POTTER'S HOUSE CHURCH WANDSWORTH

Posts from the ‘SERMONS NOTES’ category

OUR FATHER

By on November 3, 2013

Teach Us to pray_WEB_TEMPrayer is the power of any Christian. God teaches us how to pray in the ‘Lord’s Prayer’ and to refer to him as ‘Our Father’. If only we would recognise and understand the significance and importance of a father – the provision and protection that comes with it, then prayer would be an important aspect of our lives that we take full advantage of. Think of how an earthly father, even in his sinful and imperfect state, is able to love and bless a child. What more our heavenly father? God wants his children to understand the strength of a relationship that a father has with his children and to have the posture, manner and desire to pray to him to build this relationship. Unlike the Pharisees who focussed on the phraseologies of prayer and religiousness, God wants us to focus on him instead. God’s fatherly love is able to fill voids and insecurities created by the fatherlessness of this generation. After all, God is the ‘father to the fatherless’ and he is waiting for all his children to reach out and speak to him. He doesn’t want his children to carry themselves as orphans when he is present but rather to pray to him and have similar confidence to that of a Prince or Princess that knows that their father is a King. God wants to invest in you, release blessings and resources.  Do not get by life as an orphan when you have a father in heaven that cares for you. Your father wants to hear from you, call upon him in prayer.

John 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:

Psalm 103:13 As a father pities his children, So the Lord pities those who fear Him.

Matthew 7:7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

Psalm 68:5 A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, Is God in His holy habitation.

Invest for Success : Proverbs 11:24

Consider the story of the ‘Little Red Hen’. This is a story about a hen that decided to plant a grain of wheat and asked some of the other farm animals if they would help her. From the planting process to the harvesting process, all the other farm animals declined to help her. With the wheat she harvested, she baked some bread and asked who would help her eat it. The same farm animals that declined to help her before were eager to eat this bread but the hen declined their offers.

It’s understandable why the hen declined help eating the fruits of her own labour. Then why is it as humans, we want to enjoy great benefits of life but we do not want to do anything to get them? We want nice cars, homes, marriages and even careers; yet we fail to do anything about getting these things. There are two kinds of people that can be drawn from this story – ‘those that will do something’ and ‘those that watch idly and wait without doing anything’. This is further emphasised in Proverbs 11:24. The text describes two mind-sets:

  1. One who Scatters – this is the person who receives and scatters to gain more than that they had initially. Similar to scattering seed in the hope of receiving a harvest. This mind-set understands the need to think ahead and plan for the future.
  2. One who Withholds – this is the person who receives and keeps or spends everything without any thought of tomorrow. This is a person who thinks about the NOW rather than focussing on what will happen when all is gone.

Notice how they both receive but make different decisions with that which they are given. The decisions you make today, will affect your tomorrow. Successful people, make successful decisions.  God’s word specifies these two mind-sets for us to note and his word goes on to say that the latter leads to poverty. Which one are you- the one who scatters or the one who withholds?

God’s intention for us is to be mindful of where we are now and make decisions that will be of benefit to our future. he wants us be successful. This success will only come if we consider and pursue the following:

INVESTING – God wants us to be like the one who scatters. He wants us to always have thought of how our decisions and actions will affect tomorrow. In other words, God wants us to invest! Yes, God wants us to invest. In fact, this has always been his plan – it’s his design. Think of nature, think of the agricultural cycle; these are all God’s designs that show that when you invest, there will be an increase. An apple seed, for example, will only increase to become apples with more seeds when invested into the ground for growth. This shows a ‘thinking ahead mind-set’ that expects results from investing. Adam knew about investing, God told him to. Do you plan your week, month or even year? Are you constantly thinking ahead and do have long term goals? These are the fundamentals to having success. An inability to plan and lack of vision brings no benefits. You sell your future away when you only think about now, so invest!

SAYING NO TO THE NOW- How we make decisions is very important to God. The ability to say no to things that we do not need is a quality that impresses God. Being able to distinguish between needs and wants and saying no accordingly is very important for a successful life. You have to be willing to say no to now and this requires being able to distinguish between instant and delayed gratification.

  • Instant Gratification- this is when people want and acquire everything for the moment without consideration of what will happen later. In other words, simply not being able to say no. This makes you a victim of the devil. People get into financial problems because they simply want to gratify the moment. The ‘buy now, pay later’ mentality is enticing for the moment but if you analyse it, you realise that you actually lose more than what you had initially. The devil wants people to sin now, and pay later. He wants you to do everything that will not bring you any blessings. The bible documents some people that sought instant gratification; they made decisions for the moment without considering the loss that followed after.
  1. Eve- ate the forbidden fruit.
  2. Esau – sold his birthright for a bowl of soup.
  3. Samson- lusting after women that brought him to distraction.
  4. King David- committed adultery with Bathsheba.
  • Delayed Gratification-this involves understanding the benefits of saying no to the now. Understanding how God works means that you would be willing to wait upon his will. Paying now in faithfulness, modesty, consistency and even love for others will enable God to bless you. This is effective in every area of life, from financial, educational to relationships.

