My cup overflows.......

I want to visit again ‘my cup runneth over'. (click the title above to link you to a 'further study' on my regular blog)

At Pentecost, in my sermon, I said this:

We live through the most challenging of times. I don’t need to tell you that. It is a fresh outpouring, overflowing to the broken and lost, that we need today.
Peter said, ‘The promise is for you, right down the generations and right across the world.’
‘You anoint my head with oil and my cup overflows.’
And Jesus said to his disciples, this: ‘If you, being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.’
This, friends is the key…. Asking.
Jesus makes it clear that God does not act if we are half-hearted in our asking. If however, we really mean it, we really want to serve and follow him, and we get down to serious persistent prayer asking God to act, He will.
A fresh out pouring of the Spirit is always preceded by persistent believing prayer.

I sensed after I said that, and I have now preached the sermon 3 times, that I needed to look at my own life (do I ‘really mean it’?) and whether the flow of the Spirit is uninterrupted, whether indeed my cup is overflowing, whether I am aware of God at work in and through me in answer to my prayers.
And as I meditated on this (this usually happens between 6 and 7 in a morning when having fed the dog and the cat I can be reasonably sure there will be no interruptions) I realised that although I was very much aware of God meeting my needs in response to prayer, there were blocks in my own life, unconfessed sin.
We all know Revelation 3:20 ‘Behold I stand at the door and knock etc.’ But what about the verse before it. Listen to this:
‘Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be zealous (earnest) and repent.’ Rev 3:19 This and the verse following are addressed to believers, believers belonging to a church described as ‘lukewarm’. Believers who say ‘I am rich. I don’t need anything.’ … but whom Jesus describes as ‘wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.’ ..see Rev chapter 3.
The picture painted for us therefore when we come to read Rev 3:20 is of Jesus knocking on the door of the believer. Do you see what I’m saying? You’re a Christian, but you left Jesus outside!! You thought He was inside, didn’t you? When the cup stops overflowing, and even dries up, we must ask why? …And the reason may really be quite simple, we have made room for sin… and Jesus won’t share the house with sin. It really may be that simple.

‘Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be zealous (earnest) and repent.’
What is it then that has blocked the flow and needs dealing with?
If we take time out and pray, God will reveal these things to us clearly. It is important at this point to say that if you are always feeling guilty that is unhealthy. The Evil One is constantly trying to drag us down with the discouragement that arises from our sense of unworthiness, and this develops into false guilt. Listen carefully: It is the work of the Holy Spirit when we pray to reveal the specific sins of which we need to repent. It is this sin of which you need to repent. There will be no nebulous sense of guilt.

Let me tell you of one of the specific sins the Holy Spirit showed me I needed to repent of: (at this point the congregation looks startled)
I have trouble with inanimate objects. Murphy’s law dictates that if it’s going to go wrong it will. That cable or string will always mysteriously tie itself into a knot. The bike chain will come off when you’re changing down 2 yards from the top of Leek Hill.
The computer will crash at the critical moment. You know what I mean.
And when that happens, irritation, anger if you like, so easily gets the better of me.
( here I tell the story of a typical wheel change after a flat tyre ... need I say more!!)

Underlying the symptom is the cause, and it is found in Galatians 5. Pretty well all the bad stuff is here on this list, and following it is the list of the fruit of the Spirit which is able to overcome it all.
19The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Gal 5 v19-25.

Reading the bad list, we might say…oh’ I never do that!’ But how do we measure up to the good list. You see sin is best defined as ‘missing the mark’ (the picture is of the archer failing to get the bullseye). I missed the mark when it came to it. I lacked patience and self control, and could hardly say peace was at work in my life.
And so the Holy Spirit’s work in this context, is firstly to reveal your sin and mine specifically… so that we can see it clearly and repent of it. This is the rebuke. This is the dicipline.
‘Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be zealous (earnest) and repent.’
See also Heb 12 v5-6….
5And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:
"My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son
A word of encouragement? !

So, people of God, if your cup isn’t overflowing, why not?
If you want to be a disciple, discipline is needed. And that means allowing God to reveal our sins and weaknesses to us that we may repent, and determine not to fail God again.

