

Now chocolate is a different matter.

And when we give in to temptation its not just the once, it can be the start of a very slippery slope and once you are on it, its very difficult to stop let alone get off it.

I’ll just have the one square of chocolate. Well ok, there isn’t any harm in having another. And before you know it you’re down to the last few squares and its daft leaving them behind.

Some years ago I knew a man called John. One day on an impulse he bought a scratch card in the local corner shop. He won £20 and he was hooked. When about a year or so later he took his own life he owed in excess of £30,000 to his business partner, his clients at his garage, friends, loan sharks, bookies etc. He took deposits on non existent cars he was going to sell to clients, he did all sorts of things to raise money to feed his gambling addiction. And it all started from a £1 scratch card.

The devil is rather like an angler. He carefully selects the hook and the bait to snare us. If you’ve ever watched a fly fisherman he has a box of different shaped artificial flies which he will use according to the type of fish he is after.

I don’t know if any of you have seen the American TV series “Breaking Bad” but it deals with the story of a high school science teacher, Walter White, who discovers he has cancer but not the money for treatment. So he uses his knowledge to produce the drug Crystal Meth – methamphetamine. As the story progresses he is making $Millions a month and enters a drugs war. He murders anyone who gets in his way, drug dealers, police and even own family members. What starts out as a possibly innocent plan to provide for him and is family turns out terribly wrong.

For some Christians the temptation is to be busy and get over involved in “good works”. I knew one man who confided in me some years ago that as a boy he rarely saw his dad because of work commitments and forever being down that church on committee meetings and so on. We can fall into the trap of doing too much and then our family suffer and we suffer because often our prayer times and bible reading go out the window.

We can also be tempted to hold on to things when it is clearly time to let go. Be that possessions or jobs we undertake. “If I don’t do this, there’s no one else who can do it” But what does God say on the matter. May be he is saying that the meeting or club or whatever has run its course so there is no need for anyone else to take on the work. We have to listen to God to see what he is saying in the matter.

Many people get tempted to go to mediums and spiritists, often when they are bereaved or desperate. The Bible tells us not to do it. But people do. In 1 Samuel 28 we read about a desperate and terrified King Saul who consults a medium known as the Witch of Endor. It does him no good.

I met an elderly lady the other day who told me that she desperately missed her husband who had been gone some seven years and so went to mediums and spiritualists. They must be good as they told her things that no one else would know. She added that during the war she had great fun playing with a Ouija board. She had never been told it was wrong and was surprised when I said that the Bible warns us to stay away from such things so that we are not hurt. I asked the lady is she had let her children stick their fingers in electrical sockets as infants. Of course she hadn’t, and I added neither does God want you harmed hence why he says don’t do this.

All the things that tempt us and lead us astray look so good to start with. But just like all the bargains just in the doors of the supermarket, they are there to draw us into the shop. We go in and fill our trolley with “Buy one get one free” or “Three for two” happily going from aisle to aisle. But there comes a point when we come to the check out and we have to pay the price.

So there comes a point when we have to pay the price for our sins. Its no good saying “I thought it was a bargain” It may be but there is still a price to pay. And some of us run up quite a bill at the check out. To echo Paul’s words from Romans “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me “. You see as opposed to the supermarket where you can put things back on the shelves or leave them at the counter, with sin once you’ve done it, its yours and it has to be paid for.

Some of you may remember the advert that heralded the launch of the Access Credit Card in the 1970’s. “Access takings the waiting out of wanting.” Before credit cards people had to save up for the things they wanted to buy and that concentrated the mind so you would be absolutely certain you wanted it. But with the credit card you buy it and the bill comes in a month or two later presenting you with a horrible shock. Sin can be like that. You forget the true cost in the eagerness to do whatever it is that has tempted you.

In the news yesterday came the conviction of Angus Sinclair for the rape and murder of two teenage girls in 1977. Thirty seven years after the crime, he has to pay for it.

Often we have that little voice that says no one will ever know or find out about this. It will be ok.

But our Bible reading says different. Hebrews 4:13 “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”

Post on doormat There is a time when the credit card statement comes through the letter box and hits the mat. Just as there is a time when we will have to account to God for our actions.

Of course people can rant against God and say “You don’t understand what it is to be human, how it is to be tempted?”

But we know that is not true. We read about Jesus’ temptations in the desert in Matthew 4:1 – 11. And our reading from Hebrews 4: 15 “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are–yet was without sin.”

So Jesus does understand what it is to be tempted, even though he never gave in to temptation. And he sympathises with our weakness.

And the even better news is the encouragement we find in Hebrews 4:16 “ Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

So whilst its better to avoid temptation, if we do sin we know that we can come to Jesus who can and will forgive us if we are truly sorry.

Posted in Talks | Tagged devil, forgive, God, Jesus, sin, temptation, tempted | Leave a comment

Brought down to size

Posted on 21/09/2014 by davidfowlerpreacher

This morning I preach at Becontree Avenue Baptist Church

I felt led to preach from the Book of Daniel about “Nebuchadnezzar’s dream”. In fact I had preached on this subject some 10 years ago when I was with the Church of England.

Whilst circumstances have changed, God’s word does not change and is just as valid now as when it was spoken to mankind by God’s Holy Spirit.

If this passage is unfamiliar the link below takes you to the passage so that you can read it at your leisure.

Daniel 4: 19 – 37

Nobody likes bullies.

We find them everywhere: in the home, in school, at work, sadly even in some churches.

Today we are looking at one man who from the biblical accounts was a bully and a tyrant.

Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon. As far as the middle east of the time was concerned he was Number One. Babylon was the Super Power of the Age. They may not have had Weapons of Mass Destruction but the army was virtually unstoppable. You either played the game their way or else…..

Babylon had featured in history for a long time. Originally we find it mentioned in the Bible as Babel a city founded by Nimrod who it appears was the first tyrannical ruler of the area. Due to the oppressive nature of Babylon under kings such as Nebuchadnezzar, it has come to be synonymous with despotical evil and godlessness. Indeed today some militant Muslims regard the USA as a modern day Babylon.

Nebuchadnezzar’s father was a man called Nabopolassar who lead a rebellion against the Assyrian empire and destroyed its capital Nineveh. The destruction of Nineveh was foretold by the prophet Nahum and just listen to the words he says about it Nahum 3:19 “Everyone who hears the news about you claps their hands at your fall, for who has not felt your endless cruelty?”

Assyria had destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel and deported its 10 tribes. They had gone into history and disappeared. Sadly if the Jews thought they were free of oppression with the end of Assyria they had not counted on the new empire of Babylon.

Nebuchadnezzar continued where his father left off and conquered the former Assyrian empire. His influence extended down into Egypt. It is said amongst other things that the city of Tyre was besieged for 13 years by Nebuchadnezzar before it fell to him.

The first Jewish rebellion against its Babylonian overlord was swiftly crushed and the then king Jehoiachin was removed and exiled with many of the leading families including Daniel and his three friends to Babylon.

You would have thought that the Jews would have learned their lesson and not rebelled again, but against the warnings of prophets such as Jeremiah, the new King Zedekiah thought he could rely on an old enemy Egypt to come to his help. Alas the king’s actions brought the ruin of the country. Jerusalem was besieged and eventually taken after two years and destroyed. The temple was flattened and all its treasures shipped off to Babylon. Zedekiah was blinded after watching his family being executed and he was taken off to Babylon in chains. It is thought by some historians that the population left behind in the whole of Judah was no more than 20,000. Read the book of Lamentations to understand how the Jewish people thought about what had happened to them.

