Before you pray: Whom do you know? 2
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Before you pray: Whom do you know? 2 (Continued from last week)
Knowing God and having fellowship with him, to use John's term, means we must live in the light. Darkness and sin will always destroy our fellowship with God, since God is light and there is no darkness in him. If we are to associate with him, we too must live in the light (1 John 1.1-10). That means we have to be honest about our sin. Living in the light provides the place for the cleansing from sin. Living in the darkness multiplies the sin.
It is from within this fellowship relationship that we learn what God is like. This is the context for facts. The more our fellowship with God deepens, the better we know the kind of God he is. And consequently the better we know how to pray. Our minds become attuned to his way of thinking, we understand better how he operates, we have clearer insight into his purposes, and this knowledge helps us pray.
Before you pray: Whom do you know? 1
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Before you pray: Whom do you know? 1
At the heart and foundation of prayer - as of the whole Christian life- lies the knowledge of God. Unless we know God we will not pray. Unless we know God we will not know how to pray.
Knowing God means knowing that he is (Heb 11.6). It means knowing that he is the LORD (Ex 6.6-8). But it is more than knowing "that".
Knowing God means we are known by God. This is the kind of knowledge we need. Knowing God is always a personal relationship. Whether it was the relationship of Israel as his chosen people, or the relationship of disciples to the Father of Jesus, the knowledge was found in the relationship.
Solomon understood its importance when he wrote,
13. Stand Strong Ephesians 6.10-17
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- Category: Ephesians
{podcast id=121}
Stand Strong Ephesians 6.10-17
Series: Final parts of a series on Ephesians at Broome Anglican Church
Sermon preached at Broome Anglican Church on 18 October 2015
How the power of God is at work through God's armour and what are the devil's evil schemes
Bible Readings: Isaiah 59.14-21; Ephesians 6.10-17
What about evil spirits?
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What about evil spirits?
Do evil spirits exist or is just people's superstition or imagination? Whether you believe that they exist might depend as much on your understanding of the Bible as on the environments in which you have lived.
Both Paul and Jesus came in contact with what the New Testament describe as “unclean spirits”, “evil spirits” or “demons”. Nowhere does the New Testament use the word “possessed” even though some translations use that word. The usual phrases are that a person “had an unclean/evil spirit” or that they were “demonized”. The reason is that except for cases like the Gadarene demoniac, the other examples relate to the affect a demon has on an aspect of a person's life, eg that they are dumb or deaf, not the control of their whole life.
It is worth observing Paul's approach to evil spirits.
11. Getting Right with Others Ephesians 5.21 - 6.9
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{podcast id=77}
Getting Right with Others Ephesians 5.21 - 6.9
Series: Final parts of a series on Ephesians at Broome Anglican Church
Sermon preached at Broome Anglican Church on 18 October 2015
Bible Readings: Genesis 2.18-25; Ephesians 5.21 - 6.9
What about the dead? (and Halloween)
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What about the dead?
and Halloween
In the early years of the church from the times of the great persecutions, Christians began to remember those who had died. The commemorations of the “saints” who had died, especially the martyrs eventually developed as an annual festival at the beginning of November. As time went on all Christians who had died were included.
The invention and development of the doctrine of Purgatory led to a distinction between those who were officially regarded as Saints, and the souls in purgatory, the latter being remembered on the following day; All Souls Day.
At the Reformation the English reformers abandoned All Souls Day. All Saints Day (the day before) is meant to include all the faithful departed.
Archbishop Cranmer (the main architect of the English Prayer Book) not only left the commemoration of that day behind but also got rid of the unbiblical ideas to do with what happens after death.
The strange medieval fear of the souls in purgatory being able to roam the earth on the eve of All Saints (All Hallows) and frighten the living is not the most significant left over from this period. We rightly think the present Halloween nonsense is just that. But modern western culture has a much more serious problem with death itself.
You can see the problem at most funerals.
10. The Speaking Spirit Ephesians 5.15-20
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- Category: Ephesians
{podcast id=52}
The Speaking Spirit Ephesians 5.15-20
Series: Final parts of a series on Ephesians at Broome Anglican Church
Sermon preached at Broome Anglican Church on 11 October 2015
Bible Readings: Psalm 34.1-10; Ephesians 5.15-20
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