The Court of Public or Popular Opinion

Being a Christian does not make one popular but it can take away the popularity you already have when you speak up for Christ and the Gospel.
It is  a sad world we live in now.
Witness what has happened to Israel Folau the Australian Rugby player for voicing his opinions by repeating scripture from the Holy Bible, that is fast becoming very unpopular with those who do not wish to face their God, or make Him Lord.
Christians in the days of Jesus, and today, are facing continual oppression from "the world" .
Bu we are reminded "we wrestle not with flesh and blood." 

Ephesians 6:12 King James Version (KJV)

¹² For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Please note when using this terminology I and fellow Christians are not singling out individuals, groups of individuals in fact no human beings whatsoever.

I have put an earlier post in my featured post section. 

"Quietened by the Crowd" 

https://geoffthompsonsblog.blogspot.com/2012/10/quietenned-by-crowd.html

As Christians we do need to use the weapons God has given us.

Also from Ephesians 6

¹⁰ Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
¹¹ Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
¹² For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
¹³ Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
¹⁴ Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
¹⁵ And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
¹⁶ Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
¹⁷ And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
¹⁸ Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
¹⁹ And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,

Freedom in Christ

I came across the ministry of Neil T Anderson and his associates a few years back now.

I thought that it complemented what I had already been learning over many years.

I believe that people struggling with being a Christian will find this helpful.

There are tools, mainly the "Steps to Freedom " that are used in this ministry.

FIC ministries will emphasise that there is no "magic" in this tool but just a tool that enables you to get yourself to Jesus.

 Your full self not just the self you present to the world.

Here is a link to vary good series of presentations on how the steps work and the essential message of the Gospel and how you can use them in your own Church.

https://ficm.org/gfd/welcome.html

I am currently working my way through these.

Satanic Oppression and Satanic Accusation

 This message is published on my "going deeper with God" blog.
It will be of some interest to non Christians but only to arouse curiosity and other various thought processes.
I have put it here as I consider it an important message for Christians and has had very few views on my other site.

https://geoffthompsonstapelibrary.blogspot.com/2017/11/satanic-accusationsatanic-oppression-by.html

The attached podcast was part of a School of Prayer conducted by Frank Hunting at the Church of Christ at Grote Street Adelaide in the 1970's.
Frank was visiting the Church prior to taking up a part time appointment alongside his good friend Pastor Harold Long.
I had never heard anything like this and was privileged to sit under Frank's teaching for the next several years.
I may be able to post the whole school on this site progressively.
It was not recorded professionally but you will benefit if you concentrate on this.
I have notes on his school of prayer that compliment this podcast.
Contact me if you wish to have a copy pertaining to this subject.
Unfortunately many Christians and most non Christians are ignorant about the devil.
In this message Frank distinguishes between satanic accusation and satanic oppression.
As CS Lewis remarked, along these lines anyway in his preface to the Screwtape Letters, mankind makes 2 main mistakes about the devil.
They are either totally disbelieving about any such thing or tend to see the devil being responsible for everything that goes wrong.

Death of a Guru

When I became a Christian in 1974 I had a voracious appetite to learn as much as I could about my new faith and the beliefs of those who challenged it.

I read the book "Death of a Guru" in about 1977 when it was first published.

It is still in print.

It opened my eyes to the spiritual world that is in opposition to Jesus.

This link is to a talk by its author.
                                            .
He was brought up a as Guru and then Jesus broke into his life.

I recommend anyone searching for truth buy the book which Rabi  mentions in this talk and please watch the video..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmsAlKA8lvs

What about the Devil?

-->

 This is a sermon prepared as part 1 of my message prepared for the Renmark Uniting Church where I will be preaching soon.
I will not be presenting part1 in person. It is intended as a pre reading or post reading help.

I will post part 2 after I have presented it.

Bible Reading: Mark 1: 21-28

²¹ Jesus and his companions now arrived at the town of Capernaum and on Saturday morning went into the Jewish place of worship—the synagogue—where he preached. ²² The congregation was surprised at his sermon because he spoke as an authority and didn’t try to prove his points by quoting others—quite unlike what they were used to hearing!^[h]
23 A man possessed by a demon was present and began shouting, ²⁴ “Why are you bothering us, Jesus of Nazareth—have you come to destroy us demons? I know who you are—the holy Son of God!”
²⁵ Jesus curtly commanded the demon to say no more and to come out of the man. ²⁶ At that the evil spirit screamed and convulsed the man violently and left him. ²⁷ Amazement gripped the audience and they began discussing what had happened.
“What sort of new religion is this?” they asked excitedly. “Why, even evil spirits obey his orders!”
²⁸ The news of what he had done spread quickly through that entire area of Galilee.

