Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

Promise: Seek and you will Find!

Matthew 7v7 “Seek and you will find.”

A phrase similar to, “If you seek Him, He will be found,” is found at least five times in the Old Testament (e.g. 1 Chron 28v9, 2 Chron 15v2, Prov 8v17, Isa 55v6, Jer 29v13). As so often in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taps into the Old Testament and drives deeper.

In the context of the Sermon as a whole (Matthew 5-7) we find the following:

• “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (6v33)
• “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (5v6)

And so, with these in mind, we come to “Seek and you will find”. In the sermon, Jesus has been explaining what God’s kingdom and righteousness looks like. It is: reconciliation, loving others (including our enemies), sexual morality, faithfulness in marriage, honesty in all things, personal connection with God, generosity without showing off, not worrying about the affairs of this life, not judging others …

Probably, at some time in your life, you have played “hide and seek”. For the hider, there is an excitement in trying to find the best place to hide. For the seeker, there is an excitement in finding people, but also the frustration when someone cannot be found: I have been known to give up!

So I think Jesus is saying, “Hey, I know you are not living the kingdom way perfectly at the moment, and it can be incredibly frustrating when you fail. But keep on seeking these things and you will find them in your life. It is not about you trying harder, but trusting in your Heavenly Father, devoting yourself to Him and allowing Him to work in you. That is the kingdom of God.”

What is your heart crying out for today? Is it for God’s kingdom and his righteousness? Then seek God for this and you will find it. All praise and glory to God.

With love and blessing,

Roland

Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

Promise: Ask and you will receive!

Matthew 7v7 “Ask and it will be given to you.”

Both Matthew and Luke record exactly the same phrase spoken by Jesus, “Ask and it will be given to you” (also Luke 11v9). Both also continue by saying “For everyone who asks receives”. A little further, Matthew records,  “How much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him.”  Luke’s account has  “Holy Spirit” rather than “good gifts”.

In Luke, Jesus says, “Ask and it will be given you,”  in the context of teaching about prayer with an encouragement to be persistent and with particular to the Holy Spirit. This is a call for us to keep asking for more of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Do you want to live the life God has purposed you for? You can only do that by the Holy Spirit within you.

Matthew records this phrase in the “Sermon on the Mount”, which is a series of Jesus’ teachings about the way to live in the kingdom of God. Elsewhere, the disciples responded to Jesus’ teaching with “this is impossible”, and possibly Jesus sees that response in their thinking this time too. And so, Jesus answers them by saying in effect, “Ask God to enable you, ask God to live out through you, living God’s way is a good thing and God always gives good gifts.”

So, seen in each context, the meaning is the same. God wants you to live out the way of Jesus by the Holy Spirit enabling you. So, when you ask him for the Holy Spirit and when you ask him to change your thoughts and attitudes top align with His, He will respond and answer.

This is a promise of Jesus. Claim it today.

With love and blessing,

Roland

Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

Promise: I am with you always!

Matthew 28v20 “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

My deepest need is the presence of God. I need him to befriend me, to clean me, to fill me, to empower me. Jesus’ last words in Matthew’s gospel are a promise to us, “And surely I am with you always”.

This is not a promise for some distant time, but a promise for now as Jesus says, “I am …”. We may not always feel Him there, but our feelings do not always reflect the reality. We live on the basis of the facts, and the fact is that Jesus has said, “I am with you”. Jesus is totally honest and trust-worthy, he is also all powerful and cannot be stopped from doing what he says he will do. We can therefore hold this truth as a given in our daily lives: “I am with you”.

However, there is something to highlight and that is the context. Jesus gives this promise in the context of saying, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them … and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you …” . So He is promising his presence as we step out, live out and speak out what he says. The best way to teach others to obey is by example: it is caught. Jesus is saying that we do not need to fear any consequences of doing so, because he is with us. This is poignant for people in Iran as just this morning I read about people imprisoned for being part of a house church. But it is also poignant for us in different ways. Each of us is in different situations, some of us have many opportunities to “make disciples” and others have few. Some are hampered by ill health, others have much energy. But as each of us allow his light to shine out from us in this dark world, He is with us. If this were not true, we would stand no chance.

Remind yourself of Jesus’s promise today and give him thanks for being with you.

With love and blessing,

Roland

Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

Christmas: At Just the right time!

Romans 5v6 “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.”

In comedy, timing is everything. In fact, in many things, timing is vital. God says through Paul that Christ came and died “at just the right time.” God planned every detail. In 538BC God revealed to Daniel when Christ’s death on the cross would be (Daniel 9): it would be 483 years from when the edict was given to rebuild Jerusalem. The edict was given in 445BC. Do the maths: God knew precisely when! As things got close, the angel Gabriel appeared to each of Zechariah and Mary to pronounce 9 months in advance the birth of their unexpected children.

