'LIFE IS HARD, BUT GOD IS FAITHFUL'

Rev. Brent Russett

By Rev. Brent Russett

Pastor of Sunnyside Wesleyan Church in Ottawa:

http://www.sunnysidechurchottawa.com/   

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PODCAST LINK to CFRA broadcast - Sunday, October 8^th, 2017:

http://proxy.autopod.ca/podcasts/chum/6/57054/good_news_281_oct08.mp3

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Broadcast Notes:

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Life is Hard, But God is Faithful

            Good morning and Welcome to good news in the morning. I am so glad that you have tuned into the program today. My name is Brent Russett. I am the Lead Pastor at Sunnyside Wesleyan Church here in Ottawa. I have been pastoring there for 27 years. One of the things I love to do is show how God’s word that was written a long time ago, connects with our world right now.

            I know that some of you who are listening have been followers of Jesus for a long time, and I know that others of you think of yourself as spiritual, but you are not really sure of this Christian thing, and I know others of you just curious how people of faith think. I trust that wherever you are on yours spiritual journey, that you will find this program interesting and informative, and I believe that for those of you desire it, God can use a program like this to take you another step closer to Him.

            Today I want to take you to the last part of Romans chapter 8. I want to talk to those of you who are Christians and ask the question, what should you expect from your faith now.

            There are some, I would call them distortions of the gospel, which say –“If you have enough faith then you are going to be completely healthy and you are also going to be wealthy.” The crazy thing is, that there are health benefits to living in line with the gospel, and there is a spiritual dynamic to wealth, so that when you live out the gospel it helps your finances. Some people have taken those realities and run with them, and said if you have enough faith you should be healthy and wealthy. – That is distortion of the gospel – but what should be your expectation of living out the gospel right now.

            Some people think that if you are living out the gospel well, and if you believe the right things, that you will never have to deal with mental illness. After all we are supposed to take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ – Again, the gospel rightly believed and lived out, can do amazing things for your mental health – but I think it is a gross distortion to think that it is a panacea for chemical imbalances and mental illnesses. But the question is, what should your expectation be for living out the gospel right now.

            There are some people who think that if you are living out the gospel that you will always be strong. You can handle anything that comes your way. If you are experiencing any kind of weakness, if life is becoming overwhelming, you must be doing something wrong. Is that true? What should your expectation be for living out the gospel right now.

            There are some people who think that faith doesn’t really make a difference in this world. We live like everyone else. The rain falls on the just and on the unjust, and so there is really no difference between Christians and non-Christians we are all just kind of muddling through. In other words, these people have no expectation of the gospel right now, but they are hoping for heaven. Is that what it means to be a Christian – just to get by the best we can and hope for heaven.

            I have got to say that it is right and good to hope for the time when Jesus will come back. It is good to have hope for the next life. The world we live in now, sure isn’t heaven. But do we hope for now, and what do we hope for when Jesus comes back.

            So what is it that you expect you Christian life to do for you? What do you expect the results of living out the gospel will be in your life.

            We let us turn out attention to the Word of God, and see what it tells us in this regard. Lets start at

The Apostle Paul writing to the church in Roman says,

Romans 8:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

            The first thing I would have you note is that the apostle Paul, one of the greatest apostle of all time experienced suffering. So people who tell you that if you are doing the Christian life right, it will be all sunshine and roses – are probably smoking something that is not yet legalized.

            Paul says, in the present I am suffering – but in the future a glory will be revealed that will make the suffering look trivial. So I am looking forward to that day.

            But not only me, but all of creation is looking forward to that day.

Romans 8:19–21 (NIV)

¹⁹ For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

            Paul says it is not only us who are suffering, but we live an world where creation itself is suffering. Earthquakes, floods, droughts, decay.

Romans 8:22 (NIV)

²² We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

             

            Paul is saying that in the present creation groans, but in the future it will liberated as well and be made new. Paul is suffering creation is groaning. He goes on

Romans 8:23–24 (NIV)

²³ Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, he talks about that in other places – he is talking about Christians

²³ Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit

groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.

            At present we who are Christians groan inwardly. If you have every woke up in the morning with the pain of arthritis already there, you know what it means to groan inwardly. If you have ever got news of a friend of yours who has been diagnosed with cancer, you  know what it means to grown inwardly. If you have ever just received the news of a family member who is going through marital breakup – you know what it means to grown inwardly. If you have ever been walking through this worlds version of hell – you know what it means to groan inwardly.

