Pastor’s Message

Happy school holidays, everyone.

Some of us only realise it is school holidays because there is less traffic. Wherever they find you, it is always a good time to slow down more than usual. This week, our devotion comes from the events following Jesus' baptism. After Jesus is affirmed by his father, he is led into the wilderness for prayer and fasting. 

The first temptation focused on Jesus' immediate need. The tempter called into question the need for Jesus to follow the guidance of the father in all things.

In response, Jesus quotes an Old Testament text in Deuteronomy, which served two purposes. It made the devil understand his place, i.e., he was not the provider of food or anything, for that matter. More importantly, it shows that Jesus is the ultimate fulfilment of all the Old Testament promises. What Jesus quotes is from the Torah, laws for the Israelites from God to help them live a life of obedience. However, they failed over and over again. Jesus quoting the same text to the tempter shows that he is the perfect fulfilment of God's plan for humanity through his obedience to the Father.

God wanted the Israelites to desire his word in their hearts more than food in their stomach. He was asking for their allegiance to him, to surrender to his guidance and Lordship. 

Life as God intended is only experienced through obedience.

The strategy of the enemy is to get us to focus on the immediate, the urgent and the necessary, hence taking matters into our own hands. If we can lose sight of the greater work God is doing in us and through us, focusing only on the immediate, we can exchange dependence on the father for independence and self-reliance.

At stake was much bigger than hunger. God was rewriting history. If Jesus only focused on his hunger, he would miss God's plan. Thankfully, he understood not only the assignment but also his father's heart. For us, the challenge is the same.

The idea that we could give up control willingly, replacing it with intentional humility and absolute dependence on a God we cannot see makes us very uncomfortable. Yet this is the course that Jesus charts for us. Remember.

• The enemy will always attack us where we are weakest, most vulnerable, and when we are not expecting it… It’s always in the little things.

• This temptation surfaces when there is an opportunity for us to grab control for ourselves and trust in our efforts.

• This temptation urges us to focus our attention on the immediate needs and lose sight of what God desires for our lives and our service, as well as destiny.

Chapter 2 of Ephesians called us to action faster than I thought. The first challenge was, instead of asking ourselves what we can do to better ourselves, we can ask a better question… What was I made for? When we find out the answer to this question, we experience deep satisfaction and fulfilment. When we do not find it, we get low-grade anger and frustration, and we start looking for culprits to blame. This can be our job, family, spouse, weather, world, school, or anything to make us feel better about not living out our purpose.

What you were made for is not about you, does not end with you, and does not benefit you only. It is something bigger than you. This is why Paul challenges us that we are God's “handiwork", something crafted for a specific reason. God saved us by grace, through faith, for something even bigger than us. Being polite, Christian and law-abiding is not good enough. We need to be more.

On mission with God to do something for His kingdom in our lifetime. It’s not just about being a good person and staying out of trouble. Connect your actions to your faith. Connect the dots between how you live and who you believe.

• How do you spend your time?

• How do you spend your money?

• How do we carry each other’s burdens?

• How do we submit to one another?

You are the recipient of people who decided being good was not good enough…

• Be willing to share your testimony/be vulnerable

• Forgive easily/don’t hold grudges

• Stop making decisions based on fear

• Be willing to try and fail

This week, we are on the second part of Ephesians chapter 2

Youth group is on break for the next two weeks, we will resume on Thursday 23^rd July.

A reminder again to SAVE THE DATE. More details will follow in time.

Giving

Halswell Community Church

Account Number: 06-0601-0867216-00

Reference: Tithe/Offering Particulars: Your Name