Jewish historians said of Nebuchadnezzar “He was so greatly feared that as long as he was alive no one dared laugh; and when he went down to hell the inmates trembled, asking themselves whether he would rule them also.”

The psalms record the sorrow and anguish of the exiles. Many of you will know Psalm 137 “By the rivers of Babylon we sat down; there we wept when we remembered Zion.”

Nebuchadnezzar was also interested in building up the infrastructure of his empire. Excavations in the ruins of Babylon and various other cities have found that at least 90% of the bricks and tiles recovered have the stamp of Nebuchadnezzar on them. The Greek historian Herodotus wrote in about 450BC “In addition to its size Babylon surpasses in splendour any city in the known world”. Herodotus claimed the outer walls were 56 miles in length, 80 feet thick and 320 feet high. Wide enough, he said, to allow a four-horse chariot to turn. The inner walls were “not so thick as the first, but hardly less strong.” Inside the walls were fortresses and temples containing immense statues of solid gold. Rising above the city was the famous Tower of Babel, a temple to the god Marduk, that seemed to reach to the heavens.”

Also in Babylon was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world – The Hanging Gardens.

According to accounts, the gardens were built to cheer up Nebuchadnezzar’s homesick wife, Amyitis. Amyitis, daughter of the king of the Medes, was married to Nebuchadnezzar to create an alliance between the nations. The land she came from, though, was green, rugged and mountainous, and she found the flat, sun-baked terrain of Mesopotamia depressing. The king decided to recreate her homeland by building an artificial mountain with rooftop gardens.

It must have been a wonderful site – all these lush trees and plants in a land where it rarely rained.

You could say that Nebuchadnezzar was a self made man who had built up the inherited family business, and like most self made people deep down he worshipped himself. He has his own trinity: “I, myself and me”. Perhaps you know people like that. Their attitude seems to be that of the famous Frank Sinatra song “I did it my way”.

Sadly some Christians do a Nebuchadnezzar and feel that their deeds need to be recorded for posterity. Its not enough to have the assurance of salvation through Jesus and have their names in the Lamb’s Book of Life, they need their own memorials on earth. Either that or they forget that we don’t really own anything – it all belongs to God. Yet they behave as if certain things are theirs for all eternity and hang on with a vice like grip.

So that’s some of the background to Nebuchadnezzar and the empire of Babylon. Lets now get to grips with Daniel Chapter 4.

Nebuchadnezzar has had yet another dream and it worried him. Yet again he sends for his magicians astrologers etc to tell him what’s what. Its strange that through out history rulers have consulted such people in the vain hope of keeping one step ahead of the game. In Exodus we read of Moses and Aaron confronting the court magicians and priests of Egypt. Coming into the promised land the people of Israel were warned to have nothing to do with fortune telling astrology etc; yet of course in due course they turned to all this stuff.

In recent times it was known that Hitler consulted mediums, spiritists and occultic practitioners. Such people infested the White House when Ronald Regan was president, as his wife had daily horoscope readings. I understand that even the late Princess Diana regularly consulted such people.

Yet, as ever Nebuchadnezzar’s advisors were useless, so he had to send for Daniel to unravel the mystery of the dream.

What was the dream?

Nebuchadnezzar saw a huge tree which was so big it could be seen by everyone in the world. It provides shelter for birds and animals as well as food for them.

An angel proclaimed that the tree was to be cut down but the stump was to left in the field with a band of iron and bronze round it.

The angel then talks about a man who is to be left in the wild without his right mind for seven years.

Daniel has the unenviable job of explaining the dream to the king. Its not always pleasant being God’s messenger as sometimes the message is not what people want to hear even though its what they need to hear.

What does the dream mean?

The tree represents Nebuchadnezzar v22 “Your majesty, you are the tree, tall and strong. You have grown so great that you reach the sky and your power extends over the whole world.”

No doubt at this point the king was feeling pretty pleased with himself, but here comes the sting:

v24 – 27 “This, then is what it means, Your Majesty, and this is what the supreme God has declared will happen to you. You will be driven away from human society and will live with wild animals. For seven years you will eat grass like an ox, and sleep in the open air, where the dew will fall on you. Then you will admit that the Supreme God controls all human kingdoms, and that he can give them to anyone he chooses. The angel ordered the stump to be left in the ground. This means that you will become king again when you acknowledge that God rules all the world. So then, Your Majesty, follow my advice. Stop sinning do what is right and be merciful to the poor. Then you will continue to be prosperous.”

There was no doubt about it. Nebuchadnezzar was the big cheese. But God said as far as he is concerned he was just like the crumbs on the deli counter and could be swept away. Just like that.

We read in Isaiah 40:15 what God thinks about the nations and the empires when he says “Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.”

Put it another way we may be big in our own eyes or even those of other people but God can cut us down to our true size any time he wants.

It would seem that what two words come out of this story:

Pride and Rebellion.

Nebuchadnezzar thought he had done it all by himself. God had no part in it. It was his and no one else’s. When God through Daniel tells him to repent, he continues in his rebellion by completely ignoring God.

Did you know if you are not obeying God you are in rebellion?

Do you know how seriously God takes rebellion? In 1 Samuel 15 v23 we read what the prophet Samuel had to tell another proud King, Saul: “Rebellion against him is as bad as witchcraft and arrogance is as sinful as idolatry. Because you rejected the Lord’s command, he has rejected you as King.”

Does Nebuchadnezzar take the warning and change his ways?

No!

We read from Daniel 4 v29 – 33 “Only twelve months later, while he was walking about on the roof of his royal palace in Babylon, he said ‘Look how great Babylon is! I built it as my capital city to display my power and might, my glory and majesty.’ Before the words were out of his mouth, a voice spoke from Heaven, ‘King Nebuchadnezzar, listen to what I say! Your royal power is now taken away from you. You will be driven away from human society, live with wild animals and eat grass like an ox for seven years. The you will acknowledge that the Supreme God has power over human kingdoms and that he can give them to anyone he chooses.’ The words came true immediately. Nebuchadnezzar was driven out of human society and ate grass like an ox. The dew fell on his body, and his hair grew as long as eagles’ feathers and his nails as long as birds’ claws.”

There is a happy ending to this story as Nebuchadnezzar comes to his sense and repents of his pride and his arrogance and is fully restored. In v 37 he is recorded as saying “And now, I Nebuchadnezzar, praise, honour and glorify the King of Heaven. Everything he does is right and just, and he can humble anyone who acts proudly.”

What is the message for us today?

How many people have had warnings from God and ignored them? They think we can go on in our own sweet way, paying lip service to God, maybe doing church on a Sunday, when all the while they are building their own little empires, their own power bases. Then suddenly they’re struck down by accident or illness. I’ve known this happen to people and they’ve got better, sometimes amazingly, and just carried on with their schemes and plots. They don’t heed the warning and eventually they will pay the price for their pride and rebellion. We are reminded of that in Hebrews 4:13 “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”

Many of you will be familiar with the words of the Magnificat also known as the Song of Mary which would be said or sung in more traditional churches at their evening services. Its taken from Luke 1:51 – 53“He has stretched out his mighty arm and scattered the proud with all their plans. He has brought down mighty kings from their thrones and lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away with empty hands.”

