Video

Five ways to spell confidence

November 1, 2020 by Ian Greig Leave a Comment

The last gathering of Bodenham Christian Fellowship before Lockdown 2 — November 1, 2020

Way in

Is the coronavirus pandemic a wake-up call for us believers? If so, how do we respond?

What is God saying to His Church at this time? How do I understand His purpose and mission?

People are asking questions and opening up to spiritual conversations. What do I say to them?

My approach

I rely on an old-fashioned quiet time each day with the Lord and His word. I BELIEVE what God has said in the Bible, I PERCEIVE how He speaks through it each day, and I RECEIVE fresh wisdom — which might take a little longer to understand. But I receive it anyway.

I take the verse of the day from my Bible app (not a verse of my choosing) and ask the Lord to speak through it. In particular, I ask Him to reveal His Good News in it. Then I write a reflection —- and some of these are published online.

I see a pattern emerging — like a rope of five connected strands, which is what I believe the Lord has been saying to me.
Of course, I can be wrong! So this is to weigh, to see what resonates with you.

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
Romans 8:28

So briefly here are five words — which are really one word.

1. Hold on to hope

What hope is there, when everything is getting worse?

Let’s start by asking the right question. WHO gives me hope and WHO can I go to, to find help? It’s personal.

The gospel accounts give us the story of Jesus — His coming, His life, His teaching, His death. And resurrected to life again, seen by many before ascending to heaven. He is a person. His teaching, about the kingdom of God, revolves around people and situations. The key is, it’s all about a relationship.

Hundreds of years before Christ, Jeremiah said:

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose HOPE IS the LORD.”
— Jeremiah 17:7

And the apostle John said:

“And everyone who has this hope in Him (who has this hope in Jesus) purifies himself, just as He is pure.”
— 1 John 3:3

Hope — is an abstract word. We can generally substitute the more concrete word CONFIDENCE.
In the Bible, it is more robust still — confidence in a Person and His character. This is God, who we know through Jesus, unchanging, constant, faithful and merciful — and loving beyond ouyr capacity to describe.

A Bible study finds hope used in three ways, which are all relational:

Hope in the Person of the Lord — “in the Lord, in Him”.
Hope in what represents the Lord: His word, His mercy
Hope through the Person of the Holy Spirit in us — “Christ in you, the hope of glory” and “the hope of His calling”. That’s an experience on the inside — we know because we know because we know — and it comes with the witness of joy and peace.

What’s the difference between hope and faith? When you have confidence (hope) in the PERSON, you can believe (faith) the SPECIFIC THING they tell you. The foundation is general — “what I am going to hear is true” — on which can sit a particular word which kindles faith — “what I have heard, I can trust and act on.”

Hold on to hope — our confidence in God’s goodness

2. Be people of praise

The story in Acts 16. The Greek ‘Man from Macedonia’ had appeared to Paul in a dream. They crossed from Troas to the Greek side and the Roman ‘county town’ of Philippi. Lydia the dyer becomes a Christian, along with others. A female slave with an annoying familiar spirit keeps haranguing them and after days of this, Paul commands the Spirit out of her. So she is free but her owners are furious and incite a crowd to demand that the magistrate put them in prison. They are brutally beaten and pinned in stocks.

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.
Acts 16:25-26

And James in his letter makes this a teaching…

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
James 1:2ff

Praise celebrates the relationship in ALL circumstances. The relationship doesn’t change!
In Exodus 25:8, God tells Moses to build a sanctuary that “I may dwell among them”. Not a grand building — a tent. It’s not about structure. It is not about form. It’s all about relationship.
God wants to enjoy relationship and live with us — and under the New Covenant in Jesus, IN US. He inhabits the praises of His people, Psalm 22:3.
True praise comes, not by following a rigid religious form, but out of our relationship with Jesus.

Praise invites God’s presence, raises faith — and confuses the enemy. King Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 20:21),faced by a huge hoard of combined pagan armies that were about to overrun the city, had praise singers go out in front of the army.

Praise went into battle first. The modest army, following, found a defeated enemy
Praise changes us — from fear to faith. It did for Jehoshaphat and his people. It did for Paul and Silas. It. does for us.

Be people of praise, the expression of confidence in God’s goodness

3. Declare His kingdom, bless His people

Do we have power to confer God’s blessing?