BEING MOTIVATED- Investing is all about getting more back. This should be a motivating factor in our lives. We should assess whether or not some of the investment decisions we make are bringing more; if not, then this not a good investment. God wants you to get more. If you sow some seeds- you get a harvest. If you invest some money, you can get a return on that investment. God invested Jesus’ life and he got 12 disciples, then 120, then the 3000 mentioned in the book of Acts and ultimately all the churches that we have around the world.

The same should apply to Christians. If you invest your life in Jesus you are guaranteed to get a bigger reward. John 3:16 confirms this. Your reward is eternal life, which is the greatest return any investment can ever bring. Life is so much more than just the now because we need to aim for eternal life. Luke 16:19 shows Lazarus investing his life in Jesus and the rich man in the things of the world.

Though Lazarus did not have much on earth, he invested and received eternal life. Romans 8:18-19 tells us the struggles of now will never compare to the returns we will get later. If you knew that you could earn a billion pounds for sweeping the streets for a week, many people would be happy to do this. The pride associated with this would not matter; maybe even the cold weather would not matter and lastly, the struggle of sweeping streets would not matter because the reward that waits is worth it.

Eternal life is worth so much more than any amount of money. To be successful, we should invest our lives in Jesus and expect the greatest return that no amount of money can ever buy – eternal life!

ACTS OF VALOUR Acts 1:1 – 11

By on January 4, 2013

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There are 3.7 million Christian church congregations in the world at present and in addition to this, 50 000 new congregations are being added each year. The origins of this phenomenon can be traced back to the book of Acts which documents the birthing of the first church, which was started by simple men, some of which were fishermen. These men did not possess supernatural powers; instead they had belief, courage, discipline and vision. These qualities made them men of valour that were able to do anything for the kingdom of God.

It is important to point out that the same men who started the first church were the same men who argued amongst themselves about who was the greatest in the eyes of Jesus and were also the same men who ran away when Jesus was arrested to be crucified. They were ordinary men who didn’t get it right all the time, they certainly were not perfect! This should stir up any individual who desires to make an impact for God’s kingdom, surely if they can do it then so can you!

Acts 1:1–3: From the text, there are key areas that show what a Christian needs to be focused on. Christians need to ask about and align their lives to:

  1. What Jesus did and preached                                  3.   The work of the Holy Spirit
  2. The death and resurrection of Jesus                        4.   The Kingdom of God

The early church was very successful and has had lasting impact because the men who were involved were not only Christ like in their walk but also understood the importance of the following:

  1. Obedience: Acts 1:4 is vital and without it the move of God would be hindered. Jesus commanded the disciples to NOT go from Jerusalem. This may be puzzling because these men wanted to go out and win souls but Jesus COMMANDS them not to go. Why would he do so? Jesus was not telling these men to never go and win souls; the text shows that he was telling them that they were not ready to go. After the disciples had walked with Jesus, seen him perform miracles and received the word from Him they were still not ready to go! They had to obey Jesus and wait until he instructed them to go.
  2. 2.     Power of the Holy Spirit:  Acts 1:5 is a necessity for any Christian. Isaiah 32:15 and Joel 2:28 The disciples had the greatest encounter with Jesus and you would assume that they were fully equipped and ready to go and win souls but Jesus says they needed more. They needed the power of the Holy Spirit and without this there would be no fruit. What about us who never had such a physical encounter with Christ? This emphasises how much we really need to be filled with the Holy Spirit in order to do anything for the kingdom of God. The power of the Holy Spirit is the key to the valour that these men display and this should encourage Christians today to fully surrender to the Holy Spirit because without it anything we attempt to do for the kingdom of God is worthless.
  3. 3.     Not Focussing of the Wrong Things: Acts 1:6-8. As Christians and as a church we may have needs such as a finances, buildings, equipment and people etc… Sometimes we can get distracted by assuming that the success of the church will come when we receive material things. However, Jesus tells us that we should not focus on these things but rather, believe that by the power of the spirit nothing is impossible Zechariah 4:6–7.His power empowers us to deal with the mountains in our lives in the same way that Jesus dealt with issues like sickness and demons. His power equips us to be witnesses at all times and in all places. Once we walk in his power, the issues around us become minor and we do not get distracted.
  4. 4.     Using the advantage of the Holy Spirit: Acts 1:9-11 we are given a guide and a helper by Jesus and should labour for his kingdom with valour while we anticipate his return John 14:16–18 and John 16:13–15. In order to see what they saw in Acts we need to use the advantage that we have which is the Holy Spirit who will equip us and keep us John 16:7.

To experience what the early church did, we must fully surrender to the power of the Holy Spirit!