There are so many bad things happening in the world around us – deep ideological and political divisions tearing nations, societies, even families apart, wars, poverty and deprivation, slavery and exploitation, on and on, that many of us have a sense of fear about where this world’s heading. Even those who believe in Jesus. 

THE DARK CLOUD

There are things happening in this world, terrible things that we never thought that we would see in our lifetimes – wars, terrorism, Christians being beheaded by Muslim extremists, all sorts of things. And as we watch this stuff on the news each night, it starts to seep into our pores; it becomes part of us. And whether we realise it or not, a sense of foreboding; a fear takes hold of our hearts and our minds.

Of course this is nothing new. I think back to the 9th of September 2001. Why is that an important date? Well, it’s exactly two days before the coordinated terrorist attacks of 9/11. But as an Australian, at least September 9th 2001 is significant to me for another reason. It’s the day that this young kid from Oz, Lleyton Hewitt, won the US Open by defeating the great Pete Sampras in just three sets.

So you can imagine that we Australians had a great old celebration over the next few days. I remember waking up just two days later and switching on the morning news on the TV and being stunned by what I saw. Those planes flying into the World Trade Centre in New York, the towers collapsing, the sheer terror of what was occurring in front of my eyes.

From the joy and elation of this young Aussie kid winning a major Grand Slam tournament against an unassailable opponent to this, this incredible terror. It’s something that changed the psyche of America as a nation. It’s changed the course of history. It affected the psyche, I think, of just about every person on the planet.

Looking back on it all after these years, I think that the biggest thing that I should be surprised about is that we were at all surprised that it happened. As though something like this had never happened before, as though something like this would never happen again.

I remember growing up. I’m part of the post war baby boomer generation that reflected the optimism of peace after the cessation of hostilities in Europe and the Pacific. My whole generation is pretty much a bunch of optimists because of the context that we were born into. And yet the whole time I was growing up the threat of nuclear annihilation hung over the world.

The very thing that had ended the war in the Pacific, nuclear holocaust, threatened to destroy the world. For thirteen days in 1962, the whole world held its breath during the Cuban missile crisis expecting the worse and hoping for the best.

So on the one hand, my generation grew up in this incredible glow of optimism. And yet this dark cloud hung over our generation. But turn back the clock a little further to generations that came before just in the twentieth century. World War 1, the war to end all wars, sixteen million dead, twenty million wounded.

The Great Depression of the 1930’s that lasted in many places for well over a decade. No jobs, people starving in hitherto affluent countries. And as if that weren’t’ all enough in 1939 World War 2 kicked off. In just under six years, sixty million people were killed in the deadliest conflict in human history. That was two point five percent of the world’s population.

Then peace. But that threat of the Cold War consuming the world, today, it’s global terrorism, the rise of religious extremism. In fact, right now there are around forty-two armed conflicts being fought around the globe and that’s been a pretty constant figure for over the last half century.

Some make the news, Israel, Palestine, Syria, Iraq, terrible atrocities. But others, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and many others see hundreds of people dying every day. And yet it seems the darker the skin is of those who are dying the less interested the western media is in reporting their deaths.

And that’s just a snapshot of what’s going on in the world today. And next month, next year perhaps the list of war zones will change slightly but they won’t be any fewer. The horror and the pure evil won’t be any less. I’ll say it again, we are seeing things happening in this world that we never thought that we would see in our lifetimes and yet this is exactly what the Bible tells us would happen. This is exactly what Jesus tells us will happen, Matthew chapter 24, verses 1 to 14.

As Jesus came out of the Temple and was going away his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the Temple. Then he asked them, ‘You see all these do you not? Truly I tell you not one stone will be left here upon another, all will be thrown down.’ When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives the disciples came to him privately saying, ‘Tell us when this will be and what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age?’

Jesus answered them, ‘Beware that no one leads you astray for many will come in my name saying ‘I am the messiah’ and they will lead many astray and you’ll hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that you are not alarmed for this must take place but the end is not yet for nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places, all this is but the beginning of the birth pangs.’

‘Then they will hand you over to be tortured and will put you to death and you’ll be hated by all nations because of my name then many will fall away and they will betray one another and hate one another and many false prophets will arise and lead many astray and because of the increase in lawlessness the love of many will grow cold but the one who endures to the end will be saved and this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world as a testimony to all the nations and then the end will come.’ (Matthew 24: 1-14)

Some things seemed so certain to these people that He was speaking to. The Temple in Jerusalem, Gods own house, surely that would stand forever, surely. Yet Jesus predicted its destruction, which is exactly what happened less than forty years later in AD 70.

So the disciples in private asked Him, ‘Hey Lord, so when is it going to happen and what will be the signs of your coming?’ What answers do you think they were expecting? What signs were they expecting? Angels with trumpets shouting, ‘Glory, glory, hallelujah’? Well why not? That’s how Jesus first coming was announced to those shepherds on some gently sloping hillside outside Bethlehem on that starry, starry night just three decades or so before.

But instead of that Jesus spoke of wars and rumours of wars. He spoke of believers being handed over to be tortured. He spoke of people falling away from their faith, of lawlessness and false prophets of the love of many of those who call themselves after His name, falling away.

And people let me tell you that’s exactly what we see happening before our very eyes today. Why are we so surprised? Why do we act as though this shouldn’t happen? Why do we tremble in our boots? These are the signs of the coming of the end of this age. This is exactly what Jesus said would happen.

And His call to us, His people, His Church is to persevere, is to not give up, is to not let our love grow cold, to hang in there and be His people until the end.

As I look around the Church today, I see in many places that the love of God’s people has grown cold. I see that we’ve become comfortable in our safe little soft pews (in the west in particular). We worry about our petty little first world problems while our brothers and sisters in Iraq are being beheaded. We, the western Church in particular, spend money on ourselves while our brothers and sisters around the world are in such desperate need. And in our personal lives we allow doom and gloom and foreboding and fear to immobilise us.

Well enough is enough. I believe that God is asking us, His people today, ‘Do you love me? Do you really love me’?

Well, if you do then get out there and feed my sheep – Church. It is time for us to rise up in Jesus name. It is time for the Lion of Judah to roar.

LIVING IN FEAR

Before the break, we talked about the looming sense of dread and foreboding that world-events seem to impose on us: Wars, terrorism, atrocities, from 9/11 through to the beheading of Christians in Iraq, through to ethnic cleansing in different parts of the world.

Come on, you watch that stuff on the news often enough and it starts to get to you. But lets now bring all this closer to home. Not something out there or over there or in another country that might threaten me one day but threats much closer to home. Threats in our own backyards, under our noses, in our face because there are more people today listening to this program who live in parts of the world who are under threat than there are those sitting in some safe comfortable place where they know tonight there’s a warm, soft, dry, safe, clean bed to sleep in.

In the 165+ countries in which this program is being heard today the majority of the people who are listening are in a place where war or violence or economic deprivation and starvation are real things terribly impacting their lives. And so albeit I’m a westerner, albeit that I’m blessed to live in a safe place I want to speak into the reality of today in the lives of so many people, into the reality of the majority.

And for those who are sitting safely and comfortably in the place that God has blessed us to be, yes even our faith is under a great threat today. Increasingly secularists are demanding that we forsake our faith in the King of King’s and the Lord of Lord’s. There’s no room for religion in politics or prayer in schools or for Christian morals in the bedroom.

