Consecration 120125
Consecration
Elim movement has a season of Reconsecration.
Throughout history Gods’ people have lapsed, drifted, and become lukewarm. We see it over and over and over.
Moses – Golden Calf
Book of prophet Hosea
Prodigal Son
In Rev, letter to Laodicea.
God always urging return;
“If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
If we do four things God will do three things.
Malcolm Duncan on Consecration….
We can become so focused on our daily lives, that we forget one simple fact – God has not forgotten us We start off with wonderful intentions of serving others because we have experienced God’s grace and goodness in our own lives. We want to see other people’s lives transformed because we know that God is in the business of transformation. But the transformation of others should never be at the expense of our own transformation. This forgetfulness is more likely if we become disconnected from God and His presence and purpose for our lives. Consecration keeps us connected. To be agents of change in the world around us, we must remain connected to God ourselves. The deeper our consecration the deeper our experience of the reality of God’s presence and the truths that God watches over us, loves us and wants to bring hope and transformation to us. You might feel forgotten by God today but take a moment to remember that you are not.
As you dwell intentionally before God, and consecrate yourself to His will and His way, my prayer is that He will remind you that He knows every hair on your head. He knows every person that you will see today. He knows the challenges you face and the struggles you have come through. A byproduct of ongoing consecration is a deepening sense of connection that God gives us; rather like the byproduct of a healthy heart being more energy. A great danger that we must avoid is that we want connection without consecration, and without intentionality. I am not sure that this is possible. To abide in Jesus, in the words of John 15, is to be deliberately rooted in His word, by His Spirit for His purposes, and to commit to obedience and dependence. As we do this, our lives reflect His vision and values, and we hear His voice more clearly. As we remain connected to Him in consecration our ministries are strengthened, but more importantly, our souls are nourished.
2 Kings: young King Josia, grandson of Hezekiah.
Whats’ happened here is that King Josiah used the Temple offerings, the tithe, or collection, to fund repairs to the neglected building, and in the course of these repairs the high priest found the book of the Law. We’re not told precisely which book, but it might have been Deuteronomy, because in it they read Gods Word, of what will happen if His people do not follow the Law. The Exodus generation had excluded themselves from the promised land, died and been replaced, so even though Moses would never enter the promised land, as they stood at its’ borders, Moses literally laid down the law for this new generation.
This is where the greatest Jewish daily prayer is found .
The “Shema”. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”. The Lord is One. One People, One Temple, one God.
Moses ends his speech in Deuteronomy by telling this Promised Land generation that if they listen to and obey Gods Holy laws they will be blessed, but if they don’t they will face devastation and exile. This is the book that was lost for many decades but King Josiah is now horrified by.
This book has been neglected, forgotten about, since Hezekiah died. More than 57 years, during which time the kings had led the people off the beaten track. As we have read, Josiah was horrified, grief stricken, tearing his clothes. He said “Great is the Lords anger because those who have gone before us have not obeyed the words of this book.” And he then acted immediately, gathering everyone to the Temple, reading them the book of Gods First Covenant, and rededicating the people, and the Temple.
He destroyed the shrines, the idols, the furnaces used to sacrifice children, tore down these places, and covered them with a metre deep of soil on top. He killed the sex- -and religion priests, burned their remains, and he did all of this to fulfil the requirements of the book of the Law that had been neglected for so long. And then he commanded the people to celebrate Passover, as instructed in the book of Gods law.
So, for 57 years or more, the people have been led astray, they drifted, and the people of God fitted in with those around them, worshipping Canaanite Gods. To all intents and purposes they blended in, they were no longer distinctively Gods’ people.
This is a revival message!! The King, the courts, the elders, the rulers and the common people alike, everyone felt its power sweeping the land. It began in the House of God, the place where they came together to seek His face. It is where we expect and pray for the fire to fall. To fall in power and force in human hearts.
It is in the house that we come together and pray for him to refill us, to strengthen us, to deepen our faith.
In this revival in 2 Kings, men came back to the Word of God. The young king was quick to see its’ importance, value and worth. He had it read to the people. It was heeded, its’ promises believed. There can be no revival without the Word of God being front and centre of all church activity. There can be no revival without the Word of God. It was by His Word that all things were made and without it nothing was made. John chapter one.
This people had been drifting for decades, not reading Gods Word, not staying centred in Gods will; Instead of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, they were worshipping the gods the locals followed. Do we do that? Do we worship gods of consumerism, fashion, or pride in our possessions, or our appearance? They were still being pretty religious but in a worldly, secular way, worshipping the idols that society worshipped, fitting in. Are we guilty of that, maybe? Or are we using our Bible as a spiritual compass to keep our direction in stormy seas?