This passage is a warning to remember who should be on the throne of our lives. If we do not let Jesus rule in our lives we are in rebellion against the Lord and must expect the consequences. If we repent and give up control of our lives to Jesus we can have peace with God and the promise of eternal life.

The choice is yours:

You can do a Frank Sinatra and “do it my way” or you can repent and seek to obey God and do it his way.

Who is on your throne?
You
or
God

Posted in Talks | Tagged Assyria, Babylon, God, Holy Spirit, Jesus, judgement, Nebuchadnezzar, Nineveh, repent | Leave a comment

How are we going to feed all these people?

Posted on 07/09/2014 by davidfowlerpreacher

This morning I preached at Becontree Avenue Baptist Church. The passage from John’s gospel is usually known as “The feeding of the five thousand”. Our children’s talk dealt with preparing for a picnic with all that you may wish to take with you. Finally came the realisation that whilst we had everything we thought we needed, we had no food!

This leads us into the talk when we looked at our Bible reading.

John 6:1 – 14

Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), 2 and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick. 3 Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 4 The Jewish Passover Feast was near. 5 When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” 6 He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. 7 Philip answered him, “Eight months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” 8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, 9 “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” 10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. 12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. 14 After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”

Have you ever noticed how many of the stories and events in the Bible involve food and eating?

Maybe its because Israel was and is a land where food can be scarce. But also eating and sharing food is a social occasion.

If you look in the Bible, the word “feast” occurs 97 times. Right from the days of Abraham through to the days of the early church. “Banquet” is mentioned 32 times.

Right at the end of the Bible in Revelation 19:9 we read “Then the angel said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he added, “These are the true words of God.””

The wonderful day when all who have believed and trusted in Jesus will be united with him in Heaven is likened to a wedding and there’s always food at a wedding.

Of course there were occasions when things didn’t go well. Just look at Genesis 3 when Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit commonly said to be a apple. Then there was the infamous “Belshazzar’s banquet” in Daniel 5.

Food and hospitality were very important throughout the Bible.

Also we find in the Bible miracles involving the provision of food. During the three year drought and famine that affected Israel in the time of the wicked King Ahab, Elijah was fed by Ravens (1 Kings 17). Later Elijah stayed with a widow and her son at Zarapheth and we read that her small supply of flour and oil didn’t run out during the time of the famine.

And of course earlier in the Bible we read how God wonderfully provided manna for the Israelites when they were in the desert for 40 years. When they longed for meat he provided quail for them to eat.

Many of us love to have visitors and to entertain.

Its great having people drop in on you. You realise that time is getting on and you feel you should ask them if they would like to stay for something to eat.

But what if 5000 people turn up at your door expecting to be fed?

Anyone who has been involved in putting on a spread will know how much work is involved.

Indeed many Primary Schools in this country are coming to terms with having to provide hundreds of extra school dinners each day from the beginning of the school year. And from reports on the news many head teachers are wondering how are we going to do this?

If suddenly faced with feeding 5000 people you can’t just phone the local take away and ask for 5000 meals to be deliver to half way up a mountain beside the Sea of Galilee. Neither could you order bread and fish for 5000 via Tesco online shopping for same day delivery.

We could speak with Kevin in our fellowship and see if his company would put together 5000 picnic lunches and deliver them.

So what’s happening in our Bible reading?

In the previous chapter of John’s gospel, Jesus had healed a man at the pool of Bethesda and had got into trouble with the Pharisees for not only healing the man on the Sabbath but telling his to carry his mat! That was work and you must not do anything work related on the Sabbath.

Jesus has moved away from Jerusalem and travelled north to the Sea of Galilee.

We know the approximate time of the year as we are told that in verse 4 “The Jewish Passover Feast was near.” So we know it is spring time, within 30 days of the Passover.

If he thought that he and his followers could get away and have a quiet time together, he was mistaken. People saw where he was going and they followed him. They had heard him preach and they had seen the miracles he had performed, especially healing the sick.

This was a time when there was not very much medical help available, especially if you were not rich. Having said that today God heals miraculously even though we can benefit from all the modern advances in medicine.

So a vast crowd has come to see and hear Jesus. Its thought that he sat in what was a natural theatre where people could see and hear him as he talked. And in the tradition of the day, Jesus sat down to talk to his listeners.

We are not told what he said to the crowd but we can guess from other stories in the gospels that he taught about the Kingdom of God and how to be right with God.

Other versions of this story suggest that its getting late in the day and is nearly time of for the evening meal. And so in v5 Jesus said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?”

In v7 Philip answered him, “Eight months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”

I understand that the average wage in this country is about £26,000. So eight months wages is about £17,000. Not the sort of money that an itinerant preacher and teacher would have immediately on hand.

V8&9 “Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” “

It seems incredible that in this huge crowd, Andrew has found possibly the one person who has any food and indeed is willing to share his meal. But how far will five small loaves and two small fishes go amongst so many people?

Jesus gives thanks for the food and it is distributed.

Everybody eats their fill and the food that was left filled 12 baskets.

A miracle indeed. The people being on the receiving end of the miracle begin to wonder about who Jesus is, and in v14 “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”

We read in the gospels as well as in the Acts of the Apostles that signs and wonders ie miracles accompanied the good news of Jesus. And often today through the power of the Holy Spirit miracles do happen.

I think that we have one lesson to learn from today’s reading.

God is more than willing to intervene and act miraculously in our lives but we have to do our part. No matter what little we have to offer we must be willing to say” this is all I have Lord, please use it in this situation”. The rest is up to God and he will multiply what we have to fulfil his purpose.

We should be willing, like the lad with the five loaves and two fishes, to step out in faith and give what we have and let God perform the miracle.

Posted in Talks | Tagged faith, God, Holy Spirit, Jesus, miracle | Leave a comment

Jesus is for everyone

Posted on 17/08/2014 by davidfowlerpreacher

Today, for the first time in a year, I preached at Trinity United Reformed Church in Upminster. It was good to be there and the people were pleased to see me looking so well after my illness last year.

The United Reformed Church uses the Revised Common Lectionary and so I preached about the gospel reading for today which is below:

Matthew 15:21 – 28
”Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession.” Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said. He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.” “Yes, Lord,” she said, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour. “

Neighbours.

Some of us have good neighbours and others have the neighbours from hell.

The Australian Soap opera “neighbours” has the strap line that “everyone needs good neighbours”.

“Ah wouldn’t it be nice to get on with me neighbours” sang the Small Faces in 1967.

As we know from the news today, the Jews don’t get on with their neighbours.

It is an age old problem going back to the days of Abraham where we find one of history’s “if only’s”.

If only Abraham had really trusted in God to provide him with a son and heir, and not taken matters into his own hands. As we know he had a son Ishmael with his wife’s maid Hagar. Later Abraham had a son Isaac with his wife Sarah and through him the Jewish people came into being.

We have another “if only” moment when the Israelite’s came back into the promised land after years in exile in Egypt. They were told by God to conquer the land and destroy all the altars and idols of the Canaanites who were into all sorts of witchcraft, immorality and even child sacrifice. God’s people were to have nothing to do with the Canaanites. But after Joshua died the Israelites lost interest in doing what God had told them and instead took on the religious practices of the area and married the locals.

