The church magazine is currently taking a break, but take a look at some of the articles here that have been in previous versions of the magazine.
"The Lord has become my fortress, and my God, the rock in whom I take refuge" Psalm 94:22
How do we become converted?
Our Pastor recently mentioned from the pulpit, the fact that we cannot be committed until we are first converted. How right this is, and naturally it must follow with the question – How then do we become converted?
Firstly we must be clear in our mind what conversion is NOT. It is NOT putting our hand up at a meeting following an earnest appeal by the speaker. It is NOT signing a penitence form. It is NOT being confirmed or even baptised by immersion in water, nor is it doing Christian work such as taking a Sunday School or other class. It is NOT attending regularly church services and giving to the collection
All these do not in themselves comprise being converted although good and upright in their time and place. They may well, however, lead on and be a means forward or as an outcome of being converted, but it is important not to mistake them as being conversion itself.
NO amount of these activities and commitment to them will convert a person.
To repeat the question therefore – How then do we become primarily converted? We speak of conversion as of a person being the work of God. By nature we do not want God; we want to go our own way without any reference to Him at all, so He has to break down our stubborn rebellion and create in us a spirit of willingness and submission. This may take years for God to secretly and patiently work in a person’s heart, quietly unbeknown to them, yet with a certainty know only to Him.
This work of God is beautifully illustrated in figure by the Lord’s parable in Mark 4, where He speaks to his disciples of a husbandman (or farmer) scattering seed on the ground, the ground having been previously ploughed and reduced to a fine tilth, which then opens itself to receive the grain.
After a while the seed begins to germinate, to strike a root downward and then shoot a germ upward, first the blade, then the ear, and then the full corn in the ear, and then fruit of some thirtyfold, some sixtyfold, and some one hundred. (Mark 4:20)
This illustrates how God works in a person’s heart long before he or she is aware of it, how Jesus Christ finds an entrance into their tender conscience, which taking root and shooting upward in a longing to know God in their soul.
This is conversion, or what we otherwise sometimes call “coming to faith”. Because it is essentially a work initiated by God Himself do not be surprised if it takes a long time before coming to fruition. God knows what He is doing and is sovereign in how He works in a person’s heart and conscience.
O to see more people being truly converted on our church. They will then be not only converted but also committed, and as Pastor has recently encouraged us in his magazine letter of March/April to go on to be a “man or woman after God’s own heart.
“When thou art converted strengthen thy brethren”
(Luke 22:32)
K.H.
The Potter and the Clay
“But now, Oh Lord, thou art our Father, we are the clay, and thou
art our potter; and we are all the work of thy hand” Isaiah 64:5
Some time ago I greeted a Christian friend with the usual words “How are you? Instead of saying “quite well thank you” he replied I’m still in the hand of the Potter”.
This started me thinking and my thoughts turned to the above verse of Scripture where the prophet after confessing the sins and indifference of the nation Israel, likened them to clay.
But what use is clay without a potter? None, and so he connects the two together and says that “we are all the work of His hand.”
Do we never stop to think what God is to us? First and foremost He is our creator (1 Peter4:19), then He must become our Saviour (Jude 25)
If we are to progress any further. Later on we find He becomes our Friend (John 15:15) and finally we realize that He is our Father (Matt 6:9) .
At this point we may stop and progress no further; and sadly remain here for many years never coming to that place when we not only realize but accept that we are but clay in the Potter’s hands. Only
when we realize that we have no righteousness of our own, nor do we have any merit in God’s sight, and self-effort has completely withered away, can we come to that spot where we are but clay and God is the Potter.
Clay of itself cannot make a vessel suitable for general use. Can it mould itself into shape or form? No! No more can we make ourselves fit for heaven and to lift eternally in the presence of our Creator.
For this to happen it must be a work carried on silently by our Potter, undetected by others and at times undetected by ourselves, but “being confident of this very thing that He which hath begun a good
work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil 1:6)
It has been said that “we are nothing but what He makes us, have nothing but what He gives us, experience nothing but what He works in us and do nothing but what he does in and for us”.
It has also been said that He is too wise to err, too good to be unkind.
It is the greatest privilege and mysterious enjoyment to a Christian to have our Father as also our Potter, to realize that we are like clay in His hand, completely submissive to His will and without any feeling of rebellion. He may even allow us to endure such trials and exercises as will bring us to that spot where we feel broken before Him. And no longer cry “why me?”
When we get here may we see that we are still but clay in the hands of our heavenly Potter to do with as he sees fit, and best of all to know what He is doing is not only best for us but best for His ultimate pleasure and glory.
This surely is the happiest place that the soul of a Christian can be brought into, whatever may happen to use whether good or bad.
“Thou art the Potter, I am the clay;
Mould me in thine own way;
Whatever the vessel, grant me to be
Used in Thy service to glorify Thee.
KH
Some thoughts on 2 Timothy 2:19
“THE LORD KNOWETH THEM THAT ARE HIS” (AV)
Sitting in the supermarket recently, waiting for my wife to finish her shopping, and as I watched the multitude of people going in and out, the above text came to mind. I wondered how many of those people could say that they know the Lord and more importantly how many were known of Him? The day will come when to some He will have to say “I never knew you: depart from me ye that work iniquity” (Matt. 7:23) - It is a solemn matter for all or us.
However, for those believers who can say that they know the Lord and are known of Him, the text provides a comfort and encouragement for every-day living. Let us look therefore at each word that makes up our text, immerse ourselves in them, and come to apprehend a little of God’s will, for not only our lives , but also His eternal purposes for us in relation to His beloved Son.
