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Word from Scotland
by Sandy Shaw
Waiting for Almighty God to move anew and afresh is seldom easy.
Waiting for Almighty God to answer prayer can present us with a real challenge.
Waiting for Almighty God to act almost requires a very special quality of believer and discipleship.
We see this in the life of John in Luke Chapter 3, and we see it in the lives of the disciples of Jesus in Acts Chapter 2. And, are there not profound glimpses of this in Acts Chapters 9,10 and 13, when people were expectantly awaiting a move of God and not knowing what might be involved.
This is why it is so exciting to serve our living and gracious and loving God. He rewards faithfulness and patience and He knows what He is doing far far better than we do.
In Luke Chapter 3, we read of John. This is the man who has prepared himself to prepare the way for the Coming of Jesus.
God sends a prophet first to prepare the way for the coming of the King and the Great High Priest. He is sent, and what a mission it is. John is a missile - a missile for God.
GOD sends HIS WORD. It is an act of GOD, and when GOD acts in such a way, He sends His Word to a man, or to a group of people who are ready, and open to receive, and things happen.
John is very much an unknown man, and in some ways, he is a most peculiar individual. He is in the wilderness, and eating locusts and wild honey.
This is how our GOD chose to work, and launch a new radical and revolutionary work in the world.
Some may have expected something totally different, but this was a sovereign act of our sovereign GOD. There can be those who have difficulty with that.
In verse 3, we read that John came preaching! There will be those who have difficulty with that too. John’s role and task and ministry is significant.
His mission was to deal with people’s sins - not their hopes or fear or dreams or sorrows, and as we read on we learn that John has to deal with specific sins - not just generalities.
Nowhere else in the world can anyone be offered this? Nowhere else in the world can man be offered forgiveness.
If only our leaders in every walk of life could see that clearly and understand the consequences.
John comes with a penetrating Word. Repent - be forgiven - and get washed and cleaned up, and sorted out.
This is a new sign for a new Covenant, and John takes those who come and baptises them.
As we read on in the book of Acts and the Roman letter, we learn that it is a bath for those who are dirty and a burial for those who are dead. (It took me over 30 years to complete this beginning. It could be completed in 30 minutes.)
Repent means to change your mind and turn around.
Now this is good news! We need good news today in every walk of life.
No other religion offers Repentance - Faith - Forgiveness and Cleansing!
Almighty God, through Jesus Christ, blots out our sins and deals with our past.
That can resolve so many of our problems quite quickly, and these are problems and issues and burdens and struggles which some people carry around for years, and they have never been taught that all this can be dealt with as soon as we come to faith in Jesus Christ.
Know what is being offered and what is available when we come to faith in Jesus Christ and teach it clearly to your people and share it through your testimony.
Alexander 'Sandy' Shaw is pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship in Nairn, Scotland. Nairn is 17 miles east of Inverness - on the Moray Firth Coast - not far from the Loch Ness Monster!
Gifted as a Biblical teacher, Sandy is firmly committed to making sure that his teachings are firmly grounded in the Word.
Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40am, New Orleans time, at wsho.com.
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