Outline The Amalekite David Introduction Two worlds colliding: that is what we are seeing when we see the Amalekite and David acting towards the same event, the death of Saul. The Amalekite is a picture for us of our opportunistic selves, and David portrays a man whose heart is gripped with a fervour for the glory of God. The book of 2 Samuel continues on the heels of 1 Samuel. The judgement of God has fallen upon Saul and Israel. The Philistine army has conquered and settled in Israel, Saul has committed suicide and Israel is without a king. It is a time of national emergency. The Amalekite betrays the sinners heart we see when looters seek their fortune in another’s loss; but David is man whose heart has been realigned by grace, he is thinking of the kingdom and the glory of God during such a time. We want to compare these men to remind ourselves of what a graceless and a grace-filled life look like.

Outline Mercy defined Mercy exampled Introduction Plato once said, ‘How can a man be happy when he has to serve someone?’ This question highlights the tension between joy and commanded service, duty and desire. Yet this is the very thing that Paul is calling us to as he moves on in his discussion of the spiritual gifts, ‘the one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness.’ It has been said that all the gifts mentioned in Romans 12:6-8 relate to the office of elder and deacon, this could be the case, but we are trying to show how there is the calling of office but also a universal responsibility for all Christians. Spiritual gifts have too often been used as an excuse for opting out of general Christian responsibilities. Today we are looking at mercy, something that would have been officially administrated by the office of deacon, but something which is also a universal Christian responsibility. Please notice with me the last three gifts mentioned. They feature differently in the list than the previous four. Notice how the one who contributes must do so with generosity; the one who leads with zeal, and now the one who shows mercy with cheerfulness. In each case Paul calls not only for right action but right feeling. Not only external correctness but a heart that agrees. This throws us right into the conundrum of commanded love. Let me amplify this problem slightly. We all know that you cannot command love. The heart is not like a hand. It does not follow commands, it must be won. Add to the issue a sinful heart that is made to be love; but because of sin is naturally selfish. Add to this the problem of heartless obedience which God despises, so it isn’t an option. And...

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Outline So that we wont be ashamed on Judgement day Because it is a self evident truth As a response to immeasurable love Because of our identity as children of God Because one day we will be like Him The contradictory nature of sin to Christian submission The sin destroying purpose of Christ’s work The radical effect of regeneration Introduction Why be Holy? Holiness is our destiny, our identity, and it is a command. But this morning we will be looking at how the apostle John motivates his Church to be holy from the epistle of 1 John 2:28-3:9. In order to help us get into this text with some of the bigger ideas and context in mind let me tell you a little about the letter of 1 John. Think of this as a satellite photo of a country. John was writing to a Church that had just suffered from the tragic situation of a Church split. Church splits can cause immense damage, and they split for various reasons. In this instance false teachers had come into the Church, they had deceived a number of the church, and had left with them, whether it was most of the Church or just a small contingent we are not told. So John is writing as a pastor to a hurting church trying to recover from a split. He writes to clarify the important things as the false teachers had muddied the water with their error, and he writes to encourage these hurting Christians who have had their confidence shaken after the split. The false teachers had taught that Jesus was not the God man, nor the sacrifice for their sins; they had caused disruptions in the relationships of the community; and they had promoted immorality in the Christian life. John tackles...

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Outline Convictional leadership Sacrificial leadership Introduction Leadership in the world today is in crisis. In the Western world where we have cut ourselves loose from the Biblical worldview and opted for a post-modern moral relativism, we can no longer properly even define what a leader is and should be. The Post-Christian worldview has within it the seeds of its own destruction. In highlighting this inability in the area of leadership one person has written, ‘We want character but without unyielding conviction; we want strong morality but without the emotional burden of guilt or shame; we want virtue but without particular justifications that invariably offend; we want good without having to name evil; we want decency without the moral authority to have to insist upon it; we want moral community without any limitations to personal freedom; in short we want what we cannot have on the terms that we want it.’1 The bible also teaches us that leadership both in the home and the church is male. But on account of a crisis in sexual identity the whole notion of manhood is also lost, and men as leaders too. Christianity has much to offer in this vacuum of leadership. God created the the notion of leadership and defines it by Himself, and in Jesus Christ we have the intended image of God in man renovated and perfectly displayed before us. Leadership as defined by God and as it was intended to be in man is available to us. Not only do we have the image to copy but the Holy Spirit is given to us to conform us into this image. Today we are looking at Romans 12:8, at the gift of leadership where Paul says to us, ‘the one who leads, with zeal.’ The word for ‘lead’ is literally ‘the...

