'THE SUCCESS TRAP'

Rev. Canon George Sinclair

by Rev. Canon George Sinclair                           

 Pastor of the Church of the Messiah, Ottawa, ON.
  www.messiahchurch.ca

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Podcast of CFRA broadcast on Sunday,   

July 12^th, 2020

http://accm.ncf.ca/images/20.07.12.mp3

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This week's broadcast is the sermon I gave at Church of the Messiah. 

The sermon was called "The Success Trap" 

 It is part of my series, "Judges: Messy People, Faithful God"

"The Success Trap"

  

Today’s Reading: Judges 8:1-10:5  (ESV)

Gideon Defeats Zebah and Zalmunna

8 Then the men of Ephraim said to him, “What is this that you have done to us, not to call us when you went to fight against Midian?” And they accused him fiercely. ² And he said to them, “What have I done now in comparison with you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the grape harvest of Abiezer? ³ God has given into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. What have I been able to do in comparison with you?” Then their anger^[a] against him subsided when he said this.

⁴ And Gideon came to the Jordan and crossed over, he and the 300 men who were with him, exhausted yet pursuing. ⁵ So he said to the men of Succoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the people who follow me, for they are exhausted, and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.” ⁶ And the officials of Succoth said, “Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand, that we should give bread to your army?” ⁷ So Gideon said, “Well then, when the Lord has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will flail your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers.” ⁸ And from there he went up to Penuel, and spoke to them in the same way, and the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered. ⁹ And he said to the men of Penuel, “When I come again in peace, I will break down this tower.”
¹⁰ Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their army, about 15,000 men, all who were left of all the army of the people of the East, for there had fallen 120,000 men who drew the sword. ¹¹ And Gideon went up by the way of the tent dwellers east of Nobah and Jogbehah and attacked the army, for the army felt secure. ¹² And Zebah and Zalmunna fled, and he pursued them and captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and he threw all the army into a panic.
¹³ Then Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle by the ascent of Heres. ¹⁴ And he captured a young man of Succoth and questioned him. And he wrote down for him the officials and elders of Succoth, seventy-seven men. ¹⁵ And he came to the men of Succoth and said, “Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying, ‘Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand, that we should give bread to your men who are exhausted?’” ¹⁶ And he took the elders of the city, and he took thorns of the wilderness and briers and with them taught the men of Succoth a lesson. ¹⁷ And he broke down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.
¹⁸ Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “Where are the men whom you killed at Tabor?” They answered, “As you are, so were they. Every one of them resembled the son of a king.” ¹⁹ And he said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As the Lord lives, if you had saved them alive, I would not kill you.” ²⁰ So he said to Jether his firstborn, “Rise and kill them!” But the young man did not draw his sword, for he was afraid, because he was still a young man. ²¹ Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Rise yourself and fall upon us, for as the man is, so is his strength.” And Gideon arose and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent ornaments that were on the necks of their camels.

Gideon's Ephod

²² Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also, for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.” ²³ Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the Lord will rule over you.” ²⁴ And Gideon said to them, “Let me make a request of you: every one of you give me the earrings from his spoil.” (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.) ²⁵ And they answered, “We will willingly give them.” And they spread a cloak, and every man threw in it the earrings of his spoil. ²⁶ And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was 1,700 shekels^[b] of gold, besides the crescent ornaments and the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian, and besides the collars that were around the necks of their camels. ²⁷ And Gideon made an ephod of it and put it in his city, in Ophrah. And all Israel whored after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family. ²⁸ So Midian was subdued before the people of Israel, and they raised their heads no more. And the land had rest forty years in the days of Gideon.

The Death of Gideon

²⁹ Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and lived in his own house. ³⁰ Now Gideon had seventy sons, his own offspring,^[c] for he had many wives. ³¹ And his concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he called his name Abimelech. ³² And Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age and was buried in the tomb of Joash his father, at Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
³³ As soon as Gideon died, the people of Israel turned again and whored after the Baals and made Baal-berith their god. ³⁴ And the people of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who had delivered them from the hand of all their enemies on every side, ³⁵ and they did not show steadfast love to the family of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) in return for all the good that he had done to Israel.

