Ken Holt delivering the message from Psalm 23 - Shepherd in life, in death, forever!

Hi all,

Warm Greetings.

Hope you're doing OK  and enjoying a little more freedom with the easing of COVID Restrictions.

Once again, if you are in any need of assistance or prayer during these challenging times, please do contact me at holts@bigpond.com or 0419 248 724.

This week's Article for your encouragement 'The Bold Words we Gloss Over' ( from Faith It Devo ) follows. 

Serenity Prayer: The Bold Words We Gloss Over

If you’ve been in the church for any amount of time — particularly a traditional church — you’re probably familiar with the Serenity Prayer.

Written by Reinhold Niebuhr, the Serenity Prayer is a humble submission to the Lord, giving up the things we cannot control, and trusting Him to provide just what our hearts need. Serenity is the state of being calm, peaceful, and untroubled.

“God grant me the serenity

to accept the things I cannot change; 

courage to change the things I can; 

and wisdom to know the difference.”

You’ve heard it. You’ve probably even prayed it.

The Serenity Prayer is one of those common references that holds a LOT of power, but tends to lose it’s emphasis the more it’s used.

Think about John 3:16. If a pastor references John 3:16 during a sermon, it can be easy to gloss over it. Not because it doesn’t matter, but because it’s something that nearly everyone knows. It’s the verse you were first taught at 5 years old with a cute little jingle and an Awanas badge, and it’s been burned in your brain ever since.

I feel like it’s the same with the Serenity Prayer. We often pray this BOLD prayer in submission to the Lord when things are out of our control

But do we really stop to think about the words we’re saying?

Guys, they are POWERFUL.

And what’s worse, is that we often only say the first four lines! The Serenity Prayer goes far beyond the typical “God grant me the serenity to accept what I cannot change…”

“Living one day at a time; 

enjoying one moment at a time; 

accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; 

taking, as He did, this sinful world

as it is, not as I would have it; 

trusting that He will make all things right

if I surrender to His Will; 

that I may be reasonably happy in this life

and supremely happy with Him

forever in the next. 

Amen.”

I mean, WHOA.

Y’all, those are fighting words right there.

Praying for God to give you this type of peace, means surrendering fully to His plan and His ways.

And that’s a lot easier said than done.

The Serenity Prayer is so much more than reciting a well-known phrase. It’s not something to gloss over or take lightly.

When praying the Serenity Prayer, I challenge you today to go beyond the first part. Dive deeper into the words. Put your soul into the communication you’re having with the Lord, and fully surrender your ways to His. Otherwise, we’re just praying fighting words that hold power and punch, without ever lifting our fist.

Many blessings

Ken

Reading Between the Lines.

Weekly school assemblies were very much apart of the timetable for many of the years I worked as a secondary school teacher. Generally, I enjoyed them, however I went through seasons when I found them a little tedious, for various reasons. 

This week I had cause to remember one such assembly. 

It was a full school assembly held in the church across the road from the senior campus and as I was running late, I had to sneak into the auditorium using a side entrance. As I drew near the assembly, I could hear the key note speaker, over the P.A., addressing the students. He was explaining that as a Yr. 8 student he had been bullied in class… When I heard this, I immediately felt negative towards the speaker and dismissed him as “yet another one of those motivational speakers who doesn’t know a lot.”

What can I say? I am not a particularly pleasant chap at times. 

In my defence, I had been having a hard day, probably with my Yr. 8 students, and was at the time swamped with correction and curriculum and so the last place I wanted to be was in a church listening to a speaker telling me about Yr. 8. 

Such was my angst, that I didn’t even want to look at him, so I hid behind a wall at the back of the church and looked out a window.

Well that didn’t last long because I started to feel quite guilty about my negativity and so I thought the least I could do was to look at the speaker and feign interest. So, I popped my head around the corner of the wall and took a look and instantly my attitude changed and from that moment on I hung on every word the man spoke. To this day I would regard him as one of the very best speakers I have ever had the privilege of listening to.

