'IS YOUR BURDEN HEAVY?'

Rev. Don Crisp

This is a re-broadcast of a Program first aired on CFRA, August 8th, 2010 By Rev. Don Crisp (Deceased)                                                                                   Former Pastor of First Baptist Church Smiths Falls, Ontario   Introduced by: Rev. Dr. Allen Churchill (Deceased) Founder of "Allen Churchill Ministries, later to become: "GOOD NEWS CHRISTIAN MINISTRIES"

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PODCAST LINK for Sunday, March 22^nd, 2020:

http://accm.ncf.ca/images/20.03.22.mp3 

(First aired on CFRA, August 1st 2010.) ____________________________________________ 

Broadcast Notes:

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 This program is sponsored by the Good News Christian Ministries, 96 Pheasant Run Drive, Ottawa, ON  K2J 2R5, Canada, (new address). This is AllanChurchill speaking.

Today our theme is:

 

 ‘Is your burden heavy?’

Readings:

Matthew 11:30  (ESV)

²⁸ Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

 Isaiah 26:3

³ You keep him in perfect peace
    whose mind is stayed on you,
    because he trusts in you.

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Prayer:

Heavenly Father, Our burdens are heavy and we want to release them to you in the name of Jesus we commit our lives to You, right now. Oh Jesus, will you not lift our burden's? Will you not replace the weight of those burdens with the presence of Your love and your healing power?  Oh Father, in the name of Jesus, we want to look away and to look to You, and no one else. We give you thanks and we give you praise. Amen.

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Thank you, listeners, for your encouragement, prayer and financial support. You keep us on the air week by week.  If you can, please make out a cheque payable to Good News Christian Ministries, and send it to 96 Pheasant Run Drive, Ottawa, ON  K2J 2R5, Canada, (new address). We will send you a receipt at income tax time. Please also tell others about this program, and don’t forget to visit our website. You will find several of our programs available on podcasts.                             

Don’t forget to worship in a church where the gospel is soundly proclaimed and lived out with compassion, integrity, and resolve.

May you know Jesus Christ personally and profoundly. May the Holy Spirit reside deep within your heart. And may the heavenly Father surround you with his constant and abiding and accompanying love.

Rev. Don Crisp and Rev. Dr. Allen Churchill

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To listen to the above broadcast, click on the following link:
http://accm.ncf.ca/images/20.03.22.mp3

'TURN YOUR EYES UPON JESUS'

Rev. Don Crisp

This is a re-broadcast of a Program first aired on CFRA, August 1st, 2010 By Rev. Don Crisp (Deceased)                                                                                   Former Pastor of First Baptist Church Smiths Falls, Ontario   Introduced by: Rev. Dr. Allen Churchill (Deceased) Founder of "Allen Churchill Ministries, later to become: "GOOD NEWS CHRISTIAN MINISTRIES"

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PODCAST LINK for Sunday, March 15^th, 2020:

http://accm.ncf.ca/images/20.03.15.mp3 

(First aired on CFRA, August 1st 2010.) ____________________________________________ 

Broadcast Notes:

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 This program is sponsored by the Good News Christian Ministries, 96 Pheasant Run Drive, Ottawa, ON  K2J 2R5, Canada, (new address). This is AllanChurchill speaking.

Today our theme is:

 ‘Turn your eyes upon Jesus’

 

Follow Podcast here: http://accm.ncf.ca/images/20.03.2615.mp3

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Readings:

 

 

John 3:14-15 English Standard Version (ESV)

¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.^[a]

Footnotes:

1. John 3:15 Some interpreters hold that the quotation ends at verse 15

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Numbers 21:4-9 (ESV) The Bronze Serpent 4 From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. 5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” 6 Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. 7 And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8 And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze[a] serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live. Footnotes: Numbers 21:9 Or copper _________________________________________

 

2 Kings 18:1-4  (ESV)

Hezekiah Reigns in Judah

18 In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. ² He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah. ³ And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done. ⁴ He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan).^[a]

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NOTES:

 

Life Lessons:

1.) Impatience in life's journey: We do need to trust in the Lord

 

2.) We live with the consequences of the choices we make.

 

3.) Beware of selective repentance

 

4.) Whoever looks, lives.

