Preach the Gospel

Posted on by korgrocker

“Has Christ been divided into factions? Was I, Paul, crucified for you? Were any of you baptized in the name of Paul? Of course not! I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, for now no one can say they were baptized in my name. (Oh yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas, but I don’t remember baptizing anyone else.) For Christ didn’t send me to baptize, but to preach the Good News—and not with clever speech, for fear that the cross of Christ would lose its power.”
1 Corinthians 1:13-17 NLT

Paul was confident that he had a Christ-given mandate to preach the Good News, the Gospel of salvation through Jesus. We all remember the conversion that Paul experienced on the Damascus Road, where a Light, Jesus Himself, blinded him, and turned his life round with the question. “ … Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?”” (Acts 9:4b). A man called Ananias was tasked with laying his hands on Saul, so that he could see again. He was obedient regardless of his fears – ““But Lord,” exclaimed Ananias, “I’ve heard many people talk about the terrible things this man has done to the believers in Jerusalem!” (Acts 9:13), and we subsequently read, “But the Lord said, “Go, for Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel. And I will show him how much he must suffer for my name’s sake”” (Acts 9:13-15). What a mandate Paul received! To be commissioned to take the Gospel “to the Gentiles and to kings“, the message coming straight from Jesus Himself. To the Galatian church, Paul wrote, “Dear brothers and sisters, I want you to understand that the gospel message I preach is not based on mere human reasoning. I received my message from no human source, and no one taught me. Instead, I received it by direct revelation from Jesus Christ” (Galatians 1:11-12). And suffer Paul did in the process of sharing the Gospel – just read 2 Corinthians 11, where we find a brief history of all Paul’s sufferings. He was imprisoned, whipped, beaten, stoned, and shipwrecked. He experienced hunger and thirst, and other privations that I hope and pray none of us will have to face. And all for the sake of carrying the Gospel into lands where the people were resistant to the message Jesus commissioned Paul to share. 

Notice that Paul wasn’t tasked with anything else in his journeys. He was not a pastor or teacher, and the baptising of converts he left in the hands of others. This was not a part of his mission, and Paul was crystal clear in only doing what Jesus had asked him to do. He was solely a missionary and evangelist, and in addition we are grateful for his diligence in writing follow up letters to the churches and fellowships that he founded, thus providing invaluable theological insights that help us in our pilgrimage to Glory. Perhaps Paul was comfortable with the thought that baptism wasn’t essential to ensure a person was saved. He wrote to the believers in Rome, “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved” (Romans 10:9-10). Baptism is a public declaration that a person makes, of his belief and faith in Jesus, but the penitent thief on the cross next to Jesus never had the chance to be baptised, and yet was soon to join Jesus in “Paradise”. 

Paul also was wary of what he called “clever speech”. We have all heard preachers who are good with words, men and women whose sermons are strong on rhetoric but lacking in power. Speakers to whom people travel far to hear what they have to say, but the leave their presence unchanged. Paul avoided such an accusation, and allowed the purity of Christ’s message to hit home with the power of the Cross of Christ. Paul had an extremely good knowledge of the Old Testament and used that to good effect in his discussions with people in the towns and cities he visited. In Thessalonica Paul found a synagogue and there we read, “As was Paul’s custom, he went to the synagogue service, and for three Sabbaths in a row he used the Scriptures to reason with the people. He explained the prophecies and proved that the Messiah must suffer and rise from the dead. He said, “This Jesus I’m telling you about is the Messiah“” (Acts 17:2-3). In the next city, Athens, Paul’s address before the Athenian council was a masterpiece. He started, ” … Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious in every way, for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ‘To an Unknown God.’ This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about” (Acts 17:22-23). Quite simply he got their attention by connecting their culture with the message of the Cross of Jesus. No clever speech, just Holy-Spirit-inspired words to a sceptical audience, and at the end of his preach we read, “but some joined him and became believers. Among them were Dionysius, a member of the council, a woman named Damaris, and others with them” (Acts 17:34). 

