Palm Sunday & Holy Week

Tomorrow we begin “Holy Week”, the central event of the Christian calendar. If you’re in the Danbury area we hope you’ll come out and join us at First Assembly for our Palm Sunday service at 10.45am.

My message tomorrow morning is titled “Do you think He will not come?” from John 11:56. A question that was asked in Jerusalem 2000 years ago, that was powerfully answered by God, and is being asked again in 2009. I can’t wait to preach what I’ve felt God putting on my heart for this very special day.

Join us also for our regular Sunday Night Revival Prayer meeting at 6.00pm.

A look forward to Good Friday morning, we’ll be having a one hour communion service together at 9.00am. Our theme will be “The True Agony of the Cross.” A lot of attention has been paid in recent years to the physical suffering Jesus endured at the Cross. Films like “The Passion of the Christ” have emphasized it for us. Jesus DID suffer a horrific death, but the Scriptures show very clearly that the TRUE agony He bore was not primarily the physical torture. Something else caused Him to sweat drops of blood in anticipation. Don’t miss our Good Friday service!

Then our week will climax on next Easter Sunday morning with the celebration that “He is Risen!”

Looking forward to sharing this wonderful week with you, and giving all the honor, praise, adoration and glory to our Savior. He alone is worthy!

Phil

Viva La Reformacion!

I have been sensing the dealings of God in my heart for some months now; speaking with other pastors and church leaders I am encouraged that many are feeling challenged in remarkably similar ways. It’s my conviction that God is preparing a remnant in the church for an awakening. Indeed it’s already underway in seed form.

I began to share my heart on some of this in our Sunday night prayer meeting this past weekend, in a message entitled “What’s wrong with the gospel” (Part 1).

When you consider the days we are living in, and look into the Scriptures for light to understand the times, several facts are self-evident. I am not claiming any prophetic authority for these things; they are my observations.

1. America is under the judgment of God.

I am not referring to the outcome of the recent election here at all. Time will reveal whether the new government is a blessing or curse to the people. Our role as Christians, according to Romans chapter 13, is (1) to accept that God, Who is sovereign, has superintended the appointments, and (2) to submit to their laws and leadership in all matters that do not require us to break the higher law of God. (3) We must continually pray for the President, and all others in office, in order that “we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.” (1 Timothy 2:2)

Some of President-elect Obama's policies are clearly anti-Christian. His willingness to condone the continuing wholesale slaughter of the unborn through a Freedom of Choice Act (which he is on record stating he will sign as his first order of business in office), and his enthusiastic support of same-sex marriage legislation are just two of the most blatant examples. For Christians these are not political issues that we can be divided on in good conscience. These are moral issues that we must be united on because we are bound by the plain teaching of God's Word and the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

But let us be clear. Barack Obama is NOT the instigator of these blights; he himself is the product of a morally decayed society that has been headed down this road for some years. I am not at all convinced that his opponent would have offered any godlier leadership (although his policies on the two issues above would have been more palatable for Christians). John McCain is also the product of a society morally adrift. His personal life sadly bears the marks of that.

The politics aside, though, there are clear evidences of God's judgment against America. The present financial crisis is just a part of it - the result of years of greed and covetousness. Some have pointed to the recent increase in natural disasters, which quite possibly are the hand of God. To scoff at that possibility, as I’ve heard church leaders in this country doing, shows an ignorance of Biblical teaching.

But in the end, how do we know the judgment of God is already here? Because we are seeing flagrant immoral perversions not only commonplace now, but celebrated and boasted about. What the Bible calls "vile affections", men and women leaving natural relations and "burning in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error." (Romans 1:27) Disease will not stop, or even slow, them in their pursuit of sin.

Isaiah warns a nation of judicial consequences for their amoral ways, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20)

Christians talk about how God will have to judge America because of immorality, but actually Romans chapter 1 makes it very clear that these things we are seeing ARE the judgment of God already! It is clear evidence that God has "given the society over" to a reprobate mind (Romans 1:28). The end result is "unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful." (Romans 1:31).

