WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.480 I don’t come to try and make sense of the Bible in the light of my opinions and experiences. 00:00:09.480 --> 00:00:15.320 I come to my life and my experiences and make sense of them through the Bible! 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:25.040 I’d like to start today by telling you a little bit of my story 00:00:25.040 --> 00:00:36.480 and I’m going to go back 50 years to the year 1973. 00:00:36.480 --> 00:00:46.760 That was the year when both Fiona and I found Jesus. 00:00:46.760 --> 00:00:50.640 We were in different parts of the country - 00:00:50.640 --> 00:00:54.800 we weren’t going to meet each other for another five years. 00:01:02.040 --> 00:01:09.280 The same month in May 1973 - 00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:14.760 we had an encounter with Jesus Christ. 00:01:14.760 --> 00:01:24.800 And to say that it changed my life is an understatement! 00:01:24.800 --> 00:01:30.400 Because for me, I knew nothing about Christianity - 00:01:30.400 --> 00:01:39.920 I’d never been into a church in my life, when I was 15. 00:01:39.920 --> 00:01:45.200 I thought I was an atheist. 00:01:45.200 --> 00:01:52.320 Actually, I was just a young, growing teenager 00:01:52.320 --> 00:01:55.320 who was very mixed up and needed God. 00:02:01.320 --> 00:02:15.720 I found myself attending a Bible study at school every week. 00:02:15.720 --> 00:02:26.880 Now, at that time it was fashionable to be a rebel - to be rebellious. 00:02:26.880 --> 00:02:32.320 And like all teenagers of that time, I was trying to work out 00:02:32.320 --> 00:02:36.760 whether I should rebel against everything that went before - 00:02:36.760 --> 00:02:38.720 my parents, everything! 00:02:38.720 --> 00:02:44.480 Or whether I should conform with what seemed to be the standard. 00:02:54.560 --> 00:02:59.960 But there was something about these Christians that really caught my attention! 00:02:59.960 --> 00:03:06.720 Because on the outside, they seemed quite ‘straight’. 00:03:06.720 --> 00:03:12.280 They didn’t act in a rebellious way. 00:03:17.640 --> 00:03:21.960 But they were actually different! 00:03:21.960 --> 00:03:26.840 And I realised that the people who were conforming with the crowd 00:03:26.840 --> 00:03:30.680 were all these people who were rebelling! 00:03:37.320 --> 00:03:46.400 And the different thing about these Christians is they were actually happy! 00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:54.280 So, I went on a journey of asking lots of questions. 00:03:54.280 --> 00:03:58.080 They gave me a copy of the New Testament - I didn’t know it. 00:03:58.080 --> 00:04:02.240 I’d never seen it before; I started to read. 00:04:04.760 --> 00:04:13.840 Most of my questions - they were not able to answer. 00:04:13.840 --> 00:04:19.160 But one night - I remember it still today - 00:04:19.160 --> 00:04:26.480 over 50 years ago, a friend of mine said to me, 00:04:26.480 --> 00:04:34.360 ‘You need to ask Jesus, to show you that He is real.’ 00:04:42.320 --> 00:04:49.280 And so that night, on the bus going home, 00:04:49.280 --> 00:04:54.840 I decided I was going to pray. 00:04:54.840 --> 00:04:59.800 For the first time in my life! 00:04:59.800 --> 00:05:10.080 I said, ‘Jesus, if You’re real, please show Yourself to me 00:05:10.080 --> 00:05:16.680 and I will give my life to You!’ 00:05:16.680 --> 00:05:21.440 Now, something happened! 00:05:21.440 --> 00:05:29.920 I can’t really explain it, and I don’t know what happened naturally 00:05:29.920 --> 00:05:33.720 but when I said that prayer, 00:05:33.720 --> 00:05:45.200 a physical and a spiritual light came over me. 00:05:45.200 --> 00:05:49.120 God changed my heart! 00:05:49.120 --> 00:05:53.520 And what I noticed immediately - and I still remember it was while I was sat 00:05:53.520 --> 00:05:56.480 on the same bus before it reached home - 00:06:01.120 --> 00:06:08.960 I decided that I now believed the Bible. 