"Together with one Voice" by Geoff Thompson

This is the message I brought to the Parkrose Village congregation on 9/12/19.
The final delivery was slightly different.

Romans 15:4-13 Living Bible (TLB)

⁴ These things that were written in the Scriptures so long ago are to teach us patience and to encourage us so that we will look forward expectantly to the time when God will conquer sin and death.

⁵ May God who gives patience, steadiness, and encouragement help you to live in complete harmony with each other—each with the attitude of Christ toward the other. ⁶ And then all of us can praise the Lord together with one voice, giving glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁷ So warmly welcome each other into the church, just as Christ has warmly welcomed you; then God will be glorified. ⁸ Remember that Jesus Christ came to show that God is true to his promises and to help the Jews. ⁹ And remember that he came also that the Gentiles might be saved and give glory to God for his mercies to them. That is what the psalmist meant when he wrote: “I will praise you among the Gentiles and sing to your name.”

¹⁰ And in another place, “Be glad, O you Gentiles, along with his people the Jews.”

¹¹ And yet again, “Praise the Lord, O you Gentiles; let everyone praise him.”

¹² And the prophet Isaiah said, “There shall be an Heir in the house of Jesse, and he will be King over the Gentiles; they will pin their hopes on him alone.”

¹³ So I pray for you Gentiles that God who gives you hope will keep you happy and full of peace as you believe in him. I pray that God will help you overflow with hope in him through the Holy Spirit’s power within you.

Living Bible (TLB)

The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

SERMON

“Together with one Voice”

We had this from today’s reading.

⁵ May God who gives patience, steadiness, and encouragement help you to live in complete harmony with each other—each with the attitude of Christ toward the other.

⁶ And then all of us can praise the Lord together with one voice, giving glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This might not sound like a very challenging sermon title but I can assure you it is.

I hope that today we realise and we see the need to be together in one voice and to have the attitude of Jesus towards each other.

Last Friday night there was a wonderful thing happened at the Parkrose Nursing home. The management had organised a Christmas Carol night for all the residents.

Some of us helped in the music department.

It was a wonderful evening of singing and praising God and a time of goodwill amongst all who were there.

Staff, residents and volunteers. Even the CEO.

Now not everyone there would have been Christians but the Holy Spirit was definitely there in creating a wonderful time of harmony and goodwill.

During the year amongst all those people , I can guarantee, not all has been a bed of roses.

But last Friday night there was a pause in any animosity with each other.

If you don’t take home anything else from today remember how at Christmas when Jesus is given the pre eminence, goodwill prevails. This means we let Jesus rule our hearts.

The secret is we need to do this  in our lives all day long.

Have you ever heard someone say to you “we need to be together on the same page”.

That’s probably a not so subtle suggestion that says, 

“you don’t agree with me but you should!”

 “and what’s more, you are wrong!”

That flies in the face of being together with one voice doesn’t it?

What about our politicians who can’t get on with each other even in the same party?

The backstabbing, the overthrow of one Prime Minister after another.

But really most of the time we are no better than them.

Not on the world stage but in the circles of our own lives.

The universal problem of mankind is that very quickly we can disagree with others,

we can dislike them,

 we can find fault,

we can get angry.

We can be so angry that we go to war with some other country.

At its worse level anger is behind murder and crime.

Of course there are lots of people we think are just marvellous.

But sometimes it’s funny that they too

 can fall out of our favour with us,

 when we find out they are not quite what we thought they were.

We change our minds about them.

Why does his happen so often?

Why do we form opinions about people?

Why do we think “they””they” should know better?

Do we have a right to judge others?

As Christians how should we conduct ourselves in our relationships?

To our fellow Christians,

 and to those who don’t share our beliefs?

Should we be different in this regard to those who aren’t Christians?

Or should we treat everybody the same regardless of their views?

If someone treats us very shabbily, how should we react to that?

Do we turn the other cheek?

Do we confront them?

Tell them off?

