COURSE: Relationship Builder
On Sunday 16 February we are starting a 5 week RELATIONSHIP BUILDING COURSE. All welcome. We will be looking at God’s design for marriage according to His Word.
Topics that we will cover:
God’s Plan for Marriage
Gender Roles
Commitment
Communication
Conflict Resolution
Friends of The Opposite Sex
Raising Godly Children
Financial Faithfulness
Intimacy
“But for Adam[f] no suitable helper was found. 21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs[g] and then closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib[h] he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
23 The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
for she was taken out of man.”
24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.”
Isaiah 41:10 : The antidote to fear and despair
There’s plenty of fear and despair around. The Word of God has the antidote and Isaiah 41:10 is a beautiful example.
The Word of God is amazing, it’s a joy and privilege to study His Word and be examined by it at the same time. By spending time in His Word the way He directs us to do, we can find peace and certainty in troubled times. Please read the page “How to read the Bible” by clicking here before following this study, that page explains the process that we follow in this study.
Scripture
Isaiah 41:10 ESV fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Step 1: Pray
Give thanks for whatever the Lord lays on your heart, but especially for The Lord Jesus’ life death and resurrection, and His atonement of our sin.
Give thanks for the Holy Spirit, and for the perfect inerrant Scripture, the Word of God.
Ask for forgiveness of our sin, and power to keep us from temptation.
Pray for difficult situations that you, the Church, individuals in the Church and others are facing.
Pray for understanding of the Scripture, for healing, correction, and encouragement through it.
Pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to live out Scripture’s lessons.
Step 2: What does it say?
To study God’s Word we must first understand what we’ve read. This does not mean interpret it, we first need to be sure we understand all the words and the context in which the Scripture was written. One way to do this is to rephrase it in our own words. Before rephrasing the text in our own words though, we need to understand the context, or what the Scripture was communicating to the first audience. Any good study Bible can provide this. Here is the context for Isaiah.
Scripture Context
When was it written?
Isaiah was written by the prophet Isaiah about 700 years before the birth of Jesus. The first audience was Judah (the Southern kingdom of Israel), it’s leaders and also it’s enemies.
What were the circumstance like when it was written?
The world that God’s people knew was about to change drastically. They would lose their land, their Temple and their sovereignty, and would be ruled in some measure by other nations until the Messiah’s return.
What was the purpose for which it was written?
Warning & Encouragement: To warn of Judah and her leaders of God’s judgement for idolatry, to warn Judah’s enemies of God’s love for Israel and His punishment of those who mistreat her. To encourage them that God will send His Messiah to suffer and die for sin, and that He will return to rule His people and the nations from Jerusalem.
In other words….
In the verse God tells His people not to be afraid or dismayed, because He is still their God and is still with them regardless of how badly they have forsaken Him and how desperate their situation is as a consequence. He promises to help, strengthen and uphold them with His righteous and perfect power.
Step 3: What does it mean?
To understand what it means we ask ask three questions that are formulated from Scripture’s own claims about itself.
What does this Scripture reveal about God?
What does this Scripture reveal about human beings like you and me?
What does this Scripture reveal about Jesus Christ and what He’s done?
These three questions help us to maintain a protective boundary around possible interpretations of the Scripture by several safe guards. The questions help us to:
Keep our interpretations to the actual text that we’re reading.
Keep our interpretations consistent with the whole revelation of Scripture.
Keep our interpretations focused on Jesus Christ and His Gospel.
What does the Scripture reveal about God?
There are two “I Am’s” and three “I wills” in the passage that show us so much about the power and character of God. “I AM” is God’s personal Name and a revelation that He is eternal, unchanging, all-powerful and sovereign. The three “I wills” are related to each other and are in sequence.