00:06:08.960 --> 00:06:16.000 So, I was no longer trying to work out whether it was true or not. 00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:20.800 I decided I believed it was true, as an act of faith 00:06:20.800 --> 00:06:23.360 because I believed Jesus had showed me He was real. 00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:29.360 I believed it was true, and I was going to try and live my life according to it. 00:06:37.320 --> 00:06:47.720 Now, at that time, as I said, I didn’t know very much about Christianity. 00:06:47.720 --> 00:06:56.200 And there was probably quite a lot that was wrong with my life. 00:06:56.200 --> 00:07:04.680 But as I look back now, over those fifty years, 00:07:04.680 --> 00:07:13.520 that was the most important thing that I ever did. 00:07:13.520 --> 00:07:21.760 I believe I made a lot of mistakes and still do. 00:07:21.760 --> 00:07:32.520 But there’s something about meaning it. 00:07:32.520 --> 00:07:35.560 This is something where we are dealing with reality - 00:07:35.560 --> 00:07:37.440 we are dealing with truth. 00:07:42.680 --> 00:07:46.880 And that’s a matter of the heart. 00:07:46.880 --> 00:08:00.560 And this is a mystery really, but when you mean it, God comes in! 00:08:00.560 --> 00:08:05.320 My parents didn’t quite know what had happened to me 00:08:05.320 --> 00:08:09.840 and thought it was a new hobby! 00:08:16.880 --> 00:08:21.880 Because at that age, I had a number of things I got enthusiastic about, 00:08:21.880 --> 00:08:27.520 whether it was collecting stamps or watching football 00:08:27.520 --> 00:08:29.320 or going to rock concerts - 00:08:29.320 --> 00:08:32.360 there were all kinds of things I’d been enthusiastic about 00:08:32.360 --> 00:08:35.640 and they thought this was another of those things. 00:08:49.680 --> 00:08:55.280 But the title of the message I want to bring to you today 00:08:55.280 --> 00:09:02.800 is ‘Christianity is not a hobby’. 00:09:02.800 --> 00:09:19.680 So, please tell your neighbour - Christianity is not a hobby! 00:09:19.680 --> 00:09:26.040 One thing about a hobby - 00:09:26.040 --> 00:09:32.440 you can be very passionate about it. 00:09:32.440 --> 00:09:54.960 But in the hierarchy of important things in life, it comes below your preferences and opinions. 00:09:54.960 --> 00:09:59.560 So, if you change your preferences, or change your opinions - 00:09:59.560 --> 00:10:02.400 you can change your hobby. 00:10:08.840 --> 00:10:15.040 Christianity is not at that level. 00:10:15.040 --> 00:10:21.960 It’s at this level! 00:10:21.960 --> 00:10:29.520 It’s above my opinions, and it’s above my preferences! 00:10:29.520 --> 00:10:42.760 It’s possible to read the Bible, looking for things to justify our opinions. 00:10:42.760 --> 00:10:50.680 But you need to open the Word of God, and let God speak to you. 00:10:50.680 --> 00:10:54.280 One of the things I love that Prophet T.B. Joshua said is, 00:10:54.280 --> 00:11:00.720 ‘The Bible should be the database for our personal opinions.’ 00:11:12.120 --> 00:11:22.360 So, I don’t come to try and make sense of the Bible in the light of my opinions and experiences. 00:11:22.360 --> 00:11:29.120 I come to my life and my experiences and make sense of them through the Bible! 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:51.360 God’s Word is a direction for life, not just advice. 00:11:51.360 --> 00:11:56.560 So, we need some humility. 00:11:56.560 --> 00:12:07.880 True humility is total dependence on God for everything. 00:12:07.880 --> 00:12:14.520 Now, another thing about a hobby - 00:12:14.520 --> 00:12:24.360 a hobby can also coexist with other priorities. 00:12:24.360 --> 00:12:33.280 It can be one of those things that we are interested in. 00:12:33.280 --> 00:12:39.240 Christianity is not one of those things - 00:12:39.240 --> 00:12:44.520 it’s the whole thing! 00:12:44.520 --> 00:12:47.720 Does that mean that I have no interests? 00:12:47.720 --> 00:12:51.400 I talk about nothing else but religious language? No! 00:12:58.800 --> 00:13:04.120 But I understand everything - my relationships, my work, 00:13:04.120 --> 00:13:07.000 what I feel about myself, what I feel about other people, 00:13:07.000 --> 00:13:08.480 what’s going to happen when I die - 00:13:08.480 --> 00:13:15.720 everything about me, I understand through the God who created me. 00:13:15.720 --> 00:13:29.520 For the first Scripture that I want to read today, I want to read Matthew 6:24. 