Do we even give it a second thought as to what we should do as Christians?

I am raising a lot of questions here aren’t I?

A great guide for us is that well known saying

“What would Jesus do?”

When we examine what He did as told to us in the NT, there were very few times where He said anything in anger.

On the few occasions He did some would call that righteous anger!

Do we have a right to righteous anger?

We read this earlier.

⁵ May God who gives patience, steadiness, and encouragement help you to live in complete harmony with each other—each with the attitude of Christ toward the other.

Let’s look at some of those words. 4 of them.

1.  Patience. If we learn patience we can learn to be

 slow to speak,

slow to act.

Slow to react.

Patience allows time for us to think clearly what our response should be.

This surely is an antidote to a quick temper.

Sometimes of course we can have a simmering slow passive anger that can build up to make ourselves a mess.

2  Steadiness.

Here is a definition of steady.  

(of a person) sensible, reliable, and self-restrained: eg. a solid, steady young man.

 not faltering or wavering; controlled

If we are Christians we are to be filled with God’s Spirit.

To be filled with God’s Spirit really means to be controlled by the Holy Spirit.

And if we are then we will exhibit the fruits of the spirit.

Galatians 5:22-23 New International Version (NIV)

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

3     encouragement and  help

God encourages us through fellowship with other Christians, their wise counsel, and also by His Holy Spirit.

 The Helper is one of His names.

If we are Christians He will be living within our spirits and if we listen He will help and counsel us.

Of course if we have Christian friends who are letting God’s Holy Spirit control them from within they will be able to give us wise counsel.

4     the attitude of Christ toward the other

We should have the same attitude as Jesus would.

Isn’t that saying “What would Jesus do?”

Are you getting the drift of this?

Are we being drawn into answering these questions?

One of the things that has helped me the most is this simple but profound thought.

The need to give up my right to myself.

(Jesus could have struck down his tormentors but He chose to ignore the right or power to do that.)

The need to give up my right to myself.

You might say that I couldn’t do that.

I am not going to let someone walk all over me.

Actually when you do give up the right to yourself in God’s strength that won’t be your experience.

Paul says, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” (Romans 12:18).

Let’s listen to some of Oswald Chambers from “My utmost for His Highest”

Those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. —Galatians 5:24

 “Those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh….” The cost to your natural life is not just one or two things, but everything. Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself…” (Matthew 16:24). That is, he must deny his right to himself, and he must realize who Jesus Christ is before he will bring himself to do it.

So if we do these things.

Realise we need to be looking at and willing to sacrifice our natural instincts and reactions,

our self righteousness,

that’s when we can learn to live in harmony as our passage suggests.

In harmony with those who are with us and with those who are against us.

^“6 And then all of us can praise the Lord together with one voice, giving glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

We need to live in harmony with our fellow Christians and also people who aren’t Christians.

The Bible teaches us they will know we are Christians by our Love.

What is the clue, the common denominator, to being together with one voice?

Jesus!

(The truce of Christmas in 1914 war)
I spoke briefly about this. 
How Jesus brought soldiers to a truce on Christmas day 1914.

See about this here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cSrqRdlFeo&list=PLIwb3xq_rxx2pBpsKZEvr8JTPC5dW_jSh&index=3&t=180s 

Just one final word that I read some years ago that has stuck with me.

"If we see where some Christian brother or sister is failing it is not ours to criticise and condemn but to intercede on their behalf." 

So as we move through this Christmas season, let’s endeavour to bring the message of our Saviour, 
our living Saviour,

the reality of His presence
 in our daily living,

so that we can know peace and harmony with our fellow men and women.

And let’s continue to do this well beyond the Christmas season.

OOS Sunday 08/12/19  at Parkrose. 