All through the Old Testament we read that Israel was often at war with its neighbours. Whenever they formed alliances with any of the surrounding countries it always ended in tears, as the prophets constantly pointed out.

Because the Jews were God’s chosen people, they thought they were better than everyone else who they regarded as second class citizens or worse! And look what they thought of the Samaritans.

In the time of Jesus, no self respecting Jew would go anywhere near Samaria. They would travel around it even if it added hours or days to their journey. They certainly wouldn’t talk to a Samaritan. But Jesus did. We find in the gospels that he brought the good news to a Samaritan village through a conversation he had with a Samaritan woman at a well (John 4:1 – 42). He also made a Samaritan the hero in one of his parables – “The good Samaritan” (Luke 10:25 – 37).

Our gospel reading finds Jesus in foreign territory. In the previous verses Jesus was in Gennesaret on the shore of the Sea of Galilee arguing with the Pharisees about man made rules and regulations which the Pharisees felt were to be observed at all costs. The Pharisees had been complaining to Jesus that his disciples hadn’t properly washed their hands before eating and so were ritually unclean. Jesus pointed out that it is our thoughts and our words ie that which comes out of ourselves that make us unclean.

Jesus has travelled north to the area of Tyre and Sidon, clearly a pagan area. Maybe Jesus came here to get away from all the legalism he had just encountered.

Jesus is approached by a Canaanite woman, clearly not a Jew and so someone no respectable Rabbi would deign to talk with.

The woman calls out “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! “ The term “Son of David” is clearly a Jewish term for the Messiah, God’s promised saviour who will be descended from David. Not a term that gentiles would ever use. So there must have been something going on for this woman. The Holy Spirit must have been stirring up something in this woman to prompt her to come out with this statement.

The disciples want Jesus to get rid of the woman. She’s an embarrassment, let alone the fact that she is a gentile.

The disciples seemed to like having a neat and tidy life.

After all they tried to push away mothers who brought their children to Jesus for a blessing. On that occasion Jesus was indigent with his disciples as we read in Matthew 19:13 & 14: “Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” 15 When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.”

What does Jesus do with this woman? Initially he says nothing, but as we heard in our reading she keeps on calling out. She is desperate. Her daughter is possessed by a demon.

And for those who think that demon possession was a description for what we now know as mental illness, I will tell you that it does happen and it can be very frightening. But, praise God, it can be dealt with in the name of Jesus. Sadly there are excesses in some third world churches where they think that you have to shout and scream at the demon or hit the possessed person or burn them to get the demon out. That is superstitious nonsense. Its right there in the Bible what you have to do. You follow the biblical example using Jesus’ authority and command the demon to go.

Some years ago when I was at a different church the pastor told me that he had nearly phoned me during the week as he had a caller who had a problem with a demon or ghost in the house causing all sorts of mischief. I asked the pastor why didn’t he deal with the problem? “Oh I wasn’t trained to do it at theological college” came the reply! So what did the pastor do? He sent the man to see the local catholic priest instead.

So this poor woman has a demon possessed daughter. We are not told how this happened, but you can surmise that the girl got it through any one of the pagan practices that went on in that area. People always get into trouble when they dabble with the occult or witchcraft or get involved with tarot cards, Ouija boards etc

Jesus tells her in v24 “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” The mother won’t give up and pleads with Jesus: “Lord help me!”

Jesus replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.””Yes, Lord,” she said, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”

I once heard a preacher use these verses to prove that Jesus is a racist. After all the preacher said, Jesus is calling this Canaanite woman a dog.

However Jesus is referring to the pet dogs of the household. Its all a matter of priorities, the family are fed first and then what is left over is given to the dogs.

The woman agrees that the children are to be fed first, but she points out that the dogs get the crumbs from the table.

I get the feeling that maybe Jesus was testing her, to see whether she did have faith in him and was not just trying him as a last resort.

But look how this encounter turns out in v28 “ Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

It is her faith that counts. It is through the mother’s faith in God that the daughter is set free from that demon. Very rarely do we read in the gospels that Jesus commends people for their great faith, yet that is what he does to this gentile woman.

It’s not following an endless set of man made rules that counts but whether you have faith in Jesus Christ the Son of God.

This woman’s faith in Jesus came our of her desperate need for her daughter to be healed. There was nothing else she could do and no one else she could turn to for help.

Her faith made her take risks. Would Jesus reject her? After all she knew how the Jews regarded foreigners. What would she do? How she would be ridiculed by her family and friends for going to see a faith healer.

But faith makes us take risks. There is a scene in an Indiana Jones film where the hero has to step out into a void to get to the treasure. It is only when he puts his foot out and down that the walk way appears. Nothing happened until he took that first step.

The woman’s faith in Jesus made her persevere. At first Jesus ignores her. So she continues. The disciples urge Jesus to get rid of her but she continues. Jesus even tells her that its not right to give the children’s bread to the dogs, but she comes back with an answer.

She is fighting for her daughter’s life so she perseveres.

And the outcome is “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” Her daughter is healed.

This passage really has two points for us to hold on to today.

Firstly it is faith in Jesus that is so important. Not observing religious rules and regulations. No one is perfect and no one but Jesus has ever led a perfect life.

Also Jesus is for everyone not just for the Jewish people. Jesus’ primary mission was to the Jewish people but when they rejected him and his message, the mission widened to include all people who answered the call “come to me!”

This Canaanite woman was one of the least likely people to be accepted into the kingdom bearing in mind her background and the likely nature of the religion she had practised.
But Jesus commends her for her faith.

No one is excluded from the Kingdom of God if they want to be there and if they have a faith in Jesus. No matter what your background, what you have done, how you have lived, if you wish to change and you respond to the Spirit’s prompting you can be saved.

Jesus is for everyone.

Posted in Talks | Tagged faith, Jesus, Kingdom of God, Samaria | Leave a comment

Pictures of the Holy Spirit

Posted on 08/06/2014 by davidfowlerpreacher

This morning I preached at Becontree Avenue Baptist Church (my home church).

As it is Pentecost Sunday it seemed appropriate to talk about the Holy Spirit not only what he does in the lives of believers but also how he is described in the Bible.

This sermon should be available on the church website for a few weeks if you wish to listen to it. http://www.becavebaptistchurch.org.uk/Morning%20services%20messages%20library.htm

Our Bible reading is Acts 2:1 – 21

The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost

1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. 5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs–we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?” 13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine. “

Peter Addresses the Crowd

14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15 These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 17 ” ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. 18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. 19 I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 20 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. 21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

In the Bible we are given several images of the Holy Spirit to help us understand him and his work. In the passage from Acts he is likened to fire and wind. Elsewhere as we shall see, he is compared to water, oil and a dove.

These are to help us get an idea of what he is like. However, the important thing is to concentrate on what the Holy Spirit does both at an individual level ie in each and every believer and at a corporate level in the body of believers we call the church.

The Holy Spirit is given to each and every believer when we come to faith in Jesus. We can read this at the end of Acts 2 when Peter full of the Holy Spirit has preached an amazing sermon and those listening responded. See “What shall we do?” Acts 2 v 37 “When the people heard this, they were deeply troubled and said to Peter and the other apostles ‘What shall we do brother?’ Peter said to them, ‘Each one of you must turn away from his sins and be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ, so that your sins will be forgiven; and you will receive God’s gift, the Holy Spirit. For God’s promise was made to you and your children, and to all who are far away – all whom the Lord our God calls to himself.’”