Do you think we're not already there? Turn on the evening news tonight and see for yourself.

But then, secondly, there is (if you can imagine it) an even WORSE predicament:

2. The American CHURCH is under the judgment of God.

(Please note: I am using the term “the American church”, but having lived in both Britain and Australia also, I know that I could just as easily use the term “the Western church”. The problems are not restricted to the USA, although she has been the source of much of the rot.)

"Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord GOD, "That I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine of bread, Nor a thirst for water, But of hearing the words of the LORD. They shall wander from sea to sea, And from north to east; They shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the LORD, But shall not find it.” (Amos 8:11-12)

Amos prophesied to the Northern Kingdom of Judah just about 30 years before they were carried off into captivity. It is a warning that because the people continued to reject God, they were about to face His hand of judgment. The captivity they would endure, with all its deprivations, would be terrible, but the greater loss would be the ensuing silence from Heaven. A “famine of THE WORD OF GOD”.

Israel had experienced this in her history before. Leading up to the days of the prophet Samuel, “the word of the Lord was rare” (1 Samuel 3:1). There was a lack of true spokesmen for God. We know there were those who held the office of priests, and presumably there were those that claimed to be prophets, but something was terribly wrong with the ministry of God’s word.

Such seasons of spiritual famine are God’s judgment on His people when they ignore His word and live carelessly.

The American church for some years has been experiencing a famine of the word, and the scandalous fact is that we have not even realized it! Our Christian bookstores are jammed with countless resources, our television and radio airwaves are flooded with preaching and teaching, all with the grand result that our people have never been more spiritually malnourished and STARVING for the word of God. If you want evidence of that fact, just look at how easily false teaching is swallowed today. Every novel idea, no matter how banal or heretical, is welcomed with audience “oohs” and “aahs”. What is that but proof of spiritual malnourishment? Listen to the word of God: “To a hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet” (Proverbs 27:7).

The most terrible result of this famine of the word that we have been enduring is that we have, in large part, lost the very core of our Christian truth – the gospel itself. We have mangled it until it has degenerated into “come to Jesus and He’ll give you a better life”. The law of God, sin, judgment, hell, repentance, and holiness are all out of vogue, and the result is a half-gospel that is robbed of its power to save.

A half-gospel is NOT a gospel. A pseudo-gospel produces only pseudo faith, not saving faith. We need to keep before us Paul’s positive instruction – and yet such a grave warning: “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” (Galatians 1:6-9)

We are in a desperate condition, and surely it is because we are under the dealings of God, for “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God” (1 Peter 4:17).

But this is where there is great hope.

3. When God has chastised His people in the past it has been for the purpose of ultimately delivering them.

Whenever the church has experienced the grace of God in revival, it has followed on the heels of spiritual dearth and declension. The history of awakenings shows that, in the providence of God, it is always allowed to become darkest just before His dawn.

Some Biblical examples of this principle:

(1) Romans 8:20 says that, “the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope;” Here is the big picture of human history. God has cursed the very ground of this world, allowing the ravages of sin to run their course, for the ultimate purpose of redemption.

(2) In the Old Testament we read about God allowing Israel to be carried off into exile, not because He was finished with them, but for their discipline so that He might yet bring them back and fulfill His purposes through them.

(3) God works by this principle right down to individual persons. Paul wrote to the church in Corinth about the immoral member, and told them to “deliver such an one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh” (1 Corinthians 5:5). The church’s discipline, even to the point of excommunication, was designed in the hope of ultimately seeing the sinner humbled and restored. (And evidently he was – 2 Corinthians 2:6-8).

The point I would make is that God’s judgment on the Church in America is not the signal that He has determined to cast us away, but rather that He is disciplining us for our restoration. When we recover our desperation for Him, the light will flood in again for our revival.

Which brings us to the moment at hand.

4. A largely unnoticed reformation is underway in the Church.

I realize there are several groups that have made a claim like this in recent years. The so-called “Emergent Church Movement” talk about a revolution, but what they are preaching (regurgitated liberalism) simply does not have the power to revolutionize anything. Thankfully!

