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It’s been a while since I’ve spoken about love in a bible study, and today I felt like it was time to revisit what I believe is the most important thing to God (Wow, now there’s a bold, put-yourself-on-the-line statement!!)

Not a wishy-washy mushy sentimental feeling that you see in the movies, but the choosing to put God and others before ourselves. Not putting ourselves down (we are all loved and equal in God’s eyes) but realising that through loving and serving others we too are blessed and set free to live our lives as God intended.

Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 1 John 3:18-24

God shows us in 1 John 3:18-24 that when we love with “actions and in truth” (not just saying it, but living it) that’s when our hearts can be at peace with God (even when sometimes our heart tries to tell us otherwise!) and how we know we are his children. When we love, this is a sure sign of our faith and relationship with God, and we can come into his presence without worry or fear, but knowing we will find rest.

1 Peter 4:8 even says that love “covers over a multitude of sins.” Not that we can sin lots as long as we love people enough (this is not loving for the right reasons after all!) but that when we sin, God still sees that in our hearts we want to love him and put others first, even if in practice we make mistakes along the way. The story of David is such a good example of this. It is said that David was a man after God’s own heart, and yet David did some pretty bad things – like committing adultery and then killing the husband!!! – but when his eyes were opened to what he had done, he fell on the floor and was horrified at how he had managed to sin against God in such an awful way. Notice that he said he had sinned “against God” (not the husband) because he knew first and foremost that when he sinned it was God he was hurting, and he was truly sorry for what he had done. Just read what God himself says of David when talking to his son Solomon : "As for you, if you walk before me in integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did… 1 Kings 9:4 You What?? Say that again?! Did God just totally forget that David was an adulterer AND a murderer?! Yes he did. Not because he is forgetful, but because he chose not to hold it against him. David had got down on his face in shame when he realised his sin and repented before God. God knew David’s heart and that David truly loved Him, and so when God spoke of David he didn’t bring up his past sin and mistakes, he remembered instead David’s love for his God and his desire to do God’s will.

From another perspective, love between one another, it’s like having a friend who makes lots of mistakes, who regularly puts their foot in it and never seems to be able to make it anywhere on time, they still haven’t paid back that tenner you lent them (and you know you’re unlikely to see it again). Yet this friend knows you so well – sometimes better than you know yourself! They’ve seen you at your best and your worst, but for some reason, they still think you’re great. You know you can call them night or day and they’ll always answer the phone when they see your name pop up on the screen. And, although they ruined your best top by accidentally squirting ketchup down it, and snapped at you last week when they were tired, you forgive them every single time. Why? Because none of that other stuff really matters when love is at the centre of your friendship.

Do you see? Love can cover over all the other stuff, it doesn’t make any of it right, but when you know that someone genuinely loves you and cares about you (and you love them too), the other stuff may be sooo annoying and also quite painful at times, but you choose to forgive, not because you have to, but because you love them and you want to be back in that right relationship with them.

When we love one another, we can be united, despite our differences and the mistakes that we make. When we love we can forgive and choose to re-build relationships, rather than allowing them to be destroyed by an argument or misunderstanding. This brings glory to God, and shows others who He is!

When we love God we can also forgive ourselves when we mess up because we understand that God doesn’t want to punish us or make us suffer. Having a loving relationship with God gives us the freedom to come to Him quickly when we sin, to ask for forgiveness and be straight back in that right relationship with our loving father, knowing he will never hold it against us.

Love also helps us not to sin, because we do not want to hurt those we love, especially when they’ve loved us, and forgiven us so unconditionally.

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.’ Matthew 22:37-39

The thing about love is: Love is the greatest thing we can do!

…That is why I believe love is the most important thing to God.

 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.

But the greatest of these is

love

1 Corinthians 13:13

..be holy, because I am holy.  Leviticus 11:45

I’ve had a song in my heart this week, its the worship song that goes “I want to be Holy, set apart for you Lord Jesus, ready to do your will“. While I was painting wood in the garden this week I started pondering on the words and whether I really meant what I was singing.

Do I really want to be holy, above all else? Do I really want to be set apart – not of the world – choosing not to follow worldly desires and what culture tells me I should act like?  To live my life totally as God wants me to? Am I ready to do God’s will, rather than my own? Am I prepared to make the sacrifice of being holy; of obeying Christ in all things; of giving up my selfish, sinful ways for holy and selfless living?