 

5.) Beware of 'Religiosity": (See 2 Kings 18:1-4)

 

6.) Keep your eye on Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith (See John 12:36)

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Let's Pray:

Lord Jesus, we want to thank you that you are the author and finisher of life.

I come to you today, Lord, and I ask you to come into my life, to save me.

And I ask you to come into my life and to be Lord, forever.

I give you my life, right now, Lord, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

_____________________

Thank you, listeners, for your encouragement, prayer and financial support. You keep us on the air week by week.  If you can, please make out a cheque payable to Good News Christian Ministries, and send it to 96 Pheasant Run Drive, Ottawa, ON  K2J 2R5, Canada, (new address). We will send you a receipt at income tax time. Please also tell others about this program, and don’t forget to visit our website. You will find several of our programs available on podcasts.                             

Don’t forget to worship in a church where the gospel is soundly proclaimed and lived out with compassion, integrity, and resolve.

May you know Jesus Christ personally and profoundly. May the Holy Spirit reside deep within your heart. And may the heavenly Father surround you with his constant and abiding and accompanying love.

Rev. Don Crisp and Rev. Dr. Allen Churchill

____________________________________________________

To listen to the above broadcast, click on the following link:
http://accm.ncf.ca/images/20.01.26.mp3

'HOW DOES A TEMPLE BECOME A DEN OF THIEVES?'

Rev. Brian Wilkie By Rev. Brian Wilkie                                                                                     Pastor of St. Andrew's Christian Community Rockland, Ontario http://www.rocklandchurch.ca/

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PODCAST LINK to CFRA broadcast - Sunday, March 8^th, 2020:

http://accm.ncf.ca/images/20.03.08.mp3

(Re-posted from original Broadcast: - Sunday, February 17^th, 2013) ____________________________________________ 

Broadcast Notes:

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How does God’s Temple become a den of thieves?

Welcome to Good News in the Morning, a program of words and music bringing a Christian message of hope and encouragement to those looking for intelligent meaningful and spirited approach to faith and life. This program is sponsored by the Good News Christian Ministries, 96 Pheasant Run Drive, Ottawa, ON  K2J 2R5, Canada, (new address). This is Brian Wilkie speaking. 

Today our theme is a curious one I suppose: How does the temple become a den of thieves? In each of the Gospels we can find an account of Jesus coming into the temple in Jerusalem, turning over the tables of the money changers and declaring that God’s temple, which was to be a house of prayer for all nations, has been turned into a den of thieves. We might well ask not only how did such a terrible state arise in that day and age, but whether such a thing might also occur today. 

To begin, let’s look at the message from centuries before Christ in the Old Testament book of Malachi chapter 3 verses 6 to 18. God speaks to the prophet Malachi saying, 

“Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.” But you ask, “How do we rob you?” “In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse, the whole nation of you, because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have enough room. For I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit,” says the Lord Almighty. “Then all the nations will call you blessed for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.

“You said harsh things against me,” says the Lord, yet you ask, “What have we said against you?” “You have said is futile to serve God; what did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed certainly the evildoers prosper and even those who challenge God escape.”

Then those who fear the Lord talked with each other and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who fear the Lord and honored his name. “They will be mine.” says the Lord Almighty.  “In the day when I make up my treasured possession I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him, and you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked between those who serve God and those who do not.”

Now here is a song that exalts God, as Mercy Me, declares “You Reign.”

How can a temple turn into a den of thieves? The gospel has such power that there are always people trying to exploit it for their selfish gain. There were unfair practices in Jerusalem’s Temple. I’ve been told over and over again about the false practices of the money changers who would take people’s Roman coins, which had the image of Caesar and exchange them for coins that were suitable for use in the temple, and they seem to make a great profit on the exchange. I’m told there were deceptive practices where people would bring in their animals for sacrifice and the sellers in the temple precincts would tell them, “Oh, your animal’s not good enough, it has a blemish” and they sell you what they called an unblemished lamb. Then, some people say, they would take your lamb and sell it to the next person as an unblemished lamb were these the practices that Jesus was crying out against when he overturned things the temple? That’s certainly part of it. Deceptive practices and false measures:  The Bible is clear that the Lord desires justice in the everyday dealings of life, would he not also be zealous for justice in his own temple? 

