WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.080 Okay, we're going to do something slightly differently or in a different order this evening from 00:00:04.719 --> 00:00:11.679 maybe what we would normally do. I'm going to look at various passages and they'll be interspersed 00:00:13.200 --> 00:00:18.240 during what I'm going to say. So there's no reading of Scripture at this point, 00:00:18.240 --> 00:00:25.199 but there will be reading of Scripture throughout the message. So because I don't do what, 00:00:25.199 --> 00:00:35.359 I don't do this often, but I'm not going to preach or teach from one particular passage of the Bible 00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:44.079 in its particular context as part of a series. I'm not even going to preach from one verse 00:00:45.200 --> 00:00:51.039 as a one-off sermon or teaching session as John did so acceptably last week. 00:00:51.039 --> 00:00:56.560 But what I'm going to do is I'm going to answer a question that was asked 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:03.519 recently in one of our question sessions, but which we didn't answer, we didn't look at because 00:01:03.519 --> 00:01:08.400 we got a lot more questions in than we were able to answer. I'm going to answer one question 00:01:10.159 --> 00:01:14.640 in the light of Scripture and by referring to Scripture, I hope that's still teaching, right? 00:01:14.640 --> 00:01:21.519 I hope that's still preaching from the Bible. It's just doing it in a slightly different way. 00:01:22.719 --> 00:01:30.319 And I'm going to answer the question that I'll tell you what it is very shortly. In the light of 00:01:30.319 --> 00:01:38.879 the fact that we're planning a seven-week evangelistic presentation in the summer, in the evening, 00:01:38.879 --> 00:01:44.079 so that's again going to be something different and I'll tell you about that at the end. But 00:01:44.079 --> 00:01:51.679 the question that we didn't look at in our question time recently was, how can I talk to people about 00:01:51.679 --> 00:01:59.840 Jesus during this crisis when I don't see anyone? A perfectly legitimate question. How can I talk to 00:01:59.840 --> 00:02:06.400 people about Jesus during this crisis, this COVID crisis lockdown, when I don't see anyone? I'm 00:02:06.400 --> 00:02:14.879 isolated or when I'm not able to get out of the house. And I think that's a really good question. 00:02:14.879 --> 00:02:24.400 And I think it broadens our thinking and I hope it will broaden our thinking into wider questions 00:02:24.400 --> 00:02:30.879 about God's sovereign control over our lives and over the circumstances we find ourselves in. 00:02:30.879 --> 00:02:39.759 So by way of introduction, I just want to say that I acknowledge and I experience that this crisis 00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:49.840 is indeed tough, you know? And it's difficult to think and act normally, as it were, as we would 00:02:49.840 --> 00:02:55.439 normally act. Maybe sometimes you've heard preaching and you think, well, you know, from me or 00:02:55.439 --> 00:03:04.479 Derek's talking about normal situations and things aren't normal and so it's difficult to apply 00:03:04.479 --> 00:03:12.879 the teaching. I hope that's not been the case. But it is a tough crisis that we're in and isolation 00:03:12.879 --> 00:03:21.759 is not a good thing. And for many of us, this has been very stressful, been stressful personally, 00:03:21.759 --> 00:03:30.560 there's been pain for people, loss, bereavement, fear. And we've seen, you know, snowballing 00:03:31.199 --> 00:03:37.359 effects in different ways and unconnected ways with the injustices and the hopelessness 00:03:38.639 --> 00:03:45.359 that seems to be prevalent in much of people's thinking. And maybe you'll say, well, I'm not 00:03:45.360 --> 00:03:52.240 sure how to survive this. I'm not sure how to respond as a Christian and how to disciple as a 00:03:52.240 --> 00:03:57.680 Christian and how to tell others about Christ during these times. Maybe now how can I survive? 00:03:57.680 --> 00:04:03.760 And maybe you're thinking, how can the church survive during this time? What is God doing? 00:04:05.920 --> 00:04:13.360 And that's difficult. But just before looking at that, I've got a little sidebar here with a challenge. 