Ruth 3-4 Ruth & Boaz – God’s Sovereignty at work
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Ruth & Boaz – God’s Sovereignty at work audio
It was Sunday morning and Harry was off. He pulled out of his driveway in his new 2-seater convertible, with the roof closed because of typical Melbourne rain, and headed for church. But as he turned into the main road he saw ahead of him three bedraggled figures huddled under a single umbrella at a bus stop. One was old Mrs Fletcher. She insisted on getting to church by herself, despite her arthritis which was always worse in wet weather. There was Dr Jones, the local GP. A year earlier Dr Jones had diagnosed a rare and dangerous disease that Harry had contracted on an overseas holiday, so Harry virtually owed him his life. And the third person was Clare. Harry had had a crush on Clare for the past 6 months since she joined their church but had never had the courage or the opportunity to ask her out. Harry had about 3 seconds to decide what to do. There was only one spare seat. Who should he offer a lift to? But 3 seconds was enough. He pulled to a halt, jumped out, passed the keys to Dr Jones, helped Mrs Fletcher into the passenger seat, then modestly waved them good-bye as he huddled close to Clare under the umbrella.
As we’ll see as we move on in our story of Ruth and Naomi, in matters of romance, chance and good sense often go together to bring about a happy ending. In fact in so many areas of life God’s will is brought about by a combination of divine providence and human responsibility.
1 Peter 5 - Standing Firm
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Standing Firm audio
We come today to the last in our series on 1 Peter. So let’s start by thinking about what the major themes have been? The overriding theme has been the sure and certain hope of eternal life; important because that will help them to persevere in the face of a world that’s opposed to God, opposed to the gospel. So Peter finishes his letter where he began, with this reminder: "And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you." (1 Pet 5:10 NRSV)
Another recurring theme throughout the letter has been the need for self-discipline, the need to be self-controlled and alert because that’s the only way we’ll be able to resist the devil’s attacks. He repeats those warnings in what we’ll come to in a moment.
Finally, there’s been the theme of how to live faithful lives to demonstrate the change that Christ makes in us; and that’s how Peter finishes his letter, focusing on our life together as a church. So in our passage today he points out what makes a good elder, a good leader, that is, and what makes a good congregational member. Then he finishes with a further reminder to persevere in our life with God.
1 Peter 3:8-17 - Lives that Proclaim Christ
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Lives that Proclaim Christ - audio
Reading through this first letter of Peter it’d be easy to wonder whether the situation he’s writing to has any relevance to us today in our nice safe suburban setting.
Think about how he describes his hearers at the start of the letter: “Exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia”. In other words these are largely Jewish converts who’ve been forced to escape persecution in Jerusalem and move to Asia Minor, plus some local converts of course. So they’re mostly refugees and as both Jews and as Christian converts they continue to suffer under persecution. You’ll remember the account that Luke gives of the many places where Paul was hounded by Jews trying to stop him preaching the gospel. Well, that’s what these Christians are experiencing.
So he writes to remind them of the gospel that they’ve heard and believed; particularly of the sur hope of eternal life and of Jesus’ promised return; and to encourage them to persevere in their faith.
So in chapter 1 we saw a few weeks ago he urges them to prepare their minds for action; to discipline themselves and to set all their hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring when he’s revealed. He says “15As he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; 16for it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy."
Luke 6:39-49
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Navigating a Minefield - audio
Today’s passage springs out of what Howard brought to us last week. Do you remember his three points: Forgiveness, Love and Generosity; foundational characteristics of Jesus’ Disciples. And one of the things we see at the end of that passage leading into today’s is the reciprocity of God’s grace spelt out first in his injunction to refrain from judging lest you in turn be judged and then in his assurance that if you forgive others, forgiveness will be yours. And that leads on to the two parables that we’re looking at today.
Generosity
Lk 3:1-22 - The Baptism of Jesus
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
The Baptism of Jesus audio
We return today to Luke’s account of the beginning of Jesus’ ministry on earth. Howard brought the first part of this chapter to us a month ago and Gordon followed up with John the Baptist beginning his task of preparing for the coming of the Messiah. So let’s think back to what we heard then.
First, this account is set in a historical context. Luke dates it for us. Dates are important aren’t they? Personally and nationally. It’s my grandson’s birthday next Saturday so for us and him it’s a significant date. In two weeks’ time we’ll remember a significant date in our national history, some with celebration, others with discomfort. My sister has her birthday is on another significant national day, April 25th. I wonder if you remember what you were doing on Sept 11th, 2001? That’s a date that’s etched into every American’s brain and probably most of the free world’s as well. And here Luke gives us three historical markers to show us that the events that he records here are significant historically.
Psalm 73 - A Psalm of Lament
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Well, today we move on, from the foundation laid for us last week by Chris, to a Lament; though, interestingly you’ll see some of what Chris pointed out last week popping up again.
As Chris pointed out last week the psalms are first and foremost poetry and poetry is a great medium for expressing feelings. The words are not always exact, nor are they meant, necessarily, to be heard literally. Rather they’re meant to evoke a response of the heart; that means their appeal may be more to the emotions than the intellect. So they can be particularly helpful for people who are struggling with life, who perhaps don’t have the energy to think things through rationally or who are too unsettled to think calmly. These people can join with the psalmist in pouring their heart out to the Lord. Psalms are also good when you’re so full of joy that you can’t put it into words so you might call on the mountains and hills to give God praise. And we’ll see some of those in weeks to come.
But today we’re looking at Psalm 73, a lament.
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