The Missing Piece

[0:00] Just as I am without one thing.

[0:15] Firstly, I'd like to just introduce my message today.! Is there something missing? Is there something missing? It's like an incomplete jigsaw.

[0:25] Our life can sometimes be like an incomplete jigsaw. And people may not know it, but there's a secret I'll let you know about Brother Jim here today.

[0:36] That Brother Jim's got a special talent. Now, Jim and Jim, they love to do jigsaw puzzles. And sometimes Brother Jim, when he gets to that last few pieces, he notices there's some missing pieces in the jigsaw puzzle.

[0:51] And Jim's got a special talent. He actually makes his own jigsaw pieces. So, if you've got any jigsaws at home, any jigsaw puzzles, and you've got some missing pieces, have a talk to Jim.

[1:06] And he gets the card, and he cuts it out, and he colours it painstakingly, so he makes that jigsaw complete again. Hallelujah! And, you know, sometimes our life is like a jigsaw puzzle with a missing piece in it.

[1:18] A missing piece. Something is missing. Something is missing. And 1 John 5, 11 and 12, it tells us how life can be lived, and what life is really all about.

[1:29] And it says there in 1 John 5, from verse 11, And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

[1:40] He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. I want to address the topic today of the answer to our desire for maximum health, and maximum life.

[1:59] It's something we're all searching for and longing for. Life to the max. Life with a maximum sense to it of health and life. And the Lord Jesus says in John 10, verse 10, that familiar passage, he says, The thief is calm but for to steal, to kill, and to destroy.

[2:18] I am calm that they might have life, and have it more abundantly. That's what he extends to us. That offer, that gift, that invitation to life, and life more abundant.

[2:30] And in the world, this broken world, this chaotic world at times in which we live, there's broken men and women, broken by sin. But there's broken men and women who are finding wellbeing, and wholeness, and wellness in him.

[2:47] True health, completeness and healing comes from him. In 1 Thessalonians 5, 23, Paul prays, And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly.

[3:01] In other words, make you whole, and make you holy. And I pray God your whole spirit, and soul, and body, be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[3:15] He prays for, not body, soul, and spirit, but spirit, soul, and body. Amen. And one more scripture to introduce things. It says in Colossians 2, verses 9 and 10, For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.

[3:41] Notice there, some are incomplete. There's a missing piece. You could say piece is both spellings of piece. There's a missing piece.

[3:52] There's a big piece of that reality of what life is all about. Christ missing, and there's his piece, the piece of God that's missing.

[4:05] And he says, ye are complete in him, who is the head, the one in authority over all principality and power. And friends, just to think of it, as we introduce this, what kind of shape are we in?

[4:20] Is there something incomplete? Are we missing something? Or have you been made complete in him? Complete in him. Now, people might know, I work in the healthcare industry, and I see lots of good work going on.

[4:38] People reaching out, there's nurses here today too, who have had experience of healing people. There's certainly a couple of nurses I know of here, if not more today. People who have spent their lives in bringing healing and health and wholeness to people.

[4:54] But really, there's something much more than just physical healing, than just what the doctors and hospitals and nurses can do for us. There's that completeness that is only found in him. That wellness, that wholeness, that soul healing that can only come from Christ.

[5:10] And he is the one who welcomes the wounded. He welcomes the wounded people, the torn, the bruised, the anxious. And he says, look, as Peter put it in Acts 9.34, he said unto him, Aeneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole.

[5:28] Arise and make thy bed. And he arose immediately. And this one of whom he speaks, of whom Peter said, Jesus Christ makes you whole, he's still in the whole making business.

[5:40] He's still in the soul saving business today. He still receives the wounded. He still receives the hurting, the bruised, the slighted, the abandoned. And perhaps you're one of those today.

[5:53] Without him we struggle in incompleteness. That missing piece, that missing piece, both of those spellings as it were, in hurt, in trauma, in abuse.

[6:04] There's many sad cases, I know, it was said of me lately, of just passing by the courthouse and the people there. Wounded, hurting, suffering, lost.

[6:18] There's lost people in churches too. There's people with that missing piece in church. Maybe even in this church today, even at this very hour. There's people here with that missing piece.

[6:31] Because he is not in them, they are not in him. And in him is life. We read 1 John 5, In the sun is life.

[6:42] This life is in his sun. And Paul referred to that when he preached in Acts 17. He says, he quotes a poet of the day, For in him we live, we live, and move, and have our being.

[6:56] In him, in him we live, and move, and have our being. It's in him. And as Christ says, Abide in me, and I in you. That missing piece, many are missing it today.

[7:09] And he's still amazing, he's still reaching out, He's still that true source of life. Life eternal, life abundant. Our strength, our healer. The one who imparts from Genesis, the very breath of life.

