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Sermons and talks from The Beacon Church, Herne Bay
Is that it? That's it. Well done. Hello, everybody. It's lovely afternoon.
Speaker 1:Pete's already mentioned the lovely afternoon. Let's celebrate it again. Lovely afternoon. Nice to be here. Very nice to be here, enjoying God's presence.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna pray. Father, we just thank you this amazing day, Lord. We pray. We just welcome your holy spirit into this space here this afternoon. Lord, we're using this space, and it's a great provision for us.
Speaker 1:But it's no good unless your holy spirit is here just to invade this space this afternoon and could cause us to see Jesus, to know that your word is true, it's powerful, and wonderful, and it will not be sent out anywhere into people's ears without accomplishing the purpose you send it for. And so we just thank you for that reality and that purpose. So, God, would you just send your word into each one of our ears this afternoon that we might find and to know the way before us, the journey ahead for our own personal lives, Lord, but also as a church. Would you give us direction, Lord, give us purpose, help us to know your plans and your will again and again and again, we pray, Father. In Jesus' name.
Speaker 1:So as you know Can I just have one of those? Do you want me to hand them out? No, no, it's okay. Right. These Vision and Values books are down if you'd like one of these.
Speaker 1:As a Beacon Church, we have one of these books, Vision and Values. It's what we believe as the church, and it's what we follow. And, it's not a rigid rule book, but it's guidance. It's help. It's knowing what god wants for us as a church.
Speaker 1:And in a sense, just in his opening remark, the title of today, which is Life with God, is the fifth in our preaching, but it's part two in this book. And the pages aren't numbered, so I can't turn to the number, but it's called Life with God. And, so if we we we've had we've had introduction to the series, and, we've had prophetic guidance and interest and foundation, how that god God gives his intent into the mouths of men so that people know where to go and what they're doing. So God revealed to his prophets that that was very foundational. Then last week, we did sorry, the week before, we did saved, and that was all about the gospel of salvation, where people find their peace with God, and they find their connection with God through what Jesus has done on a cross.
Speaker 1:Then last week, Pete spoke about being added, and he spoke very much about being added into the universal church that we once we become a Christian, we're actually automatically part of the universal church. Being part of a local church, though, is just a little bit different because that becomes intentional, because we can become a Christian and just wander all over the world. We can visit the odd church here and there, and we can be known as a Christian. Going into a church where people don't know you can be a bit awkward sometimes. But to be part of the local church is intentional.
Speaker 1:It's where I, as a person, add myself to a local church like we're here this afternoon. That adding needs to be continually intentional. It doesn't just happen, and it happens in different ways. So Pete spoke about a saved person being added into the invisible church, all part of the salvation process. Inclusion into the local church is intentional and demonstrated by regular presence within the gathered church, involvement in what the church does as its mission, and an owning of their own part in what is described as the church being the body of Christ.
Speaker 1:And it's very interesting that, the apostle Paul presents that lovely picture that the church is actually like a body with many parts, different in what they do, different in function. He talks about the parts of our body which are not exposed. He talks about the parts of our body which are very useful. He talks about parts of the body that are just there, but it's important that they're there. See what I mean?
Speaker 1:We are part of that because we know Jesus. So today, it's part five, and where we're looking at life with God. But what does that mean, and what does it conjure up in your mind? I mean, if you go down to the street and say to someone, Would you like a life with God? They'd look at you and probably say, What is that?
Speaker 1:Which could well mean there is a disinterested ignorance in anything outside of the life they have, sort of relativism. You know, I do what I like, I do what pleases me, what makes me feel good, but anything beyond that, well, I'm not really interested. And I'm quite happy for you to do what you want to do. Life we got? Well.
Speaker 1:So some of you might say, what is that? To having a life with God, someone might say, I don't even want to consider that. That is what the Bible might expose as rebellion. God is true, creation is true, Jesus is true, and all that's going to happen in the Bible, which it talks about the future, we believe to be true. So someone might say, I don't even want to consider that.
