Soaring like Eagles. part 1

Sermon by Hilary Price -  May 2012

Soaring like Eagles.

So this morning we are going to look at how a parent gives a child roots and wings and how God gives His children roots and wings. And we are going to consider what the Bible calls a mystery. Proverbs 30:18-19 the writer says, “There are three things too amazing for me, four that I do not understand: the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a snake on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a young woman.” And we are just going to look at one of those – we are going to look at the way of an eagle in the sky. And we are going to learn amazing lessons from the bird that is called the king of the air. It is a remarkable bird. Jesus said, “Look at the birds.” He often told us to look at the picture book around us to learn lessons from what we see. So today the eagle will be our teacher. The eagle starts off as a very scrawny buggley eyed little creature. And somehow it grows to be a majestic bird with a wing span of up to 7 ½ feet. It has talons that are four times stronger than a human hand. It can weigh up to 11 kg. It can reach speeds of up to 120 km. /hour. It can fly 50-100 miles a day in search of food. It can spot its prey over a kilometre away – some say 3 kilometres. It can fly higher up into the heavens than any other bird and it can live for 70-120 years. It is a majestic bird.

 So how does this little eagle morph into this amazing creature? How does the parent eagle give roots and wings to the baby eaglet? Actually it begins at birth. When the baby eagle is born in the shell, it has to peck its way out of the shell. So the mother can hear it, she can see the little beak coming. It can take three days for it to peck its way into the world. And in that time the mother does not help. I know as moms you will be thinking how hard that must be. You just want to go and just help and then the baby could get out. But this is the first test for the mother and the baby eagle. And being a mother is all about letting go. And in this situation you let go before the baby is even born. If the mother pecked a hole and let the baby come out, it would not be a baby that would survive. If it doesn’t have the strength and the will to peck its own way out of the egg then it is not going to be a baby that will thrive. So the baby arrives and it finds itself in a nest, a massive nest. I became a little bit kind of obsessed with eagles when I saw a pair this summer in Nova Scotia and discovered the nest that they had been living in. It was way up in a tree and it was enormous; it was the biggest nest I had ever seen. They can be three feet deep and they can be eight feet across. And so the little bird; at first it pecks its way out of its shell, its egg, sits in this little nest and it cannot see out. It can’t see over the top.

That’s the time to give the little baby roots, give them muscles in its wings, stability, routine, nourishment, all the things you pour into a child when they are very little. And the parent disciplines the child and prunes their roots, but you don’t cut, you don’t clip their wings; you simply prune their roots. There is a big difference. And those wings that stretch over two metres across start off as tiny little wings. And the wing muscles have to start developing when they are little so when the time comes to fly they will be ready. You don’t push your children out of the nest without helping them to develop first. And despite the fact (this amazes me) that eagles are the most competent fliers among the whole bird kingdom, they do not instinctively know how to fly. If the mother bird and the father bird do not teach them, they will never lift off the ground. They have to be taught. And what goes on between an eagle and its baby is what in the natural world is called imprinting. In imprinting there is a bond established between the baby and the first thing it sees. So a little duck was born and the first thing it saw was a beach ball. So it would only go where the beach ball rolled. And it spent its whole life trying to mate with beach balls. So the eagle locks on to its parents. That’s the first thing that they see. And the eagle simply learns by watching. This is a huge challenge to parents because they see what you want them to see and they see what you don’t want them to see. And the little baby watches the parents soaring in the sky and it sees it swooping down for meals and bringing it home to the nest. And little by little the parent is teaching the baby one day you will do this yourself.