Before he died, revivalist Leonard Ravenhill said in a radio interview that he was quite sure there would be another revival in America. He believed that there would be no superstars at the helm of it, but rather that it would come about through local churches, in answer to fervent prayer, and in the normal course of pastoral preaching. (He referenced the ministry of Jonathan Edwards and other New England ministers of the Great Awakening as a model of this.)

God is raising up a corps of faithful gospel preachers in this land. Paul Washer, in his recent sermon “Ten Indictments Against the Modern Church in America” said,

"There is a great awakening going on in this country. And not only in this country, but in Europe where I have been, and in South America, and in many other places, I see young men going back to the rock from which we were cut. They are reading Spurgeon, and Whitefield; they’re still listening to Ravenhill and Martyn Lloyd Jones and Tozer and Wesley. And it’s a great, incredible movement! Just because popular media and Christianity Today haven’t discovered what’s going on, I want you to know that I would never have dreamed fifteen years ago that I would see the awakening that I’m seeing.”

Don’t get all excited about “fantastic” stories you may hear by the PR machines of man-made “revivals”. Don’t run to this meeting or that meeting because you hear miracles have broken out. PRAY!

Pastor, don’t go looking for another conference to give you the latest fad answer to church growth – preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Lead your church in Biblical evangelism. Get the message right, and then proclaim it fearlessly. Let your ministry honor God whether your congregation grows or shrinks. Have the courage to ignore the pressure to produce worldly success, and seek the approval of God rather than men.

This reformation must be a movement back to God’s truth at all costs. The true gospel delivered unto us once for all time by the apostles.

The signs of the return of Jesus are all about us; there cannot be any question about it any longer. I see two things on the horizon: HOSTILITY and HARVEST. I expect things are going to get so much harder – and at the same time, so much more wonderful for true followers of Jesus Christ. Let the Word of God loose in the power of the Spirit, and it will bring about a purifying of God’s people. False converts / lukewarm Christians will either fall away OR GET SAVED AND ON FIRE.

Are you ready? We must every day expect the return of our Lord Jesus, and He is coming for a spotless bride. To that end, and for His glory alone … Viva la reformacion!

Phil

Focus on election '08

If you weren't at First Assembly this morning, here's a brief summary of my message. (I took a one week break from our current series preaching through Ephesians to address next week's election.)

A Christian Voter's Guide

In just 9 days Americans will be voting to elect a new President. Whatever the outcome is, this WILL be a historic election.

Our world has seen unprecedented upheaval over the past decade, and people everywhere are wondering what the next decade holds in store. People are very anxious about the global economy; wars and rumors of wars; there also remains the very real and ever-present threat of terrorism; and many other domestic issues.

This morning I’d like to take a few minutes just to speak to you from God’s Word about your responsibility as a Christian at this election. Before I do that, our General Superintendent, Dr. George Wood, has prepared a short video message to all our Assemblies of God churches. We’re going to watch that together right now. [Watch the video here]

Read: Romans 13:1-7

Romans 13 is the classic passage in all the Bible about how we are to relate to our local, state and federal government. Christians are blessed to be citizens of a heavenly kingdom...

• Our citizenship is in heaven - Philippians 3:20
  
• We have been conveyed into the kingdom of God's dear Son – Colossians 1:13


• As such, we are described as "sojourners and pilgrims" in this world - 1 Peter 2:11

When the forefathers were fighting the Revolutionary War to establish these United States of America, one of their catch-cries was “No king but King Jesus”. That was the heart of the founders of this nation. They wouldn’t bow to the English monarch, or any other man. They certainly gave their loyalty to this Union, but it was a secondary citizenship to their allegiance to God and His kingdom.

Listen, NO earthly kingdom is eternal. The great proclamation we read in Revelation 11:15, is that one day loud voices will call through the streets of heaven, reverberating out to the ends of the universe, “the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever.”