But you know there are other ways of exploiting the religious sensibilities of people, other ways of profiteering from genuine faith in others. There were preachers for profit in Paul’s day, he identifies that there are some who were going about spreading the gospel only to profit themselves; and in the present day we’ve seen the same. There seems to be no shortage of people who are ready to try and gain their own comfort, even as they preach against the evils of money and greed. But Malachi is not complaining about those preachers. Malachi is not complaining about money changers. God complains through Malachi about ordinary worshipers robbing God. Now how does that happen? Now in Malachi’s day it was quite simple. They lived in what you might call a feudal system. A feudal system is where there is a Lord who owns the land and allows people to work the land in exchange for some of the of the produce of the land. 

Now in human feudal systems we’ve seen many people, many lords that exploited. Whether it was the seigniorial system of old Québec or the feudal system of medieval Britain, there were those lords who would exploit their people taking everything they could possibly grab from them and leaving them impoverished and constantly in need. Now in Israel there was a feudal system, but the Lord of the land was God Almighty, the one who owned the land was God, and he distributed it among the people of Israel and gave it to them as an everlasting gift. Now if you compare it to a feudal system, God was an extraordinarily generous Lord. He not only gave the land, but also the sun and the rain that was required to produce crops. He was the God who watched over them, and defended them from their enemies, and unlike other feudal lords He only required 10%. 

Could you imagine the days when Israel was established under Moses and Joshua the law was given, and for the first generations there were no kings extracting their taxes. There was only the tithe, 10%, which was used not only to support the priestly work of the Levites who themselves had no land of their own but also met the needs of widows and orphans. Those who were widowed had no children to care for them in their old age and those orphans had no parents to provide for them.  That 10% did a lot of work didn’t it? But even though they had it so good they were holding back their tithe and God said they were robbing him. 

Now they were happy to receive from God and ready to complain if God didn’t come through on his part, but they weren’t ready to accept God’s requirements. They were happy to go to the temple to receive forgiveness, but they were unwilling to obey God, or even turn from their sins. Self-centered and selfish as any pagan, they complained that doing right had no profit: that since the evil prospered there was no point in obeying God. These are the words of people looking for an excuse to do wrong and yet, to those who still feared God, God replies to that accusation from the faithless people. He says a day will come when he will again show what the distinction is between the righteous and the wicked. He promises a day when the righteous will receive what is coming to them and the wicked will receive their due.

Let’s pause here for a moment and listen to a song that really exhibits the attitude that we want to have because there is in each of us a tendency to love God, only when things are going well: how much we long to be like Job whose attitude is reflected in this beautiful song of praise. Let’s listen to Tree63, singing, Blessed Be Your Name.

Now what is a den of thieves? Jesus said to the money changers and to all who were gathered, “My house was to be a house of prayer for all the nations, but you have turned it into a den of thieves.” What is that den of thieves? Now we could call a corrupt marketplace a den of thieves because of a den of thieves is a gathering place for thieves and criminals. A den of thieves is where they all group together and sometimes even when they’re not in their den the setting that they gather in become so corrupt that we could call a den of thieves. The place where deceit and crime takes place could be called a den of thieves. But think about it. 

Most of the time a den of thieves is not where thieves do their crimes, but where they go to take shelter from their crimes, to hide from punishment. A den of thieves is their place of security, a place where they relax knowing that the police are never going to get them there. It is a place where they enjoy their ill-gotten security. When Jesus clears the temple, it’s easiest to point the finger at the money changers, but is it possible that the thieves in this den are more than just the buyers and sellers? 

When Malachi points to the ordinary worshipers as robbing God, he’s pointing a finger at cheap grace. Cheap grace is when we run to the temple for refuge, but we only hide our sins instead of turning from them. In Malachi’s day, the people were even willing to talk about obeying God. They were fed up because they said they were doing so well, and yet the wicked prosper. They were doing so good, and yet the wicked we doing better. But Malachi points out that they were already missing the obedience to God that was required of them, yet they still came to the temple, thank you still came and made their sacrifices, going home, feeling that there they were forgiven. They were a little bit surprised to find that God wasn’t happy with this arrangement.

