This is a Trustworthy Saying Part 2, For this reason I found Mercy (1)

1 Timothy 1:15-16

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

¹⁵ It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. ¹⁶ Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those ^[a]who would believe in Him for eternal life.

When I was growing up, one of my favourite hymns, was “At Calvary” which goes like this

Years I spent in vanity and pride,
caring not my Lord was crucified,
knowing not it was for me He died on Calvary.

Refrain

Mercy there was great, and grace was free;
Pardon there was multiplied to me;
there my burdened soul found liberty at Calvary.

By God’s Word at last my sin I learned;
Then I trembled at the law I’d spurned,
Till my guilty soul imploring turned to Calvary.

Now I’ve given to Jesus everything,
now I gladly own Him as my King,
Now my raptured soul can only sing of Calvary!

Oh, the love that drew salvation’s plan!
Oh, the grace that brought it down to man!
Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span at Calvary!

The chorus goes Mercy there was great, and grace was free; Pardon there was multiplied to me; there my burdened soul found liberty at Calvary.

Last week we looked at the phrase,

 That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, this week we follow on from the looking at the phrase, yet for this reason I received mercy,

 We have received Mercy because Jesus came and died for our sins, he died in our place and because he died and rose from the dead, we have been given God’s gift of Salvation, now us look at Mercy

In the New Testament, the word Mercy is often used of Christ’s gracious faithfulness and proof of His benevolence. Mercy is not merely a passive emotion, but an active desire to remove the cause of distress in others.

Now let us look at some scriptures that speak of Mercy,

1)     Ephesians 2:1-10 v4 -7 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead [f]in our transgressions, made us alive together [g]with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

2)   Titus 3:3-7 v5 – 6  5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour.

3)    Romans 9:14-24  v 22- 23 ^22 [n]What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? ²³ And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory

4)   1 Peter 1:3-9 v 3-5 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time

5)   1 Peter 2:1-12 v 9-10 ⁹ But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellences of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvellous light; ¹⁰ for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

In the next post, we will look at 1 Tim 1:16 yet for this reason, I received Mercy, where will look at Scriptures in regards to the Justification & Sanctification of us the Believer.

This is a Trustworthy Saying Part 1 Christ Jesus came into the World to save Sinners

Christ Jesus came into the World to save Sinners

1 Timothy  1:15-16

 ¹⁵ It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. ¹⁶ Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those ^[l]who would believe in Him for eternal life. 

Amazing Grace how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me wrote the former slave ship captain, a person we now recognise has the Anglican Vicar and Hymn Writer John Newton.

Some 2,000 years ago, a man was lead to his death by an occupying army to die a death that was both humiliating and agonising, both the political and religious authorities had conspired to end the live of this one man because they felt threated by his message and popularity his friends had run away from him and where now in hiding, one of his friends had betrayed him and one of his closest friends had denied him, he was beaten and bloodied, and was led to certain death by public execution, of all the tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands who shared his fate or will share his fate including some of his latter disciples, this one death out of thousands of similar deaths of those who had been crucified on a cross of wood, this one death was and is of eternal significance, this death bought God’s Gift of Salvation, the forgiveness of sins, The Redemption of Mankind.

When our Lord Jesus came, He had one mission in mind, he voluntary laid aside his divine attributes and was born by a woman, he lived a normal life in seeming obscurity, he launched his mission by these words The Spirit of the Lord is upon me see Luke 4:18-19, he had been tempted to sin by the deceiver and accuser Satan, yet had not sinned, indeed there was no sin found in Him, his mission then and now is to save sinners. John the Baptist said these words when Jesus came to him to be baptised in Water, Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, and see John 1:28-30

What do we mean by the Word, sin?

Sin means missing the mark, failure, offense, taking the wrong course, sin, guilt, it’s also used in the New Testament in a generic sense of concrete wrongdoing, a principle and quality of action, and as a sinful deed this includes acts/desires/passions. Sin separates us from God the father because of sin we are unable to have a relationship with Him, Man has tried to find a way to have a relationship with God, and because of our sinful nature we have failed, yet God has provided us the way to Him , see John 14:6.