“Who are you?” they demand to know, ‘to tell us that same-sex relationships are wrong or that a man and a woman shouldn’t live together without being married or that people shouldn’t be able to engage in casual sex?’ Who are you to claim that your God is the only God and that all the other gods are wrong? You intolerant religious fanatic you.

Add to that the Richard Dawkins of this world with their books like The God Delusion and Christians everywhere feel as though their faith is under attack. It seems sometimes that the only things that are on the rise are Islam and Secularism. And so whether the threat to our faith and our lives is physical or psychological, whether it’s our outer life or our inner life or both that are being threatened, what I see happening around the world is that Christians are starting to behave like victims.

Instead of living in victory, the victory that Jesus came to purchase for us through His death on the cross, we start thinking like and behaving like the vanquished, as though somehow we’ve been defeated.

Wherever you live, whatever your circumstances are, however your life and your faith are being threatened today, if you believe in Jesus, you have victory in and through Him. Today. Now. Listen to this, Romans chapter 8 beginning at verse 31.

What then are we to say about all these things? If God is for us who can be against us? He who did not withhold his Son but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect, it is God who justifies? Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus who died, yes who was raised, who is at the right hand of God who indeed intercedes for us.

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all day long, we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered’. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loves us.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor present things nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. (Romans 8:31-39)

So if your life and if your faith are under attack today here are three things that you can do to put the courage and the resolve back into your heart.

The first, is to remember that the greatest victory of all human history, the death of Jesus on that cross, appeared to all and sundry like a mighty defeat.

Jesus the miracle worker, Jesus the hot-shot preacher, hanging naked, dead on a cross but on that cross He disarmed the power of satan and sin to steal your life. In fact, the Bible tells us in Colossians chapter 2, verses 13 to 15 that:

When you were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh God made you alive together with him when he forgave us all our trespasses, erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it. (Colossians 2: 13-15)

And this is something Jesus didn’t do as a victim dragged kicking and screaming to a bloody and brutal end. Not at all, Jesus said, John chapter 10 and verses 17 and 18:

For this reason the Father loves me because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me but I lay it down of my own accord. I have the power to lay it down and I have the power to take it up. I have received this command from my Father. (John 10: 17-18)

See, that very same victory of sacrifice is alive in you every time your life or your faith are attacked. Every time you’re rejected or ostracised for your faith, every time they laugh at you, belittle you, mark you as an outcast or attack you, you are more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus. Not because I say so but because God does.

The second is not to be surprised when all this happens. Please never be surprised at all because it is precisely what Jesus promises to each and every person who will take up their cross and follow Him. Have a listen, John chapter 15 verses 18 to 25.

If the world hates you be aware it hated me before it hated you. If you belong to the world the world will love you as its own but because you do not belong to the world but I have chosen you out of the world therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘Servants are not greater than their master’. If they persecuted me they’ll persecute you, if they kept my word they’ll keep your word also.

But they will do all these things to you on account of my name because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them they wouldn’t have sin but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did they would have no sin but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. It was to fulfil the word that is written in their law. They hated me without cause. (John 15:18-25)

And the third thing, the final thing I want to say to you about having victory is live out and do exactly what Jesus promises will happen to you when you are so persecuted. Here it is. He says it in the very next breath in the next two verses, John chapter 15, verses 26 and 27. He says:

When the advocate comes who I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning. (John 15: 26-27)

So let the Holy Spirit fill you with truth. How? Dust off the Bible you’ve got. Spend a lot of time reading it and praying. And it’s in that solitary place that the Holy Spirit will begin to pour His truth, the truth of God into your spirit and your soul. It’s in that place that He will give you the courage to go and do what Jesus wants you to do.

Despite the sneers and derision, despite the out-and-out threats against your faith and perhaps even against your life – go and tell people about Jesus. He has been with you and you with Him from the moment you accepted Him into your life.

Go and speak the truth in love. Go and share the wondrous story of the free gift of eternal life that is available only through Jesus at whose name one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord over all.

Because it’s time for you and me to stand up and be counted.

FIGHT OR FLIGHT

The problem with fear is that it causes us to do one of two things: It’s called the natural fight or flight response. That’s what we do when we’re endangered. Our natural human response is either to confront and fight the foe, or to run away at a million miles an hour. It’s our natural protective mechanism, but when we live with this nagging sense of fear and foreboding day after day, week after week that we’ve been talking about, that’s a terrible thing.

Either we’re angry all the time, confronting people and arguing with them … That’s what some people do when they ignore the truth of God’s Word – the security they have, the safety that they have, with their lives completely in the hands of the God who loves them (the scarred hands of Jesus)

And the other end of the spectrum is the flight response: Running away, as I said, at a million miles an hour – hiding; withdrawing; not engaging with the world around us. In fact, that’s something you see a lot with generation Y and the millennials – people in their mid-twenties and younger.They have, by and large, so disengaged from the world at large and buried themselves in their own little worlds with their friends and social media and entertainment, that it’s positively scary.

I like asking young people to explain to me the political system in their country: How it works, just in simple basic terms, and my observation is that most of them can’t because they’ve completely disengaged from the world at large (the world out there) because compared to their own little worlds, out there’s a scary place.

So, whether it’s fight or flight, let me ask you, “Do you think that that’s any way to live your life? Do you think that people who are in fight or flight mode, as a result of their response to chronic fear, are living the full and abundant and effective and victorious life that God has planned for them? That Jesus came to give them?” NOT!

That’s why this stuff that we’ve been chatting about today is so important. That’s why your Bible is so important. You know, the one that most Christians have up on some shelf at home gathering dust; because the more time you and I spend in God’s Word, the more that the power, the real manifest here-and-now power of God’s sovereignty, becomes real to us. The more the plans of God for this world and our lives become real to us, the more we start seeing this crazy chaotic sad dangerous and in many places terrible world through the eyes of God, through the Father-heart of God, through the love and the compassion of Jesus, through the desire of God to save people from their sin and bring them back to Himself.

In Isaiah 46 beginning at verse 8:

Remember this and consider; call it to mind, you transgressors. Remember the former things of old; I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My purpose shall stand; I will fulfil My intention’, calling a bird of prey from the east and the man for My purpose from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass. I have planned, and I will do it. (Isaiah 46:8-11)

That’s the truth. That’s who God is. That’s exactly what’s going on in this world. And the more that we see the world through God’s eyes, the more we spend time in His Word, getting a view of things as it were from heaven’s balcony, the more fear goes away – that chronic sense of foreboding at where this planet is headed, and where our lives are headed.

The only place, the only place to get this peace is in Jesus.

Fear, it turns out, does one of two things it either causes us to stand and fight, or to run away because we have a fight or flight response to it. And when we live with chronic fear, that constant fight or flight response is debilitating. You’ll find the words “do not be afraid” 77 times in the Bible. Do not be afraid. Hmm. That’s easier said than done.

THAT FEELING OF DESPONDENCY

So yes, we do live in a crazy, mixed up, often brutal, often confronting world, where unspeakable tragedies end up dominating the spirit of the times, or the zeitgeist as it’s often referred to.

In my grandparents’ generation, it was World War I and the Great Depression. For my parents, it was World War II. For my generation, it was the cold war and potential nuclear holocaust. And for today’s generation, it’s the terrorism that’s changed the way we think, the way we fly and so many other things about our lives.

