The following was printed in the Morrinsville Baptist Church newsletter on 26 October. Gordon and Anne Sparrow forwarded it on for inclusion in this newsletter. (Original source, if not MBC, unknown)
Our country’s elections are coming up… this is food for thought.
Thou shalt not vote out of greed
Thou shalt not vote out of fear
Thou shalt not vote out of laziness and indifference and merely copy thy friends
Thou shalt not vote out of spite so as to negate someone else’s vote.
Thou shalt not vote trivially according to thy favourite colour or the looks of a politician
Thou shalt not vote merely to be on the “winning” side
Thou shalt not dishonour God by seeking a miracle to show you which way to vote at the last minute. Thou shalt use the mind God created thee with.
Thou shalt vote for men and women of integrity who are prepared to take the road of a servant
Thou shalt prepare to vote by reading policies, speaking to politicians and understanding the systems and the possible outcomes of an election
Thou shalt vote for justice.
I am currently completing an assignment for my Masters in Theology on the theme of Christian conversion in the New Testament book of Acts. There is a fascinating pattern which flows through the book on the progression of the gospel outwards from Jerusalem into Samaria and then the world which surrounds the conversion occurrences.
People come to faith in Jesus because someone was willing to share their personal story of how Christ has changed their life and turned it upside down. Beginning with the disciples and their willingness to proclaim boldly the identity of Jesus to the Jews, and then followed by Paul, and others, each spoke of how Christ had given them a new identity and purpose both for this world and for eternity.
Conversion means to be transformed, changed and this is what happened for the first Christians. They were changed, given new identities and found a new freedom to live their lives despite persecution and ridicule from those who rejected the message of the gospel.
As we worship God this week, how has your life changed, been converted? Share with someone your story and continue to let the gospel move outwards to the ends of the earth. If you don’t know Jesus find someone to talk to and they will gladly introduce you to what will become a life transforming encounter.
Note: Steve Taylor, our Senior Pastor, is on study leave.
The Spring Clean on Saturday was an example of our church and community interacting for the betterment of each other. Thank you to all those who participated to make the event worthwhile. Keep praying for those people whom you met and interacted with, gave plants to and helped pick up rubbish with. It was a fun and successful Saturday.
Jesus too was one who spent time associating within his community. He grew up with his neighbours and worked alongside his family in their carpentry business. When he started to travel he went to the neighbouring towns and villages first mixing with the locals and taking time to minister directly to those who needed help. (Matthew 9:12)
Part of our Christian witness is to walk with our neighbours wherever they may be--at work, at home, at church or in our social groups. We are not to be exclusive. This is where days like the Spring Clean are important community interactions for us as a church family--for barriers visible and invisible break down through such events.
Welcome today to your church community and may we know God’s presence together we walk in worship.
Please note that Senior Pastor Steve Taylor is on study leave.
It has been a tumultuous couple of weeks for the international economy, and it is very unsettling to watch. All of a sudden, the emperor has no clothes: the global economy, built on inflation of the money supply by credit, has suddenly stopped working, if it ever really has. Iceland has almost gone completely bankrupt, and has nationalised some of its banks. The paragon of the free market, the United States, has nationalised a trillion NZ dollars in debt. It all seems rather unreal.
It is a time where the love and compassion of Jesus is especially needed, and a time where we need to help each other more than ever. Here is some wise pastoral advice from Allelon's Andrew Menzies:
Repent. Tell of your financial misdeeds, take responsibility for them and change.
Get out of debt. Cut up the credit card. Pay off the personal loan. Use cash. Chip away at the mortgage. Do all you can to get away from anything that requires you to be in debt to someone else.
Live within your means. Here’s an idea… only spend what you’ve got! Don’t try to keep up with others who have more or who are going into debt to live beyond their means. Learn to be content and live within your means.
Remember others. Others have been living in worse conditions right through the debt-fuelled binge of the West. Some of them have probably been living quite close to you. Don’t blame them, help them.
Think globally. The way we live does impact others. I’m in Melbourne feeling the effects of a housing bubble that popped in Florida! It is easy for us to think that we can’t help it, but that Role of the West does impact others. Make the next wave of effect positive rather then negative.
This week I have been thinking about prayer a bit. Prayer can sometimes seem boring, like a one way monologue that we do to be religious. Many of us can feel like God isn't listening, and that there is little point in talking to an omnipotent (all-powerful) and omniscient (all-knowing) being - we might as well talk to someone who finishes our sentences for us!
God is not merely the best at doing things and knowing things, like Michael Phelps is the best at swimming and Daniel Carter is the best at rugby. God cannot be fully measured, known or comprehended in that way. God is not merely the best at loving, God is love. God is not merely the most just judge, God is justice. And so on.
So, when we love we are not merely doing a good work that God is pleased with, and neither is it only God working through us; it is both/and. When we love (and do justice) we are abiding in God (1 John 2): we are acting for God, with God, by God and in God, and God is acting in us, on us, for us, through us and by us.
So, when we pray we are not merely petitioning God and uttering words to a spiritual being, we are in fact communing (bonding) with God and seeking to abide (have our home) in him: to be part of what God is doing on earth, to have him breathe life into what we are doing - to live in the presence of his Kingdom.
Thank you to all those pray-ers out there who sustain us all at OBC in our ministries and missions, who lovingly set aside time from their days to seek the will of our loving Father in Heaven and abide in him. Please continue to pray for us.