Speaker 1:Now that is where there's a basic understanding that there is something beyond myself, but for what I see and know, it's not for me. Christianity, religion, all oh, it's all hypocrisy. You know, they they they say things and don't do it. And to a certain extent, sometimes that is true. Got that pick, Paul.
Speaker 1:So but then there's a third one. The other one. That's it. Yeah. We might find someone.
Speaker 1:You say to them, Life with God. And they would say, Well, what is that? I would like to explore that. And we find a genuine concern that that person thinks, no, they're not an island, and a sense that accountability of my life is something which I need to have. Or I sense an inner need that demands an external source of benevolence which I'm not able to satisfy.
Speaker 1:So here's a picture of the Ethiopian eunuch and Philip, and he demonstrates, I want to explore this further. And he says Philip goes up to the chariot, if you remember the story, and the Ethiopian eunuch is reading from the bible. And he comes across a passage in the bible which is speaking to someone who he doesn't know. And so he asked the question, who is this about? It's that heart desire to explore what life with God is about.
Speaker 1:So this is in our vision and values, life with God. And, really, that's what the church is about. I mean, if we're not here this afternoon and we don't want to explore life with god, well, it's pretty much a waste of time. We might enjoy the singing. We might in we might learn something practically.
Speaker 1:We might learn something from the bible, but ultimately, the whole point, the whole bottom line is, how can I know and have a life with God? And the church is the place which God created that people could explore life with God. So life with God is fundamental to the mission of the church. How can I, to use a Bible text, grow in the grace and the knowledge of God? How can I know more about God?
Speaker 1:Another writer in the New Testament says, if you want to know more about God, we should walk with Jesus. And what does that mean? Walking with God. And I suppose to some extent that the two are pretty much the same. Our life with God means I want to walk with God.
Speaker 1:I want to follow Jesus so that I can explore that life with God. So today's message was all about get a life. I've had it said to me more than once, I've talked about Jesus, and some said, well, get a life! And it comes across as a taunt, you know, why don't you wake up to life? Why do you do something important or do something worthwhile?
Speaker 1:But the life with God was God's intention that we should have and enjoy that life with him. It's not about nothing about religion whatsoever. It's all about a life with God, pursuing that. So that get a life is a slang phrase. It's an informal taunt.
Speaker 1:To tell someone to stop wasting time on trivial, boring, or overly serious things It implies the person should go out and find worthwhile hobbies, focus on their own social or professional existence. But in the biblical sense, just someone get a life for us today would mean live your life for God. And I think every true church of God would make that flow that out as a challenge. The whole purpose of us being here is to follow Christ so that we live our life with God. So we live our life with God.
Speaker 1:So last week, Pete did a little better history going back to Adam and Eve, so I'm going do the same this morning today, just little bit. Alright? Beginning with Adam and Eve, in that perfect environment, a relationship with God, it appears that Adam and Eve were able to be in a one to one unhindered and free relationship with the great creator God who created them. It's difficult for us to try and envisage what that life was like, but the Bible puts it over that it was idyllic, and it was right. And that's because there was nothing between Adam and Eve at that time and God himself.
Speaker 1:There was harmony and unity, and a relationship was one to one. And that is amazing. One to one. It was on a daily basis, and there was innocence. And whilst we look at it being a perfect environment, it was untested.
Speaker 1:They were in this environment, but the fact that they were living this out was untested. And so in a sense, was it as idyllic as we think it is? But it was God's testing ground. So in this space for his human creators to occupy, there was the offer to walk closely with God or to walk away from him. They walked away.
Speaker 1:And one of those days seemed very different. We read that God they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden. What does that suggest? Whilst it's God walking is a way of explaining God's desire to be intimately present with Adam and Eve. So when we read a biblical council of men walking, people walking with God, it means that he's captured their hearts, and they walk with him, and he walks with them.