Welcome: Geoff 

Call to Worship: Psalm 72:18-19 (KJV)

Hymn:  “O come all ye faithful”  89  4v

Announcements:

Hymn: “Never in all human story”  96  3v

Communion 

Offering 

Church Prayer

Bible Reading: Romans 15:4-13 Living Bible (TLB)

Hymn: “Kindred in Christ” 250  4v            

Sermon:  “together with one voice”

Hymn:  “Love came down at Christmas”  95  3v

Benediction

Vesper:  Now unto Him

Cuppa time

 

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"Facts that strengthen our Faith"

I shared these thoughts with the Parkrose Nursing Home Church congregation recently and both Renmark Uniting Churches.
This version was presented at Parkrose. It was slightly different at Renmark.
Below the sermon is the order of service and the Bible Reading.

SERMON

How are you going in the Faith department?

If you’re anything like me I often don’t have much.

I wish I could be more believing more often,

more effective as a Christian.

For some of us,

when we started our Christian life,

it was all very exciting and new.

It was for me.

God’s Holy Spirit had spoken to me about my need for salvation and need of our Saviour Jesus.

I was under conviction for 3 years before I became a Christian at 28.

 but at the time I could see how He was reaching out to me much earlier than that.

Some of us may have had a subsequent period in our lives,after we became a Christian, when we were “on fire for the Lord” as some would say.

Very involved,

attending this service and that,

this convention and that,

listening to prominent speakers,

attending Bible Studies,

sharing our faith with all who would listen,

Sometimes whether they wanted to hear us or not.

Singing in the choir,

taking up leadership roles in our Church.

And then some things might have come along to cause us to stumble a bit.

Relationship break ups,

the onset of chronic illness,

tragedies all around.

You might have worked out previously in your thinking,

like me,

 how God was going to give you a perfect life.

But like me your faith may have started to wain when challenges came.

Maybe we were  starting to become a bit sceptical and beginning to think our non Christian friends might be right.

They didn’t believe and maybe thought we were a bit delusional even though they still liked us.

They came up with questions that you didn’t always have answers for.

You were quite confident there were answers but found it hard to find them when needed.

They couldn’t see how Christians could have any fun and maybe you were starting to believe them.

Some of course who are here today have come from all sorts of Christian backgrounds.

For some our Faith is something that quietly started somewhere and then just grew over the years.

It may have been a slow and steady experience and you really just enjoyed and still do, being a Christian.

For some as we get older and come into places like this we know we are not that far off from passing to the next life.

We might ,even though we are advanced in years, still be searching for answers and assurance about what happens next.

We might be wanting a faith that works that will carry us through.

Well if what I have been describing resonates with you,

or is something you have experienced,

or even still are,

then I think today's passage can bring us some comfort.

A boost to our faith if you like.

We should always hope to leave a Church service feeling better than when we came in.

That can be if we allow God to touch us. 

My prayer is that will be our experience today,

Here are 4 things I think today's reading can help get us back on track.

1. The Fact of Jesus rising from the dead.

^1.8 Don’t ever forget the wonderful fact that Jesus Christ was a man, born into King David’s family; and that he was God, as shown by the fact that he rose again from the dead.

This passage is reminding us of the foundation of our faith which is a fact.

 A fact born about by History and Literature and the Word of God and God’s Holy Spirit.

And the testimony of those who knew Him when He physically walked this earth.

People will dispute this.

But the evidence is outstanding to those who are not prejudiced about becoming Christians.

You see many people, who are never likely to believe, are wanting to protect their right to be who they want to be.

That really means to sin without being accountable to God.

This blinds them from ever wanting to examine the evidence with an open mind.

Their minds are largely closed.

Some such people however may still be touched by God’s Holy Spirit even though it is against their wills.

After all such were some of us.

2.  We will be living in Heaven with Jesus. In a sense we are already.

¹¹ I am comforted by this truth, that when we suffer and die for Christ it only means that we will begin living with him in heaven. ¹² And if we think that our present service for him is hard, just remember that some day we are going to sit with him and rule with him.

This passage is a reminder that the best is yet to come.

That God has a purpose right now for everyone of us.