            Life is hard. ²³ Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.

            Life is hard, but in the middle of those challenges we await our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. When Paul talks about sonship, it is not a gender thing –  Paul is making a reference to how it was the sons in Roman times who inherited from their father. Paul is talking about our inheritance as believers – whether men or women.

Romans 8:24–25 (NIV)

²⁴ For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

            Paul here, is obviously talking to followers of Jesus. People, in whom the Spirit dwells. Life is hard – is a universal thing. It happens to most of humanity. Everyone groans. We as Christian we groan. But we wait as well. We hope as well. We live in hope.

            To sum it up at present we suffer. At present creation groans. At present we inwardly grown, and we wait and we hope.

            I know what some of you are thinking, you think I am the minister of melancholy, the reverend of wretchedness, the pastor of pessimism.

            Well don’t blame me blame Paul. The bible, of course, also teaches us that life can be really good. It is good to celebrate, and to love, and laugh. 

            But I find passages like this helpful. I think one of the temptations in our culture is to think that when life is hard that we must be doing something wrong, and there must be a quick fix for it. To many Christians are taken by surprise when suffering comes their way.

            The reality is that sometimes life is just hard. I know very few people who, after you get to know them, you don’t find that they carry some deep hurts. It may be past trauma or present relationships, or significant worries, or they are walking with someone who is really hurting and that their love for that person causes them to hurt for that person. And if I am describing you, I want you to know that there is nothing wrong with you. Sometimes in life we suffer, creations groans, we groan, we wait, we hope.

            But that is not all that is going on. We can expect more from our Christian life than just that.

Romans 8:26–27 (NIV)

²⁶ In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. ²⁷ And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

Faithful and True – Matthew Ward. 4:10

            There is something else going on. The Holy Spirit helps. You see, in the middle of the mess that life, we are sometimes weak, and we don’t seem to have the strength to go on. Sometimes we are confused or perplexed and we don’t know what we ought to pray for. In the middle of weakness and confusion the Holy Spirit intercedes for you.

            You see, as a Christian, the Holy Spirit is in you. He knows what is going on in you life. He knows what is going on in your heart. He knows what is going on in your mind. He also knows what the will of God would be in you particular set of circumstances. He is interceding for you in accordance to the will of God.

            In the middle of the mess, in the middle of the hardship, and difficulty – God cares about what is going on in your life. The Holy Spirit is praying for you. The Holy Spirit is standing in your place and speaking to God on your behalf. He is praying that the will of God will be worked out in your life. These are deep prayers, with wordless groans, - God is on your side. In the middle of the pains of life, God is on your side.

            Here is the result of those prayers

Romans 8:28 (NIV)

²⁸ 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.

            This may be the most misused verse in the Bible. Let me tell you what it doesn’t mean. I doesn’t mean that everything that happens to you is good. It is not. It doesn’t mean that everything will turn out good in this life – everything does not.  What it does mean is that God is working or your good in the middle of a bad situation. What it does mean is that even in the middle of a world gone wrong, God has can and does work in the middle of difficult situations for our. It doesn’t mean the situation is good. It means that good can happen even in the middle of a bad situation.

            But note the qualifiers on this verse. God is working for the good of those who love God, and are called according to his purpose. When you became a Christian you responded to the call of God. No one comes to the Father except the father draws him. If you are a Christian you have been called according to his purposes. But your love for God grow lukewarm, it can grow cold, you can lose your first love. This promise is made to those who love God.

            There is a reason for that. When God says that he is working for you good his definition of good is found in

Romans 8:29 (NIV)

²⁹ For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son,

            But the definition of God’s good is that you be conformed to the image of his son.

            When humanity sinned the image of God was broken in us.

            Part of what it means to be made in the image of God is that we reflect his character. As God is love, we are to reflect his love. As God is good, we are to reflect his goodness. As God is merciful we are to reflect his mercy. The only way to do that well was to engage in our prime vocation to be worshippers of God.

            But there is more to the image of God than that. Part of what it means is that we were given authority rule over the world under God. Or to put it another way, as we were reflecting the character of God, we were to work in a way to make this world flourish. We had a vocation, first of all to worship God, then to be builders of this world.