00:04:13.360 --> 00:04:21.360 When you're thinking about these days and the crisis of these days, if you hate these days because 00:04:23.280 --> 00:04:30.560 of the challenges in your job or unemployment or the disruption of your social life or the fact 00:04:30.560 --> 00:04:36.560 that there's not going to be any holidays, and you find that really tough, but actually 00:04:37.680 --> 00:04:42.960 not having to interact with other Christians and be committed to coming along to church and 00:04:42.959 --> 00:04:48.639 being part of the gospel community with all its feelings, maybe you're actually loving that part. 00:04:49.919 --> 00:04:59.439 And I wonder if there's a challenge there to our deep-seated thinking about what disrupts our peace 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:07.679 and what is important to us and what is significant. What our understanding of the gospel and our calling 00:05:07.680 --> 00:05:15.840 as disciples is. And the wonder of God's grace if we're actually more perturbed by how this crisis 00:05:15.840 --> 00:05:24.079 has affected our general life rather than our Christian life. And actually, the two should 00:05:24.079 --> 00:05:35.040 be subsumed together. And the challenge therefore should come to us as whole people as Christians. 00:05:35.040 --> 00:05:44.640 And there should be a toughness and a difficulty even about not meeting together and not fulfilling 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:50.160 that great calling to love God and to love our neighbour as ourselves. 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:56.720 So I think, you know, there's maybe a little sidebar there about where our priorities lie. 00:05:56.720 --> 00:06:03.759 But with regard to the crisis and the toughness of life that we're going through and witnessing 00:06:03.759 --> 00:06:11.199 through that and how we do it, we're also called to live with great hope and to always be learning 00:06:11.199 --> 00:06:18.079 and always to be growing. And if you remember the great picture that has been the foundation of our 00:06:18.800 --> 00:06:24.480 movement towards deeper and ongoing discipleship in the congregation from Jeremiah 17, 00:06:25.439 --> 00:06:32.800 that picture of the tree that always bears fruit even in drought can bear fruit because of where 00:06:32.800 --> 00:06:40.000 its roots are. When the heat comes, it can still bear fruit. And we needn't be afraid because its 00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:49.759 roots are still receiving life and energy from the living water. And as we are rooted and living for 00:06:49.759 --> 00:06:55.840 Christ, even in a drought, a time of drought, and this very much feels like a time of drought, 00:06:55.839 --> 00:07:05.119 then we begin to realise if our faith is for real and where our roots are and whether we can 00:07:05.119 --> 00:07:10.560 still bear fruit at such a time like this. So there needs to be that great acknowledgement 00:07:10.560 --> 00:07:17.599 that crisis is that we're going through is tough. But can I say, and we move on to look at some 00:07:17.600 --> 00:07:25.840 examples in the Bible, our crisis can be God's canvas. So the crisis that we are going through 00:07:26.879 --> 00:07:32.960 can be something that God uses and something that God does use and something that God has always used 00:07:32.960 --> 00:07:41.520 in the past. So we're reminded that this crisis for us is not for God. It's not a crisis for Him 00:07:41.519 --> 00:07:49.199 and He is sovereign over all that's happening. Now that, I've heard a lot about it from many 00:07:49.199 --> 00:07:53.519 different people in these days about God's sovereignty through this crisis. It's not a 00:07:53.519 --> 00:08:00.319 cheap cover all doctrine. It's not a theological sop. We don't just let it trip off our tongue and 00:08:00.319 --> 00:08:03.759 say, yeah, yeah, yeah, God's in control. It's fine. It's almost like something that's quite 00:08:03.759 --> 00:08:13.599 careless and quite blasé. I don't think for us, while it's rooted and it clearly is revealed in 00:08:13.599 --> 00:08:23.519 Scripture, it is a truth that for us is wrestled out of the fires of suffering and the recognition 00:08:23.519 --> 00:08:33.600 of God's redemptive work in our experience, in our experience as part of broken humanity. 