We pilgrims are also commissioned to preach the Gospel. The world around us is full of people heading to a lost eternity and that is the last thing that God wants for His creation. There was a time when many disciples left Jesus because they couldn’t accept His message. We pick up the account in John 6:67-69, “Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Are you also going to leave?” Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God”“. Peter hit the nail on the head when he spoke up on behalf of all the disciples, because he realised that only Jesus could give eternal life. That is our message to the lost souls around us and we pray for opportunities to tell them the Good News. Someone once condensed the Gospel into, “Hell is hot, Heaven is real and Jesus saves”. That is the Gospel in a nutshell. We don’t have to enter into intellectual discussions and debates about Christianity and what it means. We instead allow the Holy Spirit within us to give us the words that we already know, but which are tailor-made to touch our listeners with what God wants them to hear. We mustn’t forget though that although we share Jesus’ words of eternal life, it is the Holy Spirit who brings conviction in the hearts of our hearers. John 16:8, “And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment“. 

Father God. You are not only the Source of the Good News, but You are the Good News, We thank You that You cared enough for us to send someone to introduce us to Jesus and we pray for opportunities to do the same. In Jesus’ holy name. Amen.

Chosen By God

Posted on by korgrocker

“This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Sosthenes. I am writing to God’s church in Corinth, to you who have been called by God to be his own holy people. He made you holy by means of Christ Jesus, just as he did for all people everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.”
1 Corinthians 1:1-3 NLT

We’re going to take a break from the Psalms for now and spend some time in the Corinthian letters, which Paul wrote in the middle of the First Century AD. A few years earlier Paul had established the church in Corinth, and while away in other places, probably including Ephesus, he wrote the first epistle, followed by the second, three or four years later.

The authorship of the Corinthian epistle was clear, because the letter starts with the name of the author. Paul established the church in Corinth during his second missionary journey, as we read in Acts 18. Paul tried to convince the Jews there about Jesus, but eventually gave up – Acts 18:6, “But when they opposed and insulted him, Paul shook the dust from his clothes and said, “Your blood is upon your own heads—I am innocent. From now on I will go preach to the Gentiles””. Paul therefore started the church in the home of a man called Titius Justus, who lived next door to the synagogue. It seemed to be quite a successful church plant with even the leader of the synagogue becoming a believer. Reading further, “One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision and told him, “Don’t be afraid! Speak out! Don’t be silent! For I am with you, and no one will attack and harm you, for many people in this city belong to me.” So Paul stayed there for the next year and a half, teaching the word of God” (Acts 18:9-11). ‭‭

Paul started his first letter by reminding the Corinthians about his credentials, “chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus”. Paul was different from the other early Apostles because he met the risen Jesus on the Damascus Road, on his way to arrest some early believers. We can read the account of how that happened in Acts 9, with the commissioning of Paul recorded in Acts 9:15-16 through a believer called Ananias. “But the Lord said, “Go, for Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel. And I will show him how much he must suffer for my name’s sake””. A clear endorsement of Paul’s apostleship and he did indeed suffer much as he travelled around the Middle East on his missionary journeys. But what choice did Paul have, after such a dramatic encounter and conversion? Paul would never be the same again and all that zeal directed and focused on doing the early believers harm was now to be re-focused on spreading the Gospel. Paul was an extraordinary man, and very worthy of the title “Apostle”.

Paul was chosen “by the will of God”. But in a sense that also applies to all believers. In Ephesians 1:4-5, Paul wrote, “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure”. Jesus said to His disciples, and by extension to us as well, “You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name” (John 15:16). In our arrogance, sometimes, we claim that we “saw the light” and chose to become a believer, but God knew otherwise, as we saw from Paul’s words in Ephesians 1:4. Romans 5:6, “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners“. Jesus didn’t have to do that. Perhaps we think sometimes that surely God must have had a Plan B for reconciling man to Himself, less demanding and dramatic, but God knew best, as always, and His Plan A was a demonstration of love so profound that it caught the devil on the hop and defeated him once and for all. But most importantly God provides an opportunity today for people to respond to Him, with grateful hearts in this season of grace, and discover His love for them, as they embrace Jesus’ sacrifice for the forgiveness of their sins.

Regarding us pilgrims, Peter in his first epistle wrote, “ … for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9). We pilgrims are royalty, chosen by God. What a wonderful place to be. God loved the world, and Jesus died as the outworking of that love. We pilgrims now have the opportunity to tell people about what happened two thousand years ago, and we take note of the sermon preached by Peter in Acts 2. At the end we read the corollary, “With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation” (Acts 2:40). Peter didn’t try and convince his audience that God loved them, asking them to respond to that love. Instead he warned them of the consequences of refusing to believe in Jesus and in the process living a life the same as the sinful people around them. God has put before all human beings an open door with a sign hanging on it inviting everyone to step inside. Inside they will find the road to eternal life and a personal experience of God’s love, the consequence of being chosen by God.

