Eyes fixed not on the storm but on Jesus and on him alone.
Baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Another year is over, and we’ve enjoyed the challenge of further researching and developing gospel content that speaks into the issues of this generation. From the perspective of what has been accomplished in the past by Jesus and what remains yet to be seen as the scriptures indicate, we have significant work yet remaining. The gruesome death and literal bodily resurrection of Jesus sets the stage for all we aspire to.
Based on this, our forward-looking approach is also inspired by the distinct promises and assurances that Jesus now gives. He assures us that he will never leave or forsake us. That he will dwell with and in us. That his words will come from our mouths, and as such our testimony remains. That in this world we’ll experience hostility, adversity, suffering, trial and tribulation – realities for which we’re encouraged to rejoice and face with all alacrity! Why and how? Because it ends well. There is hope. There is reason, purpose, morality and objective identity. And so whatever 2022 holds, we’re unafraid of whatever the path ahead bodes because we’re faith filled – eyes fixed not on the storm but on Jesus and on him alone.
We’re planning another motorcycle ride from Perth to Sydney, filming along the way, sharing the gospel with fellow travellers and sojourners, as well as visiting those in Christ scattered across this great continent. Our goal is to have a freshly printed 6th edition of Resurrection HOPE which we’ll again promote along the way. Seven years ago we gave away 48 copies of this Christ-centred book. This 6th edition features a new introductory chapter. May God grant us courage, grace, favour and opportunity in sharing the best good news message we could ever hear!
How do we adequately prepare for what’s ahead – either the immediate future or the long-term horizon view? It is without doubt that those who have a Biblically-based broad-brushstroke narrative and trajectory of “certain hope” focused on Jesus are in a good place to pioneer whatever lies ahead.
We believe that we’re created in God’s image and likeness. We believe that life, therefore, has meaning and purpose. In other words, that suffering also has some kind of larger, transcendent context. We identify as God’s offspring, His children. We cherish that we’re loved so much, and often marvel that such a great price has been paid in our redemption (in Jesus). We hold dear that Jesus is coming again, in glory, might and power. And, from those scriptures, we also become cognisant that His coming will be preceded by a time “that has never happened before nor will ever happen again”.
We can easily become immersed, for example, in the descriptive narrative throughout Matthew 24 and Luke 21, as well as ponder the rich imagery throughout Revelation, each contributing to a broad-brushstroke array of the events at the end of this age and the heralding of the new.
The Lord has revealed just enough for us to know and all that we need for today. Of course, none of us particularly relish facing what appear to be increasingly difficult times. Here we’re comforted by Jesus words:
“Many are the afflictions of the righteous.”
“In this world you will have tribulation,” says Jesus, “but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.”
The notion of suffering for Christ begins with Jesus’ teachings and proceeds throughout the apostolic letters. The question, of course, is how are we ever going to adequately negotiate these times – given that the past 70 or so years in the West at least since World War 2 has been relatively peaceful, abundantly prosperous, full of opportunity, with generally good health services, a stable economy, and parliaments that still affirm the Bible before each session? Many have become complacent, beguiled by ungodly ideologies. Our society that grew from its Judaic-Christian roots is now in the throes of accelerated, declining change.
When Jesus said, “As in the days of Noah, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of Man,” he referred to a previous age known by its extreme violence, sexual depravity and social malevolence. Thus, “the Days of Noah” are also synonymous with a great “reset”.
God thus simply flushed away all the wickedness, and through this baptism of water, started again. And, at the brightness of Jesus’ coming, begins another “GREAT RESET”: Return, Reset, Resurrection followed by an age of Righteousness. But all this is preceded by “birth pains”.
So, here’s the question: How are you and I (or our children and grandchildren) ever going to be adequately prepared to face all this yet “unwritten” but certain interim future?
The good news is, that as we abide in Christ and His words are intrinsic to our narrative, our future trajectory is not uncertain. We are victors in Christ!
How does this happen? God prepares and equips us over many years and through all kinds of circumstances, like He has done throughout history. For example, Joseph was prepared through unjust and arduous suffering before he attained the pinnacle of leadership in Egypt. Imagine languishing in prison for many years at the behest of a lying, promiscuous woman!
Likewise, Moses was prepared for his life’s calling, first in the courts of Pharaoh, then in the wilderness for decades, before his life’s mission and purpose became apparent.