I thought about this for a while and searched my heart and I found that actually yes, in my heart, I do desire to be holy and obedient to God’s will. This is not because of me, it is because God has done a work in me by His Spirit, and changed my sinful heart.  Yet in practice this is not so simple! As you will know well, there’s still a real daily battle with the flesh and the world, pulling us away from actually doing what our hearts wants to do! (Read Romans 7:18-25, Paul comments on this very thing!)

So what is being holy? To put it simply, it means being like God in our hearts and in our actions. It means keeping ourselves “from being polluted by the world” (James 1:27) and above all, loving God and putting him first (Mark 12:30). It’s so important to God that He even called us to be holy & set us apart before the world was created! (1 Corinthians 1:2, Ephesians 1:4) He commands us to be holy because He Himself is holy (Leviticus 11:45)  and because when we live holy lives, we show Jesus to the world! Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. Hebrews 12:14 ..Quite a challenging verse there from Hebrews.

How do we do it? I think Adam’s series on progressive sanctification is really helpful here! Go and read it if you haven’t done already! It’s a process, but loving and relying on God more and more is the only way we can truly live holy lives. We cannot do it just by willpower, as we will either fail miserably or, if we start to think we’re getting “good” at being holy, we become arrogant, prideful and can often start judging others – then (hopefully) we realise we are not being holy at all!!

I think the “ready to do God’s will” statement is also a thing is key. God would never ask us to do anything that was sinful, instead he points us in the direction of holiness, by the Holy Spirit living in us (and he always has the best plan for our lives!) Often God will prompt us on something that he wants us to change, so that we can be more holy, and sometimes we can be quite slow to respond. We try to justify it to ourselves, as it’s so hard to change ways of acting/living/thinking or even a relationship that is unhealthy, so we think it’s just never going to be possible or we come up with the age-old excuse that “now is not the right time”. Yet if God is prompting us, who are we to tell him he’s got the timing wrong, or he doesn’t’ realise how hard it is?! The sooner we obey, the sooner He can step in and give us the power to overcome! It’s a joint effort, but it starts with us being obedient to God’s will, no matter what we think the consequences/cost might be.

Father God I pray that you would help us to be holy.  Help us fight the temptations of the flesh and the ways of the world, in order to be set apart for you. I pray that we would be ready and willing to do your will as soon as you prompt us, so that we may become more holy and the world would see Jesus through us. Amen.

But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:15-16

Our role and God’s role

Whereas justification is totally down to God and we contribute nothing towards it, sanctification is a co-operative effort between us and God. God wants us to be involved in our growth but doesn’t leave it entirely up to us…

God’s role in sanctification

Each member of the trinity (father, son and spirit) has a role in our sanctification:

God disciplines us as a father: He shows us the path to holiness  by correcting us in love when we stray. Hebrews 12:7-11 beautifully illustrates God’s discipline as a method of teaching.

Jesus earned our sanctification and became our sanctification with what he achieved here on the Earth (1 Corinthians 1:30). But just as importantly, Jesus is our example for sanctification. He came to show us how we are to live our lives. We are to pursue a likeness with Jesus (1 Peter 2:21 and 1 John 2:6)

However, it is specifically the Holy Spirit that works within us to change us and sanctify us. 2 Thessalonians 2:13, Galatians 5:22-23 and Galatians 5:16-17 all show how the Spirit within us works to change us.

Our role in sanctification

To begin with our role is a passive one: We depend on God to save us and allow him to work in us.

However, we need to be cautious so not to become lazy and fall back on the passive role and wait on God to do all the work. So we also have an active role in that we strive to obey God and take steps to increase our sanctification. Philippians 2:12-13 says we need to “work out our own salvation” and I love how Hebrews 5:12-14 tells us to grow up and train ourselves for God.

Both the passive role and active role are important but if we neglect our active role of striving to obey God we become passive, lazy Christians and if we neglect the passive role of trusting God and yielding to him we become proud and overly-confident in ourselves. The correct balance is vital!

To be continued…

Trouble & Trials our view vs God’s view

Our View

1. God is punishing me
2. God mustn’t be good after all, he’s not blessed me like he promised.
3. I didn’t sign up for all this suffering, wasn’t being a Christian supposed to make life easier?
4. Where is God when I’m going through this?