So, on the one hand, we become despondent about the big picture. And on the other, we try to make ourselves comfortable to the extent that our finances allow – safe, cocooned in luxury for some – as a way of ignoring the geo–political dangers that loom as dark clouds on the horizon.

Will terror strike close to home? When I fly, will my plane be blown out of the sky? When will someone next attack my faith in Jesus, as being irrelevant or at worst dangerous?

See, we can try to ignore these things as much as we want, but they still loom over us and shape our outlook on life. As I said earlier on the program, we can end up feeling like victims. As someone who believes in Jesus, we can end up feeling as though our faith is under attack from all directions, and instead of being more than conquerors, we feel more like losers! And so many a Christian’s faith starts to waiver and, just as Jesus predicted, people’s love grows cold and they fall by the wayside.

It’s tragic and it’s just what the devil always intended. But here’s the thing. Whatever your circumstances might be, whatever your dark clouds that loom on your horizon or rain or your parade represent, whatever things are attacking your faith in Jesus, you and I know how all this ends.

We know that at the end of the day, Jesus wins. At the end of the day, those who believe in Jesus, win. At the end of the day, the Lion of Judah will roar. The Lion of Judah is a biblical term you hear often, but actually, it only appears once in the Bible, in Revelation Chapter 5.

Now before I share a few bits of that with you, just remember that Revelation is written in picture language – technically it’s called apocalyptic literature. It wasn’t uncommon in the Hebrew culture of old, although we have no direct equivalent in the English language today.

So, as we turn to the book of Revelation, remember with me, that God is talking to us here through word pictures, through a vision that the Apostle John had on the Greek Island of Patmos. Have a listen, Revelation chapter 5, verses 1 to 4:

Then I saw in the right hand of the one seated on the throne a scroll written on the inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals; and I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, ‘Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?’ And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it. And I began to weep bitterly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it.

So here’s the picture. John is there at the end of time. Everything is about to be revealed. The end game is about to happen. The end of all of history. The judgement of everybody who has ever lived. The final outcome that God has been working towards for all eternity, even before time began.

And he feels that very despair that in a sense, you and I can end up feeling: Christians being beheaded in Iraq, children being slaughtered in Syria, planes being blown out of the sky, our faith under attack from secularism and atheism and other religions and all different directions.

Blimey, where is my world headed? How can I make a difference? How can my faith stay strong? How’s it all going to end? Will I make it through to the end for Jesus?

They’re all the questions and more, that rattle around between our ears and in our hearts, and from time to time, we feel that desperate despair that John felt, that made him weep, when he had a glimpse at the very end.

What’s the answer? Who has the power? Well, he gives it to us in the very next breath:

Then one of the elders said to me, ‘Don’t weep. See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.’

Then I saw between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders a Lamb standing as if it had been slaughtered, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits that God sent out into all the earth. He went and took the scroll from the right hand of the one who was seated on the throne. When he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell before the Lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

They sing a new song: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slaughtered and by your blood you ransomed for God saints from every tribe and language and people and nation; you have made them to be a kingdom and priests serving our God, and they will reign on earth.’

Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels surrounding the throne and the living creatures and the elders; they numbered myriads of myriads, thousands upon thousand, singing with full voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing!’

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, ‘To the one who is seated on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honour and glory and might forever and ever!’

And the four living creatures said, ‘Amen!’ And the elders fell down and worshiped.

Do you see this glorious picture that God’s painting here for you and me? Jesus, the Lamb of God who was sacrificed for us is also the Lion of Judah. And at the end of this age, the Lion of Judah will roar. The lion of Judah is a picture language way of saying the king of the jungle; the one who is at the top of the food chain. The King of Kings and the Lord of Lords wins. That’s how it all ends!

 YOUR KING REIGNS

I want to share a story with you today, a very personal story about my life and the life of this ministry. A difficult story, a painful story for me because as we take a look at this out of control world in which we live, as we try and apply our faith on the one hand with the terrible things that happen in this life on the other often they just don’t seem to fit together, do they?

Jesus promised so much and yet the world can be so brutal. God has so much love to give, and yet so often we seem to be wandering alone in the wilderness. This faith contradiction slaps us in the face like a cold fish on a daily basis.

And so here’s what we do with it. Given the apparent conflict between the brutal realities of today, and the things that God promises in His Word, well, we kind of lean toward believing what today is telling us, and we relegate God’s Word to second or third or fourth or last place.

Here’s the story. A small bunch of us had this crazy idea that God wanted to use us to produce radio programs for Him, to share His love with people all around the world.

That was a really super crazy idea, because we had no expertise – I come from the IT industry, we had almost no money, almost no people supporting the ministry and no radio stations to take these programs. In fact, we didn’t even have any programs yet to take.

So we set off on this journey, almost exactly ten years ago to the day, with just this childlike faith and a heart to serve God. And amazingly, God honoured that.

I don’t mean that I’m amazed at God, but I’m just amazed that He would take people who knew so little to do something with. As the months and the years slipped by, one day we turned around and wow, the programs were being heard on about two hundred fifty radio stations in about forty-five countries. That was totally amazing. We kind of felt that God was really with us, that we must be on the right track. And then … then it happened…

With the growth in the reach of these programs, came a growth in the costs of the ministry, and we just didn’t have the support that we needed. Nobody had been paid for a few months. We were struggling to pay our bills. We had a problem with one station broadcasting the programs, which to cut a long story short, meant a further reduction in our supporter base.

And it came to the day where I had to decide whether to continue the ministry or shut it down. It doesn’t honour God not to be able to pay your bills. And you just can’t keep on going incurring costs without any prospect of being able to pay the bills. Hey, there are laws against that, in Australia at least. It’s called trading while you’re insolvent. And our law says that if the directors of an organisation knowingly do that, then they become personally liable for the repayment of the debt, fair enough.

And all that while our tiny team was working such long, crazy, incredible hours, just to try and hold it all together. I felt, as CEO, that I was being torn apart. On the one hand, God called us into this and He seemed to be in it. But on the other, right in that dark moment, it felt like He’d deserted us. It felt like the world was winning, like the devil was winning. And it didn’t matter how hard I prayed, all I got back from Him was dead silence.

Well, you know what they say. If you want to hear God speak, read your Bible. If you want to hear Him speak out loud, read it out aloud! So I read my Bible. And here’s the passage that hit me between the eyes. Psalm 99, verses 1 to 5:

The Lord is king; let the peoples tremble! He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake! The Lord is great in Zion; he is exalted over all the peoples. Let them praise your great and awesome name. Holy is he! Mighty King, lover of justice, you have established equity; you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob. Extol the Lord your God; worship at his footstool. Holy is he.

What had I forgotten? Why was I so torn up and afraid? Because I had forgotten that my King reigns. Despite what my circumstances screamed at me, despite what some of my advisors whispered to me, despite what my heart said to me, my King reigns. No, He hasn’t fallen off His twig. No He hasn’t forgotten me. No, He hasn’t cast me aside. Armed with that powerful truth, I went to another, one that I come back to time and again. Proverbs chapter 3, verses 5 and 6:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not lean on your own understanding. But in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

And so through God’s Word, He gave me the faith to believe. That was five years ago. And since then, millions more have heard the good news of Jesus through these radio programs.