00:08:34.559 --> 00:08:43.439 And so it's not a cheap truth for us to just trip off our tongue, but it nonetheless is an 00:08:43.439 --> 00:08:51.199 important one. And it's that deeply paradoxical reality that we face as Christians in this life, 00:08:51.200 --> 00:09:03.200 which is a battlefield with the cross as our template where the innocent one suffered and died 00:09:04.400 --> 00:09:12.160 and was exposed to great injustice and yet that greatest of all injustices was the means by which 00:09:12.160 --> 00:09:18.160 God wrote salvation and redemption for humanity. So we see in that that the foolishness of God 00:09:18.159 --> 00:09:28.959 is wiser than our wisdom. And so we can see and know and understand that God will use the crisis 00:09:28.959 --> 00:09:39.360 that we go through as a canvas on which to work. And he, in his permissive will, he will use and 00:09:39.360 --> 00:09:49.680 even evil, he will use evil against itself to bring its final demise. So the cross is that revelation 00:09:50.800 --> 00:10:02.000 of God's victory over evil. And we wait for its final destruction. It was defeated, it will be destroyed, 00:10:02.000 --> 00:10:09.679 and he will bring in its final demise. So our understanding of the divine good in all of 00:10:10.960 --> 00:10:19.759 difficult times is one which recognizes mystery and depth and unseen and unspoken explanation 00:10:19.759 --> 00:10:27.600 sometimes. But we believe and we trust that God is at work. And in many ways, again to use a kind 00:10:27.600 --> 00:10:36.720 of very non-biblical phrase, he works against all the odds. And in the difficulty, in our crisis, 00:10:37.840 --> 00:10:43.519 we see it becomes God's canvas. And we are to believe in that and to recognize that. 00:10:44.080 --> 00:10:50.720 So I want to say a couple of things, a couple of things on each point. Firstly, that his truth 00:10:50.720 --> 00:11:00.800 will motivate us, I think, to action through a time like this and enable us to share our faith 00:11:00.800 --> 00:11:06.639 and to live as Christians in difficult times. And there's two elements to his truth, 00:11:07.519 --> 00:11:12.800 to truth that I want to mention. First, his power and then his perspective. And we're going to read 00:11:12.799 --> 00:11:22.799 about his power in Matthew 16 verses 17 to 19, a short passage, and Mary Murchison, who is going to be 00:11:23.439 --> 00:11:28.719 working as an apprentice with us. I'm an apprentice in training with us from September. 00:11:29.679 --> 00:11:36.000 We'll be reading some of the passages and William McSween, who we hope will also be working with 00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:41.759 us for a year from September as an apprentice, will read also one of the passages, but they'll 00:11:41.759 --> 00:11:45.679 be interspersed. So the first reading, Mary will read from Matthew chapter 16. 00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:53.120 Matthew 16 verses 17 to 19. In Jesus answered him, 00:11:53.919 --> 00:11:59.279 Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, 00:11:59.279 --> 00:12:06.080 but my Father, who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my 00:12:06.080 --> 00:12:12.080 church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom 00:12:12.080 --> 00:12:18.000 of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you lose on earth 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:26.800 shall be loosed in heaven. So we have here Jesus just making a great declaration on the basis of 00:12:27.440 --> 00:12:34.160 Peter, what Peter said to him, that you know, when Jesus asked all the disciples, who do you say that 00:12:34.159 --> 00:12:40.559 I am, Peter says, you are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. You are the Christ, the Messiah, 00:12:40.559 --> 00:12:46.799 the Redeemer. And Jesus goes on to say that that great declaration and that great reality, 00:12:47.679 --> 00:12:55.199 and that great truth is the rock on which the church will be built, of whom Peter will be one 00:12:55.200 --> 00:13:04.960 of the founding apostles, and goes on to speak about this great truth being what will build 00:13:04.960 --> 00:13:12.960 the church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And it's this great declaration 00:13:12.960 --> 00:13:27.360 of power and glory from both the message and the work of Jesus Christ. And it may seem that the 00:13:27.360 --> 00:13:33.360 opposition is great. The gates of hell is an awesome picture, and it's a frightening and 00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:42.160 scary picture of evil and darkness. And yet Jesus is saying, as the kingdom progresses, evil and 00:13:42.159 --> 00:13:49.039 darkness will not be able to withstand the growth and the movement of the kingdom and the coming in 00:13:49.039 --> 00:14:01.759 of Christians and the ushering in of God's new creation. And things then, and now often seem 00:14:01.759 --> 00:14:13.679 very bleak, we feel that the gates of hell seem to be shut tight against Jesus Christ and his 00:14:13.679 --> 00:14:21.279 claims. We feel sometimes the gospel is weak and the