"Treasure Hunt"

 

Readings: Psalm 49:1-12, Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-23, Colossians 3:1-11, Matthew 13:44-53
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, July 31, 2022

This morning I invite you to a treasure hunt. Matthew 13:44. “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”

The man looking for treasure travels through three stages.

•    There was firstly DISCOVERY
•    Then there was DELIGHT
•    Then came DEDICATION

Let us consider those three things.

DISCOVERY

The hidden treasure I am inviting you to discover this morning is the Kingdom of God. Everyone of us here is somewhere along the road in the search for that treasure. 

The fact that you are reading this means that you sense the Kingdom of God is somehow important. Every sermon and every service of worship is an invitation to come and experience the richness and the value of God. Every time we meet for worship is a treasure hunt.

If you ever have to do any digging in the yard you know that eventually you are going to strike a stone. You expect that. But it can still give you a jolt! Occasionally you hit something and you think, 'Hey, that feels different, that's not a stone'. So, you look down and clear the earth away, and you see a bit at a time. If you are lucky you may have discovered something of real value.

For many people it is just like that with the Christian message. When Paul, one of the first great converts to Christianity, tried to preach his message, he knew it was something that people had to approach as a discovery. He writes to the church in Corinth “If the Good News we preach is hidden , it is hidden only from people who are perishing. …. the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News.” (2 Cor. 4:3-4 NLT)

The treasure of the gospel is often hidden to us by a society that enshrines many false gods. We lift up celebrities as role models, we are cushioned by materialism, we want instant answers and quick fixes, we want the next 'thing'. Our culture often refuses to acknowledge it's need for a spiritual foundation.

At times the church hasn't helped in the process of discovery. Jesus has been hidden within our stained glass windows, traditions and theologies. We have treated faith as such an intensely private thing that we are not sure how to share our beliefs with those who don't share them.

Yet there are treasures hidden mysteriously deep in ourselves. It is a basic biblical teaching that we are all created in the image of God. Whilst in each of us that image is tarnished by our compromises and sins, there remain resources in ourselves that we can tap into if we are prepared to dig for them. 

During His earthly ministry Jesus recognized that even in those society rejected, even in the lives of those whom others looked down their noses at, lay the capacity for renewal and change. The darkest places still hide deep treasures.  He called people by name and acknowledged their needs and affirmed that their lives counted to God.

Our lives matter to God. They are something God treasures. They are something God desperately wants to be a part of. They are something He sent His Son Jesus Christ, to die for that there be no barrier between ourselves and God's love.

To me that is one of the greatest discoveries any person can find. That the God they once thought of as distant and unreal can become personal and relevant and of more value to them than precious gold. That's what this little parable talking of hidden treasure is all about. The man digging in his field and discovering a treasure that is going to change the rest of his life. After he makes this discovery comes a second thing.

DELIGHT

 "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field.” (Mat 13:44 NLT)

The New Living Translation talks about excitement.  Other translations use the word 'joy' or 'delight'. If you find hidden treasure whilst digging in your yard you are going to be well pleased! But if you have any sense, you won't go bragging about it to the whole neighborhood. Notice that the man hides it for a while!

I was in my later teens when the things of God's Kingdom started to become a reality to me. I made a commitment to be a follower of Jesus Christ.  I was stupid enough to believe that meant that I now had all the answers, or more irritatingly, that only my answers were the right ones.  You remember how it was in our late teens. There were no gray areas. Everything was black and white, right or wrong.

My initial attempts at sharing my faith were a disaster. Mostly because it took a while for my lifestyle to catch up with my mindset. I was talking the talk, without walking the walk. My self-righteous outpourings alienated people rather than inspiring them to draw near to God.

It took me a while to understand that one of the great values of Christian faith is that it does not provide compact, easy, answers to all our dilemmas. What it does helps us to do is ask the right questions. To think outside the box … or one could say think outside the tomb... as we are called to be an Easter people, whatever the season of the year, “Hallelujah” remains our song. 

The grace that God provides, through the help that is the guiding Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ, we can discover life lessons to treasure and guide us through the complex mess of our lives.

That for me is where the delight comes in. When Jesus exercised His earthly ministry and people were touched by His love, they came alive. No matter what sort of people they were, in terms of social standing or morality, or any other classification, once they glimpsed something of His love then they started to ask the right sorts of questions. They started to live in a way that brought some of the things of the Kingdom He kept talking about to be a part of their lives.

To use the terminology of the apostle Paul, he rejoices in the great mystery that our lives, which are nothing more than 'common clay pots' can become vessels of 'spiritual treasure'.

This delight is not simply an emotional response, it is something deeper than that. It is a delight that transforms us.  Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:8-9  “We are experiencing all kinds of trouble, but we aren't crushed. We are confused, but we aren't depressed.  We are harassed, but we aren't abandoned. We are knocked down, but we aren't knocked out.” In the  midst of an often unfriendly world it is a delight to know that there is a God who is on our side. But if we want that sort of treasure, there has to be a third thing;

DEDICATION

The last part of the parable tells us of the man that “In his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” The ancient wisdom of the book of Proverbs puts it this way: “Turn your ear toward wisdom, and stretch your mind toward understanding. Call out for insight, and cry aloud for understanding. Seek it like silver; search for it like hidden treasure. Then you will understand the fear of the LORD, and discover the knowledge of God”. (Proverbs 2:2-5)

Dedication is never an easy task. There are many stumbling blocks that prevent us from achieving our purpose. Often the biggest stumbling block we have is our self. For as we allow the Spirit of God to dig deep into our lives, what is revealed is not always sweetness and light.

In Luke 6:45 Jesus tells His listeners; “A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.”
    
The challenge can be framed by a simple question; 'What are our hearts full of?' The gospel message is not so much about external behavior as it is about the inward attitudes that our behavior stems from. If we can get our heart in order, then everything else finds its rightful place. The treasure is inside!

But recognize this... Good treasure is always worth having! And the treasure which is Jesus Christ is the greatest treasure of all. We learn about it in the Scriptures. We can discover its living reality through prayer. We can discover it in worship. We can discover it through our service of others.

So today we are invited to go on a treasure hunt. I've been on it for a while now and what I have discovered has changed my life for the better. It is still far from perfect, it is still treasure in a clay-pot, but that is just as well, because I don't want anybody to become followers of me, but disciples of Jesus Christ.

God has great blessings for us all, if we can but have the commitment to keep on digging. There is treasure beyond our wildest dreams.

•    Treasure to DISCOVER
•    Treasure to DELIGHT IN
•    Treasure to DEDICATE OURSELVES TO

Matthew 13:44
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field,
which someone found and hid;
then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”

 The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.