Yet was it unique in Malachi’s day that people would come to the temple to make a sacrifice for sin with no intention of ceasing from sin? No, unfortunately not, No, we are robbers in God’s temple when we come to confess, but we don’t come to repent. When there is confession without repentance that’s cheap grace:  and really cheap grace is no grace at all. Do you think that we have to stop sinning because that’s the punishment that God wants to place on us? To cease from sin is the joy that God wants to give us! To confess and to say you’re sorry but not want to turn away from sin is to miss the whole point of God’s deliverance. He wants you to live in his love. He wants you to live in his grace. He wants you to live in his goodness, not to eat continue going back to the mud and the dirt and the pain of a sinful life. There are those who go to church and say they’re sorry and don’t mean it.

But what about us? I’m sure you’re not that kind of person. I hope you’re not that kind of person! And I hope I’m not either; but even beyond that, what if we if we go to church, we listen to the message of God’s Word and when we confess we truly want to change? We want to live a better life. We want to be free from addiction. We want to be free from bad habits we want to be free from hurtful ways we want a better life. But what if we are doing all this only for our own benefit? What if we’re kind of like people going to a fitness trainer. We learn to exercise and run only to make our own lives better. Is that really why God has called us? 

The Scriptures say that we are his handiwork created for good works. Didn’t he set the model of his call when he called Abraham? He said, “I will bless you and you will become a blessing to all nations.” If we are following God purely to make ourselves feel better, we are as selfish as we’ve ever been. We are robbing God. Tell me, in the parable of the servants; remember when Jesus talked about three servants who were given a trust by their master? 

The master gave to one of them 10 talents of gold and the other five talents and to the other one, one talent of gold. Did he give them those talents of gold, so they could use them for their own treasure store, so they could use them for their own pleasures? Did he give them these talents of gold, just as some kind of bonus?

 No! Instead, he gave them these talents as an opportunity to invest in the master’s work, to bring glory (in the parable to bring riches, but in the metaphor to bring glory) to the master. Are we using the gifts that God has given us to bless others, to glorify God, or are we using the blessings God has given us for our own comfort? Are there any tables that need to be turned over in the temple of your heart? In Malachi’s day, it was about the tithe, it was about 10% and in the New Testament, Jesus has a few things to say about the tithe. He says to some people who are tithing, to the Pharisees – they were tithing everything, even their herbs – and he said to them, you’ve tithed all that, but you’ve neglected mercy and sacrifice. It would be better for you to do the latter without neglecting the former. That is, the tithe isn’t everything. 

When Jesus speaks about discipleship, he speaks about everything we have to live on. That’s why he praised the widow who gave just too little coppers, because she gave everything she had to live on. That’s what he called forth from the rich young ruler who was told to sell what he had and give it to the poor, and then come and follow Jesus. That’s what his disciples knew Jesus expected of them when they said, “We have left our homes and families and our careers for you.” Suddenly, 10% sounds easy, doesn’t it? Every coin, every talent, every moment, every breath, “All for Jesus I surrender!” Wouldn’t that be something? When we love God, we are ready to put everything at his disposal. I’m hopeful that each one of us is doing everything that we can to bless God: to contribute our strength to his service to contribute our wealth to his mission and his ministry. I’m sure that it is not a question of 10% for the committed Christian. It’s a question of how much can I give? How much more can I give to God? 

If we rest (and we should rest because God commands it) don’t we rest so that we might be ready for service when God calls us? And when we eat do we eat simply to satisfy ourselves or do we eat to be strengthened for the work that he is given us to do? When Jesus said, my temple shall be a house of prayer for all the nations I wonder if he was thinking about what his apostle Paul would later write in Scriptures when he said, “Don’t you know that you are the temple of God?”. Are you a house dedicated to glorifying God in all the earth? Are you a temple that is a house of prayer for all nations? Are you using the blessings God has given you to bless the whole earth?

You know, I think you and I are done with robbing God. Shall we be done with self-serving religion and turn away from a self-serving faith? Shouldn’t we let Jesus cleanse the temple of our hearts and make us a house of prayer for all nations, make us a blessing to all on his earth? 

Would you pray with me?

Loving God do this work in us: overturn the tables of our own hearts and set yourself enthroned in the temple there. For the glory of God our father, and our Savior, Amen.