00:13:29.520 --> 00:13:37.080 “No one can serve two masters. 00:13:37.080 --> 00:13:44.240 Either he will hate the one and love the other, 00:13:44.240 --> 00:13:50.760 or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. 00:13:50.760 --> 00:13:59.080 You cannot serve both God and mammon.” 00:13:59.080 --> 00:14:08.040 It’s not only money; I think it represents everything that money can buy - 00:14:08.040 --> 00:14:19.120 this physical world we all physically engage with. 00:14:19.120 --> 00:14:32.600 The god of this world and God, who created us - you can’t serve both of them. 00:14:32.600 --> 00:14:42.520 Your life direction is either decided by things eternal and what God is saying, 00:14:42.520 --> 00:14:47.640 or it’s decided by things here, which your senses are telling you. 00:14:57.480 --> 00:15:00.640 And if you’re a true servant of God, you’re not a servant of the world 00:15:00.640 --> 00:15:03.840 and if you’re a servant of the world, you’re not a servant of God. 00:15:13.320 --> 00:15:14.880 You may have done the same as me - 00:15:14.880 --> 00:15:19.600 you may have declared that commitment to Jesus, and you meant it - 00:15:19.600 --> 00:15:21.760 you were going to follow Him! 00:15:27.240 --> 00:15:35.480 But there are still daily decisions as to whether we obey God, or mammon. 00:15:35.480 --> 00:15:43.680 People who don’t believe in God will think you’re crazy! 00:15:43.680 --> 00:15:55.160 And the reason is, because you’ll be making decisions on the basis of something you can’t see! 00:15:55.160 --> 00:16:02.800 But Jesus said further down, and I’m just going to read this verse as well in verse 33. 00:16:02.800 --> 00:16:09.080 “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, 00:16:09.080 --> 00:16:15.240 and all these things shall be given to you as well.” 00:16:15.240 --> 00:16:19.920 It’s because God is real. 00:16:19.920 --> 00:16:24.640 He may not be visible but when we obey Him, 00:16:24.640 --> 00:16:29.240 we get in line with the One who created this whole universe. 00:16:34.200 --> 00:16:42.760 It’s no problem to Him to give you what you need. 00:16:42.760 --> 00:16:53.960 If you give your life to searching for what you need, you won’t find it. 00:16:53.960 --> 00:17:03.560 You may find the physical things but you won’t find peace. 00:17:03.560 --> 00:17:12.680 Because peace only comes from a relationship with the One who created us. 00:17:12.680 --> 00:17:22.680 Now, I want to turn to a Scripture in the Old Testament, and this is in the book of Joshua. 00:17:22.680 --> 00:17:28.840 Because this is one of the many examples in the Old Testament 00:17:28.840 --> 00:17:43.040 where the people of God at the time thought they could serve God, and also serve other gods as well. 00:17:43.040 --> 00:17:56.880 They saw some benefit in serving God, but they also tried to serve other gods as well. 00:17:56.880 --> 00:18:01.880 It’s a temptation for all of us! 00:18:01.880 --> 00:18:07.720 Sometimes, the devil, instead of trying to get us to just deny God, 00:18:07.720 --> 00:18:14.040 will try to get us to shift and follow something else as well. 00:18:21.880 --> 00:18:24.800 If there’s one thing I’ve observed - 00:18:24.800 --> 00:18:33.160 in mixing with lots of people over the last fifty years of being a believer - 00:18:33.160 --> 00:18:37.960 it’s that when you add something else to your Christianity, 00:18:37.960 --> 00:18:46.720 it’s not long before you become focused on that ‘something else’, and God takes a lower position. 00:18:46.720 --> 00:18:48.760 I’m warning you, this happens! 00:18:48.760 --> 00:18:56.200 You start off being 100% for God - 00:18:56.200 --> 00:19:06.800 then you’re 90% for God, and 10% for your own enjoyment. 00:19:06.800 --> 00:19:19.040 Give it a couple of years; you’ll be 90% for your own enjoyment, 10% for God. 00:19:19.040 --> 00:19:24.120 Because you can’t serve two masters! 00:19:24.120 --> 00:19:31.640 Having said that, let me read Joshua 24 - 00:19:31.640 --> 00:19:37.000 and I’m going to read from verse 14. 00:19:37.000 --> 00:19:49.800 Joshua said, “Now therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him wholeheartedly and faithfully. 