“Recharging Our Batteries”

Readings: Deuteronomy 30:9-14,Colossians 1:1-14,Luke 10:25-37, Psalm 73
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, July 10 2022

Have you ever had a car that didn’t like to start in the mornings? You get up, ready to go, outside, shut the door, put on the seat belt and ‘UR-UR-UR-UR - CLUNK”. Not a thing. The batteries dead. The only way you are going to move is if somebody gives you a push or rescues you with jump leads.

The battery is still good. The cells in the battery are not dead; it just doesn’t have the power to operate. There are days when we know exactly how that battery feels! According to a poll in the Readers Digest a few years back one of the most frequently asked questions of pastors was “How do I recharge my spiritual batteries?”

The writer of Psalm 73 faces a similar dilemma. In Verse 2 he writes “My feet had almost stumbled, my steps had well nigh slipped.” The old English word for ‘the feeling that God’s grace was getting you through’ was ‘unction’. The psalmist’s problem?  The ‘unction’ had ceased to function; their ‘Ford’ was no longer trucking for the Lord!

Let me offer three insights from the Psalmist on how we can recharge our spiritual selves.
1)    Acknowledge the need
2)    Share the load
3)    Activation

Acknowledge the Need.

The Psalmist begins by being clear about their situation. They were losing it. They were stumbling and were in danger of falling. Their relationship with God was slipping away from them.

Be honest with God about your spiritual state. It’s no good before God saying that everything is all right if it’s not. We can fool each other, but we can’t fool God. If we feel like a spiritual wash out then we have to take that situation to God.

Rev. Lloyd John Ogilvie, retired Chaplain for the United States Senate and for twenty years pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, CA, wrote a book called ‘Falling into Greatness.’ In it he tells of an unsophisticated wild-west preacher who during a funeral service pointed to the coffin and said, “I want you to know that this corpse has been a member of the church for thirty years.”

Scripture suggests that we can either be spiritually dead or spiritually alive. That it is possible to be a member of a religious community yet be a corpse when it comes to having a vital life changing relationship with God.

One way of gauging how our relationship with God is going is to monitor our cynicism levels.  When the psalmist looked to those who wanted to live in any which way but the way of God, he became bitter and cynical.

The New Living Translation has him saying between verses 4 and 13: “I envied the proud when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness. They seem to live such painless lives; their bodies are so healthy and strong.  They don't have troubles like other people; they're not plagued with problems like everyone else…  These fat cats have everything their hearts could ever wish for! …Did I keep my heart pure for nothing? Did I keep myself innocent for no reason?”

Have you noticed how if you are feeling down or depressed or washed-out... how hard it is to keep a realistic perspective? Because you feel personally low, you paint the whole world gray. You make out things are worse than they really are, molehills become mountains, insignificant problems become tremendous causes for anxiety.

As the Psalmist struggles through he realizes that he needs to acknowledge his feelings.  Verse 16: “Though I tried to understand all this, it was too difficult for me,”
Verses 21-22; “Since my heart was embittered and my soul deeply wounded, I was stupid and could not understand; I was like a brute beast in Your presence.”

Before we can be spiritually recharged we need to stop pretending and acknowledge we are washed out. We need to realize that the power has gone and we need to be charged up. That’s the first step, acknowledge our need. Step two is:

Share the Load.

When I was in seminary over in Wales, Great Britain, I possessed one of those cars that didn’t like the mornings.  A 4 Cylinder Morris Marina Estate (as pictured above). Early one misty Sunday morning I needed to drive about two hours to preach in a church in another town. We got to the car park, turned the key and...”WURR-WURR-WURR – Click”.

Mr. Morris Marina’s 4 little cylinders were not playing ball. Now early on Sunday mornings in college towns in Wales you were not going to find a garage open to service your vehicle. Neither would anybody appreciate you knocking on their door asking if they could give you a push. “Lord” I said “Help!”

A short whilst later turning into the Car Park came a guy in a flashy Jaguar XJ6. He turned out to not only have jump leads in his boot – or rather trunk as you say in these parts – but was a good Samaritan prepared to lend a hand. He lifted up the bonnet – that is hood – of the XJ6 – his engine all shiny gleaming and purring – attached the jump leads to my little rather tired looking engine – I turned the key and I tell you – that Morris Marina – jumped to attention. ‘Yes Sir – let’s go! I am the Little Morris that can!’

Where do we go when we need spiritually recharging? The Psalmist tells us in verse 17:  “Though I tried to understand all this, it was too difficult for me, Until I entered the sanctuary of God”. As the Living Bible has it, “I went into Your temple… and then I understood!”

Where do we go when we want to be spiritually recharged? To the pastor? To our Sunday School Teacher? To the elders on call? To the liquor store? To the T.V and wait for Oprah or Dr. Phil to come on?  Do we Google ‘Help Needed’?

As Christians we have a direct line. Jesus Christ is our High Priest. He is the One who brings into our life the presence of God. He is our Sanctuary, our Holy place. He sends His Spirit to be the encourager, the Helper, the light, the guide. By-pass the middle man. When you need a recharge go direct to the source of power. When the Psalmist took his need to God, then He started to be charged up.

To meet spiritual need we need to connect with a spiritual source. When Mr. Morris Marina needed to be recharged, we connected him to a higher power, Mr. Jaguar. To meet our deepest needs, we should go to God, for only God can meet those needs! It was only then that the Psalmist started to regain his perspective.

Through verses 17 to 20 you find him saying things like, “I understand now what will happen to the wicked… They are like a bad dream that goes away in the morning… What goes around will come around, and their end is destruction’. As he reflected upon and contemplated God’s Word life stated to make sense again. He became less cynical, more willing to make a go of things, more aware that he was not alone, but that God was still walking right alongside.

Listen to verses 23-26   “I am always with You; You take hold of my right hand. With Your counsel You guide me, and at the end receive me with honor. Whom else have I in the heavens? None beside You delights me on earth.  Though my flesh and my heart fail, God is the rock of my heart, my portion forever.”

This is the same guy who early was saying, “Oh no, I’m losing it, I should just be wicked like everybody else’ Now he’s saying, “The wicked will get the welcome they should expect… as for me, I will serve the Lord. God is my Rock!” What happened? He realized his need and got serious with God about seeing that met.

If we take our need for recharge to God, I believe we will start to understand, something will happen, some word of encouragement, some Scripture will grab our attention, something that makes us sit up and take notice and regain the perspective of a child of God. But we shouldn’t leave it there. One final word.