Listeners, thank you so much for your prayer and financial support. You can find us on the web and get information about how to support us both with prayer and financially. Visit our website. You will find several of our programs available on podcasts.

Please join with a group of other Christians and worship in a church where the Gospels soundly proclaimed and lived out with compassion, integrity and resolve.

And now, would you listen with me to Cold Men At Murray’s singing This Song Is For You.

Good News In The Morning is produced in the studios of News Talk Radio 580 CFRA.

Rev. Brian Wilkie

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To listen to the above broadcast, click on the following link:

http://accm.ncf.ca/images/20.03.08.mp3

'LOVING GOD'

Rev. Brian Wilkie

By Rev. Brian Wilkie                                                                                     Pastor of St. Andrew's Christian Community Rockland, Ontario http://www.rocklandchurch.ca/

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PODCAST LINK for Sunday, March 1^st, 2020:

http://accm.ncf.ca/images/20.03.01.mp3

(Re-posted from original Broadcast: - Sunday, February 10^th, 2013)

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Broadcast Notes:

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‘Loving God’

Segment 1: This program is sponsored by the Good News Christian Ministries,  96 Pheasant Run Drive, Ottawa, ON  K2J 2R5, Canada, (new address). This is Brian Wilkie speaking.

Today I am delighted to be able to speak to you once again about the word of God and the wonderful good news it tells us about our loving Saviour: and our theme today is about “Loving God.”

Loving God is the fulfilment of all his commands, for in Mt 22:34–40, this is what happened: 

“Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Likewise the apostle John wrote to the church :

“God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.  

That’s from John’s first letter, in chapter 4, verses 16-21.

It is clear throughout Scripture that loving God is the greatest command; and the command to love one another is directly derived from it, as the love of God compels us to love all those whom God loves!

Now would you listen with me to  this  traditional hymn, which is a declaration of the disciple’s love for God : My Jesus I love Thee. It’s sung by the Grace Presbyterian Chancel Choir, of Houston Texas.

Segment 2: (introduction of Message)

Now when I address the topic of loving God, I often feel that I could be repeating myself. In fact in preaching week after week, you can’t help wondering if you have been hammering on one gong too many times. But, you know, the theme of loving God is something we can’t over emphasize. It is central to the call of the Gospel, and love is a concept that is so easily misunderstood. I believe that one of the things we really need to be clear about is what it actually means to love God.

Love is such a frequently used word in our culture. Back in the 1950’s, C.S.Lewis wrote a book called ‘The Four Loves’ and he used that book to expound upon the four different words for love that we find in the text of the New Testament, and in classical literature. 

There were four words for love representing different aspects of love. Now, one could wonder if that would be a little confusing, like having hundreds of different words for snow, or something like that. But we’ve got a more confusing situation than that in the modern day, when we have one word that covers so many different ideas and experiences.

Think about the word ‘love.’ You’ve probably used it already today. “I love that television show,” “I just love cake!” “Isn’t this a lovely day?” You may even have said to someone close by, “I love you.” Are we talking about the same thing every time we use the word love? Let’s think about it.

When someone says they love ice cream, what do they really mean? Do they mean that they would like to marry ice cream? (Don’t kids make jokes about that misunderstanding?) No, what they mean is that ice cream tastes good, and they like to eat it. When we say we love some things, we simply mean that we want to consume them for our own pleasure. Is that what we mean when we say we love a person? That we want to use them up and toss them away? Unfortunately that is what some people do mean by love.

But with ice cream it is perfectly good to eat it as a result of your love for it. With chocolate and cookies, and so many other things that we say we love, we love them because of how they make us feel, or the experience they give us. We consume them and that is the mark of our love for them.  Ice cream exists to be consumed, and those who love ice cream eat it.