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Outline Tithing Giving Introduction There are those who have the gift to give, but all Christians have the responsibility to give and be faithful with their finances. Your salary is not your hard earned cash which gives you licence to blow it according to your fancy. Your sweat and suffering in work is not something that gives you right of possession it is merely a negative effect of the fall on work and is part and parcel of our portion this side of eternity. No, everything you have is from God, your job, your ability to earn, your paycheck, and it is entrusted to you for His purposes. God seeks for you to provide for your family, to support the needy, to give to spreading of the word and other things that fulfil His will. Under the OT in Israel, the Land was the Lord’s and the blessing of God was the root of all owning. Tithing was a law given to the people of God in the OT where they gave a portion of their money and harvests to the Lord. There are many Christians who speak in terms of a Christian’s responsibility to tithe. Must a Christian tithe? Is it a law that Christians should give 10% of their income to the church? Today we continue looking at the biblical teaching on giving. We want to do two things. Firstly, we want to see exactly what the bible teaches on tithing, and then look at NT principles for giving.

Thanks to Jeff Coleman for his gospel presentation tonight. Jeff is from the Church Street Chapel in Timaru.

Outline Giving with simplicity Giving with generosity Introduction The next spiritual gift that Paul mentions for us is the gift of giving, Rom. 12:8, ‘the one who contributes; in generosity.’ We are all called to serve with the abundance God has given us. Some have an abundance knowledge and are called to teach; some have an abundance of sympathy and give in mercy, some have an abundance of practical skill and give out of that abundance. The gift of giving is serving with our material abundance. There are those who are providentially situated to be generous, that is why Paul commands the rich to be generous, 1 Tim. 6:17-19, ‘As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. 18 They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, 19 thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.’ But the gift of giving is not only in those who have means to be generous, but whose hearts have been gripped by grace that even out of their poverty, or whatever resource they have be it time or talent, they give generously with it. Mark 12:41-44, ‘And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. 42 And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. 43 And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in...

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Outline God’s plan Saul’s sin Introduction Today we are going to be looking at one of the more underappreciated gifts, the gift of encouragement/exhortation. Romans 12:8 reads, ‘the one who exhorts, in his exhortation.’ The Greek word here occurs 107 times in the NT and has been translated in various ways, beseech, comfort, desire, pray, entreat, console. The word for exhortation in this text is literally paraklese, this may sound familiar to you because when Jesus promises the Holy Spirit He promises the Parakletos. This means the one called alongside. The Latin translation of this is cum forte, the one who strengthens from which we have the familiar title, the Comforter. Today we are looking at the gift of drawing alongside/comforting. There are two main ways we could understand the gift of exhortation. On the one hand it could refer to part of a preacher’s responsibility in preaching to the heart. Some have suggested that where teaching is directed to the mind and educating the Christian; exhortation is aimed at the heart and bringing an appropriate response of repentance or obedience in the Christian. This is possible, but we have already dealt with this ministry when we spoke about teaching and admonishing one another. So today I would like to look at the more general gift of exhortation or encouragement. We will be doing two things, we want to look at models of encouragement looking at the Holy Spirit and Barnabas; and then we want to focus specifically on words of encouragement and the power of our words to each other.

Outline Models of encouragement Words of encouragement Introduction Today we are going to be looking at one of the more underappreciated gifts, the gift of encouragement/exhortation. Romans 12:8 reads, ‘the one who exhorts, in his exhortation.’ The Greek word here occurs 107 times in the NT and has been translated in various ways, beseech, comfort, desire, pray, entreat, console. The word for exhortation in this text is literally paraklese, this may sound familiar to you because when Jesus promises the Holy Spirit He promises the Parakletos. This means the one called alongside. The Latin translation of this is cum forte, the one who strengthens from which we have the familiar title, the Comforter. Today we are looking at the gift of drawing alongside/comforting. There are two main ways we could understand the gift of exhortation. On the one hand it could refer to part of a preacher’s responsibility in preaching to the heart. Some have suggested that where teaching is directed to the mind and educating the Christian; exhortation is aimed at the heart and bringing an appropriate response of repentance or obedience in the Christian. This is possible, but we have already dealt with this ministry when we spoke about teaching and admonishing one another. So today I would like to look at the more general gift of exhortation or encouragement. We will be doing two things, we want to look at models of encouragement looking at the Holy Spirit and Barnabas; and then we want to focus specifically on words of encouragement and the power of our words to each other.

Outline David and the Philistines David and his men David and the Amalekites Introduction In the last chapter we considered what it looks like when God turns His back on a man and makes him His enemy. In the next two chapters we have the opposite, the faithfulness of God, even when we are weak and unfaithful. The book of 1 Samuel is pushing towards a climax, the death of Saul, and the end of David’s exile in Philistia. These two chapters are an account of how David who has been backslidden for a while is restored to God and delivered by God. Do you remember back to chapter 27 when David had fled to Achish and had lied about who he had been raiding. How this led to David getting a promotion to Achish’s personal bodyguard, and then Philistia was going to war against Israel. And we were left hanging in 28:1-2 as the story moved away from David leaving us hanging in anticipation of what would happen next. We followed Saul to the witch, but we are back again to David and what happened next. What will David do? Philistia is launching a huge war against Israel and David has been boasting about all the Israelites he has been killing and now the act is about to be exposed. Should he run away, should he fight, should he wait for an opportunity to turn on the Philistines? God comes to the rescue!