Shabbat shalom kol beit Yisra'el and Mishpachah and welcome to this assembly this morning in Yah'shua's (Jesus') Name. It has been a hectic week for my own family with one medical emergency after another and I want to thank you all for your prayers once again and for the constancy of so many in that regard. We are but a month and day away from Shavu'ot (Feast of Weeks, 'Pentecost'), Covid restrictions are starting to be relaxed and the borders are opening up again so we hope to be able to welcome those of you able to travel in July provided we're recovered enough from our operations and the élites haven't dreamed up something new to keep people imprisoned at home.

Today's passage of Scripture for meditation is taken from the first chapter of Colossians:

"For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may have a walk worthy of the Master, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of Elohim (God); strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones) in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible Elohim (God), the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the messianic community (church), who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence" (Col.1:9-18, NKJV).

Last week we had a short impromptu assembly in which I talked about the continual change and transformation going on in us because of the hundreds of daily microdecisions we make and I stressed how important the little choices actually are because of their cumulative effect (Video #ITS001). It is by this means we are able to fulfil the apostolic counsel to "have a walk worthy of the Master, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of Elohim (God)". Unfortunately, we don't remember all the little decisions we make, many if them being subconscious, and so we typically fail to notice all the little changes going on inside us.

Obviously, it's great if we are making right microdecisions, like reading some Bible verses throughout the day and letting them sink in by acknowledging them, because then we're gradually becoming more and more like the Master. Just repetitively agreeing with truth is a transformative action, just thinking and feeling love toward Yahweh, people and animals is transformative. Just imagining the kind of good world you would like, is transformative. Just planning all the good things you will do, like helping your neighbour, and doing them, is transformative, and will become habitual. Our character is then being transformed for the best, one little spiritual building-block at a time, like that vision I had of the assembling stone cross when I was in the Emergency Room in hospital recently. We don't even need to be conscious of the positive change happening though others may on occasion compliment us and hopefully surprise and encourage us.

But what if we're going the wrong way, as is so easy to do? Then the rôle of our loved ones and friends becomes all the more important, to help make us aware if we are drifting away from the emet (truth) so that we can take self-corrective action, a reason community is so important, unless, of course, we're too proud and stubborn to listen to them. And Christian communities, as you know, have been devastated by the Covid-19 lockdowns with many people unwisely making the decision to continue to worship privately from home online rather than get out of there house and go to all the trouble of walking, taking a bus or driving to assemble in congregations again on the Sabbath especially, because it requires less effort from them. Believe me, the effort is worth it, and even agreeing with the Ruach (Spirit) inside that you will, and then doing it, is transformative. Even when you're alone, choosing to quitely praise Yahweh for something good that you see, is transformative.

May I say, for many reasons, that choosing to remain alone on the Sabbath, if you are able to congregate with other believers, is a huge mistake. It is easy to hide in cyberspace and spiritually drift into an artificial world. Yes, meeting and fellowshipping online is better than nothing at all, and for some it is a veritable lifeline, but if you can assemble you should, for all the obvious reasons including getting the feedback needed for corrective action that only face-to-face contact with fellow believers who love you can give you. We are all like lost sheep with a tendency to wander. We are flock animals, social creatures, made to be with others, to be supported and to give support also. The local assembly (church) is supposed to be a nurturing community on so many levels. And as I pointed out last week, no decision is actually a decision too. We need one another for encouragement and edification. Also remember that winning souls isn't just winning them for Christ, it's also adding them to the Messianic Comminuty, the Family of Christ, the Church, the Kingdom of Elohim (God) on earth (Ac.2:47). And if your local congregation has become stagnant, be an instrument for reawakening! Families are important! We were made for them. We are supposed to be an integrated, social body, cooperatively working for the Kingdom and for one another - we are one (yachid) and we are many in one (echad):

"For by one Ruach (Spirit) were were all baptised into one body, whether Yehudim (Judahites) or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Ruach (Spirit)" (1 Cor.12:13, NASB).

Do you remember that last week I told you the story of the English barrister who got swindled by his partner who, instead of bouncing back after an initial period of disappointment and grief, decided to go down a negative path and ended up as a London tramp? He had been transformed into the image of his decisions and chose to become a failure. He chose to wallow in self-pidt and destructive self-judgment. There is a right and a wrong way to respond to painful experiences. The Besorah (Gospel) shows us how to rise above the horrible things that sometimes happen to us. Things go wrong, mistakes are made, others trip us up, but we must go on. One positive decision can transform your life forever. Our daily prayer ought to be, "Yahweh, help me to see that, in all that happens around me, my very indecision becomes a decision. Show me what, and how, to decide so that a positive transformation can take place within me, today and every day. Amen." Then leave it up to Yah'shua (Jesus), watch to see what doors He opens, and respond proactively to all the impressions of the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) that you receive. Be optimistic because Yahweh wishes you good in every situation, no matter how dire.