There are other things we love, which we don’t consume, yet we still have a different kind of love than we would have for a person. You might love a beautiful sunrise. You mean you enjoy it and it makes you feel good. You would be happy to get up on another morning and see another sunrise like that and enjoy it. It is a love that is a good feeling, that is enjoyable, and isn’t exclusive. You can love more than one sunrise, you can go and enjoy every sunrise that comes along. But the love you feel, like the love of ice cream is really a self love. You love this thing because it does something for you, you love the beautiful day because it makes you feel good. Even when we love people the word ‘love’ can still describe a very selfish, self-centred approach. Very often when we are adolescents even in later years, sometimes our love for a girlfriend or boyfriend can be extraordinarily selfish. Don’t we sometimes look at young people falling in love, and wonder when they are going to find the real thing? And don’t we sometimes find ourselves being selfish in our own relationships, and wondering what happened to the love? Because we can’t honestly call it love of another person when the love is mostly about using them; and getting something out of it for ourselves.

What do we mean by this higher love, when we truly, truly love another person? Doesn’t it mean to want to be a blessing to them? Doesn’t it mean to pour something into their lives that makes them a better person? Isn’t love of another person not about how they make you feel, but about how you want to make them feel?

That’s where we get closer to the meaning of love in the gospels. The love of God is a love that comes to us despite the fact that we’ve rebelled against him, despite the fact that doom hangs over us because of our selfishness. God comes to us in love and wants to bless us and deliver us from evil. Don’t we do the same for those we truly love?

What does it look like when a parent loves their child? That love results in the parent caring, teaching providing for their child. The parent does get some joy out of it they enjoy their children. The parent also gets some frustration (just once in a while). The parent also makes some sacrifices; misses out on a lot of things that they might have been able to do, because they have expended their resources, their time and their energy on their child. Love in this sense is giving of ourselves.

Now a parent loves a child, but doesn’t always do what the child wants them to do. A parent in their relationship with that child in the proper kind of love takes some authority and some responsibility for that child. On the other hand, if we love a teach, we want to learn from them, we put ourselves under their authority. In the same way the child who loves the parents accepts authority from them when they exercise that authority in love. You see, the way that love is acted out depends on the relationship in which it exists. We love people and act according to their gifts, characteristics, and their particular place in our lives.

Let’s pause here as we think about love and listen to this band from an Acquire the Fire Youth Rally. This upbeat song they talk about God being “Better Than” anything else in the entire world.

Segment 3: (Conclusion of Message)

Well, now that we are talking about love, and how we act when we love somebody in particular relationships, I want to speak of a love we don’t talk about too much. How do you act when you love your boss? When you love your employer?

I don’t mean that you have a romantic feeling for your employer; you just think they are a great boss. Your love for them results in you wanting to do your job the best you possibly can. You want to do your job in a way that makes their life easier. You want to be a blessing, and the way you bless your employer is by doing the work that is assigned to you, and do it to the best of your ability. Isn’t it natural for someone who loves their job to put their best effort into it, to do it with care and the best quality. Isn’t that something like the way we love the Lord our God?

The word ‘Lord’ is a fancy word for someone who has authority over you. When you acknowledge someone as Lord, you are agreeing that they have the right to direct your path, to tell you how to live, to lead you in the way that you should go. The love of God the love that we have for God is not the love of a parent for a child. It is not as though we provide for God, nor do we protect him or teach him. Instead the tables are turned: we are provided for by God, we learn from God, and we follow and obey him. Some people say that if we love God, and he loves us, it should be totally free, and there should be no obligations on our part. But that is not how it works in love when someone is worthy of authority, obedience and all of our devotion. For the God that directs us is a loving God, he directs us along paths that are good. When I say that, I must add the caveat, the clause, that when God directs us along His way, it is not always for our immediate good. When God directs us, he leads us to be a blessing to our neighbours, and our world, we may suffer on account of obedience to God, but it is still the right thing to do. He is not Lord simply because He says so, nor because He is more powerful than us. He is Lord because He is right and good, and He loves us. He is Lord because he is our creator, He is our Saviour, He is our God.

When Jesus taught that the greatest command is to love the Lord our God with all our heart and all our mind, and all our soul, (and in one Gospel he adds, ‘all our strength’) he is telling us that the love of God surpasses every other love. He puts it more bluntly when he says that if we don’t despise all other loves, even our own life, compared to the love of God, we are not really getting it, we are not really following God. God’s love surpasses all other love. The love for God is the umbrella under which all other loves myust be gathered.