Dear Lord God. We know that You choose us and love us, Your children, and we are so very grateful. But many around us are totally unaware of what lies before them beyond the grave. Please lead us to people with open hearts, people willing to stop, listen, and take note that this season of Your grace won’t last forever. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Future Generations

Posted on by korgrocker

“Let the rich of the earth feast and worship. Bow before him, all who are mortal, all whose lives will end as dust. Our children will also serve him. Future generations will hear about the wonders of the Lord. His righteous acts will be told to those not yet born. They will hear about everything he has done.”
Psalm 22:29-31 NLT

It is a fact of human life, that the species homo sapiens maintains its existence by the production of future generations. God’s plan was set out in the early chapters of Genesis, starting with Genesis 2:7, “Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person“. That was the male of the species, but he was shortly joined by the female, “Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man” (Genesis 2:22). That original male “WOW” must still be reverberating around the Universe! The next wonder is a few verses on, “This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one”. Earlier in Genesis 1:27-28a we read, “So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply …””. To complete the picture we turn to Genesis 4:1, “Now Adam had sexual relations with his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant. When she gave birth to Cain, she said, “With the Lord’s help, I have produced a man!”” And so “future generations” were established and the process repeated. Simple biology as we all know, but this was God’s plan for populating Planet Earth.

But each new life introduced into our world has a problem – they are born with sin built in. Psalm 51:5, “For I was born a sinner— yes, from the moment my mother conceived me“. It is troubling to think that this beautifully formed child, so innocent and so loved, has the potential within it to be sinful, but there is no escape, as Paul wrote, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard“. And as that child grows up into a man or woman, a process that can be painful, particularly for the parents, one of three things happen. The child may, through the witness of his or her parents or others, become a believer like them and live a life of piety in relationship with God. Or the child may become more and more sinful, living a life of evil and wickedness that continues to the end of their lives. Thirdly, the child may grow up to become a “good” person, following all the laws of the land (well, mostly!) and be considered an upright citizen in whatever country they live. But however they live their lives, these grown up children continue the cycle, producing their own children, adding to those in the category of “future generations”. 

But David wrote, “Future generations will hear about the wonders of the Lord”. In fact, he developed this theme, writing “His righteous acts will be told to those not yet born. They will hear about everything he has done”. How is that going to happen, in our world corrupted by sin and bombarded with sinful advertising, and in places where sinful practices take place. How will people hear about the Lord’s wonders in our schools where sinful ideologies are taught, often as fact. And overlaying it all, like letters embedded in a stick of rock, within each human being there is a preference for doing sinful things, a preference for evil rather than for God’s ways. In these final verses of Psalm 22, David wrote down a promise of the Lord. In faith, and prophetically, he assured his, and future, generations that God’s wonderful works will never be forgotten. In fact, he wrote, even those not yet born would know about them. We pilgrims know within us the wonderful things God has done in us, through us and by us. Hardly a morning goes by without me being reminded of the wonderful presence of God, with memories of how He has come through for me in dark times as well as good times. Our enemy the devil has forgotten one major thing about human beings – they are all born with a God-shaped hole within them, and throughout their lives people will try to fill it. Genesis 1:27, “So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them“. If people are created in God’s image then they will inevitably look for ways in which they can connect with Him. Some turn to mystic practices such as mindfulness or Yoga. Back in the 60’s, transcendental meditation was all the rage. Others explore all the chemical substances available, drugs and alcohol just for starters, in the hope they can introduce some way of filling the yearning within them, or, more likely, to dull the pain of knowing that they are lost without Him. But intuitively people know that there is only one way into God’s presence and that is why today there is an increase in the numbers of our young people embracing Christianity here in the UK. A wonderful revival is about to take place, because God will never forget His creation, and His love and compassion with burst into the lives of human beings through His grace. 