So how will it get to that place to do it? Well, here the eagle differs from other birds as well. We have at the moment a pair of cardinals nesting in the clematis just on the garage on my neighbor’s house. And they are busy all day, busy all day. And in the little nest there are three little cardinals all just sitting with their mouths open. If you put a speech bubble above them they would just be saying, “Feed me, feed me, feed me.” And the mother flies around and she comes and she pops the worm into the baby’s mouth. Well eagles don’t do that. Eagles fly off. They get their prey, which is always fresh meat - eagles never feed on dead carcasses like vultures. Vultures will gorge at a carcass until they are sick. Eagles actually get fresh meat, they bring it back to the nest and they don’t put it next to the baby; they put it away from the baby. So the baby has to strengthen its legs to get to the food and then it has to learn how to tear off little appropriate bite-size pieces so when it does leave the nest it knows how to tear off the meat. And as the baby eats, its muscles are gradually being strengthened, not just because it is taking in food, but because remarkably, the mother sits on the edge of the nest while the baby is eating and she flaps her wings. And because the baby copies the mother, while it is eating it is flapping its wings. So it’s actually developing its wings as well as eating the food.

I am giving you a lot of spiritual parallels here – I am not going to put up a big light every time I give you one because it would get tedious for you, but just ask the Lord to show you the spiritual truths behind the physical pictures I am giving you this morning because they are pretty remarkable. So the baby is in the nest, the food is coming, it is taking the food, it is flapping its wings, and it continues to grow. And then the mother starts to hover above the nest and she creates a down draft, which lifts the little chick off its feet and it finds itself for a moment flying in the nest and then it drops back down again. And I love this picture because the first flight that the eagle baby takes is tiny. It hardly realizes it has done it and it has done it within the confines of the nest. That’s adventure and it’s fun.

 And you need to have fun and adventure in your nest, your home, or your children will go and look for it somewhere else. If everything you do is boring, why would they want to be in your nest? They will be wanting to be in the nest of the family down the road who do the fun things. So incorporating fun is really, really important. The children learn, they learn what they can do physically and what they can’t do in their muscles, and that all goes on in the nest when they are little. So from the moment this baby is born it is learning to be independent. It has cracked its way into the world, it is tearing its own meat, it is testing out its wings, the mother is hovering. But the mother leaves the bird for long stretches of time by itself. Every baby and every child needs to have time in a place where the mother is not. Parenting is not about holding so tightly to your children as long as you can; it’s about gradually letting your children go.  And Alice Bradley said, “I knew there would come a time when I have would have to say ‘goodbye’ to my little boy. I just didn’t realize it would happen again and again.” And it does. There’s that first time you leave your child with somebody else to babysit. There’s that time they walk away from you into the daycare program. Depending on what their personality is, my children all did that very differently. Hannah had tears streaming down her face and kept waving and kept waving. And Laura didn’t give me a backward glance and just went whisking off into daycare. But they changed in their personalities. Hannah didn’t remain that little child who cried when her mommy wasn’t there, but it was hard at first. And sometimes it’s hard for you. And I have seen mothers standing at the gate bawling. “Bye darling!” And the kid’s like, “Mom, just go.” Letting go is not natural. It’s against all our instincts. We just want to protect but we’re in great danger of overprotecting. And unfortunately now we have a whole breed of moms, which we will call helicopter moms.