Activation

There was a reason why the battery in my car that day had gone flat. I hardly ever used it. Everything I needed was in town, and the only time I left town was on those occasional Sundays when I needed to travel to a preaching engagement. So sometimes it would sit for weeks at a time in the Car Park or on the road. A car has an alternator, a dynamo that recharges the battery as you are driving along. If the alternator stops functioning the battery will go flat. The best way to prevent a battery from losing its charge is to keep it charged up.

The best way to prevent spiritual passion from sapping out of us is through staying fired up. Regular participation in spiritual things results in a life activated by the Holy Spirit. When we express our faith through regular habits, such as faithful attendance at worship, regular Bible Reading and corporate and private prayer, we have less opportunity to lose our focus.

Do something for someone else. Share your faith. Read a solid Christian book about some area of your faith that perplexes you. Take a greater role in a committee or mission of the church. Volunteer for something you haven’t tried before. Support financially a particular project you have not previously supported. What happens? Activation!

Hear how the Psalmist concludes his struggles. (Psalm 73:28)  “But as for me, how good it is to be near God! I have made the Sovereign LORD my shelter, and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things God does”.

We all stumble on our spiritual journeys. But how can we relight the fire?

•    We acknowledge our need. We are honest with ourselves about our lack of spiritual vitality.
•    We share the load. We take our life to God, we ask God to renew our perspective, to help us through
•    We Activate. We seek to live in a disciplined and spiritual way that keeps our aim true and our hearts centered in the love of Jesus Christ. To take the Psalmists words ‘We make the sovereign Lord our shelter and tell others about the wonderful things Gods can do!”

May God renew each of our lives today, through Jesus Christ and in the strength of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.

"Communion and Encouragement"

Readings: Psalm 33:12-22, Genesis 15:1-6, Luke 12:32-40, Acts 27:27-44
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, July 3rd, 2022

The closing chapters of the Book of Acts give us the stories of Paul's missionary journeys as he seeks to bring Christianity to the whole wide world. Our passage this morning dealt with his transportation to Rome, where he was going to be put on trial for crimes against the state. The Jewish authorities had wanted him taken to Jerusalem to be tried for treason. But Paul, knowing his rights as a Roman citizen, had appealed for his case to be heard in Rome.

He is on a boat in the Mediterranean sea, on the way to Rome, when an almighty storm starts to brew. Everyone on board, except Paul, panics. He stays calm, and prophecies that none of them will come to harm. The ship would be driven ashore to an island, which, when it happened, turned out to be the island of Malta.

Paul had the sort of faith that believes in a God who is Lord, even of the storm. He saw the hand of God amid that threatening tragedy. Right in the middle of the hysteria, we read; "Paul took some bread, gave thanks to God before them all, broke it, and began to eat. They took heart, and everyone of them also ate some food" (Acts 27:35-36).

The power of the storm, the wind, and the waves, they are reoccurring themes in the New Testament. The very first disciples were fishers well acquainted with the mysterious and sometimes deadly forces of nature. Jesus is pictured by the gospel authors as one who can hush the wind and calm the waters, even walk upon them.

The act of breaking bread reminds us of other occurrences of sharing bread that brought an unknown peace and sustenance to those present. Think of occasions such as the feedings of the 5000 and the 4000. Think of the experience of the two men on the Emmaus road, where the resurrected Christ became known to them at the end of their journey as He broke bread with them.

For those on the ship with Paul, their journey was far from over. Worse was to come. Through Paul's encouragement they faced it with a renewed confidence and assurance that somehow amongst all this craziness, disaster, and madness the hand of God was at work, and they need not fear, just trust Him.

A number of years ago there was a film that had the title, "It's a mad, mad world". When you read or listen to the news you can get the impression that whoever produced the phrase knew exactly what they were talking about. For even the bible pictures a world where chaos rather than creation reigns, where the forces of darkness seem to win the day, not the grandeur of light. A world which is a fallen world. A world of fear and struggle and toil whose lord is a prince of darkness, Satan, the great deceiver, and father of lies. A world of sin and sinners who care nothing about the love of God and are positively hostile towards His gentle claim of love upon their lives. A mad, mad world.

It was that sort of mad, mad, world that Jesus stepped right into the midst of. A dark, stormy world that laughed at Him, mocked Him, spat upon Him, and crucifies Him afresh in every generation. That is one of the messages that the bread and wine present to us. Jesus, God's precious beloved son, came amongst us. He touched us. He laughed and cried with us. He healed us. He taught us. He showed us with great love and care that He represented the Living God who had not abandoned the world but worked to restore and renew it.

 So, for that, we crucified Him, broke His body, hammered nails through His flesh and hung Him up for all the world to see. His blood poured out as He prayed "Father, forgive them, they don't know what they are doing". And it is quite clear in the storm of the crucifixion, that darkest moment in the pages of the world’s history, people didn't know what they were doing. Still less did they understand how God could be mixed up in it all; that He was about to turn tears into laughter and death into resurrection and disaster into triumph!

The storm continues to rage and roar around us. The mad, mad world continues in its mad, mad way. BUT if you and I can somehow embrace the message of Christ's victory and allow Him to live His life in our lives through the Holy Spirit's power, then we have nothing to fear. On the contrary, we have every reason to rejoice, for He offers new hope and forgiveness and strength to serve Him.

There is a hymn a that says.
"The storm may roar without me, My heart may low be laid,
But God is round about me, And can I be dismayed?"

You may say to me, "But, Adrian, I am dismayed, my heart is laid low, you can't be serious, everything's gone wrong!"
 
I know it is so hard to do, but in all humility, I say to you, "Stop looking at the storm". Stop focusing on the storm. I'm not saying ignore it. I'm not saying that it is going to go away. I'm not pretending that storms don't still cause shipwrecks and tragedy. But when everything around us is out of control we need to hear the still small voice of calm, the voice of God saying,

 "I am the Lord of the storm. Be encouraged.
Things are not out of control. I, the Lord your God, I am in control"

We must let Him be in charge. Let Jesus be Lord of our circumstances, our worries, our problems, our joys, and successes as well. Share them with Him, take the time to pray over these things with Him, talk to Him about them, listen to Him, meditate on what His Word offers us.