Abimelech's Conspiracy

9 Now Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem to his mother's relatives and said to them and to the whole clan of his mother's family, ² “Say in the ears of all the leaders of Shechem, ‘Which is better for you, that all seventy of the sons of Jerubbaal rule over you, or that one rule over you?’ Remember also that I am your bone and your flesh.”

³ And his mother's relatives spoke all these words on his behalf in the ears of all the leaders of Shechem, and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, “He is our brother.” ⁴ And they gave him seventy pieces of silver out of the house of Baal-berith with which Abimelech hired worthless and reckless fellows, who followed him. ⁵ And he went to his father's house at Ophrah and killed his brothers the sons of Jerubbaal, seventy men, on one stone. But Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left, for he hid himself. ⁶ And all the leaders of Shechem came together, and all Beth-millo, and they went and made Abimelech king, by the oak of the pillar at Shechem.
⁷ When it was told to Jotham, he went and stood on top of Mount Gerizim and cried aloud and said to them, “Listen to me, you leaders of Shechem, that God may listen to you. ⁸ The trees once went out to anoint a king over them, and they said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us.’ ⁹ But the olive tree said to them, ‘Shall I leave my abundance, by which gods and men are honored, and go hold sway over the trees?’ ¹⁰ And the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come and reign over us.’ ¹¹ But the fig tree said to them, ‘Shall I leave my sweetness and my good fruit and go hold sway over the trees?’ ¹² And the trees said to the vine, ‘You come and reign over us.’ ¹³ But the vine said to them, ‘Shall I leave my wine that cheers God and men and go hold sway over the trees?’ ¹⁴ Then all the trees said to the bramble, ‘You come and reign over us.’ ¹⁵ And the bramble said to the trees, ‘If in good faith you are anointing me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade, but if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.’
¹⁶ “Now therefore, if you acted in good faith and integrity when you made Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house and have done to him as his deeds deserved— ¹⁷ for my father fought for you and risked his life and delivered you from the hand of Midian, ¹⁸ and you have risen up against my father's house this day and have killed his sons, seventy men on one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his female servant, king over the leaders of Shechem, because he is your relative— ¹⁹ if you then have acted in good faith and integrity with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, then rejoice in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you. ²⁰ But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech and devour the leaders of Shechem and Beth-millo; and let fire come out from the leaders of Shechem and from Beth-millo and devour Abimelech.” ²¹ And Jotham ran away and fled and went to Beer and lived there, because of Abimelech his brother.