darkness that sometimes is in our hearts, 00:14:21.279 --> 00:14:29.200 but sometimes in people's souls is impenetrable. They will not believe. And there is that sometimes 00:14:29.200 --> 00:14:35.920 a sense of malevolence and opposition, a widespread rejection, there's so few people being saved, 00:14:35.920 --> 00:14:44.800 there's little evidence of God at work. And yet we are to be reminded in times of crisis, in times 00:14:44.800 --> 00:14:52.720 like this also, that Jesus has already stormed the gates of hell on the cross. And his death and 00:14:52.720 --> 00:15:01.440 his resurrection is the ceiling of his defeat of darkness and sin and the grave. His kingdom is 00:15:01.440 --> 00:15:10.160 coming and we are to be his soldiers. And he asks us to hide in him. He asks us to act for him. 00:15:10.160 --> 00:15:17.920 He asks us to share our life and our faith and our testimony in his name and to stumble out our 00:15:17.919 --> 00:15:25.759 faith story with prayer and with belief to other people, because he is the Messiah and we follow 00:15:25.759 --> 00:15:33.919 in his footsteps. And we believe that he wants to use us to further his kingdom and to share our 00:15:33.919 --> 00:15:41.839 faith even in a time of crisis, even when it seems unproductive or unfruitful. To mix metaphors, 00:15:41.840 --> 00:15:51.280 we need to constantly be deepening our roots into the rock, into the foundation that is Jesus Christ 00:15:51.280 --> 00:16:00.480 and the gates of hell do not prevail against him. He is the Christ. And as we live for and as we 00:16:00.480 --> 00:16:09.200 trust in Jesus Christ, we recognize his great power, power that hell could not overcome and 00:16:09.200 --> 00:16:18.000 will not overcome. And we need, as we think about sharing our faith, as we think about how we can 00:16:19.040 --> 00:16:27.360 share Jesus when we're in this crisis, we need to look at the transforming power that Jesus Christ 00:16:28.640 --> 00:16:36.879 has wrought and we look to see being wrought in our own hearts. And as we see his power, 00:16:36.879 --> 00:16:42.399 then it enables us to think differently about the crisis we're in. So his power is one thing. 00:16:42.399 --> 00:16:48.240 Then we go on to the second part of his truth, which I hope motivates action for us, which is 00:16:48.240 --> 00:16:55.759 his perspective. And here, Mary will read from Matthew 19 from verses 23 to 32. 00:16:57.919 --> 00:17:05.599 Matthew 19 verses 23 to 30. In Jesus said to his disciples, truly I say to you, 00:17:05.599 --> 00:17:12.159 only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Again, I tell you, it is easier 00:17:12.159 --> 00:17:17.039 for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. 00:17:18.079 --> 00:17:21.839 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, 00:17:21.839 --> 00:17:27.759 who then can be saved? But Jesus looked at them and said, with man this is impossible, 00:17:27.759 --> 00:17:34.480 but with God all things are possible. Then Peter said in reply, see, we have left everything and 00:17:34.480 --> 00:17:42.000 followed you. What then will we have? Jesus said to them, truly I say to you, in the new world, 00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:46.799 when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also 00:17:46.799 --> 00:17:52.799 sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or 00:17:52.799 --> 00:17:58.720 brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for my name's sake, 00:17:58.720 --> 00:18:04.160 will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, 00:18:04.160 --> 00:18:09.120 and the last first. Okay, so in this passage very briefly, again we see 00:18:10.720 --> 00:18:16.720 impossible odds. You know, in the first passage it seemed like the gates of hell were against 00:18:16.720 --> 00:18:22.720 Christ and we're talking about the crisis and the difficulties we face today. Well, in this passage 00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:33.840 we have a rich man and Jesus speaking to the disciples and exposing how difficult it is 00:18:33.839 --> 00:18:40.480 for those with material wealth and material pleasures and material plenty, how difficult it 00:18:40.480 --> 00:18:46.399 is for them to see their need for salvation so much so it's easier for an eye to go through, 00:18:46.399 --> 00:18:52.159 a camel to go through the eye of a needle, a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. And it's an 00:18:52.159 --> 00:19:02.079 interesting picture that Jesus paints there of how deceitful and how appealing are the 00:19:02.079 --> 00:19:09.119 