The sign's up

Some recently spotted church signs in the US (courtesy of Slate website)

- Forbidden fruit creates many jams

- A clear conscience makes a soft pillow

- Best way to have the last word - apologise

- Kingdom construction underway inside

- Redemption: God's recycling plan

- When the last trumpet sounds, we're outta here!

- Having truth decay? Brush up on your Bible

- Seven days without prayer makes one weak

A plug for iPod and some pastors

As I was telling some friends, my spiritual life has never been the same again since I bought an iPod recently. I was amazed that there were so many good free Christian podcasts I could download onto my iPod from iTunes.

I've spent many nights downloading the podcasts. The podcasts include sermons and messages by Joyce Meyer, John Piper, Brian Houston (Hillsong Church), James MacDonald, Saddleback Church (Rick Warren's church) etc.

And I also unearthed some American pastors whom I've not heard of but who are really on fire for God. For example, Pastor Joel Stockstill of 220power, the youth ministry of Bethany World Prayer Center. He and his wife have raised up 430 leaders who disciple more than 3,300 students in weekly cell meetings. I like Pastor Stockstill's sermons because he's very down to earth and humorous, and he has a very big heart for God. I enjoyed his recent messages about marriage. :-)

I usually listen to the sermon podcasts on my bed just before I sleep or during my cab rides to the office. :-)

For those who do not have iPods, do not fret. I think that one can still download iTunes software and then go to the podcast centre and download podcasts to the PC and then listen to them.

I am very happy because I can always hear a sermon or a message whenever I'm on the go. Also it means more resources and more of God's wisdom and revelation for me through these podcasts.

For example, I've always thought about what Jesus was writing on the ground in the temple courts after the teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought before him a woman caught in adultery (John 8: 1-11).

A pastor in one of the podcasts said his educated guess was that Jesus was writing the sins of the people in the crowd (perhaps adultery, blasphemy, murder, covetousness, lying under oath ad so on), each of whom left when they saw their own sins in writing because they couldn't claim to be without sin themselves and they were feeling ashamed or fearful of being exposed.

This may not have been what Jesus was writing, the pastor was very quick to qualify, but I was very excited by this possibility because I didn't think of it and I now am aware of it and it seems to me quite plausible. But I must stress that the Bible does not record what Jesus wrote and so the pastor's guess is merely conjecture.

Malachi 3:4-6

4 Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years. 5 And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts. 6 For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

The Lord reveals the fruit of repentance and turning back to Him to be refined and purified. He says that as a result, whatever is offered to Him will be deemed pleasant - or pleasing to Him. As in the days of old, as when God granted favour on Abel's sacrifice, and He kindled Aaron's sacrifice with fire from heaven. No longer will the offering be considered impure, unclean and polluted.

In the next few sentences, God underlines the people whom He will swiftly judge:
- Those who deal in magic, witchcraft and the occult
- Those who have sinned in the flesh
- Those who offend God by asking Him to be witness to a lie
- Those who cheat their workers of the right wages and payment
- Those who bully and take advantage of the widowed
- Those who prey on the orphans
- Those who stand by with arms folded while strangers in the country are in need of help
- Those who do not fear the Lord

The Lord then reassures us that he is the Lord - unchanging and immutable. As surely as He will bring judgment against those who rebel against Him will he also reward those who seek after Him. This attribute of God means that we, as believers, can take Him at His Word, literally. We need not question whether He will do as He has promised because just as His promises to the people of that time were fulfilled in the Bible, so too will His promises of the days to come and for eternity. God is unchanging, and in those three words rest all our assurance.

As I reflected on these verses, the one thing that came to me were the groups of people that God spoke out against in judgment. I made a mental note to never fall into those categories. The Word does tell us that if we resist the devil, he will flee. In effect, it's a decision for us to take and it's a decision we can take because the Holy Spirit is within us as our Counsellor and our Helper.

We, as Christians, cannot say "I couldn't help it" if anyone were to confront us with our sin because the fact of the matter is that we can help it, but only if we surrender ourselves to the Holy Spirit and die to our flesh and live in Christ. Simply put, we can't make the same lame excuses as non-Christians any more.

The eight most reassuring words to me were "For I am the Lord, I change not".

God's attributes will never change eternally - His love, His grace, His mercy, His holiness, His justice, His compassion, His peace, His omniscience, His wisdom, His faithfulness, His omnipotence, His self-sufficiency, His self-existence, His goodness, His omnipresence and many more.

Amen.

References:
1. Matthew Henry's Commentary of the Bible

2. John Calvin's Commentary of the Bible