And this is not healthy helicopter stuff hovering above to let the down draft lift them up. This is very unhealthy helicopter moms. And what these moms do is they hover over their children’s lives all the time and they have several ways of doing it. They are invisible but they are there. Because they have a cellphone, so they send their kid off with a cellphone. And the kid thinks, “I am on my own.” Oh, but they are not on their own because they get to where they are going and they are doing what they are doing, and the phone rings. And they pick it up and, “Oh, yes, of course it is Mom.” And Mom says, “Where are you?” “Well, you know where I am – I am at Susan’s. I said I was going to Susan’s.” “What are you doing?” “Well we are watching the television.” “The television? What certificate is the film you are watching?” And they are just butting in on their children’s lives and then they start giving advice. “Are there any parents in the home? They’re not? You can leave that room you know; if you don’t like that film you can walk away.” And the child is actually being controlled – well, trying to be controlled by the mom who is at a distance but still wanting to be in there, interfering and not letting the child make their own decisions, not let them be responsible, not make them make their own mistakes and discover there are consequences when you make mistakes. I remember being at a friend’s house once. I was about 13. Her parents were out. We began watching a movie. We didn’t know it was a horror movie – it became a horror movie. To our horror, it became a horror movie. At that moment we had a choice whether to watch or not. Well, we were intrigued, so we started watching and watching and then this terrible image came on the screen and I just screamed and ran out. I was running down (she lived in this really old house with dark corridors) – we were running down the corridor and I didn’t know that she had screamed and run with me. I was running down the corridor and I looked behind me and she was there! We both ran away into another room and then I said, “Go back and switch the television off” and she said, “No, you go back. So we kind of crept in like this and switched the television off. Now why did I do that? I didn’t do it because my mom called me and said, “What are you watching? Are you sure it’s decent?” I did it because my mom never brought horror movies into my home. She brought fresh meat, good stuff. And I learned from my mom. I learned by observing. And I never watched a horror movie again in my life. I loathe horror movies and I learned by my own experience. I really feel sad now in the world of technology that the offensive to spy on your children has ramped up several notches with the world of Facebook. So now we have parents who can actually spy into their children’s worlds. And believe me, they do.

They look at what their children are wearing, they look at who they are hanging out with, they look at what they are saying. And if they don’t like it, they call them up and tell them. “I noticed you said…” We have to give our children space where the mother is not present and trust them that what they have learned will equip them to deal with whatever happens in that space. I don’t do Facebook. Please don’t ask me to be your friend. I am not going to be your friend. I don’t like it personally. I don’t want people knowing everything about my life. And when it came out I made a decision, really because of this mother spying thing that I loathe.   And my son was a teenager and I know it was his darkest fear that I would be able to get into his world and see what he was doing. So I don’t do Facebook and I have this horrible feeling that if I asked if I could be a friend, he would reject me, so I didn’t ask if I could be his friend. The time to leave the nest will come. It’ll come soon. But the children have got to have taken responsibility and started making decisions for themselves and discovering “if I do a bad thing then there will be a bad consequence and I will get hurt.” And sometimes they get hurt and sometimes they eat bad things, but they won’t be bad things that you have brought into the home and exposed them to. And when it is time to leave the nest – and this is the amazing thing about eagle parents – they do two things to encourage their babies to fly: it is so simple – they stop feeding them. So the baby sits and sees the mom and the dad out there. We watched this this summer circling around, a big juicy rabbit hanging out of the beak. They watch mom and dad coming – “Oh good, dinner’s coming.”

 

Dinner flies past. Dinner flies around the lake. And the baby starts to scream. So the mom comes back again. Now Dad comes. Now he has got something bigger and juicier. And the baby in the end is just yelling. We heard him. “Feed me!!” And they won’t and they don’t. And not only do they not feed the baby, what they now do is they make the nest a very uncomfortable place to live in. So they stir it all up and all those lovely feathers that she plucked off her heart above her chest to line the nest that is so symbolic, she clears them all out. “Okay, we are done now. All the grass goes. All the soft hay goes. All the toys that apparently eagles pick up anything they bring back – rattles, dolls, all kinds of things are in the eagle’s nest. Those go out. No food, no comfort, no toys; you are on your way. So now this little bird has a choice, and we have a choice. Parents of Canada: I don’t know there’s any nation on earth that has so many adults living in the basement of the parents in the homes in Canada. This is not a problem in Britain because we don’t have basements, so that’s it. They have to go. I wonder how many of you (I am not going to ask you to put your hands up) have a kid over the age of about 25, they’re done university and they’re living in the basement.