Sermon: What about the Devil?

Last time I was here  we talked about Jesus coming to set the captives free.
This message today is about how we can be ensnared or made captive or become in bondage to the devil.
And how we can be set free.

I come to this message today with a certain sense of how can we possibly grasp what the subject is about in a short 20mins.

We will really only just scratch the surface.

 I have touched on some of these themes when I was here in July last year.

The mistake Christians make,

from the Preface to The Screwtape Letters:

There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves( the devils or demons) are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.

Hold onto these thoughts
When I was a new Christian I started to develop a great interest in these goings on of the devil.
I quizzed my mentor, a pastor, a lot about certain people.

I tended to be looking for the demonic evidence in troubled people I came across.
My Pastor helped me a lot in this.
He said to me one day “would you like me to teach you how to minister in this area?”
He prefaced that by saying this can be very challenging work and not to be taken lightly.
I decided I had enough on my plate and declined his offer.
I also realized I was tending to see a demon just about behind every bush.
I realized I had developed a probably unhealthy interest.

We need to know how to nullify the work of the devil in our homes and in our Church and in our own lives.

Either way it is something we do ourselves a dis service if we just think this message has nothing to do with us or our church.

From the outset I will say it is 100% positive there is a devil and he is alive and active on planet earth.

Lucifer, meaning angel of light, was one of God’s created angels who decided he would try and usurp God as the ruler of the universe.

Lucifer is the devil(Satan).

He usually tempts us in the same way he did Adam and Eve.

“No harm will come to you. You will enjoy this.”

He is the one behind the temptation of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and is still our tempter.

The tempter who encourages us to sin.

The Bible teaches us as Christians that we have 5 enemies.

Sin

The flesh

The devil

death.

the world

Non Christians also have the same enemies but death is probably the only one they acknowledge.

The world meaning worldly living.

As Christians we are living in the world but are not to be partakers of worldliness.

“1 John 2:15King James Version (KJV)

¹⁵ Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
These are strong words but remember the world rejects God and rejects Jesus Christ as its savior.

The flesh is where we have unhealthy interest in things of an immoral nature.

It is inbuilt as part of our makeup.

This conflict between the Holy Spirit and the Flesh, never ceases.   

 Sinful nature,the lust of the flesh,lower nature,passions of the flesh,cravings of your lower nature,human nature without God, are some of the descriptions of “the flesh” in various translations.

“Galatians 5:17Living Bible (TLB)

¹⁷ For we naturally love to do evil things that are just the opposite from the things that the Holy Spirit tells us to do; and the good things we want to do when the Spirit has his way with us are just the opposite of our natural desires.  

These two forces within us are constantly fighting each other to win control over us, and our wishes are never free from their pressures. “

The devil knows how to trigger off our unhealthy desires and that is where he works on us in conflict and warfare with the Holy Spirit.

We should never drop our guard against this.

In this we are a work in progress.

He also tempted Jesus during His ministry on earth.

But Jesus was without sin.

He suffered the same temptations we do  but He was without sin.

Sin and the devil was defeated on the cross by Jesus.

Also death and the flesh.

It has been possible for us since then to have victory over sin.

In this Bible passage today it is a clear account of how Jesus cast out demons from a man who was disrupting a service in the Synagogue.

Some people today discount demonic possession and would say this man had a form of mental illness and Jesus healed him.

Note these demons knew they were demons and what’s more they knew who Jesus was.

Jesus did not address the man he spoke directly to the demon or demons.

So here are some topics a passage like this suggests we should look at.

1.  Is demon possession still happening today?

For a good proportion of the world’s population, they have no doubt.
They live in cultures where demonism and witchcraft is common place and they seek out witchdoctors and other practitioners for help.
It is still happening and always has in western society but in our so called enlightened western education we mostly pass it off as a psychological manifestation.
They might say this man had a mental health condition.
Some psychiatrists might call it a “Demon Possession Syndrome”

(A syndrome is a set of medical signs and symptoms occurring together, constitutes a particular disease or disorder. The word derives from the Greek σύνδρομον, meaning "concurrence".)

