ONE
Series: Partners 2020
Speaker: Chris Jones
Date: 20th November 2011
Passages:
00:00:00 --> 00:00:05 The girl says to you, I really like you but just want to be good friends.
00:00:06 --> 00:00:10 And then you discover that they've been texting and messaging your best friend
00:00:10 --> 00:00:13 behind your back and carrying on a relationship with them.
00:00:13 --> 00:00:14 How do you feel?
00:00:16 --> 00:00:17 Angry.
00:00:19 --> 00:00:24 And the question is, when the anger flares, what do you do with the hostility?
00:00:24 --> 00:00:24 Angry.
00:00:25 --> 00:00:30 What do you do with the anger that you feel towards this person who was before your friend?
00:00:30 --> 00:00:35 Or when you're married, your spouse has a credit card.
00:00:36 --> 00:00:38 Maybe you've seen your mum and dad do this.
00:00:38 --> 00:00:41 And they go on a shopping trip and they load up the credit card.
00:00:41 --> 00:00:45 They just come back from the shops having spent a lot more than they were meant to have spent
00:00:45 --> 00:00:46 on the credit card.
00:00:46 --> 00:00:50 And mum or dad suddenly realises that the other one has caused the family huge problems for
00:00:50 --> 00:00:56 the next few months as they grapple with paying a debt which they're otherwise unable to afford.
00:00:56 --> 00:00:59 And so one of them is very, very angry with the other.
00:01:00 --> 00:01:02 What do you do with the hostility?
00:01:02 --> 00:01:04 What do you do with the anger?
00:01:06 --> 00:01:08 Well, you've got your mum and dad's car.
00:01:08 --> 00:01:09 They've given it to you.
00:01:09 --> 00:01:10 You're on your red peas.
00:01:11 --> 00:01:13 And you do what you know you shouldn't have done.
00:01:13 --> 00:01:15 You've had a couple of drinks.
00:01:15 --> 00:01:21 It's not very intoxicated but you have an accident.
00:01:22 --> 00:01:25 And the car's not covered by insurance.
00:01:27 --> 00:01:28 And you've got to go home.
00:01:29 --> 00:01:35 Well, the policeman takes you home to tell your mum and dad the story of what has happened.
00:01:38 --> 00:01:38 They're furious.
00:01:40 --> 00:01:43 What does it take to remove the hostility?
00:01:43 --> 00:01:45 Now, I can give you Ephesians 2 in a nutshell.
00:01:45 --> 00:01:48 So let me tell you Ephesians 2 in a nutshell.
00:01:48 --> 00:01:54 The first half which Deb preached last week is about how God removes hostility between him
00:01:54 --> 00:01:55 and people.
00:01:55 --> 00:01:59 And the second part where I'm particularly focusing tonight but I want to spend a little
00:01:59 --> 00:02:05 bit of time in the first part is how God deals with hostility between people.
00:02:05 --> 00:02:11 So between us and God and between us and one another.
00:02:12 --> 00:02:14 And he uses a particular example to make that.
00:02:14 --> 00:02:18 So if you remember that, you've got the thruster tonight but it's quite another thing to take
00:02:18 --> 00:02:20 it to heart and apply it to yourself and what that means.
00:02:21 --> 00:02:25 So Ephesians chapter 2 is written against a background of hostility.
00:02:26 --> 00:02:28 And the hostility is on those two different fronts.
00:02:28 --> 00:02:32 And Deb preached to us last week from verses 1 to 10 which is a fantastic passage.
00:02:32 --> 00:02:36 And in that passage, the hostility which is described is justified.
00:02:36 --> 00:02:41 It's between good people and God and it's about us giving offence to God and God being
00:02:41 --> 00:02:42 angry with us.
00:02:43 --> 00:02:44 And in verse 1 it says,
00:02:44 --> 00:03:13 Now that's a mouthful if you've never heard it before but let me tell you it's very simple.
00:03:13 --> 00:03:19 You, me and everybody else dead in transgressions and sin.
00:03:22 --> 00:03:29 God is justifiably angry and we are described as by nature objects of his anger.
00:03:31 --> 00:03:39 So people who have rejected God, which is the whole lot of us, are dead meat as far as God
00:03:39 --> 00:03:41 is concerned without Christ.
00:03:43 --> 00:03:49 And it's a problem because when you're dead, you can't do anything to change your circumstance.
00:03:49 --> 00:03:52 Death is the ultimate description of helplessness.
00:03:52 --> 00:04:00 So the big message of the first half of Ephesians is what God has done about this situation.
00:04:00 --> 00:04:07 So in verses 4 and 5 he declares the great news, the great thing that God has done.
00:04:07 --> 00:04:10 He's taken the initiative, he's stepped into this situation and it says,
00:04:10 --> 00:04:29 And so it says that God has actually stepped into the middle of this hostility himself, even though it's his own anger.
00:04:29 --> 00:04:33 He stepped into the ring, he's struck a death blow to sin and death.
00:04:33 --> 00:04:43 He died for us, he's brought us out from under his anger and we have been brought from death to life and this is described, it is by grace you have been saved.
00:04:43 --> 00:04:48 But the second half of Ephesians is about a different kind of hostility.
00:04:48 --> 00:05:00 Hostility is something that we all understand, we participate in, we've been in both sides of it, we've been really angry with somebody ourselves, we know that experience.
00:05:00 --> 00:05:07 And we also know the other experiences, which is quite a helpless experience sometimes, is to be on the receiving end of another person's anger.
00:05:07 --> 00:05:15 They're angry with me and I can't control their anger, they're just dumping on me and I'm feeling it and I'm crushed by it.
00:05:22 --> 00:05:34 God has been keeping his promises and working his purposes out through the Old Testament part of the Bible, through the descendants of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob for nearly 2 years before this is written.
00:05:34 --> 00:05:40 And in the words of Isaiah, God's people, the Jews were meant to be a light to the Gentiles.
00:05:41 --> 00:05:44 And the goodness of God was supposed to be seen in them.
00:05:45 --> 00:05:52 And nations were intended to be drawn to the Lord God Almighty who had been so kind and faithful to his people.
00:05:52 --> 00:05:55 People were meant to look on and say, I want to be part of that.
00:05:57 --> 00:05:59 But the reality was different.
00:05:59 --> 00:06:10 And the Jews had received all this goodness from God and instead of holding it with humility and holding it out in an embracing way to the nations,
00:06:11 --> 00:06:14 they had this great sense of entitlement and privilege.
00:06:15 --> 00:06:19 And they're proud of the special status that God gave them.
00:06:19 --> 00:06:24 And they looked down their noses, they despised those that didn't share it.
00:06:24 --> 00:06:26 You know, we sit in church, don't we, tonight?
00:06:26 --> 00:06:26 Right.
00:06:26 --> 00:06:31 And for those of us who understand the salvation that we've received, it is a very great thing.
00:06:32 --> 00:06:35 But what an appalling thing to hold it to ourselves and not want to share it with others.
00:06:36 --> 00:06:38 It's the grace of God that we've come under in the first place.
00:06:42 --> 00:06:46 So the Jews had a name for everybody else in the world who wasn't a Jew.
00:06:46 --> 00:06:50 They called them, our translation, Gentile.
00:06:50 --> 00:06:53 But in Greek, it's ethnos, the ethnics.
00:06:55 --> 00:06:56 We translate it nations.
00:06:56 --> 00:07:01 And when you use the word nations, we probably think of that as quite a good, a positive sort of translation.
00:07:02 --> 00:07:07 But for Jews to refer to the ethnos, it was a term of derision and hate.
00:07:07 --> 00:07:11 So if you weren't a Jew, you're an ethnic.