The Enemy seeks to isolate believers from one another and from reality, whether heavenly or earthly, one of the reasons for the never-ending lockdowns. It's a system of control. Admittedly, we can't always avoid that. Our decision to homeschool some of our children in a country hostile to it with so few fellow homeschoolers with whom to fellowship and cooperate, did create problems for us. In some countries believers have to meet in secret to avoid persecution. I worked, as you know, with an organisation called Friedenstimme back in the days of the Cold War, helping the underground Baptist Churches in the Soviet Union, and I know of the gruesome stories of what life for believers was like back then. The same thing is happening in communist China today as the communists get brutally aggressive again. Those who are prisoners in concentration camps, or in solitary confinement in prisons for their religious or political beliefs know what it is like to be alone and must adapt. Think of all the old people languishing in state institutions, many of whom suffer abuse, and who couldn't have visitors during the lockdowns.

I was sent to a very Spartan private boarding school in England when I was 10 and that for me was like a prison and not all the experiences there were wholesome. It was like an army barracks for children. Of course, you learn to adapt and survive, which is true for everyone at some time, but there are ways to spiritually prosper and ways to spiritually decline. I learned to make the best of my situation, and to throw myself into study, even if I desperately missed by family. I believe the military discipline and studiousness I learned there has paid handsome dividends in my life. It just took me a bit longer to emotionally mature because I was away from home a year at a time.

Persecution is the lot of true believers in so many countries so learning to react the right way to circumstances is so important. There are always others worse than yourself so at the very least be grateful for that. But whatever the situation, make a decision to trust Yahweh and a promise to be proactive when He speaks. Don't make excuses to postpone making a decision, remembering that no decision is actually a decision. Become a do-er, wait only for as long as necessary, to test the waters or whatever it is you need to do to be sure, and then plunge in head first and give it all you've got. Be inspired as I have always been by the life of Joseph of Egypt, who was a messianic figure, and so much like our Saviour in character. The pathway our Heavenly Father puts you on may not seem ideal, or it may appear strange and bewildering at times, but if it is what He has ordained and not simply the result of your own bad choices, you will get to where you're supposed to be. And remember, life is a journey with all sorts of surprises, and it's not over until your life is over. One of the biggest decisions I ever made was leaving England and coming to Scandinavia. It was a radical choice based on a vision Yahweh gave me. It's been tough but it's also been good in so many ways.

Whatever your choices may be, the resultant basket will be mixed, and remember, the best often comes at the end, which is itself a beginning. Life is full of new beginnings. Every new daughter and son has been a new and wonderful beginning, and I have had seven of those! Even our pets have added richness to our lives, haven't they? I have had two operations, one of them being one of the toughest there is to have, and it's been pretty rough. There have been times I have wanted to give up, yet each day I choose to get onto my feet and sow spiritual seeds in whatever way I can. Don't wait for the opportunity to do good, do it no matter what. This sermon is, I hope, one of those 'seeds' I can sow, and I hope to encourage someone here or out there. Yet I believe the best is still to come because Christ says so. So we go on and we hope, we trust, we love, we make lots of decisions, small and large, and we do it. Write down the words, 'DO IT!' and prominently display them in your home somewhere. Right action always sanctifies even if it is just to show kindness to your dog. I have a little wagtail bird who follows me around every summer when I mow the grass and I like to send it blessings, knowing it is finding goodies in the cut grass I leave behind me.

A lot of people have gone 'stir-crazy' during the so-called 'pandemic', suicide numbers have risen and people have become more atomised than ever, but we have to bounce back as best we can. With his empowerment, through faith, we can and shall arise again. One of our brethren has been separated from his wife and adopted children now for over 15 months thanks to the cruelty of lockdown - may Yahweh grant them both, and others in similar situations, a speedy reunion! Evangelism has plummetted (as you would expect being cooped up indoors) and people have generally become lazier, choosing to adapt to their new prisons rather than to fling open the doors of opportunity.

One of the problems with isolation is that it can distort reality. I saw a horrific documentary the other about a pilot school in Texas (I may have mentioned this) in which the county wants to make school virtual so the children can stay at home, and they want to eventually make this state-wide. They tried to make it sound so 'progressive' and wonderful. Once the novelty has worn off, though, the effects on children will be negative, as they will lose socialisation skills which serve only to increase their isolation. The same is true of adults who have been forced to work from home and whilst for some working from home may be ideal, the more gregarious need to be around work mates. So some good will come out of this.