It wasn't a luxury cruise that Paul was on as he sailed to Rome. He was potentially under a death sentence. He was a prisoner. The storm wasn't just a passing wind, it was the sort of storm that had hardened sailors fearing for their lives and had atheists on their knees praying to unknown gods. The sort that caused ships to crumble before the merciless pounding of its waves. It was in that situation, "Paul took some bread, gave thanks to God before them all, broke it, and began to eat. They took heart, and everyone of them also ate some food"

That phrase there, "They took heart,, is one of those Greek words that it is hard to give the exact English equivalent for. It appears in Hebrew form in the Book of Proverbs 15:15 which reads, "Happy people enjoy life." Not evade life or endure life but enjoy it. It can mean "to raise your spirit up, to be encouraged, to feel better about things, to pluck up courage and be of good cheer."

That's what happened on that boat as Paul broke bread. That's what happened when he was able to bring them from a position where all they could see was the storm of a mad, mad, world, to a position where they were able to sense that beyond the storm was the hand of a God who hadn't abandoned them but would carry them through the wreck they were about to be faced with.

Today people will be breaking bread amid many stormy situations, many places where things will get worse before they get better. But as they break bread and share wine, they will be encouraged for they will remember there is a God who is greater than the storm.
 
We join with them around our communion table. We are not alone. We are in the company of friends, brothers, and sisters who form a chain of prayer and hope that circles and crisscrosses the mad, mad world. We are in the company of angels and the company of saints, a vast crowd of unseen witnesses who testify that there is a safe haven beyond the storm.

 All I want to say to you this morning is this; 

Remember Paul and how he broke bread during a storm. 

Remember how that simple action brought those who participated in it to the presence of God and lifted them to His presence. 

Now it's your turn.

Break Bread.
Drink wine.
Take courage.
Take heart.
For the love of Jesus Christ
Is greater than the storm.

The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.

“Why are Prayers Not Answered?”

Readings: Psalm 16, Galatians 5:1, 13-25, Habakkuk 2:1-4 Matthew 7:7-12
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, on June 26, 2022

Matthew 7:7-8   "Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.  For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”

In the light of such words, why is it our prayers often seem to be unanswered?

You knew somebody who was ill. You prayed fervently that God would heal them. They died. Was your prayer unanswered?

An opening came up in your job. All the pieces fitted together. You were prepared, a promotion was overdue, and it would do you and your family good. You prayed about that position. But they passed you over and brought somebody in from outside. Was your prayer unanswered?

You lost a stone out of your ring. It was a ring that had both actual and sentimental value. You prayed that God would help you find it. You never did. Was your prayer unanswered? Unanswered prayer is one of the challenges that we face as Christians. We believe in prayer. We practice prayer. We don’t always see answered prayers.

Let us start be putting the question in the right perspective. This is not God’s problem. This is our problem. A problem that stems partly from the fact that in asking the question, we show ourselves to have made up our mind what we believe prayer is and how prayer should work.

Surely prayer is not just about asking, but also about listening and talking and meditating and thinking and dreaming and praising. Prayer is not begging favors from a big old Mr. Meanie in the sky!

If God is Sovereign of the Universe, the all-powerful creator and sustainer, it seems fair to conclude that God is under absolutely no obligation to answer our prayers in the way we feel God should.

The Bible, that volume of 66 books that are designed to bring us to faith and to build our expectations in what God can do, gives us some startling examples of prayers that were not answered in the way people had hoped for.

Moses prayed that God would allow him to enter the Promised Land, but he died on top of Mount Nebo. The prophet Habakkuk begins his book with the words, “O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen?” (Habakkuk 1:2)

Paul prayed three times for the removal of a thorn in the flesh that was hindering his missionary labors, but as far as we know the problem haunted him for the rest of his life.

Jesus, the Son of God and our Savior, prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane that the Father would remove His cup of suffering. But He drank that cup to its bitter depths!

How are we to understand these instances?  Was God simply not listening, taking no notice? Again, we have to question our own assumptions about how God should act. For some reason we expect God to say ‘Yes’ as an answer to whatever we ask.

There are other absolutely reasonable answers. Such as;
•    “Yes, but not in the way that you are thinking of”.
•    “Yes, but not yet”.
•    And of course, “NO” is also a valid response!

“Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.” But you may not receive exactly what you are asking for, (particularly if you are demanding a ‘yes’)… seek and you will find an answer, knock and the door will be opened, but behind it may not be precisely what you expected.

Unanswered prayer, I say again, is our problem, not God’s problem. God always has an answer; our problem is that it’s not the one we asked for. Now there is a biblical rationale to this.

God operates on a different agenda to our agenda. The things we count as all important, things such as money and possessions and status… God tells us these are insignificant… the things we invest with little significance, things such as solid relationships, honoring and respecting all peoples worth and dignity, looking to the needs of others as much as our own… God tells us that these are the big things about life on planet earth.

Listen… here is the answer in a nutshell. “Why are prayers not answered?” Because prayer is not all about asking. It’s about submitting our wills to the will of God. That’s why Moses died on Mount Nebo. That’s why Habakkuk felt God would never come around, that’s why Paul never had the thorn in his flesh removed, that’s why Christ had to struggle and sweat blood in the Garden of Gethsemane…prayer is about disciplining our lives that the will of God may be done on earth as it is in heaven. Prayer is an attempt to line up our agenda with God’s agenda.

An illustration. Mum and a child are going shopping. So Mum makes up her list of what they need. Food. Drink. Bread. New socks. And so it goes. Maybe even a few treats thrown in. Meanwhile the child has heard they are going shopping and is making up their own list. Bike. Skateboard. Fishing line. Sponge Bob Square pants X-Box game, all the Disney products they have in stock, a dog, a monkey (if they sell monkeys... who wouldn’t want a monkey?)... .so the list grows.

It is obvious which list of items is going to make it to the check out. The child is going to be very disappointed if they expected their list to be fulfilled. Sad thing is, sometimes our prayer lists are more comparable with the shopping list of the child than the mother, more filled with wants than needs, more concerned with what we want than what God wants for our lives.

Now, if mum and child sat down together and made the list, then you know what? The child would know what to ask for! This also applies to prayer. In prayer we are called to line up our agendas with God’s agenda, in order that our service and worship of God may be effective and real and alive!

Rather than talking about unanswered prayers, let me phrase the question slightly differently; and ask, “How can we take steps to pray about the right things?” I suggest 3 steps;

Pray with Persistence

Be assured, God wants us to pray. Out text makes it clear it is a good thing to ask things of our Father in Heaven. Jesus tells us ASK, SEEK and KNOCK.

ASK: When we ask of God it means we see our need of Him. It means we believe God can meet our needs.

SEEK: This indicates there is some effort involved in our asking. We can pray, “Give us this day our daily bread”, but that does not remove from us the responsibility to work for our daily bread. We can pray “Thy Kingdom Come” but we still have to work to bring the values of God’s Kingdom to bear upon the kingdoms of this world.