00:07:13 --> 00:07:18 John Stott, in his commentary, wrote that the Jew had an immense contempt for the Gentile.
00:07:18 --> 00:07:22 The Gentile said the Jews were created by God to be fuel for the fires of hell.
00:07:24 --> 00:07:25 That's what you were made for.
00:07:25 --> 00:07:28 Is anybody here tonight from a Jewish background, if you want to say?
00:07:28 --> 00:07:28 You don't have to.
00:07:29 --> 00:07:32 My presumption is that most of us aren't.
00:07:32 --> 00:07:40 And so for the Jews, we are fodder for the fires of hell.
00:07:41 --> 00:07:41 Back here.
00:07:43 --> 00:07:48 And God said, God, they said, loves only Israel of all the nations that he has made.
00:07:48 --> 00:07:52 It was not even lawful to render help to a Gentile mother in childbirth.
00:07:53 --> 00:07:57 For that would simply be to bring another Gentile into the world.
00:07:57 --> 00:08:02 And until Christ came, the Gentiles were an object of contempt to the Jews.
00:08:03 --> 00:08:04 The barrier between them was absolute.
00:08:05 --> 00:08:09 If a Jewish boy married a Gentile girl or a Gentile girl married a Jewish boy,
00:08:10 --> 00:08:12 the family would have the funeral for them.
00:08:13 --> 00:08:17 Such contact with a Gentile was the equivalent of death.
00:08:19 --> 00:08:22 The separation between Jew and Gentile was seen in the temple.
00:08:24 --> 00:08:26 God didn't actually live in the temple,
00:08:26 --> 00:08:29 but the centre of the temple was the symbol of where God's name was
00:08:29 --> 00:08:31 and his place was and how he dwelt with his people.
00:08:32 --> 00:08:34 And the Jews could come fairly close,
00:08:34 --> 00:08:36 but the Gentiles had to stand at a distance and look,
00:08:37 --> 00:08:40 stand outside the gate, stand outside the wall and look into the temple,
00:08:41 --> 00:08:43 but not come close into the temple.
00:08:45 --> 00:08:48 And archaeologists have actually found some of the signs
00:08:48 --> 00:08:51 which were around the temple, saying, stop.
00:08:51 --> 00:08:55 And they said these words exactly,
00:08:55 --> 00:08:59 no foreigner may enter within the barrier and enclosure around the temple.
00:08:59 --> 00:09:04 Anyone who is caught doing so will have himself to blame for his own ensuing death.
00:09:05 --> 00:09:07 Stop or die.
00:09:07 --> 00:09:12 Really interesting, you catch a glimpse of it in the book,
00:09:12 --> 00:09:13 in Acts of the Apostles,
00:09:13 --> 00:09:18 because there's a place there where Paul is in serious trouble with the Jewish authority
00:09:18 --> 00:09:21 because they heard a rumour that he'd actually desecrated the temple
00:09:21 --> 00:09:23 by taking Jews into the temple area.
00:09:23 --> 00:09:25 Something he shouldn't, he didn't do it, but that's what they thought he did.
00:09:25 --> 00:09:30 So these guys really hated one another.
00:09:31 --> 00:09:35 And the hatred is particularly driven by the Jew towards the Gentile.
00:09:37 --> 00:09:40 There is a state of enmity between two groups of people
00:09:40 --> 00:09:44 that God had always intended to draw to himself.
00:09:47 --> 00:09:49 Now we understand hostility.
00:09:49 --> 00:09:50 We played with that at the beginning.
00:09:50 --> 00:09:52 We engage in it one way or another.
00:09:52 --> 00:09:56 We've been on the giving and we've been on the receiving end, I presume.
00:09:59 --> 00:10:00 When people are fighting,
00:10:01 --> 00:10:03 when they're having a quarrel with one another,
00:10:04 --> 00:10:07 we have to be very careful when we listen to one another's stories.
00:10:07 --> 00:10:08 Who do we listen to first?
00:10:08 --> 00:10:10 We listen to our friend, don't we?
00:10:12 --> 00:10:13 In my family,
00:10:14 --> 00:10:15 the kids when they're younger,
00:10:15 --> 00:10:16 they don't do it anymore,
00:10:16 --> 00:10:18 but they have a spat with one another.
00:10:18 --> 00:10:23 And sometimes they come running to mum or dad
00:10:23 --> 00:10:25 and both of them may be trying to tell their story
00:10:25 --> 00:10:26 and win their case and win you over
00:10:26 --> 00:10:29 and help you to understand why the other one got it exactly wrong
00:10:29 --> 00:10:30 and I was right.
00:10:31 --> 00:10:32 And Kerry and I get involved
00:10:32 --> 00:10:33 and all of a sudden,
00:10:33 --> 00:10:35 Kerry and I are arguing and fighting with one another
00:10:35 --> 00:10:37 and the kids patch it up over here.
00:10:39 --> 00:10:40 And you look back afterwards
00:10:40 --> 00:10:41 and you scratch your head and think,
00:10:41 --> 00:10:42 how did I get involved in that?
00:10:42 --> 00:10:46 And it's the same with adults.
00:10:46 --> 00:10:47 We listen to our friends.
00:10:49 --> 00:10:51 We know that they always tell us the truth.
00:10:53 --> 00:10:55 But we know that they tell us their hurts
00:10:55 --> 00:10:57 from their perspective and with their flavour.
00:10:58 --> 00:11:03 And most of us shade ourselves in a better light
00:11:03 --> 00:11:05 than the person that we disagree with
00:11:05 --> 00:11:07 because we probably want to convince you
00:11:07 --> 00:11:08 that we're right and they're wrong, don't we?
00:11:08 --> 00:11:13 One thing's absolutely certain.
00:11:14 --> 00:11:15 There's always another side.
00:11:17 --> 00:11:19 And sometimes it's come from a really simple thing
00:11:19 --> 00:11:20 at the beginning of one person
00:11:20 --> 00:11:22 just not understanding clearly
00:11:22 --> 00:11:25 what the other person was trying to communicate.
00:11:29 --> 00:11:31 I said something to a friend the other week
00:11:31 --> 00:11:33 and it muddied the waters for me
00:11:33 --> 00:11:36 and it created feelings of distress and alienation,
00:11:36 --> 00:11:37 all sorts of things.
00:11:37 --> 00:11:39 And then we talked about it.
00:11:40 --> 00:11:42 And when we talked about it,
00:11:42 --> 00:11:46 I realised that I'd distorted things in my mind
00:11:46 --> 00:11:49 and gone to places on my own
00:11:49 --> 00:11:50 where I'd got it wrong.
00:11:53 --> 00:11:55 Ephesians chapter 2 is a wonderful chapter
00:11:55 --> 00:11:57 and verses 11 to 22 in particular
00:11:57 --> 00:12:00 because it declares that God has engaged
00:12:00 --> 00:12:04 in a great exercise in conflict resolution between people.
00:12:04 --> 00:12:10 God is in the business of repairing and restoring relationships.
00:12:12 --> 00:12:16 And he addresses both sides of this Jew-Gentile divide
00:12:16 --> 00:12:16 one at a time.
00:12:16 --> 00:12:18 He goes to the Gentile first,
00:12:18 --> 00:12:19 the ethnic, the ethnos.
00:12:20 --> 00:12:22 And in verse 12 he says,
00:12:22 --> 00:12:41 Now let's put ourselves in those shoes because that's us.
00:12:41 --> 00:12:44 Before Christ,
00:12:45 --> 00:12:47 you were destitute.
00:12:48 --> 00:12:49 We were destitute.
