Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

God’s Heart filled with Pain

Genesis 6v6  “The LORD was grieved … and his heart was filled with pain.”

God has emotions. He feels it when things are not as he would like them to be.

In Genesis 6, God is grieved that mankind whom he made and appointed has become so wicked. God appointed man as a ruler, under God, over the earth. God intended that man would live in his way and exercise “rule” in the way God exercises rule, that is with justice, love, grace, and goodness. When man declines to submit to the rule of God, God suffers in his heart.

This is of great value for us to understand. We think of Jesus suffering on the cross as he took our sin and suffered the sin and abuse of those who illtreated him. But God the Father also suffers.

This leads to three key questions:

• How does God feel about what is going on in the world today?
• How does God feel when I suffer injustice or evil?
• How does God feel when I do evil?

Several hundred years after the passage above, David is described as “a man after God’s own heart” (see 1 Samuel 13v14 & Acts 13v22). This seems to include that he shared God’s feelings towards what is good and what is evil.

Do the emotions of my heart mirror those of God?

With love and blessing,

Roland

Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

Being Encouraged from Old Testament Characters

Hebrews 12v1 Therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles …”

The writer of Hebrews wants to encourage us in faith. In chapter 11, he names fifteen Old Testament persons as examples of faith. They are quite a mix of characters, but in the verse above, he identifies these as witnesses to the truth and faithfulness of God. As we read the fuller Old Testament accounts, we find that it portrays both their successes and their failings in a candid way.

This Sunday we will be launching a new 5-week series to look at five key characters in the book of Genesis – Adam, Noah, Abraham, Jacob & Joseph. We will see elements of ourselves in them and we will also ways that they point to Jesus and lay a foundation for the gospel.

On a Sunday morning, we will only touch the surface of their lives and what God is saying to us through them. I hope that you will be encouraged to explore deeper in your own time by reading the fuller passages for yourselves. To that end, I will also provide some further reflective thoughts and questions to help in understanding and applying them .

May God encourage you in faith today for all you encounter.

With love and blessing,

Roland

Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

Excelling in the Grace of Faith

Luke 17v5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our Faith”

Faith is “being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” Hebrews 11v1. It is not an absence of questions, concerns or doubts, but it is a confidence sufficient to result in action through the doubts and the questions.

“Without faith it is impossible to please God” Hebrews 11v6. Faith is the bedrock of any relationship and most notably our relationship with God. We need the faith to believe in his existence and in his desires for us.

Faith is based on evidence and so John writes, “These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ.” John 20v31. The reality is that the more we live by faith, the more evidence we have in our memories to go on, because God is faithful!

Faith is “not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” Ephesians 2v8. The disciples were right to ask the Lord to increase their faith (Luke 17v5) because he is the one who gives faith. Faith is a grace – it is his free gift to us. Give him thanks for the faith he has given to you and ask him for more!!

Faith is a whole life thing. The disciples asked for more faith, not so that they could do great miracles, but so that they could forgive those who sinned against them (see Luke 17v1-6). Is my response to those around me a response based on faith in God? –  Does my action result from faith that God loves those around me; he has forgiven me; he is willing to forgive them; that each of us are ultimately accountable to him; …

Jesus continues to encourage the disciples by stating that their faith does not need to be huge, it only needs to be enough to act (Luke 17v6). I am convinced that God will answer your prayers for increasing faith!

May God, in his grace, give you sufficient faith for today and all you encounter.

With love and blessing,

Roland

Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

Excelling in the Grace of Giving

2 Corinthians 8v7 “See that you excel in this grace of giving”

Grace in the Bible is when something which costs greatly, is given freely to someone who does not deserve it. “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor…” (v9)

I wonder why we are sometimes provoked to give and other times not? Paul states that giving is a “test [of] the sincerity of your love”(v8). True “agape” love is going to result in a desire to give to another person rather than spend on myself. Thus, my giving or not giving is an outward sign of the condition of my heart. What are my heart’s desires? Do they lead to a willing, generous giving? Hence Paul says in 9v7 “Each person should give what he has decided in his heart to give”. Giving is more heart than head!