Suffering is something we are much more able to endure when we have all the promises God has for us and that He will keep.

And this following passage is a great encouragement when our faith is failing and weak.

3.God is faithful to us.

¹³ Even when we are too weak to have any faith left, he remains faithful to us and will help us, for he cannot disown us who are part of himself, and he will always carry out his promises to us.
God is aware of our human frailty.
He will and has already imparted His faith to us.
My mum used to love that little poem called footprints.
That is a very good scriptural example of what God, Jesus, is doing for us when we are that weak that our Faith is almost gone.
He will safely and faithfully escort us on through these tough times and over the hurdles we face.

One night I dreamed a dream.
As I was walking along the beach with my Lord.
Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life.
For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,
One belonging to me and one to my Lord.

After the last scene of my life flashed before me,
I looked back at the footprints in the sand.
I noticed that at many times along the path of my life,
especially at the very lowest and saddest times,
there was only one set of footprints.

This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it.
"Lord, you said once I decided to follow you,
You'd walk with me all the way.
But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life,
there was only one set of footprints.
I don't understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me."

He whispered, "My precious child, I love you and will never leave you
Never, ever, during your trials and testings.
When you saw only one set of footprints,
It was then that I carried you."

And this last bit from today’s passage is encouraging those of us who can, to encourage one another.

4.

¹⁴ Remind your people of these great facts, and command them in the name of the Lord not to argue over unimportant things. Such arguments are confusing and useless and even harmful. ¹⁵ Work hard so God can say to you, “Well done.” Be a good workman, one who does not need to be ashamed when God examines your work. Know what his Word says and means.

 We need to keep working on our Faith,

reading the Bible when we can,

attending Church here and other activities such as the hymn singing and communion services during the week.

Talk to each other about your faith.

How you’re feeling maybe exactly how someone else is and you can work together to lighten the burden.

We are told also to avoid arguing.

It’s sad but there was for sometime, an argument going on as to who actually was the author of the poem footprints.

The simple fact is that God actually wrote it not word for word, but in truth, in His Bible

Conclusion.

So is our Faith weak?

Does our faith need to be stronger?

In simple truth it doesn’t really matter.

If you are a Christian you are God’s Child.

We have a sign on our mantelpiece.

“GOD,  I am in your Hands.

I know you won’t drop me.”

He won’t.

That’s a fact.

We will now sing our last Hymn.

Can you guess what that might be?

Parkrose service13/10/19

Welcome

Call to worship: 

Hymn: “This is my Father’s World”  4v 

Announcements:

Bible Reading: 2 Tim 2:8-15                      

Hymn: “Great is thy Faithfulness”  3v 

Communion: 

Offering: 

Church Prayer:

Hymn:  “Now I belong to Jesus”  3v

Message:  “Facts that strengthen our Faith”

Hymn: “He’s got the whole world in His hands” 5v 

Benediction and Vesper: Now unto Him 

2 Timothy 2:8-15 Living Bible (TLB)

⁸ Don’t ever forget the wonderful fact that Jesus Christ was a man, born into King David’s family; and that he was God, as shown by the fact that he rose again from the dead. ⁹ It is because I have preached these great truths that I am in trouble here and have been put in jail like a criminal. But the Word of God is not chained, even though I am. ¹⁰ I am more than willing to suffer if that will bring salvation and eternal glory in Christ Jesus to those God has chosen.
¹¹ I am comforted by this truth, that when we suffer and die for Christ it only means that we will begin living with him in heaven. ¹² And if we think that our present service for him is hard, just remember that some day we are going to sit with him and rule with him. But if we give up when we suffer, and turn against Christ, then he must turn against us. ¹³ Even when we are too weak to have any faith left, he remains faithful to us and will help us, for he cannot disown us who are part of himself, and he will always carry out his promises to us.
¹⁴ Remind your people of these great facts, and command them in the name of the Lord not to argue over unimportant things. Such arguments are confusing and useless and even harmful. ¹⁵ Work hard so God can say to you, “Well done.” Be a good workman, one who does not need to be ashamed when God examines your work. Know what his Word says and means.