00:12:50 --> 00:12:52 We weren't part of the covenants
00:12:52 --> 00:12:55 or the deals that God had done with people.
00:12:55 --> 00:12:58 They didn't know him.
00:12:59 --> 00:13:01 We were genuine no-hopers,
00:13:01 --> 00:13:03 no relationship with God's people,
00:13:03 --> 00:13:04 no relationship with God.
00:13:05 --> 00:13:06 We stood outside his promises.
00:13:06 --> 00:13:08 We had nothing to look forward to
00:13:08 --> 00:13:11 except judgment and rejection,
00:13:12 --> 00:13:14 fodders for the fires of hell,
00:13:15 --> 00:13:17 as our Jewish enemies would say.
00:13:17 --> 00:13:23 But it's not where God wants things to remain.
00:13:24 --> 00:13:26 And in verse 13 it says,
00:13:26 --> 00:13:28 But now in Christ you who were once far off
00:13:28 --> 00:13:31 have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
00:13:33 --> 00:13:37 God has acted to bring those who were far off near.
00:13:37 --> 00:13:38 He's brought us in.
00:13:39 --> 00:13:41 And he's brought us in from a long way out.
00:13:44 --> 00:13:46 And he didn't do it by making us Jews.
00:13:47 --> 00:13:51 We are brought near to God by the blood of Christ
00:13:51 --> 00:13:53 shed on the cross for our sins.
00:13:54 --> 00:13:55 We have been forgiven
00:13:55 --> 00:13:59 through the undeserved kindness and grace of God.
00:13:59 --> 00:14:00 It's a wonderful message.
00:14:00 --> 00:14:02 It's a wonderful place that we've been brought to.
00:14:06 --> 00:14:08 But this is not a hostility.
00:14:08 --> 00:14:09 This is not a divide
00:14:09 --> 00:14:11 which is about one side being really wrong
00:14:11 --> 00:14:13 and the other side being right.
00:14:14 --> 00:14:16 Both sides have to move in their thinking
00:14:16 --> 00:14:18 and in their stance.
00:14:18 --> 00:14:21 They both have to understand God in a new way
00:14:21 --> 00:14:23 for true reconciliation to occur.
00:14:23 --> 00:14:25 And so he turns and he speaks to the Jews
00:14:25 --> 00:14:28 and he says in verse 15,
00:14:30 --> 00:14:31 Christ has abolished the law
00:14:31 --> 00:14:34 with its commandments and ordinances.
00:14:34 --> 00:14:38 that he might create in himself one new humanity
00:14:38 --> 00:14:39 in the place of the two
00:14:39 --> 00:14:41 thus making peace.
00:14:43 --> 00:14:45 And he might reconcile both groups to God
00:14:45 --> 00:14:47 in one body through the cross
00:14:47 --> 00:14:51 thus putting to death that hostility through it.
00:14:51 --> 00:14:55 It's a big statement.
00:14:55 --> 00:14:59 The commandments and the laws have been abolished.
00:15:02 --> 00:15:06 That is a bombshell which was dropped by the Lord Jesus himself
00:15:06 --> 00:15:07 and it got him executed.
00:15:09 --> 00:15:12 It's continued in the lives of the apostles
00:15:12 --> 00:15:15 and some of them are losing their lives for it as well.
00:15:15 --> 00:15:20 Because I think if you're a Jew
00:15:20 --> 00:15:21 and you hear somebody come along
00:15:21 --> 00:15:24 and say the commandments and the laws have been abolished
00:15:24 --> 00:15:26 then what you really hear
00:15:26 --> 00:15:27 when that is said
00:15:27 --> 00:15:29 you hear something said like
00:15:29 --> 00:15:31 it's now okay to lie
00:15:31 --> 00:15:32 and steal
00:15:32 --> 00:15:33 and commit adultery
00:15:33 --> 00:15:34 and do murder
00:15:34 --> 00:15:35 and do whatever you like
00:15:35 --> 00:15:36 go for it
00:15:36 --> 00:15:39 because these guys are saying
00:15:39 --> 00:15:41 the law has been abolished.
00:15:41 --> 00:15:46 But that's not what it's about.
00:15:50 --> 00:15:52 The law has been abolished
00:15:52 --> 00:15:53 but in a sense
00:15:53 --> 00:15:55 it has been completely superseded.
00:15:55 --> 00:15:57 Everything that the law was designed to do
00:15:57 --> 00:15:59 has been met in Christ.
00:15:59 --> 00:16:01 It has been completely fulfilled in Christ.
00:16:02 --> 00:16:03 When I was a child
00:16:03 --> 00:16:04 I'd go with my mum
00:16:04 --> 00:16:06 and do the shops in D.Y.
00:16:06 --> 00:16:07 Deb probably did this too.
00:16:07 --> 00:16:08 Hmm.
00:16:10 --> 00:16:12 All the banks in the northern beaches
00:16:12 --> 00:16:13 were down in D.Y.
00:16:13 --> 00:16:14 even before Inghamall.
00:16:15 --> 00:16:17 That says how old I am doesn't it?
00:16:18 --> 00:16:18 And
00:16:18 --> 00:16:22 my mum would queue up
00:16:22 --> 00:16:24 one after another
00:16:24 --> 00:16:25 at three or four different banks
00:16:25 --> 00:16:26 moving money around
00:16:26 --> 00:16:30 and she'd have me and my brother and sister in tow
00:16:30 --> 00:16:32 and we were really little
00:16:32 --> 00:16:33 and we'd go from one bank to another
00:16:33 --> 00:16:35 getting bored stiff
00:16:35 --> 00:16:36 while she waited in queues
00:16:36 --> 00:16:38 while they counted money
00:16:38 --> 00:16:39 and sometimes going back
00:16:39 --> 00:16:40 to the first bank
00:16:40 --> 00:16:41 that she started with
00:16:41 --> 00:16:42 because she had to take something back there
00:16:42 --> 00:16:43 after she'd gone to that one.
00:16:46 --> 00:16:48 I got sick of writing on those bank slips.
00:16:52 --> 00:16:53 You don't do that anymore.
00:16:55 --> 00:16:56 You sit at home
00:16:56 --> 00:16:58 you push a few buttons on the internet
00:16:58 --> 00:16:59 we still love money don't we?
00:16:59 --> 00:17:00 We move it around
00:17:00 --> 00:17:01 we haven't got the tax for money
00:17:01 --> 00:17:03 but you do it on the internet
00:17:03 --> 00:17:05 it's all done in five minutes
00:17:05 --> 00:17:06 and you go home
00:17:06 --> 00:17:09 old ways are made completely obsolete
00:17:09 --> 00:17:09 by the new
00:17:09 --> 00:17:10 and thank God for it.
00:17:12 --> 00:17:14 You guys and girls have got it easy.
00:17:19 --> 00:17:21 So Jesus has made the old way obsolete
00:17:21 --> 00:17:26 and even the Jews have to move ground
00:17:26 --> 00:17:27 in their understanding
00:17:27 --> 00:17:28 of this process of reconciliation.
00:17:29 --> 00:17:31 They can't cling to the things they used to.
00:17:31 --> 00:17:33 So when Jesus died on the cross
00:17:33 --> 00:17:34 the Jews long awaited Messiah
00:17:34 --> 00:17:36 became the perfect sacrifice
00:17:36 --> 00:17:38 that never needed to be offered again.
00:17:39 --> 00:17:41 He died for the sins of his own people
00:17:41 --> 00:17:42 the Jews
00:17:42 --> 00:17:45 but he also died for the sins
00:17:45 --> 00:17:47 of people in the world
00:17:47 --> 00:17:48 who knew nothing of God
00:17:48 --> 00:17:51 and nothing of his people Israel.