attractions of this world of materialism and we see that and wealth and maybe even secularism we see 00:19:09.759 --> 00:19:15.919 as tremendously, making it tremendously difficult for people to believe in Jesus. Maybe you look 00:19:15.919 --> 00:19:19.279 at your friends at people around and say they're never going to believe in Jesus. It's like the 00:19:19.279 --> 00:19:25.039 rich man in the story. He's never going to believe because it's so difficult because he's so surrounded 00:19:25.039 --> 00:19:34.399 by all of this world's good things and it's tough. It's very tough and but the great thing is Jesus 00:19:34.399 --> 00:19:40.399 knows that. He knows it's really tough for people to come to faith in him, to overcome these ills, 00:19:41.119 --> 00:19:46.079 not just for the rich man but for all of us. That's why he uses that illustration. He says, 00:19:46.079 --> 00:19:52.240 yeah, as we look at it, as human beings we look at the prospects of our friends or anyone else 00:19:52.240 --> 00:19:57.279 coming to faith, we think it's impossible, be easier for a camel to go through an eye of a needle 00:19:57.279 --> 00:20:04.720 and that's a great and crazy illustration, isn't it? He gets it. It seems terribly difficult but 00:20:04.720 --> 00:20:09.839 we need to see things from his perspective because he thinks, you know, you look at that and you say, 00:20:09.839 --> 00:20:15.359 is it possible then for anyone to be saved? And he says, with man that is impossible but with God 00:20:15.359 --> 00:20:23.599 all things are possible and we need to see that perspective and recognize that he is the one who 00:20:23.599 --> 00:20:31.599 does the impossible and we are not to fret unnaturally or in an uneasy way about these things and believe 00:20:33.919 --> 00:20:42.079 that we are to go out and trust in him, to live our lives and to make good use of what might be 00:20:42.079 --> 00:20:49.839 impossible times. Just tell it out and leave the results to him. He's the one who raises the dead. 00:20:50.639 --> 00:20:56.639 We're simply asked to make the introductions at the grave side. All we're asked to do is introduce 00:20:56.639 --> 00:21:09.679 people to Jesus by our life, by the natural reflection with others of what Jesus means to us 00:21:09.680 --> 00:21:15.920 and having introduced him, we're to leave him to raise the dead and to bring to life 00:21:18.080 --> 00:21:27.920 their sense of need for a redeemer. So his truth motivates action but also secondly 00:21:28.799 --> 00:21:36.400 his ways inspire hope. Now again, so we're looking at unfavorable circumstances 00:21:36.400 --> 00:21:41.360 and crises and difficulties that make it difficult to live as a Christian maybe and 00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:49.040 even harder to share our faith as Christians and how do we do that? Maybe you're looking 00:21:49.040 --> 00:21:55.200 to say, I can't live the way I want to live even as a Christian. I can't mix my friendship groups 00:21:55.200 --> 00:22:00.480 with so that my Christian friends are mixing and mingling with my unbelieving friends. I can't go out 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:05.440 for a meal or for a coffee to share my faith with someone or I can't invite someone to my church 00:22:05.440 --> 00:22:11.039 community on a Sunday and I still go even doing one-to-one stuff with people and everyone anyway 00:22:11.039 --> 00:22:15.840 is so distracted. They've all, everyone's got so much on their plates, it's overwhelming. 00:22:17.840 --> 00:22:26.320 How can, I can't even think about sharing my faith and can I just encourage you and then 00:22:26.320 --> 00:22:34.160 I encourage myself not to be overwhelmed but to know he knows and to rest in him. I'm just going to, 00:22:34.160 --> 00:22:41.200 I want us just to look at two, briefly two, biblical accounts to encourage you briefly. 00:22:41.200 --> 00:22:48.720 The first is how God works in a desert and then in a prison. So in the passage about the desert, 00:22:48.720 --> 00:22:53.600 it's from Acts 8, 26 to 39 and William is going to read this. 00:22:56.400 --> 00:23:03.120 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down 00:23:03.119 --> 00:23:11.199 from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a desert place and he rose and went and there was an Ethiopian, 00:23:11.199 --> 00:23:17.759 a eunuch, a court official of Candens, Queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. 