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HEAR THE WORD OF GOD!

SERMONS and ADDRESSES
FROM THE BIBLE

IN THE LORD

       Rev. Dr. Robert E. Donaldson

Published January 2004

World Wide Web Witness Inc.

©

PREFACE

God is the most important personal Being in the universe. I am not; you are not; Australian society is not, either conceived or considered as one in cultural unity (merely imaginary) or in hypothetical hope (indifferent postulation!); Islamic murderers are not; other terrorist murderers are not; peaceable nations are not; brothers in arms are not, presidents are not.

Hence what He has to say is the most important information in the universe. It does not lie in Mars, or Venus, in this or that star, in ‘early’ masses defying the ‘Big Bang’ explosion of irrationality, a sort of Big Bing swing which now has subsided into mere mesmeric mysticism, contradicted on all sides (cf. TMR Ch. 7,  Section E).

This His speech, has two aspects, the propositional and the personal.

In the first case, information is given in the divine library, or set of books. It is allied to DNA, which gives us the groundwork for action, like a cassette player ready for recording, and now filled with the data in view. THAT is structural, but THIS, the second is directly spiritual in action,  personal and necessary.

THAT shows God at work in history, in hearts, in predictions, in overview, in prospect, in retrospect, in direction, in correction, in warning and in deliverance, in victory and in war, in peace and in production. It is the biblical gift.

The other is the personal and here lies the opening for the spiritual gift. Here is the result of what He says. It occurs in history, is seen in geography, is witnessed amid the nations; but its most certain site for action is the individual human heart, spirit and conscience. IF ONLY is so often its lament, as in Luke 19:42ff., where Christ laments for the Jew, who having in his own race, the answer for all races, the Holy One for all nations, the answer for all problems, the healing for all bodies, the help for all souls, the elixir for all lives, yet slew Him. In Him is the fulness of the Godhead (Colossians 2:9), and the Spirit to Him was not given by measure (John 3). In His servants, there is a combination of gifts and persons, who though sinners, are enabled to work for Him, and He in them. But what of the slaying of this Person ?

In one way, it reminds of an angry husband, slaughtering his wife, when drunk. When he awakes, it is to his unutterable guilt, his incalculable dismay and his doom.  Yet here it is that preposterous shame of a ‘wife’, a mere creation, His 'people' slaughtering the Lord, and able to so ONLY because in love for her miscreancy and help for her haughty naughtiness, He deliberately took a form to exhibit love, secure pardon; and then with a brilliance of invention quite breathtaking, He MADE the murderous onset on His own Person into the METHOD of securing pardon.

That, it is unique. It is practical love of divine proportions, incalculable in destiny redirection. It is one

 thing to forgive, and to go on forgiving as He did, but to USE what had to be forgiven as a means of securing PARDON, turning it like an expert batsman to account for the guilty ones, this is holy and wonderful, a lubrication to the heart, an oil to the spirit, a perfume to the mind.

All that the Lord has to say is to be known. Sermons are one way of so PRESENTING it that the world may know, the listless hear, the wandering be alerted, the shameless be stricken, the lazy be fired from apnia, the guileful find in their guilt, a beginning of the way home, since it leads to transference by faith for many. It is likewise a way to strength for the Lord's people, to wisdom and knowledge, to stability and growth in grace, light and love. His word is like that.

These sermons have been given while the author was under persecution, whether in New Zealand or Canada, indeed in USA. They have been presented where snow lies, where heat hazes, where joy rings, where battle rages. One well remembers in one pastorate, which one had to resign because of the direct failure to follow the scripture on the part of those supervising, and this without repentance, being told something quite fascinating about the next sermon. Preach THAT and you are out! seemed to be the general message. It was preached and that did indeed not long precede the departure. Some of these sermons have been published as chapters or sections in a book, most of them have not. Some are outlines, short and ready for overview; others are longer, a few are more lengthy.

What is especially interesting is this, that this message was needed in that congregation by which one had been urged from the first: IF WE GO WRONG, tell us! One did so, and they did not like it … The word of God however is not limited, and whether one or one hundred obey in love, or demolish in hatred or willfulness, one thing is the same: what God has said, operates. The operation occurs whatever the patient says, whether for bane or for blessing. It continues to operate more surely than the laws of matter, the logic of the mind or the revolutions of the globe. He has said. He does it.

Wise is he who watches what He has said. One service then is to PRESENT it, and to leave it while one still may, whether in India, or Pakistan, Holland or New Zealand, USA or Australia, using this amazing WEB of unknown addresses to send these addresses, the purpose of which is to present the word of the Lord faithfully. The hope remains one also, that some will hear and believe, many will hear and be reinforced, refreshed, blessed, encouraged or simply delighted with the singular beauty of the truth.

This written truth, the Bible which is to be preached, and that personal truth, Jesus Christ, who died and is alive for ever: these are the twin foci of the book. Both present magnificence, whether in writing or in salvation. The Lord is available, but it is necessary to call upon His name, not with witty asides, not with double-faced dubiety, not with allowances for convenience, but in sincerity and truth, as Peter did when sinking ... in the sea, not of thought, but of salt.

Finally, it should be noted that some of these addresses are specifically sermonic in style,
some are less so, and many are sermon notes, giving outline,
especially in biblical terms,  to assist reflection after the preaching of the sermon,
but not containing by any means the entire substance of the address.

      32   Adaptability, Authenticity and Sensitivity: Love's Lore

               
                I Corinthians 9:19-11:16

       33  Seeing Things in Divine Perspect

               I Corinthians 11:17-14:1

       34  No other Foundation is also
            the Head and the Strength

           I Corinthians 14 - 15:20

       35  Talking Faith and Walking Faith

             I Corinthians 15:13-58

            On this Chapter, see also No. 14 above.

       36  THE FINAL RESURRECTION -

            There is no Terminus for Truth: a

            and Living Looking towards It

             I Corinthians 15:59-end

      37  LOVE, SERVICE AND SPIRITUALITY 
             (I Cor. 13, Mark 10, Phil. 2)

         The Work of Love, the Way of Life :

              THE BLOOD, THE BOOK AND THE WILL

       38  GOOD, BETTER, BEST 

             SEEING THINGS IN DIVINE PERSPECTIVE

                Hebrews 8:6 in context 7-9

       39 THE GARMENT FOR LIGHT OF THE GREAT GOD 
                Hebrews 1:1-3, 2:1-4, John 1:1-14 with Phil. 2:1-12

          40   THE SON OUT OF EGYPT INTO THE LAND OF HIS LOVE,
             AND HIS OFFERING:
             THE WORLD OF HIS OFFER

                     Matthew 2-3

        41  What a Magnificent Start!

       Going with Mark 1 for the New Year,  2004