We know that at such a time as this, we need to stand up and be counted. We know in this darkness and this desperate world of terrorism, of slavery, of exploitation, of a growing gap between the haves and the have-nots, that those of us who love Jesus are meant to be making a difference, to be shining God’s love into the desperate lives of people.

We know that in the face of terrorism, we have the power to pray in love. We know all that stuff. And yet, somehow, as those circumstances that seem to declare that God’s lost the plot eat away at us, somehow we can’t find the backbone, the courage, the resolve to get out there and make it happen.

That’s why I am here to tell you today that your King reigns. No, He hasn’t lost the plot or the will or the power to make the difference.

And His eyes are roaming the earth looking to strengthen those whose hearts are for Him. (2 Chronicles 16:9)

That means He’s looking for you. That means He’s looking to strengthen you. That means that this King of yours who reigns upon His throne above every power in this universe, is ready and waiting for the likes of you to stand up and be counted so He can strengthen you.

There are religious extremist tearing this world apart. There are secularists trying to tear your faith apart. And yet your King reigns and will strengthen you. That’s the truth we need to get a handle on, because that’s the only truth that matters.

WHEN GOOD MEN DO NOTHING

It’s true isn’t it? We turn on the evening news night after night and we see the terrible things happening in the world. Right now, where I live, its corrupt politicians taking bribes, people we trusted, cheating on the people who elected them. Then of course, the terrible things happening across the Middle East, wars and rumours of war. And things like child labour and forced prostitution and, slavery – which oppress over hundred million people across the globe.

Just think of the incredible pain and misery of that multiplied by a hundred million – those things don’t even make the news. Domestic violence, the rape of women and children, child sexual abuse – have you ever turned off the evening news in such disgust and come to the conclusion – there’s just not a thing that I can do about all that?

And then you pour yourself a glass of wine, as many people do, and you prepare your dinner and sit down and relax and unwind and watch a bit more TV and then head off to bed, just to do the same all again tomorrow.

Social researchers talk about the phenomenon of cocooning. We come to the conclusion that the world out there is so crazy out of control, we can’t do anything about it, so we cocoon ourselves into our own little worlds, travelling the self-same rut day by day, wrapping ourselves in whatever comfort and, if our means afford it, luxury that we can … and all that helps us to ignore the terrible things happening out there.

That little scenario is repeated billions of times every day around the world, by people who have come to the conclusion that they can’t make a difference. So like the proverbial Emperor Nero, we fiddle while Rome burns.

Hmm. Is it really true that you and I are impotent to change the world? It could be. After all, most of us are just ordinary people. Most of us don’t have the power to stand up and to speak out and effect meaningful, powerful, lasting change.

Surely, I mean, surely our political leaders – that’s their job. And some celebrities, people like Bono, you know, they have the platform to get up and speak against bad things. They have millions of followers on social media, and access to television screens and newspapers and reporters and journalists. Surely, it’s up to them. And boy, aren’t they making a hash of things.

Back in the 1700’s there was an Irish statesman called Edmund Bourke. Unless you happen to be Irish, you’ve probably never heard of him. But he once said something that you probably have heard. It’s this: that the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing.

You’ve heard that before, right? During the holocaust of the Jews by the Nazi regime in WWII, the church in Germany largely stood idly by and said nothing, while Hitler and his cronies systematically slaughtered over six million Jews. Well, most of the church. There was a man called Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor, who stood up against the regime. He was killed. Wow, surely that could never happen again. Surely we’d learn from that.

1994 Rwanda. A million slaughtered in a hundred days. The streets lined with rotting bodies. I’ve spoken to people who were there. The west stood by, closed its eyes, and let it happen.

2014 Iraq. The slaughter of Christians and forced rape of women by Muslim extremists – ISIS. We stood by and watched it happen. And those, my friend, are just a few isolated examples.

This stuff is happening all around the world and we stand by and watch. Well, actually we don’t watch, we switch off the evening news, pour another glass of wine, enjoy dinner, before heading off to our safe, warm beds.

Now, it may be that you think I’m being a little unfair. What can someone, an ordinary person like you and me, do, sitting in another part of the world about the terrible things happening on the other side of the world? The answer is, rather a lot more than you may think.

Two thousand years ago, Jesus said this, Luke chapter 11, verse 23:

Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

When you think about it, Bourke’s pronouncement back in the 1700’s that the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing, is almost an exposition of what Jesus said.

Jesus is saying to you and me: if you just sit there and do nothing, if you are not actually getting up and being with me, if you are just patting yourself on the back that really, you’re not a bad person, then basically, you’re not with me, you’re against me, because you haven’t stood up to be counted.

Church, wake up! By and large we are asleep at the wheel, corporately and individually. There are so many different things that we could be doing. We could be using social media to speak out. We can create effective communication campaigns to change hearts.

We can demonstrate the love of Christ in practical ways, so far as we are capable – and that’s much more than what we’re doing right at the moment. Don’t get me wrong, not every part of the church, but large parts of the church.

And, as individuals we can choose to sponsor a child in a poor country, give her an education as she grows up and tell her about Jesus, so that when she is an adult she’ll be capable of effecting change in her country from within.

In the workplace, we can take a firm but loving stand against the things we know are wrong, being prepared to sacrifice promotions and favours from others, for the sake of doing and speaking what is right.

Are you getting the picture here? As churches and individuals, we need to be on a war-footing because, people, the world is at war – a war of devastation being waged by the spiritual forces of evil.

And all that’s required for evil to triumph is for good men and good women like you and me, to switch off the evening news, pour another glass of wine, go to bed in our soft comfortable beds and do … nothing!

So, when Jesus asks you: Are you for me or against me? What is your life, the way that you’re living it at the moment, saying to Him in answer to that question, hmm?

It’s pretty confronting isn’t it? Sometimes we see bad things happening just in our little parts of the world and instead of standing up for the weak, instead of speaking out and risking the ridicule or even the wrath of others in the process, we sit there and through our silence and inaction, we are complicit in the deeds of evil going on around us. If it were a crime that was happening in front of us, this evil going on, we could be convicted as accessories through our inaction.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran pastor and anti–Nazi dissident in Germany during WWII. He spoke out and he was harassed and persecuted. He was part of the underground movement smuggling Jews out of Germany to Switzerland. He knew about the plot to assassinate Hitler.

In April 1943 he was arrested for being complicit in that plot, and was finally executed on the 8^th of April, 1945 after a sham trial. Bonhoeffer stood up against evil and it cost him his life.

And that’s exactly what Jesus has called you and me to do. Matthew chapter 16, verses 24 to 26:

Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If any of you want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit you if you gain the whole world but you forfeit your life? Or what will you gain in return for your life.’

Yeah. As things turn out, in this world good men and good women like you and me, we can do a lot more than we think.

So, are you for Him, or against Him?

With all of the terrible events that seem to be sweeping the globe at the moment, you and I, we can feel so powerless to make a difference. But … would it surprise you to know that right now, you are filled with more power than you can ever imagine? Power to make a real difference. 

THE POWER OF YOUR PRAYER

You know, a few people have commented to me, ‘Berni, it is a bit of a weird name for a series of messages – When the Lion Roars. Normally you talk about stuff happening in our own lives: Down-to-earth, real-life stuff, but now you’ve kind of zoomed out to look at events swooping across the globe.’ That’s true; that’s exactly what I’ve done.

