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"Stepping into God's Will"

Messages from Sunday mornings

1. God's Will – a Place of Blessing

   

•  Col 1:13 he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves
•  we used to be in a place of ‘darkness' where you can't see
•  Jesus described himself as the Light of the World
•  by inference we've been transferred to a place of light – where we can see – it starts to make sense
•  In OT being a part of the people of Israel meant being part of a community that God wanted to bless
•  See Deut 28 examples
•  Live God's way – as He's designed us to work best – and good stuff follows

     

2. The Stories of 3 Women

Mt 1:3,5,6

a) Tamar – forced the issue and made sure she was part of the family line – part of God's continuing community

b) Rahab – helped the community of God and joined it

c) Ruth – similarly joined it

•  All three caught a sense of something – this was the place to be – doing the stuff God wanted
•  It's not about big buildings, institutions creating and holding on to power, funny clothes or behaviour marking us out
•  We are marked out by
  • the changes that take place in us
  • our love and
  • our faith

    

     

3. The Choice is Ours

•  Last week we heard of having just one life and the importance of how we use it – by faith
•  But we choose to be God's people, act like God's people and live in faith like God's people
•  How does blessing come?
•  When we are obedient to God's word and God's leading
•  How important it is therefore that we learn
  • God's word
  • to be led by God's Spirit
•  Faith is about choosing to go God's way

      

   

4. Practicalities

How this works:

• Someone is unkind – we choose to be nice back

  • When we do, God blesses us (God adds goodness to our lives)

 

• People around us steal – we choose not to
  • When we don't God blesses us

 

• Other people major on self, we choose to bless others
  • God blesses us with love

 

• Other people major on negatives, we choose to be positive in Him
  • God blesses with joy

 

• Other people major on worry, we choose to trust Him
  • God blesses us with peace

 

• Other people major fret impatiently, we choose to wait His timing
  • God blesses with patience

 

• Other people major on hostility, we choose to be kind
  • God blesses us with kindness

 

• Other people major on betrayal, we choose to be faithful
  • God blesses us with faithfulness

 

• Other people major on harshness, we choose to be gentle
  • God blesses us with gentleness

 

• Other people major on wrong, we choose to be good
  • God blesses us with goodness

 

• Other people major on giving way to temptation, we choose to resist temptation
  • God blesses with self-control

 

•  Yes, these are the ‘fruit of the Spirit' – Gal 5:22 ,23 – and they flourish when we determine to go God's way, to do God's will

     

Prov 3:5 - on

•  We Trust in the LORD with all our heart (v.5)
  • He will makes our paths straight.
•  We fear the LORD and shun evil.
  • He brings health to our body
•  We honor the LORD with your wealth,
  • He blesses us with sufficiency

   

      

Appendix: Note on the 3 women:

   

Reading : Matthew 1:3,5,6

“Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar … 5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab , Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth , Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of King David.” 

•  NOT the most exciting passage of Scripture, 

•  YET - 

“ All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” 

(2 Tim 3:16) 

•  This was part of Jesus' ‘family tree' 

•  This is the ‘pedigree' of the Messiah, the long awaited One, sent by God to Israel . (One who is surely holy and special?) 

•  The Jews focused on men in such trees but this includes 3 women! Why? 

•  What do these women teach us? What do they tell us? Why are they included here?

         

1. Tamar

•  Tamar was the daughter-in-law of Judah and her husband died leaving her a widow (Gen 38:6,7)

•  Custom required the next unmarried son to marry the daughter-in-law and carry on the family name.

•  This didn't happen because of unrighteous sons.

•  Judah 's wife died and he went to the sheep shearing where he used a prostitute – except it happened to be Tamar in disguise.

•  She conceived and had twins, one of whom was Perez who became part of the family line down to King David.

    

2. Rahab

•  Rahab was a prostitute or innkeeper in Jericho when Israel first invaded the land (Josh 2:1)

•  She hid the two Israeli spies and then lied to the king of Jericho

•  She believed that God had given the land to Israel (Josh 2:9)

•  She became part of Israel (Josh 6:25 )

     

3. Ruth

•  Ruth was a Moabite (Ruth 1:4) who became married to an Israelite who subsequently died and left her a widow.

•  Her mother-in-law decided to return to Israel and tried to persuade Ruth to remain with her people.

•  Ruth replied, “ Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.” (Ruth 1:16)

•  Thus Ruth went with her mother-in-law Naomi to Israel where eventually she married Boaz and became part of the family tree.