Speaker 1:It describes man wanting to be intimately present with God, keeping in touch as close as possible. Sometimes life takes over, and we don't keep in touch as closely as we could or should. And so life with God seems to be difficult sometimes. So Adam and Eve had taken control of their own lives. They'd taken their lives out of the guidance of God through disobedience.
Speaker 1:They heard the voice walking. What does that suggest? In the Hebrew text, the nuance, it suggests that the spiritual temperature had dropped because they were hiding from God at this point, and that means they were estranged from him. They were hiding in their spirit. That day seemed very different.
Speaker 1:Now as you go on as Christians, sometimes we go on in our life, and sometimes days seem very different. Sometimes God seems distant. Sometimes he seems very close. Sometimes he seems to be not round at all. And sometimes we are broken through that, and we feel distant from God.
Speaker 1:And then God asks the first question of the Bible, where are you? Now, I think that question will be posed to us this afternoon. Where are you in your life with God? Where am I in my life with God? What does life with God mean in in the past, and what what is it?
Speaker 1:And right through the Bible, we find questions, and questions asked by God are a means of him honoring us and saying, Well, come now, let's reason together. It's like, you know, a boss might fire someone without reasoning out why there's a problem. With God, there's always a way of talking, there's always a way of coming to God, there's always a way that we can present ourselves to him and have life with him even in all our strangeness and in all our difficulties. The door of God is always open, And we can come through that door and just restore, help, live that life with God. Job asked God about 70 questions, and God asked Job let's just run it the other way.
Speaker 1:Job asked God about 200 questions, and God asked Job about 70 questions. And God wasn't the answer of the wasn't the answerer of the questions, but he was the answer. So we have many questions to ask god, but ultimately, in the end, god himself is the answer. Yeah. We can ask questions of the bible and things like that to find out God, but ultimately, God through Jesus is the answer.
Speaker 1:He fills that gap, and he fills it. So right through the bible, there are the questions. Then there's Job. He asks his questions. He had right to because his life, the suffering in his life was intense, but he never walked away from God.
Speaker 1:And in the end, despite all his problems, God blessed his life twice as much and more. The things he'd lost, God restored. You can read the end of the story where Job says, my ears have not only heard God, but I've seen him. But I've seen him. And that's so amazing.
Speaker 1:So what about us here this afternoon? Where can we sort of put ourselves? Well, I've chosen the passage in Hebrews 10 verses 19 to the end. In order to understand this passage, it was written to Jewish Christians. So here were Jewish Christians who were living in the old covenant by the law, and they'd heard the news about Jesus, and they accepted Jesus, and they were now living in the new covenant, that of Christianity, because that's how it is for us.
Speaker 1:But that created problems because in the persecution that they were going through, they said, Well, this don't seem to be working. Let's go back to what we know. Let's go back to living under the law. Let let let's do the things. We can be we can feel comfortable in doing the this, doing the stuff.
Speaker 1:Having come into Christianity, they didn't have to do the stuff, do the requirements of the law. They were saved, what we call, by grace. And grace is an amazing thing because we get in a salvation with god. We have everything for nothing, and that's what Satan hates, that we get everything for nothing. The angelic realm has to serve god continually night and day.
Speaker 1:They do his bidding, and they have to do. And they can only live by doing and serving god and obeying him. But to see people get more than they will get, everything for nothing, Satan hates. And that's the grace of God, and Satan hates it. So Christians living with the grace of God, receiving salvation, believing in Jesus Christ, he hates that.
Speaker 1:But here in this passage, life has become difficult as a Christian. So verse 19 of Hebrews 10 says, therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is through his flesh. And since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. With our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. For he who promised is faithful, and let us consider how to stir one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
Speaker 1:For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment and the fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much more worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the son of god and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sacrificed and has outraged the spirit of grace. For we know him who said, vengeance is mine. I will repay, and again, the lord will judge his people.