Isaiah wrote, “Seek the Lord while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near. Let the wicked change their ways and banish the very thought of doing wrong. Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously” (Isaiah 55:6-7). While a human being, now or in the future, is alive and breathing, he will have an opportunity to look for, and find, a personal relationship with God. But once dead, the opportunity is gone. That is why we pilgrims are on a mission, to tell everyone about the “wonders of the Lord”. Yesterday I met a depressed dog walker, weighed down by, as she put it, the state of the world. So I took the opportunity to tell her that because of Easter Sunday we have hope in this otherwise dark and evil world. A seed planted that God will water and nurture, hopefully bringing eternal life to one of the “future generations”. It is a privilege to be able to share what God has done for us. There is no shortage of stories to tell of God’s grace, and we never know that the stranger we might share the Gospel with may become another Billy Graham, reaching millions with the Good News of God’s saving grace. And so we praise and worship the One who has promised never to leave us or forsake us, ever. As we step out today, we pray for God to lead us to yet another hopeless soul, scared witless by the state of the world. The society around is full of such people, just existing in a life of sin, some even wishing that they had never been born. And we pray like we never have before, because the days are short.

Dear Lord Jesus. Only You have the words of eternal life. Only You are the Way, the Truth and the Life. Please help us reach out to those You have prepared for the seeds of the Gospel to be planted, bringing hope to the hopeless, and life to the dying. Amen.

The Crucifixion

Posted on by korgrocker

“My enemies surround me like a pack of dogs; an evil gang closes in on me. They have pierced my hands and feet. I can count all my bones. My enemies stare at me and gloat. They divide my garments among themselves and throw dice for my clothing.”
Psalm 22:16-18 NLT

David’s prophetic image of crucifixion is incredibly accurate. The piercing of hands and feet, the shame of the nakedness, and the disposal of the poor person’s clothes all featured later in the graphic details of Jesus’ crucifixion that we can read in the Gospels. David wrote this Psalm in the first person, as though it was him who was experiencing the trauma of an extremely painful death. But how did David know about crucifixion many years before it was used as a heinously cruel act of execution? In common with many Old Testament prophecies, such a revelation could only have been provided by the Holy Spirit. God sees the end from the beginning and there were many occasions in the Bible when He chose to share what was coming with particular men and women who were part of His story of interaction with His loved creation, human beings. 

After the Resurrection, Jesus appeared to His disciples, probably scaring them half to death, because crucified, graveyard-dead, men don’t reappear alive and well, as a general rule. We know that His hands and feet were pierced by the Roman nails because scars remained, and it was these that Jesus showed His disciples, just so that they knew he was the same Man. Luke 24:38-40, ““Why are you frightened?” he asked. “Why are your hearts filled with doubt? Look at my hands. Look at my feet. You can see that it’s really me. Touch me and make sure that I am not a ghost, because ghosts don’t have bodies, as you see that I do.” As he spoke, he showed them his hands and his feet“. Don’t forget that these men, Jesus’ disciples, were men of the world in their day. Some were fishermen, a profession not known for personal sensitivity and atmospheric and intellectual thinking, and they would need some convincing that Jesus was indeed back from the dead. But they were still struggling to make sense of what they were seeing, because the next verse in Luke reads, “Still they stood there in disbelief, filled with joy and wonder. Then he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?”” Jesus ate a piece of fish in their presence, finally convincing them that He was indeed alive. Ghosts don’t sit down to a fish supper! Jesus was the same Man but with a resurrected body that could pass through walls and travel distances instantly. God showed David the start of the journey from the Cross to the empty tomb, knowing that this was enough to help countless people understand why Jesus had to die. 

Another part of David’s prophecy involved Jesus’ clothes. Right on cue, we read in Luke 23:34, “Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice”. In John’s Gospel we read a few more details of what actually happened, “When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they divided his clothes among the four of them. They also took his robe, but it was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. So they said, “Rather than tearing it apart, let’s throw dice for it.” This fulfilled the Scripture that says, “They divided my garments among themselves and threw dice for my clothing.” So that is what they did” (John 19:23-24). Again, how did David know this would happen unless God Himself had told him? Incredible details that must convince even the most cynical sceptic about Jesus and what happened that first Easter weekend.