00:19:49.800 --> 00:19:54.360 Remove the gods that your fathers served in the region across the river and in Egypt, 00:19:54.360 --> 00:19:56.360 and serve the Lord. 00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:17.920 But if you see no benefit in serving the Lord, then choose today whom you are going to serve, 00:20:17.920 --> 00:20:20.280 whether the gods your fathers served beyond the river, 00:20:20.280 --> 00:20:24.440 or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. 00:20:33.000 --> 00:20:46.120 But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15) 00:20:46.120 --> 00:20:54.240 Joshua was giving them the same challenge that Jesus gave His disciples and the Pharisees 00:20:54.240 --> 00:20:56.960 who were listening to Him, when we read Matthew. 00:21:02.120 --> 00:21:03.840 He said, ‘Look, make your mind up, 00:21:03.840 --> 00:21:07.880 you have to choose who you are going to serve - you can’t serve both.’ 00:21:11.800 --> 00:21:15.720 Verse 16 says the people responded, saying, 00:21:15.720 --> 00:21:19.880 “Far be it from us to forsake the Lord and serve other gods. We are going to serve the Lord.” 00:21:19.880 --> 00:21:21.600 That is what they said. 00:21:28.440 --> 00:21:31.840 Joshua said to the people, 00:21:31.840 --> 00:21:45.200 “You are not able to serve the Lord, because He’s a holy God; He’s a jealous God.” 00:21:45.200 --> 00:21:47.760 Joshua could have rejoiced and said, 00:21:47.760 --> 00:21:51.240 ‘We have a revival! The people want to serve the Lord!’ 00:21:58.800 --> 00:22:02.120 But he knew what was in their heart - 00:22:02.120 --> 00:22:08.680 that their commitment at that time, was not total, but partial. 00:22:16.400 --> 00:22:29.360 So, it was actually true when he said, ‘In this state of heart, you can’t serve the Lord’. 00:22:29.360 --> 00:22:44.960 Those people were only convinced; they were not yet converted. 00:22:44.960 --> 00:22:55.440 So, you can be convinced that Jesus is the Lord. 00:22:55.440 --> 00:23:11.920 But you’re not converted until the Word of God becomes living inside of you, 00:23:11.920 --> 00:23:23.920 and starts to affect your behaviour, your actions and your attitudes. 00:23:23.920 --> 00:23:39.520 There is another Scripture I would like us to read, also in the Old Testament - Isaiah 58:2. 00:23:39.520 --> 00:23:48.920 “They seek Me day by day, and they are delighted to know My ways, 00:23:48.920 --> 00:23:55.880 as if they were a nation that does what is right, 00:23:55.880 --> 00:24:02.960 as if they had not forsaken the just ways of their God.” 00:24:02.960 --> 00:24:08.840 Let me jump to verse 3, where it says that they fast, 00:24:08.840 --> 00:24:12.840 but “on the same day you fast, you do whatever you please.” 00:24:23.920 --> 00:24:28.280 There’s something interesting about this case because on the outside, 00:24:28.280 --> 00:24:32.000 what it says about these people was great - they were seeking the Lord, 00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:38.840 they were apparently delighting in God - or at least in things associated with God. 00:24:38.840 --> 00:24:42.640 but the prophet is telling them that it is not real. 00:24:55.760 --> 00:24:58.160 That’s another thing about a hobby - 00:24:58.160 --> 00:25:05.480 you can be very enthusiastic about it but you don’t have to really mean it; it can be a fake. 00:25:16.720 --> 00:25:23.880 You can’t fake faith. 00:25:23.880 --> 00:25:32.320 You can pretend to be good, you can learn the language, 00:25:32.320 --> 00:25:37.760 you can learn the style of worship, 00:25:37.760 --> 00:25:54.880 but faith can only arise in your heart in response to the Word of God. 00:25:54.880 --> 00:26:07.760 Now, God allows us in life to be able to observe whether we really have faith or not. 00:26:07.760 --> 00:26:20.240 Because one thing I can guarantee is that faith is always tested! 00:26:20.240 --> 00:26:27.560 Faith is not faith if it is not tested. 00:26:27.560 --> 00:26:34.760 The kind of tests that God sets are not like the examination where we know the day, 00:26:34.760 --> 00:26:40.840 and we prepare, and we go into the examination to see if we can pass the test. 00:26:40.840 --> 00:26:47.080 It’s in the middle of doing something else, completely unexpected, that a test will come. 00:27:01.000 --> 00:27:11.200 But when the test comes, we sometimes realise that we don’t actually have faith. 