Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

The Nations! – Psalm 2 – part 1

Psalm 2v1-3 “Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed One. ‘Let us break their chains,’ they say, ‘and throw off their fetters.’”

What is going on in the world today from God’s perspective?

This Psalm sees the world and its authorities as opposed to God. On what basis are they opposed to God? With pride in their intellect, they come up with their own schemes and plans; with pride in their strength they think they can stand; with pride in their numbers, they think they can outnumber God;  with their limited understanding, they miss-see the cords of love with which the LORD leads and directs (see Hosea 11v4) to be chains which restrict and so resolve to break these off.

This is a sad picture with an ultimate consequence of failure.

This is not about military might, but about the whole way of living on this earth. The philosophies and wisdom of the world are set up against God. The picture becomes darker when we consider that the demonic lies behind this thinking and indeed the nations themselves (see Daniel 10v13). This understanding is developed further when Paul says, “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10v4-5.

When James says that, “friendship with the world is hatred towards God” (James 4v4), he is meaning the same thing. We are “in the world but not of it”, we are “lights in the darkness”.

How good are we at guarding our hearts from the attitudes of the world? How good at ensuring that our attitudes take account of the truth of God? A practical application at this time might be how we decide who we vote for in an election? [ And, by the way, there are Christians in all parties, hence my emphasis on how we decide.

May God help us!

With much blessing,

Roland

 

News/Prayer

  1. Alpha – Please pray for the Men’s Alpha Holy Spirit Day this Saturday.
  2. Exploring Five-Fold Ministry – As a Christ Central Church we believe the church as a whole and any particular church needs for a mix of ministries as highlighted in Ephesians 4v11. This is a course  run by Telford Christians Together and Shropshire Hope at Admaston House on three Saturdays in 2020. See more details below or click here: 5-fold ministry details link
  3. Open House – this Friday from 6pm at 10 Harrington Heath  – please let Sue West know if you are coming.
  4. Schools and Youth Worker – St Christopher’s Trust has appointed Ruth Watkins as the Schools and Youth Worker. She will start the role in January. This is an exciting new development to reach out to teenagers in our locality and will build on the GSUS Live experience below and be part of the Telford-wide “Engage Schools” project.
  • Ginny Daley (who moved from us to Cornwall a couple of years ago) has sent me an advert for a youth worker role at their church in Truro – if you are interested or have any leads, let me know and I can give more information.