00:17:51 --> 00:17:53 He died for the nations as well.
00:17:53 --> 00:17:57 And that's why he writes
00:17:57 --> 00:17:58 in verses 17 and 18
00:17:58 --> 00:18:01 he came and proclaimed
00:18:01 --> 00:18:03 peace to you who were far off
00:18:03 --> 00:18:06 and peace to those who were near
00:18:06 --> 00:18:09 for through him both of us
00:18:09 --> 00:18:12 have access in one spirit to the father
00:18:12 --> 00:18:15 peace to the far off the Gentiles
00:18:15 --> 00:18:17 peace to those who were near the Jews
00:18:17 --> 00:18:20 the hostility that existed between them
00:18:20 --> 00:18:22 and that kept them separated
00:18:22 --> 00:18:24 has been completely extinguished
00:18:24 --> 00:18:26 and dealt with in Christ.
00:18:26 --> 00:18:28 We have been brought together
00:18:28 --> 00:18:29 by the Lord Jesus Christ
00:18:29 --> 00:18:30 he has made us one
00:18:30 --> 00:18:31 through Jesus
00:18:31 --> 00:18:33 we have access to God
00:18:33 --> 00:18:34 through his spirit.
00:18:38 --> 00:18:40 And you get this picture
00:18:40 --> 00:18:43 of God being the most amazing reconciler
00:18:43 --> 00:18:45 bringing people who absolutely hated
00:18:45 --> 00:18:47 one another's guts together
00:18:47 --> 00:18:50 and it happened through the death of his son
00:18:50 --> 00:18:52 by the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ
00:18:52 --> 00:18:55 and God extinguished hostility
00:18:55 --> 00:18:57 between himself and people
00:18:57 --> 00:18:59 he removed hostility
00:18:59 --> 00:19:00 between people and people
00:19:00 --> 00:19:01 you and me
00:19:01 --> 00:19:05 that we can be in relationship again.
00:19:08 --> 00:19:10 And it's God's church
00:19:10 --> 00:19:12 that bears witness to that reality.
00:19:12 --> 00:19:14 Verse 19
00:19:14 --> 00:19:16 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens
00:19:16 --> 00:19:19 but you are citizens with the saints
00:19:19 --> 00:19:22 and also members of the household of God
00:19:22 --> 00:19:25 built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets
00:19:25 --> 00:19:28 with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone
00:19:28 --> 00:19:32 and in him the whole structure is joined together
00:19:32 --> 00:19:34 and grows into a holy temple in the Lord
00:19:34 --> 00:19:38 in whom you also are built together spiritually
00:19:38 --> 00:19:40 into a dwelling place for God.
00:19:40 --> 00:19:44 You get this magnificent picture
00:19:44 --> 00:19:45 of God doing something quite glorious
00:19:45 --> 00:19:47 in building his church.
00:19:47 --> 00:19:49 People who were once deadly enemies
00:19:49 --> 00:19:51 are brought together by the blood of Christ.
00:19:52 --> 00:19:54 Outsiders are now regarded as citizens
00:19:54 --> 00:19:55 and members with the saints.
00:19:56 --> 00:19:57 In fact it says
00:19:57 --> 00:19:58 we're built upon the foundations
00:19:58 --> 00:20:00 of the apostles and prophets.
00:20:01 --> 00:20:03 That's a great description
00:20:03 --> 00:20:04 because the apostolic preaching
00:20:04 --> 00:20:06 which is recorded in the New Testament
00:20:06 --> 00:20:08 as well as the prophets of the Old Testament
00:20:08 --> 00:20:11 the scriptures anticipating the coming of Christ
00:20:11 --> 00:20:13 it's really saying
00:20:13 --> 00:20:13 in a funny way
00:20:13 --> 00:20:15 that the church is founded
00:20:15 --> 00:20:15 on the word of God.
00:20:18 --> 00:20:20 And so word based ministry
00:20:20 --> 00:20:21 is at the heart of what we do
00:20:21 --> 00:20:23 it brings the dead to life.
00:20:25 --> 00:20:26 And the cornerstone
00:20:26 --> 00:20:27 of this magnificent building
00:20:27 --> 00:20:28 is Christ himself.
00:20:30 --> 00:20:31 We keep proclaiming
00:20:31 --> 00:20:32 the life saving message
00:20:32 --> 00:20:34 of a crucified and resurrected saviour.
00:20:35 --> 00:20:35 We believe
00:20:35 --> 00:20:36 if you believe in Jesus
00:20:36 --> 00:20:38 you respond to that message
00:20:38 --> 00:20:39 and trust Jesus Christ as Lord
00:20:39 --> 00:20:40 you are saved.
00:20:45 --> 00:20:46 So it's talking about
00:20:46 --> 00:20:47 God's people together.
00:20:47 --> 00:20:49 This is not you just in your seat
00:20:49 --> 00:20:49 by yourself.
00:20:49 --> 00:20:51 This is us as a group of people
00:20:51 --> 00:20:51 together
00:20:51 --> 00:20:55 that God is corporately
00:20:55 --> 00:20:56 building into a spiritual building
00:20:56 --> 00:20:58 in which his spirit dwells.
00:21:00 --> 00:21:00 I would think that
00:21:00 --> 00:21:01 before I came tonight
00:21:01 --> 00:21:02 if I asked many of you
00:21:02 --> 00:21:04 where does the Holy Spirit dwell
00:21:04 --> 00:21:05 if you're a Christian believer
00:21:05 --> 00:21:07 you would have said in my heart
00:21:07 --> 00:21:08 he indwells me
00:21:08 --> 00:21:09 and he empowers my life
00:21:09 --> 00:21:10 and that's a true thing to say.
00:21:11 --> 00:21:12 But the language here
00:21:12 --> 00:21:13 in this passage
00:21:13 --> 00:21:14 is not focused on you
00:21:14 --> 00:21:15 and your individual experience
00:21:16 --> 00:21:17 it's focused on
00:21:17 --> 00:21:19 the powerful effect
00:21:19 --> 00:21:20 of the spirit of God
00:21:20 --> 00:21:20 being at work
00:21:20 --> 00:21:22 in the body of his people.
00:21:27 --> 00:21:29 If you understand this teaching
00:21:29 --> 00:21:31 it should completely transform
00:21:31 --> 00:21:33 the way you view church.
00:21:34 --> 00:21:35 I've got a hunch
00:21:35 --> 00:21:36 that a lot of people
00:21:36 --> 00:21:37 at 5 o'clock
00:21:37 --> 00:21:38 or 5.30
00:21:38 --> 00:21:39 don't have the same
00:21:39 --> 00:21:40 sorts of problems
00:21:40 --> 00:21:40 as some of the people
00:21:40 --> 00:21:41 in the morning.
00:21:44 --> 00:21:46 I think people
00:21:46 --> 00:21:48 and some of us
00:21:48 --> 00:21:49 have good theology
00:21:49 --> 00:21:51 have good Bible understanding
00:21:51 --> 00:21:52 when we read these things
00:21:52 --> 00:21:53 but our passions
00:21:53 --> 00:21:54 and our feelings
00:21:54 --> 00:21:56 lead us to places
00:21:56 --> 00:21:57 that don't really reflect it.
00:21:59 --> 00:22:00 Probably an example of that
00:22:00 --> 00:22:01 a while back
00:22:01 --> 00:22:02 talking about
00:22:02 --> 00:22:03 if you changed the church around
00:22:03 --> 00:22:04 and changed it
00:22:04 --> 00:22:04 from one direction
00:22:04 --> 00:22:05 to another
00:22:05 --> 00:22:06 and one person said
00:22:06 --> 00:22:08 but this is the church
00:22:08 --> 00:22:09 and it's so important
00:22:09 --> 00:22:10 that we've got the long aisle
00:22:10 --> 00:22:11 and why is it important
00:22:11 --> 00:22:12 that we've got the long aisle?