Living Bible (TLB)

"The boy with the shining face"

   

Welcome to Parkrose Village Congregation 3/3/19

This is the message I brought to the residents of our Parkrose United Congregation at Parkrose Village on 3/3/19.

“The Boy with the Shining Face”

 2 Cor 3  ¹⁸ But we Christians have no veil over our faces; we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him.
Have you ever seen anyone glow?
We sometime make remarks about people we see in various circumstances.
We talk about them “glowing” or perhaps “Beaming”.
It can be a proud parent glowing in pride when their son or daughter has won a prestigious medal, award or competition.
It can be a bride and groom glowing as they exchange their wedding vows.
When I was a wedding photographer I used to stop couples half way down the aisle of the church ,just after they have been pronounced man and wife, to take a couple of quick photos.
My idea was to capture the “glow” from their faces.
What I call the newly wed glowing bliss look.
It was one of my must get shots.
When a young mum holds her new babe in her arms for the first time there is often a real glow notwithstanding the exhaustion.
When you see a group of performers taking their bows at the conclusion of a great performance, and they are given a standing ovation, they fairly glow with pride.
Particularly when their family and loved ones are in the audience.
We saw this  the other night at the Opera Tosca.
There were lot’s of people glowing this last Monday when people were presented with their Academy Awards.
And some of the people who came forward at the recent Franklin Graham crusade and their counsellors were probably glowing within and without.
And I could go on with lots of examples where we say people fairly glowed.
They have an expression on their face that radiates joy.
We have a passage read to us today that shows the experience of Moses who went from glowing joy when he received the 10 commandments to soon putting a veil over his face as the joy, the glow, was fading.
²⁹ Moses didn’t realize as he came back down the mountain with the tablets that his face glowed from being in the presence of God. ³⁰ Because of this radiance upon his face, Aaron and the people of Israel were afraid to come near him.
³¹ But Moses called them over to him, and Aaron and the leaders of the congregation came and talked with him. ³² Afterwards, all the people came to him, and he gave them the commandments the Lord had given him upon the mountain. ³³ When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face;^{[a] 34} but whenever he went into the Tabernacle to speak with the Lord, he removed the veil until he came out again; then he would pass on to the people whatever instructions God had given him, ³⁵ and the people would see his face aglow. Afterwards he would put the veil on again until he returned to speak with God.
And we read also.
¹² Since we know that this new glory will never go away, we can preach with great boldness, ¹³ and not as Moses did, who put a veil over his face so that the Israelis could not see the glory fade away.
He did not want people to see how he was really feeling.
He was perhaps thinking his people would never live up to these commandments.
Some have said that the people could not cope with seeing his face,his countenance ,glowing like it did when he had been in the presence of God in the Tabernacle.
He would put the veil on when he came out of the Tabernacle and remove it when he went back in as high priest to converse with God in person.
There has been much written about this veil Moses wore and also we think of what happened to the curtain, the veil, in the temple which was split from top to bottom when Jesus was crucified.
This signified that from that time on, through Jesus death on the cross, and His resurrection that we all had the opportunity to enter into the presence of God, made Holy by what Jesus has done for us.
Veils are still in use today of course.
Various religions have traditions about wearing a veil.
It was common once, and still is in some societies, for a Bride to wear a veil as she was about to be married.
Some say this was so the bridegroom was not distracted by her looks but was marrying her for the person she was.
As Christians today we are not precluded from the presence of God by a veil.
There is another passage that was recommended for this Sunday in the lectionary.
It is partly what suggested my title and subject matter.
I will read it for you.
It is bringing us forward to the ministry of Jesus.
³⁷ The next day as they descended from the hill, a huge crowd met him, ³⁸ and a man in the crowd called out to him, “Teacher, this boy here is my only son, ³⁹ and a demon keeps seizing him, making him scream; and it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth; it is always hitting him and hardly ever leaves him alone. ⁴⁰ I begged your disciples to cast the demon out, but they couldn’t.”
⁴¹ “O you stubborn faithless people,” Jesus said to his disciples,^[a] “how long should I put up with you? Bring him here.”
⁴² As the boy was coming the demon knocked him to the ground and threw him into a violent convulsion. But Jesus ordered the demon to come out, and healed the boy and handed him over to his father.
⁴³ Awe gripped the people as they saw this display of the power of God.
This is an encounter and healing that Jesus did with a man and his demon possessed son.
This family was in a terrible plight.
There were no joy filled faces here.
Not so until Jesus performed His miracle and set the lad free of his tormentors.
⁴³ Awe gripped the people as they saw this display of the power of God.
Can you imagine the joy that filled that father.
The glory of God was manifested here.
My imagination enables me to see this boy’s glowing wonderment, his shining face as he was set free.
“The boy with the shining face”.
We can only speculate what lay ahead for his boy.
We trust he was able to share his story with others to point them to Jesus.
We have all probably had our day in the sun where we beamed with joy in various experiences.
Even at our baptism perhaps.
I have witnessed many baptisms where the candidates were positively beaming as they rose up out of the water.
But how long do our shining faces last?
We can have a wonderful experience as we come into a real faith with the Lord Jesus.
The one who died on the cross for us.
But life is difficult.
We have many challenges along the way where we might lose some of our shine.
The cares of this world can at times overwhelm us
It is very easy to lose sight of the wonderful face of Jesus when we are in extreme difficulties or just a long period of hardship.
We could easily lose some of that shine in Parkrose.
We can get down in the dumps.
But the way back to Joy is to fix our eyes firmly on Him.
We can do that in these opportunities we have in our worship, as we touch heaven through our singing.
We can do it quietly in our rooms in prayer, and if we are able to read our Bibles, or have them read to us by a visit from the Chaplain or a Christian friend.
Or have fellowship with each other.
We can even minister to each other.
Here in this place.
We can forgive those that have wronged us.
That will always restore joy if we do it from the heart.
Shall we leave this place today with shining faces as we have been in the Lord’s presence?
¹⁸ But we Christians have no veil over our faces; we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him.