On that day, the world super power of the United States, along with the British Empire, and the massive Republic of China, and the European Economic Union, will ALL have passed into the annals of history as “yesterday’s ideas” – remembered alongside the Roman Empire, and the Persian Empire, and the Babylonian and the Alexandrian, and the Egyptian Empires, and every OTHER former kingdom. ALL finished. And the Lord Jesus shall reign over HIS one eternal Kingdom that encompasses and supersedes all.

That is our future, Christian. Don’t build your stock in this world. Heaven is our home.

BUT, having said that, for this short period of time while we live on earth, we DO have a DUAL citizenship. Our hearts may be in heaven already, but we do live out our lives on the earth – part of earthly societies, and under the government of men. And the Bible is very clear that we are to recognize that, and see the responsibilities of this DUAL citizenship.

We are to be very good citizens here. Christians ought to be the BEST citizens that America has! The truest of patriots.

The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ began and thrived 2000 years ago during the time of the Roman Empire. Paul wrote to Christians in the worldwide capital city of Rome about their responsibility. Peter did also, to Christians dispersed in outlying areas of the Empire. Using Paul's comments here in Romans 13:1-7 as our starting point, let's review a couple of the basic directives we have as Christians concerning human governments.

1. Governments are Appointed BY God

Which government is Paul talking about? The term he uses is “higher powers” / “higher authorities”. It surely encompasses Federal, State, City governments. Includes police and courts of law.

We are to be “subject”. In willing submission.

God may give a leader to lead in His purposes, according to His Word. He may give a leader as judgment, to bring the nation to her knees in prayer. But He WILL appoint the leader.

2. Governments are Accountable TO God

Paul gives us here the reason that God establishes human government. And this reveals what God expects of those he sets in these positions - to execute justice. It would be good for our leaders to read these verses from time to time. (See v4-5).

We are to submit to our rulers recognizing that their power is delegated by the Lord. HE is our ultimate King. That means that we obey our earthly authorities “as unto the Lord”.

And here is where there is a caveat to our obedience. No earthly authority is a law unto themselves. They are accountable to God – and every one will stand before Him. Each one is being, and will be, evaluated by God.

The Bible clearly teaches us that if earthly rulers contradict God’s law, we are to obey the higher law of God. Acts 4:18-20. (It’s not a question of disobeying man, but rather of obeying God.)

We have brothers and sisters around the world this morning who are in prisons, persecuted and tortured for sharing their faith in Jesus. Many of them could avoid that treatment if only they would promise to keep their faith to themselves. The authorities wouldn’t bother them for being a Christian if they never told anybody else. But they see this as the command of their Lord Jesus – to “go into all the world and preach the good news”. So who are they to obey? God or men? They will not stop, and they’re suffering for it. (What would they think of us, with all our freedoms, when we DON’T share our faith?)

So, there is a time for civil disobedience. A time to obey God rather than men. HOWEVER, we’d better be sure that we ARE acting because of obedience to God’s law, and not just for our own opinion’s sake!

Well, all that being said, what are we instructed to do at this election. What would God have Christians to do.

A) VOTE!

Let’s go back to that Romans 13:1 text again. That verse indicates that God is the source of political governments. He not only establishes the rulers … but also the way the government rules and operates. That means that the democratic system of government God placed in America. And since our system allots individual citizens to participate in choosing their leaders through, Christians not only have a national right to vote, they have a God given responsibility to be involved and vote in the system God ordained for this country.

We cannot continue to allow false ideologies to fill the vacuum created simply by our lack of voice and involvement. Next week … VOTE!

B) VOTE BIBLICAL PRINCIPLES

As a Christian, all your rights and allegiances have been turned over to the Lord Jesus Christ. Have you sought Him about your vote? Have you consulted what He has said in His Word about the issues involved?

Don’t vote just because you’ve always voted for a particular party. You see, our ultimate allegiance should not be to any political party. It should belong to God. Don’t let some media outlet or movie producer or Hollywood actor or even friend or family member ultimately influence the way you vote. God and His word should have ultimate sway in that matter. You see, if He is Lord of all, doesn’t that mean God should be Lord when it comes to which lever we pull in a voting booth?

