God MORE
THAN CONQUERORS: In the depth of the sea! MORE
THAN CONQUERORS: In the depth of the sea! The
Bible is very expressive when it comes to speaking about
how God can forgive our sins. It uses many descriptions
to tell us how our sins are both forgiven and forgotten.
Here is a sample of these great promises. Our sins are
'forgiven,' (Ps. 32:5); 'washed thoroughly' and 'blotted
out' (Ps. 51:2, 9); 'forgiven and covered' (Ps. 85:2);
'washed whiter than snow' (Is. 1:18); 'taken away' (Is. 6:7);
'put behind his back' (Is. 38:17); 'laid on him' (Is. 53:6);
'remembered no more' (Jer. 31:34); 'pardoned' (Jer. 33:8);
'destroyed' (Rom. 6:6); 'purged' (Heb. 1:3)' 'borne for
us' (1 Pet. 2:24); 'washed away' (Rev. 1:5). What
glorious news this is! In Christ we are truly forgiven!
Our sins are cancelled! God will not hold our guilty past
against us! The
prophet Micah has a very dramatic way of telling us this.
He says that God has cast our sins 'into the depths of
the sea' ( While
these geographical facts and figures compel our
attention, the theology of our forgiveness is even more
wonderful! When we are 'in Christ' as his redeemed
people, our sins are truly forgiven. God has thrown them
into the depth of the sea, never to be resurrected! They
are buried forever in the vast abyss of God's
unfathomable love and mercy. What great, good news the
gospel brings! Our guilty past is both forgiven and
forgotten! A few
months after his evangelical conversion in May 1738, John
Wesley went to Herrnhut in Now I
have found the ground wherein One of
the verses expresses the biblical teaching on how our
sins are forever lost in the vast O
Love, Thou bottomless abyss By Dr
Herbert McGonigle, Senior Lecturer in Historical Theology
& Church History, Nazarene Theological College, Faith,
Hope and Love in Today's World: 'Hope' In
today's society the tangible symbols of hope for many are
the scratch card and credit card. The lottery scratch
card expresses peoples' aspirations for a better life and
secure future. In a world where many have lost confidence
in the future and the present is the only thing they can
be sure about, the credit card expresses the all
encompassing power of consumerism. It enables us to live
for the present by 'taking the waiting out of wanting'. To a
large extent we have lost the 'big story' that makes
sense of the world in which we live. Individual choice
has replaced progress as a core value and belief in
society. Christianity is viewed sceptically when it comes
to offering a coherent 'grand narrative'. However, there
is still a genuine desire to find hope in an uncertain
world, as often seen in the response to high profile
deaths, most notably that of Princess Diana. In the
light of this, how does the Christian Faith offer hope in
our current culture? The challenge involves Christians
living a lifestyle which can offer an alternative image
of the 'good life', based in the hope of a future that is
worth living for. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is the
key, for God 'has anointed us, set his seal of ownership
on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit,
guaranteeing what is to come' (2 Cor. 1:22). Within the
Christian community, we can encourage each other to live
in the Spirit to express our future hope. This means
looking together critically at our lifestyle, spending,
habits, giving, ministry to the poor, response to God's
call etc and asking: To
what extent are we witnessing to a hope in the future? How
can this impact on the people around us? Helping
each other A few
years ago, in a rural part of One of
the horses, a gelding, was blind. But his owner, instead
of choosing to have him put down, had hung a bell from
the halter of the mare, who could see. Wherever she went,
her blind friend knew where she was, and could follow her. Like
the owners of these two horses, God does not throw us
away just because we are not perfect or because we have
problems or challenges. He watches over us and even
brings others into our lives to help us when we are in
need. Sometimes
we are the blind horse being guided by God and those whom
he places in our lives. Other times we are the guide
horse, helping others find their way to God. Worship
in Church – what's it really all about? Many
of us meet with others on a regular basis, often in a
church building, to formally worship God. When we come
together in worship are we taking part in an activity,
adopting an attitude, or both? Worship
begins where we are and takes place in God's real world.
It is about coming closer to God, but not just as an
individual. We come as a community and the act of worship
therefore needs to be right for that community. We
venerate God and offer him praise, thanksgiving and
petitions. We confess our sins and seek absolution,
teaching, inspiration and blessing. Sometimes we come to
Christ's table to share with and in the body and blood of
Christ as one community and one church. However,
our collective worship activity may, in how it is carried
out, or in the attitude we adopt before, during and
after, include or exclude others. We may make assumptions
about the value of how other people worship God based on
our own familiar and comfortable way. We may believe our
worship is the 'right way'. John
Robinson in 'Honest to God' wrote, 'The test of worship
is how far it makes us more sensitive to the beyond 'in
our midst', to the Christ in the hungry, the naked, the
homeless and the prisoner. Only if we are more likely to
recognise him there after attending an act of worship is
that act of worship Christian rather than a piece of
religiosity in Christian dress.' When
we worship God with all our senses, with our whole body
and mind, and invite the Holy Spirit to work within us,
we can recognise and fulfil our role as the church in the
world today, and come to people where they are when they
are in need. By
Elizabeth Goodridge and Ian Yearsley |