David the unknown shepherd boy had his first fights with a lion and then a bear, before embracing a calling to leadership, replete with ensuing battles and many epic struggles.
Jesus equipped and mentored his closest followers for over three years to take on the biggest job of all – in the midst of Roman cruelty and oppression. It’s terrifying to contemplate how many crucifixions those disciples may have witnessed before they saw Jesus go that same fate?
God equips us all before he allows us to step into “future history”. Jesus so many times exhibited a stunningly accurate foretelling of the immediate as well as long-term future. He said to Peter with unwavering confidence: “Satan has asked for you. But I have prayed for you and when you have turned…” the corner in this.
When Jesus called his disciples, he said, “I will make you…” There were no shortcuts to what Jesus had in mind. God knows who we’re becoming, and we need to trust His handiwork. It is the Lord’s work and all is of His making. Gold and silver are refined by fire; Jesus is building His church, and he’s not using sticks and straw. Our part is to remain available and faithful – looking indeed to a future that is gloriously brighter than we may dimly envisage today.
It was indeed a blessing to share in the Global Prayer Summit, sponsored by the Church of God (Seventh Day) in Jamaica, where during the past three days we were blessed to hear, see and be exhorted through a variety of speakers and messages of the upward call in Christ to be about His will and work.
A special thanks to all who contributed. The church indeed moves forward, but on its knees in prayer.
I recently heard a comment stating that the Feast of Tabernacles can hardly be associated or have any relevance to Christ, because it was originally given to the ancient Israelites under the old covenant. How can such festivals, associated as they are with the ancient’s seasonal agricultural harvests, be of any value to Christians?
It’s a good question. I hope this brief explanation is helpful.
The tabernacle, (and later the temple) were built on a heavenly blueprint. God specified every detail to Moses; details which although were made out of physical elements such as gold, wood and cloth, were based on and portrayed a transcendent divine, heavenly blueprint or reality.
Thus, the ensuing worship centring on the Tabernacle life, while in Israel’s experience was limited to their sojourn from Egypt and their annual agricultural seasons, their ceremonies, also dictated by God, equally originated from and pictured a transcendent heavenly connection.
How might we draw such a conclusion? What might that connection be?
That connection/blueprint or template can only be found in Jesus Christ.
Thus today, we do not and can not celebrate the old covenant feasts as given to ancient Israel. The old covenant and its associated liturgical practices are long gone, superceded by the new covenant written in Jesus’ blood.
So, is there any merit in divinely-given annual Sabbath celebrations? The question we might explore is, if their blueprint also originates from the heavenly, even as the design and details of the tabernacle was, then might we might have greater reason to enquire and explore what might be their heavenly significance?
What do those biblical festivals originally given to the ancient Israelites actually mean? Do they contain an inherit divine blueprint beyond the agricultural harvest seasons as experienced annually?
Jesus often used agricultural parables to tell of divine reality. “A farmer went to sow seed.” Jesus then explained the story in terms of spiritual harvest.
Curiously, Paul also used an interesting agricultural term when he referred to Jesus as “Christ the firstfruits”. It’s a phrase that clearly links ancient understanding of seasonal harvests with a higher, heavenly significance that centres on Jesus Christ.
A quick history lesson. During the annual Passover/Unleavened Bread season, the High Priest would cut the first of the barley harvest just after sunset, and that first wave sheaf was then presented in the tabernacle the next morning. We might ask: what might this ancient “firstfruits” ceremony actually mean?
Briefly, with Jesus crucified on a Wednesday, and then entombed for three days and three nights, the fulfilment of which would have occurred at or just after sunset on the Saturday night. It was then we suggest that Jesus was resurrected at the exactly the same time when the High Priest would have cut the first wave sheaf. At that moment Jesus would have opened his eyes and bodily resurrected. Recall, the tomb was already empty when the women visited early on that Sunday morning.
That first wave sheaf, cut from the early barley harvest, pictures Jesus’ resurrection. In the ceremony that followed the next day, the wave sheaf was presented in the temple, and the typology points to Jesus ascending to heaven to be presented before our Heavenly Father. Recall Jesus’ words to Mary when she saw the resurrected Jesus:
“Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” (John 20:17 ESV)
Between seeing Mary early that morning, and later when he encountered the disciples, Jesus ascended to heaven and was presented to His Heavenly Father as the “firstfruits”, symbolised by that ancient wave sheaf offering!