We might wonder why God didn’t send Jesus earlier. Couldn’t more people have been saved if he had? I don’t know. But this I do know, the presence of the Greek language as a “lingua franca”, the existence of Roman roads and military to enable peaceable travel, and the diaspora of practising Jews across the Greek world all enabled the rapid spread of the gospel in the first century. The timing under Roman rule also provided for the cruelties of crucifixion and the dynamics of the trial of Jesus.

Early in his ministry, Jesus said, “My time has not yet come” (John 2v4), and then later said, “Father, the time has come.” (John 17v1). Mary and Martha complained to Jesus that he had not come earlier to heal Lazarus (John 11): this seemed a very justified complaint since Jesus had deliberately delayed coming for a couple of days. But, Jesus knew his time.

We might not understand it, but God’s timing is perfect. Paul calls us to also “Keep in step with the Spirit” (Gal 5v25). The Psalmist writes, “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” (Psalm 139v16). Solomon writes, “There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven.” (Ecclesiastes 3v1).

God is working his perfect timing in your life now: He loves you as his child and He is in control.

With love and blessing,

Roland

Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

Christmas: How did Jesus come?

Luke 1v35 “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the one to be born will be called the Son of God.”

Some things are beyond our understanding. Even now, science does not have all the answers wrapped up for all the physical questions of life. We observe and can make statements, but we cannot answer with certainty exactly how. Likewise when God enacts miracles, we call them miracles because they are beyond scientific explanation.

In the verse above, the angel explains to Mary, “the Holy Spirit will come upon you”, but we get no detail on how the egg is fertilised, what DNA is being used etc.  Joseph also has to take things in faith as the angel separately said to him, “Do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.”

Isaac Newton wrote a “law of gravity” based on his observation, not a full understanding of how. As we look at Jesus, we see someone like no other, who said that he came from heaven, and who at his death and resurrection was declared by others to be the “Son of God”.

So the evidence of Jesus’ life confirms the statements of the angels. Matthew also sees confirmation in the prophecy of Isaiah 7v14, “’the virgin will be with child .. and they will call him Immanuel’ which means ‘God with us’”.

So, while we cannot explain scientifically, the evidence is there from Old Testament prophecy, the message of the angels, the testimony of Mary, the life of Jesus and the testimony of those around him, Jesus is the Son of God. With God, nothing is impossible.

As the Holy Spirit came upon Mary, may the Holy Spirit give you a certainty in these things.

With love and blessing,

Roland

Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

Christmas: Why did Jesus come?

Luke 1v26-27 “In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee… to Mary”

Over the next 3 weeks we are going to look at three questions about Jesus’ coming – Why did he come? How did he come? And why then?

So today is “Why did he come?” and we will look at what the angels said.

The angel who appeared to Mary said, “The LORD God will give him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; his kingdom will never end.” Luke 1v32-33. Jesus came to take up the throne and reign forever. We see this confirmed in as the magi bring gifts to “the one who has been born king of the Jews” (Matthew 2). Jesus explained how this would work out in parables like the mustard seed which begins so small but grows into a large garden plant. Jesus’ kingdom would start small during his time on earth, but would grow to fill the earth.

Secondly, the angel who appeared to Joseph said of Mary’s child, “You are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1v21. Jesus’ kingdom encompasses people, not territory. And it is the hearts of the people, not their heritage or outward appearance. This is quite clear when Jesus described the evils of the Pharisees in Matthew 23: the Pharisees had good heritage and were in the Holy Land, but were clearly not part of God’s kingdom. And that applies to us all: we are all in God’s world, but not necessarily part of his “kingdom”. The only way to enter the kingdom of God is to have our sins removed. The only way to have sins removed is by receiving the forgiveness that comes through Jesus paying the price of sin on the cross.

And so, why did Jesus come? He came and King to establish his kingdom. He also came as Saviour to make an entrance for you and me into his kingdom. And he will return one day to complete his kingdom with all those who have entered in Jesus’ way.

May you and those you love enter into the kingdom of Jesus this Christmas time.

With love and blessing,

Roland

Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

John: Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God

John 20v31 “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

As we complete our survey of the gospels, we find that John is very straight about his purpose for writing the details he did. John tells us that Jesus did many other things too, but John has chosen certain key highlights to show that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God.

John begins in chapter 1 by telling us that Jesus is God and came from God: “In the beginning was the Word , and the Word was with God and the Word was God … the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” He then gives us the testimony of John the Baptist, “I have seen and I verify that this is the Son of God;” of Andrew, “We have found the Christ,” and of Nathanael, “You are the Son of God.”

John’s main section demonstrates the different ways in which this truth was obvious. Jesus said, “I am the Light of the World” and physically gave sight to the blind. He said, “I am the Bread of Life” and physically fed 5000. He said, “I am the Resurrection and the Life” and also physically raised Lazarus from the dead. And so on. But he was also the suffering servant who “knew that he had come from God and was returning to God, so … began to wash the disciples feet.” People who are afraid of losing power have to grasp hold of it, but there was no such fear in Jesus. He knew who he was, he knew where ultimate power lay and he could place himself in the Father’s hands: hence, when threatened with death, Jesus could say to Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest.”