“I Am with you” : God shows that He is a personal God who cares about His people. No amount of turmoil, suffering or upheaval can change this fact. God is with His people, always, no matter what appearances may say to the contrary. (Jeremiah 33:25-26)
“I Am your God” : God will not share us with other gods, we belong to Him, and He belongs to us. Like a faithful and enduring marriage partnership. Even when we’ve strayed like the people of Israel, God is faithful to those who return to Him. (Isaiah 42:8)
“I will strengthen, help and uphold you” : The text uses a logical sequence. Strengthening comes before helping, helping turns to upholding. When we are so weak that we cannot respond to God’s help, He first strengthens us. When we’re strong enough to respond to His help, He lifts us up. Once we’re up (because of His help) He keeps us up. (Isaiah 12:2)
“My righteous right hand” : God alone is righteous and perfect in every way, we are not. God alone is all powerful and stronger than anything or anyone else. (Job 42:1-2, Daniel 4:35)
What does this Scripture reveal about human beings?
There are two “nots” that reveal so much about us as human beings. They are related and can easily form an endless cycle.
“fear not… be not dismayed” : God has to tell us not to fear or be dismayed, we’re prone to this all the time. Fear is worrying about the future and the unknown. Dismay is different, it’s severe disappointment and despair over what has already happened. Fear leads to dismay, and dismay leads to more fear, it’s a vicious cycle that we’re all prone to. (Psalm 23:4)
“I Am with you” : We’re quick to assume that God has abandoned us in our time of suffering. He never abandons us. (Psalm 94:14)
“I Am your God” : When we’re in the cycle of fear and dismay, we need to trust in God and in God alone to deliver us. We are inclined to look elsewhere for relief believing that He doesn’t want to or isn’t able to rescue us. (1 Peter 2:25)
“My righteous right hand” : We are proud and prone to wanting to control things and do things in our own strength and wisdom. God is always right and good and infinitly more powerful than us. (Zechariah 4:6)
What does the Scripture reveal about Jesus Christ, and what He’s done?
“I Am with you” : Jesus Christ is Immanuel – He is God with us. He will never leave us or forsake us. (Matthew 1:23)
“I Am your God” : Jesus Christ is the groom, the betrothed husband of the Church, His bride. He is faithful to us, even though we have all sinned and been unfaithful to Him. (2 Timothy 2:13)
“I will strengthen, help and uphold you” We were dead in our sin, unable to respond to God’s help. God make us alive in Christ when we believe in Him and are born again. He helps us to be like Jesus and to keep following Jesus all our lives by the power of His Holy Spirit living in us. We can do nothing to please God apart from faith in Jesus Christ. (Colossians 2:13-15)
What will we do?
It’s critical to apply our Biblical insights to everyday life otherwise we will become dull and calloused towards God’s Word. We may listen and even agree but without applying what we’ve learned we risk becoming less and less capable of actually living in a way that is consistent with what we claim to believe. To prevent this we commit to application of God’s Word by answering these questions:
What are we going to do in response to what we’ve learned?
We must keep close to Him in prayer, in reading His Word and spending time with other believers. (Phil 4:6-7, Hebrews 10:25)
What are we going to stop doing?
We must stop looking to governments or other structures as solutions to our problems. We don’t need to look in other places, God is enough. No drug, drink or distraction will help us cope through treacherous times. Only God can, He’s proved that, through the life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. If God can save us from sin and death, He can save us from everything else too. (Psalm 20:7, Proverbs 3:5-8)
Who are we going to tell about this and how are we going to tell them?
We must reach out to other believers and assure them of this blessed truth, helping where we can with their suffering. We must also reach out to non-believers, the world desperately needs to hear the Gospel of Hope and Peace right now. (Romans 10:13-17, 1 Thes 5:9-11)
Putting it all together
Like Israel, we will face times where everything changes and things that we trusted in are taken out from under our feet. In these times, we’re tempted to give up on God and fear that He has given up on us. That is not true, even if we’ve failed Him. God will never give up on His children and has proven it by sending Jesus to give His life, to save us from sin. God promises to do for us what we can not do by ourselves, even by raising us from the dead. We must keep trusting in Him and loving Him as our Only Hope. We must resist the temptation to seek relief from our suffering elsewhere, we must trust that He is always faithful, powerful and present. He is in control over all the nations and their rulers, and will bring about His plan, regardless of what anybody thinks or does. Meditating on this truth will dispel fear and despair.
Fighting Fear and Finding Purpose
The eleventh chapter of Hebrews begins to show us how to live a life of faith rather than fear. In these unstable times we need this advice more than ever. We’ve summarise the points from the series to help us to walk in faith every day, which will help us to control our fear and live out or purpose for God.