Many people are concerned, even fearful, over global events: Terrorism, which unlike the superpowers slaving it out during the Cold War can strike very close to home; the rise of religious extremism, in particular the rise and rise of Islam, which seems to be impacting hitherto so-called western countries in detrimental ways; the rise of secularism, which is impacting on our religious freedom as Christians. I saw a news-article just recently where two Christians in the US were fined thirteen thousand dollars for refusing to host a same-sex wedding at their reception centre.

Things are certainly changing. Things are sweeping across the globe, which are scaring a lot of middle-class people, who have lived safely in the comforts that their freedom affords for generations. Okay, there have been wars and depressions and recessions, but there’s something different about what’s going on in the world today, at least in the western world. It feels more insidious; it feels more threatening than before; it’s closer to home.

A tide has turned, and whereas before Christianity represented if not the default religion then certainly the default basis for the morals and the rule of law, that is less and less becoming the case, and people are worried. And in the middle of all that, Berni comes along with this crazy series of messages called When the Lion Roars.

Well, I’m hoping that it ain’t quite as crazy as it appears, because that title makes reference to a passage of Scripture in the book of Revelation – the one book of the Bible that comprehensively, beyond any shadow of any doubt, tells us exactly how all this stuff is going to end, in the end. Have a listen. Revelation 5:1-8:

Then I saw in the right hand of the One seated on the throne a scroll written on the inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals, and I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice: ‘Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?’ and no one, no one in heaven nor in earth or under the earth, was able to open the scroll or to look into it. And I began to weep bitterly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it.

Then one of the elders said to me, ‘Don’t weep. See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered so that He can open the scroll and its seven seals.’

Then I saw between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders a Lamb standing as if it had been slaughtered, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. He went and took the scroll from the right hand of the One who was seated on the throne.

When He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of saints. (Revelation 5: 1-8)

Anyway, on it goes to describe the power and the might of Jesus as He brings history to an end, as all of creation bows down to Him.

Yeah, okay, it’s written in rather vivid picture language, something that in our culture we’re perhaps not quite used to, but the point is that in the end, Jesus wins. In fact, He already has, and we’re simply waiting for the end to come; and the truth be known, Jesus foretold great persecutions before the end, exactly what’s happening now.

So let me ask you: Why are we surprised exactly? I know that might sound a bit offhanded, particularly to those suffering persecution right now (and there are plenty of those people listening in today). But in the end, Jesus wins. He won actually on that cross and through the empty tomb when He rose again two thousand years ago.

One of the great litmus tests for how people see the world these days is social media, where as you can imagine, I connect with more than a few people who would call themselves Christians on Facebook and Twitter, and I receive a lot of E-mails from people from the four corners of the earth. And one of the very clear trends that I sense in all of that communication is a sense of foreboding, of fear, and in some cases a desperation, and a big factor in that is that people feel they’ve lost control of global events. People feel that there’s nothing they can do, and when I say to them: “Well, you can pray”, to many that feels like a copout, and my response to that is, “Really? Prayer, a copout”?

“Yeah, sure,” they say. It seems like a feeble response to the terrible things going on in this world, and so my answer to that is quite simply this. If in the face of some terrible calamity, some terrible out-of-control force sweeping your life or indeed the globe, if in that place you are completely and utterly powerless to do anything – anything except pray, then in your prayer, through your prayer, you’ve already done the single-most powerful thing that you will ever be able to do on this earth. Listen to Jesus:

If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this: That you bear much fruit, and become My disciples. (John 15:7)

Here’s the thing … when you and I pray, it’s not about the eloquence of our prayers. It’s not about the size of our faith. It’s not even about how big the problem is that we’re praying into. No, it’s not about any of those things. When you and I pray, it’s about the power, the might, the love, the compassion of the God to whom we pray. It’s about the right standing that Jesus has purchased for us on that cross, which is why we ask in His name. It’s about God joining hands with us through our prayer to see His will being done on this earth, as it is in heaven.

I wonder how different this earth would be if you and I got really serious about that sort of prayer. I wonder; I just wonder.

THE POWER OF YOUR LIFE

I know that this world is crazy out-of-control, and I know that you and I are infinitesimally small blips in the sweep of world events and history, and I know that you and I can feel powerless to change even the course of the single life, let alone the history of the world; but any person, any man, woman or child who belongs to Jesus is filled with a power, the power of the Holy Spirit (which is so much more than anything that we can ever imagine), that we can have a huge impact in this world. So why don’t we? Well in part, it’s because those of us who believe in Jesus don’t have a really good handle on the immeasurable greatness of His power that He’s placed within us.

I want to share a story with you today, just something that came up as I was reading my Bible in my quiet time yesterday, a story that really leapt off the pages and into my heart. It happens after Jesus has ascended into heaven and the Apostles are busy kicking off this new thing that today we call the Church.

Stephen has just been stoned to death, egged on by Saul who later became the Apostle Paul. And through this great persecution the believers in Jerusalem flee and they’re scattered throughout the known world. As a result of that great persecution, the Gospel – the Good News of Jesus starts to spread.

In particular a guy called Phillip ends up in a place called Samaria. Now the Samaritans were the sworn enemy of the Jews, related but they were considered to be the dregs. And Phillip proclaims the Gospel to them and they accept Jesus Christ as their Saviour. Here’s what happens next, Acts chapter 8, verses 14 to 17.

Now when the Apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God they sent Peter and John to them. The two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit for as yet the Spirit had not come upon any of them, they had only been baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.

Now I know that this whole thing of receiving the Holy Spirit, whether it happens at the moment you believe in Jesus or at some later time, has been the source of such great division across the Church. Just quietly what I see in the Bible is that sometimes receiving the Holy Spirit happens at the moment you believe as it did for Cornelius and his family. You can read about them in Acts chapter 10, and other times it happens at a later point in time.

Do I believe that everybody who believes in Jesus has the Spirit in them? Yes I do because that’s what the Bible says, Romans chapter 8, verse 9. But if you ask me, has everybody who has the Holy Spirit received the Holy Spirit then my answer would be no, because it’s as plain as the nose on my face that there are a whole bunch of people who call themselves Christians who haven’t received the Holy Spirit into their lives.

The Holy Spirit brings the power to be holy. The Holy Spirit brings the power to be patient. The Holy Spirit brings peace and faith and hope and generosity and the list goes on. Now am I suggesting that everybody who has received the Holy Spirit is perfect? No, not at all.

I have been filled with the Holy Spirit and yet I fall short of the glory of God every day of my life. What’s different about me though now is that my heart yearns to honour God. I don’t always do that but in my heart I long to please Him and to honour Him. That’s what changed for me after I received the Holy Spirit.

I know at this point some people are thinking, ‘Berni are you getting all Pentecostal or charismatic on us?’ And you know what I don’t like labels, I just want to open the Bible and share with you what’s in it. And in this case when Peter and John laid hands on these Samaritans and they received the Holy Spirit the tense of the original Greek verb ‘received‘ tells us that it’s repeated, it’s an ongoing, continual action not a one-time event. In other words they went on receiving the Holy Spirit over and over and over again.

