Pastoral Letter 151
Dear Members of St. Andrew’s Uniting Church, Friends and Adherents,
Grace and Peace to you all.
While 120,000 Artsakh Armenians are still in blockade for more than 60 days, with shortage of food, medication, electricity and limited medical services, frequently Azerbaijan cutting the gas supply and electricity and disrupting the internet service causing a great humanitarian crisis, last Tuesday we were shocked with the devastating earthquake of Türkiye and Syria. The death toll yesterday hit 23,000 and there are still many unaccountable and surely it will be much higher. The two major cities in Turkey near the epicentre are Ghazi Aintab and Kahramanmarash, with a population near 3 million. In Syria Aleppo, with a population well over 2 million, is the most affected area with Kessab near the Turkish border Our hearts go out for the victims and those who have lost everything and loved ones. All we can do is to pray for the suffering people in the cold winter and support financially in any way we can. There are many ways to make our donations and provide our aid. The AMAA has appealed to all to join the fundraising efforts for the victims of the earthquake and will appreciate any donation made to the cause.
The Lower North Shore Zone Uniting Churches are organising Ash Wednesday Service on 22 February at 6:00 pm here at St. Andrew’s. Ash Wednesday Service is one of the ways, which puts us in the right mood to move forward in Lent, a time of preparation to the triumphant entry of Jesus Christ to Jerusalem, the Holy Week, Good Friday and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Come and join!
On Friday 3 March 10:30 am the World Day of Prayer will be held here, at St. Andrew’s. This year the program is prepared by the women of Taiwan. The guest speaker will be Rev. Myung Hwa Park. Rev. Park is currently the Minister of Leura Uniting Church and the President of the NSW Ecumenical Council. She was the Moderator of the UCA NSW and ACT, before the current Moderator Simon Hansford.
The AMAA is planning its AMAA month activities between 15-29 March and all the programs are dedicated to Artsakh and its courageous people. I will let you know the details soon. May God protect the people and precious children in Artsakh and grant them an everlasting peace.
If you will not be able to join us for worship tomorrow, please light a candle and worship with us from home following the attached Order of Service.
Be safe and well, continue to pray, remembering those who need care, support and love and let me know if any member of the congregation that you know of needs our help and prayers.
Attached you will find three prayers for the earthquake that we are going to pray on Sunday.
Here are some prayer points for this week:
- Pray for the victims of the devastating earthquake of Türkiye and Syria.
- Pray for the people of Artsakh, men, women, young, old and children.
- Pray for the poor, the sick, the vulnerable, the struggling and the stressed.
- Pray for those who are unwell and struggling with different kinds of medical issues.
- Pray for world peace and ask for God’s blessings.
- Pray for our church services and activities, as we are back to our normal programs.
Please let me know if you or anyone else has prayer points.
Best Regards,
Krikor
MESSAGE
Choose – Only God!
Deuteronomy 30:11-15
Life is full of decisions.
Each day we make decisions, some important and others not so important.
At times we allow all of the little decisions to “stack up” and lose focus on those things that really matter.
It’s all about Choices.
– When we are making decisions, we want to “weigh out” our options. We want to know what our choices are and what the consequences are to our decision.
– With every decision comes consequences – some good and some bad. For example: Making the choice to rob a bank will result in negative consequences while working hard at our job to earn that money will result in positive consequences.
– While some decisions like not robbing a bank are simple, other decisions like which college to attend, should we get married, changing careers or deciding to migrate and live in another country are not as easy.
As we look in our text, we find Moses at the end of his life. He is giving final instructions to the people that he had led around in the desert for many years. Here we find a man that had made many decisions, some good and some bad. Moses is sharing with these people the things that are important. There was no time for “small talk”. At this point, Moses had figured out what really matters.
In verses 11-14 Moses tells them that the choices they are going to be given are not difficult to understand and are easy to obtain.
In verse 15, Moses gives them their two choices:
Life and prosperity or death and destruction.
Each one of us is also given these two choices. These choices are spiritual choices that will last forever.
Choosing – Description
Moses proceeds to tell them what is involved in each choice and what the outcome of each is.
1. Choice 1: Life – Deuteronomy 30:16-18
Requirements:
a. Love the Lord your God.
b. Walk in His ways.
c. Keep His commands, decrees, and laws.