Some people sadly want nothing to do with the Holy Spirit and are determined to get on with life on their own. The Christian life can be difficult enough; but without the help, support and encouragement of the Holy Spirit it is incredibly difficult.

How many of you drive a car?

You know, hopefully, that you need both the engine and fuel to get the car going unless you have an electric car.

If you were setting out on a journey, would you wind down the driver’s window, get out of the car, shut the door and then proceed to push the car, leaning through the open window to steer it?

You would make some progress but what would it be like going up hill? Or what happens when it rains?

Surely it would be easier to get in the car and start the engine and allow the engine to propel the car?

Some people when they come to faith decide they have to do it all themselves. They ignore the Bible, the word of God which is the engine and don’t want to accept the Holy Spirit, the fuel. The Holy Spirit brings the Bible to life so that it speaks powerfully into the believer’s life.

So its no wonder life is a struggle without the Spirit and the Word and so they get frustrated and even angry with those who have chosen to have fuel in their tanks and start their engines. I’ve even known some who would want all the other drivers to switch off their engines and push – perhaps they feel that’s the right thing to do.

There again you get those who insist that you weigh down your car with vital extras which are the spiritual equivalents of the infamous furry dice and the nodding dog on the parcel shelf. It always amazes me how passionate people get about such items which to them become more important than having a real living relationship with Jesus.

In addition to being the power to get you through life, The Holy Spirit will be your guide. No more fumbling around with old maps or just hoping for the best – “I’ll stop and ask someone if I get lost”, you can have your own GPS satellite navigation system with you and he will never lead you up a dead end! Of course the man made “sat nav” has its problems – there was a story on the news a while back of an ambulance that started out from Chelmsford to go to a hospital in Colchester and ended up in Manchester instead. However the Holy Spirit is 100% reliable and he never leaves you. After all Jesus said the Spirit will guide you into all truth. When you can have the Holy Spirit as your guide, why do so many people ignore him and trust in the supposed wisdom of mere humans?

Just as your car will only do a certain number of miles on a tank full of fuel, so we need to be filled up with the Holy Spirit. Do you ask the Lord to fill you with his Spirit every day?

Lets look at some of the images of the Holy Spirit.

This is what we read in John 7 v 37 – 39.“On the last and most important day of the festival Jesus stood up and said in a loud voice, “Whoever is thirsty should come to me, and whoever believes in me should drink. As the scripture says, “Streams of life-giving water will pour out from his heart.”

Just as water is vital for physical life so the Holy Spirit is absolutely vital for spiritual life. And here is Jesus’ invitation to those who are spiritually thirsty: “Come to me”.

There are many people who are looking for meaning to life or for answers to the questions life poses. You could say they are spiritually thirsty. There are apparently many sources of spiritual refreshment, but there is only one that can really deal with mankind’s spiritual thirst. All the rest fail to truly deal with the problem, just like many of the concoctions we pour down our throats fail to relieve our physical thirst so the other religions and philosophies leave us unsatisfied. Our deepest needs and longings have not been met, our deepest hurts not healed.

You may recall some years ago a horrific story about some garage mechanics who found what they thought was a bottle of spirits and had a Christmas drink together. Sadly it was neat anti freeze and they had a most unpleasant death. So unfortunately do many people who try to slake their spiritual thirst by anything other than coming to Jesus.

Many people come to Jesus yet don’t either ask him for the living water or even drink it.

Imagine some one comes to see you and it’s a hot day and they are clearly thirsty. So you say to the person would you like a drink? What would you say if they reply “No thank you I’m very thirsty.” or they accept the drink and just sit and look at it. You know its not going to do any good till they drink it. Until the water is in their body its not going to do anything for their thirst.

Or perhaps they just have a tiny sip and leave it at that.

Or perhaps they go into raptures about the wonderful glass or bottle the drink comes in. The container no matter how beautiful to behold is not what counts – it’s the contents! Just think of the people who wax lyrical about the church building or the priests’ robes or the dazzling ritual or hold on to the right words said in the right order in a service yet fail to actually answer Jesus’ call “come to me”.

Of course water has other uses.

We can wash with it. That’s what baptism is really about. Being washed clean of our sins and being forgiven. Psalm 51 v 7 “Remove my sin, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.”

In 1 Corinthians 6 v 9 & 10 we read a list of the types of people who will not get into heaven. But then in verse 11 we read the good news “Some of you were like that. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God”. Now isn’t that good news? No matter what you’ve done, if you are truly sorry you can find forgiveness and be put right with God.

The problem is we do need to be cleaned repeatedly. Just as daily living gets us physically dirty and one bath in our life time is not enough, so life gets us spiritually dirty through our sins and through living in a sinful world. We continually need to be washed clean.

Water is also a source of power. It can drive turbines to make electricity, or run a water mill. It can be heated to make steam and propel locomotives.

It says in 2 Timothy 1 v 7 “ For the Spirit that God has given us does not make us timid; instead, his Spirit fills us with power, love, and self-control.”

I’m sure many of you have been on a beach as the tide comes in. Its unstoppable and can sweep away everything in its way. You’ve probably seen people build sand castles with tall thick walls. They stand there safely within the walls of sand, rather like the inhabitants of Jericho. Yet in comes the tide, the waves don’t have to be very big but the walls are swamped and washed away and very soon there’s hardly a trace of that sandcastle.

Many people have strongholds in their lives. Places where Jesus is not Lord. There are many reasons for these strongholds perhaps through personal sin or through the reaction to hurts the person has suffered. Many times these strongholds represent rebellion against God and Jesus. You can almost hear the person say “I won’t” or “No one will tell me what to do” or “I’m doing it my way”. If you are to truly grow in your faith, to be a blessing to others rather than trying to trip them up, you need to let Jesus deal with these strongholds through the power of the Holy Spirit. He will wash them away and then heal your hurts; after all his word says in Psalm 147 v 3 “He heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds.”

There can be times when these strongholds can be entry points for the evil one to get into the person’s life and start poisoning their thoughts and leading them farther away from God. However this can and will be dealt with by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is a wonderful thing when the Holy Spirit sets someone free and just washes away the strongholds in that person’s life and heals their wounds. Hallelujah!

Oil was used throughout the Bible to symbolise God’s special anointing on someone usually for a specific purpose ie when the High Priest was appointed. We can read about this in Exodus 21. Specifically in verses 5 to 7 “Then dress Aaron in the priestly garments—the shirt, the robe that goes under the ephod, the ephod, the breastpiece, and the belt. 6 Put the turban on him and tie on it the sacred sign of dedication engraved “Dedicated to the Lord.’ 7 Then take the anointing oil, pour it on his head, and anoint him.”

We talk about someone being under God’s anointing for leadership or preaching or teaching.

Famously Psalm 133 talks about unity among believers and how special it is: “1 How wonderful it is, how pleasant, for God’s people to live together in harmony! 2 It is like the precious anointing oil running down from Aaron’s head and beard, down to the collar of his robes.” Unity comes through the working of the Holy Spirit and not through strong arm tactics of making people do religious things.