00:22:13 --> 00:22:14 So it's there for us
00:22:14 --> 00:22:15 to have a long aisle
00:22:15 --> 00:22:15 to walk down
00:22:15 --> 00:22:16 when we do weddings.
00:22:18 --> 00:22:19 And the notion of church
00:22:19 --> 00:22:20 and the importance
00:22:20 --> 00:22:20 of the building
00:22:20 --> 00:22:21 anyway gets distorted
00:22:21 --> 00:22:22 and we go to funny places
00:22:22 --> 00:22:23 with it.
00:22:23 --> 00:22:24 The church of God
00:22:24 --> 00:22:25 is not the building
00:22:25 --> 00:22:27 it's a spiritual community
00:22:27 --> 00:22:29 and so the church
00:22:29 --> 00:22:30 is not the building
00:22:30 --> 00:22:30 as beautiful
00:22:30 --> 00:22:31 or as ugly
00:22:31 --> 00:22:32 as you think this is
00:22:32 --> 00:22:33 everybody will have
00:22:33 --> 00:22:33 their own opinions
00:22:33 --> 00:22:34 about what they think
00:22:34 --> 00:22:35 about the building
00:22:35 --> 00:22:36 this is a space
00:22:36 --> 00:22:37 in which the people of God
00:22:37 --> 00:22:38 gather to worship God
00:22:38 --> 00:22:39 and to encourage
00:22:39 --> 00:22:40 each other in Christ.
00:22:42 --> 00:22:43 And if this building
00:22:43 --> 00:22:44 wasn't here
00:22:44 --> 00:22:44 or if our government
00:22:44 --> 00:22:45 said to us
00:22:45 --> 00:22:46 in a few years
00:22:46 --> 00:22:46 down the track
00:22:46 --> 00:22:47 you can't meet there
00:22:47 --> 00:22:47 you're not allowed
00:22:47 --> 00:22:48 to gather as Christians
00:22:48 --> 00:22:50 I hope that you
00:22:50 --> 00:22:51 would ignore the government
00:22:51 --> 00:22:51 at that point
00:22:51 --> 00:22:52 and maybe not come
00:22:52 --> 00:22:52 to this building
00:22:52 --> 00:22:53 because it might be
00:22:53 --> 00:22:54 dangerous for you
00:22:54 --> 00:22:55 but go and meet
00:22:55 --> 00:22:56 down in Blue Gum Forest
00:22:56 --> 00:22:57 or Beach and Park
00:22:57 --> 00:22:58 devil provide the toilets
00:22:58 --> 00:22:58 and the food
00:22:58 --> 00:22:59 but Beach and Park
00:22:59 --> 00:23:01 or somebody's home
00:23:01 --> 00:23:02 but go somewhere
00:23:02 --> 00:23:03 meet together
00:23:03 --> 00:23:04 and do the same sorts
00:23:04 --> 00:23:04 of things
00:23:04 --> 00:23:05 that we're doing
00:23:05 --> 00:23:06 tonight in this building
00:23:06 --> 00:23:09 and you see the beauty
00:23:09 --> 00:23:10 and the miracle
00:23:10 --> 00:23:11 of what God has done
00:23:11 --> 00:23:12 he gathers people
00:23:12 --> 00:23:14 from whom his hostility
00:23:14 --> 00:23:15 has been removed
00:23:15 --> 00:23:15 and from that
00:23:15 --> 00:23:16 he opens the door
00:23:16 --> 00:23:17 to relating
00:23:17 --> 00:23:18 without hostility
00:23:18 --> 00:23:18 to one another
00:23:18 --> 00:23:20 we've already said
00:23:20 --> 00:23:21 most of us
00:23:21 --> 00:23:21 don't come from
00:23:21 --> 00:23:22 Jewish backgrounds
00:23:22 --> 00:23:23 this is about us
00:23:23 --> 00:23:24 where we've come
00:23:24 --> 00:23:25 we've been brought in
00:23:25 --> 00:23:26 we are privileged outsiders
00:23:26 --> 00:23:28 who have been invited
00:23:28 --> 00:23:28 into the family
00:23:28 --> 00:23:30 by the blood of Christ
00:23:30 --> 00:23:32 maybe not so much
00:23:32 --> 00:23:32 tonight
00:23:32 --> 00:23:33 but in the morning
00:23:33 --> 00:23:34 there are so many
00:23:34 --> 00:23:36 different ethnicities
00:23:36 --> 00:23:37 which are represented
00:23:37 --> 00:23:38 in our church family
00:23:38 --> 00:23:39 and we gather
00:23:39 --> 00:23:40 as the people of God
00:23:40 --> 00:23:41 and when we gather
00:23:41 --> 00:23:42 as the people of God
00:23:42 --> 00:23:43 we gather as one
00:23:43 --> 00:23:45 because God has dealt
00:23:45 --> 00:23:46 with our hostilities
00:23:46 --> 00:23:46 in the cross
00:23:46 --> 00:23:47 of the Lord Jesus Christ
00:23:47 --> 00:23:49 no one culture
00:23:49 --> 00:23:50 stands over another
00:23:50 --> 00:23:51 we need the blood
00:23:51 --> 00:23:52 of the Lord Jesus Christ
00:23:52 --> 00:23:53 to make us one
00:23:53 --> 00:23:56 it's not just in house
00:23:56 --> 00:23:58 that this teaching applies
00:23:58 --> 00:24:00 or it's not just in house
00:24:00 --> 00:24:02 that this remarkable building
00:24:02 --> 00:24:03 has an impact
00:24:03 --> 00:24:03 and remember
00:24:03 --> 00:24:05 this remarkable building
00:24:05 --> 00:24:06 is a spiritual community
00:24:06 --> 00:24:09 it impacts God's world
00:24:09 --> 00:24:09 as well
00:24:09 --> 00:24:11 we as a body
00:24:11 --> 00:24:12 in the sermon
00:24:12 --> 00:24:12 on the mount
00:24:12 --> 00:24:13 Jesus calls us
00:24:13 --> 00:24:14 to be salt and light
00:24:14 --> 00:24:16 not just as individuals
00:24:16 --> 00:24:17 but as the body
00:24:17 --> 00:24:17 of believers
00:24:17 --> 00:24:18 that we are
00:24:18 --> 00:24:19 in the world
00:24:19 --> 00:24:20 in which we live
00:24:20 --> 00:24:22 I had a fantastic time
00:24:22 --> 00:24:23 over the last week
00:24:23 --> 00:24:23 reading a book
00:24:23 --> 00:24:25 by Michael Cassidy
00:24:25 --> 00:24:26 who was the long term
00:24:26 --> 00:24:27 leader of African
00:24:27 --> 00:24:28 Evangelistic Enterprise
00:24:28 --> 00:24:30 which is the organisation
00:24:30 --> 00:24:31 that Darian and Vanessa
00:24:31 --> 00:24:32 serve with in Africa
00:24:32 --> 00:24:34 and he wrote a book
00:24:34 --> 00:24:35 he's written a number
00:24:35 --> 00:24:35 of books
00:24:35 --> 00:24:36 but one of the books
00:24:36 --> 00:24:36 he wrote
00:24:36 --> 00:24:37 was called
00:24:37 --> 00:24:38 A Witness Forever
00:24:38 --> 00:24:40 and it's an account
00:24:40 --> 00:24:41 of South Africa's transition
00:24:41 --> 00:24:42 from apartheid
00:24:42 --> 00:24:43 to democracy
