20180923 – Sunday – Exhort Daniel Edgecombe

20180923 – Sunday – Exhort Daniel Edgecombe

Some time back when I visited with Anne Fergusson, I ate a delicious soup that she had made for lunch.

She used a soup maker and I asked her about it.

Well the end result was Anne found one on the internet in my district and I purchased it.

And I have been grateful to Anne ever since.

Since I have been on my own, which is about 28 years now, I haven’t been terribly interested in cooking.

I tend to just work out what is good for me and eat that, often in its raw state.

Well this soup maker has been such a boon for me. Each week I buy vegetables and chop them up and put in my refrigerator in plastic bags.

Then when I feel like hot food, I just put a couple of handfuls of chopped vegetable into my soup maker, cook it and blend it under the two or three different settings that are available.

Then later on I add whatever other ingredients I desire, chicken, or sausage, or left over meat and then cook again, this time including the meat.

This means that I have hot and filling food available when I feel like it. Soup has become a staple part of my diet.

This morning I went to South Adelaide for the meeting and the exhort was by Daniel Edgecombe and it was excellent.

It was about the presence of God and how we can bring God near to us.

Isa 55 – How do we gain renewal and peace?

God in his wisdom has provided us with a ritual, the breaking of bread as a memorial to the death and resurrection of Christ to remind us of God’s presence.

Adam and Eve began their lives in the presence of God and they had fellowship with the Elohim and walked together in harmony with God in the paradise of God.

When Adam and Eve sinned, we could make a long list of the things that they lost after their fall from grace.

But along with what they lost they also gained. God provided a covering for them and dealt with their shame.

He promised them a saviour, and preserved the way of the Tree of Life.

God provided Adam and Eve with a way back. He gave them hope.

God provided them with tokens of his presence.

The temples provided them with a connection between heaven and earth, but the temples were made by human hands and the rituals of the temple could not provide access to God.

To David, to a man who had lost his faith, Psa 73, the temple did not suffice when wickedness was all around.

But then he realised that the the temple did provide inspiration and hope.

Elijah wanted physical demonstrations of God’s presence, with fire and bloodshed. He needed to learn that it was the still small voice that really showed the presence of God.

What are you doing, Elijah, there are still 7000 who have not bowed the knee to Baal.

We come to our places of worship and our halls are full of memories.

They too are places of ritual, but ritual does have its place. Rituals can act as a guide and school master reminding us of Christ.

We feel God’s presence in our halls, and we must try to connect with him.

We need to put ourselves in places where we can learn and feel the good.

We need to meet together and build on the foundation of Christ, Eph 2.

Individually and collectively we must elevate our minds to bring earth and heaven together. We are the temple of the Lord. God is with us, he is Emmanuel, full of grace and truth.

He is gentle towards us, Isa 43, and a crushed reed he will not break.

Is our life characterised by the still small voice of truth? Or are we looking for Elijah’s fire.

Do we care for the lost and lonely who feel that they do not belong, those who do not feel the presence of God?

There is always the opportunity to show more of Jesus to those our brethren and sisters and our acquaintances.

Do we use our “coffee time” to mend a broken relationship or do we go about with “Goliath killings?”

Do we share his kingdom with people?

Do we welcome strangers? Is God’s presence seen in us?

Do we bring others our tokens of love. Do we bring them peace?

For some, life is very grim. Many people experience terrible things in life.

But these things are only temporary.

God never intended that this be the case from creation.

From Eden to this very day, he has wanted to dwell with us.

He IS present with us now, and one day we will walk beside him in this sacred earth.

He will bring heaven to earth, and for his loved children, he will speak in a still small voice.

Notes by Fay Berry

In the afternoon I worked on understanding Word Press. Will I EVER understand it.