If you are filled with the Holy Spirit you cannot help your self being enthusiastic in the things of God which may mean that the schemes and plans of man are of little value to you. Look at Philippians 3 where Paul talks about his Jewish pedigree – how religious he was. Yet as a Spirit filled believer what does he say about all this religious stuff? Philippians 3 v 8 “…I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him…”

In James 5 we read about anointing when we pray for the sick: “Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.”

Oil is also used as symbol of God’s healing power in Isaiah 61v3 “to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair....” You can mourn for many things not just over the death of someone. So if you are mourning the loss of something significant in your life, perhaps through death or redundancy or abuse or bad parenting, whatever it is, ask Jesus to anoint you with the oil of gladness to bring you healing and renewal.

Finally we are going to consider the dove as a symbol of the Holy Spirit. Doves are by nature gentle birds and they represent the inherently gentle nature of the Holy Spirit’s action in the believer. After all the dove has been used as a symbol of peace.

Matthew 3 v 16 & 17 “As soon as Jesus was baptised, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said ‘This is my son, whom I love, with him I am well pleased.”

When Jesus sent out his disciples (Matthew 10 v16) he said “Listen! I am sending you out just like sheep to a pack of wolves. You must be cautious as snakes and gentle as doves.”

One of the fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5 is gentleness.

As I finish, I want to pose some questions?

Are you thirsty for God? Do you long to have a deeper relationship with Jesus? To really know him?
Jesus says “Whoever is thirsty should come to me”
Are you running on empty? Is your Christian life a struggle? Do you need your spiritual fuel tank filled? Come to Jesus to be filled again with the Holy Spirit.

If you are thirsty for God ask him to pour his Holy Spirit into you as I say this prayer:

Lord Jesus we come to you as thirsty people. Fill us to overflowing with your Holy Spirit this and everyday to quench our thirst and bring us true life. And for those who do not know you, give them a thirst for you that they will seek you and find you and so be filled by you. Loving Lord Jesus we ask this in your name. Amen.

Posted in Talks | Tagged anointing, baptism, God, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Jesus Christ, oil | Leave a comment

I shall return

Posted on 01/06/2014 by davidfowlerpreacher

This morning I returned to preach at Nelmes United Reformed Church in Hornchurch. I decided that I would preach about Jesus’ ascension into heaven and his promise to return. Last week’s message whilst similar predominantly dealt with the practical issues following on from Jesus’ resurrection.

Acts 1:6-14
6 So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. 10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” 12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city. 13 When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. 14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.”

Earlier on we looked at some incredible and perhaps unbelievable facts and events.

And for the early Christians they had more than their fair share of the incredible in quite a short time.

Here are a few of the incredible or amazing things they had witnessed about Jesus.

He turned water into wine
He fed the hungry
Healed the sick
Gave sight to the blind
Raised the dead
Rode triumphantly into Jerusalem
Arrested and given a sham trial
Crucified and laid in a borrowed tomb
Rose from the dead and appeared to many people.

It had been a real roller coaster of a time for those early believers.

They were overjoyed when they met with their risen Lord. But now he is leaving them again.

You may think that the followers would be upset that Jesus was going, but if we look at the end of Luke’s gospel which overlaps with out reading from Acts we find in Luke 24:50 – 52 “ When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. 53 And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.”

What was it that had filled these people full of joy?

These early believers had come to understand so much about Jesus’ mission after the resurrection. And now they are relying on his promises.

Our passage contains two great promises from God. The first is spoken by Jesus himself and the second by two angels.

Firstly when Jesus ascended to heaven God was able to send the Holy Spirit. In John 16:7 Jesus tells his disciples ” But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counsellor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.”

Not only is the Holy Spirit called the Counsellor but also he is the Comforter.

Some people think of a comforter as someone who will wrap you up and look after you when you are feeling down. Sometimes we refer to a blanket or a quilt as a comforter. Yet the word comforter has another, older meaning. In a panel of the Bayeux tapestry William the Conqueror is shown brandishing his sword around his somewhat reluctant soldiers to encourage them to get on with the battle. The panel is entitled “William comforts his soldiers”!

So the Holy Spirit is sent to each and every believer to be an encourager as well as to reveal the truth of God to us. He gives us good counsel as well as spiritual gifts to help us and other Christians grow in faith both individually and corporately.

I am sure that many of you can testify to how the Holy Spirit directs us to a passage of scripture that suddenly comes alive as we read it, or how he prompts us to visit someone or phone them just at the moment they need someone to talk to or to pray with.

Recently I have been praying for a man called John who has been very ill with a brain abscess. The other day I was prompted to phone his wife. I spoke to Janet and immediately it became clear that I was meant to phone her. She was returning to work that day for the first time since Steve had been ill and was naturally worried about leaving him and also how she would cope at work. So I was able to pray for her and Steve and she was reassured that God was still looking after them.

Without the Holy Spirit how could we fulfil the great commandment in Matthew 28:19 & 20: “19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” We could never do it on our own.

Before we look at the second promise, we need to think about what Jesus is now doing in heaven.

On fulfilling his mission of sacrificing himself on the cross and dying for our sins, Jesus returned to heaven and had his glory reinstated and more so. Paul says this in Philippians 2:6 – 11 “6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

At present not everyone acknowledges Jesus Christ as Lord. Not everyone gives him the glory due to his name. But there will be a time when every man, woman and child will do so, some willingly and joyfully and others because they on judgement day are faced with the overwhelming evidence of Jesus the son of God.

Of course now many people who follow other beliefs and philosophies make passing reference to Jesus as a good man or a miracle worker or a prophet. But they do not acknowledge the truth of Jesus the son of God. Jesus says in John 5:23 “He who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father, who sent him.” Its as simple as that. If you do not give Jesus the son of God the recognition he deserves, you are not honouring God.

And following on from that thought of Jesus having the name above all names, Jesus went back to heaven to be crowned. The Bible calls him the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

The American theologian RC Sproul put it this way: “In the ascension, Jesus went up to His coronation. He did not go up simply to enter into His rest. He went up for His investiture service. He ascended to the throne, to the right hand of God, where He was given dominion, power, and authority over the whole earth. The Lamb who was slain became the Lion of Judah, who now reigns over the earth.”

Jesus himself says in Matthew 28:18 “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

Some folk think that Jesus just sits on a throne next to God accepting the worship that’s rightly due to him. He has earnt his rest by what he did on earth. However the Bible tells us that Jesus is not taking it easy.

Yes we do have that prophecy in Psalm 110:1 which says ” The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”

But later in that psalm we read in v4 “The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind: “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”

Melchizedek is mentioned in Genesis 14 as a priest of the most high God and King of Salem. He was clearly an important man as we read in Genesis that Abraham gives him an offering. In those times the least important man gave the more important man an offering.

Jesus is our great High Priest in the order of Melchizedek. He has given the one perfect sacrifice for the sins of mankind which has been accepted by God. So no further sacrifices are ever needed, hence why the Jewish line of high Priests ended when the temple was destroyed.

In addition to the sacrifice of himself that Jesus offered, he fulfils another priestly function – he intercedes for us. Jesus prays to God the Father for us. Being human he knows our weaknesses and he knows what it is to be tempted. He like us faced trials and temptations. He knows how it is.

This is what we read in Hebrews 4:14 -16 “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are–yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

So Jesus, having been restored to all his glory is occupied in heaven ruling over creation and sustaining it and also he is busy interceding with our heavenly Father on our behalf.

