{"id":2937,"date":"2019-06-23T18:49:50","date_gmt":"2019-06-23T08:49:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/?p=2937"},"modified":"2019-06-23T18:49:50","modified_gmt":"2019-06-23T08:49:50","slug":"life-promise-hope-23-06-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/?p=2937","title":{"rendered":"Life, Promise, Hope 23-06-2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Life, Promise, Hope<\/i>! <\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ezekiel 36: 22 \u2013 27, 37: 11 \u2013 14, 24 – 28<\/strong><\/p>\n

Remember Dot-to-dot puzzles? They might help us better understand the Bible\u2019s teaching.\u00a0 <\/span>Connect the dots with lines and a picture emerges. The Bible is like that. Connect some of the thoughts scattered through the Bible and a picture emerges, just as we do with \u2018dot-to-dot\u2019 puzzles. Let us have a go this morning.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019ll begin at the second verse in the Bible, Genesis 1:2, where we are told that the Spirit or Wind of God blew over the chaotic waters and there was order. Now we draw a line from that verse to Genesis 2:7 where we are told that God created humankind and \u2018breathed\u2019 life into humankind\u2019s body.\u00a0 <\/span>The clue here is that Biblical translators take the wind or breath of God to mean the Spirit of God. This tells us that it is God\u2019s Spirit that gives order to creation and life to humankind. Then move a line to Psalm 104, which confirms this that when God hides from us our breath is taken away and we die; and when God sends the Spirit we have life again.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now this isn\u2019t exactly like a dot-to-dot puzzle but the principle is there. We read a verse in the Bible and forget to see its connection to another verse. When we do make the connection a picture emerges. In this instance the picture being formed shows that God the Holy Spirit is the source of order and life. So if we were to continue drawing lines we would find numerous examples of God\u2019s Spirit empowering leaders and prophets, priests and kings, men and women. In the Bible the belief is there that God is the source and the energy of life and that the wind of God or Spirit is the means.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Bible abounds with word pictures of the Holy Spirit working. A good example is the vision of the Valley of Dry Bones in Ezekiel. \u00a0 <\/span>God gives Ezekiel a vision in which Ezekiel views a valley full of dry bones. At God\u2019s command Ezekiel instructs the bones to rise up and then summons the four winds to breathe life into the bodies. This happens.\u00a0 <\/span>This is followed by an interpretation that the dry bones represent the exiled Jews.\u00a0 <\/span>Although the Jews have been unfaithful and deserve punishment God is going to reinstate them.\u00a0 <\/span>God is doing this because the Jews carry God\u2019s name and God by reinstating the Jews will honour God\u2019s name. Observers will say; \u2018Look at what their God has done!\u2019\u00a0 <\/span>But this is not all. God is not only going to set them free, bring them back to Jerusalem, re-instate their community, and give them a new attitude, but God is also going to put God\u2019s Spirit in them [Eze 36:24-27]. Without God\u2019s Spirit God\u2019s people would neither know God nor have a right attitude. Wow, all that stuff plus God\u2019s Spirit! This is the punch line:\u00a0 <\/span>God promises to \u2018dwell\u2019 in them [Eze 37:14, 27].\u00a0 <\/span>That\u2019s right, dwell in them. This is an intimate action. The Hebrew concept of dwelling with them conjures up the picture of God pitching a tent. God is going to come and live with us.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This imagery is so rich and useful even for us today.\u00a0 <\/span>Our lives do go through periods of barrenness \u2013 dry periods. When we turn to God and acknowledge our failures and confess our sins God breathes new life into us. God doesn\u2019t simply forgive but restores us with life. Like the cool summer breeze God\u2019s Spirit refreshes us. We must be wary of these spiritually dry periods. They are not necessarily like the disastrous droughts that sweep through this land. They can be, but often the spiritually dry periods are like lean seasons. There are crops but the harvest is poor. The farmers just make do. They scrape through meeting their daily needs and paying the mortgage. Sometimes they are reduced to paying only the interest. Such lengthy dry periods can be devastating both for a farmer and for those associated with them. Likewise our spiritual dry periods look like that. All seems well. We are making do, but there is no energy, no excitement and no renewal. It seems we\u2019re in a holding pattern.\u00a0 <\/span>Think, my Christian friends, of such times. You may be in one now. I assure you that I am perfectly familiar with them, but I am also familiar with the breath of God renewing and refreshing me.\u00a0 <\/span>I thank God for the renewing Spirit. Of course these spiritually dry periods are not so much that God has moved away, but that we have decamped and moved away from God\u2019s tent.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The dots we have joined together today and the imagery that we have looked at tells us some very important truths.