The best-known prayer in the Bible includes these phrases:

“Hallowed be Thy name!

“Thy kingdom come!”

“Thy will be done!”

These are declarations which should have exclamation marks, because they are written as imperatives, not as generally understood, petitions.

We declare with our spiritual authority in Christ Jesus.
Declaring the kingdom is a way of speaking out blessing.

Part of forgiveness — commanded by Jesus

“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Luke 6:27-28 NIV and Romans 12:14

(Story about assisting a bishop to bless a new war memorial with holy water)

How much more we of the royal priesthood can bless with our new life in Jesus and Spirit-led words!

More general instance where Jesus says harvest is great but workers few… the mission of the 72… the very first thing is:

“When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’” (Luke 10:5)

Not words “kingdom” or “bless” but that is happening
Inviting God’s order and experience of His goodness.
People who begin to see God can believe in Him.

Everyone is anxious — what is the exit strategy? They need God’s peace and God’s assurance.

Our confidence in God speaks peace to others

4. Live in God’s love and compassion

God is love, God is good — but the world doesn’t know that.
The religious world is also unsure — it wants to appease God through a variety of actions.
But God simply wants to dwell with us knowing Him, and knowing His love.

We read in the prologue to John’s gospel:

“He was not born by the joining of human parents or from natural means, or by a man’s desire, but He was born of God. And so the Living Expression became a man and lived among us — became flesh and blood and moved into the neighbourhood.”

And we gazed upon the splendour of His glory, the glory of the One and Only who came from the Father, overflowing with tender mercy and truth!”
John 1:13-14 The Passion Translation and The Message

We can agree with the Scripture which says: “We gazed”— we have seen this.

We have seen Jesus, who is the complete and perfect representation of God.

“…The Son of God has come, and He has GIVEN US UNDERSTANDING so that we CAN KNOW the true God. And now we live in fellowship with the true God because we live in fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ.”

“… The Son of God has made our understanding come alive so that we can know by experience the One who is true.”
TPT

That’s how it works. We turn to Jesus and make a decision to receive Him into our hearts as Saviour and as Lord. And something happens… now we see what we didn’t see before — our understanding comes alive.

Formerly, God was remote, even austere. Now we know Him, and we know His love. So we can live in this love, and therefore we can love others.

Confidence in God is confidence in His love and compassion

5. Meet God in His mission

“But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”
1 Peter 3:15 NIV

“If someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it…” NLT

As we hold on to hope, as we choose to praise God in the face of the enemy, declare “His kingdom come!” and in God-given confidence, speak His blessing over others — and as we live in the love and goodness of God: people are going to come to us with their questions.

We have something, they don’t have. Pandemic is like a traffic jam of bureaucracy and blame and rising anxiety — and we are the ones like police cars going up the hard shoulder, with the authority to take another route.
This is the route of hope in God — the confident way through. Everyone will want this route!

This is our opportunity to gently explain about God’s grace, giving us what we did not earn or deserve, and the joy of knowing Jesus and having that inner peace and confidence in God.

We know the One who has the exit strategy! We can praise His goodness, whatever it looks like where we are.

It’s not difficult to turn to God. Helps if someone who has done that, shows you which way to turn!

When people are turning to God, receiving His peace? Revival!

Out of this affliction, making churches re-think what they are about, and Christian believers stand up for who they believe in, God is bringing awakening, fuelled by our prayer and praise.

Time for us to put our confidence in Him to work and join Him in His mission. Whether physical healing, spiritual deliverance or gracious forgiveness leading to eternal life, salvation is what God is always doing.

Our confidence in God is also confidence to join Him in His mission

Message shared with Bodenham Christian Fellowship, Nov. 1, 2020

God’s Call to All

August 16, 2020 by Ian Greig Leave a Comment

Head over to The Living Word for this message on the theme and readings followed by many C of E churches and Methodist chapels in a 7-minute read:

https://thelivingword.uk/explaining/explaining-gods-call-to-all/

For a one-minute video introduction, the associated ‘verse and prayer’ site glowweobley.com has this video

Pentecost: the kingdom of God and the Holy Spirit

May 31, 2020 by Ian Greig Leave a Comment

Joining the Dots — the kingdom and the Holy Spirit

Phil Arnold will be known to many across the church spectrum, in Herefordshire and the borders. He is a farmer in Preston-on-Wye as well as being the pastor of Oasis Church, a vibrant fellowship that meets in the St Barnabas church centre in Venns Lane, Hereford. Here is his engaging teaching on Pentecost and the Holy Spirit in our lives now (watch for the chicken that enters stage right!)