God’s View

1. Trials are not a punishment – they are a faith, character & hope building exercise! God tells us we should receive trials and even suffering with Joy..

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 1 Peter 1:6-7

Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. Romans 5:3-4

(Note, however, that God does discipline those he loves. Hebrews 12:5-7)

2. God has already blessed us with every Spiritual Blessing in Christ. He also promises to turn all things round for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Ephesians 1:3

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

3. Jesus clearly told us that, in following him, we would face trouble, trials and suffering. Our faith is not about a nice ticket to heaven and an easy ride. Jesus said us we must deny ourselves and lay down our own lives (“take up your cross”) in order to follow him, just as he did for us.

And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”

Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. Luke 9:22-24

In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.  John 16:33b

4. God has promised to always be with us in the trials, but not to take them away! We need to remember that Jesus has all authority and He is with us always! In our weakness – God is strong!

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.  Isaiah 43:2

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.“ Matthew 28:18-20

That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:10

God’s word is truth. We need to ask God to help us align our views/feelings with the word of God so that we can live lives of freedom and truth. Lives that are pleasing to God and that give him all the glory!

“If you squeeze a lemon you should get lemon juice, if you squeeze an orange you should get orange juice. If you squeeze a Christian, you should get Christ”

Ephesians 1 : 17-19

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.

Ever wondered what to pray for people? How about starting with Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 1. It’s great! Notice that he keeps asking God, it was a regular prayer of his.

v17. “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.”

The first part of his prayer in v17 is asking God to enable them to know Him better. This isn’t a head knowledge, this us a heart to heart knowledge, an intimacy with God. We can only have this intimacy with God through the Holy Spirit who reveals to us God’s heart. No matter how much intellectual knowledge of the bible and theory and religion we have, we can’t know God without the help if the Holy Spirit who helps us to get that knowledge from the head and into the heart.

v18. “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you,”

Hope is not what we often think it is.. some sort of vague wish that we hold onto even though we don’t know if it’ll come true or not. No, hope in the New Testament is an assurance of what God has promised is to come. 1 Peter 1:3 says… “In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead..” Jesus is our hope, his resurrection gives us an assurance that we too have new life when we repent & put our faith in him, and we too will live with him in glory. It’s a promise of God, and God is faithful to all his promises.

v18 cont.. “the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,”

That’s US ! WE are Christ’s glorious inheritance!!!! He sees us as his riches!! That’s so amazing! Just think about that for a minute. Jesus died so that his inheritance could be us motley lot. He thought that we were an inheritance worth dying for… For me that’s just such a hard thing to get my head round, but that just shows Christ’s amazing, unconditional love.

v19. “..and his incomparably great power for us who believe”

You can’t compare God’s power with anything you know!! It would be like comparing… well you just can’t do it! And look at the wording “for us” the power is FOR US who believe. It’s for our good and for us to use, the same power that raised Christ from the dead is there for us! Often we don’t make use of the power God has given us because we only attempt to do the things that we know we could do in our own strength, if God didn’t step in. In doing this we’re not trusting that God has given us the same power that rose Christ from the dead, and we miss out on getting to see & experience God’s power. When we take the risk, and put ourselves (and God) on the line, that’s when we see God’s great power at work in & through us!

I pray that you may KNOW God more, in a heart to heart way. I pray that you will know the HOPE to which you are called through Christ. To know this hope is an eternal hope and an assurance that is set in the promises of God. I pray that you would know just how VALUABLE and PRECIOUS you are to Jesus. I pray too that you would trust that you have God’s GREAT POWER with you, and so you would have the BOLDNESS and confidence to step out in faith and “walk the walk” not just “talk the talk.”

“For the kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power.” 1 Corinthians 4:20

I was sat on a plane coming home from our holiday in Portugal (just to make you all jealous!)  reading the book of Acts. It dawned on me again how bold and outspoken the early Christians were and how much trouble they got themselves into by just speaking about Jesus and the resurrection.

For example in Acts 4 Peter & John get thrown into Prison for healing a cripple and preaching about Jesus’ resurrection. The next day the rulers, elders & teachers of the law tried to figure out what they were going to do to stop them preaching the good news.

Acts 4:17: "..to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name." (ie the name of Jesus – His name has all the power & authority!!!)

18-20: "Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard."