But the head does also come into it as this passage also emphasises proportionality:

• V3 “they gave as much as they were able and even beyond their ability”
• V12 “if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has”
• V13 “our desire is that … there might be equality”

There is to be some evaluation of the other’s need and our own ability to give.

There are certain points in our lives where we make big decisions and we establish our incomings and outgoings for some time to come. Someone I know moved to lower cost housing so that they could give more. Jesus decided to come to earth to give his life for us. When is the next time we are going to set up a commitment for some time to come? This could be regarding time or wealth. Is that a point to reflect first on how much we want to give, and then let that giving commitment impact our other commitments?

May our hearts be filled with such gratitude to God that it overflows in a grace of giving.

With love and blessing,

Roland

Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

Avoiding godless chatter

1 Timothy 6v20 “Turn away from godless chatter.”

How much of what we say, read or listen to is “godless chatter”? Let me define “godless chatter” as conversation which does not have its basis in God. It is conversation that:

• is not truthful: I forget that I am accountable to God for telling the truth.
• is not helpful to others: I forget that God calls me to build others up.
• breaks confidence: I forget that I am accountable to God for keeping confidences.
• lacks hope: I forget that God is my Father and he is watching over me and will provide for me.
• makes plans and boasts: I forget God is in charge, not me.
• judges others: I forget that we are all accountable to God as judge.

In a similar vein, Colossians 4v6 says, “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt.” “Grace” is not judgmental, but gives the benefit of the doubt. “Salt” is not going to bring what is bad or destructive, but rather be wholesome and will endure and be healthy.

May the Lord enable us to avoid godless chatter and have conversations seasoned with salt.

With love and blessing,

Roland

Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

Joining in expectant prayer

Acts 1v14 “They all joined together constantly in prayer.”

This coming Sunday is “Pentecost”. In the Old Testament Jewish calendar it was a festival celebrating the firstfruits of the wheat harvest. In the New Testament it is when the firstfruits of the gospel harvest occur as 3000 repent and are baptized.

The day begins with the Holy Spirit coming to the 120 gathered believers and empowering each of them just as Jesus had promised. The day finishes with a multiplied church.

In the 10 day gap between Christ’s ascension last week and the coming Pentecost, Luke says that the believers met daily and prayed continually. I wonder what exactly they prayed? How much was praise, how much requests? How much was quiet, how much noisy? How much was standard texts and how much extemporary? To what extent are our prayers caught between the wonder of what God has already done and an expectancy (and uncertainty) for something new? For us in this season, let’s:

• Reflect on what the Holy Spirit has done in our lives.
• Reflect on the degree to which I allow the Holy Spirit to have full control in my life.
• Ask for God to pour out his Holy Spirit once again.

With love and blessing,

Roland

Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

Jesus is taken up

Acts 1v9 “After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.”

I find it interesting that in all three recordings of Jesus’ ascension (Mark, Luke, Acts), the term used is “he was taken up.” It is what is linguistically called a “passive” verb – it is not something that you do, but that is done to you. This ascension was not something Jesus did, but which the Father did. Jesus was simply there to allow it to happen. The Father considered Jesus’s work on earth totally completed – he had died for our sins, brought the first fruits of the resurrection and had sufficient time to make “many convincing proofs” of his rising to life again (Acts 1v3). Job done.

Now we enter a new phase. For when Jesus had gone to the right hand of the Father in heaven, then the Father could “pour out” the Holy Spirit on all people (Acts 2v17). Again, this was not a question of the Holy Spirit sending himself, but of the Father sending him – just as he sent Jesus a few years earlier.

God is a God of order and he does things right and in the right sequence. What are you needing to be passive about today and allow God to do?