            Each of you were given a vocation. You were put here, to work together to make this world a better place. You were called to help build this world into a place that flourishes.

            Of course, when sin came into the world the image of God was broken. We no longer worshipped God, but we worshipped the things that God created. We no longer reflected God. We were not loving as he is loving. And more than that we gave our authority over to idols and we lost the ability to live out much of our vocation.

            Oh you see hints of all these things in people. There is still vestiges of the image of God in us. – But it is not much. And so our world was broken and it groans. We were broken and we groan.

            But in the middle of or groaning and our weakness, the Holy Spirit is interceding for us. He is asking God to work in and through us so that God’s will would be accomplished. God hears that prayer and he is working for our good in the middle of the challenges and the mess – he is working for out good so that we might be conformed to the image of His son Jesus, and being conformed to the image of his son, we would have the image of God restored in us -so that we might be who we were created to be.

            In other words, if you love God, he is going to take what is happening around you, to restore God’s image in you. He is going to take the things that make life hard, and he is going to help you to be like Jesus.

            In the middle of a messy broken world,  God is working for you, to restore you into all he has created you to be.

            What can you expect of the gospel in your world right now. If you love God, you can expect that he will be working to restore his image in you, and to make you like Jesus.

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            So let me remind you of where we have been. Paul says at present we are suffering, but the glory that is coming will make the suffering look trivial. At present creation is groaning. Not only that but we are groaning.  And we are waiting for that glory to be revealed, and we are living in hope. In the middle of our weakness – where we don’t even know how to pray for ourselves, the Holy Spirit groans for us, intercedes for us, in accordance to the will of God.

            If we love God, God is going to work for good in our lives, and part of that good will be the image of God restored in us. Now we come to verse 31

Romans 8:31–39 (NIV)

³¹ What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? ³³ Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶ As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;

we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

            What can you expect of the gospel in this world. You can expect God to be for you. You can expect God to be with you. You can expect the grace of God to give you what you need.

            And when life is hard and the world condemns you, God says no – she is my child, he is my child. It is God who justified – nobody else’s opinion matters.

            More than that you can expect God love to be directed towards you. God really loves you. God is on your side.

            Does that mean that life is easy. Romans 8:35 (NIV)

³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

            Life is still hard. In this world you will have trouble. There will be hardship, there can be famine, there can be danger, there can be real need – like the need for clothes. In this world you will face hardship.

            But Listen to God’s promise for you.

Romans 8:37 (NIV)

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

            Through him who loves you, your sufferings will not conquer you, but you can triumph over your sufferings. That does not necessarily mean that the cause of the suffering will go away – it means that your suffering is does not define you.

            Through him who loves you, those things in life that make you inwardly groan will not have the last word. The trials of life will be conquered.

            Through him who loves you, even you weakness, your needs, your perplexity, your difficulties – will not define you. Because you are more than conquerors through him who loves you.

            Romans 8:35–39 (NIV)

³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

Verse 37

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

            The love that God has for you,  puts everything that is wrong in your life into perspective. The Spirit of God, is interceding for you that God’s will, will be done in your life. If you love God, then God will be working for your good, even in the difficult situations of your life. And through the love of God, that unwavering, unending, unfaltering, steady, consistent, deep love of God – you are more than an conqueror. His love is at work in your situation, so that the situation does not define you, but his love for you defines you.

            I don’t know what you are going through today, but if you are in one of those phases of life where it is hard – I want you to know that it is not unusual, nor is it wrong – it is just life -but don’t be afraid for God is with you.

             

LET’S PRAY.

Lord Jesus, I pray for those who are feeling pain and suffering, for those who are conflicted and confused, for those who have people they care about and they're burdened for them.  I'm asking Lord, that you would meet them right where they are.

I pray Lord, that their suffering would not define them, but that you would define them. I'm praying Lord, that you would give them an overwhelming sense of your love and your grace.

I'm asking Lord, that you would allow this truth of your faithfulness to sink in, that they can trust you wherever they would find you, or wherever they would find themselves. What I'm asking is that they would reach out to you and they would find you very close.

Lord, I ask these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.

            And Thank you for listening this morning.

            This program is on the air by the grace of God and donations of many faithful people.

            My name is Brent Russett, and it has been a privilege to bring you Good News in the morning.