00:27:11.200 --> 00:27:14.560 Prophet T.B. Joshua said something very challenging: 00:27:14.560 --> 00:27:26.960 “You can tell whether you have got faith by your daily life.” 00:27:26.960 --> 00:27:34.240 But this is not a negative thing; this is wonderfully positive! 00:27:34.240 --> 00:27:40.360 It means we have a chance to put things right! 00:27:40.360 --> 00:27:47.880 I don’t want to get to the end of my life and discover I was a fake! 00:27:47.880 --> 00:27:58.560 I thank God for the tests now, so I can find out now! 00:27:58.560 --> 00:28:05.360 And I can come to Him to put it right! 00:28:05.360 --> 00:28:20.200 Because God allows things in our life which are stronger than we are. 00:28:20.200 --> 00:28:28.400 To put it another way, you cannot save yourself! 00:28:28.400 --> 00:28:41.720 He allows passions to arise in us which are stronger than our will-power. 00:28:41.720 --> 00:28:44.680 How can we overcome? 00:28:44.680 --> 00:28:56.080 With a living God! 00:28:56.080 --> 00:29:01.320 So please, whatever kind of challenge you are having - don’t fake it. 00:29:01.320 --> 00:29:03.120 Don’t pretend everything is okay. 00:29:11.040 --> 00:29:18.240 Let me read from Luke 9:23. 00:29:18.240 --> 00:29:21.720 Jesus said to all of them, 00:29:21.720 --> 00:29:34.680 “If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow Me. 00:29:34.680 --> 00:29:41.640 For whoever wants to save his life, will lose it. 00:29:41.640 --> 00:29:55.480 But whoever loses his life for My sake, will save it.” 00:29:55.480 --> 00:30:04.920 It’s a matter of life and death - that’s why Christianity is not a hobby. 00:30:04.920 --> 00:30:13.520 Because we are giving our lives for this. 00:30:13.520 --> 00:30:19.760 And you know, it’s possible - if we have a partial commitment, the problem is 00:30:19.760 --> 00:30:34.440 we’ll have enough Christianity to make us miserable, but not enough to make us happy. 00:30:34.440 --> 00:30:43.200 You cannot take eternity out of Christianity. 00:30:43.200 --> 00:30:53.120 The God who created us, and who is going to judge us at the end of our lives 00:30:53.120 --> 00:30:59.680 has made a way for us to be reconciled to Him, 00:30:59.680 --> 00:31:06.520 and to live a life that is full and free. 00:31:06.520 --> 00:31:10.480 He doesn’t promise it will be easy, but it will be full, it will be free 00:31:10.480 --> 00:31:16.440 and in eternity, it will be, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.’ 00:31:26.720 --> 00:31:32.520 I want to read one more Scripture. 00:31:32.520 --> 00:31:43.480 And this one is in 2 Chronicles 16:9. 00:31:43.520 --> 00:31:51.160 “The eyes of the Lord go back and forth over all the earth 00:31:51.160 --> 00:31:57.800 to offer strong support to the hearts of those who are completely committed to Him.” 00:32:09.360 --> 00:32:15.320 This is talking about God - the living God. 00:32:15.320 --> 00:32:18.720 He’s here. 00:32:18.720 --> 00:32:22.760 He’s looking at our hearts! 00:32:22.760 --> 00:32:28.040 He wants to show Himself strong! 00:32:28.040 --> 00:32:38.720 But He can only do it for those whose hearts are fully committed to Him. 00:32:38.720 --> 00:32:48.800 So let’s stand and pray together. 00:32:48.800 --> 00:33:00.520 Lord Jesus, I am given up to Your will. 00:33:00.520 --> 00:33:07.200 Lord Jesus, I am ready. 00:33:07.200 --> 00:33:15.560 I am ready to go where You want me to go. 00:33:15.560 --> 00:33:23.640 I am ready to say what You want me to say. 00:33:23.640 --> 00:33:34.480 I am ready to be what You want me to be. 00:33:34.480 --> 00:33:39.320 Time is short. 00:33:39.320 --> 00:33:45.360 Jesus is coming soon. 00:33:45.360 --> 00:33:51.800 I don’t want to waste my time. 00:33:51.800 --> 00:33:58.440 Tell me what I should do. 00:33:58.440 --> 00:34:04.160 Give me Your orders. 00:34:04.160 --> 00:34:18.440 I promise to submit myself to all You desire of me, 00:34:18.440 --> 00:34:31.400 and to accept all You permit to happen to me. 00:34:31.400 --> 00:34:41.600 Let me only know Your will. 00:34:41.600 --> 00:34:52.440 In Jesus’ name. Amen!