Speaker 1:It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living god, but recall the former days when after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward, for you have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of god, you may receive what is promised. For yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay. But my righteous one shall live by faith.
Speaker 1:And if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. A call to persevere. Yes. Embrace strong, some very powerful works.
Speaker 1:And sometimes we lose the importance of what Jesus has done for us. He suffered for us totally and completely to bring us to God. And it's really without going deeply into what is said there. It's just a challenge to respect and to honor Jesus as the one who brings us into a life with God. He's the only one, and it cost him his life to do that.
Speaker 1:It should make me very careful how I live my life, and that's the message here. Don't trample under the foot what Jesus has done for you because, really, it's quite a serious thing. The way we honor God is by accepting Jesus and following him, to live our life with God through him. Here's a pivotal transition in this letter to Hebrews that moves from theological doctrine to practical application. It serves as a strong encouragement to live out life with God.
Speaker 1:Life with God. And we live that out within what we know as the Christian faith. That's why it's in our Vision and Values book, life with God. And if we read in the in the Vision and Values book, we will find there that important to living life with God is prayer and bible study, getting to know God through reading his word, being in communion with brothers and sisters in fellowship. That's a big word in the New Testament, fellowship.
Speaker 1:It means I own and honor every other member of the church to which I belong. It means the church is my business. It's not just for any old person. Remember, we're saved by the blood of Jesus Christ. He gave his life for us.
Speaker 1:That should challenge us to live our lives out for God within the context of the church. So these Christians had were losing confidence, and they were isolating from other Christians, losing their support. And the endurance of the difficult parts of life are actually part of the journey. Sometimes we will find a gospel that is preached that say, come to know Jesus, all your problems will be gone. You won't have that.
Speaker 1:But that is not true to the word of God. The Christian life, life with God, we're one of endurance. We need to fight for the life we have with God. If we let it go, it'll go. But we need to fight for it and follow him.
Speaker 1:So they were losing confidence. So the writer there is saying he said, I want you to have confidence in your access to God. Just remember, God will never move away. He will always be there. I want you to know that you can come to God through Jesus at any time you like, anytime, anywhere, but not anyhow.
Speaker 1:So because of Jesus' sacrificial death, believers now have absolute boldness to enter God's immediate presence anytime, any place, but not anyhow, as that is enabled by Jesus who is our great high priest, and that's called a new and living way. Now to those Jewish Christians, it was new and it was living. For the old way of life, it just went on and on and on, and it was boring, and they couldn't achieve the peace and the joy and the happiness they needed just by doing the stuff. They needed something new and living, and Jesus provided that so that we might know the true God. In the new and living way, Jesus tears down the barrier that existed between us and God.
Speaker 1:So that life with God, there's free access. There can be a one to one relationship with God, and that is so amazing. Enjoy the beauty of God. These Jewish Christians and he mentions the curtain. It was the curtain of the temple.
Speaker 1:Eight and a half thousand kilograms it weighed. It was 10 meters high, and it took 300 priests to handle it. And when Jesus died on the cross, the curtain was torn in two from the top to the bottom. God and the whole story is that God has now provided access to himself through Jesus. We have that.
Speaker 1:We have power with God, the new and living way. And that curtain was a way of separating people from God, and only the Jewish high priest could go behind that curtain once a year to meet with God. And yet Jesus has provided every day, every way, a free access by what he's done for us, a new and living way. So the writer says, your confidence is in Jesus. Your confidence is actually in Jesus.
Speaker 1:And in Matthew 27, it says, when Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, the earth shook, the rocks were split, Jesus had accomplished all that was required under that old covenant, which leaves us free to live life with God in relationship, not requirement, in relationship. So our confidence must be and remain in him. Paul's confidence was in Christ. He said, I can do everything through him who strengthens me. So coming back to Jesus, he's the one who gives us confidence in our access to god.