If we are not in the fire then our heat within will gradually get cooler. We don’t come to this place once a week on a Sunday to get our weekly fix of the Bible and then go away for another week content in the knowledge that we have carried out our Christian duty, if we are to get back in the fire and feel afresh the heat of the Holy Spirit, then we must pick up our Bible every single day.
If you haven’t got one, let us know, we have plenty. Yes, pick it up and open it. If you have it as an app on your phone, open and study the app. If you really don’t know how to get started with reading the Bible, again, get in touch and we can suggest some helpful ways that you can start digging into it so that you can benefit from the amazing treasure it contains, and the wonderful promises God makes to each of us.
05.01.25 798,000 Youversion Bibles downloaded in one day!!
Many people are watching this service through a screen from another location. That honours us, and if you wish you were here, well, we wish it too. For some of you, you are not here because we have become too good at what we do, with online services, and maybe you’re thinking “Oh my gosh life is so busy I will watch the service later when I have time”.
Others will be enjoying a nice lie in, snuggled up in bed watching.
For some, they will be shielding due to health concerns, and I’m sorry but there will be a few who are simply too lazy to come. To these people I would point out that you are missing out on so much. The streamed version is great, but the in–person experience is so much greater.
The fellowship with others, the power of the Holy Spirit moving amongst us, refilling us with
Then there is the live sung worship that we always took for granted until it was illegal to sing in church……… But guess what, its’ no longer illegal, so please don’t ever take it for granted again, but value and cherish the opportunity to sing your heart out with others to our wonderful God to whom we owe far more than we could ever possibly repay for what He has done for us. On one occasioninlockdown, my muslim barber asked me how online church was working out. In my answer I drew him a comparison: I like watching good quality cooking programmes. Some are so good you can almost taste the food. And that is the point. Almost. If you were there you would. In the same way, a phone call with a loved one is better than nothing, but pale and shabby, when compared with spending time in their company.
The world we live in is becoming increasingly secular, with the majority ofyounger people in the Western world describing their faith background as “None”. This doesn’t mean that they don’t believe, because when asked, many do have some vague concept of God, and in an emergency will pray, but its more that the book of the Law for them has been lost for decades, and they are just fitting in with the crowd. They are if you like, worshipping Canaanite Gods, blending in with society. Swearing, getting drunk, high, stoned or creating their own idols of materialism, of greed, of lust. They live in a world where, as Shakespeare put it, “There is nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so. Many church buildings are turning off the lights, being repurposed as housing units.
Ian Dury sang the words
“Sex and drugs and rock and roll are all my body needs.”
In John Lennons song “Imagine”, he sings
“Imagine there’s no heaven, It’s easy if you try, No hell below us, Above us only sky, Imagine all the people, Living for today.”
And sadly that is the new lifestyle of choice for so many now, just as it was when young King Josiah came to the throne at the tender age of eight. The book of Gods’ covenant and Law were no longer known, and the Temples had become places to worship created idols, rather than the Creator God.
So again, I ask, what are you feeding on, in a spiritual sense? Because we all need a spiritual compass if we are to keep good direction as we navigate in stormy seas.
Paul says this in his letter to the Hebrews:
“Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us”.
The passage in question draws from the rich imagery of the foot–races of ancient Israel, Greece, and the amphitheatres of Rome. It was written to encourage and challenge believers to persevere in their faith, especially in the midst of trials and persecution.
Athletes in a race were surrounded by rows and rows of spectators, pictured for us as “a great cloud of witnesses.” The “witnesses” of the believers’ race are listed in the previous chapter of Hebrews: the men and women of God whose faithful lives were recorded in the Old Testament.
These saints persevered despite unimaginable oppression and cruelty and were commended for their faithfulness. Maybe the saints of Hebrews 11 are actuallywatching us run our “race” today, cheering us on, shouting encouragement from Heaven; the point of the passage is equally that their testimony lives on in the Bible. Their unyielding faith bears witness to the promises of Jesus Christ, urging us to follow their example and “run with perseverance the race marked out for us”.
The “race,” then, is the Christian life, including both the good, the bad and the ugly. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, and we are called to stay the course and remain faithful to the end. Paul used this same imagery near the end of his life: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith”.
In Ephesians 5, Paul explains to us the spiritual armour of God, including the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. We learn of this gospel of peace from the Bible, so my core message today is please, in whichever form you may have it, in whatever translation you have it, put some time aside regularly, every day. . No matter how busy we are, we all make time in our lives for that which we consider important, so we must be just as intentional about our Bible. And don’t be shy, if you have any questions, don’t be embarrassed: our contact details are included at the end of this service on screen if you are watching from elsewhere, so get in touch. There is no such thing as a silly question, and we WILL take your question seriously.
The Bible is our satnav getting us safely home, in such a time as this.
Daily we will face uncertainty and new challenges, but we have our guide book, our road map to get us home safely, to help us to finish the race.