Nick Vujicic, born with tetra-amelia syndrome, a rare disorder characterised by the absence of arms and legs, was in the middle of the room on a table, telling six hundred students and staff that God had a plan for their lives. That regardless of the challenges we may face, the Lord walks with us and strengthens us so that we may be overcomers.

Seriously, you could have heard a pin drop in the church that day.

I had undergone a complete paradigm shift and the construct I had formed about this “motivational speaker” lay in ruins around my feet as I was confronted with a far more accurate paradigm. It highlighted to me that I had approached this event with a rather narrow, jaundiced perspective, which if not addressed would have coloured my interpretation of the whole experience. Fortunately for me, the event itself was potent enough to challenge my attitude.

Needless to say, having undergone this massive paradigm shift, I felt more than a little ashamed of my earlier judgement of Nick. So much so, that after the assembly, when everyone had left, I approached Nick and apologised to him for my rash judgement. In typical style he was very gracious, forgave me and then asked me to give him a hug. 

Still moves me deeply.

I left the church that day with a completely different attitude to the one I had entered with.

C. S. Lewis in his book entitled, Miracles, points out;

    “the question whether miracles occur can never be answered simply by experience. Every event which might claim to be a miracle is, in the last resort, something presented to our senses… and our senses are not infallible. If we hold a philosophy which excludes the supernatural, then if anything extraordinary happens, we can always say we are victims of an illusion. What we learn from experience depends on the kind of philosophy we bring to the experience. It is therefore useless to appeal to experience before we have settled, as well as we can, the philosophical question.”

In other words, before people can sit down and talk about the interpretation of some experience or event, they first must examine the philosophy or paradigm they have “brought to the table”. 

I would suggest, this principle can be expanded to include more than simply a discussion about miracles. The positions we hold and defend on a variety of events and topics, whether it be miracles, current affairs, theology or the football (AFL of course) can often be traced back to the paradigms which we “bring to table” and not so much the actual topic that happens to be in question at the time. Therefore, it is often worthwhile to take a few minutes to examine the paradigms first before launching into some debate as to why Collingwood should be banned from the AFL… Kidding.

In the gospels it is not uncommon to read how Jesus after performing a miracle would direct the recipients to not tell anyone what he had done. The raising of Jarius’ daughter from the dead (Mark 5:43) is but one example. Why do this? 

It seems that at least one reason was due to the paradigm the Jewish people of the time held about the Messiah and his mission when he returned. That being to deliver the nation of Israel from the yoke of oppression and restore them in all glory and power. The Messiah was seen from their perspective to be the all-conquering king. This view would have been also held to some extent by Jesus’ disciples. One of the consequences of “broadcasting” the miracles Jesus performed would have been to reinforce this paradigm which of course was not even close to why Jesus had come to earth.

Jesus came, not as the conquering king, but as the suffering servant who was to die on a cross for the sins of the whole world. Again, and again we see Jesus revealing this truth about himself, while at the same time trying to correct the false paradigm the disciples and the people in general held about the Messiah.

“For the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve and, to give his life as a ransom for many.”                                                                                                        Mark 10:45. (RSV)

Barclay in his commentary of Mark chapter 3 makes the following point…

“Jesus thought of the Messiahship in terms of love; the people thought of Messiahship in terms of Jewish nationalism… At this stage nothing but harm and trouble and disaster could come from the proclamation that the Messiah had arrived… First of all, men had to learn the true conception of what the Messiah was, and a premature announcement such as this could have wrecked Jesus’ whole mission.”

Therefore, if Jesus was fully aware of the paradigms people embraced and did not disregard them in his dealings with folk, are we not called to do the same?

Consequently, given the difficult times we currently find ourselves in and the various strong opinions about these events, I have been particularly challenged this week about the idea of paradigms and their relevance. That is, the importance of praying about and examining my own perspectives on matters and trying to understand the paradigms of others, before I “argue the point”. 

Does this mean we are not to make judgements at times and have no opinions? I think not, as doing so is part of being “salt and light” to the world.