Let me just tell you something. If you are still doing your kid’s washing and they are 26 years old and the only time they ever come up from the basement is when they smell the aroma of your delicious cooking and they plop themselves down at the table and you feed them yet again, they will be there until they are 56 years old. And the only time they will come up and stay upstairs is when you cease to be shuffling around up there because you have shuffled off your mortal coil and they think, “I get the house.”  It’s so dangerous to just keep your children at home and let them stay there. It’s time to encourage them on their way. And we can do that by stirring up the nest. We take away all the soft stuff and we leave these little pointy bits sticking up, which are really hard to sit on. This is exactly what God did. Deuteronomy 32:11 says, “Like an eagle that stirs up its nest” (makes it uncomfortable) “hovers over its young” (showing them how to fly), “spreads its wings to catch them” (he pushes them out of the nest) “and he carries them on his pinions.” So is the Lord God with His people. God stirred up the nest of the children of Israel when they were living in Egypt. He sent plagues, pointy, nasty things, so that they would no longer want to live there, so they would want to leave, so they would learn to depend on Him. So He could guide them and He could rescue them and He could provide for them, not the masters they were living under in Egypt.

 

It might well be that your children have just become far too comfortable in the nest. Nothing is expected of them. It might well be that you have become far too comfortable in the nest. Sometimes God will destroy our nests because we have started to put our confidence in them. I have spent years building this house, Lord, this business Lord, this retirement plan. And now I just depend on that instead of God being the anchor of my soul.

 

 Source: Livng Truth.ca

 You can find more blessed messages like this at: http://livingtruth.ca/Res-TRAN.asp

All You Need Is Love

Series: The Names of God

 Aired: Sunday Nov 25 2012

Title: “ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE”

 “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.” 1 Corinthians 13:4

Love is the truest expression of the Christian life, but for many of us, it is the area that we lack the most in. With the hectic pace and pressures today, we can become so preoccupied with our own world that we fail to love one another. This week, Author and Bible teacher, Charles Price, presents a single message about love that is absolutely fundamental to the working of God in our lives; so much so, that anything done without love negates the purpose and validity of it.

There are many passages in Scripture that speak of loving one another. “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another…” (Romans 13:8). “…Love one another deeply from the heart.” (1 Peter 1:22). “Let us love one another, for love comes from God” (1 John 4:7). Loving one another is essential to the outworking of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1-3, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophesy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor, and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.”

In our society, the word ‘love’ covers a multitude of things with varying connotations.  To say, “I love my wife” would be far different from saying, “I love chocolate” or “I love my car.” In the Greek translation of the Bible, the word ‘love’ is also multi-faceted and uses three different words to describe it. “Eros”, is used for romantic love or sexual attraction. It’s where our English word ‘erotic’ comes from. The word ‘phileo’ is to have warm affection and friendship towards one another. The city of Philadelphia consists of two Greek words – philea and delphia, which means brotherly love. The third word is ‘agape’, and speaks of the love of God, which is the highest love; one that is freely given and does not depend on being reciprocated.

One of the best definitions of ‘agape’ love is found in Philippians 2:2-4 where Paul writes, “Make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others” (NAS). This is a love that puts the needs of others first, is conceived in humility and born of the Spirit of Christ.

Paul writes this letter to the Corinthian church, clarifying the love of Christ, because they were likely the most immature in both their need for love and of loving one another. Numerous problems existed, especially one of division. Some were saying they follow Paul; others were saying they follow Apollos; others following Cephas (Peter) and still others following Christ. Paul answers them. “Is Christ divided? Was I crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?” In other words, “You folks are experiencing quarrels among you because you have aligned yourselves to personalities, and when you do that, you have division.” Defining ourselves by who we like and support will create divisions. The Christian church is defined by the centrality of Jesus Christ and by the work of the Holy Spirit, following God’s agenda. Love derives from Christ, Himself, being Lord amongst His people, who are His church.

Paul said to the church in Corinth, “I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:27).  Paul consistently talks about Christ, the power of His resurrection, how to grow in Him and know Him better. He talks about being reconciled to God through Christ and about His indwelling Spirit working in us and through us. Anything other than Christ that becomes the criteria will divide, because that only leaves us with different opinions and preferences which conflict each other.

The Corinthian church also had a problem with discipline. There was sexual immorality, suing each other in court, getting drunk and feasting at the Lord’s Supper, which is meant to be a meaningful tribute in memory of Christ. They were fighting over spiritual gifts that were not demonstrated in love. They were withholding financial contributions, and in doing so, were saying, “God, you can have my life, but not my money.”