I for one need to keep on receiving the Holy Spirit over and over and over again because if He overflows out of me into the lives of other people around me I need to be continually filled with Him so that I can overflow some more. And that’s exactly what the Apostle Paul says later on to the Ephesians, chapter 5, verse 18 where he uses that same tense for the verb. He writes:

Keep on being filled with the Holy Spirit.

Think about this, if your life is the entry point of the power of the Holy Spirit into this world, if He drenches you so much which by the way is exactly what the word ‘baptise‘ means which is why the Bible talks about being baptised with the Spirit, if you are soaked full of the Spirit, completely transformed by His presence then when you’re saturated He’s going to overflow out of you into the lives of the people around you. That is very deliberately the picture that the Bible paints.

So forget about splitting hairs about what we call it or when it happens, let me ask you, “Are you drenched with the Holy Spirit? Are you continually receiving Him into your life so that His goodness and love overflows out of you?” Because when we come to the realisation that we are completely helpless to change this world apart from Him then we are absolutely in the right place, we’re exactly where Jesus wants us, dry and hungry and thirsty and ready to be filled with the Spirit.

If you believe in Jesus but you feel that dryness and that thirst I want you to rejoice today and ask the Holy Spirit to drench you literally, as the Bible says to baptise you. I’m not talking of any out-of-body experiences here or anything weird. Just a simple prayer for Him to fill you afresh today and again tomorrow and again the next day because now, all of a sudden, your life will be filled with the power to make a difference, a real difference in this world.

No, not all of us are called to be national leaders or hotshot preachers or TV evangelists, whatever, that’s not what I mean. Some of you have the gift of compassion, a pastoral gift that I could never ever have because that’s not how God made me. And when the Holy Spirit flows out of you that gift, your unique gift with which He’s blessed you and anointed you, then watch out, things will start changing in you and around you. God will start making a difference in the world through you.

THE POWER OF YOUR WITNESS

So far on the programme today, we’ve chatted about what I believe are the two most powerful things that you and I can do to make a difference in this world.

The first is to pray because when we pray, we’re joining hands with God to get His will happening here on earth, just as it does in heaven. Isn’t that how Jesus taught us to pray?

And the second is to live a life that is filled with the Holy Spirit, not with the rubbish that this world dishes up to us. Have a listen to what the apostle Paul wrote about that very thing to his friends in Ephesus (Ephesians 5:18-20):

Don’t get drunk with wine, because that’s debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit as you sing Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melodies to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

That’s what we talked about before the break. The tense of the verb, the original Greek word used there by Paul which we translated as filled, literally means go on being filled by the Holy Spirit; because when we live a life that’s based on prayer, the sort of prayer that’s backed by a faith that knows that God’s in control, and when we live the Spirit-filled life that the Bible commands us to live, then our lives are going to weigh in and count for Jesus in a whole new way.

Holiness (which is what the Holy Spirit progressively brings into our lives, as He transforms us from glory to glory) … Holiness is the most powerful form of mission to a lost and hurting world that you will ever find, because it proclaims Christ through your life. It speaks of the authenticity of Jesus in your life and into this world, and it prepares people to receive the good news into their hearts, and the more people who receive Jesus, the more this world is going to change, and the more the will of God is going to get done here on this earth as it is in heaven. Amen?

But, and of course there’s always a but, isn’t there? But at some point, those people out there who have never accepted Jesus … They have to hear the good news. They need to hear the story. They need to hear the Word of God. By and large, people don’t become Christians via osmosis. That’s not to say that God doesn’t do some totally mind-blowing and amazing things.

So many Muslims are coming to faith in Christ now and many, many report having seen Jesus in a dream. Jesus does break through powerfully as and when He needs to, but more often than not, much more commonly, He speaks through other people.

Most people in this world are completely ignorant about the Bible; about Jesus; about what He promises, and their new eternal life that He offers as the free gift of grace. They think they know, but most often, their understanding is that if you follow a whole bunch of rules, participate in a whole bunch of rituals and live basically a good life, hey; you’re in. Heaven is assured! Well, sort of … maybe. That’s the gospel of this world, and it’s a false gospel because it completely misses the point of grace: The free gift of eternal life that comes through Christ alone.

That’s why the apostle Paul writes this to his friends in Rome. Romans 10:12-17:

For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. The same Lord is the Lord of all and is generous to all who call on Him, for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. But how are they to call on One in whom they have never believed? And how are they to believe in One of whom they’ve never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim Him? And how are they to proclaim Him unless they are sent?

As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news.’ But not all have obeyed the good news, for Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed our message?’ So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the Word of Christ.

So people need to be told the good news; someone needs to actually tell them. Now I’m a preacher, so my tendency is to want to kind of race out there and tell the people I know about Jesus, but who wants some Bible-bashing guy that you want to run away and hide from as a friend? You get my point, don’t you?

So how does it work? Do we tell people about Jesus or don’t we? And if we do, when should we and how should we? And what if they reject us or laugh at us or … you know … think less of us?

This series of messages that we’re in at the moment is called When the Lion Roars referring to the Jesus in Revelation Chapter 5 where He is referred to as the Lion of Judah. See, one day each one of us will be subjected to His judgement as every knee in heaven and on earth will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Those people who we love, those people who are our friends, even our enemies will each stand before Christ in judgement as will you and I. And the only question will be, “Do you believe in Jesus or not?” Everybody’s eternity hangs on the yay or nay answer of that question. So at some point they need to hear about Jesus.

But how? That’s why we first talked about prayer and the Spirit filled life before talking about this subject of actually telling people about Jesus. Sure if you and I want to make a real difference in this world, if we want to see lives saved and communities transformed and ultimately nations at peace we all need to tell others about Jesus. But unless the Holy Spirit has gone ahead of us it will be a complete waste of time. That’s where prayer is so important, you may have heard me once or twice in the past tell you of a couple who prayed for eighteen years for me to come to Christ.

Ultimately the Lord brought about the impossible circumstances that were required for that to happen. But prayer is what brought me to that point and then, led by the Holy Spirit, those same people shared their faith with me. Prayer, the work of the Spirit and the timing, eighteen years, that’s amazing, that’s amazing patience.

We’re not all called to tell every person we meet about Jesus. Perhaps God will use my prayer in that person’s salvation and in another person’s life maybe some impact from my life. And then He’ll use your prayer and your Spirit filled life in different ways in other people’s lives. And as we pray and as we’re led by the Spirit eventually He will bring us to what is for many Christians a fearful place of telling maybe one or two or three or ten people about Jesus.

And at that point we so need the grace and the sensitivity and the courage of the Holy Spirit because it is only He that can reveal God to another, not you or me.

Here is what the Apostle Paul prayed for and asked others to pray for in the face of much persecution and opposition in proclaiming Christ, Ephesians 6: 20 and 21. Paul said:

Pray also for me so that when I speak a message maybe given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the Gospel of which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly as I must speak.

Yeah, sharing the Good News of Jesus with someone needs to be preceded by much prayer and yes, we need to be led by the Holy Spirit. But at some point, it’s time for us to stand up and be counted. At some point, it’s time for us to lay everything on the line, our reputation, the risk of being sneered at, the risk of an angry reaction, the risk of rejection and sometimes even our very lives in order to tell someone about Jesus.

At some point, you and I, if we truly believe in Jesus, if we truly believe that He wants to work through us and for His Spirit to overflow out of us into the lives of others, we need to stand up and be counted – stand up with boldness and have the courage to tell them because unless they hear about Him how can they believe in the One of whom they’ve never heard.

