The Power of Obedience

Obedience is not always a popular word. I chose to omit the word ‘obey’ from my wedding vows (a topic for another blog!)
Maybe the word ‘obedience’ reminds us of strict parents or teachers who threatened us with fear of punishment to “do as I tell you." Maybe we been hurt by those in positions of authority.

Throughout his ministry, Jesus demonstrated single-minded obedience to God his Father. Jesus chose to be obedient to his Father’s will, not out of fear but because he loved him and trusted him.
God blesses us when we obey him, we even read this in the Old Testament such as Deuteronomy 28. Jesus taught we will be blessed when we obey God. Luke 11:28.
Jesus obedience to his Father’s will was the secret of the great power that flowed through him to save, heal and free people. It was Jesus’ obedience to God that enabled his victory over the powers of darkness on the cross.

When we obey God, his power will also work through us to accomplish his will, to do tremendous good to people as Jesus did. We can try to use our own power to accomplish our own will instead, but this leads to people getting hurt. This is called abuse of power and sometimes that sadly happens.
Jesus chose to lay down his own power and will, instead choosing obedience because he knew God’s way was best.

We have been looking at Moses in the stories of Exodus. Moses sometimes had a problem obeying God. In Numbers 20 the Israelites had no water. God told Moses to speak to a rock and it would pour out water (vs 8). But Moses hit the rock with his staff instead. Water still poured out because God is merciful. It may seem harsh but this act of disobedience cost Moses a lot. He was prevented by God from entering the Promised Land. He had not obeyed God and God therefore could not trust him. Moses was an influential leader of many people and it can be especially costly if leaders do not obey God.

Sometimes we think our way is better because it feels right and is often the easier path, but disobedience to God can cost us and because he honours our freedom, he will give us over to the consequences if we choose our own way.
God doesn’t lead us to obey through fear of punishment. He asks us to freely choose obedience out of love for him, knowing that he deeply loves us like he loves his son Jesus. God asks us to obey because he is entirely trustworthy, more so than any person, including ourselves! He is a good Father who asks us to obey because he knows the best path for us and for others.
I’m still glad I didn’t include ‘obey’ in my wedding vows. It is often right to obey people, but only one I can always obey is God.

The Day of Small Things 

👤 Geoff

When we lived in Gravesend, one of our neighbours began to rebuild his house from scratch. The house began to take shape, foundations were laid, and for weeks there was the sound of vigorous activity as the walls were framed. Then everybody left - the work stopped. We didn't know why, but for the rest of the time we lived in Gravesend the house stood unfinished on the corner of the street.

Some of God's projects stall, too. Five centuries before Jesus was born, the Israelites returned from exile to find Jerusalem in ruins and their beloved temple destroyed. With great enthusiasm they set about rebuilding it. However, Zerubbabel the governor, got little further than laying the foundation before opposition set in. Neighbours fought the project tooth and nail, finally succeeding in getting a restraining order to halt construction (Ezra 4). Enemies mocked. Supporters became discouraged. For years the site stood silent.

Zerubbabel felt like a failure. His grand dream had fizzled. He was probably like the rest of us when failure looms. We meet further effort with scepticism. We protect ourselves from getting our hopes too high again. We look at the ground rather than the sky, at the past rather than the future.

And then one day a man of God, Zechariah, began to speak words that filled Zerubbabel with fresh hope: "Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty . . . The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple, his hands will also complete it" (Zechariah 4:6-7). The project had seemed like an immovable mountain but now with God at work Zerubbabel knew he could finish the temple. The final words of the prophecy jolted him. "Do not despise the day of small things" (v10). He had despised that early start. How weak, how insignificant, how naive he had been. Yet, in spite of all that, God had been in those beginnings.

What little thing, what dream, what false start, might we have despised? Our 'small' church? Our meagre ‘gifts’? Do we despise our failures or apparently insurmountable difficulties? We shouldn't! We should surrender them to the God who delights in taking human weakness and showing his strength. "Not by might, not by power, but my Spirit says the Lord Almighty" (Zechariah 4:6).

And by the way, when we went back to Gravesend a few years later someone had finished that house on the corner of the street.

It looks terrific!

Coffee + Christ 

Jesus said, "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me." (Matthew 11:28)

Take a fresh look at Christianity in an informal group for women, meeting on Wednesdays 9:30 - 10:30 at Jittermugs in Faversham.

All welcome, faith or none or somewhere in between. 

For more information, use the form on the Coffee + Christ page. 

Online Bible

Hey Church! We are pleased to let you know that our new website comes with an online Bible! Added by our new website provider Hubb.Church (www.hubb.church) and powered by YouVersion (www.youversion.com) anyone can read the bible online by using the website. 

You can go straight to the app at www.bible.com, or navigating to it on the menu under the Resources tab above.

It's free to use and there are other benefits of signing up to You Version but you can still use it without registering.

If you want to sign up to YouVersion you can take advantage of more features such as reading plans and studies. There are also mobile apps available for this Bible.

Enjoy!

Keep Up To Date

Hey everyone, you can now very easily keep up with all that's going on at church by using our website calendar.

Take a look here.

Enjoy!
 

Summer Psalms 

👤 Geoff

We've done this before, but we're doing it again! During August we are taking a look at some of the psalms. The Book of Psalms is in the Old Testament and is roughly in the middle of most bibles printed in English. (If you have a bible, try opening it in what you judge to be the middle and see if it works for you!)

The psalms are a compilation of 150 ancient Hebrew poems, songs, and prayers that come from different times in Israel’s history. It's hard to give a general summary because it is a collection of independent pieces of many kinds, serving different purposes and composed over the course of many centuries.  (However, there are some unifying themes and an intentional structure, but that's for another day.) There are individual prayers of praise and thanksgiving, prayers of the community, confessions of confidence in the Lord, hymns in praise of God's majesty and celebrating his universal reign, royal psalms - by, for or concerning the king, pilgrimage songs, liturgical songs, instructional songs.

Most of all the psalms capture all of life, with its ups and downs, and often express real passion and raw honesty - dealing with the triumphs and tragedies, and wrestling with the battles and the suffering that we all face day by day.

Why not make it your goal to read a psalm a day (or maybe one each week) over the course of the summer? And if you want to catch up with some of our previous sermons on the psalms, go to our sermons page, click on 'Advanced Options' (top right, above 'Sort') and search 'Psalms' in the 'Bible Reference' box. Alternatively, click on the links below.