They were also arguing over their doctrine and neglecting some of the most fundamental essentials of the Christian church. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:3-5, “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance; that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve.” They needed to understand this, prioritize it and know that it is the life of the risen Lord who indwells them. In the heart of his letter, Paul says, “But unless what you do is an expression of love, all it will be is a noise; empty, clanging cymbals that will accomplish nothing.

The ultimate expression of love is godliness, and that is because God is love. Paul describes love as patient and kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails” (1Corininthians 13:4-8). Were we to replace the word ‘love’ with Jesus Christ and say, “Jesus Christ is patient and kind. He does not envy, He does not boast….” that would stand up wonderfully true, but how would we fare were we to replace the world ‘love’ with our own name?

Love is the fruit of the Spirit Christ is intent on producing in us. The effectiveness of the Church of Jesus Christ is not measured by the fact we have programs and strategies in place, or even money contributed to worthy causes. It is measured by the fact we do these things in love for others, and people are not becoming the beneficiaries of a hundred dollar cheque or a new coat or a prayer book as much as they are becoming a beneficiary of Christ’s love.

Juan Carlos Ortis was a pastor of a church in Buenos Aries with a membership of 300 that had grown rapidly to a membership of 1,000 people. But one day, while driving past a cemetery, Pastor Ortiz realized that the church wasn’t actually growing, but simply getting fat. He said something to the effect that the church used to have 300 unloving Christians, but now they have 1,000 unloving Christians and all that is is spiritual obesity.

He had prepared a message on love, but began to feel quite strongly that he shouldn’t deliver it. Instead, he stood at the pulpit and said, “Brothers and sisters, my text this morning is “Love One Another”.  He remained there for two minutes without saying another word. Then he closed his Bible and sat back down. Two minutes later, he stood up, repeated the same words and sat down again. He did it a third time and the congregation felt uncomfortable. Then someone turned to the person seated beside him, and whispered, “Is there some way I can love you? Is there something I could do for you?” Then someone else turned to someone beside them, and before you knew it, the whole church came alive with people talking.

Twenty-eight unemployed people went home with jobs that day. Single parents went home with another family prepared to help them out. Though the church had lost 300 people, Pastor Ortiz felt he didn’t have the freedom to preach a sermon yet, and persevered with the same message for three months. Then came the announcement of a new message, which received applause. “Love Your Neighbour As Yourselves”. Again, he closed his Bible and sat down. Someone got up and went out the door. Others followed until the entire church was empty. These people had driven home, knocked on their neighbour’s door and began to help them out in whatever way they could. This had a tremendous impact in the community and completely changed the role of the church. Calls kept coming in. “Is this the church that cares about people?”

Jesus said, “If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? If you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even the pagans do that?” (Matthew 5:46-47) Jesus loved everyone, and it is His love in us that must flow through us to touch and transform the lives of those around us.

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” - John 13:34 .

This message is from the site: http://www.livingtruth.ca/

By: Charles Price from Living truth.