7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all[b] sin.
8If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1John 1v7-9.
Walking ‘in the light’ is a key theme of John.
See also John 3 v 19-21:
19This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.
The light reveals the imperfections.
Walking in the light all day and every day…. In the power of the Spirit.
When we sin we grieve the Spirit, we quench the Spirit. How can we expect His streams of living water to flow in us and through us when we harbour unconfessed sin?
James 1v5-7 makes it clear that we have to be wholehearted in our asking:
5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord;
This should go without saying.
4The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5But if anyone obeys his word, God's love[b] is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: 6Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. 1 John 2v4-6.

Here is how the Spirit is going to flow in you says Jesus….
12I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. John 14v 12-14.
This is staggering, but we will only fully realise this, church, when we understand what ‘in my name’ means. The name of a person in Jesus’s day embodied the whole of that person’s character and purpose. ‘In my name’ means that we must wholeheartedly align ourselves to the will and purpose of Christ.
Then, and only then will the wells be unblocked and the rivers flow.

13 "My people have committed two sins:
They have forsaken me,
the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
broken cisterns that cannot hold water Jer 2v13

What an indictment!
What a contrast painted in this prophetic picture of Jeremiah!
Where do you and I fit on the scale?….
At one end…...Fount of living waters, freely available, fresh and powerful.
At the other end..Stagnant, leaky, requiring-hard-labour-to-achieve-nothing.

My cup overflows.
Does it?

Come Holy Spirit. Reveal our emptiness and therefore the sins of which we need to repent.
May we confess, and know our sins forgiven.
Make us wholehearted servants, ready and willing to endure discipline; to be your disciples. Let our cups overflow. Allow your Spirit to do His work in and through us.
Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me,
all his woundrous compassion and purity.
Holy Spirit divine, all my nature refine
so the beauty of Jesus be seen in me.
And so Lord, we come and we ask, in the name of Jesus, for your Holy Spirit.

If My People....4

SORRY IF THIS IS CONFUSING, BUT BLOGGER DOES THINGS THIS WAY.
IF YOU WANT TO FOLLOW THIS SERIES OF SERMONS GO DOWN TO If My People....1 WHICH IS BELOW (MAYBE EVEN IN 'Older Posts'). THEN WORK YOUR WAY UP TO THIS ONE WHICH IS NUMBER 4

2Chron 7v14 ‘If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, I will forgive their sin and heal their land.’

PENTECOST 2008

This is the day of Pentecost, the time Peter and the 11 had been waiting for.
Jesus had ascended to the Father, after promising the Holy Spirit to the disciples. ‘Wait’, he said.
Waiting is not something we are particularly good at is it?:
…. not something many of us do well. Our culture engenders a sort of vending machine mentality in us. We want things instantly.
Waiting in the Bible is not killing time, however.
‘I waited patiently for the Lord’, says the Psalmist (Ps 40)
‘They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength’ (Is 40)
Far from killing time it is an active waiting. Not trying to engineer for ourselves what God has promised he will do. But using the waiting time effectively.
I believe that God longs to visit His people again in power, indeed we are in a waiting time just now.

Those words read to us from Leviticus 26 are to me such a clear statement by God of His love for His covenant people. If we translate it into the New Testament, since Jesus we Christians are His covenant people. Look at the opening of Ephesians and 1 Peter and the language. He has shown his love for us in Christ, ‘while we were yet sinners.’(Romans).
He longs to lavish His gifts of love on us.
But we have rejected His offer and closed the door.
We are afraid of where He might take us if we let Him have free reign in our lives.
If the first third of Lev 26 is about the overflowing blessing God gives if we obey Him, the other two-thirds is about what happens if we disobey, and it makes grim reading.

Friends, we live in times when God is not getting through to us, not because of anything He has done, but because we have moved away from Him.
Our society, with a reducing Christian influence to keep it going in the right direction, is sinking into an abyss of crime, drugs, broken lives, selfishness, perversion and murder of unborn children.
It’s a mess, isn’t it?
God told Solomon what to do when things get in a mess.

There’s only one answer, God said, it’s this….
‘If my people….’ 2 Chron 7v14

In this time of waiting therefore, His people, that’s us, we need to do four things.
I have talked about these previously.
We need to
humble ourselves
and pray
and seek His face
and turn from our wicked ways.
These things I have outlined in previous sermons.