Speaker 1:There's also a steadfast a call to steadfast faith and community. Believers are urged to draw near to god with the since heart. Draw near to god, and he will draw near to you, to hold unswervingly to the hope we have in Jesus. And we sometimes sing, all that I need is found in him. But it also talks about us not neglecting meeting together.
Speaker 1:So our confidence and our help and our support comes through each other within the context of the church to help us live our lives together for God. Lastly in this, there's an appeal for endurance. I've already mentioned this, but the readers of this letter were reminded of their past faithfulness and endurance through difficult times and are encouraged not to throw away their confidence, which yields a great reward. But because they were going through a difficult time of persecution, they wanted to go back to the old thing. I think some of the older Christians here used to used to sing a youth song, I apologize.
Speaker 1:There's no turning back. No turning back. So the encouragement is this press on. Keep in faith. Keep in keep in trust with god.
Speaker 1:And they're called in this letter to patiently endure so that they can receive God's promises, leaning into the truth that the righteous live by faith. Walking with God, life with God is by faith in Jesus Christ. Believing in him, that's all required of us. It's not about doing. It's about receiving.
Speaker 1:We receive what God has provided by faith, and we carry on. So we read, by my righteous one will live by faith, and I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back. But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved. Now you say, why are you giving this hard, difficult message today? Because according to the Bible, the days are coming when some of the younger people here, life will become extremely difficult.
Speaker 1:As the pressure comes from a world that hates Christ and the word of God is fulfilled, it will be far more difficult than it is today. And I say, are you ready for that journey? Are you ready for that journey? I don't know as well I am, But the Bible says we need to be prepared because the way ahead may be difficult. God and his grace may do something wonderful and great, and that's true.
Speaker 1:We look forward to that. But what these Christians exert persecution may well come to any one of us here today, but we need to stand for Christ. We need to endure, and we need to go on. So life with God is so wonderful, but it's one of endurance as well. And God helps us in our suffering as he helped Job to live out his life and can be Guinea to the end.
Speaker 1:So as we land here just at this moment, faith should have a measure of confidence to keep on trusting. And if you feel that confidence is waning a bit, you will need those around you to pray for you, just like we talked about, need that support from other believers around us. So faith should have a measure of confidence to trust. Resilience for the journey ahead. Am I prepared for the journey of the head?
Speaker 1:I don't know. And praying that your faith may not fail because Jesus prayed for Peter. He says, I pray for you, Peter, so that your faith will not fail. So let's do this. Let's go on.
Speaker 1:A week ago, Friday, I was sitting in the opticians having my eyes tested, and she was peering through her thing. She put her head to the side, 'When was your last eye test?' Said, 'I haven't had one.' But you're 80, she said. I said, I know. You've got the eyes of a 20 year old, she said. Did you know that?
Speaker 1:I said, No. She said, I'll show you on the screen. So she put the screen on, and she showed me my eyes. Said, This is this, that is that, and that is that. Oh, she said.
Speaker 1:And then she we started talking, and she learned that we'd got our sixtieth wedding anniversary coming up. 'What's the secret?' she said. I said, 'Jesus. Jesus. Oh, so we got into discussion.
Speaker 1:She was obviously Muslim or something like that. That was a great opportunity, but I was able to mention the name of Jesus in front of there. She says she wanted to know more but time just flared. And then we ended up at the restaurant in Canterbury, and this girl came Margaret said to herself six years away, 'What's the secret?' she said. Said, Jesus!' Oh, I'm Buddhist, she said.
Speaker 1:She said, Are you religious? I said, No. But life with God, they're now six they just want to give praise to God. That life with God. I said it then, but say it again.
Speaker 1:I know that we'll have another chance to say it. We did, but there you go. I won't go into that. But now life with God, fundamental, Jesus. Father, we thank you for today.
Speaker 1:Thank you for your word. We pray, Lord, that all of our beacon will all be about exploring, living, and working out our life with you, father. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Good feet.