The Downfall of Abimelech

²² Abimelech ruled over Israel three years. ²³ And God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem, and the leaders of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech, ²⁴ that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come, and their blood be laid on Abimelech their brother, who killed them, and on the men of Shechem, who strengthened his hands to kill his brothers. ²⁵ And the leaders of Shechem put men in ambush against him on the mountaintops, and they robbed all who passed by them along that way. And it was told to Abimelech.
²⁶ And Gaal the son of Ebed moved into Shechem with his relatives, and the leaders of Shechem put confidence in him. ²⁷ And they went out into the field and gathered the grapes from their vineyards and trod them and held a festival; and they went into the house of their god and ate and drank and reviled Abimelech. ²⁸ And Gaal the son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech, and who are we of Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerubbaal, and is not Zebul his officer? Serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem; but why should we serve him? ²⁹ Would that this people were under my hand! Then I would remove Abimelech. I would say^[d] to Abimelech, ‘Increase your army, and come out.’”
³⁰ When Zebul the ruler of the city heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed, his anger was kindled. ³¹ And he sent messengers to Abimelech secretly,^[e] saying, “Behold, Gaal the son of Ebed and his relatives have come to Shechem, and they are stirring up^[f] the city against you. ³² Now therefore, go by night, you and the people who are with you, and set an ambush in the field. ³³ Then in the morning, as soon as the sun is up, rise early and rush upon the city. And when he and the people who are with him come out against you, you may do to them as your hand finds to do.”
³⁴ So Abimelech and all the men who were with him rose up by night and set an ambush against Shechem in four companies. ³⁵ And Gaal the son of Ebed went out and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city, and Abimelech and the people who were with him rose from the ambush. ³⁶ And when Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, “Look, people are coming down from the mountaintops!” And Zebul said to him, “You mistake^[g] the shadow of the mountains for men.” ³⁷ Gaal spoke again and said, “Look, people are coming down from the center of the land, and one company is coming from the direction of the Diviners' Oak.” ³⁸ Then Zebul said to him, “Where is your mouth now, you who said, ‘Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him?’ Are not these the people whom you despised? Go out now and fight with them.” ³⁹ And Gaal went out at the head of the leaders of Shechem and fought with Abimelech. ⁴⁰ And Abimelech chased him, and he fled before him. And many fell wounded, up to the entrance of the gate. ⁴¹ And Abimelech lived at Arumah, and Zebul drove out Gaal and his relatives, so that they could not dwell at Shechem.
⁴² On the following day, the people went out into the field, and Abimelech was told. ⁴³ He took his people and divided them into three companies and set an ambush in the fields. And he looked and saw the people coming out of the city. So he rose against them and killed them. ⁴⁴ Abimelech and the company that was with him rushed forward and stood at the entrance of the gate of the city, while the two companies rushed upon all who were in the field and killed them. ⁴⁵ And Abimelech fought against the city all that day. He captured the city and killed the people who were in it, and he razed the city and sowed it with salt.
⁴⁶ When all the leaders of the Tower of Shechem heard of it, they entered the stronghold of the house of El-berith. ⁴⁷ Abimelech was told that all the leaders of the Tower of Shechem were gathered together. ⁴⁸ And Abimelech went up to Mount Zalmon, he and all the people who were with him. And Abimelech took an axe in his hand and cut down a bundle of brushwood and took it up and laid it on his shoulder. And he said to the men who were with him, “What you have seen me do, hurry and do as I have done.” ⁴⁹ So every one of the people cut down his bundle and following Abimelech put it against the stronghold, and they set the stronghold on fire over them, so that all the people of the Tower of Shechem also died, about 1,000 men and women.
⁵⁰ Then Abimelech went to Thebez and encamped against Thebez and captured it. ⁵¹ But there was a strong tower within the city, and all the men and women and all the leaders of the city fled to it and shut themselves in, and they went up to the roof of the tower. ⁵² And Abimelech came to the tower and fought against it and drew near to the door of the tower to burn it with fire. ⁵³ And a certain woman threw an upper millstone on Abimelech's head and crushed his skull. ⁵⁴ Then he called quickly to the young man his armor-bearer and said to him, “Draw your sword and kill me, lest they say of me, ‘A woman killed him.’” And his young man thrust him through, and he died. ⁵⁵ And when the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, everyone departed to his home. ⁵⁶ Thus God returned the evil of Abimelech, which he committed against his father in killing his seventy brothers. ⁵⁷ And God also made all the evil of the men of Shechem return on their heads, and upon them came the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal.

Tola and Jair

10 After Abimelech there arose to save Israel Tola the son of Puah, son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, and he lived at Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim. ² And he judged Israel twenty-three years. Then he died and was buried at Shamir.

³ After him arose Jair the Gileadite, who judged Israel twenty-two years. ⁴ And he had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys, and they had thirty cities, called Havvoth-jair to this day, which are in the land of Gilead. ⁵ And Jair died and was buried in Kamon.

Footnotes

1. Judges 8:3 Hebrew their spirit
2. Judges 8:26 A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams
3. Judges 8:30 Hebrew who came from his own loins
4. Judges 9:29 Septuagint; Hebrew and he said
5. Judges 9:31 Or at Tormah
6. Judges 9:31 Hebrew besieging, or closing up
7. Judges 9:36 Hebrew You see

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NOTES:

 

Judges: Messy People, Faithful God
The Success Trap
Judges 8:1-10:5

1. Success can be your downfall. It tempts you to boast over God and exalt yourself.
   
2. If both success and failure keeps you from the Triune God, then only He can act to save you.
   
3. You will have to struggle with the world, the flesh and the devil till you die.
   
4. By grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone you have both the certainty of eternal security and the certainty of help for the daily struggle against the world, the flesh and the devil.
   