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Firstly, we get from this Biblical picture that God gives us life.\u00a0 <\/span>That is, we don\u2019t control life and even less are we the source of our lives. Life is a gift to us.\u00a0 <\/span>You may want to say, \u2018Peter, aren\u2019t you just playing with words?\u2019\u00a0 <\/span>In a sense yes, but the perspective I am providing is important.\u00a0 <\/span>Thousands of years ago when humankind reflected on life it was realised that life was a gift; they hadn\u2019t made it on their own.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I remember sitting around the lunch tables on the sailing club\u2019s deck looking over the lake and beyond to the beautiful city skyline. It was a delightful picture on that sunny day, one which I often enjoy. I sat there in silence reflecting about my sailing companions and the Gospel of Jesus. The chatter was energetic. The camaraderie was healthy. I thought,\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cThese people have no need of God. \u201cThey are self-sufficient. At least they would say so. They enjoy reasonable financial well-being, good health, a genial camaraderie and the club is their community. Insurances, superannuations, pensions and social security all ensure they can cope with the unpredictable future. What else do they need?\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>These thoughts ran through my mind. Let\u2019s be fair. If you have never experienced the joy of God or witnessed God\u2019s blessing on others why would you want more? If you have never seen anything better than what the secular world offers what else would you hope for? You wouldn\u2019t know any better. But it is interesting how these folk from time to time appreciate that \u2018odd religious member\u2019 who conducts the blessing of the fleet or a time of quietness when an unsuspected death eventuates. Religious concepts uttered in the guise of poems or universal concepts touch them. I guess I am trying to say that the thought that my life is a gift rescues me from depending entirely upon myself. To see life as a gift from God rescues us from the \u2018aloneness\u2019 of being on one\u2019s own. If my life is my life then I am alone. However if my life is a gift from the Creator then I can never be alone. God\u2019s compassion means God cares.\u00a0 <\/span>This is what the ancients uncovered. This is what God revealed to Abraham and Sarah when He <\/i>called them to leave home.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Secondly, God\u2019s promises give us meaning \u2013 a reason for living.\u00a0 <\/span>God\u2019s promises have rescued us from despair and given us something to live for. That is what a promise does for us. Promises give us something to look forward to. Promises lift our spirits. Promises stimulate and encourage us to move forward. Promises ultimately add to the purpose of living.\u00a0 <\/span>God\u2019s promises do that, big time.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Thirdly, God give us hope.\u00a0 <\/span>Hope is so important to us.\u00a0 <\/span>Hope allows us to face today\u2019s difficulties and struggles with the possibility of a better future. Hope encourages us not to give up but to persevere. Hope provides the will to get there.\u00a0 <\/span>Hope is different from faith. Faith is putting your trust in God, whereas hope helps us imagine a better world and opens the door to new possibilities. Without hope our imaginations would not be stimulated, we would resign ourselves to the present situation and become preoccupied with ourselves.\u00a0 <\/span>Hope gives us a future \u2013 God\u2019s future.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Our readings today tell us that God\u2019s spirit rescues us from ourselves, saves us from despair and gives us life. That is why we cannot take the Holy Spirit for granted, let alone ignore the Holy Spirit \u2013 she <\/i>is our life.<\/strong><\/p>\n

*******<\/strong><\/p>\n

Peter C Whitaker, Leighmoor UC:\u00a0 <\/span>30\/06\/2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

pcwhitaker@icloud.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\/ www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Life, Promise, Hope! \u00a0 Ezekiel 36: 22 \u2013 27, 37: 11 \u2013 14, 24 – 28 Remember Dot-to-dot puzzles? They might help us better understand the Bible\u2019s teaching.\u00a0 Connect the dots with lines and a picture emerges. The Bible is like that. Connect some of the thoughts scattered through the Bible and a picture emerges, just as we do with \u2018dot-to-dot\u2019 puzzles. Let us have a go this morning. We\u2019ll begin at the second verse in the Bible, Genesis 1:2, where we are told that the Spirit or Wind of God blew over the chaotic waters and there was order. Now we draw a line from that verse to Genesis 2:7 where we are told that God created humankind and \u2018breathed\u2019 life into humankind\u2019s body.