Let’s get rid of the pride which says ‘I’m alright’, or ‘I’m better than them.’ Humble ourselves. Pray and seek God’s face. We can’t do that without a significant commitment of time, personally and corporately. ‘What do you want to say to us, Lord?’ ‘What do you want us to do, Lord.?’
…and then to get rid of everything that stands in the way of our relationship with God…our wicked ways. ‘Wicked’ you say … ‘Not me!’
So every part of your life, your money and time is surrendered to God??
He is first in your life??
I wish I could stand up and say ‘Yes’ to that, but I know there is still some unfinished business. But I want more than all else to be His true servant.

Let us take hold of this Berlin Wall that we have erected against God, and through these four steps demolish it once and for all.

For then the promise will come to fulfilment.
I WILL hear. Hallelujah !
I WILL forgive their sin. Amen.
I WILL heal their land. Amen and hallelujah!
What a promise!

The Spirit will come again as on the first day of Pentecost. Are we ready for this?

Selwyn Hughes writes:
In a conference some years ago I met a missionary who told me his story. ‘I came back from the Mission a broken and dispirited man and was given up to die. My doctor said he could do nothing for me. A friend visited me one night and said, "I know what’s wrong with you… you have hatred and bitterness buried so deeply in your heart that you can’t see it. I’m going to lay hands on you and pray for God’s help." Before he could do so I broke down and wept. "Yes". I cried, "I know, I’m a bitter and angry man. O God forgive me".’
‘Suddenly, the Holy Spirit fell on me. I felt Him burn up the anger that was deep within me; I got up and have never had a day’s sickness since.’

One of my heroes is Count Ludwig Von Zinzendorf.
Yes, I know, trust me to choose someone with a name like that for a hero!

Let me tell you the story of the man and the people whose lives touched John Wesley and were instrumental in his conversion:

An amazing transformation came to the Moravians gathered in Herrnhut in Germany on August 13, 1727. The Christian History Institute has the following recorded: "On August 5, Zinzendorf and fourteen of the brethren spent the entire night in conversation and prayer. On August 10th, a pastor by the name of Rothe was so overcome by God’s nearness during an afternoon service that he threw himself down on the ground during prayer and called to God with words of repentance as he had never done before. The congregation was moved to tears and continued until midnight, praising God and singing." The next morning a communion service was planned for Wednesday, August 13th. The institute continues: "Count Zinzendorf visited every house in Herrnhut in preparation for the Lord’s Supper. Everyone had come to a conviction of their sinfulness, need, and helplessness. During the service, they made many painful prayers for themselves, for fellow Christians still under persecution, and for their continued unity. At that time Count Zinzendorf made a penitential confession in the name of the entire congregation."

"Then prayers of great unction arose from the brethren as they interceded for each other and those who were still living under persecution in Moravia." Suddenly with the sound of a mighty rushing wind, the power of the Holy Spirit swept across the congregation in waves. The noise was loud enough that many in the church looked toward the windows expecting to see a gale raging outside. The manifestation of the Spirit was not relegated within the four walls of the church, but fell throughout the whole community. Men, women, and children were touched as a passion for God and His purpose swept through their hearts.

Zinzendorf gives us an account of this wonderful occurrence: "August 13th was a day of the outpourings of the Holy Spirit upon the congregation; it was it’s Pentecost!"...It was such a sense of the nearness of Christ bestowed in a single moment upon all members of the community at once; it was so unanimous that two members, at work twenty miles away, unaware that the meeting was being held, became at the same moment smitten with the same blessing and anointing."

One Moravian remembers: "We had stopped judging each other because we had become convinced, each one, of his lack of worth in the sight of God. On that day of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, we saw the hand of God and His wonders. We were all under the cloud of the Father baptised with His Spirit. As the Holy Ghost came upon us, great signs and wonders took place in our midst. From that time, scarcely a day passed but what we beheld His almighty workings amongst us. A great hunger after the word of God took possession of us, so that we had to have three services every day. Everyone desired above everything else that the Holy Spirit might have full control. Self-love and self-will as well as all disobedience disappeared and an overwhelming flood of grace swept us all out into the great ocean of Divine Love." What happened that August day at Herrnhut left the participants with a wonderful faith for Jesus Christ. They left the house of God that noon "hardly knowing whether they belonged to earth or had already gone to Heaven".

Again Zinzendorf explains: "The Saviour permitted to come upon us a Spirit of whom we had hitherto not had any experience or knowledge. Hitherto WE had been the leaders and helpers. Now the Holy Spirit Himself took full control of everything and everybody."

I’ll tell you what…
I want that.
Do you?