2.  Is all mental illness satanic?

No!
You can have a chemical imbalance.
And some use of medication for those suffering depression can be helpful.
Such medication will only alleviate symptons and is not a cure and some side effects can be unpleasant.
(Dr Neil Anderson comments on this in his very helpful books.)
When suffering depression myself I was reluctant to take medication but was in such an acute state at one time that my wife and doctor advised it would be helpful.
It was, but I got off the drug as soon as possible when I had realized God’s healing.
On the other hand those who take illicit drugs and are addicts are opening themselves up to demonic oppression and affliction.
The devil works through the chemicals.
They form addictive ,destructive, behavior.
They give the person a “high” which is an escape from their “lows”
Many of the attrocities we see committed in our country and overseas have much of the devil behind it.
We sometimes say how could a human being do that to another human being?
The answer is that quite often the offender is under the control of demons.
Comedian Flip Wilson used to have this line.
“the devil made me do it?”
He used it to get many a laugh however it is no laughing matter.
When you read in the press where a notorious offender is said to show no remorse for their crime, that is  usually a good indication of the source of the evil.

3.  Can a Christian be affected by the devil?

Yes!
But we can take steps to ensure we are protected or if afflicted, set free.
Jesus defeated the devil on the cross but we need to know how to claim that victory as an individual.
The devil will on occasions be our accuser,
On other occasions our oppressor.
4.The danger of Passivity as a Christian.
We have a great danger as Christians if we particularly let our minds go passive, especially if we are seeking some special experience.
Jesse Penn- Lewis has written about this in her famous book “War on the Saints”
It is about Spiritual Warfare.
Here is her definition of passivity.
“a cessation of the active exercise of the will in control over spirit,soul, and body,or either,as may be the case.
It is practically, a counterfeit of “surrender to God.”
The believer who “surrenders” his “members” –or faculties-to God, and ceases to use them himself, thereby falls into “passivity” which enables evil spirits to deceive, and possess any part of his being which has become passive.”
Non Christian meditation is not a good thing.
This is a form of passivity.
They call this mindfulness in some camps today.
While many will tell you how helpful this practice is there is a a number of reports by Psychiatrists who are talking about the negative effects of this practice.

Just google the subject. I could copy and paste here but am mindful of copyright.

Mindfulness  is a door that the devil can get through.

It is an example of passivity.

I would advise to shut this door and seek instead to allow God to minister to you as you read His word and study it.

This is Christian meditation.

But some Christian practices can be harmful.
They trouble me more than some of the secular practices that are dangerous.
There are highly influential Christian movements who have a large following where in my opinion, and the opinions of others satan, is having a field day.
There is a blog called M’kaylas Korner where M’kayla shares her negative experiences in one of these movements and shares with others who have similarly suffered distress.
Christian book shops stock lots of their books.

Waiting on the Holy Spirit or what some call “tarrying” is not a good thing.
There are Christian courses that dedicate a whole weekend to this or a whole day.
Now the course may have some good teaching in it but I don’t like their take on the Holy Spirit.

In this day and age we are under no instruction to wait or tarry for the Holy Spirit to come upon us or indwell us.

The Apostles, only the Apostles, in the upper room, were told by Jesus to wait or tarry until the Holy Spirit came upon them.
They did and the day of Pentecost, the Baptism of the Holy Spirit came as a once only occurrence. 

If we are Christians the Holy Spirit is already living within us.
Acts 2:38 and Romans 8:9.
Some people teach there is a second blessing, which they say is manifested by speaking in tongues.
Not so!
We can be filled with or controlled by the Holy Spirit as we abide in Christ,
 Or,
 if you like, walk in the light of His word.
Act in obedience with God’s word.

The doors we should shut.

There are many.