\u00a0 The clue here is that Biblical translators take the wind or breath of God to mean the Spirit of God. This tells us that it is God\u2019s Spirit that gives order to creation and life to humankind. Then move a line to Psalm 104, which confirms this that when God hides from us our breath is taken away and we die; and when God sends the Spirit we have life again. Now this isn\u2019t exactly like a dot-to-dot puzzle but the principle is there. We read a verse in the Bible and forget to see its connection to another verse. When we do make the connection a picture emerges. In this instance the picture being formed shows that God the Holy Spirit is the source of order and life. So if we were to continue drawing lines we would find numerous examples of God\u2019s Spirit empowering leaders and prophets, priests and kings, men and women. In the Bible the belief is there that God is the source and the energy of life and that the wind of God or Spirit is the means. The Bible abounds with word pictures of the Holy Spirit working. A good example is the vision of the Valley of Dry Bones in Ezekiel. \u00a0 God gives Ezekiel a vision in which Ezekiel views a valley full of dry bones. At God\u2019s command Ezekiel instructs the bones to rise up and then summons the four winds to breathe life into the bodies. This happens.\u00a0 This is followed by an interpretation that the dry bones represent the exiled Jews.\u00a0 Although the Jews have been unfaithful and deserve punishment God is going to reinstate them.\u00a0 God is doing this because the Jews carry God\u2019s name and God by reinstating the Jews will honour God\u2019s name. Observers will say; \u2018Look at what their God has done!\u2019\u00a0 But this is not all. God is not only going to set them free, bring them back to Jerusalem, re-instate their community, and give them a new attitude, but God is also going to put God\u2019s Spirit in them [Eze 36:24-27]. Without God\u2019s Spirit God\u2019s people would neither know God nor have a right attitude. Wow, all that stuff plus God\u2019s Spirit! This is the punch line:\u00a0 God promises to \u2018dwell\u2019 in them [Eze 37:14, 27].\u00a0 That\u2019s right, dwell in them. This is an intimate action. The Hebrew concept of dwelling with them conjures up the picture of God pitching a tent. God is going to come and live with us. This imagery is so rich and useful even for us today.\u00a0 Our lives do go through periods of barrenness \u2013 dry periods. When we turn to God and acknowledge our failures and confess our sins God breathes new life into us. God doesn\u2019t simply forgive but restores us with life. Like the cool summer breeze God\u2019s Spirit refreshes us. We must be wary of these spiritually dry periods. They are not necessarily like the disastrous droughts that sweep through this land. They can be, but often the spiritually dry periods are like lean seasons. There are crops but the harvest is poor. The farmers just make do. They scrape through meeting their daily needs and paying the mortgage. Sometimes they are reduced to paying only the interest. Such lengthy dry periods can be devastating both for a farmer and for those associated with them. Likewise our spiritual dry periods look like that. All seems well. We are making do, but there is no energy, no excitement and no renewal. It seems we\u2019re in a holding pattern.\u00a0 Think, my Christian friends, of such times. You may be in one now. I assure you that I am perfectly familiar with them, but I am also familiar with the breath of God renewing and refreshing me.\u00a0 I thank God for the renewing Spirit. Of course these spiritually dry periods are not so much that God has moved away, but that we have decamped and moved away from God\u2019s tent. The dots we have joined together today and the imagery that we have looked at tells us some very important truths. Firstly, we get from this Biblical picture that God gives us life.\u00a0 That is, we don\u2019t control life and even less are we the source of our lives. Life is a gift to us.\u00a0 You may want to say, \u2018Peter, aren\u2019t you just playing with words?\u2019\u00a0 In a sense yes, but the perspective I am providing is important.\u00a0 Thousands of years ago when humankind reflected on life it was realised that life was a gift; they hadn\u2019t made it on their own. I remember sitting around the lunch tables on the sailing club\u2019s deck looking over the lake and beyond to the beautiful city skyline. It was a delightful picture on that sunny day, one which I often enjoy. I sat there in silence reflecting about my sailing companions and the Gospel of Jesus. The chatter was energetic. The camaraderie was healthy. I thought,\u00a0 \u201cThese people have no need of God. \u201cThey are self-sufficient. At least they would say so. They enjoy reasonable financial well-being, good health, a genial camaraderie and the club is their community. Insurances, superannuations, pensions and social security all ensure they can cope with the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Leighmoor.Master","author_link":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/author\/leighmoor-master"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"Sermons<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Life, Promise, Hope! \u00a0 Ezekiel 36: 22 \u2013 27, 37: 11 \u2013 14, 24 – 28 Remember Dot-to-dot puzzles? They might help us better understand the Bible\u2019s teaching.\u00a0 Connect the dots with lines and a picture emerges. The Bible is like that. Connect some of the thoughts scattered through the Bible and a picture emerges,…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2937"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2937\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2938,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2937\/revisions\/2938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}