KNOCK: When you were in school you wouldn’t go and casually knock on your principals’ study door, unless you had something you really needed to talk about. You wouldn’t go in there and say in a random fashion, “Hey dude, did you see the game last night!”

It’s not that God is too busy to hear our prayers, rather that our prayers have to be from the heart. ‘Knocking’ implies persistence in prayer. It doesn’t mean we have to go on and on and on about things to God. It does mean that when we pray, we must be serious about the task. Pray with persistence.

Pray with Patience   

The preacher C.H. Spurgeon said waiting was like a long sea journey that brought back treasure from distant lands. ‘Coasters’ were small boats that carried coal and ordinary things from port to port in the same country, hugging the coastline as they traveled.  But the great treasures came from the larger ships that sailed out of sight on great oceans. The point being… some things are worth waiting for.

Be patient. Prayers are answered in different ways. As we’ve seen “Yes, but not now” “No” or “Well, Yes but nothing like in the way you expected” are all valid answers.  God’s agenda of importance differs from ours. Pray with persistence, pray with patience. And thirdly…

Pray to a Person.

Christian prayer is not asking that the “Force will be with you.” We are not channeling supernatural forces or seeking to be a conduit for some divine stream of consciousness.

We address our prayers to ONE Jesus described as a heavenly Father, a Father who wants only the absolute best for all of His much loved and cherished children.  In prayer we are seeking to meet with God up close and personal.

Why are prayers not answered? Well... it all depends on what you mean by prayer and what you mean by answering. If you are asking; ‘Why doesn’t God give us everything we ever dreamed of and run the world in the way that we think is best’… then the answer is simple. There is a God. And it is not you.  

Prayer is not trying to force God’s arm to do what we want, but an attempt to align our lives with the will of God. In that process the desires of our hearts often need to be refined and redefined. Such a process cannot be determined by ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ answers.

The problem of unanswered prayer is best approached by seeking to deepen our personal relationship with God, through Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit. The “Who’ of prayer, is a whole lot more important than the “Why?” of prayer.

Trust that when you pray, God knows best!

 It is in that framework that Jesus offers to us these words. "Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.  For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”

The Reverend Adrian J Pratt B.D.

"Does it pay to be good?"

Readings: Psalm 37:1-24, Isaiah 65:1-9, Galatians 3:23-29, Luke 8:26-39.
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, June 19, 2022

Many times, in our lives we are faced with the question "Does it pay to be Good?”

When you first leave home and are no longer under your parents’ authority. When you are confronted with a temptation that seems to hard to handle. When you try and give up a habit that you know is doing you more harm then good. When business is going badly, and an opportunity comes along that look’s rewarding but questionable. When problems in a relationship have appeared and somebody appears on the scene that offers everything your current relationship doesn’t have. When you must make an honest decision that nobody else will ever know about. 

Does it pay to be good?

I read recently of a woman who was mad at her husband for being good. He was a sales manager in a large firm, and they lived well. One of the directors asked him to start pushing a household appliance that had been remade from defective products. He wouldn’t do it. He lost his job. His wife was bitter. She didn’t think that it paid to be good.

It’s not a new question. The ancient Hebrews throughout their history always felt that there should be an equation between conduct and reward. That when you did good you should be rewarded for it. Correspondingly, when you did bad you should be punished.

As they looked around, they started to realize that life’s not like that. Some people served God wholeheartedly and seemed to get nothing but trouble. Others were out and out rogues and prospered. As we look at peoples experience today, we may conclude that nothings changed. Does serving the Lord count for anything? Does it pay to be good?

To seek an answer, I’d like to look at verses from Psalm 37.
The Psalm begins “Do not fret because of the wicked; do not be envious of wrongdoers.”

It starts with a warning. Do not become jealous of people who appear to be doing well but are living immoral lives. Do not emulate them or admire them. Don’t allow envy to cheapen your lifestyle or make you compromise your values. Just because somebody else appears to prosper from doing something you know in your heart is not right, that is not a call to follow their example. The Psalm goes on to say harsh things concerning wicked folk who prosper.

Verse 2 “They will soon fade like the grass”
Verse 9 “The wicked shall be cut off” (cut off that is from God’s love)
Verse 10 “Yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look diligently for their place, they will not be there.”
Most cutting of all…
Verse 13 “The LORD laughs at the wicked, for he sees that their day is coming.”

Every action we take produces results. Decisions towards unrighteousness or wickedness in this life do not take place in a vacuum. Life has eternal consequences. What goes around comes around, if not in this life, then for sure in the next.

Presbyterians believe in salvation by faith, not by comparison. We believe that saying to God, “Hey, I was just going along with the crowd”… is not a good reason for God to pat us on the back and say, “Good job!”  

We believe that God’s Word teaches that we are not to mould our lives according to any pattern of twenty first century morality but by dwelling in God’s love. We believe that whatever we welcome into our lives in the immediate future not only effects the way we live tomorrow but also the welcome we should expect in eternity.

Consider Psalm 37, verses 14 and 15 “The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows to bring down the poor and needy, to kill those who walk uprightly; their sword shall enter their own heart, and their bows shall be broken.”

These verses are like the words of Jesus to Peter at the time of His arrest, “Those who live by the sword, shall die by the sword”

We are asking the wrong question. Instead of asking “Does it pay to be Good?” we should ask, “Does it pay to invest our lives in half-truths, deceit, violence, immorality, or prejudice?” Sometimes the short time answer may be, “Well it got me what I wanted!” but always the long-term repercussions outweigh any temporary benefit.

When we want to take money out of the bank, we must draw that money from funds that we have invested. Money lending agencies encourage us to take out money we don’t yet have so as they can profit from the interest we will return to them, but eventually we have to pay it all back.

Consider good actions and bad actions as a form of collateral. Bad actions contribute to a pool of negativity. Good actions reinforce our relationship with God. We can only draw strength from what we have invested in. If our actions create a pool of negativity, then we are going to be lost when trouble comes. If we have invested positively in other people’s lives, then when trouble comes, we have the strength of God to draw upon.

Verses 18, 19 and 24 illustrate this well.
“The LORD knows the days of the blameless, and their heritage will abide forever; they are not put to shame in evil times, in the days of famine they have abundance.”

Verse 24: “Though we stumble, we shall not fall headlong, for the LORD holds us by the hand”.

In the work God has called me to do I have had the opportunity to observe people from diverse backgrounds in many different circumstances. I have observed one undeniable fact... it is those who have a mature and longstanding Christian faith that are stand the firmest when the tough times come along. There is no guarantee in Christianity against trouble, but there is a guarantee against defeat.