Then I started mulling over the quote "Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words."  (St. Francis of Assisi) . This is quite a popular quote which gets batted round a lot in Christian circles. 

Can we really live a quiet holy life and be true followers of Christ? I pondered. Can we live lives like the New Testament Christians without often "using words"? After looking out of the window at the white clouds and blue sky and thinking it all over in my mind, and looking back at the book of Acts, I came to the conclusion (however uncomfortable it was for me!) that we cannot live out the gospel without often using words. (Sorry St. Francis!)

In many cases I believe the two things go hand in hand. Living it out, and speaking it out. How much easier would it have been for John & Paul (and many others, even today) to quietly live out being Christians, but not tell anyone! Although of course this would mean not praying for anyone, just in case a miracle happened and people got wind of it and then they had to explain themselves! Somehow, I really don’t think this was Jesus’ plan! Jesus himself commissioned us to "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation" Mark 16:15  

As we go preaching, the signs and wonders then follow. The signs point to Jesus & God’s Kingdom, if we are not preaching the gospel then why would God provide us with the signs to support what we are (not) saying? Perhaps if we did a bit more preaching out in the "market place" there’d also be a few more signs and wonders too? 

But back on the plane, the two main reasons for my conclusion were:

1) My life is not good enough on it’s own !

Yes, not too surprising really. My actions are not currently on their own "Preaching" the Good News of Jesus – I’m just not there yet! My life may quietly whisper "Jesus" to those who look really closely, but there’s no real in-your-face-Kingdom-power-living going on. As such (of course!) I need to ask the Holy Spirit to help me improve but in the meantime I think I probably need to supplement my actions with words. To tell people "I don’t have it all sorted yet, but… Jesus.."   and to ask people "can I pray for you" when they tell me they are ill/in need. In my weaknesses and even in my failures, God can still use me, but I do need to acknowledge him before others and speak out with words, until the time comes when my actions are clearly and loudly preaching the Kingdom of God on my behalf!

2) If my life was good enough – people would ask!

So what happens if I do get to the point where my life is shouting out the gospel to all who come in contact with me? Well, like in Acts, if I really was preaching the gospel with my life then people would be regularly asking me why I am so different and where my hope and my authority comes from. In fact I’d probably be stirring up quite a bit of trouble as well as seeing people healed on a regular basis, and facing rather a lot of opposition - just like the early Christians in the book of Acts! People would be asking me why I live like I live, why I love like I love, why people are healed and raised from the dead around me, and why I have so much hope and joy even though difficult circumstances.  So with all these questions, I’d have to preach the gospel, to explain to people about Jesus and the Holy Spirit and the Kingdom of God! How could I not?

It says in 1 Peter 3:15 : "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.. " We are to be prepared to answer the questions which are bound to come when we are living out Jesus-centred lives! It’s not an if people ask , it’s presumed that people will ask because of our radically different lives! 

Acts4:20 "For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard" – If I really truly was living out the gospel each day with my actions, I wouldn’t be able to help myself speaking about all the things that Jesus was doing (and has done!) 

Besides, Jesus himself spent his ministry preaching, teaching and performing signs and wonders: "Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness." Matthew 9:35 .  - He didn’t just live a holy life and hope that people would guess who He was and figure out who had sent him! He lived it out and spoke it out. 

Of course there are times when preaching the gospel with actions (and not with words is necessary) – for example if we live with friends/family who are not Christians. We cannot begin each morning preaching over breakfast!! This is likely to harden their hearts and turn them away from God (and us!) They’ve heard what we have to say – now they are watching to see how we live. This really is where we preach the gospel at all times, using words only when necessary. Home is were we are seen for our true selves – living with people soon shows them whether we really do live out the gospel, or just talk the talk..

So whether we are confident that we are living our lives full on for Jesus, as radical Kingdom people, or "not there yet" but wanting to learn & grow, we just cannot keep quiet about being Christians! We must preach the gospel with our lives and with our words, to explain to people where our hope comes from and why we live the way we do. We must show people love, but be prepared to tell them about God’s love to. 

How will they know unless we tell them?

Read the story in Acts 4 here :

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%204&version=31

Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy ." 1 Peter 1:13-16

Be Holy because I am Holy – This is quite a hard thing to talk about because on one hand there is Jesus – totally perfect, totally Holy, who lived a sinless, selfless life. Then on the other hand, there’s the rest of us…!