I want to share the Newsletter with You from Living Truth

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Dear Antonina, I am writing today with good news. Last year we asked you to help us translate Living Truth into Spanish. Once translated, your support enabled us to begin broadcasting in Latin America. Today, we air in 26 Spanish-speaking countries. Yet, in many ways, our work is just beginning. As a supporter of Living Truth, you already know that we are focused on bringing the Living Word of God WORLDWIDE, supporting pastors, church leaders and believers. In each language and each nation, our prayer is to make disciples – not just bring the Bible – but to make disciples. Many Christian leaders consider disciple-making the greatest challenge facing the Church today. In Latin America the Church is growing extremely fast. While we celebrate the remarkable work of the Holy Spirit, we recognize that now is the time to teach these new Christians so that they can grow in their walk with Christ. Failure to shape their worldview and lifestyle through Biblical teaching will cause many to fall away into unbelief or false teaching. In places where the Church is growing rapidly, there is a crisis of leadership. Men and women are following the call of God, but they lack the resources they need to be trained. Solid Scriptural teaching is lacking in many regions. The church is growing very rapidly. Today we are asking you to join us as we expand into Spanish-speaking countries. Whether you give $100 or $10,000, your gift will be used for Bible teaching and discipleship ministry throughout Latin America. This summer I visited Chile and Colombia. I want to tell you that my spirit was filled with joy as I walked alongside church leaders in each of these nations. Yet, the incredible need broke my heart. In my home, on my bookshelves, I have hundreds of resources. I have the privilege of reading the writings of great men and women of God as they encourage, teach and admonish. This is not the case in all countries. In both countries we visited, Christian leaders struggled to make do with a tattered copy of the Scriptures. I would like to walk through both countries, quickly giving you a glimpse of their need. The nation of Chile is in the midst of transformation. The political movement from dictatorship to a democracy is opening many doors. The country and its people are moving on from a scarred past. In the 1970’s and 80’s, the country was deeply affected by Pinochet’s reign of terror. As many as 80,000 people were tortured or murdered. Many others ‘disappeared’ or were forced to leave the country. Today, Chile is plagued by social problems. Young girls have struggles and one out of every seven is a mother before she is fourteen. Crime, drug abuse and materialism are all on the rise. Poverty is widespread. Democratic structures have grown strong, but much progress is still needed for a fair, just and prosperous Chile to emerge. Forgiveness and grace are essential for this to happen. Chile needs the Gospel. Evangelical Christians used to be persecuted in Chile. Now, they’re in a position to play a pivotal role in Chilean society. Christians are participating in government and there is even an official Evangelical public holiday. Today Chile is very open to the Gospel. Andres Carrasco is a man with a calling. He’s walking the length of Chile, knocking on every radio station door, asking them to broadcast Living Truth. You see, he understands that many of the people are illiterate or have no access to a Bible. Through the radio broadcasts, they can hear the Word of God regularly. He knows the power of the Scriptures. For a long time he prayed that there would be something that would help disciple new Christians. Living Truth was an answer to his prayers. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Europeans believed that somewhere in the New World there was a place of immense wealth known as El Dorado. It supposedly had unlimited gold. Spanish explorers heard stories about a tribe of natives high in the Andes Mountains in what is now Colombia. When a new chieftain rose to power, his rule began with a ceremony at Lake Guatavita. To this day, people go to the lake to immerse themselves to appease the Guatavita gods. New believers blend ancient myths with Christianity instead of looking to Christ alone. The result is an idolatrous religious practice full of fear and uncertainty. Some pastors in present day Guatavita look to Living Truth to help them open the eyes of people who are enslaved to these kinds of myths and legends. Julio Duarte and his wife, Vicki Garcia have faced many hardships while trying to bring the Truth to the people of Zipaquira, in the Andes Mountains. Here, we see the influence of myth and tradition. Julio and Vicki were ready to give up before Living Truth offered much needed resources for their growing church. Making Desciples At the time of Christ, when Jesus told His disciples to go into all the world and preach the gospel, there were an estimated 200 million people alive on planet earth. Today, the World Bank reports a global population of almost seven billion people. Yet, in spite of the massive population increase, our world has become a village. Through television, radio and internet, we are able to reach millions of people. In fact, every Sunday morning the Living Truth broadcast is seen in 40 countries of the world. You could never do that back in earlier centuries. We have been given the responsibility to go into the world and preach the gospel, but notice go into all the world, not just go to the world. This is not megaphone evangelism where you go and just shout it to people. Go into the world – that is incarnational. We are to go into the communities and the lives of the people to which we are to take this gospel. Evangelism today has many facets. Television is useful where people have access to a broadcast signal and the resources to buy a television set. Books, CDs and DVDs can be used in Bible study groups. Solar powered audio players are in much demand by people who cannot read. A web site is a resource for videos, transcripts, daily devotionals and study guides for literally millions of Spanish-speaking populations. I ask you to join us in our Bible teaching and discipling ministry. Please use the form enclosed to send your special gift. We cannot go, personally, to every man, woman and child. But we can take the Good News, the Word of God to equip men and women whom God has called, giving them solid Biblical resources to use in their ministries. We are a part of a global work that God has orchestrated. Join us by sending your gift today. Yours in Christ, Charles Price Living Truth/The Peoples Church P.S. I am grateful for your support. For God is opening many doors, giving us an opportunity to work together for the glory of Jesus Christ. HELP US SHARE THE LIVING TRUTH OF GOD Purchase a CD or DVD set now