Let us look now, how Sin came into a perfect World, we all know that when Adam & Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, they were deceived by satan, see Romans 5:6-21 that because of the fall, sin entered a perfect world, we have inherited sin because we come from Adam & Eve and because of this we have a sinful nature and the desire and inclination to sin, see Romans 3:21-26.

Because no man is born without sin, and we have  sinful desires and inclinations, it is impossible for a man to die in our place for our sins,  God sent his Son Jesus, who voluntary died in our place for our sins, He died as our substitute he took the place we deserve, paid the price that we should really pay, he surrendered his life that we may live, he laid aside his relationship to his father, so that through him and his sacrifice we can enter into a relationship with His Father, and our Father see 2 Cor 5:14-21

Next week, for this reason I found Mercy

Ivan Roman: What Is God Saying to the Church For 2012 and Beyond?

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Reclaiming True Friendship in the Facebook Age

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Ordinary Christians in the Hands of the Extra-Ordinary God. Part 4:

Ordinary Christians in the Hands of the Extra-Ordinary God.

Part 4:

I Corinthians 1-12:13, 3:4-11, 3:21 – 23  New Living Translation.

¹² Some of you are saying, “I am a follower of Paul.” Others are saying, “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Peter, ^[d]” or “I follow only Christ! …… 4 When one of you says, “I am a follower of Paul,” and another says, “I follow Apollos,” aren’t you acting just like people of the world? ⁵ After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. ⁶ I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow.  ¹¹ for no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ…. ²¹ So don’t boast about following a particular human leader. For everything belongs to you— ²² whether Paul or Apollos or Peter,^[g] or the world, or life and death, or the present and the future. Everything belongs to you, ²³ and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

When we look at the Church today, what do we see and what do we mean by the word Church ? to some the word Church has a negative effect on the other hand, the word Church has a positive effect, to others Church should be consigned to the past, and it doesn’t have any relevance to them and society both today in the present or indeed tomorrow the future, some think of the word Church and they think of a physical building others think of the New Testament concept of God’s people or a spiritual building.

The Church today is divided into various camps or tribal groups, that more often or not have very little to do with other camps or tribal groups, sometimes different churches can be close to each in terms of a physical distance, but miles apart in so many other ways.   Is the Church somewhere we can go to or is it a body of people that we belong to, and are joined alongside each other to work alongside each other to see the Good News of the Gospel of the Kingdom preached to those without the Good News of Salvation through our Lord and Saviour Jesus.

We are divided into groups or denominations that have more to do with our past, and very little to do with our present or future. We hold onto ways of both doing and being church because of our history and our responsibilities to that history, and the expectancies of others. Sometimes we're divided into seemingly rival tribal groups, because for some our revelation of being and doing church is driven by being the people of God where His Presence dwells, but on the other hand we're divided because of politics and personalties !.The Church is a movement for change and transformation but for many of us The Church has become a monument to our spiritual forefathers who were a movement for change and transformation !.

We follow men and sometimes women, we follow the traditions that were our spiritual forefather’s doctrines and their distinctiveness from other tribal groups and when someone from another tribe says let’s meet together for fellowship and to share together, we say we can't because we’re group a and your group b and our big chief said in 1920 said that we need to avoid group b because your understanding of church and Christianity is different from way he told us to be the church and to be a Christian and therefore you’re wrong, or we do meet together but in a spirit of reluctance and/or a spirit of mistrust, we’ve created theories,  doctrines, theologies and solutions how we’re to be the church and to life our Christian lives and be a Christian Witness, but many of those theories etc belong in the past, and have become hindrances and obstacles for us today.

Many of our tribes or denominations have become tied to the way we did Church, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 or a 100 plus years ago, we look for structure and safety in the past.  We think that the way we do and are the Church is the right or indeed the only way to be do or be Church,  we mistake our history for our present and future and wonder why despite our best efforts, our prayers indeed our prophecies, we’re unfulfilled !

When our Lord Jesus walked the streets of his homeland,  he saw a fig tree and when he looked for fruit he found only leaves Matthew 21:18-20, ¹⁸  In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. ¹⁹  And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once. ²⁰ When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?

I would say that so many of our churches are like that fig tree, yes we have life but it has gone to produce only leaves, instead of producing leaves alongside fruit, indeed later in the same chapter, Jesus spoke about the physical nation of Israel, saying that because they trusted in themselves rather than trusting in the Lord, that had lost the Kingdom of God, Matthew 21:43 ⁴³ Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.