George Sinclair George is the Lead Pastor at Church of the Messiah. 

More about George Sinclair

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

http://accm.ncf.ca/images/20.07.12.mp3

 

 

 

 

 

'IS THE RESURRECTION GOOD NEWS?'

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, May 12^th, 2020:

http://accm.ncf.ca/images/20.04.12.mp3

Original Broadcast 

http://proxy.autopod.ca/podcasts/chum/6/32258/good_news_156_may10.mp3   

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Broadcast Notes:

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‘Is the Resurrection Good News?’

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 an intelligent, meaningful and spirited approach to faith and to life.

Welcome to Good News Christian Ministries’ ‘Good News in the Morning’ Radio Program. Today’s program is sponsored an anonymous listener, and by Good News Christian Ministries. We are so thankful for the listener support that enables us to continue to broadcast this Good News! If you would like to contribute to the support of this ministry, please write to Good News Christian Ministries, 96 Pheasant Run Drive, Ottawa, ON  K2J 2R5, Canada, (new address). Thank you to the listeners and supporters who came out last week to our ‘Meet the Pastors’ Event, where we as hosts of the show got to meet with you, our listeners, and answer some of your questions about the ministry. Thank you for your support.

Today’s scripture is taken from the book of Acts, chapter 2 v 29-40, and it is part of Peter’s sermon, Peter’s message to the people gathered in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. 

“Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. ³⁰ But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. ³¹ Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. ³² God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. ³³ Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. ³⁴ For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said,

“ ‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand

³⁵         until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” ’

³⁶ “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”

³⁷ When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

³⁸ Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

⁴⁰ With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” ⁴¹ Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. -Acts 2:29-40 NIV.

This is a familiar piece of Scripture for Christians. We consider the birth of the church to be the day of Pentecost, which is coming up on the calendar soon. With this day the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles and Peter who preached a message that brought 3000 people to faith in Jesus Christ. We are going to speak about this Scripture and about the whole theme of whether the resurrection is good news for you are not, but let's first listen to this beautiful song about the presence of God. It's a hymn called Still, Still with Thee. It's sung by the King’s Heralds.

When speaking to a Christian audience it's probably pretty clear that the resurrection is good news: but did you ever think about the people for whom the resurrection would be bad news? Imagine yourself, if you were one of the temple guards who was assigned to watch the tomb that Jesus lay in. There you are, passing the night, not too concerned because you've been told to guard this tomb from a motley band of disciples. There's really nothing to worry about. Even if they should come to try to steal the body of Jesus you and your colleagues are plenty to handle that. They probably won't even show – they turned out to be a pretty fearful bunch.

But there you sit through the night and all of a sudden you are stunned by something happening at the tomb. The stone of the tomb is rolled open and a great light is within the cave and you know this is not the work of the disciples. You've been watching. You have a tingling in your in your spine, you have goose bumps all over your skin, you are coming to realize that something beyond this world is at work in that tomb. Wouldn’t you be suddenly struck by the realization that you’d crucified the wrong man? Would the resurrection seem like good news at that point?

When Jesus himself died upon the cross, some people were rejoicing in his death. But then the sun had gone dark and then there was a rumbling in the earth and then perhaps if you happened to be a priest in the temple you would have seen or heard that the veil in the holy of holiness was ripped from top to bottom. Something was going on, something very odd, something that you might consider terrible: that you'd been part of a plot to get rid of Jesus Christ and his death was marked with these amazing signs. What if you are the high priest and the rumor got to you from the guards and from other sources that Jesus Christ had been raised from the dead. You’d probably be trying to convince yourself it was a trick, try to find some way to avoid the realization that you backed the wrong team – that you'd been the wrong team. The resurrection wouldn’t strike you as particularly good news.