Jesus just borrowed Joseph’s tomb for a weekend. It was soon vacated, and the next phase of history commenced. Within a few years the birth of Christianity took place, first in Jerusalem, and then, spreading rapidly, it exploded with Good News into the lives of men and women all over the civilised parts of the world. We pilgrims have heard the message and have put our trust in Jesus. Factually the Crucifixion happened – there is enough hard evidence to convince a court of law even all these years later. But that is not why we believe in Jesus. We have put our faith in the Man who came to this world, leaving the comfort of Heavenly eternity, just to save us from the consequences of our sins. Good News indeed. The Gospel has spread largely by the Holy-Spirit-empowered testimonies of God’s people, and we are part of that process today. We too tell everyone who we know about Jesus, about His love, His grace, His sinless sacrifice, His death and resurrection, and, above all, His invitation to spend eternity with Him. Daily we look for an opportunity to share our faith, and in the process bring ever closer that day when Jesus returns. We express our praise and worship and shout out our hallelujah’s whenever we can, because what else can we do? We give God all the glory and will do forever and ever.

Dear Lord Jesus. We proclaim our love and thanks to You today. Easter Sunday we remember every day, because You are alive and well, and live in our hearts through Your Spirit. Thank You Lord. Amen.

God Judges

Posted on by korgrocker

“Arise, O Lord, in anger! Stand up against the fury of my enemies! Wake up, my God, and bring justice! Gather the nations before you. Rule over them from on high. The Lord judges the nations. Declare me righteous, O Lord, for I am innocent, O Most High!”
Psalm 7:6-8 NLT

People must think that David was either very brave or very stupid, speaking to God like that. We, of course, know intuitively that our Creator God cannot be ordered around like David was trying to do, but that didn’t seem to stop him having a good rant about divine justice being meted out on his enemies. David wanted God to become angry with his enemies and bring about a universal judgement of nations, all arraigned before Him. Oh, and in the process, David demanded that God declared him righteous and innocent.

But David wasn’t wrong in his expectations, because there is coming a day when God will judge the nations. It was just that David seemed to require an immediate Godly response, so we can perhaps instead consider a prophetic message here, embedded in David’s rant. But we mustn’t forget that God had judged the sin and wickedness prevalent in the earth before. We remember the Flood, Genesis 6:5-7, “The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart. And the Lord said, “I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth. Yes, and I will destroy every living thing—all the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and even the birds of the sky. I am sorry I ever made them””. God judged the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and we can read the account in Genesis 18 and 19. “So the Lord told Abraham, “I have heard a great outcry from Sodom and Gomorrah, because their sin is so flagrant”(Genesis 18:20). “Then the Lord rained down fire and burning sulphur from the sky on Sodom and Gomorrah. He utterly destroyed them, along with the other cities and villages of the plain, wiping out all the people and every bit of vegetation” (Genesis 19:24-25).

Has God judged peoples today? There is the reality of what God’s present judgement looks like in Romans 1. Here are some extracts, “But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. … So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies.  … Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarrelling, deception, malicious behaviour, and gossip. … They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too” (Romans 1:18, 24, 28-29, 32). Persistent and wicked people will be abandoned by God, and we can read the consequences in Romans 2:5-6, “But because you are stubborn and refuse to turn from your sin, you are storing up terrible punishment for yourself. For a day of anger is coming, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. He will judge everyone according to what they have done”. 

David asked God to wake up and deal with his enemies. But God is very much awake and is storing up all the information needed for that terrible day when everyone, without exception, will come before Him and be judged. Thankfully, God is extremely patient, as Paul wrote in Romans 2:4, “Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?”‭‭ And that’s the issue. God wants no-one to perish and end up in hell, and He has allowed a life span for mankind to respond to Him in repentance. Once the last breath is taken a person will find that, for them, God’s patience has expired.

God judged people through the Flood and Sodom and Gomorrah, but He also judges today by abandoning people to the consequences of their wickedness in their lives on earth.

So, we pilgrims must never give up in sharing with others the Good News about Jesus. Only He can forgive our sins – there is no other name through which we can be saved. 

Dear Lord Jesus. Thank You for Calvary and Your willingness to die for mankind so that whosoever believes in You will inherit eternal life. We are so grateful, and we pray for our friends and family, that they too will find the narrow gate that leads to life. In Your precious name. Amen. 