For many of our churches today, we’ve lost the Kingdom of God because we’ve trusted in ourselves, our systems, structures and strategies instead of trusting Him , our Lord and Saviour Jesus,  we’ve just grown leaves not fruit and God has gone and left us, even then we’ve created a theology and/or theory/or solutions around that, see Habakkuk 3:15-18 ¹⁷ Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, ¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the Lord!    I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!

However there is a message of hope, for those Churches that once proclaimed God’s Message, Haggai 1:6  ⁶ You have planted much but harvest little. You eat but are not satisfied. You drink but are still thirsty. You put on clothes but cannot keep warm. Your wages disappear as though you were putting them in pockets filled with holes! See Haggai 1, our transformation isn’t due to our living in the luxury houses that  are our own tribal groups/denominations/churches but rather our transformation comes through being part of His Church, or the Temple or the House of the Lord. We’ve become consumed that our way of doing and being Church is also the Lord’s way of doing and being Church, but our ways are not his ways of doing and being Church see Isaiah 55:8-11

We have set in place man made structures, systems and organizations to how to do and be the Church today, we set in place committees, clerical systems and called and commissioned those He’s not called and commissioned to lead us in being the Church and we wonder why nothing is working, we’ve watered down and diluted our message to make it pliable to others, we’ve accepted things that go against Biblical Standards like Homosexual Clergy  and wonder why God isn’t moving amongst us and blessing us ?

Yet, there is hope for us the Church,  the old wineskins of our ways,  those beloved ways of doing and being the Church aren’t working and if we try to add His way of being and doing Church or the new wine to our old wineskins, our old wineskins are going to tear and break up, instead we need His new wineskins of doing and being the Church, his structure, systems, and Leadership* and following those He has called and commissioned to lead us forward, see Luke 5:37-39.

We notice in Scripture, there is a God Ordained indeed Organized way of being and doing Church, no longer will our man made systems cope with the things, our message should be say no, to the status quo,  We don’t need any other or more denominations or tribes, we don’t need another methodology of doing and being the Church.  We need to be a Movement and not a Monument. We need to see a restoration of Apostolic Christianity, which is a Movement for the 21^st Century Church not a Monument to the 1^st Century Church.  We need to see Revival through a Renewed Church.

It says in Ephesians 4:11-13* ¹¹ Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. ¹² Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. ¹³ This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.  See Ephesians 4:11-16 for context.

Yours in His Grace

Blair Humphreys

Southport, Merseyside

Ordinary Christians in the Hands of the Extra-Ordinary God. Part 3 or A Call to Return to Apostolic Christianity

Ordinary Christians in the Hands of the Extra-Ordinary God.

Part 3

I Corinthians 1:12-13 and 3:4-11 New Living Translation.

¹² Some of you are saying, “I am a follower of Paul.” Others are saying, “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Peter, ^[d]” or “I follow only Christ.” ¹³ Has Christ been divided into factions? Was I, Paul, crucified for you? Were any of you baptized in the name of Paul? Of course not! …… 4 When one of you says, “I am a follower of Paul,” and another says, “I follow Apollos,” aren’t you acting just like people of the world? ⁵ After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. ⁶ I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. ⁷ It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. ⁸ The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work. ⁹ For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building. ¹⁰ Because of God’s grace to me, I have laid the foundation like an expert builder. Now others are building on it. But whoever is building on this foundation must be very careful.¹¹ for no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ

Today when we walk in the places we live, we see buildings that are used for various purposes, some buildings are where we live, other buildings are where we work, shop, rest and relax, there are specialist buildings such as Train Stations, Churches and Hospitals, each building has a specific function and role to fulfill that more often is unique to that building, sometimes buildings can be adapted and changed to serve a different purpose than their original purpose, some buildings have been left desolate and have become ruins and monuments, some buildings are empty because no one can find a use for them anymore.  Each building we see regardless of its use and purpose needs a foundation.

The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 7:24 NLT, “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock” see Matthew 7:24-27 and Luke 47- 49 for the context. Luke 6:47-48  NLT says , “⁴⁷ I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it. ⁴⁸ It is like a person building a house that digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built.