[7:22] He gives us life. And friends today, the Bible is packed with messages for the body, soul, and spirit. But really for the spirit, soul, and body.

[7:33] You know there's many today that emphasize physical healing in their sermons, and I don't doubt that God can and does heal physically. But how much more? The emphasis that God puts.

[7:45] Spirit, soul, and body. It's the healing of the spirit. It's the healing of the soul. That's sometimes neglected. We don't apply the biblical principles today. And there's biblical principles that we just search the word of God.

[7:59] These biblical principles, these godly principles, lived out, can bring health to the soul. Can bring health to the soul of man. For example, Proverbs 3, from verse 7 it says, Be not wise in thine own eyes.

[8:13] Fear the Lord and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel and marrow to thy bones. It shall be health. Health to thy navel, to thy belly button.

[8:26] You know, it shall be health to you. To fear the Lord, to trust in Him. To not be wise in your own eyes. I know I've been challenged by some of the material on Saturday night. About discipleship.

[8:38] And one challenging little element that spoke to me is that even the good that we do, the good that we try to do, we might be doing it from a sinful motive.

[8:50] To impress people, to big note ourselves, to have some kind of credit with God. For even the good that we do, even the good that we do can be sinful and lacking and unworthy of Him.

[9:05] Friends, be not wise in thine own eyes. We need to have that heart attitude that's right with God in every aspect, in everything that we do. And to come with Him. Come to Him broken if we must.

[9:16] Come to Him crushed. Come to Him with that crushed spirit. If we suffered in life, come to Him. And He is the healer today who wants you to come to Him. By faith we can receive from Him soundness, a sound mind in the power of His name.

[9:32] It says in Acts 3 verse 16, a man was healed there physically. And the question was asked, what's going on here? And Peter said, His name, through faith in His name, hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know.

[9:49] Yea, the faith which is by him, by Christ, hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. They said for this man, he had perfect soundness. That was perfect wellness, a perfect wholeness in that man.

[10:03] Perhaps you're broken and torn. Perhaps you're having something missing today. There's an incompleteness. You can have a wholeness in this broken and torn world as you come to Him. And just quickly, some key biblical principles in no particular order, but things that stand out to me, what the Bible says about the kind of life that we can live, about the kind of life with meaning, the life with abundance that He grants to us.

[10:28] And one of those things is in giving. One area is giving. And much of what lies at fault with this greedy, grasping world is just that. It's a greedy, grasping world.

[10:39] It's a selfish world. It's a world that's not giving. And in Christ we can know the joy of giving. The joy of giving. Not a burdensome giving. Not a giving that is out of compulsion.

[10:51] But a giving that is free and willing. A giving that is from the heart. A giving that is from a generous spirit. A giving that is a giving of our best.

[11:02] And our Lord says to us, it's more blessed to give than to receive. It's topsy-turvy to what the world will tell us. It's Christ's nature. It's in Him. It's in Him. Giving.

[11:13] Giving is the nature of Christ. Giving is the nature of the godly. A truly godly man. The truly godly nature will want to give. To know that Christ-like quality of giving.

[11:25] Another aspect is humility. Humility of spirit. It's in Him. It's in Him. It's in Him. In Christ. The true servant. The true deacon. The true servant. The true servant who clothes himself with a towel.

[11:41] Who dents to wash our feet. Our dirty feet. It's servanthood. It's Christ. It's in Him. Giving. Humility. Forgiveness is another area.

[11:54] Forgiveness. Many people are struggling today. Why? Sometimes the wounds that they are carrying are things that they will not let go. They've not got the forgiveness because they're not giving the forgiveness.

[12:07] They're full of bitterness, resentment, harbouring grudges, not letting go. Nursing wounds from ancient hurts. What does Christ do?

[12:18] Friendly I give. Friendly I give my forgiveness. Friendly I heal that broken spirit. And we ought to be like Him.

[12:29] We ought to be in Him. It's His nature to forgive. It's His nature to extend that hand of touching, of reaching out.

