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September
/ October 2005
As
the end of the year approaches,
graduating students have mixed
feelings of excitement about new
ministry plans overseas or in
Australia, and sadness about leaving
the stimulation and security of
college and friends. We love to see
students departing - because the
reason students come to SMBC is to
leave SMBC. We delight in watching as
God flings his life-giving gospel to
the world through our graduates.
It's
hard leaving safety and security for
unknown challenges. It was hard for
Abram leaving Haran - his country,
people, family, even the place where
he'd buried his father. It was hard
for the disciples: We've left
everything to follow you! Peter
exclaimed.
In
What On Earth Are You Doing? Michael
Griffiths reminds us: "You do not
need to be afraid of God, or of what
he will do if you put your life into
his hands without reserve. He will not
curse you or cramp your life into a
narrow mould, but will abundantly
bless you. He has promised to do so,
and he is quite determined to bless
you. So why don't you let him?"
Jesus
did say, after all, "Whoever loses
his life for me will find it." (Matt
16:25)
Anthony
Brammall
August
2005
Devotion
takes many forms. When we speak of
being devoted (to our families, our
football team or even having a dog
that is devoted to us!), we are
referring to our commitment to someone
(or thing). What we give priority to.
Where our heart lies.
The
Bible exhorts us to devotion. To
devote ourselves to following Jesus,
to doing good, to prayer.
In
Colossians 4:2 Paul encourages us to
be devoted to prayer. He draws our
attention to the example of Epaphras,
a servant of Christ, who wrestled in
prayer (vs12) for the believers. Paul
says that Epaphras worked hard at
praying (vs13). It was his work.
We do
not always see prayer in those terms.
We open and close meetings with it,
promise it to friends in need and wish
we did more of it – but do we see it
as our labour? We must not allow our
activity, no matter how important it
may be, to keep us from prayer. We
need to be careful not to allow prayer
to slip into the background in favour
of the more obvious signs of Christian
service.
"Devote
yourselves to prayer, being watchful
and thankful. And pray for us, too,
that God may open a door for our
message, so that we may proclaim the
mystery of Christ ..." Colossians
4:2-3
Stuart
Coulton
July
2005
It's
the middle of the year. Many of us are
on holidays, enjoying a welcome break
from studying. We feel a sense of
freedom, if only for a few weeks. But
we are still servants of our Heavenly
Father, and even as we enjoy our rest
we are under obligation: to God, to
our brothers and sisters in Christ,
and to those around us in society.
The way a Christian lives is vitally
important, because it wins a hearing
for the gospel. That is not the only
reason, though. Christians must be
godly, but not only to achieve
credibility for their evangelism.
The Bible often calls us to
"do good", and Peter's first
letter is a prime example.
"It
is God's will that by doing good you
should silence the ignorant talk of
foolish men...live as servants of God.
Show proper respect to everyone: love
the brotherhood of believers, fear
God, honour the king."(1 Peter 2:15,
17)
Why
"do good"? – Because God called us
to this, and he will bless us (1 Pet
3:9). Because it's our identity: as
children of our Father, we are to
display his likeness. Because the
witness of good lives commends the
gospel to unbelievers. Because good
citizenship counters false charges
against Christians. And because our
model is the Lord Jesus, who so loved
the world that he gave himself as a
servant for others.
Anthony
Brammall
June
2005
"
If anyone considers himself religious
and yet does not keep a tight rein on
his tongue, he deceives himself and
his religion is worthless. Religion
that God our Father accepts as pure
and faultless is this: to look after
orphans and widows in their distress
and to keep oneself from being
polluted by the
world."
James 1:26-27
Holiness matters to God.
He will not allow us to
separate what we believe, what we say and what we do. Our
lives are to be a 'complete package', demonstrating
consistency at every point.
As followers of Christ we
are called to hunger and thirst to be holy. James tells us
that this will mean self control, especially of our
tongue; active compassion for the poor & vulnerable
and rigour in seeking to keep ourselves from the pollution
of the world. This is the way of Christ.
What kind of religion do
you practise? Worthless religion? Or religion that is pure
and faultless?
Stuart
Coulton
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