Today in 2012, we see various versions of the Bible, that are available for us to read and study, I use the New Living Translation for my day to day reading although I do have the English Standard Version on my phone, and when I write I use Bible Gateway which has dozens of Bible Versions. I’ve used various versions of the Bible since I was saved at 11 but at the end of day as The Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3: 15-17 NLT, “¹⁵ You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶ All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. ¹⁷ God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.

To develop and progress in our Christian walk and witness, to be more effective disciples of our Lord and Saviour we must read and study God’s Written Word daily.  When I was in Sunday School, I remember singing this song “Read your Bible, Pray every day, if you want to Grow “If that was important for me as a child how much more important is for me as a more mature Christian today?

When someone builds a foundation for a building, if they decide to use cheap or substandard building materials wouldn’t that building look strange or be dangerous and likely to collapse, yet if we don’t as Christians build using the correct building materials wouldn’t our lives and our Christian Witness look equally strange, look dangerous or likely to collapse see 1 Corinthians 3:12-13 NLT.

We build our Christian Life and Witness not on the latest fads or fashions, the opinions or perspectives of others however appealing or relevant they seem, we don’t build on what the non-Christian or anti-Christian demands of our Society are.  We build on God’s Word the Bible that has been and still is God’s Inspired Word; there is nothing more relevant to us today than God’s Word

The Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:20 NLT, “²⁰ Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself.”

To lead His Church into the fullness and completeness that He always intended it to be, Our Lord Jesus set apart Leadership Gifts, that this He has called in the past and is calling today specific individuals to positions of Leadership in His Church, today we have various names, titles and badges and descriptions of Leadership that vary from Church to Church!.

 We have built man-made structures and systems from the early days of the Church to co-ordinate what happens in the Church, I’m not against co-ordination or structure and systems but the organization of Church isn’t the central purpose of the Church, In many cases we have made a god of organization.  The Church is a living and breathing organism, the organization is the servant of the organism but more often or not the organism has become the servant of the organization.

I’m not saying that the Church and our Church Meetings become a free for all, the place of gossip and chat, good ideas and the downright weird and wacky, although it can happen, however, there is a divinely inspired framework for the correct method of Church Structure.

In the New Testament especially Paul’s epistles, we see God’s structure for the Church and how the Church should be organized and lead.  Today we have Vicars, Priests, Bishops, Archbishops, Reverends etc etc, we give people titles and badges and recognition, but are they God given titles, badges and recognition or are they man given?

We see both in 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4, part of God’s structure and framework for the church,  1 Corinthians 12:28 ESVA, “And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. For the context see 1 Corinthians 12:27-30, and Ephesians 4:11-13 NLT, “¹¹ Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. ¹² Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. ¹³ This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. For the context see Ephesians 4:11-16.

The first part of God’s structure for the Church are The Apostles, The Prophets, The Evangelists, The Pastors or Shepherds and The Teachers which are five distinct ministry areas given to certain individuals in the Church, these Men and their ministries are gifts given by our Lord and Saviour as gifts to His Church, the second part of God’s structure are the Elders and Deacons, I believe that all the other ministry areas here are given to Men, and although I respect and honour the role/s of the Ladies in the Church, the biblical example of Leadership in the Church is uniquely for Men.  The descriptions of the roles of The Elders and Deacons in the Church are found in 1 Timothy 3:1-13.  Firstly Elders In 1 Timothy 3:1-2 NLT, “This is a trustworthy saying: “If someone aspires to be an elder, ^[a] he desires an honorable position.” ² So an elder must be a man whose life is above reproach. He must be faithful to his wife. ^[b] He must exercise self-control, live wisely, and have a good reputation. Then Secondly Deacons in I Timothy 3:8 NLT, “In the same way, deacons must be well respected and have integrity.”

I believe that the correct indeed the only way for His Church to move forward in the 21^st Century and face all the challenges and opportunities that it brings is firstly live as disciples, be in relational covenant with each other and follow Our Saviour’s leadership and direction in our lives, and follow the example and influence of those God has called to lead us, I would describe this a restoration or renewal of Apostolic Christianity. For my American readers, I mean New Testament Christianity, not Apostolic in the context of the Oneness Gospel.

Yours in His Grace

Blair Humphreys

Southport, Merseyside