In Church all hurt feelings, buried or otherwise,all hard,harsh,unloving,un-Christlike attitudes or feelings, are of the devil.
All critical,faultfinding judgements which we accuse with,or find fault with,or blast others with, are of the devil.
The devil uses these to destroy the witness,
        The saving power,
             The tremendous victory
                    Of Jesus in our Church.
In our Homes,
I once read a Christian book which I think had a title or sub title, “the devil knows your house number.”
The devil seeks to destroy Christian homes.
We allow him to do it by our un-Christian behavior towards each other.
Our unbelief in our God and our Savior is a big contributor to this.
We like to have sometimes in Christian homes a plaque on the wall.
It goes like this.
“Christ is the Head of this House,The Unseen guest at every meal,the Silent listener to every conversation.”
We can have this in pride of place in the dining room but never give it a second thought that it is true.
If we really believed that this was true how much different would our behaviour to each other be?
How much more would our home manifest the love of Jesus.
What does all this mean to us?
Do we just ignore this teaching we have read about today?

Do we ignore the facts that on more than one occasion Jesus ministered to people who were demon possessed?
He still does this today through His faithful servants on earth.
What do you do after a sermon like this?

I want to say that as a Christian we have no need to fear the devil.

He is a defeated enemy.

But we do need to be armed to deal with his attacks on us.

(You will find God’s armour listed in Ephesians 6:13-19.)

"Ephesians 6:13-19Living Bible (TLB)

¹³ So use every piece of God’s armor to resist the enemy whenever he attacks, and when it is all over, you will still be standing up.
¹⁴ But to do this, you will need the strong belt of truth and the breastplate of God’s approval. ¹⁵ Wear shoes that are able to speed you on as you preach the Good News of peace with God. ¹⁶ In every battle you will need faith as your shield to stop the fiery arrows aimed at you by Satan. ¹⁷ And you will need the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit—which is the Word of God.
¹⁸ Pray all the time. Ask God for anything in line with the Holy Spirit’s wishes. Plead with him, reminding him of your needs, and keep praying earnestly for all Christians everywhere. ¹⁹ Pray for me, too, and ask God to give me the right words as I boldly tell others about the Lord and as I explain to them that his salvation is for the Gentiles too."

You need to be able to recognise the devil’s attacks when they come.

If we want this Church to grow, and it could, we need to know how the devil is holding us back.

How to overcome those obstacles.

How to use the authority Jesus gives us.

I have just a few handouts on some of these topics in a bit more detail if you wish to avail yourself of them.

If we are troubled by things that we suspect may be of the devil then take some steps to talk to someone who you trust.

A Christian who understands such problems. 

There are many posts on this blog that can be very helpful.

I can make this sermon available to you in printed form if you wanted time to reflect and study this theme.

I remind us of what CS Lewis said;

"There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves( the devils or demons) are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight."

Amen.

PS. For more in depth look at these things I would suggest you click on spiritual warfare in the tag list below.

The Cross of Christ

The western world has been reeling from the terrible attacks on Paris.
By really wicked men.
The answers to such wickedness maybe a lot closer than we think.
It begins with us.

People are in a grip of fear,

The only answer to fear and evil is the Cross of Jesus Christ.

I provide a link to one of my first posts on this blog.

You can listen to the audio and the transcript.

Let God speak to you through this message,

It is a message of foregiveness,

 redemption,

  triumph over evil,

    the expose of our hypocrosies,

       the only answer to the unseen rulers of this world.

Ignore the fact that just a man is delivering it.

Just suppose God is speaking.

If you have switched off to God it will not mean a thing.
Just maybe there is still a glimmer of light shining through the darkness in your personal being.
I hope and pray so.

http://geoffthompsonsblog.blogspot.com.au/2009/09/the-cross-of-christ.html

Gold or Fool’s Gold? Wheat or Tares?

This is an outline of the message I shared with the Renmark West and Renmark Town Uniting Churches on 20/714 

Scripture Passages.

Matthew 13.