In the Scripture that we read today we have people of Israel, people of Jerusalem gathered around on the day of Pentecost just 50 days after the crucifixion of Jesus. For 40 days Jesus has been visiting his disciples. As a risen Lord he's been empowering them and giving them courage to speak about the good news. They been praying in the temple, sorry, praying in the upper room for 10 days now since he's left. There is still a strong sense throughout the country that something amazing is happen, something unprecedented. Then you hear the sound of what sounds like a violent wind, or if it was us today we might think it sound like some kind of explosion. Something was happening down the street and you rush down with crowds of other people to see what was going on. You start to hear the message that Peter and the other apostles were preaching. Perhaps you'd been one of those people who would been in the crowd in front of Pilate yelling, “Release Barabbas! Crucify Jesus.” Maybe you’d been one of those people who'd kind of muttered about it afterwards and said, “Well, you know, he didn’t turn out to be the guy we hoped he’d be, so good riddance to him!”

Maybe you’d been a person who had been part of the conspiracy against Jesus. That you had tried very hard to get this guy crucified, because your superiors were telling you he was a bad that influence, and you just followed orders.

Whatever your state, the word that Jesus Christ had been right, had been raised from the dead, and the fact that his resurrection was God's exaltation of the one who had been crucified - you might very well be cut to the heart when Peter concludes his message by saying, Therefore that all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ.”

Wow. Is it good news that Jesus Christ is Lord and Christ, if you had crucified him, if you called for his death, if you celebrated that he was gone, is that good news?

For the apostles the resurrection of Jesus Christ was nothing but good news. I mean, they were running scared. They were locking themselves into rooms so that the authorities couldn't track them down and do to them what had been done to their Lord.  They were hiding out, they were despairing, they were feeling horrible. Even when the good news arrived - Mary Magdalene came bearing the good news – and they didn't believe her. It was too good to be true. You see, Thomas wasn't the only doubting apostle; each of the apostles had their doubts.  They had to see and hear repeated times in order to be convinced that this was fact. It seemed too much like wishful thinking to them, because it was such good news.

The death of Jesus Christ was terrible, but the resurrection of Jesus Christ not only erased the terror of his death but something more - that God himself had raised Jesus, and Jesus had overcome death and sin on the cross so that not only was Jesus death turned back but death was turned back for all who believed in him.

Those who were crucified with Christ in faith were raised with Christ in all eternity! That's good news!

Now the wonderful thing about the good news of Jesus Christ is that it is good news for sinners. Not just some sinners, but all sinners.  When you came to put your trust in Christ you came to understand that they were things wrong in your life. There were things that you weren't doing right, things you’d done wrong, things that had hurt others and offended God. You had lived a life in your own direction and hadn't paid any attention to the calling that God had on your life you had to repent. You had to turn from your sin, and had to decide you'd rather follow Jesus than follow sin. You believed in him and repented and followed.  Jesus Christ’s Death and resurrection was for sinners like you. Was it also for sinners like those who stood in the crowd and cried out, “Crucify him!”? Absolutely! Was it also for soldiers who stood watch over the tomb hoping that nothing would happen? Absolutely! Was it also for the centurions and Roman soldiers that crucified him and stuck be a spear in his side? Yes! In fact one of the centurions, seeing how Jesus died said, “This surely was the son of God.” Jesus Christ - his death and his resurrection were for all these people, All these people who might have been struck at the point of resurrection with fear and trembling that they had done wrong. Jesus Christ was willing to accept that centurion who was there at the crucifixion.  Jesus Christ was willing to accept that thief on the cross who was dying justly for his sins. And Jesus Christ was able to turn hearts of many people in Jerusalem back to himself even though they were in implicated in his death.

Now, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is it good news for you? Let's take a look at that after we listen to this next song, which is song of consecration. ‘Take My Life and Let It Be,’ this is from the band This Hope from their album “Edges.”