If we think we are "good" then Jesus reminds us that no matter how good we think we are, we cannot and will not reach his perfect holiness. Yet God tells us to be Holy because I am Holy.  

If we think we are "bad" and write ourselves out of God’s script, Jesus reminds us that all have sinned, yet through him we can be forgiven and presented fully cleansed and Holy before God ⁽¹⁾ – hidden in the perfect life, death & resurrection of Jesus.

So what then? If we sin and fall short of God’s holiness, then why bother trying? If we’re already Holy through Jesus, why do we need to make the effort? Yet God tells us "Be Holy because I am Holy"  

We have to carefully hold all these things in balance; We should never take for granted the forgiveness and grace that God has for us, instead in response we should endeavour to live lives that are Holy and pleasing to God. Knowing that sometimes we do sin and fall short of God’s perfect plan, but are forgiven and righteous because of Jesus. Knowing too that we do everything not in our own strength but by the power of the Holy Spirit living in us.⁽²⁾  

So how do we live Holy lives? Well the verse says to :

Prepare our minds for action; be self-controlled – We need not just "put our feet up" now that we know we are forgiven because of Jesus. Our faith is it’s not just spiritual, it’s practical too; we need to be prepared to live it out, to be self controlled – not just giving into our thoughts and feelings as though we have no choice or strength, but to choose to act right and to keep our thoughts and desires in check. God helps us to do this as we walk with him in his grace ⁽³⁾ and the more we do this, the easier it will become to live lives that are Holy.

Set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed – We need to look towards our eternal hope and future in Jesus. Not to be distracted/disheartened by situations and circumstances that we are going through now. Sometimes we can feel like God shouldn’t let us go through the things we are going through, and we can allow these feelings to make us loose our faith or hope in God. We focus on the troubles (instead of on Jesus) and it feels like they are going to last forever… God tells us that these troubles are just "momentary" and He’s using whatever we are going through for an amazing eternal purpose ⁽⁴⁾ – we just can’t see it yet!

As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance – God tells us "you know better than that now, my child." We can sometimes slip back into our old ways, our old routines and our old desires, which we know won’t give us fulfilment and will ultimately lead to destruction.⁽⁵⁾ In the past we didn’t know any better but now we do and we should be living in the light of our eternal salvation, no longer being led by our selfish desires.

So we should be Holy, because God is Holy & He has told us to be Holy. To do this we must be prepared to act out our faith, to choose to be self controlled, to focus on Jesus not on our circumstances/feelings, and to live in obedience to God’s word rather than following our evil thoughts/desires. But most of all, we must do all this in the knowledge of God’s love and grace… Trusting that he has given us the power to overcome by the Holy Spirit, but also if we do sin and fall short of God’s perfect holiness, Jesus has bridged the gap for us. That means we can get straight back up and keep on walking – free from any condemnation!! ⁽⁶⁾

Praise God!

(1) Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation- if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. Colossians 1:21-23 

(2) ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty. Zechariah 4:6

(3) For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12 It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age. Titus 2:11-13 

(4) For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 2 Corinthians 4:17 

(5) For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. Philippians 3:18-22 

(6) Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. Romans 8:1-3

A few weeks ago I spoke a bit about being God’s children , now I want to expand on this further and talk about being sons of God. Whether you are male, or female, if you are "in Christ" you are God’s son, which also makes you an heir. Not sure if you are "in Christ" ?? Check out Knowing God .

Our inheritance starts with our salvation, eternal life with God, through the death (and ressurection) of Jesus, who took our sin and replaced it with His righteousness. We have been promised an amazing inheritance, and at such a cost to Jesus.  Isn’t it amazing that God would choose to adopt us as His sons even though he is God and he is perfect, and we are created and not at all perfect!

I couldn’t choose which verse I wanted to use this week! There were so many good, encouraging verses to choose from! In the end I decided that rather than doing all the talking, I would let the scriptures say most of it. If you are alone, why not try reading these out load to build you up!

Galatians 3:26-29
You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Galatians 4:6-7
Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.

Titus 3:4-7
But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

Romans 8:16-19
The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.