00:23:18.559 --> 00:23:24.239 He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot and he was 00:23:24.239 --> 00:23:31.759 reading the prophet Isaiah and the Spirit said to Philip, go over and join this chariot. So Philip 00:23:31.759 --> 00:23:37.920 ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, do you understand what you are reading? 00:23:37.920 --> 00:23:45.039 And he said, how can I unless someone guides me? And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 00:23:45.039 --> 00:23:50.640 Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this, like a sheep he was led to the 00:23:50.640 --> 00:23:58.319 slaughter and like a lamb before its shears is silent so he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation 00:23:58.319 --> 00:24:04.559 justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation for his life is taken away from the 00:24:04.559 --> 00:24:10.559 earth? And the eunuch said to Philip, about whom I ask you does the prophet say this, 00:24:10.559 --> 00:24:17.039 about himself or about someone else? Then Philip opened his mouth and beginning with the scripture 00:24:17.039 --> 00:24:24.079 he told him the good news about Jesus. And as they were going along the road they came to some water 00:24:24.079 --> 00:24:31.119 and the eunuch said, see here is water, what prevents me from being baptised? And he commanded the 00:24:31.119 --> 00:24:37.359 chariot to stop and they both went down into the water Philip and the eunuch and he baptised him. 00:24:38.079 --> 00:24:43.439 And when they came up out of the water the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away and the eunuch 00:24:43.439 --> 00:24:50.000 saw him no more and went on his way rejoicing. Okay it's a slightly longer passage because it's a 00:24:50.000 --> 00:25:00.000 really great and encouraging passage to read. And I chose this passage because it's great to 00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:08.559 reflect on the way God works so often that is counter-intuitive for us. So here's Philip and 00:25:08.559 --> 00:25:13.119 later on in I think in Acts 21 he's called Philip the Evangelist. So he obviously had the gift of 00:25:13.119 --> 00:25:18.559 an evangelist. The gift of an evangelist, what a great thing. Someone who could tell the gospel, 00:25:18.559 --> 00:25:24.879 who knew the message well and who obviously was able to share it with people and people, you know. 00:25:24.879 --> 00:25:30.720 So what would God say to him? Go to Jerusalem Philip or go to Rome or go to somewhere where 00:25:30.720 --> 00:25:34.799 there's lots and lots of people and be an evangelist and he says, no go into the desert, 00:25:35.519 --> 00:25:41.279 go into the desert. I say, what? There's nobody there. There's no people there. What kind of 00:25:41.279 --> 00:25:46.720 strategy is that? Why are you taking me to the desert? The desert is brilliant. There's nothing 00:25:46.720 --> 00:25:56.799 in the desert but snakes and sand. But God doesn't see a desert. God sees a person. 00:25:57.839 --> 00:26:06.000 God isn't looking at the circumstances that Philip will have to endure. He is seeing a person that 00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:16.000 Philip needs to meet. A member of the Ethiopian royal household who has been in Jerusalem, 00:26:16.000 --> 00:26:25.680 is traveling back home. So it's really, it's not the circumstances that are significant. It's 00:26:27.200 --> 00:26:34.480 the connections that God wants us to make. One person at a time. We're often overwhelmed by 00:26:34.480 --> 00:26:41.920 the need but it's one person at a time for us that God is often using us to do. So when we think of 00:26:41.920 --> 00:26:52.480 the story of Philip and the Ethiopian, we can pray that God will lead us to people in whom his spirit 00:26:52.480 --> 00:27:00.800 is maybe already working in order to be part of their story, in order to be part of the way God 00:27:00.800 --> 00:27:08.400 is leading them to himself. And it might be the circumstances seem entirely unproductive. We may 00:27:08.400 --> 00:27:15.280 feel that we're very isolated and that it's going to be impossible for us to effectively share our 00:27:15.280 --> 00:27:22.000 faith or witness in a crisis like this. But these circumstances are not a crisis to God. 00:27:24.240 --> 00:27:31.120 And he used Philip doing a most counterintuitive way going into the desert to bring this Ethiopian 00:27:31.119 --> 00:27:41.199 to faith and probably through him a church in North Africa was born. Our task, I think in life as 00:27:41.199 --> 00:27:46.639 Christians is to be sensitive to his leading and obedient to his will and willing and able 00:27:47.599 --> 00:27:56.079 to share the good news