Truth these days is no longer thought to be absolute. Black and white has become many shades of grey it seems. And yet God’s Word will stand forever. God’s Word isn’t an opinion, it’s not mere guidance. It is factual, objective truth. The question is, how do we share His truth in love, with a world that doesn’t seem to want to hear?

THE POWER OF THE TRUTH

A couple of thousand years ago when he was torn between the demands of justice and the demands of a crowd baying for Jesus blood, a man by the name of Pontius Pilate asked this question, ‘What is truth?’ That, as it turned out, is a very good question and if Pilate were still around today and asked that same question again he’d be right there up with the issues of the times.

Truth – used to be considered as something that’s absolute. It’s either true or it isn’t. But these days it’s become a fluid concept, your truth is your truth and my truth is my truth. And if it works for you buddy that’s great, go for it but don’t try to foist your truth on me. And that last statement has become the mantra of our times as it supports the twenty-first century ideology of pluralism.

Have you ever wondered exactly what pluralism is? Well my dictionary tells me that it’s a theory or a system where two or more states or groups or principles or sources of authority can co-exist. Pluralism is a religious doctrine of the times. In fact it’s the religious doctrine of the times and the moment you step over its boundaries, the moment you insist on absolute truth you’re considered a conservative, a bigot, an extremist.

There are all sorts of stereotypes and labels to describe someone who commits the most heinous crime of this time by insisting that truth, far from being relative and pluralistic, is absolute. Consider the assertions of atheism and secularism towards the Christian faith: How dare you insist that your God exists or that He’s the only God or that the outdated morals of the Bible apply to us today. How dare you insist that Jesus is the only way. How dare you.

And so confronted with what today seems like a relentless onslaught on the very foundations of their faith. Christians around the world and yes, even Churches around the world are getting a bit wobbly about their God and who He is and what He stands for. Christians are retreating from the marketplace of thought and debate and legislation and culture into enclaves to protect their faith. A bit it seems like Custer’s last stand circling the wagons for one last time.

But oddly enough there are still places in this world where truth is absolute, objective and immovable. Let’s start with my dictionary which tells me that something is true if it is in accordance with fact or reality, if it’s real and actual, accurate and exact. The Bible definition of truth at least hasn’t changed.

There’s another place where you find absolute truth or at least where you expect to find absolute truth and that place is in our courts. I remember some years ago when I was engaged as an expert witness in a civil litigation in the Supreme Court. I was asked to give my expert opinion on the failure of the implementation of a very large and complex Information Technology system, based on my review of some 1.1 million project documents in discovery.

And as I wrote my expert report, six hundred thousand words and worked with the lawyers on the case they were consistently challenging my conclusions. “Prove it,” they said, the Court requires you not just to say something but if you say it, to demonstrate that it’s actually true based on the evidence in those discovered documents.

But in our society, in our culture people are somehow successfully managing to water down the truth, to turn black and white into fifty shades of grey in order to justify every perversion and evil under the sun.

So here I am, I believe in Jesus. I believe that one day He will return to judge the living and the dead. I believe that I have the free gift of eternal life because Jesus died for me to pay for my sins and He rose again to give me a new life.

Those are the things that I hold dear and true and yet the world wants to hound me down and tell me that I’m not being liberal enough or open-minded enough or pluralistic enough. While all at the same time the world is going to hell in a handbag and tearing itself apart through the evil and the strife and the morals that are destroying families, that are robbing children of love and tearing communities and nations apart.

What exactly do I do with all of that? Those people need to hear about Jesus but they’re shouting me down, they don’t want to listen.

Isn’t that how many Christians think? Isn’t that what’s going through so many hearts and minds? So what’s the answer?

Well, the answer quite simply is this, that despite the fact that the world rejects the God of the Bible which by the way is nothing new, after all they crucified Jesus right? God’s Word is still true. Jesus will still return, Jesus will judge the living and the dead and that compels you and me and anyone else who believes in Jesus to get out there and share His truth.

The truth of freedom and salvation in Christ alone with a world that’s heading for the judgement of God but how do you do that when they don’t want to hear? Well actually the Bible tells us exactly how, Ephesians chapter 4, verses 12 to 15:

We must be no longer be children tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming but speaking the truth in love we must grow up in every way to him who is the head, into Christ.

And again 2 Timothy chapter 2, verses 24 to 26.

The Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kindly to everyone, an apt teacher, patient, correcting opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant that they will repent and come to know the truth and that they may escape from the snare of the devil having been held captive by him to do his will.

See the answer is to speak the truth in love and correct with gentleness. I’ve heard so many Christians out there condemning the world and shouting hatred at people. Hey, Jesus never did that. In fact, those so-called Christians are no better than the gun-toting, bomb throwing extremists of other religions.

The way to change the world is to speak the truth in love. God’s unwavering, unchanging, unfailing truth – speak it in love so that God may perhaps grant that some will repent and come to a knowledge of the truth, His truth, the one truth that saves.

There have been so many times in history where group think has taken over and evil has reigned and all, almost all were led astray. Look at the Nazi regime that sparked World War 2. Go back as far as the Roman Empire whose symbology and methods Hitler drew on. Time and time and time again people like lemmings have flocked together only to plunge to their death and destruction.

And as I said the other day on the program all that is required for evil to prosper is for good men and good women to stand idly by and do nothing and say nothing.

Well if you and I believe in Jesus that’s just not an option for us. Jesus said:

I am the way, the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)

And then to prove it He died for you, He died for me so that His truth, written in His blood, would be spoken into our hearts through the love of sacrifice. There, right there is the model, the approach for us to follow – to speak the truth in love, to correct with gentleness. Not with guile and hatred and vitriol and finger-pointing and condemnation as some do but with love, the sublime love that is so vividly painted on that cross in crimson red, in the blood of Jesus.

And no matter how dark the thoughts and beliefs and practices of our times may become all that it needs is one small glimmer, one small flame to shed the light of the truth into this world and that one small glimmer, that one small flame – that’s you.

THE POWER OF YOUR SACRIFICE

Well, a few weeks back we kicked off this series of messages called ‘When the Lion Roars’, because despite all the terrible things going on in this world, despite the attacks on our faith and on the God of the Bible, despite how hopeless things may appear as global events of terrorism, of secularism and of all the other ‘isms’ under the sun, sweep the globe, one day … one day it will all come to an end.

One day, the Lion of Judah – Jesus – will roar. One day, He will return to judge the living and the dead and those who have placed their faith in Him, will have eternal life and live in glory. That’s an objective fact. How do I know? Because that’s exactly what Jesus says will happen. That’s exactly what the Bible says will happen.

It is a desperate world hurtling towards judgement that has rejected the God of the Bible, that has rejected the truth of the Bible, that has rejected the love of Jesus.

When God speaks you know, it’s not advice, it’s not an opinion – it’s truth. Well God has spoken, He has spoken to us through His Son who is the way and the truth and the life. He’s the only way, He’s the only truth and He’s the only life. And it’s only when we know that truth that the truth can set us free.

Yesterday on the program, we spent a bit of time taking a look at the reality of the objective truth of God, in the face of today’s relativism and pluralism and secularism and whatever other ‘ism’ you’d like to name.