The Finality of Death

Posted on by korgrocker

“Return, O Lord, and rescue me. Save me because of your unfailing love. For the dead do not remember you. Who can praise you from the grave?”
Psalm 6:4-5 NLT

A grim subject to write about this morning, and not one that is a popular discussion point in every day life. Death is a certainty. No-one will escape its clutches. Human beings get to a point in life when their bodies wear out and they die, and David was aware of that because he took pains to remind God of the fact. David seemed to be afraid of his enemies and prayed for rescue and salvation from death, a common prayer by anyone in fear of mortal danger. News is coming in this morning of a plane crash in South Korea with many deaths resulting. Those people would have cried out to God for rescue, whether they knew Him or not. But most people (over 90%) die peacefully in their sleep, having fulfilled their “three score years and ten” or even more if they have the strength. 

David reminded God that dead people cannot praise Him, and that is the issue. We have a short span of life available to us during which we can offer God our praise and worship. A time when we can communicate with Him, thank Him, love Him, serve Him and enjoy Him, as the Westminster Catechism records. But inevitably there will come a time when this opportunity will pass. As we read the Davidic Psalms, we can see that David had a relationship with God, birthed in the long hours while he watched his father’s sheep. Times when he praised and worshipped God with his harp, finding the sweet spot of relational bliss with his Creator. He knew that God loved him. He knew that God supplied his needs, and he knew that he could communicate directly through his prayers and conversation with his Lord. But in this moment of crisis, he appeared to be facing into death, and was appealing to God for rescue. 

We know that there comes a time when our physical bodies die and are disposed of as being of no further use to us. Most people think that there is something going to happen after we die, and there are some strange theories about what that is. We have incarnation, where we return in a different body. Some believe that everyone goes to a place they call Heaven. Others believe that when people die they enter a period of blackness, the ultimate finality. But the Bible tells us that when we die, our spirits live on and end up in a holding place we call Heaven or hell. Jesus told a story about the Rich Man and Lazarus in Luke 16, and from the conversation Jesus had with the adjacent penitent thief at Calvary, we know that there is a place called paradise awaiting us. So the question facing into mankind is, without exception, “Where will your spirit go after you die?” We pilgrims have made the right choice, because we are children of God. But what about those around us, who perhaps have yet to make a decision, and for whom the clock is ticking? In Acts 2:40 we read, “Then Peter continued preaching for a long time, strongly urging all his listeners, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!”” And these words still reverberate today, as we repeat them to the lost and dying around us. The most important choice that a human being can make is about their post-death future. 

Dear Father God, please lead us to those who are open to Your Gospel, and are waiting for someone to share what You have done for us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Blazing Torches

Posted on by korgrocker

“The leading priests and Pharisees had given Judas a contingent of Roman soldiers and Temple guards to accompany him. Now with blazing torches, lanterns, and weapons, they arrived at the olive grove. Jesus fully realized all that was going to happen to him, so he stepped forward to meet them. “Who are you looking for?” he asked.”
John 18:3-4 NLT

Imagine the scene. It was dark and Jesus and His disciples were in the Olive Grove, in a place where they usually went. There would have been sufficient light from the stars and perhaps the moon to provide a half-lit monochrome environment. Around them were the olive trees, standing still and shadowy. And then in the distance there appeared lights, the “blazing torches”, the occasional lantern, and sounds, clinking of weapons, whispered voices. Some historians have even estimated that there may have been as many as six hundred soldiers present in that military contingent, though this would seem a bit unlikely, just to arrest one man. But onward they came, tramping through the Olive Grove. Fear would have been starting to rise in the hearts of the eleven disciples, who were there with Jesus.

Of course we remember Peter’s words, as recorded in Matthew 26:35, ““No!” Peter insisted. “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you!” And all the other disciples vowed the same“. The intentions of the disciples to die for their Master and friend were clear, but Peter’s words evaporated into thin air when faced with the overwhelming force arraigned against them. But Jesus had all under control. He “stepped forward to meet them” and asked for clarification about their intentions. What happened next we will consider in a future blog.

But the “blazing torches”? All these events were taking place in the darkness just outside Jerusalem and at a time when ordinary people, who might have become a hindrance to the religious leaders’ purposes, were tucked up in their beds. We know, however, that the devil is most active in times of darkness. Ephesians 6:12, “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places“. The “blazing torches” provided physical light so that the instruments of the devil’s purposes could find their way amongst the trees, but in Jerusalem the enemy’s darkness was working its way in the hearts of the religious leaders. They must have been rubbing their hands with glee, thinking that, at last, they had the opportunity to do away with the Man who challenged their sinful practices.