And now we come to our second promise that Jesus will return. Acts 1:10 – 11” They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

And I am sure that Jesus’ followers will recall his words in John 14:1 – 3:”Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

They know that Jesus going back to heaven isn’t the last they will see of him. Its farewell not goodbye.

They will be with him again. That is a promise for all who put their faith in Jesus. He has conquered death and broken the power of sin in our lives. So we can be certain that if we put our faith in him, we shall be with him in eternity in Heaven, his Father’s house.

In early 1942 General Douglas MacArthur was forced to leave his beloved Philippines as the Japanese forces over run the country. In his broadcast to the Filipinos he used this famous phrase “ I shall return”. Indeed he did return after a great deal of fighting and bloodshed.

The difference between General MacArthur and Jesus is that Jesus left the earth as a conqueror. He had defeated death and the devil and broke the power of sin. He was victorious and his eventual return is a certainty whereas to be honest MacArthur’s “I shall return” was a hope.

Many of the promises that God has made have been fulfilled, and some are yet to be fulfilled. But we know that God keeps his word. In the Old Testament these are the words given to Moses :Numbers 23:19 “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfil?”

2 Corinthians 1:20 “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ.”

Jesus will return in great glory as we are promised in the bible. Matthew 24: 30 & 31 “They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.”

Whilst on this earth even Jesus didn’t know the answer to the question of when he will return. He told his disciples that only God knew and he’s not telling. Matthew 24:36 “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

So Jesus will return but until that day we all have a job to do, and he has given us the Holy Spirit to enable and empower us to do that job which is to spread the good news to the four corners of the world and make disciples of all nations. Amen.

Posted in Talks | Tagged Ascension, God, heaven, High Priest, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, King of Kings, Kingdom of God, Melchizedek, sacrifice | Leave a comment

You are not alone

Posted on 25/05/2014 by davidfowlerpreacher

This morning I was invited to preach at Elm Park Baptist Church in Hornchurch. It was good to be there as the last time I preached there was on Palm Sunday 2013.

As this coming Thursday, the church traditionally celebrates the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven, I decided that the Ascension would be our topic today.

Acts 1:1 – 11

“1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” 6 So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. 10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

Earlier on we looked at some incredible and perhaps unbelievable facts and events.

And for the early Christians they had more than their fair share of the incredible in quite a short time.

Here are a few of the incredible or amazing things they had witnessed about Jesus.

He turned water into wine
He fed the hungry
Healed the sick
Gave sight to the blind
Raised the dead
Rode triumphantly into Jerusalem
Arrested and given a sham trial
Crucified and laid in a borrowed tomb
Rose from the dead and appeared to many people.

It had been a real roller coaster of a time for those early believers.

They were overjoyed when they met with their risen Lord. But now he is going to leave them again.

What was it that had filled these people full of joy?

These early believers had come to understand so much about Jesus’ mission after the resurrection. And now they are relying on his promises.

They know that Jesus going back to heaven isn’t the last they will see of him. Its farewell not goodbye.

They will be with him again. In John 14:1 – 3 Jesus tells them:”Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

That is a promise for all who put their faith in Jesus. He has conquered death and broken the power of sin in our lives. So we can be certain that if we put our faith in him, we shall be with him in eternity in Heaven, his Father’s house.

There are of course other reasons why Jesus’ ascension is so important.

And following on from that thought of Jesus having the name above all names, Jesus went back to heaven to be crowned. The Bible calls him the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

The American theologian RC Sproul put it this way: “In the ascension, Jesus went up to His coronation. He did not go up simply to enter into His rest. He went up for His investiture service. He ascended to the throne, to the right hand of God, where He was given dominion, power, and authority over the whole earth. The Lamb who was slain became the Lion of Judah, who now reigns over the earth.”

Jesus himself says in Matthew 28:18 “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

When Jesus ascended to heaven God was able to send the Holy Spirit. In John 16:7 Jesus tells his disciples “ But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counsellor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.”

Not only is the Holy Spirit called the Counsellor but also he is the Comforter.

In Acts 8 we read how Philip at the Holy Spirit’s prompting travels into the desert and meets an Ethiopian man whom he brings to faith.

Recently I have been praying for a man I will call John who has been very ill with a brain abscess. The other day I was prompted to phone his wife. I spoke to Janet and immediately it became clear that I was meant to phone her. She was returning to work that day for the first time since John had been ill and was naturally worried about leaving him and also how she would cope at work. So I was able to pray for her and John and she was reassured that God was still looking after them.

Without the Holy Spirit how could we fulfil the great commandment in Matthew 28:19 & 20: “19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” We could never do it on our own.

Yes we do have that prophecy in Psalm 110:1 which says “The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”

But later in that psalm we read in v4 “The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind: “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”

So the fact that Jesus ascended into Heaven is good news for us in many ways.

He was able to send the Holy Spirit to each and every believer to help us in our lives and to be effective witnesses to the gospel. Also Jesus is not only our King who reigns from heaven he is also our great high priest who is ever praying for us.

We have the best possible friend in high places and we are not alone as he is on our side if we put our faith in him. Amen.

Posted in Talks | Tagged Ascension, Counsellor, God, heaven, High Priest, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Melchizedek, sacrifice | Leave a comment

What shall we do?

Posted on 04/05/2014 by davidfowlerpreacher

Today for the first time since I had my cancer treatment, I was invited to preach at Nelmes United Reformed Church in Hornchurch.

I was delighted to be there today and the fellowship were pleased to have me with them.

I preached on one of the set readings for today from the Revised Common Lectionary.

Acts 2:14a, 36-41

14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd:
36 “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” 37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off–for all whom the Lord our God will call.” 40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

Our Bible reading from Acts 2 is one of the set readings for today. It surprised me as you would think it more appropriate for Pentecost Sunday. But it does contrast the boldness of the Apostles and the other believers with what we read about them in the aftermath of Jesus’ death on Good Friday.

It is amazing how the lives of those early believers were turned upside down when God’s Holy Spirit came upon them on that day of Pentecost. These men and women who were going about afraid of the Jews as we are told in the gospels, suddenly are proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ not only in their native language but in so many other languages that many of the foreigners there in Jerusalem could understand them and hence understand the message.

We know that there are many spiritual gifts given to believers through the Holy Spirit but this gift of speaking in different languages seems to be unique in the New Testament.

The whole question of speaking in tongues can be very divisive from the “if you don’t speak in tongues you are not a Christian” end of the spectrum to what one very religious church goer once told me “speaking in tongues is witchcraft!” She clearly hadn’t read and understood her Bible.

Many of the crowd on hearing the believers speaking in different languages instantly decided “they are drunk!” We can’t understand them and we are not going to think anymore about this. Its obvious they’ve been on the razzle.

Often God’s people have been slandered as being intoxicated or mad when they have proclaimed the good news. It’s a defence mechanism used by folk who don’t want to hear the truth for a variety of reasons.

Just imagine a preacher having to start a sermon as Peter did in v15 with “We aren’t drunk! Its only nine in the morning”.

Most people get drunk in the afternoon or evening. Having said, that I took the funeral of an alcoholic who would cycle to work in the early morning, and by the time he somehow reached his place of employment he had downed a bottle of vodka.