By Rev. Brent Russett

Pastor of Sunnyside Wesleyan Church in Ottawa:

http://www.sunnysidechurchottawa.com/   

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PODCAST LINK to the CFRA broadcast:

http://proxy.autopod.ca/podcasts/chum/6/57054/good_news_281_oct08.mp3

'ALL GLORY, LAUD and HONOUR!'

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, April 13^th, 2014:

http://proxy.autopod.ca/podcasts/chum/6/21268/good_news_100_apr13.mp3

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Broadcast Notes:

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‘All Glory, Laud and Honour!’

Welcome to Good News In the Morning a program of words and music bringing a Christian message of hope and encouragement to those who are looking for intelligent meaningful and spirited approach to faith and to life.

This program is sponsored by Good News Christian Ministries PO Box 184 Rideau Ferry, Ontario K0G 1W0. I'm your host today, Brian Wilkie of St. Andrew's Christian church in Rockland. As always I want to start by thanking you our listeners. We are so grateful for your encouragement and support. Please remember that you can always visit our website for materials to encourage and support you in your Christian walk.

If you miss an episode of the show you can go to our website and download the podcast or the MP3 of our broadcast. Today I also want to invite you to come and join us for an evening of worship and encouragement as Dr. Rick Reed, president of Heritage College comes to Ottawa to speak at an event for Good News Christian Ministries  at Parkdale United Church, 7:00 on Friday May 9, 2014. More details can be found on our website. 

I hope you'll find our posters and and bookmarks promoting this event around town as well.

It's Palm Sunday as this broadcast is first going to air, and I'd like to read you the Scripture concerning Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem the week before he was crucified.  Let's turn to Matthew chapter 21 verses 1 to 11

Scripture Matthew 21:1–11

21 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, ² saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. ³ If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”

⁴ This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:

⁵  “Say to the Daughter of Zion,

‘See, your king comes to you,

gentle and riding on a donkey,

on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’ ”

⁶ The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. ⁷ They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them. ⁸ A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹ The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,

“Hosanna to the Son of David!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Hosanna in the highest!”

¹⁰ When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”

¹¹ The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”   (NIV)

To take a look at the meaning of this honor and glory that Jesus is given we’re going to take a look at what it means for us to glorify and honor Jesus with our lives. We’ll do that in just a few minutes, after we listen to this hymn of triumph and of honor to God: Lead on O King Eternal is sung by one of my favorite a cappella groups, the group called Glad.

Those who know me know that I just love music .I am fond of hymns, I love contemporary music, I love the old gospel songs, and love to sing spirituals with my gospel quartet. To sing all kinds of different genres of Christian music. Some of the hymns that come up on Palm Sunday just have a special place in my heart. Remember the hymn ‘All glory, laud and honor to thee, Redeemer King, to whom the lips of children made loud hosannas ring’ or the other song, ‘Ride on,  ride on in Majesty, in lowly pomp ride on to die?’ Hymns that remember this day in Jesus’ life a day when the sun shone, when the crowds were friendly, when everything was going well. A great day of praise and honor; honor that Jesus greatly deserved. They shouted ‘Hosanna to the Son of David.’ Hosanna was the cry that was made to the Messiah who was to come, who was to deliver the people from their bondage. They called him blessed and they called him the Son of David. All of these things are true about Jesus. He is, in fact, the Messiah that was promised, and he did come to deliver his people. These loud praises were so ‘spot on’ that that when some Pharisees objected and said to Jesus that he needed to quiet the people, he said, “do you not know that if they were silent even the very stones would cry out?” Yes the praise was praise that is due to Jesus. It was due to Jesus and will always be due Jesus. Praise for his Majesty, his glory, his great love, his great power, his great compassion and all that the greatness of our God; for Jesus Christ had come to save his people.

Now we sometimes guess that the Pharisees were upset, not just because Jesus was getting the praise and they weren't, but also because this cry ‘hosanna’ was a dangerous term. With Romans occupying Jerusalem there might be some fear on their part that that if Jesus is lauded as a person who is going to be the Messiah bringing deliverance, then the Romans might take that as a sign of rebellion, meaning many people would be harmed. That may be why Caiaphas the High priest said about Jesus,  “It is better that one man should die than that the whole nation should suffer.” You’ll remember that when Jesus was born just the announcement that King had been born in Israel was enough to send the paranoid King Herod into a frenzy and a fury so that he massacred children - babies under two years of age - just to squash any sense of rebellion. So Jesus’ praise was an unguarded praise and it was right that it should be. The people feared nothing, for Jesus was in their midst. They were confident and hopeful, they believed that that nothing could stop Jesus. They understood that they were with someone in whom they could rejoice.