The first revival

Ian Greig offers a short message for Pentecost, the historic outpouring and revival in our time, drawing on the account in Acts 2:1-41

For notes and references to this message go over to this page on The Living Word associated site

Talk: How God helps us to know Him personally

May 17, 2020 by Ian Greig Leave a Comment

A message taken from the set readings for May 17 used by many churches, about how anyone can come to know God personally. There’s a prayer at the end to receive Jesus into your heart, done in a way which makes it easy to join in if you wish. This is all about believing the good news!

The Bible passages it is based on are:

Psalm 66:8-20 Praise for God known through His faithful love through salvation history

John 14:15-21 — Jesus spells out the promise of the Holy Spirit who makes God known

Acts 17:22-31 — The Athenians hear from Paul that God is known and personal

1 Peter 3:13-22 — Living with Christ as Lord, ready to tell others why we belong to Christ

These are set out with explanation in The Living Word for May 17, 2020

Notes to go with this talk are on this page

Thought: How to ask God for wisdom

May 13, 2020 by Ian Greig Leave a Comment

1. What is wisdom?

Wisdom is the ‘how to’ that goes with knowledge. We know quite a lot about coronavirus, but we desperately need a breakthrough in this area of ‘how to’ – how to cure the infection and how to prevent it. God, who is all-knowing, has that wisdom – and we are the ones who know how how to ask Him.

We need wisdom! Our death rate the highest in Europe. New admissions are still rising. There is no clear end in sight from what the Prime Minister described as “this devilish illness” ( he was right about that).

We desperately need the missing piece of the puzzle, the clue that unlocks the conundrum, the solution no one has thought of yet.

James, writing to first-century believers in newly-started home-based churches outside Jerusalem, has an answer. Like us, these early believers were facing risk – look what had happened to Stephen – and living in uncertain times, trying to work out the ‘how tos’ of being a church. This is the advice James gave them:

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. (James 1:5)

It seems too simple to take seriously. “You should ask God…”. Well, he would say that!

But we SHOULD ask God, and repent of seeking wisdom in every other quarter apart from a word from God — which might just be a scientific discovery from God!

James assumes two things that would have been completely normal and expected in any church gathering of that time.

First, he assumes hearers will have come to a committed, personal relationship with Jesus, accepting His sacrifice of Himself for our sins, and also submitting their lives to Him as Lord.

Second, He assumes they have all had an empowering encounter with the Holy Spirit, like the first believers did at Pentecost.. This was general. They needed more than KNOWING how to live in the new life Jesus brings – they needed to be empowered to DO it, to have revelation of the reality of resurrected Jesus in their lives.

The relationship with Jesus is like the manual we get with a new appliance from Curries telling us to make sure the machine is plugged in. It will also say, make sure the power is on and flowing!

2. How to seek God’s wisdom

What has this to do with James’ question? Everything. We have two-thirds answered it already .

Wisdom comes to us when we turn to Jesus, by the Holy Spirit giving us revelation. It is all about the relationship – and we have that relationship. Or rather, we are given that relationship by Jesus because He is like that.

Two-thirds of the way – but there is one more thing.

We have to ask. To actually ask, as those serious about getting an answer.

3. How to ask.

ADMIT our need of God’s wisdom as ours is insubstantial.
STOP the various ways we pursue our own wisdom. Put them down. This is not ‘Plan B’, not a back-up for our own efforts.
Humbly, but confidently – ASK, expecting that wisdom will come. Not always an immediate flash of insight, but it will come. now here’s the thing. Suppose there is a boffin out there – an eminent researcher, I should say – who had a line off study that seemed to have reached a dead end – and work was stopped. It could have been a plant derivative, or a genetic theory, or a medical trial. And they were prompted to revisit it – and made a discovery that no one could have predicted! Entirely possible by prayer and faith – and we are the ones who know how to do that.
So we ask God for the breakthrough which we RECOGNISE is in heaven. He is all-knowing – so without doubt He has all the answers. Our job is to pray that wisdom down to earth. So we do, and thank God for it, in anticipation.