To love God with our whole mind is to desire to know Him and learn from Him.  We allow all our thoughts, opinions and attitudes to be shaped by Him. It’s a delight to be a pastor and to be able to spend day after day studying God’s Word with his people.  In my church in Rockland I’m able to study Paul’s letter to the Corinthians on Monday with a group of ladies from the church. I’m able to study the book of Acts in French with a group in the church. I’m exploring Judges and Samuel on Wednesday nights, and sometimes we celebrate the adaptation of the Gospel into songs and hymns with a Thursday morning group. I am to expand my understanding of God, and see his goodness in his Word and in all his good actions. As we study God in his Word, our love for him only increases as we see how in every way he is worthy of honour and praise and glory.

When we love God with our heart we are really not primarily emotions, but expressing a love that is at the centre of our life, the core of our being at the center of everything. When we love God with our strength we are using our time and our waking hours, we are using our muscles and our ability to bless others for His glory.

Jesus didn’t say we had to have a great mind to love God, Just love him with all your mind. You don’t have to have the biggest heart, just love him with all you’ve got. We don’t have to be body builders, marathon runners or ultra athletes, but just love him with the strength we have.

Now when we exercise our hearts and minds and bodies in his service, our mental capacity, our loving capacity, our physical abilities and talents will improve, just as any exercise has benefits. God merely asks that what you have you offer to him in love.

Now you cannot love anyone else with the love that God deserves. Nobody else is worth it. It would be wrong to love any human being or any created thing with such an all surpassing love. It is in fact the very first command in the Ten Commandments, that we should have no other Gods before him. There is only one who deserves our worship, and deserves all honour and praise. No one else deserves such complete submission, because no one else is as wise or as good and true as God. We dare not give our full obedience to any earthly master; instead we give our full devotion to God in Christ.

Yet even though God is Worthy, we cannot love God as we ought to. The command to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength drives us to prayer. The command reveals our need for redemption in Christ, because without Christ we cannot be weaned off our self love or our worship of lesser things- idols, unless Christ comes to us in the power of the Holy Spirit and delivers us. So we come to God in prayer seeking him to give us the love that we ought to have. Let’s do that now. Let’s come before God, in prayer:

Would you pray with me? 

Loving God, thank you that in Jesus Christ you have revealed all your goodness, all your love, all your compassion, all your wisdom and all your power. And we see in Christ, you so truly revealed that we’ve discovered as you have shown us, that you are worthy of all our love and praise. O Lord set our hearts free from attachment to things that are not worthy, and set our hearts on you: our hearts, our minds, our strength, and our souls. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Thank you, listeners, for your encouragement, prayer and financial support. You keep us on the air week by week.  If you can, please make out a cheque payable to Good News Christian Ministries, and send it to  96 Pheasant Run Drive, Ottawa, ON  K2J 2R5, Canada, (new address). We will send you a receipt at income tax time. Please also tell others about this program, and don’t forget to visit our website. You will find several of our programs available on podcasts.                             

Don’t forget to worship in a church where the gospel is soundly proclaimed and lived out with compassion, integrity, and resolve.

Now we conclude our program with music from  Michael Card :That’s what faith must be. 

May you know Jesus Christ personally and profoundly. May the Holy Spirit reside deep within your heart. And may the heavenly Father surround you with his constant and abiding and accompanying love.

Rev. Brian Wilkie

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To listen to the above broadcast, click on the following link:

http://accm.ncf.ca/images/20.03.01.mp3

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3 comments:

1. 
   Good News Christian Ministries10 February 2013 at 09:25

   Originally Posted on Twitter:
   David Chadwick ‏- (@fhDavidChadwick on Twitter)
   Do you love God with all yourself? Mark 12:30 the daily David blog
   http://blog.foresthill.org/?p=2664

   ReplyDelete
2. 
   Good News Christian Ministries10 February 2013 at 13:06

   Originally Posted on Twitter:
   David Chadwick - (‏@fhDavidChadwick on Twitter)
   The proof you love God; Mark 12:31 the daily David blog http://blog.foresthill.org/?p=2667

   ReplyDelete
3. 
   Good News Christian Ministries10 February 2013 at 13:08

   Originally Posted on Twitter:
   Tony Evans - (‏@drtonyevans on Twitter)
   "Sometimes God lets you hit rock bottom so that you will discover that He is the Rock at the bottom." #Godslovechats

   ReplyDelete