Ephesians 1:4-6
For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

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Each one of us were chosen in love to be God’s sons,  so that he could lavish his grace on us. We are sons of the King! We are royalty ! As it says in 1 Peter 2:9: ..you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood , a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

So we must hold onto the fact that even though we are of course called to be humble servants on earth, just as Jesus was, we are also royalty because our Father God in Heaven has adopted us his Sons because of our active faith in Christ Jesus (who is the "King of Kings and the Lord of Lords!"). As you go through the ups and downs of life, make sure you remember that you are a child of the King!!

Revelation 17:14-15
They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.

Matthew 25:34-35
Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

Praise God for his promises, for his love and for our salvation through Jesus! Praise God that we have his royalty and an inheritance through our active faith in Jesus. Praise God that he promises to “adopt” anyone into his family who chooses to accept his own son, Jesus, as their Lord & saviour.

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For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!  1 John 3 :1

Last week I talked about how we, as Christians, are friends of Christ, this week I want to look at being children of our heavenly Father!

It says in John 1:12-13 “To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”

That’s an open invitation to anyone who chooses to receive God and believe in Jesus’ name. Each person is then given the right to be God’s child, spiritually born into God’s family with brothers and sisters in Christ. In order that we might love one another (1 John 4:7/John 13:34), encourage one another (1 Thess 5:11 / Heb 3:13) and spur one another on (Heb 10:24).

I just think it’s so amazing, when you stop and think about it, that God the creator chose to make us, the created, his children. To love us and to look after us just as a father would (only better as we know that Father’s can let us down, but God never will!)

Our Heavenly Father provides for our needs, Jesus tells us to ask for what we need and our Father will answer our requests (Matt 7:7). In Matthew 7:11 Jesus says “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” Knowing that we are all sinners and God is perfect – of course he’s going to give us better gift than our earthly fathers can provide.

Our Heavenly Father helps us when we are in trouble (Ps 118:7 / Heb 13:6) and protects us from harm (2 Sam 22:31) He has also promised us an inheritance (Matt 25:34 / 1 Peter 1:4) and a place for us when we return home to him (John 14:2)

Our Heavenly Father, like all fathers, also disciplines us (Deut 8:5 / Prov 3:12). He does this because he loves us, and because he knows this is best for us in the long-run. No-one enjoys being disciplined, but what sort of father would never correct his children when they do wrong?

Our heavenly father tells us not to worry and not to be afraid, because he’s looking out for us and because he’s got good plans for us & for our future! (Matt 6:25-26/ Luke 12:32 / Jer 29:11).

Our heavenly father loves us! It says in the verse above “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us” –> Lavished! What an wonderful word, it show’s Gods generousity, his love poured out without measure or limitations! It’s nothing to do with us earning it or being good enough for it – He gives his love lavishly because of who He is and what a wonderful father he chooses to be to those who turn to him.

Praise God that he calls us his children, and that he loves us & takes care of us even better than a father!!

What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31)

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

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how to communicate Jesus with the people around me and how to use my whole life as a witness. We’ve been focusing on this in our Bible study group and have had some very real challenges about this at church.

Ultimately, we want people that we come into contact with to experience the love of Christ through us. This should happen in the way we talk to them, serve them and interact with them.

To interact with “gentleness and respect” we need to remember simple things like remembering people’s names and details about them (this applies as we’re getting to know neighbours, colleagues, shop workers, etc) and listening to them rather than having talking at them (This is a big challenge!) Good conversations will be where we explore each area thoroughly and LET THEM DICTATE where the conversation goes (This really shows them that we care for them!!). Looking for some common ground is helpful to establish a genuine connection with them.

Getting to know people, loving them and caring for them should be our first goal. Sharing the gospel with them shouldn’t be our first goal but as we develop meaningful relationships with the people we hang out with this relationship becomes the platform for opportunities to share Jesus. This will be words at times, but may mostly be through our actions. St Francis of Assisis says “Preach the gospel always, if necessary use words”.

When we’re interacting with others, we should always ask God to show us the needs of the person. When we see the needs, ask God how we can show our care for them in their hurt, trouble, etc. Some amazing opportunities to share Jesus often present themselves when there’s a genuine need!

I’ve been challenged lately to use my areas of influence (the places I hang out regularly) to get to know people, build relationships and live out my faith! Otherwise, we risk the danger of just going about our comfy little Christian lives and not being effectively used by God.

Challenge for this week: Get to know someone new in a place you hang out regularly (neighbour, colleague, sports team, pub, etc). Remember their name and some things about them. Start praying for them and for opportunities to chat to them again.