However, can I suggest this week we try remember the words of James…

“Know this my beloved brethren. Let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, for the anger of man does not work the righteousness of God.”              

James 1:19&20 (RSV)

Blessings

Bruce.

Tattoos.

I am quite fascinated by tattoos, even though personally I regard the whole concept of using one’s body as an ink pin cushion a little daunting.

Despite this aversion, I still find the effort, skill and artistic detail expressed through tattoos quite eye-catching. So much so that I have to be a little careful when out and about- a rare occurrence these days- that I don’t stare too much at people’s “body art”.

Afterall, it can get a little tense when Jenny and I are out together and she catches me staring at some exquisite bluebird tattoo on a young lady’s arm. Surprising as this may sound to some, no amount of explanation on my part about the nature of the tattoo seems to avert the angst directed at me.

The only thing Jenny finds worse than me staring at people’s tattoos, is when I actually ask them about their tattoos. For some reason this can get me into even more trouble with Jenny. Especially if the person happens to be female, under 40 yrs. of age, and I flash my “Richard Gere” smile. Don’t understand Jen’s reaction myself…

In my defence, I would stress that I also ask men about their tattoos.

Turns out, I have had some terrific conversations with people about their body art. By far the most memorable was with a young man, Jake, who served us while shopping at Fountain Gate. We were finalising our purchases and were at the cash register and I simply could not contain my curiosity a moment longer.

Jake had the most intricate tattoo that ran the length of his arm and that centred around a single word, which I didn’t know the meaning of. So, I asked him what it meant.

Jake explained that it was the nickname for his best friend who had passed a way a few years ago. They had been very close and had done a lot of things together. Jake was obviously shaken deeply by his friend’s death and wanted to honour his memory. Thus, the tattoo.

I was very touched by Jake’s sincere desire to remember his friend which he sought to manifest by “engraving” his friend’s name onto his own body as a constant reminder of their relationship.

As I reflect upon this exchange, I am reminded of Isaiah 49:15 &16a…

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne?

Though she may forget, I will not forget you!

See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;” (NIV)

“See, I have engraved you on my hands!!”

What a wonderful metaphor of The Lord’s mindfulness of us. That even if the almost impossible occurred and a mother were to forget her child, He will never forget us, because He has tattooed our names on his hands.

MacLaren in his commentary on this passage explains, that not only are we to draw strength and peace from this “divine remembrance, more tender than-a mother’s, but that this divine remembrance guides the divine action. “

In other words, since the palm of the hand is the seat of strength and the instrument of work, and we, the church, are inscribed upon those same hands, then the divine actions of God are always underpinned by His love and remembrance of us.

This is an important truth to remember at those times when things don’t seem to make sense and seem to be barrelling out of control.

Last week I reminded you of a face book post Julia made when she reminded us of the famous chorus… “He’s got the whole world in His hands”

This week I would like us to remember that those same hands have our names tattooed upon them as a constant testimony of God’s mindfulness of us and of the relationship we have with Him.

And that this relationship was made possible because Jesus dared to open his hands on the cross and receive the nails that pinned him there for our sins. That he will forever bear the scars on his hands, his feet, his side and his brow as a constant reminder and testimony of his love for all people.

Furthermore, we are told in 1Timothy 2:4-6 that God our Saviour…

“wants not only us but everyone saved, you know, everyone to get to know what we have learned: that there’s one God and only one, and one Priest-Mediator between God and us- Jesus who offered himself in exchange for everyone held captive to sin, to set them all free.” (MSG)

This is an open-handed invitation by the God who holds the whole world in His hands, to all people everywhere to except what Jesus has done for them on the cross and be “inscribed” forever in the palms of His hands.

Let me finish with the words from a Graham Kendrick song…

            “Come see His hands and His feet,

            The scars that speak of sacrifice,

Hands that flung stars into space,

            To cruel nails surrendered.”

May we hold this truth foremost in our minds this week as we seek to navigate these turbulent times, remembering whose hands we rest in.

Blessings

Bruce