The eleventh chapter of Hebrews begins to show us how to live a life of faith rather than fear. In these unstable times we need this advice more than ever. We’ve summarise the points from the series to help us to walk in faith every day, which will help us to control our fear and live out or purpose for God. If you missed the message you can listen to it by clicking the button below.
Daily Questions for fighting fear & finding purpose.
Are we Giving our best to God in Gratitude?
Are we walking with God and growing in Facination with Him?
Are we building the Church in reverent Fear of God?
Is there something we need to leave as we Obey God in every detail?
Do we Trust God to fulfil His promises and trust Him to conceive something new through us today?
Tips on Fasting
(Join us fasting on Tue 20 July, 27 July & 3rd August)
As part of learning to walk in faith, we’re fasting every Tuesday for three weeks. You can fast anything you feel would help you focus more on God and His will for our lives. This could include things that we need to get rid of in our lives. Here are some ideas:
Avoid all media from Monday evening to Tuesday evening (news, television, radio, internet).
You can fast food from Monday evening to Tuesday evening (drinking only water during the day).
If you have health issues you could try eating normally, but only drinking water from Monday evening to Tuesday evening.
Whatever you decide to do, make sure that you use the time that you would have spent on something else, thinking and praying and asking God to direct you to live in faith and to live out His purpose for you. If you’re fasting food, try to put it aside (or the money you would have spent) and send food to an unrest relief outreach.
God’s Hope For Addiction
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Rom 12:2)
For most of us, when we hear the word addict or addiction we think of people who we’d rather not associate ourselves with. After all, the term addict doesn’t have many positive connotations to it. But what if I told you that addicts are normal people, just like you and me? What if I told you that you may be affected by addiction, even if you are not aware of it?
Of course, people with the stigma of addict attached to them most likely have battled with some terrible habits, such as drug and alcohol abuse. But the reality is that addiction is not limited to these dangerous and in some cases illegal substances.
Many people are addicts, even though they don’t realise it. Think about coffee, video games, chocolates, painkillers, or antidepressants… Think of anything that’s probably not good for you, yet you can’t go without. That is an addiction, and it’s not limited to “stuff”. We can get addicted to certain behaviours like being abusive, or lying.
So people with the term addict attached to them are not so different to us after all. It’s just that their addictions got them into serious trouble, to the point where they need to take a long hard look at their lives. And it’s a painful process. By the time someone is dubbed an addict, they have hit rock bottom. You’ll find in many cases, their addictions have destroyed their most critical relationships, and they have to deal with immense guilt for their actions.
Only God can fix this kind of brokenness.
Legae La Nnete is a community centre based in Krugersdorp that (among other things) helps these people to recover from their addictions. Legae La Nnete is dedicated to serving the brokenness that is so prevalent in South African society and is run by a dedicated and faithful Christian. The work they are doing to bring hope to broken people is exemplary, and I encourage you to check out their website.
Fourways Family Church has been supporting Legae La Nnete as part of the outreach program. Frikkie recently initiated a Discovery Bible Study (DBS) group at the home on Monday evenings, where he and I (Mardy) go to the home to help our fallen brothers to discover God’s word in a meaningful, impactful way.
Although the study has only been running for 3 weeks, we have seen immense results. Last night, everyone shared their views on the passage Frikkie shared, and almost everyone prayed. We also heard two accounts of serious changes in their outlook on the future. We can only attribute this to God’s incredible grace, forgiveness and faithfulness.
The DBS is a simple, yet remarkable Bible study method to get God’s word to speak directly into any kind of brokenness. If you haven’t already, check out how it works here. We encourage you to use the DBS in any situation - with family and friends, people who are going through a hard time, people who have doubts about Christianity or any kind of brokenness.
There are many other addiction recovery centres where fallen brothers and sisters need the same kind of healing that can only come from God. And addiction is just one area of brokenness we as humans are subject to, there are many others, all of which only God can fix. We need as many volunteers as possible to help us bring God’s hope to our fallen brothers and sisters.
If you are interested in learning more about how you can get involved in bringing God’s healing to others, or you know of fallen brothers and sisters who need God’s intervention, please contact me.
martin@familychurch.online
078 450 7821