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Lets being our time of worship by singing together: Great Is Thou Faithfulness
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Scripture Readings
Ephesians 4:23
Be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other as God in Christ forgave you.
Colossians 3:12
Put on then as Gods people holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness and patience.
Galatians 6:7-9
7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
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As we join together in time of prayer, first let us sing: I the Lord of sea and sky
Time Of prayer
Father God, you have given guidance in scripture on how we should behave. I desire to be a believer that is pleasing to you and to exhibit kindness and forgiveness at all times. I want to live a life always marked with kindness and compassion, not just when it is easy. Please examine my heart and show me areas marred with pride and hatefulness. We all have areas that need to be cleansed by Your holy touch. I pray for that cleansing presence in my life, one that will change me into a kind and compassionate child of God. I pray that I will have the heart of a good Samaritan. I pray that I will not tire in doing what is good. You have promised that You will provide good works for me to do as I live out my life. Please give me the eyes to see opportunities for random acts of kindness. I also pray for courage to administer Your kindness no matter how awkward or inconvenient the situation may be. I pray You make me Your good Samaritan in this dark world. Amen.
Please share with me in the Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
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Before we join together in the Word Of God, sit back and enjoy Nathan Pacheco as he sings:
Be Thou My Vision.
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Don’t Grow Tired In Doing Good
When the people around us start behaving badly, as they do sometimes, we often try to use them as an excuse for us stooping down to the same level, for us responding by behaving badly as well. But at the end of the day – it simply doesn’t work.
We can be in a group of people, say at work, and we can have the best intentions, the best ethics. But when things start getting competitive or feral, when people start tearing one another apart, we want to stoop down to that level and get involved. Principles, ethics – out the window. It’s the law of the jungle. Kill or be killed.
Living life to the full, living a life of deep satisfaction, of peace and contentment, even through the bad days, and the good days is possible, because God has a plan. God has a plan for your life, God has a plan for my life. It’s a good plan. It’s a plan of blessing, it’s a plan of peace, it’s a plan of joy, it’s a plan of love, a plan of grace. And for me, it’s all about getting close to Him.
I used to think that reading self-help books, hard work, trying to change myself was the answer to a blessed life. Change this, change that in me. Well, it would last a while, but I’d always end up going back to my bad habits. No matter how smart I thought I was, I discovered I couldn’t change me. But then I met Jesus, and finally the penny dropped.
It’s about getting close to Him. It’s about drawing close to God and spending time with Him. When I spend time with Jesus, I become a different person. His living water just washes over me, it’s fresh, its life, it’s peace, and I can go into the jungle and survive. I don’t feel like devouring people anymore. Being first, being top dog, winning, is no longer my number one priority. Some people just live to win: to beat others, to make money, to be the top.
Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great to set goals and to achieve things. But when we get this competitive spirit, this spirit that says, “I have to win at all costs and if you have to lose in order for me to win, then so be it. I’m going to devour you and chew you up.” When we live life like that, it doesn’t bring us peace and joy and satisfaction.
Now, we may not naturally be like that, but when we find ourselves in that sort of environment, we can be easily persuaded to follow. I used to live by the saying, “Don’t get angry; get even.” Finally, God gave me a revelation. If you live that sort of life, you won’t have God’s peace, won’t have God’s joy, and won’t have God’s satisfaction in life. When we tread on people and beat them and defeat them and drive them into the ground, where’s the joy in that? Where’s the peace in that? Whatever happened to living the life God always intended?
Jesus said, He who lives by the sword will die by the sword. (Matthew 26:52)
Paul the Apostle in Galatians said:
Don’t grow tired of doing what’s right because we will reap a harvest in due time. (Galatians 6:9)
When other people are off their rockers and behaving badly that’s precisely the time to be different. One of the things I learned over my years living on this planet is this; behaviour is often situational. In other words, when people are in pressure cookers, when people are under stress, they do things, and they say things that will hurt us.
But those things are driven by the circumstances, by what’s going on in their lives, by the argument they had at home with their spouse, or the difficult children, or the pressure they’re under to make money, or the growing cost of living or whatever.
Situations drive people’s behaviour. And so, when you have a set of circumstances of commercial pressure or work pressure, that’s when you will see what people are made of. And while they are all tearing one another apart, you and I can be the peacemaker. We can refuse to play that game. We can go on doing good, go on delivering, go on speaking well of people behind their backs, go on being kind and reliable and honest and frank and decent. Don’t grow tired of what is right for we will reap at harvest time. God is in that place.
James writes in his letter in the New Testament:
God’s wisdom, the wisdom from above is pure, it’s peaceable and gentle and willing to yield and full of mercy and good fruits without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. (James 3:17)
You know our problem sometimes? We’re not willing to yield, we’re not willing to come second, we’re not willing for someone else to get the better of us, we’re not willing for someone else to win, we’re not willing to lose our reputations by not playing the ugly game. The wisdom from above is pure and peaceable and gentle and willing to yield and full of mercy and good fruits, wouldn’t you want to be around someone like that in a crisis?
Imagine that you and I are that person when everyone else is doing that ‘dog eat dog’ thing. Now that’s living the life that God always intended. That’s where you get peace and joy and contentment and God honours that. The people around us may not, and maybe by living like that we might appear to lose. We might lose a battle, we might get laughed at, we might … everything. But it’s living the life God always intended. Peter the Apostle wrote:
Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God and He will exalt you in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. (1 Peter 5:6-7)
When the world is having a go, when people are going berserk and tearing one another apart … in the middle of that place we put our trust in Jesus and He will give us a harvest at harvest time. Living the life isn’t about winning every battle. Some battles aren’t worth winning, and some battles give us hollow victories. It’s not about being dumbed down and dragged down and stooping down to the lowest common denominator. Jesus has got a plan for my life and for your life. It’s a plan of victory and peace and joy and sailing through the storm with a certainty and a faith and a relationship and a trust in Jesus. That’s life … that’s living … that’s the life God always intended.
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In Loving-kindness Jesus came, my soul in mercy to reclaim, and from the depths of sin and shame, through grace He lifted me. Let us sing.
The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:
The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them.
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