²⁴ Here is another illustration Jesus used: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer sowing good seed in his field; ²⁵ but one night as he slept, his enemy came and sowed thistles among the wheat. ²⁶ When the crop began to grow, the thistles grew too.
²⁷ “The farmer’s men came and told him, ‘Sir, the field where you planted that choice seed is full of thistles!’
²⁸ “‘An enemy has done it,’ he exclaimed.
“‘Shall we pull out the thistles?’ they asked.
²⁹ “‘No,’ he replied. ‘You’ll hurt the wheat if you do. ³⁰ Let both grow together until the harvest, and I will tell the reapers to sort out the thistles and burn them, and put the wheat in the barn.’”
^31-32 Here is another of his illustrations: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a tiny mustard seed planted in a field. It is the smallest of all seeds but becomes the largest of plants, and grows into a tree where birds can come and find shelter.”
³³ He also used this example:
“The Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a woman making bread. She takes a measure of flour and mixes in the yeast until it permeates every part of the dough.”
^34-35 Jesus constantly used these illustrations when speaking to the crowds. In fact, because the prophets said that he would use so many, he never spoke to them without at least one illustration. For it had been prophesied, “I will talk in parables; I will explain mysteries hidden since the beginning of time.”^{[e] 36} Then, leaving the crowds outside, he went into the house. His disciples asked him to explain to them the illustration of the thistles and the wheat.
³⁷ “All right,” he said, “I am^[f] the farmer who sows the choice seed. ³⁸ The field is the world, and the seed represents the people of the Kingdom; the thistles are the people belonging to Satan. ³⁹ The enemy who sowed the thistles among the wheat is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels.
⁴⁰ “Just as in this story the thistles are separated and burned, so shall it be at the end of the world: ⁴¹ I^[g] will send my angels, and they will separate out of the Kingdom every temptation and all who are evil, ⁴² and throw them into the furnace and burn them. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³ Then the godly shall shine as the sun in their Father’s Kingdom. Let those with ears, listen!

Romans 8:12-23
¹² So, dear brothers, you have no obligations whatever to your old sinful nature to do what it begs you to do. ¹³ For if you keep on following it you are lost and will perish, but if through the power of the Holy Spirit you crush it and its evil deeds, you shall live. ¹⁴ For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
¹⁵ And so we should not be like cringing, fearful slaves, but we should behave like God’s very own children, adopted into the bosom of his family, and calling to him, “Father, Father.” ¹⁶ For his Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we really are God’s children. ¹⁷ And since we are his children, we will share his treasures—for all God gives to his Son Jesus is now ours too. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.
¹⁸ Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us later. ¹⁹ For all creation is waiting patiently and hopefully for that future day^[b] when God will resurrect his children. ^20-21 For on that day thorns and thistles, sin, death, and decay^[c]—the things that overcame the world against its will at God’s command—will all disappear, and the world around us will share in the glorious freedom from sin which God’s children enjoy.

Gold or Fool’s Gold?  Wheat or Tares?

That’s the title I have chosen today and that has been suggested to me by our passage about the parable of the wheat and the tares.

My late grandfather ,who was brought up on a sheep station on the Darling River, used to tell us how he once found Lassetter’s lost reef.

He never was able to find it again.

We suspect that what he found was a reef of “fool’s gold” or iron pyrites.

He was adamant that he had found the real thing. It was a frustration for him that he never found it again.

Many have been fooled by fool's gold, particularly in the gold rush era.

The parable of the wheat and the tares talks about the difficulty in telling the difference;

between false and real and what not to do when you think you have identified some tares or thistles.

The Church is really the best place on earth to be!

Would you agree with that statement?

Or would you perhaps say the Church should be the best place on earth to be!

Sadly often it's not!

Sometimes we come to Church and go home feeling totally re vitalized and ready to face whatever happens during the week.

Sometimes we go home feeling disappointed.

It might be the music,the message, no one said hello to me, or someone said something or did something you found troubling.

Or someone was there you really dislike.

We all probably have those experiences, sometimes even our ministers.

You would like to think that our Church is a loving accepting place where people can feel most welcome and want to belong or take part.

Want to know more about Jesus and what Christianity is all about.

The following couple of paragraphs were written by a retired minister who was a great mentor to Lesley and I.

I have chosen to read it because it touches on our Matthew 13 Bible passage today.

"I have been semi-retired or full time retired for 20 years now and I have pondered deeply this terrible,spiritual malaise afflicting most churches. During these 20 years I have worshipped in two churches and have listened to some very fine biblical  preaching from three very different Bible teaching preachers.
Each of these preachers was excellent ,but there was something that greatlypuzzled me.
Although the word of God was splendidly expounded to us it never seemed to make any impact on us.
We never seemed to respond to it.