Is there any significance in these “blazing torches” today? With our modern technology, light is easily manufactured, and can quickly expose the dark corners in rooms and streets. But there is only one “blazing torch” that can expose the dark corners in people’s hearts. In Luke 11:35-36, Jesus said, “Make sure that the light you think you have is not actually darkness. If you are filled with light, with no dark corners, then your whole life will be radiant, as though a floodlight were filling you with light“. There is only one source of light that really matters and that is Jesus. 

Dear Heavenly Father. You want us to be “blazing torches”, witnesses, for You in this wayward and war-soaked world. Please lead us and guide with the Master’s torch, that illuminates our hearts. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Message

Posted on by korgrocker

“I have revealed you to the ones you gave me from this world. They were always yours. You gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything I have is a gift from you, for I have passed on to them the message you gave me. They accepted it and know that I came from you, and they believe you sent me.”
John 17:6-8 NLT

In these last hours Jesus had the assurance that all His hard work and loving commitment during the preceding three years had not been wasted. His disciples knew who He was and what His mission was about. But the disciples didn’t just know about Jesus, they believed in Him. There is an important distinction. Many people in this world know a lot about God, but they don’t believe in Him. As a young Christian, I used to work next to an atheistic humanist who had been brought up as a Roman Catholic. He knew a lot of Scriptures, and he used to torment me with difficult verses that he perceived as a contradiction to the Christian message. But even the devil knows Scripture, as Jesus found out during His temptation in the wilderness. Our minds can be full of useful information about God but until we believe it and it infuses our very souls, it is a wasted resource.

Jesus came to this world with a message, a message rich in God’s love and grace, a message that would provide a “way back to God from the dark paths of sin”, quoting lyrics written by an old hymn writer. The Gospel message is truly good news for all mankind, but it is not enough to know it. It has to be believed and applied in people’s lives. Romans 10:9-10, “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved“. Peter’s Acts 2 sermon included these verses, “ … Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away—all who have been called by the Lord our God” (Acts 2:38-39). Both these passages of Scripture cannot be read and forgotten because they articulate the message that Jesus brought. But neither can they just  be recited as an assurance that the person is now a believer. The key is “believing in your heart”. Jesus’ message is a call to action, to a life of repentance and sanctification. 

Jesus passed on His message to His disciples, but not with the expectation that it would stay there, a private information source for their own benefit. It was always about passing on the message to others, and for them to then do the same. Jesus’ message is for all mankind. Mark’s Gospel records Jesus’ words about His message, “And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:15-16). In Matthew 28 Jesus said, “Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). He indicated that there will be an “end” one day. Earlier Jesus said, “And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14). 

We pilgrims have a message to proclaim, the Good News about Jesus and bearing in mind the profound statement we find in John 14:6, “Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me”. There is no other message by which we can be saved. There will be many who claim otherwise, but we pilgrims continue with Jesus’ message of salvation, interlaced with our own personal testimonies of what Jesus has done for us. What else can we do? As Jesus said on His Palm Sunday ride into Jerusalem,  “ … If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!” (Luke 19:40). God chose to use ordinary men and women to do His work in spreading the Gospel. A risky strategy? Yes, humanly speaking. But God is patient – he has all the time in the world. 

Dear Father God. You entrusted Your precious message of salvation to us pilgrims and as we reach out proclaiming this message to those around us we pray that You bring in the fruit of new Kingdom life. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Conviction of Sin

Posted on by korgrocker

“But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment. The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in me. Righteousness is available because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more. Judgment will come because the ruler of this world has already been judged.”
John 16:7-11 NLT

The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, was hovering in the wings, waiting for the time when Jesus left this world. He told His disciples that it was best for them if He went away, but I can just imagine them wondering about what all this means. You see, we pilgrims today have the benefit of hindsight, but the disciples were heading into, what was to them, unknown territory. They heard what Jesus said, but His words took them well outside their knowledge and comfort zones. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would do something about sin, righteousness and judgement. He would  “convict the world” on all three counts. In a court of law, a convicted person is then sentenced to some form of punishment. But the conviction that comes from the Holy Spirit is the exposure of the truth, showing unbelieving people that they are wrong and God is right.