2. Choice 2: Death
Requirements:
a. Hearts that turn away.
b. Not obedient.
c. Worship other gods.
– Notice that there are only two choices and both choices are simply based upon whether or not we have a relationship with God.
Choose – Decision Time
Moses has now given the people their two choices and explained what each choice involved and each choice’s ending. Now it would seem impossible to us that any of those people would not choose life, but unfortunately, we are sure some did not.
Why do we know that? Because people die every day in our world having not chosen God.
Just as Moses said, this is not hard to figure out. This is how it works:
Jesus as Saviour = Life and Jesus Not as Saviour = Death.
Descriptions
The Bible gives us information about the outcome of these decisions.
1. Eternal life in Heaven – Revelation 21:3-4
The best part of Heaven is being with God forever. No tears. No death. No pain. We will spend all eternity worshipping God.
2. Eternal death in Hell – Revelation 20:11-15
We are told that following the tribulation, all the unsaved dead will be resurrected from Hades to appear before the great white judgment throne. They will then be cast into Gehenna hell forever; a place of unquenchable fire, a place of thirst, a place of misery and pain, a place of frustration and anger, a place of separation, a place created for all eternity. Scary! Ha!
The context suggests that the words “Choose life” were not originally addressed to people who did not know the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but those who were in covenant with Him. It is perhaps necessary to remind those who are Christians, or from a Christian background, that their lives are made up of choices which will at least affect the here and now, if not indeed their eternal destiny.
In this short passage of Scripture, we are struck by the primacy of love. It is a loving God who sets before us the harsh alternatives of life and death, good and evil and He asks nothing but our love in return.
His love to the fathers caused the Lord to bring about the deliverance from bondage which brought His people to this point in their history. He promised all manner of blessing upon the obedient and provision for orphans, widows, and strangers.
The Lord has already demonstrated His love to us in the redemption which He has wrought in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. All He asks in return is that we should love Him and stay loyal to Him. The Lord has freely given us His favour in the Person of His dearly beloved Son, so we should be happy to obey His commandments (John 14:15).
There is certain simplicity about the choice which we are being called to make in our Christian walk and life.
Life or death?
Blessing or cursing?
Without taking away our right or ability to choose, the Lord commands: “choose life”. He outlines some of the rewards that lie in this life to the Christian who obeys. “He is our life,” so in all our choices, we should choose Him.
Life is filled with choices. We must choose when to go to bed and when to get up. What to eat and what not to eat. What to wear and what not to wear. We choose what to do with our time. We choose where we’ll go to work and where we’ll go out to eat. Life is filled with choices.
Some choices are easy to make. Some are difficult.
Every choice we make today impacts our life tomorrow.
· Finances · Eating
· Health · Use of Time
· Relationships
· Spirituality – eternity
The most important choice we will make is between life and death. (30:15, 20)
Every decision we make in life is based upon this decision.
Choosing life means choosing to worship and obey God.
Choosing death means rejecting God and spending eternity in hell.
Three Common Mistakes to Avoid:
1. Choosing not to choose
2 Samuel 13 and 14 is the story of King David not dealing with a horrible situation among his children. Amnon raped his half-sister, Tamar. Absalom, Tamar’s full brother, murdered Amnon because David did nothing. Absalom rebelled against King David.
Choosing not to choose creates the possibility of making bad choices.
Choosing not to choose is the wrong choice.
2. Choosing to procrastinate
Acts 24 Paul comes before Felix, the Governor over Judea. He tells Felix about his relationship with Jesus and who Jesus is. After much discussion about faith in Christ, Felix told Paul: “That’s enough for now! You may leave. When I find it convenient, I will send for you.” (24:25)
Hard decisions do not go away. Important decisions do not resolve themselves. Putting off until tomorrow what should be decided today is not a good way to handle the issues of life.
3. Choosing to listen to ungodly advice
In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul gives us a warning: Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good character.” (1 Corinthians 15:33)
We make the right choices when we …
Seek out godly counsel. Proverbs 15:22
Without counsel, plans go wrong, but in the multitude of counsellors, they are established.
Pray about the choice to be made.
Jesus praying all night before big decisions in the Gospel of Luke.
Trust God with the results.
Amen!