Thus, accordingly, would it not be meritorious that our celebrations (that find their origins within the biblical narrative) be based entirely on the heavenly reality under the terms of the new covenant for whom our “blueprint” is our Lord, Advocate, Redeemer, King and Judge, Jesus Christ?
Perhaps, if we revisited those ancient harvest festivals as a blueprint narrative for the greater harvest of humanity, then those same celebrations under the lens of the new covenant, such as the Feast of Tabernacles, may provide amazing insight into a salvation narrative that is powerfully relevant and significant to the follower of Jesus!
In fact, Jesus purveys the notion that more of what Moses wrote pointed to Jesus than we might understand at face value. (John 5:46)
On the last great day of the Feast of Tabernacles, as recorded in John chapter seven:
…Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” (John 7:37-38 ESV)
So, in the spirit and freedom of the new covenant, may we confidently celebrate Jesus as Saviour, Lord, King and Judge!
Remember, that we too are sojourners in this temporal world, just like Jesus was some 2000 years ago.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt [tabernacled] among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14 ESV)
Finally, we would like to suggest that as these festivals are nothing less than Christ-centred in origin and purpose, they are therefore highly recommended for all Christians!
After more than two months now “standing in the gap” with livestreaming Sabbath worship services from our home studio, and with the greater awareness that the society around us is overtly becoming not “church friendly” in both legislation and practice, we can be comforted and compelled by Jesus’ prophetic words that the church He’s building is and will be in an environment where “the gates hell” are notoriously evident. Thus we stand leaning into the headwinds of the times we live in on the promise and the power of the Holy Spirit, discerning each moment and embracing each challenge with alacrity. We’ll continue improving each week’s livestreaming, in one small way or another, and are patiently and faithfully working behind the scenes to advance His Kingdom and His righteousness. Media we know today plays a significant role in this.
When we started media streaming two decades ago, little did we realise the cacophony of dissonance emanating from tens of millions media sources and their many keyboard warriors. I recall someone twenty years ago saying, “One day, your video work will be swallowed up in ten thousand video channels.” It was hard to imagine back then. The surety of navigating the journey ahead is to simply focus on the calling and then, in the words of Jordan B Peterson recently, “Shield yourself from bad news sources.”
Thanking God for His providence over many decades, slowly heading along the path Christ is leading. As a result, and I trust that this is true for most of us sojourners, the desired outcome is that we all have a testimony – our own unique story of joy and sadness, struggle and gain, even temptation and courage! What’s your story? Do you have one?
We’ve been telling the same story by video for some 22 years now. The chief protagonist is Jesus. The scene is corruption, decay, wickedness amidst smoldering promise and hope. It’s a battle between good and evil, truth and compromise, light and dark.
This week we uploaded our 666th gospel film. Like those streets that don’t have a number 13 (preferring instead a 11B letterbox number), the number 666 has it’s own connotations and symbolism. So, how might we manage this conundrum? Number the video as 665B, or plunge right in and tell it like it is?
All through history God has preserved and encouraged faithful people. The organic presence and growth of the first century Churches of God did not manifest in great cathedrals or elaborate liturgy, but in a variety of simple, family, house churches scattered throughout the known world!
The apostles of yesteryear would marvel at the communication and collaboration between the churches of today. Big churches. Small churches. Worship in hundreds of languages and dialects. And size doesnt matter either, for if grace and truth exist in a fellowship, there youll find Jesus.
The four most recent sermons echo, via media streamingon this website, from a small House Church in the worlds most isolated capital city: Perth, Western Australia. If the messages sound familiar to you, its probably because you have a heart for words of Jesus: His Word personified, His written Word, and His Word emboldened on your heart.
John Piper uploaded an insightful message about an hour ago. Having watched it during breakfast, andtalked aboutit with my wife Rebecca, I think it capably speaks to the very heart of the Gospel!
Take a 30 minute sermon shared about a month ago which focussedon the two great characteristics of Jesus: “Grace and Truth”, and later presentit as aneleven minute sermonette. And then, if that’s not enough, distill it even further to just four minutes!
Trust you’re blessed with this shorter version but by no means any less important.
Yours for Grace and Truth,