Ordinary Christians in the Hands of the Extra –Ordinary
God.
Part 2:
Ephesians 3:10 -12 and 16 – 21 NIVUK
So that through the church the manifold
wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the
heavenly places. 11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he has
realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and access with
confidence through our faith in him…………… 16 that according to the riches of his
glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your
inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that
you, being rooted and grounded in love,18 may have strength to comprehend with
all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to
know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with
all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly
than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us, 21 to
him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for
ever and ever. Amen
I grew up in the South Wales Valleys, were the
common themes for many were Chapel, Rugby and the Colliery, the threads that
would often hold those communities together would be those mentioned above, the
hymns of the Chapel such as Guide me, O Though Great Jehovah would be sung with
at least equal gusto on a Saturday Afternoon watching the Rugby.
In many ways, our lives would have been influenced
and affected by the strong religious traditions of something best described as
chapel culture, when we spoke of the church, we would often have of thought of
the Anglican Church with their vicars etc., for many people from a chapel
background the church was a strange place that could be described it’s church,
but not as we know it!.
The traditions of Chapel Culture would be at least
influenced by protecting and promoting Welsh Language and Culture, and to
distinguish it against the English Language and Culture. I would say that in
the Village where the Church I was raised in, is located. Approximately half
the Chapels would speak Welsh in all their services. I love Wales, its
Language, Culture and its People but there aren’t The Lord who died for my sins
and the sins of the entire World, and rose again in Victory and is coming back
for us when He comes to reign and rule and establish His Kingdom in its full
splendour and glory.
We have made idols of so many things in the Church,
whether that be our traditions, heritage and our national or cultural
identities, our churches have become monuments to past moves of God, or to the
men who God raised up to move his Church forward. The Church has become
known to what we’re against rather than what we for, we fight battles and wars
with society rather than supporting and encouraging society, yes there are
anti-Christian influences and challenges facing us today, with the prospect of
Gay Marriage and the attempts of our politicians to force change in the legal
definition of marriage.
When people think of Church they think of a dying
religion and something that is part of the establishment. We should stand
against the enemy, the devil but our weapons aren’t the weapons or the
strategies of the world, see 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 .We try to convict the people
we meet whose lives aren’t in accordance with scripture of their sin but we
aren’t the Holy Spirit who convicts the world of sin and shows them God’s
righteousness see John 16:-8-11 instead we’ve alienated those He sent us to
show His Love and Compassion to.
When Jesus walked the streets of the lands of Bible
Times, he wasn’t part of the establishment, whether that was the
political or the religious establishment, Jesus is God’s ultimate
revolutionary, he isn’t some kind of Jewish Che Guevara, he was and is the Son
of God, who came as baby, lived a normal life, then for the last 3 years
of his life, bought God’s message of transformation, hope, redemption,
salvation, deliverance and peace to those he meet regardless of their
sexuality, disability, cultural or ethnic background, he raised up normal
men and women, that were often the lowest and sometimes the most despised
people in society, like his ancestor King David, who’s mighty men came from
those in debt, distress or the discontented, see 2 Samuel 22:3, he died an
agonising death on the cross, of all the tens of thousands than were crucified
by the Roman and other empires, only one death made a difference, Jesus took
the entire sin of the entire world from that day until he day He returns, and
died as the sacrifice for not only the sins of the church, but the sins of
those yet to know Him. He arose Victorious from the tomb, and entered Heaven
after preparing His early disciples and sending the Holy Spirit see John 20 so
that His Church may go forward and see people saved, lives transformed, hope
restored and renewed and salvation bought to the ends of the earth.
Today, we the Church like David’s Mighty Men
and the early Disciples are God’s Mighty Men and Women of Faith, who have been
tasked by our Saviour and Lord to advance His Kingdom and His Church into our
streets, neighbourhoods, communities, regions, nations and the nations of the
world.
When God commissioned the Prophet Isaiah in Isaiah
6:8 see here for context. Isaiah 6:8-9 8 And I heard the voice of the Lord
saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here am I!
Send me.” 9 And he said, “Go, and say to this people:
Throughout the History of the Church, God has
called and commissioned Ordinary People just like You and Me, he’s not
called the seemingly best equipped or seemingly the most talented or indeed the
best gifted, when God sent the Prophet Samuel to anoint Israel’s next King he
sent him to the home of Jesse in Bethlehem, and when he looked at Jesse’s Sons
he saw some great and talented warriors but they weren’t God’s choice see
1 Samuel 16:5-13, God is calling the Ordinary People to rise up for Him see 1
Corinthians 26-29 but let us not be like the Prophet Jonah, who when God called
him to Nineveh went in the opposite direction!
Today God is calling again Whom shall I send,
and who will go for us, will we say Here am I send Me, and will we ready to Go
to those who sends us and where He sends us ?
Yours in His Grace
Blair Humphreys
Southport, Merseyside
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