Will we be like the boy with the shining face?
I hope so.
Our last Hymn is an old one that Lesley remembered from the Alexanders Hymn book.
"Brighten the corner where you are".
It is our challenge today, as Christians who largely have lost our mobility and ability to venture out into the world.
Earlier we sang “I hear you calling Lord, I will go where you send me.!” 
But most of us can’t go too far.
But we can indeed Brighten the Corner where we are.
Shall we sing it.

1.     Do not wait until some deed of greatness you may do,
Do not wait to shed your light afar;
To the many duties ever near you now be true,
Brighten the corner where you are.

o   Refrain:
Brighten the corner where you are!
Brighten the corner where you are!
Someone far from harbor you may guide across the bar;
Brighten the corner where you are!

2. Just above are clouded skies that you may help to clear,
   Let not narrow self your way debar;
   Though into one heart alone may fall your song of cheer,
   Brighten the corner where you are.
3. Here for all your talent you may surely find a need,
   Here reflect the bright and Morning Star;
   Even from your humble hand the Bread of Life may feed,
   Brighten the corner where you are.

 Here is the order of service for the day.

Parkrose 03/3/19  Order of Service
Welcome: Geoff
Call to worship:  Matthew 5:16
Hymn: “Shine Jesus Shine”
Announcements:
Bible Reading: 2 Corinthians 3:12-18,
Hymn: “Within the veil”  “Into thy presence we come.”
Communion:
Offering
Church Prayer
Hymn:   “I the Lord of Sea and Sky”
Sermon: “The boy with the shining face”
Hymn: “Brighten the corner where you are”
Benediction and Vesper

 

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