THE LORD Who is spoken of here? Who is this Lord who knows us?. He is the Lord Jesus Christ, the divine second person of the Trinity. Let us be clear about titles. The One who knows us is the Lord Jesus Christ. We hear mush today about the person of Jesus, but let us be careful to give Him His correct titles as may be appropriate.
Jesus was the name given to Him at His birth - Jesus the Saviour and the name belonging to His manhood and saviour hood .
Christ is the name belonging to His priestly capacity and which connects us with the eternal Father, as mediator and who is interceding for us before God. The Lord is His title within the Godhead deity, and it is because He is God that in this sense He was able to be Christ. - “Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God” (Matt 16:16) said the apostle Paul.
Who better could we wish to have to know us - God Himself in all His fullness. Does it really matter that we are not known by anybody else.
So frequently we feel that we area misunderstood and that nobody really knows our true feelings and motives. Are we content to be as it were a no-body, provided it is the Lord who knows us?.
KNOWETH He, the Lord, as creator, knows all things and in that sense he knows us as the objects of His creation. That is a good thing to be sure of on its own, but how much more wonderful, to comprehend His knowledge of us as His chosen ones, those for whom He suffered and died.
He knows who they are, even though we may not, and can identify them amongst the teeming millions of His created beings, whether living in the present, in the past, or yet to be born. He knows who make up this company upon whom He has settled His love, and on whom the true church of God is being built.
Not only so, but the Lord knows each one individually and personally - How good it is to know that we have somebody who knows us in this intimate way - knows our every downsitting and uprising, and understands our thoughts afar off, and are acquainted with all our ways”. (Psalm 139 2&3).
How right we are in asking the question “why should the Lord want to know us in this way?” when we are just specs of dust in His vast creation. When viewed in this light “What is man that Thou art even mindful of Him?” (Psalm 8:4). Surely it is because of His wonderful purposes not only for our good but also for that of His beloved Son, around whom all His thoughts revolve. God did not devise a plan of salvation only for our own benefit so that we should be saved from His wrath and go at least to heaven. It was that of course, amazing as it is, but also to provide a suitable “helpmeet” or bride for His Son - that is the Church. We see this beautifully portrayed in the Old Testament story of Abraham sending to find a bride for his son Isaac (Gen. 24)
The more we apprehend the purposes of God in this way, the more we shall appreciate the meaning of Calvary and Easter - it was all for the sake of Jesus His beloved Son in whom was and is all His The more we apprehend the purposes of God in this way, the more we shall appreciate the meaning of Calvary and Easter - it was all for the sake of Jesus His beloved Son in whom was and is all His delight.
(These thoughts will be continued in the next magazine when we will look briefly at the remaining words of our text - THEM, ARE AND HIS)
KH
November 2011
Loving Kindness
“Cause me to hear Thy loving-kindness in the morning”
(Psalms 143:8)
It is interesting to note the loving-kindness is a word that has almost disappeared from English usage and no longer appears in the modern edition of Chambers Encyclopedic Dictionary.
It does however appear in the older editions of the same dictionary where its meaning is given as “kindness full of love” or “tender regard”
It is a Biblical word and much used in the Psalms as well as elsewhere; therefore surely good enough for us to use. As we all known on a human level it is possible to be kind to someone yet not necessarily love them. Conversely it is regrettably possible to love someone yet not always be kind to them.
Loving-kindness in the Biblical sense is one of the many attributes of God, and although some may be judgemental in character, this one is not so, but rather one which proves to be of comfort to the Christian in times of doubt and trouble.
Whilst in His mercy to His created beings God sends the sunshine and rain upon all men irrespective of whether they acknowledge Him or not, He reserves and extends a special blessing to those of His children who know and believe on Him. This, the Bible calls loving-kindness, and in which it is always referred to in relation to God, never to man.
The loving-kindness of God is not just simply kindness, not is it just love. It is rather a beautiful combination of both; that is kindness born of and motivated by love. It is an expression to His people of two separate attributes; He is kind to us solely because He loves us
A simple but feint illustration of this could be seen in a father loving his little boy, simply because he is his child. If however the father buys and gives to him a packet of sweets then that action becomes to the boy a tangible expression of that love and not just and academic knowledge.
And so it is with God. We know that He loves us (the Bible tells us so), but how much better to see it expressed to us in so many little (or big) ways in our everyday experience.
Kindness may be expressed between one person and another in the form of good deeds, but how far short they fall of real loving-kindness, which can only be shown by those who are motivated by true genuine unselfish love. This is seen and experience to the full in God’s divine love to us who believe, as expressed on the Lord Jesus Christ, and we may well ask why, when we are by nature unattractive, unworthy and wayward creatures. Isaiah 64:6 tells us that “we are all as an unclean thing, and our righteousness are as filthy rags...”. Why then are we the recipients of these divine blessings? Simply because we are not only God’s creation but those who believe on Him, were elected long before the world came into being, were predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son....” (Rom 8:29), are redeemed by the shedding of His blood on Calvary as the sacrifice for our sins, are justified V30, are brought into His family by adoption (Gal.4:5) and now kept and preserved by His power (1John 10. 27-29). So is it any wonder that God delights to load us with tangible blessings along the way which we can readily understand and enjoy.
Such is the loving-kindness of God. In spite of our readiness to complain of our lot, may we ever be alive to and be thankful for God’s loving-kindness, and not only believe it as a doctrine for God’s loving-kindness, and not only believe it as a doctrine with our intellect, but to enjoy it more and more as a daily experience.
“Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee. (Jer:31:3)
-KH