In times of illness, bereavement, or tragedy, it is those who know themselves children of God, not because of any merit of their own, but because of Christ’s death and resurrection… it is those who have invested their lives in seeking to do things God’s way,  who stand firm. They know, from accumulated experience, that God will not abandon them. Yes, they may fall, but they know God is able to pick them up again. Paul, a man well acquainted with setbacks and troubles, wrote to a Roman Church struggling with persecution;

“Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? … No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, 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 8:35-39)

It is those who grow in the knowledge and love of God who gain an understanding that those who cut moral corners never find. ‘Good actions’ build resources into our lives that can hold us when the storms come along. Good actions do not earn for us our salvation. We are saved by grace alone through faith. Good actions, and by good actions I mean actions that are a response and reflection of the goodness of God, reinforce our relationship with God.

Verse 3 through 7 of Psalm 37 outline three principles that can guide people who desire to do good things.

The first principle is found in verse 3 “Trust in the Lord”
That’s the place to begin doing good. Trust that in God’s hand your life will come to no harm. That it will be fruitful and grow. That God only wants the best for you. That God’s love is the love of a perfect parent. Good actions grow out of a good relationship with God.

The second principle is found in verse 4 “Take delight in the Lord”
Some modern translations have, “Seek your happiness in the Lord.” Not everybody associates delight with God. They think of God - and words like service or holiness or wrath or judgment come to mind. They look for happiness elsewhere, in material things, in films or books, food or drink. 

The verse continues, “Take delight in the LORD, and God will give you the desires of your heart.” Until our hearts find their true home in God, they will always be restless. Until our hearts find their center in Christ, we will always be off-center. Until we find the joy of the Holy Spirit, we will always be seeking happiness in other places.

A third principle is verse 5 “Commit your way to the Lord”
Wholehearted, unreserved commitment to God results in God’s will being done in our lives and through our lives transforms the world. We may not see immediate results… verse 7 counsels us… “Be still before the LORD and wait patiently” for God to act.

You may sometimes feel that by holding to God’s standards you are missing out on the things of this world. No matter. The things of this world are temporary and passing. Tempting, yes, but fulfilling, no. We must wait on God, relying on God’s timing. To wait on the Lord is to declare our dependence on God for all we need in life.

Three principles:-
•    Trust in God
•    Delight in God
•    Commit yourself to God.

Does it pay to be good? It’s a question we ask every day in numerous ways. The Psalmist points us towards an answer.

I’ll be honest, there have been times when I have doubted, when I’ve contemplated how, if my life had taken a different path,  I could have earned higher wages, had less responsibility, had more influence, gained more ‘stuff.’ I have questioned whether it pays to be good, whether wholehearted commitment to Jesus Christ pays off in this world.

But times of doubt have been outnumbered by times of blessing. I have discovered things about the love of God and the provision of God that have left me awestruck. I have a wonderful inheritance as part of the family of God. I have a life with an eternal perspective that goes far beyond anything this world can offer.

Following Christ pays great dividends, particularly when times of struggle and trial come our way. Does it pay to be good? There’s only one way to find out. Do it. Try it. Stick with it. Hold to it. Do the kind of good that reflects the goodness of God. Do the kind of good that brings glory to God and makes others feel they are also God’s children.

To God be all praise for His great goodness revealed in Jesus Christ through the action of His Holy Spirit in our midst, Amen.

 The Reverend  Adrian J. Pratt B.D.

June 5 "Tune in and Turn on" ( PENTECOST )

 

PENTECOST 2022 - COMMUNION
Readings: Psalm 104:24-34, Ezekial 37:1-14, John 15:26-27, 16:4-15, Acts 2:1-21
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, June 5, 2022

Sometimes, when a storm hits...
the power goes out.
It can be a little annoying.
 For some folks it can be really annoying.
because the power can be out for days!

Today, Pentecost Sunday, celebrates the day the power came back on. Not electric power but the power of the Holy Spirit. The disciples had seen Jesus crucified. They had seen Him alive again. He had taught them and made promises to them.

"I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you." (John14:18)
"I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper,
that He may be with you forever" (John 14:16).

Christ ascended to be with the Father and instructed the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for a promise to be fulfilled, for the Helper to come. On the day of Pentecost, as we read in Acts Chapter 2, the personal presence of God, came upon them in a new and powerful way. As they tuned in to God, so they became turned on to the power that was God equipping them with to take His message into all the world.

So, my message for this Pentecost morning is ... “Tune in and Turn on.”

1. Tune in to Jesus and be turned on to following Him.

The church that was born in Jerusalem was a mixture of the many different strains of Christianity that would emerge from it. It was charismatic and evangelistic. It practiced both a social gospel and preached a gospel of personal salvation. They worshiped. They studied. They prayed. They served. They shared.

They were activists, working for the rights of the widows and orphans. They were reformers, working to bring social change. They were preachers and teachers and healers. They were carers and communicators. They were worshipers and servers. They were works in progress seeking to transform each other’s lives.

They were Catholics. They believed in one universal church. They were Orthodox. They defined orthodox belief. They were Methodists. They methodically ordered their life together. Baptists, in the sense that they called people to evidence their commitment to Jesus Christ through public baptism. They were Pentecostals. They believed in the supernatural power of God to work signs and wonders. And of course, they were also Presbyterians, for everything was done with decency and in order.

Over and above everything else, the disciples were people who were tuned into God to such a degree that their lives turned on Jesus’ teachings. One of Jesus invitations was "Follow me." They treated that invitation with the utmost seriousness.

They left their homes, as He did, took on voluntary poverty, as He did, taught in villages and cities, as He did, and tried to heal the sick and cast out demons as He had done. They were not always successful. They were at times amazed and shocked by the things Jesus taught and did. At times they were afraid of where following Him might lead them.

We can tune in to Jesus. Following Him we will encounter the unexpected, the surprising and the shocking. We cannot follow and stay the same. He will ask much of us, in fact everything. That is because He gave everything for us. Tune in to Jesus, who tells us that life is a matter of the heart. A heart in tune with His Fathers will, a life empowered by His Spirit will change not just our self but those whom we share our life with.

2. Tune in to your church and be turned on to loving each other.

Jesus only ever gave one commandment. "Love one another as I have loved you."  We are called to love people of flesh and blood, not abstract theological concepts, or distant ideals. "By this shall all men know you are my disciples" says Jesus, "If you have love one for another".

The community where that love is to be expressed is within the church, and for many of us here that means this church and this body of people we are seated with today. Remember that old disco hit... "We are Family, Brothers, Sisters, together are we..." (or something like that). That's our calling. To be concerned with each other, to be like a family, a community. That's how it went at Pentecost.