Don’t vote for your comfort. Go to the Word of God to vote on the issues that matter most to Him.

The problem we all face is trying to find out which candidate God would have us vote for. That’s why every believer ought to research the candidates. Study the debates. Read and look on line for voter guides, which indicate what their past actions were concerning issues that are important to God.

In the video we watched a moment ago, our Superintendent has made much of the issue of LIFE in this election. Protecting all life – particularly the most vulnerable – the unborn. I personally believe that has been the #1 issue for every election in America since Roe V Wade. 50 million lives lost. If we buried those children in 2 foot by 3 foot plots side by side that would need a cemetery over 100 square miles in size!

The problem is, many Christians have what has been called recently “foetus fatigue”. Many are tired of hearing about it. They think maybe there are other issues. But there IS no greater issue than this genocide.

In every election, the future of the nation hangs in the balance. Let’s let our faith in the Living God, who loves us without end and who leads us into all truth help shape that future. And may God bless America.

This week, join us in concerted prayer. And then, whoever IS elected (whether they were our choice or not), we will have the responsibility to honor them and continue to pray for them daily for the next four years.

Phil

"It will be better for you if I go"

Can you imagine the disciples faces when they heard those words?

John 16:7. Jesus said, "Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you."

This verse has been opening up to me more and more. There are so many ways in which we can realize the truth of what Jesus said. Jesus was actually eager to depart so that the disciples would receive the Holy Spirit.

Jesus had been WITH the disciples during His earthly ministry, but by the Spirit He would come to be IN them. On earth He had only been able to be in one place at one time, but, by the Spirit's indwelling, the Church would take the presence of the Lord simultaneously to the uttermost parts of the earth.

The more you study this verse and compare it with the experience of the early church, the more applications you find of its truth. More is done in the believers life by the indwelling power of God than through any work Jesus could effect by an external influence. Samuel Chadwick wrote, "Inwardness is the distinctive feature of the Spirit. The Son of God reveals and works from without, but the Spirit of God dwells and works from within."

Here's another example that I've just been musing on. In Luke 11:1-4 we're told that, at the disciples request, Jesus TAUGHT them to pray. He gave them that wonderful model that we have come to call "The Lord's Prayer" (it's really the disciples prayer ... the Lord's prayer is better used to describe John 17). Jesus, the Master of prayer, TAUGHT them to pray.

But notice the very different language when we come to Romans 8:26. The indwelling Holy Spirit does not only teach us to pray (He certainly is our teacher), but it says that he HELPS us to pray. Again the external influence has moved inward for something far more glorious.

I've been reading William Gurnall's outstanding work "The Christian in Complete Armour", and I was greatly blessed to read this passage that is a powerful commentary on Romans 8:26 ...

"Even in acts of worship our strength is in the Lord. Consider prayer. Would we pray? Where will we find topics for our prayers? Alas, 'We know not what we should pray for as we ought' (Rom 8:26). Let us alone, and we will soon pray ourselves into some temptation or other, and beg for the very thing God knows we should not have. To protect us, then, God puts words in our mouths (Hos 14:2). But without some heart-heating affections to thaw the tap, the words will freeze on our lips. We may search in vain the corridors of our own hearts and the drafty corners of our souls. We will not find a spark upon our own hearth, unless it is some strange fire of our own desires, which will not do. No, the fire that thaws the iciness of the heart must come from heaven - a gift from God, who is 'a consuming fire' (Heb 12:29).

"First the Spirit stretches Himself upon the soul, as the prophet on the child; then the soul will begin to kindle and put forth some heavenly heat in its affections. At last the Spirit melts the heart, and prayer flows from the lips of the believer as naturally as tears from the eyes. And though the saint is the speaker, the author of the prayer is God. So we see that both the strength to pray and the prayer itself are from God."

I believe in the Holy Ghost!

Pastor Phil