[12:40] And Psalm 34, verse 18 it says, 418 it says, the Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart and so with such as being of a contrite spirit. Sometimes we've got to get to that place, that place of a broken heart, of a contrite spirit, of a brokenness before him in repentance, in contrition, and so that when he can be treated and healed. And friends today, if you're one of those, there's an incompleteness there, you haven't got that forgiveness to someone who's hurt you, someone who's wounded you, give it to them today and he'll transform you. Yield your unforgiveness to him and instead be forgiving and he can transform. It's in his nature, it's in him. Love, the fruit of the spirit was referred to, we're going to touch on that also. Love, it's in him, it's in Christ. We cannot know real and absolute unconditional love without his love, without biblical love. It's a love that goes beyond what man would, where man would draw the line, it goes beyond the man's line, it goes beyond what's merited, what's deserved. It goes beyond what the world would say is appropriate love because it's Christ's nature in you. It's Christ in you. It's Christ in you. It's Calvary love. Let's pray for that kind of love. I know Brother Phil often exhorts, and truthfully and wisely, that we should have love for one another. And the word exhorts us that. Friends, we need to be a loving church, to love beyond human love, to love those that we may not naturally want to love, to love as Christ would love, with Calvary love. It's him, it's Christ, it's his nature. And Christianity is about that, it's about building relationships. It's not about meetings, it's about relationships with one another, as brothers and sisters, and I know I need to do more of that, much more of that. A quote here from William Wordsworth, he said, the best portion of a good man's life is his little nameless unremembered acts of kindness and of love. His little unremembered acts of kindness and love. I think of my granny, my dad's mum, and she went to great pains to send me little comic books from England to Australia, you know, probably pulling together scant resources to pay overseas mail costs and send me comics and just a little thing, but she had a generous spirit. There was a generous spirit there, there was a caring, there was a kindness there, and I still remember that. That's something I remember about her more than many other things, as well as the time she spent with us, taking us as kids down the park.

[15:31] It's that time that we spend with people, it's those acts of kindness that you'll be remembered by. And so let's think about how can I be more a loving person to my circle of influence, to the godly fellowship with one another. Let's not neglect that. The fellowship. We're not here for a meeting, we're here for fellowship. For fellowship. It's about talking with each other. It says in Proverbs 12, 18, there is that, that speaketh like the piercings of a sword, but the tongue of the wise is health. There's some wise people here. There's some wise people here. Listen to them. Listen to them. The tongue of the wise is health. I look up to the senior saints here this morning. The senior saints, they've been there and done that. They've lived much longer than me. We can learn from these ones, from the hoary head, from the grey hairs. Let's love them and learn from them. Spend time with them. Listen to them. The tongue of the wise is health. You know, some churches, it's all about the youth.

[16:31] Now we want, we love the youth too, but we need to respect the grey hairs and listen to the tongue of the wise as much as we can learn from that. And we must. Proverbs 13, 20, it says, He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.

[16:50] Don't hang around with those who are fools today. Who do you hang around with? Who do you hang around with? Young people, older people, all of us. Who is it you spend your time with? I know there's one dear man, I'm trying to reach him for Christ and encourage him. I wanted him to come to a meeting and the next thing I know he was down the pub with a different kind of fellowship. Friends today, a companion of fools shall be destroyed. Don't hang around with those who are fools today. Hang around with those who are wise. Choose wisely to walk with wise men. Walk in love, it's his nature, it's in him. And that's not to say we don't reach out to everybody. We reach out to the lost of the lost, to the uttermost, to the guttermost, we must. But friends, who do you hang around with? Who do you receive your wisdom, your instruction from? Listen to the wise. It's love. The love of the brethren. The love of fellowship. Don't neglect it. You know, this is the main event as it were where most people come, but there's lots of other opportunities for you to come and fellowship. Don't miss out. Please don't miss out. See you at 6 o'clock tonight. Okay? Wholeness, it shows in terms of love. Love, joy. Joy. No, brother, brother

[18:10] Brad read my notes again. Brother, joy. It's joy. I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly, that your joy may be full. Wholeness shows in terms of joy. A merry heart doeth good like a medicine. You know, you can't get that down at the GP clinic or down at the pharmacy, but you can get it in the joy of the Lord, which is your strength.

[18:34] Amen? A merry heart doeth good. It's going to do you good like a medicine is a merry heart, but a broken spirit drieth the bones. Another prophet of the merry heart, Proverbs 15, 13.

[18:48] A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken. Maybe you've had those broken times. It says in the word that you may shed the tears, but joy will come in the morning. Friends, be encouraged in Christ. You might be going through a broken this time. Joy comes in the morning. Hang on to him. Hang on to that promise. There is healing in the joy that Christ comes and gives to the heart. He turns our morning into gladness.

[19:17] And surely he hath borne our grace and carried our sorrows, we told in Isaiah 53. Friends, you might have grace. He says, I'm going to carry them. You might have sorrows. He says, I'm going to carry them for you. Let him take them from your shoulders. His shoulders are broad enough for all your grace. His shoulders are broad enough for all your sorrows. And he grants us joy.