Title: “Celebrating in our Circumstances”

Series: JOY WHEN LIFE IS TOUGH  

Read ths Message in:  http://www.livingtruth.ca/

Aired: Sunday Aug 26 2012

Title: “Celebrating in our Circumstances”

“I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13

The life of the Apostle Paul was continually characterized by hardship and persecution. He couldn’t live under his circumstances as that would have been too depressing and discouraging, and neither could he live above them. But incredibly, Paul celebrated in them. What was his secret? This week, Author and Bible teacher, Charles Price, tells us how we can live in tough and trying situations with a sense of joy and purpose, derived from the presence of Christ within us.

In Philippians 4:11, Paul says, “I have learned to be content, whatever the circumstances,” and in the next verse, he says again, “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation.” This is not a result of a buoyant personality, but is something Paul had to learn, and if Paul had to learn how to be content, then it is something we too can learn.

Paul often found himself the subject of scorn, particularly from his fellow Jews. In 2 Corinthians, Chapter 11, he defends his apostleship to the church in Corinth, because they’d been infiltrated by what he describes as “pseudo apostles.” They were claiming authority they didn’t have and Paul responds with, “Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again” (2 Corinthians 11:23). Remarkably, Paul is saying that the evidence that he is God’s chosen man, commissioned by Him, are the brutalities and oppositions he’s faced and endured.

We live in a rather soft age, where we’ve placed our dependency on our own capabilities and resources. So much is made easy with a press of a button and in our high tech world, God gets left on the back burner. That’s why, again and again, He takes His choicest servants and makes life difficult for them in order to strip them of every other object of dependency but Him. That’s how Paul became the man he was, and many others throughout Scripture like Abraham, Moses and David, whose only recourse was to turn to God.

Paul goes on to talk about his sufferings and persecutions. Five times he’d received the fourty lashes minus one, three times beaten with rods, and once stoned and left for dead. He’d been shipwrecked several times and in danger from rivers, bandits, his own countrymen, Gentiles; danger in the city, in the country, at sea and from false brothers. He had known hunger and thirst and often gone without sleep. He’d been cold, naked, exhausted and constantly on the move, many times fleeing for his life. Yet he says, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down but not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9).

When faced with hardships and persecutions, we tend to think we’re out of the will of God, but in our service to God, it is actually evidence that we are in the will of God. We cannot make the assumption that everything will run smoothly. That was never true in Scripture, nor throughout history, and certainly not true in the life of Paul or of Jesus.

Tough and trying circumstances will either drive us from God or to God. Driving us from God, we become bitter and resentful, but to God, we learn the secret of being content, regardless of how difficult our situations. They are not the focal point, but God and His purposes are. And Paul, stripped of everything but God, says, “I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.” That doesn’t mean he could jump into a ring with Mike Tyson and win. The context in which he wrote this was describing circumstances he’d experienced: “whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want”, he could do all things in Christ who gives him strength. The Amplified Bible translation says, “I have strength for all things in Christ who empowers me; I am ready for anything. I am equal to anything, through Christ who infuses inner strength into me.”

In short, “I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency”.