"I don't have to be involved with a church to be a Christian" some will tell me. "I've made a decision for Jesus Christ... that's it, I'm saved."  Yes, it is important to decide to be a follower, and to realize in a personal way what Jesus has done for us, but that's not where it ends! The gospel is not about individuals being saved... it's about people together working out what it means to be a salvation community.

It's easy to say "I love you" to a vacuum. (That's an empty space... not a vacuum cleaner! If you go around saying "I love you" to vacuum cleaners they will probably lock you up). It's easy to say "I love you" to something faceless and nameless.

It's not so easy to love those whom you don't always see eye to eye with, or those who have different views of life and standards for living by… but that is our calling. To be a diverse group of people, who through the love of God, see each other as those for whom Jesus died and love each other with the love His Holy Spirit puts in our hearts.

Be tuned in to all that the church here is trying to do. The worship services, next week’s Youth service, the Sunday School, the music, the Service opportunities, Food Pantry, Thrift Shop, Child Care center, Martha’s Haven, the way we try and make our facilities available to different groups in the community like AA, the concerts and musical performances, Craft and chat… and strengthen yourself for all this activity at Wednesday yoga… get excited about these things,  commit yourselves to these things... they are the tangible, physical ways we fulfill the command of Jesus to love one another as He has loved us.

Kinmel Bay Presbyterian Church, is a Welsh Presbyterian congregation that I occasionally used to preach at. My good friend from the UK, Andy Smith shared evangelist J. John’s thoughts, that appeared on their Facebook Page.

"Have you ever stopped to wonder why people who are not yet Christians come to church? I once read some fascinating statistics:
- 1% come because they were visited by Christians.
- 2% come because of the church program - they’ve come along to a holiday club, a senior citizens’ lunch, toddler group, and so on.
- 3% come because of bereavement.
- 3% come because of Sunday School.
- 6% walk through the door because they see some publicity.
- 8% come because of some personal contact they’ve had with the minister or church staff.
- 77% come because friends or relatives invited them.
This is one statistic worth stopping to think about.”

Get excited about your faith community. Tell your friends, bring them along so they can be a part of it. Turn yourself on to the nitty gritty of church life. Don't listen to the unscriptural, unhistorical, illogical voice that will tell you... "You don't have to go to church to be a Christian."  Fact is… there is not one scripture in the whole Bible that gives one single indication that you can be a Christian without involving yourself in the lives of other Christians... that you can follow Jesus as a lone ranger.

Of course, there are times when health or schedule or work or other unavoidable things makes it impossible to come to church. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm saying that to be faithful to God, the scriptures insist you be faithful in loving your brothers and sisters in Christ. And the place that should be happening is within a local congregation. Tune in to your church and be turned on to loving one another.

The Christian life is not an easy option. In fact, in our own strength, it's an impossibility. That's why we need to…

3. Tune in to the Holy Spirit and be turned on to possibility.

The disciples had to wait for a baptism of the Holy Spirit before they could get on with the business God was calling them to. It is no different for us present day disciples. We to have to wait on God to be powered up for service. We need regularly to recharge our spiritual batteries through worship, study, and prayer and service. We need to ask God to turn the power on.

Think about the way God works in our lives through the Holy Spirit.

"God has poured out His love into our hearts by means of the Holy Spirit." When we accept the call of Jesus Christ to be His followers, He doesn't just leave us to it. As He promised His disciples, He comes to us, in a new way... as the Holy Spirit, to equip us for the task. Until He comes, we are a barren tree. But when He comes, He works in our lives to produce good things. "The Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control".

A hymn we sometimes sing has the line ; "Open my eyes that I may see the wonderful truths in your word." It was the theologian John Calvin who spoke of the work of the Holy Spirit being like a pair of spectacles, interpreting to our hearts the written word of God so that it becomes the Living Word of our lives. The Spirit tunes us in, so we can turn our lives on, to serving God.

After all, what is there more positive than the scriptures testimony regarding Jesus Christ. A death that was turned into a resurrection, a defeat turned into a victory, a hopeless situation becoming a cause for rejoicing, a powerless group of disciples in an upper room, by the Holy Spirit, becoming fearless pro-claimers of a gospel that has changed... is changing... and will change the world.

Tune in.
Turn on.
Tune in to Jesus and be turned on to following Him.
Tune in to your church and be turned on to loving your Christian family.
Tune in to the Holy Spirit and be turned on to possibility.

And there is no better place to seek to be empowered than around a table laid with bread and wine. What a privilege to be able to seek God as we are reminded of the lengths Jesus Christ, our Savior went, to seek out our lives. On this Pentecost Sunday, may the power come back on in our lives and the life of this church of God! 

AMEN!

The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.

May 29 "Witness to What?" (Ascension Sunday)

 Readings: Psalm 47, Acts 1:1-11, Ephesians 1:15-23, Luke 24:44-53
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, May 29, 2022

At the very end of the Gospel of Luke we find an event known as the Ascension. It is the moment when the resurrected Jesus calls His disciples together for one last time and lays down what was of the most importance in their calling to be disciples. As a faith community seeking to be faithful to the call of Jesus Christ, we do well to remind ourselves of what our mission should be.

Luke 24:48 states it plainly enough "You are witnesses.” Witnesses. In Greek ‘ma,rtuj’(martus) from which the English word martyr is derived. Sometimes translated as ‘heralds;’ a herald being somebody who delivers a message on behalf of their Master. So, our calling is to carry the gospel message to others… to witness. But witness to what? And how do we go about that witnessing?

This passage mentions three things.

1.    That we are to witness to Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah of the Old Testament, who suffered and died and rose again from the dead.
2.    We are to bear witness that through repentance, forgiveness and renewal is available to all people.
3.    We are to find the power to witness through the promised Holy Spirit given as we wait upon God in prayer and joyful worship.

1. We are to witness to Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah of the Old Testament, who suffered and died and rose again from the dead.

Think for a moment of Christian history as a long road that stretches back to the beginning of time. Along the road are many milestones in the story. Abraham setting out to who knows where. Moses giving the law. The prophets looking ahead to a day when a new covenant would be established. Then a flurry of activity as Jesus is born, as He ministers, as He is betrayed and crucified, as He is raised from the dead, and, the event we are thinking of today, as He ascends to the Father.