00:24:43 --> 00:24:45 which is in the early 1990s
00:24:45 --> 00:24:48 the year was 1994
00:24:48 --> 00:24:50 and at the beginning
00:24:50 --> 00:24:50 of April
00:24:50 --> 00:24:51 a civil war
00:24:51 --> 00:24:52 began in Rwanda
00:24:52 --> 00:24:54 that led to genocide
00:24:54 --> 00:24:56 which claimed
00:24:56 --> 00:24:57 800 lives
00:24:57 --> 00:24:59 in 100 days
00:24:59 --> 00:25:02 it's one of the most
00:25:02 --> 00:25:02 appalling things
00:25:02 --> 00:25:03 that's happened
00:25:03 --> 00:25:04 in my own lifetime
00:25:04 --> 00:25:07 and at the same time
00:25:07 --> 00:25:08 South Africa
00:25:08 --> 00:25:09 was sitting
00:25:09 --> 00:25:10 on a powder keg
00:25:10 --> 00:25:11 and people believed
00:25:11 --> 00:25:12 that something similar
00:25:12 --> 00:25:12 might happen
00:25:12 --> 00:25:16 the first post-apartheid
00:25:16 --> 00:25:17 democratic election
00:25:17 --> 00:25:18 where Nelson Mandela
00:25:18 --> 00:25:19 became the president
00:25:19 --> 00:25:21 was scheduled
00:25:21 --> 00:25:22 for the end of April
00:25:22 --> 00:25:24 and one of the major
00:25:24 --> 00:25:26 black African parties
00:25:26 --> 00:25:27 was refusing
00:25:27 --> 00:25:27 to take part
00:25:27 --> 00:25:28 in the election
00:25:28 --> 00:25:30 so it wasn't just
00:25:30 --> 00:25:31 black white apartheid
00:25:31 --> 00:25:32 all that sort of stuff
00:25:32 --> 00:25:33 it was black on black
00:25:33 --> 00:25:34 and there were all sorts
00:25:34 --> 00:25:35 of groups and rivalries
00:25:35 --> 00:25:36 all over the place
00:25:36 --> 00:25:39 and the consequence
00:25:39 --> 00:25:40 could only be
00:25:40 --> 00:25:41 civil war
00:25:41 --> 00:25:42 if the election
00:25:42 --> 00:25:43 went ahead
00:25:43 --> 00:25:46 and it could only be
00:25:46 --> 00:25:47 civil war
00:25:47 --> 00:25:49 if it didn't go ahead
00:25:49 --> 00:25:53 and the world
00:25:53 --> 00:25:53 was watching
00:25:53 --> 00:25:55 and everyone knew
00:25:55 --> 00:25:56 that a bloodbath
00:25:56 --> 00:25:57 was likely
00:25:57 --> 00:26:00 now the international
00:26:00 --> 00:26:01 mediators
00:26:01 --> 00:26:02 Henry Kissinger
00:26:02 --> 00:26:03 who was really famous
00:26:03 --> 00:26:04 for his mediation
00:26:04 --> 00:26:05 in the Middle East
00:26:05 --> 00:26:06 and Lord Carrington
00:26:06 --> 00:26:07 from
00:26:07 --> 00:26:10 Kissinger was from the US
00:26:10 --> 00:26:10 and Carrington
00:26:10 --> 00:26:11 was from Britain
00:26:11 --> 00:26:13 arrived in South Africa
00:26:13 --> 00:26:15 on April 12
00:26:15 --> 00:26:16 and these were
00:26:16 --> 00:26:17 two big world
00:26:17 --> 00:26:18 hot shots
00:26:18 --> 00:26:19 at conflict resolution
00:26:19 --> 00:26:21 and they spent
00:26:21 --> 00:26:22 no more than
00:26:22 --> 00:26:22 48 hours
00:26:22 --> 00:26:23 meeting all the main
00:26:23 --> 00:26:24 players
00:26:24 --> 00:26:26 and they got back
00:26:26 --> 00:26:27 on their planes
00:26:27 --> 00:26:28 and they flew home
00:26:28 --> 00:26:30 on April 15
00:26:30 --> 00:26:31 having made
00:26:31 --> 00:26:33 zero progress
00:26:33 --> 00:26:35 and with Kissinger
00:26:35 --> 00:26:35 predicting
00:26:35 --> 00:26:36 Armageddon
00:26:36 --> 00:26:38 election in South Africa
00:26:38 --> 00:26:40 election day
00:26:40 --> 00:26:41 loomed only two weeks
00:26:41 --> 00:26:42 ahead
00:26:42 --> 00:26:42 April 27
00:26:42 --> 00:26:44 12 days in fact
00:26:44 --> 00:26:45 and still
00:26:45 --> 00:26:46 with no solution
00:26:46 --> 00:26:49 no man made solution
00:26:49 --> 00:26:52 long story
00:26:52 --> 00:26:54 many twists and turns
00:26:54 --> 00:26:55 great book to read
00:26:55 --> 00:26:58 but 12 days later
00:26:58 --> 00:26:59 when a relatively
00:26:59 --> 00:27:00 peaceful election
00:27:00 --> 00:27:01 occurred
00:27:01 --> 00:27:03 most of the
00:27:03 --> 00:27:04 secular media
00:27:04 --> 00:27:06 the people
00:27:06 --> 00:27:07 who don't give
00:27:07 --> 00:27:07 Christians
00:27:07 --> 00:27:08 a very good run
00:27:08 --> 00:27:09 most of the
00:27:09 --> 00:27:10 secular media
00:27:10 --> 00:27:12 was talking
00:27:12 --> 00:27:13 about this event
00:27:13 --> 00:27:14 in terms of
00:27:14 --> 00:27:15 a miracle
00:27:15 --> 00:27:15 that God
00:27:15 --> 00:27:16 had intervened
00:27:16 --> 00:27:17 and talking
00:27:17 --> 00:27:19 about the glory
00:27:19 --> 00:27:19 of what had
00:27:19 --> 00:27:20 occurred
00:27:20 --> 00:27:23 two weeks
00:27:23 --> 00:27:24 before
00:27:24 --> 00:27:25 Kissinger
00:27:25 --> 00:27:25 had walked
00:27:25 --> 00:27:26 past Michael
00:27:26 --> 00:27:27 Cassidy
00:27:27 --> 00:27:28 and scoffed
00:27:28 --> 00:27:28 at him
00:27:28 --> 00:27:28 when he said
00:27:28 --> 00:27:29 I'm praying
00:27:29 --> 00:27:29 for you
00:27:29 --> 00:27:32 what happened
00:27:32 --> 00:27:34 well a lot
00:27:34 --> 00:27:35 of things
00:27:35 --> 00:27:35 happened
00:27:35 --> 00:27:38 and many
00:27:38 --> 00:27:38 of them
00:27:38 --> 00:27:39 over a period
00:27:39 --> 00:27:40 of time
00:27:40 --> 00:27:40 but God
00:27:40 --> 00:27:41 pulled the
00:27:41 --> 00:27:41 strings
00:27:41 --> 00:27:42 in quite
00:27:42 --> 00:27:42 miraculous
00:27:42 --> 00:27:43 ways
00:27:43 --> 00:27:43 to draw
00:27:43 --> 00:27:44 them together
00:27:44 --> 00:27:44 in these
00:27:44 --> 00:27:45 next 10
00:27:45 --> 00:27:45 days
00:27:45 --> 00:27:49 and people
00:27:49 --> 00:27:50 were able
00:27:50 --> 00:27:51 to see
00:27:51 --> 00:27:52 that God
00:27:52 --> 00:27:53 brought
00:27:53 --> 00:27:54 reconciliation
00:27:54 --> 00:27:54 God
00:27:54 --> 00:27:55 ended
00:27:55 --> 00:27:56 hostility
00:27:56 --> 00:27:58 in his
00:27:58 --> 00:27:58 own way