And can we ask who they were praising? They give the answer themselves: They were praising the prophet from Galilee, they were praising a man who had come and spoken the oracles of God. He had spoken with authority, so that not only his words of healing and his words of deliverance for the demonically oppressed, but also his words of guidance and command were understood to be the very words of God. They were counting him as a prophet like Elijah, like Elisha, like Isaiah and Daniel and all the prophets of old. Jesus was like them. The crowd’s answer is, for those of us who are Christian, a rather faint praise. Just a prophet?

Was Jesus just a prophet? Well certainly a prophet who comes and faithfully bears the word of God deserves such praise. They deserve to be lauded, and the word that they bring deserves to be honored. But Jesus was more than a prophet, and these people were excited by more than just a teacher who spoke words of wisdom. Because he was a healer, many of these people had heard about and perhaps many of them had experienced the healing power of Jesus Christ. They were praising him because he had brought health and wholeness to people who were broken and in great need. Why there were people who would been blind from birth and now they could see. There was a young boy restored to his mother. She a widow whose only son had died, and Jesus had raised him from the dead. There was Lazarus and there were sufferers of all kinds of diseases: from fevers to paralysis; from leprosy to demonic possession. People who had been delivered, healed, set in their right mind – and Jesus was the instrument of all of this blessing. He brought good news to the outcast, he told sinners that they could be forgive. He told tax collectors and prostitutes and drunkards and all kinds of people, that they could be restored, return to God's good graces, and live in salvation and eternal life.

What good news he brought! Who wouldn't praise God and honor the prophet who brought the good news if they had felt separated from God by their sin and now knew that God had reconciled them. There would be a great joy in understanding that the prophet not only brought words, but brought health.

But there were a few things they didn't know about Jesus. A few things that were going to become apparent very soon. Even though their praise died in their lips over the next week, Jesus became worthy of even greater honor than he received on this day.

We will take a look at more of that after we hear another song. This is a song from a great old gospel quartet, The King’s Heralds, and it says, ‘if we ever needed the Lord before, we sure do need him now”

As Jesus approached Jerusalem and came into the city he was met by crowd that was ready to welcome him and praise him for all that they'd seen: the prophet, the healer, the bearer of good news;  the teacher of wonderful truths from God.

But he draws attention to himself in a couple of other ways, that perhaps the crowd hadn't quite noticed yet. He tells his disciples about the prophecy that that is given in the Old Testament that the king would come into Jerusalem on a Colt, the foal of a donkey. As King on a colt he would be bringing peace, indicating to the people of God that he came not to bring wrath or judgment upon them but to bring reconciliation, forgiveness and joy.

So when Jesus enters into the city he is coming humbly on a donkey, yet he is coming as a humble King. Not as a servant of low stature, but he comes as a king who has come to serve his people with good news. Did everybody who met him with palm branches recognize the claim he was making when he wrote on a donkey? Did they recognize that he was saying, ‘I more than a prophet, more than a healer. I am the king that is spoken of in Daniel, the king that is spoken of in Zechariah, and Zephaniah.’ He is the  King the spoken of throughout the history of Israel, the king that will sit on the throne of David forever. Did they know that there were praising him for that? or is there yet more praise to be given as that realization comes to the believer? In fact they were completely unaware of the greatest act that Jesus would do, because the greatest act of Jesus’ life had not yet taken place. He had done all these mighty things for which they praised him,  but dying on the cross, as strange as that may seem, is the greatest thing he's ever done. He laid down his life for his people.

Paul ponders this mystery saying, ‘you know is very possible that for a good man one of us might lay down our life.’ It might happen! But he said the real mystery of God is this that while we were yet sinners Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.