And Jesus’ confidence was not unfounded as God raised Jesus from the dead on the 3^rd day. Thomas, famed for his sceptism, on meeting the resurrected Jesus declared, “My Lord and my God.”

It is on the rock of Jesus Christ that our faith rests. He is true, and so our faith is true. This is wonderful news. Keep reminding yourself that Jesus Christ is Lord and God.

With love and blessing,

Roland

Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

Mark: Jesus who suffered
Mark 8v31 “The Son of Man must suffer many things … he must be killed and after three days rise again.”

Last week we looked at Jesus’ authority as King in Matthew’s gospel. Today, Mark’s gospel has the verse above right at its heart. A couple of verses before, Peter had said to Jesus, “You are the Christ.” The expectation of the disciples was for the kingship and authority of Jesus along the lines of Matthew’s emphasis. And so, Peter insisted that Jesus must be mistaken about having to suffer and die: Jesus had to correct them.

It is not that Jesus wanted to suffer, but he recognised that it the way things “must” be. The very purpose for which Jesus had come was to suffer. It was not to gain crowds, it was not to be popular or well thought of. His purpose was to suffer and die. This was a hard teaching for his disciples at the time, and it is hard for his disciples today to have a full appreciation of this. We need to meditate on this truth, and allow our hearts and minds to absorb it. Not just as a fact, but as a rock on which we stand: Jesus “must suffer many things”.

A full appreciation is life-changing. How can my heart not be grateful that the King of Kings came to earth to die for me. Why “must” it be this way? Because God so loved me. My sin, my tendency to do wrong in thought, word and deed, was separating me from God, my heavenly Father. He wanted to bring me back into his family. And so Jesus took my sin on his shoulders, he took the guilt, judgment and punishment that I deserved. How good is my God! Are you ready to receive more of this forgiveness and freedom today?

With love and blessing,

Roland

Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

Matthew: Jesus has all power and authority

Matthew 28v18 “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

Over the next 4 weeks, I intend to look at the different emphases of each of the 4 gospels. The elements we will highlight are present to a degree in all of them, but each writer has a different emphasis. We start with Matthew.

Matthew’s emphasis is on Jesus as King. He begins with his descendancy from King David (ch1), and moves to the “Magi” visiting King Herod to ask “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?” (ch2).

Matthew continues with Jesus declaring “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near,” (ch 4) and describing the character of those who belong to “the kingdom of heaven” in the “Sermon on the Mount” (ch 5-7). Jesus then demonstrates his authority as king in numerous miracles (ch 8-9), followed by the delegation of this authority to his disciples (ch10). Next, Jesus helps us understand how his kingdom operates in a number of parables many of which begin, “the kingdom of heaven is like …” (ch13).

When Jesus begins explaining about his impending death and the need for each of his disciples to “take up their cross and follow” (ch16), he highlights this is based on the “Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” And after talking about his certain return (ch24), Jesus gives further parables about how “the kingdom of heaven” will operate at his return (ch25). As Jesus approaches death, he confirms to Pilate that he is “the king of the Jews” (ch27), and this title remains central as the soldiers mock him and as Pilate puts a label on the cross.

Matthew comes to a climatic conclusion after Jesus’ resurrection (ch28). Jesus meets with his disciples and says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations.” (ch28) This is our call and it is based on the supreme authority of Jesus as King. Our authority is a delegated authority and so, “in his name we go.”

I remember in the work place having to make some bold decisions as I represented my employer with the authority I had been delegated.  Such decisions were all based on the stated interests of my employer. Today, with God’s help, let us live with authority God has given to us and in line with his stated interest under Christ the King.

With love and blessing,

Roland

Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

Seen Spiritual Battles

1 Corinthians 10v13 “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind.”

Have you ever been tempted? Of course you have. We all know temptation, yet we can feel very on our own when we are tempted. Before the above verse, Paul has highlighted Old Testament examples of people falling in into temptation. We could look at Eve succumbing in the perfect garden, the Israelites succumbing after God’s rescue from Egypt, or David succumbing after being made King: each of them had great privilege from God and yet they fell.

And so, the whole verse says, ^“So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”

I notice this:

1. While the spiritual battle of temptation is seen when it comes, we do not foresee it, so Paul tells us to be always on our guard. As Peter says, “Be self-controlled and alert, for the devil is prowling round like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.” In fact temptation comes just when we think things are going well.
2. Not only do we all suffer temptation, but we all suffer similar temptations. Typically, these temptations are to not trust God and to gratify our desires in an inappropriate way.
3. God always provides us with a way to come through temptation pure and intact. In the verse above about the roaring lion, Peter gives good advice when he says, “Be self-controlled and alert.” Paul says “self-control” is a fruit of the Spirit, so we need Him. And Jesus tackles temptation by quoting God’s Word, so we need to familiarise ourselves with that too.

Battles are never easy, but God gives us the tools we need. The Spirit’s self-control and the Father’s Word of truth work wonders. May God give you strength for today’s battles and bring your through with bright hope.

With love and blessing,

Roland