I spoke earlier about the great difference the resurrection made the lives of the disciples. That is the response of people who receive the resurrection as good news, who grasp what has happened and what's been done. This is the response of people who repent of their fear and insecurity, not only their outward sins of anger, fighting and immorality but the inward sin of having a life that is hardly lived, a life that is afraid to step out, afraid to do what God wants. The disciples were transformed by joy. I want to ask you the question: Have you considered the power of the resurrection sufficiently that you are being transformed by joy? Are you a person who just kind of takes the resurrection as ‘sort of a nice thing,’ that gives you a little bit of a boost on a bad day? Or has the resurrection transformed your life so that you are living entirely for God, so that his purposes and his will are unstoppable within you.

You see? The disciples really grasped the resurrection. They were able to turn their lives in a different direction. They were the people who ran away when danger came but once they had seen the risen Christ and received his Holy Spirit they were willing to lay down those very lives that they had sought so hard to save earlier. Most of the disciples were killed for their faith. They would rather die than let go of the hope of the resurrection. They would rather die than fail to proclaim the truth to all the world that there's good news for sinners.

We should try to break free of some of the nonchalance with which we understand the resurrection. We have celebrated Easter all our lives. Perhaps you grew up in the church and from the very earliest days you celebrated that Jesus Christ had risen from the dead. Yet it's possible for that message to become old news instead of good news.

If it's become old news in your life I'd encourage you to read the Acts of the Apostles. Take that section of Scripture and read through and find what a difference this gospel made when it touched each person's life, from the apostles to the Jews of Jerusalem, to the Samaritans and on, even to the Gentiles, as the gospel spread through the earth.  People were just overjoyed to find this new life at work in them.

I kind of want to stir up a little bit of dissatisfaction in you, our listeners today, so you might pursue God with a little bit more vigour. Now some are already feeling a great deal of guilt in their lives, and I do believe that pursuing God will relieve you of that guilt, but I am not trying to make you feel guilty by talking about this transformation.

I'm trying to make you understand the opportunity that lies before you to pursue the knowledge of the resurrection, the faith that you can place in Jesus Christ raised from the dead, and the difference that it can make in your life. If you, yourself, have never accepted Jesus Christ, never received this good news into your life, there still is that opportunity to turn away from a self-directed life, from a selfish life, even from a life that in your mind is already a pretty good life, and turn to the life that is in God – the life that is holy and perfect in love, the life in which you will continue to be transformed until God has set everything right, until the work that he's begun in you is completed. You will join a group of people, none of whom are perfect, but who are on the same journey as you, as you receive Jesus Christ and become part of his body here on earth.

Well I'd like to bring all of our hearts together in prayer as we consider the good news of the resurrection. Let's pray to God:

Lord, If we've neglected you, if we've worked against you, if we have followed our own way and neglected the needs of people around us – people who it turns out you greatly love – we've neglected the call of Jesus Christ so that his death and resurrection can seem like bad news at first. Thank you Almighty God that you call us to turn away from that life. You give us the opportunity to start a whole new life in Christ. Make this resurrection good news for each one who is listening, so that this message be received with faith, so that all might come to know you, Jesus Christ, and come to know the joy that is in your resurrection. We ask this in Jesus’ name, amen.

Thank you for listening today and thank you for your encouragement and support. You do keep us on the air week by week. I encourage you to support our ministry financially. Your gift can help us to meet the expense of broadcasting and help us to reach you and over 7000 listeners in the Ottawa River Valley. We have also been encouraged recently by how much our website is reaching out through the world as people download the message thousands of times across the world. So if you can make a check payable to Good News Christian ministries and send it to 96 Pheasant Run Drive, Ottawa, ON  K2J 2R5, Canada, (new address), we will be happy to send you a receipt at income tax time. We especially want to thank the anonymous donor who’s made today's broadcast possible through their sponsorship.

Now be sure to worship in a church where the gospel is soundly proclaimed and lived out with compassion integrity and resolve. To conclude our program I'd like to have you listen to another song of praise of our glorious God. This song is titled ‘Immortal, Invisible, God only Wise’ and sung by the a cappella group, Glad.

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

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

- Rev. Brian Wilkie

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://accm.ncf.ca/images/20.04.12.mp3

http://proxy.autopod.ca/podcasts/chum/6/32258/good_news_156_may10.mp3