How great a love we have seen – and these people who praised him on the road into Jerusalem had not seen the fullness of his love yet! So we today have more reason to rejoice, more reason to praise. We have more evidence of his love and of his identity as the very son of God, for we have seen the cross. We have seen God's love fully expressed and we have witnessed the resurrection. We have heard the testimony, from over 500 eyewitnesses, that God did not see fit to leave his Son to decay in the tomb but raised him from death, and has set him at his right hand above every name, every authority and every power. At the end of all time, in the vision of John's, a glorious insight that God gave him into the things were yet to come, we are told that on the throne of the most high God there is the Lamb who looks as though he had been slain. He receives all honor and glory in that day. What a glorious day! Much more glorious than this sunny day where crowds meet Jesus and wave palms before him and greet him with the greetings that they feel are due to a prophet, to the deliverer that God has sent. Here we have in the highest place in heaven, at the culmination of all history, we have unending praise to Jesus, because we know something more than this crowd did.

On Palm Sunday I'm accustomed to having the kids waving palm branches in church and marching around singing one of those great songs about his entry into Jerusalem.  It can seem a little bit corny sometimes, maybe a little bit silly when we act like that a church, but I wonder why we don't rejoice more energetically? More like David when he was bringing the ark into Jerusalem. He danced about so much that his wife was ashamed and embarrassed by his enthusiasm. When he was confronted with her rebuke he said, ‘I will be even more undignified!’ because David saw that there was someone himself there as the ark of God was coming into Jerusalem. The Lord was with them.

And Here people are waving palm branches and shouting of hosanna completely ignorant of the of the Roman guards wondering what's going on. Completely forgetting about the oppression in which they live because they have a deliverer in their midst.

And what about us?

Are we lifted up above our present distress by the by the certainty that we have in Jesus Christ? By the great demonstration of his love?   Are we encouraged because he died for us and now lives for us at the right hand of God the Almighty? Even now he intercedes for us! He looks upon us, He sends his Holy Spirit to us. He keeps us and continues his good work in us, promising to complete what he's begun in us for that day when he comes to claim us.

Do we not have more reason to rejoice, more opportunity to show love to him? I hope today is a day of joy in your heart. I hope the today is a day of joy that overflows into a smile on your face, into a song of joy on your lips, into an exuberant display of love to your neighbor, to your brothers and sisters, and to your God, as you honor him with joy and with gladness because of his great love.

Let's turn to God in prayer:

Almighty God, thank you so much for all that you've given us in Jesus Christ. We cry hosanna, we cry praise to your name. We say blessed is he, Jesus Christ, who comes in the name of the Lord. Lord, let your joy fill our hearts, let our eyes be fixed on Jesus. Teach us to take encouragement from him over and above any discouragement we find in the world. To place our hope in him and to live and rejoice in that hope day by day. We know that you came to deliver us from darkness. Let your light shine into our hearts today through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.

Well once again I want to thank you, our listeners, for your encouragement and support. It is you who keep us on the air week by week. We do want to encourage you to support our ministry financially. Do you know the Good News Ministry has only one major cost? Your hosts Brent Russett, George Sinclair, Juliet Schimpf and myself are volunteers, and so are the people who manage our website, organize our events and operate our board. Your gift can help us to continue to meet that one vital expense, the cost of broadcasting, which enables us to reach you and over 7000 listeners in the Ottawa River Valley. If you can please make a check payable to Good News Christian Ministries and send it to PO Box 184 Rideau Ferry Ontario K0G 1W0. We will be happy to send you a receipt at income tax time.

I also want to, once again, extend that invitation to come and join with us for an evening of worship and fellowship as Dr. Rick Reed, the president of Heritage College brings an encouraging word and a strengthening word to us as he speaks for Good News Christian Ministries at Parkdale United Church on Friday, May 9 at 7 o'clock. More details can be found on our website.

So be sure going forth from this hour together, be sure to worship in a church where the gospel is soundly proclaimed and lived out with compassion, integrity and resolve. Now to conclude our program I'd like to have you listen to this song about the amazing work that God does for us on the cross. Today it's sung by the a cappella group This Hope and the song is ‘There is power in the blood.’

I do pray the Lord will hold your heart and you would know Jesus personally and profoundly. Let the Holy Spirit reside deep within your heart. May the heavenly Father surround you with his constant and abiding and accompanying love.

- Rev. Brian Wilkie

Pastor of St. Andrew's Christian Community

Rockland, Ontario

http://www.rocklandchurch.ca/

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

http://proxy.autopod.ca/podcasts/chum/6/21268/good_news_100_apr13.mp3