With love and blessing,

Roland

Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

A Steadfast heart enables us to sing – even in the rain

Psalm 57v7 “My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music”

The information in the header for this Psalm tell us that it was written “When David had fled from Saul into the cave.” The story is recounted in 1 Samuel 24, where Saul had been pursuing David to kill him, but David remained innocent throughout. David did not need to retaliate as his trust was in God and he had a quiet assurance that God would ultimately bring about what he had promised regardless of what the situation looked like. This does not mean that David does not cry out to God – he does – but his cry is a cry of trust “I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfils his purpose for me.” (v2)

This is a core secret of the Christian life: it is not in our circumstances or situations, but it is in a heart stilled before the Lord. A heart that trusts rather than panics. A heart that cries out to God rather than to the world. A heart that looks to God’s love and faithfulness to bring about justice. A heart that holds on to the faithfulness of God to fulfil his Word. A heart that keeps going despite the time it takes. This is a steadfast heart.

Is my heart steadfast today? Is it trusting in the Lord? In that place of trust and assurance, we are able to sing – even in the rain!

With love and blessing,

Roland

Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

The Gospel – Four Spiritual Laws

John3v16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son so that whoever believes in him may have eternal life”

Tony shared with us this last Sunday the Four Spiritual Laws as a useful tool to help us in sharing the good news with others. Each “Law” is framed around God’s love and plan for each person:

1. God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life
2. Man is sinful and separated from God. Therefore he cannot know and experience God’s love and plan for his life.
3. Jesus Christ is God’s only provision for sin. Through him you can know and experience God’s wonderful plan for your life.
4. We must individually receive Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord; then we can know and experience God’s love and plan for our lives.

The question I have is this: “Are you as a believer living in his love and wonderful plan?” The secret to this is in number 4 – in continually receiving Jesus as Saviour and Lord.

• Do you know and experience Jesus as Saviour for you in that he has saved you:
  • from all the sin of the past and you no longer need to live in guilt?
  • in the present and gives you a way out of every temptation?
  • for the future and will bring you through whatever issues we face in this world into eternity with Him!

It is time to meditate on these glorious truths and truly receive them and allow them to permeate our being.

• Do you know and experience Jesus as Lord for you in that:
  • He reigns supreme over all things and you can trust him in every circumstance?
  • He is in charge of your life and you live your life listening to him and obeying him?

It is time to figuratively bow the knee in practical obedience to him.

“May you know the hope to which he has called you and the love that surpasses knowledge,” (Ephesians 1v14, 3v19)

With love and blessing,

Roland

Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

Jesus – Grieving loss

John11v33-35 [When Mary’s brother Lazarus had died] “When Jesus saw her weeping … he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled … Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him.’”

Many of you will have seen at least portions of the funeral of Prince Philip last Saturday, and the Queen and her family currently remain in mourning. At some time, death takes those around us and ultimately (in worldly terms) it takes ourselves too. Grieving is itself quite a process and takes time. It is often said that there are multiple stages of grief, manifesting differently for each person, but including: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance.

Jesus knew what it was to lose people close to him to death. It is generally considered that his step-father Joseph died while Jesus was relatively young, and in John’s gospel we have the account of the death of Lazarus. The quotation above is from when Jesus meets Mary the sister of Lazarus. Jesus does not just suffer himself, but he also comes alongside others in their suffering and weeps with them.

The Queen is not the only one mourning at this time. Day by day, many are dying. May Jesus reach out to each one at this time and may they know his love and sympathy. Very often that occurs through us who are His representatives.

Of course, for us who are believers, while death represents a loss for those who remain, it represents an advance for those who believe. It was this understanding that meant Paul could say “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Philippians 1v21 or again, “Where O death is your victory? Where O death is your sting?” 1 Corinthians 15v55.

We are thankful for the Queen’s faith and ask Lord that you would be close to the Queen and the rest of the Royal Family at this time; may each of them truly know you Lord. We ask the same for those known personally to us who are grieving at the moment.

With love and blessing,

Roland