[19:39] Joy for our situation. Joy despite our situation. Joy towards others. Love, joy, peace. Peace. Wholeness comes in that peace that passeth all understanding, that keeps our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. He is our peacemaker. The peacemaker between God and man. The Prince Prince of Peace. In Christ is found that healing for the troubled soul, the tormented mind, the aching heart, the searching one. Wherever you're at today, there is peace. There is peace for you. That missing peace, that missing peace can fill that puzzle that is your life. That one God. He counteracts the enmity, the hatred between God and man. He is the peacemaker.

[20:31] He comes and takes away that ugliness, that hatred towards God that is our natural state. And he grants us peace with God. He reconciles us. He can heal those scars today. Maybe the scars from the tragedies past, of divorce, of bereavement, of turmoil, of heaviness, of restlessness.

[20:51] He is the one, the healer. He comes to you today and he speaks peace. He says, peace be still to the storm. And there was a great calm. Peace be still. We can find peace. We can find hope.

[21:04] We can find hope today. The Bible believing Christian has peace and hope. Hope for the future. Hope for the present. In Psalm 42, the Psalmist cried, why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God? I shall yet praise him. And he is the health of my countenance and my God. He is the health of your countenance. He is the health of your face. He is the one who is your hope.

[21:36] Hope. Hope in him. The antidote for worry and concern is that hope. Friends, there's lots of missing pieces in many people's lives today. All our anxieties, all our cares, bring them to the mercy seat. Bring them to him.

[21:50] Christ says, are you not of more value than the birds? He says, fear you not therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows. The very hairs of your head are numbered. He cares for the sparrow. How much more does he care for you?

[22:05] He says, you are valued. Value. How do we get there? How do we get this? It takes a reprogramming of our mind. A renewing of our mind. And be not conformed to this world, but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

[22:27] It's not a vain hope. It's not a man-manufactured hope. It's not some kind of unreal hope. This is real hope. It's guaranteed hope to inspire us to ignite fame. It's promised by God Almighty.

[22:44] But it's conditional. This hope is conditional today, friends. It says in Isaiah 59, Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that he cannot say. Neither is his ear heavy that he cannot hear.

[22:59] But your iniquities are separated between you and your God. Your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear. But is it sin that's stopping that completeness in Christ? Is it sin that's stopping that missing piece that you lack today?

[23:19] He extends open arms to everyone. His hand is not shortened. He's not got some kind of disability with that hand. His hand is not shortened. His hand will extend to the furthest, to the foulest. His ear is not heavy. It's not blocked.

[23:36] His ear can hear the cry of the repentant heart. Friends, cry out to that great burden bearer. His shoulders are broad enough for the foulest of your sin, for the heaviest of your load, for the deepest sin problem today.

[23:55] Paul said in Acts 17, to the folk he addressed there, he exhorted that they should seek the Lord, if happily or if perhaps they might feel after him and find him, though he be not far from every one of us, for in him we live and move and have our being.

[24:17] He's close to you today. He's as close as a prayer away. Sometimes we think of God as some remote and distant being that's out of touch. He's in touch today. He's here today. His ear is open. His face is looking to you, but your sin will separate you from him.

[24:35] Friends, you must seek the Lord while he may be found. Tap into his great resources, the power of prayer. He can heal the damage of sin and take away that blockage and turn it around.

[24:49] Friends, just to close, life can be made complete. That missing piece of the puzzle is Christ in you. It's you in Christ. It's in him is life. In him is wholeness. In him is that giving beyond our own giving.

[25:05] That forgiving beyond our own capacity. That love, that joy, that peace. It's in him. It's in Christ. And it takes a reprogramming of the mind. It takes a decision to trust him. A responding to his grace. A finding and a receiving of Christ and of his nature.

[25:27] And a growing in that nature. Friends, it doesn't happen overnight. Changed into his image. It takes a process. It takes a time. It takes a learning. It takes a walking. It takes a step by step by step.

[25:40] You might think, I'm a lousy Christian. I'm not much of a witness. I lack that giving. I lack that forgiving. I lack that peace. I lack that joy. I lack that love. That hope.

[25:53] Come to him. Ask him to refresh it in you. Come to him, the healer of your spirit. The healer of your soul. Come to him today. In him we live and move and have our being. Let us pray.

[26:08] Dear Lord God, we thank you that you are the master. Lord, you are the master of all our destinies, as it were. And yet, Lord, we know that for some sin is a blockage that separates them from you.

[26:25] We pray that each soul might find peace with God today. That each spirit might be renewed. Each heart might be changed and transformed. That we might have more of Christ's nature in us.

[26:37] That we might find that missing peace that is only in you, Lord Jesus, our Saviour today. That we might come to live and to be fruitful with that fruit of the Spirit.

[26:48] that others may see the righteousness, the joy, the peace, the love, the hope, the joy, the wonder of Calvary lived out in the wonder of your mercy to us.

[27:01] We thank you, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen.