WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.780 I swear by Almighty God that the evidence I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth, 00:00:07.780 --> 00:00:15.700 and nothing but the truth. If you've ever stood in court or had to stand in court to give evidence, 00:00:15.939 --> 00:00:23.280 you will know what a hefty promise that is. The thing is, you will have a lot of very, 00:00:23.280 --> 00:00:31.020 very clever people who have trained a long time, who will exercise your mind as to whether you are 00:00:31.020 --> 00:00:37.719 telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, because that is their job. 00:00:38.799 --> 00:00:47.280 And to make that oath a solemn promise is invoking the divine. That's what it says in the 00:00:47.280 --> 00:00:57.020 definition, that you are invoking the divine regarding one's future action or behavior. 00:00:59.179 --> 00:01:08.159 There are two things that are easily broken. One is X, and one is promises. It's easy to do that. 00:01:08.159 --> 00:01:13.659 Shirley MacLaine said, is quoted as saying when she was talking about promises, 00:01:13.659 --> 00:01:20.640 never believe what somebody is saying, one, when they are drunk, and two, when they're running for 00:01:20.640 --> 00:01:32.340 president. It's about accountability. It's about accountability to God. And this morning, we all 00:01:32.340 --> 00:01:41.620 sat there. We all made our covenant promises. We all made that covenant promise. We didn't have 00:01:41.620 --> 00:01:47.660 to hold the Bible. We didn't have to swear, because we're not in front of a barrister, and we're not in 00:01:47.660 --> 00:01:55.420 front of a solicitor or a judge. We are in front of God, who knows the secrets of all our hearts. 00:01:56.840 --> 00:02:03.340 And I was looking at this, and I thought, actually, covenantal promises are so easily made, 00:02:03.340 --> 00:02:12.060 but sadly, so easily broken. Because as Paul says in our reading here this morning, he is urging his 00:02:12.060 --> 00:02:20.620 church. He's urging his fellow believers, because he knows the consequences of what broken promises 00:02:20.620 --> 00:02:29.400 look like. It's important to Paul, because Paul knew what it meant to have a transformational life. 00:02:29.400 --> 00:02:36.659 He knew what it was like for a life to be transformed. As Paul was walking down this Damascus 00:02:36.659 --> 00:02:45.960 road with his sole intention to wipe out all these followers of Christ, and that was his sole intention, 00:02:46.200 --> 00:02:53.780 to have that transformational moment that not only changed his life, but to change his perspective, 00:02:53.780 --> 00:03:05.219 but most of all, to change his heart. Some here will know what that transformational moment of the Holy 00:03:05.219 --> 00:03:15.659 Spirit is like in our lives. Some will be sat here desiring that change of circumstance in their life, 00:03:15.659 --> 00:03:26.780 to say, I want that change. I want something new. And as we promised earlier, Paul says, I urge you. 00:03:27.719 --> 00:03:34.579 It's no wondering that Paul urges us, because he knows. He knows what that change was like, 00:03:34.579 --> 00:03:41.219 and longs for us, for each and every one of us to have that. And as we promised earlier, 00:03:41.219 --> 00:03:51.819 I am no longer my own, but yours. Put me to what you will. That's a hefty promise we have made this 00:03:51.819 --> 00:03:59.020 morning. If we've said those words and meant those in our hearts, it's a transformational. 00:03:59.860 --> 00:04:08.199 Now, Mandy will tell you there are a few things in promises that I make that truly can't be relied upon. 00:04:08.199 --> 00:04:17.759 Confession time. And I remember one particular day, and this was a particular day when Mandy was 00:04:17.759 --> 00:04:23.579 expecting a parcel to be delivered. The conversation went something like this. Are you at home this 00:04:23.579 --> 00:04:28.800 morning? Yes, I am. I'm working from home. That's really good, because there's a parcel arriving that 00:04:28.800 --> 00:04:34.919 needs signing for, and I need you to be here. Yet, don't worry, I'll be here. Are you sure? Yes, 00:04:34.920 --> 00:04:40.319 I will be here. I'm working from home. It'll be delivered between two. Yes, I will be here, Mandy. 00:04:40.520 --> 00:04:46.439 I promise. Don't worry. Now, it wasn't my fault that there was no milk in the fridge. 00:04:49.740 --> 00:04:57.660 And the shop was a short distance away. Can you imagine as I walked back up the street, 00:04:57.660 --> 00:05:07.060 and I saw the van driving away? If only he had looked in his rearview mirror and seen this 00:05:07.060 --> 00:05:19.780 demented person waving milk at him. And then you arrive there and you see the note, the note of doom 00:05:19.779 --> 00:05:29.559 that says, I am so sorry I missed you. Not half as sorry as I am, mate. I'll tell you. 00:05:31.439 --> 00:05:38.899 And the strap line for this firm was, a promise isn't fulfilled until it's delivered. 00:05:40.059 --> 00:05:42.679 That's like rubbing salt into your wound. 00:05:42.680 --> 00:05:54.740 Needless to say, promises are easily broken. In our confession, when we make confession, 00:05:55.300 --> 00:06:01.600 in the old book it says that we confess to you, Lord, our faults and our failings, 00:06:01.939 --> 00:06:06.160 and that there is no health in us. It's what it says in the old book. I'll tell you, 00:06:06.460 --> 00:06:11.579 there is a real dread that there will be no health in me that afternoon when Mandy arrived home. 00:06:11.579 --> 00:06:19.859 But in this thing it says, do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed 00:06:19.859 --> 00:06:27.599 by the renewing of your mind. It's so easy to make the promises in good faith, but fail to deliver. 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:35.439 And that's where we need the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. You'll have noticed that there 00:06:35.439 --> 00:06:43.139 there's leaflets on your chairs to take away and read. And it's about our sharing and our giving in 2000. 00:06:44.579 --> 00:06:51.639 I was in a church for a long time when the vicar used to talk to the church once a year on one Sunday, 00:06:52.279 --> 00:07:01.019 and his line was, I don't want to take your fun money from you. I never really understood what that 00:07:01.019 --> 00:07:10.159 meant. What does that term, your fun money? Because I think the church had interpreted this, that all of 00:07:10.159 --> 00:07:17.279 their money was their fun money, so that's why they didn't give any to the church. And I'm glad Mike, 00:07:17.319 --> 00:07:24.240 if you listened to Mike's sermon last week, Mike talked about Malachi. And Malachi preached to a 00:07:24.240 --> 00:07:32.060 people who had never really grasped this sense of what God had given them. And in fact, what had 00:07:32.060 --> 00:07:39.780 happened in the church was you would get these sayings like, I'd like to, we've just had new 00:07:39.780 --> 00:07:46.519 carpets put throughout the house. We've had the old ones for 30 years. There's still somewhere in them. 00:07:46.519 --> 00:07:55.439 Would the church like it? I said, yes, it's bonfire night coming up. And we'd love to have them. 00:07:56.399 --> 00:08:02.159 I've bought a new flat screen TV. I was wondering whether the church would like the old one for 00:08:02.159 --> 00:08:11.419 our youth group. It only needs a couple of new valves. Do you get the picture? Well, not on this TV. 00:08:11.420 --> 00:08:21.819 But it was that sense of Malachi talking to a people. And Malachi said, a son honours his father 00:08:21.819 --> 00:08:29.379 and a slave honours his master. If I am a father, where is the honour that's due to me? 00:08:30.660 --> 00:08:36.539 If I'm a master, where is the respect that's due to me, says the Lord Almighty? You ask, 00:08:36.539 --> 00:08:42.319 how have we shown contempt for your name? By offering to filed food at the altar. 00:08:43.319 --> 00:08:52.159 You bring me sacrifices of blind animals. You bring sacrifices of lame and diseased animals. 00:08:52.559 --> 00:08:58.919 Try offering them to your governor. Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you, says the 00:08:58.919 --> 00:09:06.379 Lord? There's this essence, isn't it, about bringing our second best. And Paul is saying to us, 00:09:06.379 --> 00:09:14.500 and our covenant promises say, bring the best that we can. And Lord, we promise to do that. Will you 00:09:14.500 --> 00:09:21.980 help us hold to that? Will you help us hold to those promises in the power of your spirit? I think 00:09:21.980 --> 00:09:28.379 there's a theme here about honouring God. I couldn't help, you know, but notice really that in those 00:09:28.379 --> 00:09:37.799 promises, God sees our heart. And if God sees our heart, we want it to be the best that it can be an honest 00:09:37.799 --> 00:09:40.419 and true in what we're promising. 00:09:40.419 --> 00:09:51.099 I guess Paul's words resonate with me this morning. And any of this this morning in Paul's 00:09:51.099 --> 00:10:00.159 reading in our covenant promises is nothing about making us guilty. You know, I was brought up high 00:10:00.159 --> 00:10:07.459 Anglo-Catholic. I do guilt very well. In fact, I do it very well. But none of this is to make us feel 00:10:07.460 --> 00:10:15.120 guilty. I sensed this morning as I was looking at this to think about what it might be for a life 00:10:15.120 --> 00:10:23.400 that's transformed. What does it look like in our promises of God's promise to us and reciprocating 00:10:23.400 --> 00:10:29.240 our promise to him of what that looks like in our lives? What would that look like for our work? 00:10:29.240 --> 00:10:37.680 What would that look like in a life transformed in our parenting, in our caring, in our sharing, 00:10:38.019 --> 00:10:45.080 in our giving? What would that look like to the community as a church as we look out? 00:10:47.139 --> 00:10:53.419 Because like all of us, I can abdicate those promises. You know, I give to the Dogs Trust, 00:10:53.419 --> 00:10:59.919 I give to the Cats League, I do this, I do my bit, whatever. But if the church isn't here, 00:11:00.639 --> 00:11:07.519 who sees that in our community? A people of God living together and serving. 00:11:10.199 --> 00:11:18.799 Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing, and perfect will. 00:11:18.799 --> 00:11:28.199 It helps us focus. It's like having a new set of glasses. We can see again. We can see freshly. 00:11:28.620 --> 00:11:34.579 Maybe we've said it again and again, but now we see it. We are a transformed people. 00:11:36.839 --> 00:11:46.839 I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to your pleasure and disposal. And that's where I am this 00:11:46.840 --> 00:11:55.720 morning. If we want freedom, then we have to dispose of some of the stuff that holds us back 00:11:55.720 --> 00:12:04.540 from having that freedom. What holds me back from having that freedom? I'll tell you. From my own book, 00:12:04.660 --> 00:12:11.379 there is greed, there is love of money, there may be selfishness, there may be coveting, 00:12:11.379 --> 00:12:17.899 wanting the new thing, there may be not being satisfied with what I have, there may be that 00:12:17.899 --> 00:12:25.700 sense of storing things up. Some of those things in my life, and I'm sure in yours, I need to let go of 00:12:25.700 --> 00:12:33.980 in order to have this freedom to be able to do what we, God asks us to do.