00:27:58 --> 00:27:59 when the
00:27:59 --> 00:28:00 very best
00:28:00 --> 00:28:01 efforts
00:28:01 --> 00:28:01 of the
00:28:01 --> 00:28:02 world's
00:28:02 --> 00:28:02 biggest
00:28:02 --> 00:28:03 minds
00:28:03 --> 00:28:03 had
00:28:03 --> 00:28:04 completely
00:28:04 --> 00:28:04 failed
00:28:04 --> 00:28:08 there'd
00:28:08 --> 00:28:08 been a
00:28:08 --> 00:28:09 process
00:28:09 --> 00:28:09 which had
00:28:09 --> 00:28:09 been going
00:28:09 --> 00:28:10 on for
00:28:10 --> 00:28:10 several
00:28:10 --> 00:28:11 years
00:28:11 --> 00:28:12 where God's
00:28:12 --> 00:28:12 people
00:28:12 --> 00:28:13 a group
00:28:13 --> 00:28:13 of
00:28:13 --> 00:28:13 Christians
00:28:13 --> 00:28:14 had hosted
00:28:14 --> 00:28:14 meetings
00:28:14 --> 00:28:15 at a
00:28:15 --> 00:28:16 game lodge
00:28:16 --> 00:28:16 in a
00:28:16 --> 00:28:17 quiet part
00:28:17 --> 00:28:17 of South
00:28:17 --> 00:28:17 Africa
00:28:17 --> 00:28:19 where over
00:28:19 --> 00:28:19 a period
00:28:19 --> 00:28:20 of time
00:28:20 --> 00:28:20 numbers of
00:28:20 --> 00:28:21 significant
00:28:21 --> 00:28:22 political
00:28:22 --> 00:28:22 leaders
00:28:22 --> 00:28:22 had come
00:28:22 --> 00:28:23 and they'd
00:28:23 --> 00:28:23 met with
00:28:23 --> 00:28:24 one another
00:28:24 --> 00:28:25 with their
00:28:25 --> 00:28:25 guns under
00:28:25 --> 00:28:26 their pillows
00:28:26 --> 00:28:27 but they'd
00:28:27 --> 00:28:27 met with
00:28:27 --> 00:28:28 one another
00:28:28 --> 00:28:28 face to
00:28:28 --> 00:28:28 face
00:28:28 --> 00:28:29 man to
00:28:29 --> 00:28:30 man
00:28:30 --> 00:28:31 and they
00:28:31 --> 00:28:31 told their
00:28:31 --> 00:28:32 stories to
00:28:32 --> 00:28:33 each other
00:28:33 --> 00:28:33 of where
00:28:33 --> 00:28:33 they'd come
00:28:33 --> 00:28:34 from and
00:28:34 --> 00:28:34 expressed their
00:28:34 --> 00:28:35 difference and
00:28:35 --> 00:28:36 talked about the
00:28:36 --> 00:28:37 things that they
00:28:37 --> 00:28:38 had been grappling
00:28:38 --> 00:28:39 with and so they
00:28:39 --> 00:28:40 could no longer
00:28:40 --> 00:28:40 hide behind their
00:28:40 --> 00:28:41 opinions and their
00:28:41 --> 00:28:43 ideologies they
00:28:43 --> 00:28:43 had to face one
00:28:43 --> 00:28:44 another as people
00:28:44 --> 00:28:46 and talk as
00:28:46 --> 00:28:48 people and many
00:28:48 --> 00:28:49 of them discovered
00:28:49 --> 00:28:51 that their deadly
00:28:51 --> 00:28:52 enemy was in
00:28:52 --> 00:28:54 fact a Christian
00:28:54 --> 00:28:55 person who shared
00:28:55 --> 00:28:56 a deep Christian
00:28:56 --> 00:28:59 faith and they
00:28:59 --> 00:29:00 became able to
00:29:00 --> 00:29:01 listen to one
00:29:01 --> 00:29:02 another because
00:29:02 --> 00:29:02 God in Christ
00:29:02 --> 00:29:03 had removed the
00:29:03 --> 00:29:04 hostility that they
00:29:04 --> 00:29:05 had with one
00:29:05 --> 00:29:08 another and the
00:29:08 --> 00:29:08 other thing that
00:29:08 --> 00:29:09 was going on there
00:29:09 --> 00:29:09 are many other
00:29:09 --> 00:29:10 things going on but
00:29:10 --> 00:29:11 one of the things
00:29:11 --> 00:29:12 going on was that
00:29:12 --> 00:29:13 the church was in
00:29:13 --> 00:29:15 earnest prayer all
00:29:15 --> 00:29:15 across the nation
00:29:15 --> 00:29:18 our people from all
00:29:18 --> 00:29:18 sides and
00:29:18 --> 00:29:19 backgrounds were
00:29:19 --> 00:29:21 praying it
00:29:21 --> 00:29:22 culminated in a
00:29:22 --> 00:29:22 weekend where 30
00:29:22 --> 00:29:24 thousand people came
00:29:24 --> 00:29:24 and prayed in one
00:29:24 --> 00:29:26 place they wanted
00:29:26 --> 00:29:27 double that number
00:29:27 --> 00:29:27 but people with
00:29:27 --> 00:29:28 guns stopped many
00:29:28 --> 00:29:29 of them even getting
00:29:29 --> 00:29:30 there but people
00:29:30 --> 00:29:31 broke into smaller
00:29:31 --> 00:29:33 gatherings all over
00:29:33 --> 00:29:33 Africa and were
00:29:33 --> 00:29:35 praying for their
00:29:35 --> 00:29:38 nation and the
00:29:38 --> 00:29:39 crazy thing was that
00:29:39 --> 00:29:40 the rest of the
00:29:40 --> 00:29:42 world the first world
00:29:42 --> 00:29:43 was sending in their
00:29:43 --> 00:29:45 top journalists their
00:29:45 --> 00:29:45 top conflict
00:29:45 --> 00:29:47 journalists to film a
00:29:47 --> 00:29:50 bloodbath and God's
00:29:50 --> 00:29:51 people were on their
00:29:51 --> 00:29:52 knees in a most
00:29:52 --> 00:29:56 dramatic way but the
00:29:56 --> 00:29:57 cross of the Lord
00:29:57 --> 00:29:59 Jesus Christ is what
00:29:59 --> 00:30:00 removes God's anger
00:30:00 --> 00:30:04 from us it humbles
00:30:04 --> 00:30:05 our own hearts when
00:30:05 --> 00:30:06 we realize how much
00:30:06 --> 00:30:07 we have been forgiven
00:30:07 --> 00:30:09 and it gives us the
00:30:09 --> 00:30:10 starting point for
00:30:10 --> 00:30:11 beginning to forgive
00:30:11 --> 00:30:16 another friends the
00:30:16 --> 00:30:18 gospel of the Lord
00:30:18 --> 00:30:19 Jesus Christ should
00:30:19 --> 00:30:20 transform each one of
00:30:20 --> 00:30:23 us first so if you
00:30:23 --> 00:30:24 don't know Christ
00:30:24 --> 00:30:25 you're not in a
00:30:25 --> 00:30:26 position to be able
00:30:26 --> 00:30:27 to begin reconciling
00:30:27 --> 00:30:28 with other people
00:30:28 --> 00:30:29 because you need to
00:30:29 --> 00:30:29 have your own sins
00:30:29 --> 00:30:30 dealt with first
00:30:30 --> 00:30:34 but having had your
00:30:34 --> 00:30:35 sins dealt with it
00:30:35 --> 00:30:36 should then become the
00:30:36 --> 00:30:38 transforming power in
00:30:38 --> 00:30:39 the relationships that
00:30:39 --> 00:30:40 we have with one