when it comes. So the desert wasn't an ideal circumstance or an ideal 00:27:56.079 --> 00:28:04.000 strategy or an ideal situation to be in, but God was sovereign over that and God is sovereign over 00:28:04.000 --> 00:28:13.839 these days in which we live. And the last reading is from Philippians chapter 1 and verses 3 to 11 00:28:13.839 --> 00:28:23.119 and Mary is going to read this again. Philippians 1 verses 3 to 11, I thank my God in all my 00:28:23.119 --> 00:28:28.719 remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy 00:28:28.719 --> 00:28:34.719 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this 00:28:34.719 --> 00:28:39.919 that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. 00:28:40.879 --> 00:28:45.919 It is right for me to feel this way about you all because I hold you in my heart for you are all 00:28:45.919 --> 00:28:51.199 partakers with me of grace both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. 00:28:51.200 --> 00:28:56.880 For God is my witness how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my 00:28:56.880 --> 00:29:02.640 prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment so that you may 00:29:02.640 --> 00:29:08.000 approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ filled with the 00:29:08.000 --> 00:29:12.880 fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. 00:29:12.880 --> 00:29:21.200 So we've seen the circumstances sometimes that God uses a desert and here we have Paul 00:29:22.160 --> 00:29:28.480 writing a letter to his Philippian church but he's writing it in chains, he's writing it 00:29:28.480 --> 00:29:37.680 because he's in prison and he speaks about that in the passage that we read. And again, 00:29:37.680 --> 00:29:51.360 a very unfruitful place to be left you would think. And I know a lot of people, teachers and 00:29:51.360 --> 00:29:56.400 preachers have made reference to Paul's imprisonment during this time of isolation. 00:29:58.160 --> 00:30:02.720 But can I just for a moment ask you to think about what it would have looked like do you think for 00:30:02.720 --> 00:30:11.759 Paul and even for the early church that was very much reliant on the apostle to the Gentiles, Paul, 00:30:11.759 --> 00:30:19.519 who loved his missionary journeys, who planted churches, who appointed leaders, who went back 00:30:19.519 --> 00:30:31.039 to teach them again and who wept on the side of the sea on the beach with elders that he'd made 00:30:31.039 --> 00:30:36.879 because he was going to be moving away from them. Great people, person in many ways and 00:30:38.240 --> 00:30:48.559 hugely significant leader writing from a prison cell in Rome rotting in effect on death row. 00:30:49.599 --> 00:30:53.680 Would he have felt frustrated? Would the church have wondered what God was doing? 00:30:54.879 --> 00:31:00.399 Did they ask why? Was he lonely? He certainly was isolated. Was he thinking, what on earth 00:31:00.400 --> 00:31:06.720 is God doing? Maybe as he initially started in prison, maybe thought, oh well, you know, 00:31:06.720 --> 00:31:11.280 remember being in prison in Philippi and the earthquake came and we got set free. I thought 00:31:11.280 --> 00:31:17.519 of Peter where the angel came and opened the prison doors and he was waiting and waiting 00:31:17.519 --> 00:31:22.480 and waiting for miracles for something to happen and nothing happened. Would that have been easy 00:31:22.480 --> 00:31:32.400 for Paul? I don't think so. I don't think it would have been easy at all. And yet, I think in Philippians 00:31:32.400 --> 00:31:44.079 4 and verse 11, he says, I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. It was 00:31:44.079 --> 00:31:49.759 something he had learned to be content. It didn't come naturally. It was a process. 00:31:49.759 --> 00:31:58.079 It may have taken quite a time to work through it, to reflect, to pray, to dig, to wrestle. I don't 00:31:58.079 --> 00:32:03.039 think for a moment Paul would have skipped into prison with the shackles on him and said, hey, 00:32:03.039 --> 00:32:09.200 God's sovereign over this. Yep, it's great. Everything's going fine. And yet, he learned 00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:18.000 and he patiently began to understand God's purposes so that he could say in verse 12, you know, 00:32:18.000 --> 00:32:22.640 I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. 