The question is though, how exactly do we get that truth across to a world that’s intent on going to hell in a handbag? Well, you might recall that we talked about speaking the truth in love, and correcting people in gentleness, rather than trying to ram truth down their throat.

Love is the key, because love always ultimately triumphs over evil. Love is the only thing that will defeat Satan in this world. Love is the only thing that will woo the lost to Jesus. Love is what triumphed over evil on the Cross of Christ and set you and me free to live out eternity with our God.

Love is the key. Because love rings true to us, made as we are in the image of God who, the Bible tells us, is love. Love attests to the truth. And nothing attests more to love, in turn, than sacrifice. If you love someone, truly love them, then you will sacrifice for them. And when you do that, the reality of that love, will ultimately soften the hardest of hearts.

That’s exactly what Jesus not only said but did. John chapter 15, verses 13 to 17:

‘No one’, he said, ‘has greater love than this, than to lay down your life for a friend. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I don’t call you servants any longer because the servant doesn’t know what the master is doing but I’ve called you friends because I’ve made known to you everything that I’ve heard from my Father. You didn’t choose me, I chose you and I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another’.

And with those words, Jesus went to the Cross, willingly and without complaint to die for you and me.

His disciples, each one of them so far as we know, ended up dying terrible deaths. Peter, Paul, John and all the others, were all martyred because they proclaimed the risen Christ and salvation in Him alone, the life eternal that is only available in Jesus.

Do you think, do you imagine for one minute that those guys would have laid down their lives for a lie? No! They experienced the love of God through the crucified and then the risen Jesus, and then out of that love, they poured their own lives out, to the very end, to the very last drop, to tell others about Him.

Love testifies to the truth. It declares that the truth is true. And sacrifice testifies to that love. And that my friend is the key that opens even the hardest heart. When you and I are prepared to sacrifice our lives for the difficult people who curse us, who reject our faith, who belittle us for believing in Jesus, when you and I are prepared to lay down our lives for those people even whilst they sin against us, just as Jesus laid down His life for us, while we were still sinners against Him – then and only then will we be a part of God’s great plan to win the world back to Him.

Is it hard? Absolutely it is. That’s why Jesus said it wasn’t about hanging onto our own lives, because if we live life like that, ultimately we lose. No, the Jesus plan is about taking up your cross, your own, brutal cross, and following Him. Because those who lose their lives for His sake, will surely find them.

Jesus is the Lamb of God who, through His death, came to take away the sins of the world. It is that sublime love that you and I are called to share through our own personal, sacrificial laying down of our lives, so that others too might be saved.

And Jesus is the Lion of Judah who one day will roar in judgement separating His own, those who put their faith in Him, their very lives in His death and resurrection – from the evil doers who rejected Him.

And today, you and I are His hands and feet. You and I are His heart of love. You and I are His voice – to speak His love and His truth to a generation that has gone astray.

The people in my life, who have the greatest license to speak hard truths to me, are the ones who have earned that right by sacrificing themselves for me and serving me and loving me when I didn’t deserve it. Those people have influenced me so greatly. Those people are the very reason that I am here with you now, sharing with you the good news that your King reigns, that your King is calling you to live a life of sacrificial love.

And you and I too, can earn that right to speak into the lives of others through sacrificial love. You and I can be the Lamb of God and the Lion of Judah to the lost around us. That, after all, was always God’s plan.

Yes, this world does seem as though it is crazy out of control. Yes, these are dark days when our faith in Jesus is tested in the extreme. But in the face of all that, the Lion Roars. God laughs at men and their petty schemes. Listen to this, Psalm chapter 4, verses 2 to 6:

The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take council together against the Lord and his anointed saying, ‘Let us burst their bonds asunder and cast their cords from us’. He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord has them in derision, then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury saying, ‘I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill’

God is above all the powers and all the rulers and all the situations and all the persecutions and all the terrorism and all the evil events that this world has conjured up. Your King reigns and one day the Lion of Judah will roar in judgement.

In the meantime, to those who love Jesus, to those who have set their hearts like flint to follow hard after Him wherever He may lead, He has one, simple command. Listen to His words to you and to me, and let the Spirit of God write them on your heart. Matthew chapter 28, verses 18 to 20, Jesus says:

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given unto me. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you and remember, I am with you even until the end of the age.

Get out there, share the truth, share the love, the power of Jesus with the people around you, make disciples of them, teach them to love God by obeying Him, and remember, Jesus is with you, unto the ends of the earth, unto the end of this age.

In the face of all the darkness that threatens to overwhelm this world, you and I are the light of the world. You and I are the ones called to go. You and I are called to sacrifice our lives to this cause. You and I …

YOUR KING REIGNS

Terrible things are going on in this world. Christians are being persecuted, whether in the Middle East where whole families are being brutalised and even beheaded, or whether in the more safe and comfortable west, where it seems that our faith is under assault from all directions – from secularism or hedonism or capitalism or pluralism or whatever other ‘ism’ you’d like to name.

Why is this persecution happening? I’ve tried praying, and it doesn’t seem to make one iota of difference in this world. Maybe it truly is a lost cause.

Have a listen to Jesus, listen to what He said about this global persecution that so seems to be demoralising so many Christians today. John chapter 15, verses 18 to 21:

If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. If you belong to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world – therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘Servants are not greater than their master.’ If they persecuted me, they will certainly persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours too. But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.

I’ll say it again, persecution is precisely what Jesus predicted would happen. Whether it’s the atrocities happening to Christians in some parts of the world, or whether it’s the creeping secularism and political correctness and threat of religious extremism that’s disturbing those who live comfortably in the democratic western nations. It’s exactly what Jesus said would happen. It’s exactly what the Bible says will happen to usher in the end.

And in the end, Jesus wins! In the meantime, He’s calling for His people to pray, and when you do, when you ask the Father for His will to be done in Jesus’ name, you are doing the single, most powerful thing that you can possibly do in the course of history.

He’s calling His people to stand up and be counted, to speak out, to love the lost, to stand up for the persecuted. So, will you?

Because if you believe in Jesus, then your life may be the only Bible that the people around you will ever read. You may be the only point of encounter that these people ever have with Jesus Christ.

How you speak, how you behave, how you live your life speaks of the authenticity of this Jesus to the people around you. The very same is true of how I speak and how I behave and how I live my life. And in doing what I do, my life is closely watched by the people around me. And rightly so, that they should expect a higher standard of teachers of God’s Word.

I can preach until I’m blue in the face, I can preach the best, most powerful sermon that has ever been preached since Jesus, but if my life doesn’t back up what I say, then it’s completely worthless. The same is true of you.

The first, the most important, the only sermon that you and I preach that will ever really matter is the sermon we preach with our lives. And when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, filled to overflowing, then our lives are going to tell a new story, a different story. A story that is so compelling, a story that rings so true, that people will be asking you for some of what you’ve got.

The single most powerful thing that you and I can do to change this world is pray. The next most powerful thing that you and I can do to change this world is to live a life that is continually filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit. And the more He works in us and through us, the more we will be amazed as we see the Holy Spirit change the course of people’s lives and the very course of this world. Revelation chapter 11, verse 15:

Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.’

Remember, in the end, Jesus wins. In the end, the lion roars. In the meantime, He’s looking for the likes of you and me to make that truth real in the lives of those around us.