This world is a sinful place, steeped in evil and wickedness. Sin first entered this world in the Garden of Eden and things have only worsened since. But I have met people who are convinced that they are not sinners because they claim to be “good people”. They say they don’t engage in what they perceive as sinful practices, like drinking excessively or taking drugs or going to places or doing things, they shouldn’t. In fact, they say, they do a lot of good work, befriending people, donating to the poor and charities, working in food banks, and so on. But none of this will mitigate their sin. Paul wrote in Romans 3:23, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard”. Imagine that God’s pass mark, His “glorious standard”, was 100%. We then take a test that assess our sinlessness. And it may be that someone gets 50%. Another might even achieve 60%. Or another person, a bit of a rogue, might only get to 20%. But the results are the same – these three people are all defined as sinners because they didn’t reach the pass mark – 100%. And God has no time for a person’s excuse that he is better than another person – Paul said “everyone has sinned”.

We pilgrims know that we can preach the Gospel with passion and authority, but a sinful person will laugh at us, well, that is, until the Holy Spirit takes over, bringing conviction of sin. The gateway to repentance comes because the Holy Spirit will show a person that his or her lack of belief in God is sin. It is not the responsibility of us pilgrims to get people saved. The Holy Spirit will do that in a much more effective way. We deliver the message. The Holy Spirit brings conviction of sin. It may be that we have to persevere with our message, grasping every opportunity to present it, but the listeners have a choice, in the same way that we did before we became believers.

Father God. You have a plan for the salvation of mankind and we are Your willing messengers, sharing the Good News with the unbelieving people around us. Please lead us to the right people. In Jesus name. Amen.

You Must Testify

Posted on by korgrocker

“But I will send you the Advocate —the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will testify all about me. And you must also testify about me because you have been with me from the beginning of my ministry.”
John 15:26-27 NLT

The word “testify” appears twice in these verses, once associated with the Holy Spirit and the other time with Jesus and His disciples. Everything they needed to know about Jesus after He had gone would be revealed to them by the Holy Spirit, who would “come” to them “from the Father”. But just a few short years before, something happened on the shores of the Galilean Sea that would have far reaching consequences, not just for those concerned, but for the world ever since. Those early disciples are long dead but their legacy lives on in successive generations of believers. Mark 1:16-17, “One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!””. Just a little further along the shore Jesus found James and John and we read, “He called them at once, and they also followed him, leaving their father, Zebedee, in the boat with the hired men” (Mark 1:20). Did those four men have any clue about would happen over the next three years or so‭‭? Their world was turned upside down but they never turned away from Jesus. But here was their Master saying to them and the others, “you must also testify about me because you have been with me from the beginning of my ministry.” 

And testify about Jesus they did. On the same day that the Spirit fell on those gathered in that Upper Room, on the first Day of Pentecost, Peter testified about Jesus, “People of Israel, listen! God publicly endorsed Jesus the Nazarene by doing powerful miracles, wonders, and signs through him, as you well know” (Acts 2:22). And Peter’s last recorded words were, “Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All glory to him, both now and forever! Amen” (2 Peter 3:18). The last verse in the Bible was spoken by the Apostle John, “May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s holy people” (Revelation 22:21). Those early disciples, who had “been with [Jesus] from the beginning of [His] ministry” never stopped testifying about Jesus, fulfilling Jesus’ wishes in these last hours of His life.

We pilgrims, by extension, must also testify about Jesus. The Holy Spirit dwells within all truly born again believers and they too benefit from His testimony about Jesus. At every opportunity we must share how Jesus gave His life to save everyone, and in the process we testify how that made a difference to us. In John 1:4-7, we read, “The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. God sent a man, John the Baptist, to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony”. John the Baptist was the first testifier about Jesus. He realised who the Light was and he testified about Jesus “so that everyone might believe”. 

Paul wrote, “We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. … But we continue to preach because we have the same kind of faith the psalmist had when he said, “I believed in God, so I spoke”” (2 Corinthians 4:7, 13). We faith-filled pilgrims may feel totally inadequate for the task of testifying but regardless we must speak the words of Jesus at every opportunity. Why? Because Jesus asked us to.

Lord Jesus. Because of Your grace and love what else can we do other than speak out our testimony of faith. Please lead us to the people You want to hear it. In Jesus’ name. Amen.