These events mark the beginning of the New Covenant. Another milestone appears at Pentecost as the disciples gather in an upper room. The Spirit will come, and the church will come alive. The people of God will spread the message of Christ’s love to all nations. For the last 2000 years the milestones have continued. Some have marked tragedies when the church has lost its way, become corrupted by politics or power. Others are reforms when the people of God have been reawakened to their mission and revival has been in the air.

Luke’s Gospel (and his complementary story in the book of Acts) sees history in just such a linear way. That Christ was the One the law and the prophets were anticipating, and the Church were the people of God to now declare the message of His death and resurrection as it was witnessed to by the earliest disciples. At the center of the biblical story is Jesus Christ… all that comes before points to Him, all that comes after flows from Him.

It is for us today to witness to the centrality of Jesus Christ, to His death on the cross at Calvary and His resurrection from the dead as being the pivotal events of human history. Through His suffering and death God enters into the suffering and defeat of all creation. Through the resurrection the power of God’s transforming love is witnessed to as being one that can turn the most God forsaken situations into occasions for hope.

The hope we are called to declare, the Good News we are commissioned to share is Jesus Christ, who died and rose again. Christ crucified. Christ Risen. The Cross and the Resurrection as witnessed to in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament. Everything else points to these two central events or flows from them. 

But why? 

Why are these two events so crucial, so central?

 Because without them we cannot bear witness to the second thing that Jesus calls disciples to speak of.

2. We are to bear witness that through repentance, forgiveness and renewal are available to all people.

It is Christ’s death that makes our forgiveness possible. On the Cross He prayed, “Forgive them Father, they don’t know what they are doing.” It is His resurrection that reveals to us that our lives, however compromised, however far gone we think they may have become, can be recreated, and re-made and renewed. It is as we become aware of our sorry state before God and seek to change direction that repentance happens, and our lives are turned around… which is really what the word repentance means. To repent: to turn around and start going in a different direction.

Since Peter began preaching, repentance towards God has been the way outlined for hope to come flooding back into our lives. Think of Paul preaching in Athens in the Book of Acts and declaring to the Gentiles “In the past God overlooked our (or ‘such’) ignorance, but now God commands all people everywhere to repent.” (Acts 17:30)

It is Luke who gives us the Book of Acts, the same Luke in whose gospel the parable of the prodigal son is told to us. Here is the message we are called to witness to. That no matter how rebellious a son or daughter may have become, that no matter how much heartache or waste they may have caused, that no matter how low into the pig trough of depravity they have fallen, all they need to do is to come to their senses and head back home to the Father… and the Father will run to them and embrace them and offer to them all the benefits of being a child of God.

This is salvation by grace through faith. There is nothing we can do to earn it. There is no action we can perform to deserve it. It is that action of believing that in Jesus Christ God has provided all that is necessary for our salvation and allowing our heart to respond to the voice that is whispering in our ear, “Child, come home, come home.”

It is at the Cross we are forgiven. Christ died for our sins. The resurrection shows us what freedom really looks like. That though all the forces of suffering and death may fall upon us, God will raise us up. His love cannot be extinguished by hatred, His light not diminished by darkness. We are to turn towards that love.

To turn towards that light. To turn away from the manufactured gods of this age and towards the God who created us. Turn away from thinking life is just about us to the realization that God is about all of us. Turn from living to satisfy our appetite to feasting upon the Bread of Life and the new wine of the new covenant. 

But how do we find the strength for such a mission?

Surely it is beyond the likes of you and me?

3. We are to find the power to witness through the promised Holy Spirit given as we wait upon God in prayer and joyful worship.

The disciples are told to wait. Wait until the power comes. Wait in prayer. To prepare to receive what God promises as they joyfully gather together in praise and worship. It is as they wait and as they worship that they find the strength to be the witnesses God is calling them to be.

The first disciples did not have a good record when it came to faithfulness. They proved themselves to be scared to death when storms came. They slept when Jesus asked them to pray. They tried to take matters into their own hands when Jesus didn’t meet their expectations. They proved unsuccessful when commissioned to heal and cast out evil. They argued about which one of them was the greatest.

They consistently misunderstood what Jesus was teaching them and had to ask for more clarification. They ran away when Jesus was betrayed. One of them stood around the fire of the enemy and denied Him. Another sold Him out for thirty pieces of silver. They do not believe the word of the women’s testimony when they declared they had seen He was alive. One had to put his hands in the marks of the nails and the spear before faith returned.

As the church grew, things were not easy. There was persecution. Many died for their convictions. Their witnessing constantly put their lives in danger. What was it that kept them going, that transformed them and gave them courage? We find a clue in Paul’s words to young Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:17;  “The Lord stood with me, and strengthened me, in order that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished, and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was delivered out of the lion's mouth.”

Paul’s life was one filled with the acts of the Holy Spirit. He of all the first apostles felt himself ill-equipped and ill-suited for the task of being a witness. He was well aware of his infirmities, but he made his battle cry that although he was weak, the strength of God’s love, shed abroad in his heart through the Holy Spirit, provided what was needed to be a witness.

As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are called to be a witness. That calling involves waiting upon God in prayer, praise, and worship to be empowered for our mission. The power to accomplish our calling is a power that God bestows upon us. We are not to go in our own strength, but in the strength of the Holy Spirit of God.

That the need for true and faithful witnesses is great should not be a question that needs to be asked. There are so many who are desperate for a word of hope, who do not believe their circumstances can be changed, who are unaware of what God can do when given free reign in our lives.

During the bombing of London in the Second World War, some folk arrived the morning after an air raid to discover their church had been hit during the night. As the people entered, they saw a statue of Jesus with His hands broken off. Somebody had placed a card at His feet which read “Jesus has no hands but our hands to do His work today”

If we do not make a stand to be faithful witnesses, then who will? The witness we extend should correspond to that which Christ extended. 

•    Lifting up the poor.
•    Delivering from oppression.
•    Offering a healing touch and word.
•    Never seeing anybody or any situation as a hopeless case.
•    Holding high the possibility of transformation, renewal, and redemption.
•    Offering forgiveness and resurrection.
•    Seeking for ‘turn arounds,’ (for as we’ve seen, such is the meaning of repentance).
•    Seeking to be personally empowered through waiting upon God in prayer, praise, and worship.

Jesus has ascended to the Father. God watches over us and promises us the strength of the Holy Spirit to accomplish our calling. 

 1. We are to witness to Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah of the Old Testament, who suffered and died and rose again from the dead.

2. We are to bear witness that through repentance, forgiveness and renewal are available to all people

3. We are to find the power to witness through the promised Holy Spirit given as we wait upon God in prayer and joyful worship.

May God help us to be faithful witnesses to God’s wonderful love! Amen.

The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.