It was certainly preaching which should have made a lfe changing impact on us, but it didn't. 
Why?

It gradually dawned on me there was nothing wrong with the preaching and certainly there was nothing wrong  with the teaching and certainly there was nothing wrong with the Word of God, there was however something wrong with those of us hearing it.

The fact was we were not hearing the Word of God at all and what is more we were not seeing what God was saying.
It seemed to me the scriptures described us exactly.

Matthew 13.

¹³ Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
¹⁴ And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:

This peculiar blindness and deafness I came to attribute,not without the best authority, to Satan and his demons. Said Jesus.
Matthew 13.

^"19 When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart"

And when the farmer sowed good seed in his field and a little later saw tares growing among the good seed, the explanation was :-

Matthew 13:

^"24 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:
²⁵ But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.

²⁸ He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?

2 Corinthians 4:3,4  

^"3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
⁴ In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."

When Iasked the questions : Who above all woud want Christians not to hear the Word of God and not acto it? (James 1:22 Moffat) 

There was only one answer I could give:Satan and his demons.
Thus I came to make the BigLeap. I did not go to the wisdom of men for answers. I went to the Word of God.
What follows is something of what I found."

( for more in depth teaching on spiritual warfare, which is what Frank Hunting is talking about you will find the whole of the Big Leap booklet on this blog. Alternatively I would recommend the ministry of Neil T Anderson, his books ,video and on line presence at Freedom in Christ International.) 

I was somewhat taken aback once when I was a relatively new Christian by a visitor to our then Church.

We were really going through an enthusiastic time of wanting to reach out to others, we had lots of home groups set up.

We were all engaged in home bible study.

We were really wanting our Church to grow and be everything it should be.

This particular night we were having an after church fellowship supper.

The type that Churches are really good at doing.

A rather tall man had been there during the evening service,

a stranger to us.

I invited him out to the supper and engaged in conversation during the evening.

At the end of he night I said to him I had enjoyed meeting him and hoped he would be able to visit again.

He said quite bluntly. “I won’t be coming back again.”

I said why?

He said. “There is no love in this Church?”

I was amazed as I thought our Church at the time was very loving and caring.

I was to find out later that he had some mental health issues but even so maybe he was actually quite perceptive as people like him often have a need to feel and experience acceptance of others.

So to begin un packing the parable of the wheat and the tares.

This is not to be confused with the earlier parable in this chapter.Chapter 13.

That is the parable of the sower and the seeds.

The seeds in that parable, that went deep down into good soil and flourished and grew, are now the same people,seeds, that Jesus says he planted .

Matth 13:

37 “All right,” he said, “I am^[f] the farmer who sows the choice seed. ³⁸ The field is the world, and the seed represents the people of the Kingdom;  

The people of the kingdom are those who are Christians.

That means us.

According to Ray Stedman concerning the farmer sowingthe good seed:

“It is essential to notice that the field represents not the church but the world. These sons of the kingdom are put where God wants them -- in the world. Wherever you are, as a child of God, as a son of the kingdom by faith in Jesus Christ, you have been put there by the Lord Jesus. It is so important to understand that he has sown you and put you where you are. The church, you see, is to gather together for worship, for instruction, and for mutual fellowship, but then it is to go out. There is a kind of a rhythm of life within the church -- it comes together, then goes out again, scattered out into the world. And where you are out there is where the word of witness is given, where the truth of the word is promulgated. That is what the Lord has in mind here. The field therefore is the world, the human race, society, as we normally term it. In that world of humanity the Lord Jesus has scattered his own.”

Now while we come across people in our society, and ideas, who are obviously bad seed who are out to destroy the gospel, destroy people with their false doctrines and ideas,the sad thing is that such people do infiltrate the Church and Church organisations.

The cause of much division in Churches is because there has been something enter via people or groups of people which is not of God but of the devil.

The problems in  a church really begin to escalate when Christians take up a position against what some other Christians are pushing or promoting.

It may be a fight over how money is used, what songs are sung, what doctrine is important, how the Bible is interpreted.

I have chaired many Church  AGM’s where people who hardly say boo all year turn up and  air their grievances very strongly.

Where behaviour is anything but Christian.

Of course we all have our opinions about whatever the issues are and quite often think we are the only ones right.