After Paul’s third missionary journey, he was headed back to Jerusalem with the intent of going on to Spain. When he reached Caesarea, a coastal town about 50 miles from Jerusalem, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea to warn Paul of impending danger in Jerusalem. He took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it, and said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘in this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles’.” After hearing this, the people pleaded with Paul not to go, but Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready, not only to be bound but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 21:13). The Lord was giving Paul the option of whether to go or not, but Paul is saying he’s ready for anything, not because of stoicism, but because of his awareness of the sufficiency of Christ within him. He knew there wasn’t any circumstance he would face that would be bigger than the power of Christ within Him.

We can have a Jesus who is little more than the patron of our theology, but he’d be remote. We can have a Jesus who is simply our teacher or an example to follow, but again, he’d be remote. Or we can have a Jesus who is at the very heart of everything that takes place in our lives. He is our life, and that’s the Jesus Paul knew every time his boat sank, every time he was whipped, beaten, imprisoned and scorned. It’s why his letter to the Philippians is such a remarkable one, because there is more autobiographical information about Paul’s life, and every time it’s about the things that humanly speaking should have knocked him down and pushed him out. But to the very end, his security, his life, his strength was in Jesus. That’s why he could say, “My God will meet all your needs, according to his riches in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).

The secret Paul had to learn in being content both internally and externally in any and every situation was complete and utter dependence upon the indwelling Spirit of Christ. The presence of Christ within us is the very essence of Christian life. Paul survived externally in a tough, pagan world because he knew that whatever pushed him down or held him back, was another opportunity to exhibit the life of Christ within him. And for Paul, as well as every Christian, that is reason to celebrate!

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A Message from Living Truth

View this in your web browser.  Hello Everyone, The decision of whom to marry is one of the toughest ones a Christian will ever make in his or her life. A lifetime commitment to one person is not something to be undertaken lightly. As with all our hard decisions, the Bible gives us much guidance on how to choose a spouse. In Genesis 24, Abraham sends his servant to find a wife for his son Isaac. Abraham’s rocky road of faith makes him a good example for us. In this letter, I would like to do two things: first, to remind you of the three core ingredients of a healthy marriage; and secondly, I would like to give you ten points to help choose a spouse. While you may have already walked through this part of your life’s journey, you may want to use these points to share with your family and friends. The three fundamental ingredients to a healthy marriage are these: a mutual respect for each other, a mutual trust in one another, and mutual love towards one another. Respect, trust and love one another as whole, individual people. Finding and marrying the right person is important, of course, but it does not guarantee that everything will follow easily and smoothly. God doesn’t promise an easy road. Remember: anything to which God calls you, God Himself is committed to. He instituted marriage and he is committed to marriage. Bring Him in as the architect of your marriage, and He will see it through. As you seek God in choosing a spouse, here are some helpful insights from Abraham’s courtship: Remember, there is a right time and place that God has appointed. When you look, look amongst believers. Trust God to guide you. Actively seek and look for your spouse – but don’t jump in too early. Pray for guidance and wisdom. Look and test for character. Take time to get to know your future spouse. Learn about your future spouse’s family and traditions. While the decision to marry is between you and your spouse, include your families on the journey and share how God has led you together. When you say ‘Yes,’ understand that at that moment you have committed to begin a new journey, one that is no longer yours, but ‘ours.’ The Bible contains many practical messages. At Living Truth, we are grateful for the many doors God has opened to us to speak of His Truth in many different countries and cultures. As you know, this is a ministry of faith – we trust that God will provide our needs. We are also pleased to publish a daily devotional each month. As of this month, this daily devotional will be increased from one to two pages per day. Your prayerful support encourages us to continue. Your gift of $50, $150 or $500 today enables us to continue teaching the lessons and messages of the Bible to those who are unable to attend church. For those who have a local church family, our weekly teaching augments their spiritual journey. God works in mysterious ways. Every new opportunity to air our show is a blessing. Yours in Christ, Charles Price Living Truth/The Peoples Church P.S. – Please consider a gift this summer – it’s our most challenging time with so many on vacation. Your gift will help keep us strong, vibrant and ready for an exciting fall season. HELP US SHARE THE LIVING TRUTH OF GOD Purchase a CD or DVD set now