00:32:24.880 --> 00:32:31.519 He wrote these great prison epistles, Ephesians and Philippians, Colossians and Philemon, 00:32:31.519 --> 00:32:37.839 which have been so crucial under the inspiration of God for the whole church 00:32:37.839 --> 00:32:47.759 over many, many centuries. And he could pray and he talks about praying. He could speak about the 00:32:47.759 --> 00:32:57.759 love of Christ. He knew Christ's fellowship with him. If technology had allowed it, he'd been on 00:32:57.759 --> 00:33:06.079 Zoom all the time, meeting up with people. I suppose it was Zoom snail mail by letter that he wrote. 00:33:06.079 --> 00:33:12.480 He eventually received visitors as some restrictions would have been lifted. But he 00:33:12.480 --> 00:33:20.400 learned to give thanks. He meditated on what he had. He knew that God was, he came to know that 00:33:20.400 --> 00:33:26.960 God was sovereign over this situation and people were in his heart. So he was free at that level 00:33:26.960 --> 00:33:34.079 because he could, he could commit them to God and God was in their heart, God was in his heart. 00:33:34.640 --> 00:33:40.240 And he knew the gospel would advance even with his imprisonment. As he focused on Christ, 00:33:40.240 --> 00:33:47.680 he was able to press on. I mean, if you have time, read the gospel, read the letter of the Philippians, 00:33:47.680 --> 00:34:00.000 it will not take you long and it will inspire you. And he was moved in prison, longing for the 00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:10.159 church of Christ. And he himself was moved in longing to see people come to faith and to recognize 00:34:10.159 --> 00:34:23.839 their great need of a Savior. So in that unfruitful circumstance, we find that Paul recognized God's 00:34:23.839 --> 00:34:35.039 sovereign hand and he was enabled to be used greatly. So now in our situation where everything is 00:34:35.039 --> 00:34:41.039 different and difficult, there are restrictions, can we learn by God's grace also to adapt, 00:34:41.599 --> 00:34:50.159 to recognize God's sovereign purpose in this that he knows it's not cheap for us, it will require us 00:34:50.159 --> 00:35:00.480 to learn what he's doing, to look at what we can do to take our difficulty like Paul did and make 00:35:00.480 --> 00:35:06.159 it an opportunity. And maybe through these days, you have more opportunities with your neighbors 00:35:06.159 --> 00:35:12.000 that you didn't have before, you have more time to pray, maybe you can contact people in different 00:35:12.000 --> 00:35:19.599 ways and meet up with people that you didn't meet up with as time goes on. We can invite people to 00:35:19.599 --> 00:35:28.320 our online services, it's maybe a less threatening invitation. And I hope that I'll speak about that 00:35:28.320 --> 00:35:34.960 in a minute. And as restrictions are lifted, you make a point of meeting up with people. So 00:35:34.960 --> 00:35:42.160 there's opportunities even in what seems to be a crisis. Keep learning. We need to keep learning 00:35:42.160 --> 00:35:49.280 about God's power, about our impossibilities becoming possible to Him, His perspective. 00:35:51.120 --> 00:35:57.440 This is where God has you. This is where God has me. And this is where He wants us to serve Him 00:35:57.440 --> 00:36:05.200 right here and now. And I and you have the greatest good news, most amazing opportunity, 00:36:05.200 --> 00:36:14.079 while life is chaotic to grasp the nettle. Learning how to introduce others to Jesus, 00:36:14.720 --> 00:36:22.000 learning to share your own story of what He means to you, share how your Christian faith has impacted 00:36:22.000 --> 00:36:29.199 your response to lockdown, the injustices that we have become aware of in the world, 00:36:30.639 --> 00:36:35.920 and how Christ is the answer and the hope and the contentment that you have found. 00:36:37.199 --> 00:36:44.159 We have the best news ever, and people are still enemies of Jesus Christ who have no hope and who 00:36:44.159 --> 00:36:56.000 are eternally lost. And so we long for people to come to know Jesus, and we don't know how long we 00:36:56.000 --> 00:37:06.960 have to have the opportunity to share faith. And may we help one another in that task. Will you join 00:37:06.960 --> 00:37:15.199 with us for our times of prayer and an engine room on a Friday at eight to plead with God for the 00:37:15.199 --> 00:37:21.679 gospel to flourish for many people in this city to come to faith, to encourage one another, to comfort 00:37:21.679 --> 00:37:28.159 one another as we struggle and battle with that, to remind ourselves that we are safe in Him, to learn 00:37:28.159 --> 00:37:35.440 and to love Him, to love our neighbor, to love one another, to love our enemies, and to know that with 00:37:35.440 --> 00:37:46.400 God all things are possible. Amen.