Denominationalism often is a dividing factor.

I have a very old Bible at home from a couple of hundred years ago and it is amazing the number of  Christian sects and Churches existed at the time. They are in a great long list in the bible.

Many of them were named after some peculiar belief they saw as important.

We have a big temptation in churches to try and outshout or outvote those we disagree with.

We get very critical of our politicians who do such things but in reality we are often not much better in our behavior in Church.

Our main mistake is that we don’t heed what we are taught in the Bible.

“We wrestle not against flesh and blood but principalities and powers in high places.”

We do not recognize who is sowing the words of division.

We try to use human methods to restore order.

Sometimes we lose our cool.

We can go so far as to ask people to leave.

I don’t know how many of you know much about wheat.

In this area certainly about fruit and grapes but a bit further away are most of the wheat farmers.

I used to think there was only one variety of wheat until we visited the Pinnaroo Agricultural Museum about a year ago.

There is a huge collection in there of hundreds of different varieties of wheat, all beautifully displayed.

I was staggered at the varieties.

In Churches we are all varieties of Christians.

Many of us are very different from each other. Some are also more mature in their faith than others.

If you had a field full of the varieties of wheat on display at Pinnaroo  a farmer may be very hard pressed to distinguish between them.

The varieties of wheat ,none the less have a similar outward appearance.

It is what is in the genetic make up of the plant that says is this wheat or not?

It is the Holy Spirit who determines who is a Christian and who is not.

In Church it is for us nurture each other and teach each other and to love each other. 

Not to be critical or judging.

We may think someone is a very poorly performing Christian or even a trouble making Christian.

But we do not know the heart of that person.

Jesus does . He knew that person from before they were born.

Our passages to day really tell us that is not for us to Judge.

On that day, the day when the creator comes to judge all the earth then the sheep will be sorted from the oats and the wheat from the tares.

We read in Romans 8.

¹⁹ For all creation is waiting patiently and hopefully for that future day^[b] when God will resurrect his children. ^20-21 For on that day thorns and thistles, sin, death, and decay^[c]—the things that overcame the world against its will at God’s command—will all disappear, and the world around us will share in the glorious freedom from sin which God’s children enjoy.

And also in Matthew 13.

“All right,” he said, “I am^[f] the farmer who sows the choice seed. ³⁸ The field is the world, and the seed represents the people of the Kingdom; the thistles are the people belonging to Satan. ³⁹ The enemy who sowed the thistles among the wheat is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels.
⁴⁰ “Just as in this story the thistles are separated and burned, so shall it be at the end of the world: ⁴¹ I^[g] will send my angels, and they will separate out of the Kingdom every temptation and all who are evil, ⁴² and throw them into the furnace and burn them. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³ Then the godly shall shine as the sun in their Father’s Kingdom. Let those with ears, listen!"

So how does this parable apply to us.

What are we to make of it?

Do we go on a so called “witch hunt”?

No! 

The blame game is disasterous.

But we do need to use God's might weapons to bring down the devil's strongholds in our Churches and in our families,

we need to recognise the the devil sows the seeds of discontent.

Where we can see that a fellow Christian is stumbling or failing or not performing well, it is not for us to criticise or condemn or gossip, but to intercede in prayer on their behalf.

We are not fighting against flesh and blood!

The Church really is the best place to be. If it's not it can be!

I would like to share the last two paragraphs from Rays Tedman's sermon on the the wheat and the tares.

In his sermon he postulated the question is the world getting better or is it getting worse?

(The Case of the Mysterious Harvest)