00:30:40 --> 00:30:43 another I loved reading
00:30:43 --> 00:30:44 Michael Cassidy's book
00:30:44 --> 00:30:45 it had me in tears at
00:30:45 --> 00:30:46 many points because it
00:30:46 --> 00:30:47 reminded me again that
00:30:47 --> 00:30:51 God is powerful in
00:30:51 --> 00:30:53 prayer and by his
00:30:53 --> 00:30:55 spirit to remove
00:30:55 --> 00:30:56 hostility between
00:30:56 --> 00:30:57 people even nations
00:30:57 --> 00:31:00 for us to be able to
00:31:00 --> 00:31:01 sit with a brother or
00:31:01 --> 00:31:02 sister in Christ and
00:31:02 --> 00:31:04 hear what life and the
00:31:04 --> 00:31:05 world is like for them
00:31:05 --> 00:31:08 before we begin to
00:31:08 --> 00:31:09 judge them and push
00:31:09 --> 00:31:10 our genders and our
00:31:10 --> 00:31:11 grievances on them
00:31:11 --> 00:31:14 it comes back in a
00:31:14 --> 00:31:15 really practical way
00:31:15 --> 00:31:16 it comes back into our
00:31:16 --> 00:31:17 families it comes back
00:31:17 --> 00:31:19 into marriages perhaps
00:31:19 --> 00:31:20 marriages which are
00:31:20 --> 00:31:22 struggling relationships
00:31:22 --> 00:31:23 which are struggling
00:31:23 --> 00:31:26 if you are married to a
00:31:26 --> 00:31:27 Christian person if
00:31:27 --> 00:31:28 you're planning to get
00:31:28 --> 00:31:29 married to a Christian
00:31:29 --> 00:31:30 person and I hope that
00:31:30 --> 00:31:34 you are when you marry
00:31:34 --> 00:31:37 they're not just your
00:31:37 --> 00:31:41 spouse they're also your
00:31:41 --> 00:31:42 brother or sister in
00:31:42 --> 00:31:44 Christ whom he has
00:31:44 --> 00:31:44 redeemed
00:31:44 --> 00:31:48 marriage counsellor said
00:31:48 --> 00:31:49 to me once he said
00:31:49 --> 00:31:50 they said don't stop
00:31:50 --> 00:31:51 talking and listening to
00:31:51 --> 00:31:54 one another and some
00:31:54 --> 00:31:55 marriages some
00:31:55 --> 00:31:56 relationships wither on
00:31:56 --> 00:31:58 the vine as we retreat
00:31:58 --> 00:31:59 into hurt shells and
00:31:59 --> 00:32:02 stop communicating and
00:32:02 --> 00:32:03 what happens is tenderness
00:32:03 --> 00:32:06 gets lost guilt and
00:32:06 --> 00:32:09 resentment grows but God
00:32:09 --> 00:32:11 has given us great tools
00:32:11 --> 00:32:12 in Christ for dealing
00:32:12 --> 00:32:14 with hostility and
00:32:14 --> 00:32:16 resentment and finding a
00:32:16 --> 00:32:17 true and rich
00:32:17 --> 00:32:19 reconciliation which
00:32:19 --> 00:32:20 glorifies God
00:32:20 --> 00:32:22 it's the same in our
00:32:22 --> 00:32:23 church family
00:32:23 --> 00:32:26 things happen sometimes
00:32:26 --> 00:32:27 which hurt and wound
00:32:27 --> 00:32:28 deeply
00:32:28 --> 00:32:33 wrongs occur between
00:32:33 --> 00:32:35 people how we speak
00:32:35 --> 00:32:36 what we say what we
00:32:36 --> 00:32:40 thought we withdraw from
00:32:40 --> 00:32:41 one another we no longer
00:32:41 --> 00:32:44 talk to that person and
00:32:44 --> 00:32:45 all that does is confirm
00:32:45 --> 00:32:50 the fractures but God
00:32:50 --> 00:32:51 has given us the tools to
00:32:51 --> 00:32:53 keep communicating in
00:32:53 --> 00:32:55 Christ to love one
00:32:55 --> 00:32:58 another and to experience
00:32:58 --> 00:33:00 deep reconciliation which
00:33:00 --> 00:33:03 gives him glory he gives
00:33:03 --> 00:33:06 us the power to be able to
00:33:06 --> 00:33:09 begin to forgive and to lay
00:33:09 --> 00:33:11 aside the anger and the
00:33:11 --> 00:33:16 hostility so I want to say
00:33:16 --> 00:33:17 if God can save a nation
00:33:17 --> 00:33:19 heal and save a nation
00:33:19 --> 00:33:20 which I think he did do in
00:33:20 --> 00:33:21 South Africa not the end of
00:33:21 --> 00:33:22 the story but he certainly
00:33:22 --> 00:33:26 did back in 94 surely he is
00:33:26 --> 00:33:29 powerful to deal with
00:33:29 --> 00:33:31 hostility that we have and
00:33:31 --> 00:33:33 experience in in our
00:33:33 --> 00:33:36 families and in our church
00:33:36 --> 00:33:38 family in Ephesians
00:33:38 --> 00:33:40 chapter 2 it says in
00:33:40 --> 00:33:43 Christ Jesus we who were
00:33:43 --> 00:33:45 far away have been brought
00:33:45 --> 00:33:46 near by the blood of
00:33:46 --> 00:33:49 Christ we've been brought
00:33:49 --> 00:33:51 near to Christ we've also
00:33:51 --> 00:33:53 been brought near to one
00:33:53 --> 00:33:55 another and Christ binds us
00:33:55 --> 00:33:57 together or builds us
00:33:57 --> 00:33:59 together into a dwelling in
00:33:59 --> 00:34:02 which God lives by his
00:34:02 --> 00:34:08 spirit let me pray we do
00:34:08 --> 00:34:09 pray heavenly father that
00:34:09 --> 00:34:11 you would help us to grow
00:34:11 --> 00:34:13 in our understanding of
00:34:13 --> 00:34:15 what it means to be indwelt
00:34:15 --> 00:34:16 by your spirit in a
00:34:16 --> 00:34:19 corporate way we cherish
00:34:19 --> 00:34:21 you we we thank you for
00:34:21 --> 00:34:23 your mercy where you have
00:34:23 --> 00:34:24 saved us and where
00:34:24 --> 00:34:25 individually we know
00:34:25 --> 00:34:27 something of your spirit at
00:34:27 --> 00:34:29 work within us but we pray
00:34:29 --> 00:34:31 here at St Paul's that we
00:34:31 --> 00:34:32 might know something even
00:34:32 --> 00:34:35 greater which is the power
00:34:35 --> 00:34:37 of your spirit at work in
00:34:37 --> 00:34:38 us as a body as a body
00:34:38 --> 00:34:41 that we would be a
00:34:41 --> 00:34:43 transforming influence in
00:34:43 --> 00:34:45 this community in which we
00:34:45 --> 00:34:47 live and we pray this in
00:34:47 --> 00:34:49 Jesus precious name and for
00:34:49 --> 00:34:50 his sake amen
00:34:50 --> 00:34:52 him
00:34:53 --> 00:34:56 so
00:34:56 --> 00:35:11 us