So having put the record straight on the question of sobriety, Peter emboldened by the Holy Spirit goes to town. This is the man who denied Jesus three times after Jesus had been arrested. What a change. John 13:37 & 38 “Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me? I tell you the truth, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!”

Do bear in mind, the crowd were made up of Jews, from all over the then known world. The Jewish people had been saturated in the scriptures literally from birth. In Deuteronomy 11, Moses tells the God’s people: “ Love the LORD your God and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws and his commands always. Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates,”

So those listening to Peter would know the scriptures and no doubt recite them from memory. They would put us to shame as I am sure that many of us with our printed Bibles, Bibles on smart phones, tablets, Kindles and the internet don’t know the scriptures as well as these 1st century believers.

But perhaps they hadn’t put all the pieces together to get the picture. It’s a bit like having a jig saw puzzle and looking at the pieces, not noticing the picture on the box and not realising that the pieces fit together to make a whole picture.

Peter simply takes the pieces out of the box and puts them all together. The crowd then see the whole picture.

This is similar to when the Holy Spirit sent Philip into the desert to meet an Ethiopian who is reading the Bible as he travels home from Jerusalem. We read in Acts 8:29 – 31 “The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.” Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.”

Paul in Romans 10: 13 – 15, puts it this way: “ for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent?”

Very few people come to faith in Jesus Christ without having the good news presented to them, and by reading the Bible themselves.

I’m sure that many of you here have good memories of these who helped you come to faith, who helped you put that picture together. Maybe it happened all at once or maybe over a period of time. For me and my wife Gaynor the pieces finally came together when we moved to Rainham after we married and started attending the Parish church. The then vicar, a great man of God, Peter Ratcliffe helped us put the final pieces in place.

Peter in this great sermon lays out the proof that Jesus is the son of God and the Messiah, or promised one, mentioned throughout the old Testament.

Many of those who hear Peter have what you might call a “light bulb moment” when everything becomes very clear and they realise that they need to do something. They cannot let the moment pass them by.

Acts 2:37 “When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

Peter replies straight away in Acts 2:38 & 39, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off–for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

Its as simple as that. Repent, be Baptised.

Sadly many people today still think that you can bypass Jesus and get into heaven by your own efforts.

The billionaire former mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg thinks God likes him. He said in a recent interview: “I am telling you, if there is a God, when I get to heaven I’m not stopping to be interviewed. I am heading straight in. I have earned my place in heaven. It’s not even close.”

Sadly Mr Bloomberg is wrong. Peter in Acts 4:12 says of Jesus“ Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

Also Jesus himself made the matter very clear and straight forward in John 14:6 “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

No matter how sincere and devote they may be, followers of other religions will not be saved as they do not put their faith in Jesus.

So what do we have to do?

We have to realise that we cannot bring people to faith on our own.

We need God’s help through the Holy Sprit, so that we not only recognise the opportunities God gives us, but also have the courage to seize the moment and have the right words to say.

We also need to know our Bible well enough to be able to give a reasoned explanation of the truths we are trying to put across. So that when we are asked “what shall we do?” we can give an answer that brings the person to Jesus and to eternal life.

Posted in Talks | Tagged baptised, Bible, God, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Messiah, Pentecost, repent, saved | 1 Comment

Through the storms of life

Posted on 07/04/2014 by davidfowlerpreacher

Yesterday I preached at a Memorial Service held at Becontree Avenue Baptist Church.

PSALM 46: 1 – 5 & 10 – 11

1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, 3 though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. 4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. 5 God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. 10 “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” 11 The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

We have all at sometime suffered the loss of someone we know well or someone we love. It may have been recent or it may be in the past but we have all been there.

We all experience grief in our own way.

Since we are all individuals we deal with grief in our own ways.

When Gaynor and I were away for a few days at the end of January we stayed up near Cromer on the Norfolk coast. This was about a month or so after the terrible storms had come down the North Sea and devastated the East Coast. The damage in places was colossal. Seawalls demolished like children’s sandcastles, beach chalets shattered like so match wood. At one place the beach, the car park and the road to the beach had disappeared under a deep covering of shingle.

Grief can do that to us. All that was permanent and stable in our lives seems to have gone, swept away by one of the storms of life. We just don’t recognise the landscape. It has changed so much in an instant.

Our hopes, dreams and aspirations have come tumbling down around us. Well meaning friends tell us it will be okay soon. I recall years ago when the father of one of my friends died suddenly, his widow was assured at the wake by a relative you’ll soon get over him and find another man.

Each one of us has been there, with the awful news that someone we love has died. Even if we expected it we can never be prepared for it when it happens. It can hit us just like those storms in the winter and it can just keep pounding away at us.

And just like that famous railway line at Dawlish washed away by the storms, the recovery and the repairs can take a great deal of effort and time.

Or maybe our experience is more like the flooding of the Somerset levels. Day after day the grief and the heart ache rain down on us. We are saturated with grief. It floods around us and we feel cut off from the real world. We are isolated not even sure if anyone can hear us let alone help us.

We can become prisoners of our grief.

A while ago I was talking to a young lady whose dad had just died. She just couldn’t take it in that the rest of the world continued with business as usual. “Don’t they know my dad has died?” she asked me.

She was echoing some thoughts in the Bible said to be written by Jeremiah some 2600 years ago: “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look around you and see. Is any suffering like my suffering that was inflicted on me?”

People seem not to care. How can they carry on with life not caring what has happened to us? Or so it seems. It’s more likely that they don’t know what we are going through.

Maybe as we try to make sense of what has happened and try to get things sorted, we get more hurts. One man phoned the life insurance company to get a claim form as his mum had died. The helpful person at the call centre said she couldn’t discuss the matter with him as he wasn’t the policy holder. Could he put his mum on the phone to confirm that she was dead so that the claim form could be issued?

Perhaps it’s the day to day things of life that cause us more grief.

How do I write a cheque? He always did that.

How does the washing machine work? How do I cook a dinner? She was always there to do that.

We try to make contact to reach out to those on the outside. Some turn away, cross the road to avoid us, not sure what to say and perhaps afraid to cause even more upset. They dare not ask “How are you?” in case we tell them the truth and they won’t be able to handle it.

Maybe we wonder where God has been in all of this? “Why did you let this happen?” we shout at him. It’s strange that many people only think about God when they are bereaved and many straight away blame him for their loved one’s death.

Or perhaps they just ignore God all together. “There can’t be a God because if there was she wouldn’t have died.”

I don’t have any easy answers for people. I can’t give them platitudes. All I know is that God is there and that things happen. It’s just that this side of heaven we don’t get to see, let alone understand the reasons.

We just have to hold onto what God tells us. In our reading from Psalm 46 we are reminded that God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Even if we don’t or can’t feel God’s presence, he is there and he will see us through the storms of life, if we let him.

We are not told that we will never experience the storms of life, but we are told that God will be with us we go through time them.

It is my prayer for you today that you may come to know that God is there and he will see through all the storms of life that you are experiencing.

Posted in Talks | Tagged Bible, God, grief, heart ache | Leave a comment

David Fowler Faith Hope and Love

The parable of the weeds

Tempted?

Brought down to size

How are we going to feed all these people?

Jesus is for everyone

Pictures of the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost

Peter Addresses the Crowd

I shall return

You are not alone

What shall we do?

Through the storms of life

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