"Now let's return in closing to answer the question with which we began: Is the world getting better, or is it getting worse? Well the answer our Lord gives is clearly, "Both!" Good men are getting better, and more powerful, and more extensive; and evil men are getting worse, and more powerful, and more destructive. The two sowings are growing up to a harvest, side by side. If evil is getting worse, God is matching it with a demonstration of his power and with the increase of good. That is why I think it is logical to expect that, as we near the end of the age, and increasingly see evil amassing itself and breaking out in tremendous authority and power, we will also see the Spirit of God breaking out in authority and power among the same groups of people and an awakening will occur right along with the deepening decline into darkness and evil. That is what is happening in our own day. Jesus says it will go on until the harvest. And when the harvest of earth comes at the end of the age God will begin to reap -- the good to be his, the evil to be destroyed.
Now, where do you stand? That is the question we leave each one with today. Is the seed of the Word of God growing in your heart? Are you a son of the kingdom, and therefore an influence for good throughout the earth? Or are you a son of the evil one, beginning to spread lies, deceptive concepts, and to spread abroad the destructive philosophies that are so widespread in the world today. They are part of the lie of Satan that man can live by himself, that he is self-sufficient, that he is able to carry on his own affairs, that he can run his own life, and, therefore, does not need God. That is the great lie which always marks the philosophy of the devil. Or are you one of the sons of the kingdom whom God is using in this day to bring this great harvest to fruition and to produce that which will glorify and delight his heart throughout all time?"

We will now close with our final hymn.

Having Conflict in your Marriage?

Over the years I have seen far too many Christian Marriages and other marriages  come to a sad end.
In some my wife and I have counselled with couples and some have got things together and their marriage has endured and grown.

Others sadly not.

Here are some things to consider for anyone contemplating ending their Christian marriage.

1. It is never God's will that a Christian marriage fails. If it is not His will you can expect He will provide the necessary tools to strengthen and grow your marriage.
He does.

2. You will see a link attached  here to a short video clip by Dr. Charles Solomon of Grace Fellowship International. He points out that the marriage is not the problem but the people in it.
That first the people need to know who they are in Christ and then to know and experience the freedom that being crucified with Christ brings. Dying to self.
Jesus living in you.
Do not be put off by Dr. Solomon's dead pan  delivery. He is an old man in his 90's but this is the wisdom of Solomon in more ways than one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XB2uE6gnFx4

3. Another thing that people don't understand is that they are not "wrestling with flesh and blood".
   The devil wants to destroy their Christian home and marriage. He is very happy when they fight with each other and are blinded to what he is doing.
He often uses Christian people to give ungodly advice that is not centered in the Cross of Jesus and all that is available through the Cross.
The wisdom of man that is called "common sense" often prevails.
Common sense is often just that Common!
There are two persons wanting to control our lives.
One is God ,The Holy Spirit, one is the devil.
We have the choice as to who we let take control.
Sadly some Christians don't even realise there  is a devil.

4. It is not too late to save your marriage, sometimes even after separation and divorce.
    Seek Godly counsel and read Christian Literature that is about saving your marriage.
Talk to people who want to help you work it out not those who have already failed in their own marriages or given up.
Many of those if they were honest would tell you that plan B or C or D is not all that it is cracked up to be.
Go to Jesus the Counsellor.
http://geoffthompsonsblog.blogspot.com.au/2011/07/his-name-is-counsellor.html
It can be better than it ever was even after years of bickering and fighting.

5. Learn how to Walk in the Spirit, Abide in Christ . Learn and then practice your faith.
No one is a fully mature, fully developed Christian at their new birth. It is a lifetime growth experience.

You don't have to be perfect to know your freedom in Christ.

6. Do not listen to the lies we have come into our heads such as

"I cannot change how I am, I was born like this."

" I would never give up my beliefs  about  how things should be."

"I can't see that person ever changing and I'm not going to"

"That's not how I was brought up."

7. Realise, if we are Carnal Christians, that we are always trying to justify our sin and poor behaviour by blaming someone else and not looking at ourselves.

We won't let go of our pride.

Lastly listen to this sermon on the link below about the Cross of Christ.

http://geoffthompsonsblog.blogspot.com.au/2009/09/the-cross-of-christ.html

If you listen to it you will see that you will desperately want to forgive all those you have wronged you including the one you are divorcing or separating from.
I qualify that statement by saying to you let the Holy Spirit speak to you through it and you should never be the same again.
Listen to at at least once a week until you get the message of the Cross.

If you are not moved by it then you are being blinded by the enemy.

Read the transcript as you listen to the audio.


your Christian Servant

Geoff Thompson

Ps I am not making light of the struggles and hurt people experience in their marriages.
Where violence is being experienced and ongoing then there is a case for separation.
Personal safety of yourself and loved ones is paramount.

Whether you stay married or not Jesus is the only one who can give you the desires of your heart, not another person, another mate who you might think is compatible. That person also has all the same human failings as your current partner and yourself.