We were created for positive interactions. True, by isolating ourselves we can avoid negative interactions but it's these that can also enable us to make hard but important choices as part of our maturation process and spiritual development. It is through interaction of 'all sorts' that we learn to grow. Now, of course, I am not advocating we should go to places where we shouldn't go, or consciously 'break bread' with people who might be harmful, because we are told in no uncertain terms to forsake the fellowship or habitual companionship of the wicked. Paul said, "I do not want you to have fellowship with demons" (1 Cor.10:20, NKJV), he told us not to be "unequally yoked together with unbelievers" (2 Cor 6:14, NKJV) - i.e. don't marry non-Christians/Messianics, and he warned us to "have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness" (Eph.5:11, NKJV) in general because these things will bring us much grief that we will come to bitterly regret later, things that can set us back years, wasting precious time on earth, time we only get to experience once in eternity - "...it is appointed for men to die once, [and] after this the judgment..." (Heb.9:27, NKJV). There's no reincarnation in which to have another try. Nothing good ever came of disobeying a mitzvah (commandment) and no self-justification for disobedience or sin generally will ever wash with Heaven, let alone do you any good. Only a fool deliberately puts his head into the lion's mouth and expects Yahweh to deliver him. I don't know how many people I have met who did so and destroyed themselves.

However, even when we make right decisions and walk in obedience, we still need to learn how to deal with the unforseen and to know on whom we can rely for deliverance, remembering that Yahweh does permit negative things to intersect our lives, either for the purpose of personal development or simply as part of our willing sacrifice in the bringing of souls to salvation. There is always a positive cost in discipleship, and in this connection the apostle Peter said:

"...it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of Elohim (God). But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before Elohim (God). To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps. 'He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.' When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats. Instead, He entrusted himself to Him who judges justly. He Himself bore our sins in his body on the tree (cross), so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls" (1 Peter 2:19-25, NIV)

The decisions we make to either respond to adversity in the way Peter counsels, or to react the opposite way with, for instance, bitterness, determines the quality of your spiritual growth and what kind of character you will inherit in eternity. Your decisions matter - every one of them. If there is any area where you have fear, or hate, or bitterness, or resentment, or any attitude that is contrary to the teaching of the Master about right-mindedness and pure-heartedness, that is an area of yourself you still own - that you're still clinging to - and one that Christ does not yet own, which He wants to, relieving you of its burden, because you have not surrendered these negative thoughts and feelings to Him, for whatever reason. Don't let such negative things become part of your identity because your whole identity is supposed to be in Him. They remain to poison your personality and your relationships with others too.

We are constantly undergoing a process of change, for better or for worse. We are not static beings. Even if you think you are making no decision to release, say, bitterness towards someone, you actually are, and are making yourself more bitter, and compounding your sin. You're choosing to become like that tramp who was a barrister and to utterly waste your life. You're making a decision for eternity. Remember, our sinfulness hurts us as much as it does those around us, and most especially our nearest and dearest. So reverse your bad decisions. Change direction. Repent and let Christ set you free.

There is nothing changeless about life, except change itself, so choose to move with the heavenly flow rather than the worldly one. The worldly one is like gravity, it has to be reacted against so that you can stand up. It's that simple, that binary. When we make big disasterous choices it's usually because we have made hundreds of small, bad choices along the way. A saint doesn't become a devil overnight, a believer doesn't become an unbeliever all in one go. Big changes are in reality the result of hundreds of small cumulative changes, and that is why you need to nip sin in the bud while it's still a tiny shoot and not a giant tree, by changing direction sooner rather than later. Save yourself years of unnecessary grief.

The science of semantics (the meaning of words) is based on the fact that human nature is changing every moment. So when you use a word to describe a person, you must define which person - the person a year ago, the person a month ago, the person a week ago, or the person now. You must, therefore, change your words to describe the changed person. I am not the same person I was 10, 20 or 30 years ago. I think some would agree I have changed beyond recognition in some areas. I welcome it even if people whom I have not had contact for many decades think I am the still one I was in the 20th century! Change like that is good. We were designed for movement! Love is movement, constantly expanding and moving upwards. Love will never allow you to remain the same, and good is that! I hope than in 10 years' time none of you is the same except in virtue. For constancy there is essential. And above all, be constant in your faith and hope in, and love for, Christ.

Change is inevitable, you can't stop it, a reason you should seek Yahweh's permission in the deeper relationships you want to establish, like marriage, because He alone knows the thousands of changes each individual is going to make and so He sees their future clearly, something we can't. That's why we should allow Him to choose our spouses for us, as Isaac did with Rebekah. Had that barrister been a Christian, he might not have partnered with the man who embezzled him in the first place, unless Yahweh had engineered that as a learning experience and opportunity to grow. Oftentimes you don't know His reasons. When I was embarking on a business in Oxford, to start a tutorial college, I was going to go into partnership with a man who turned out to be a crook, but I didn't know that at first and I was still a little naïve. I was a believer, the Ruach (Spirit) warned me about him, and my mother, who had business savvy, felt very uneasy about it all when she met him and advised me against, which was the confirmation I needed. That man would have ended up with a very cushy job and I would have had to do all the work and have been the poorer for it. So I struck out on my own. I had to work harder but I didn't have to keep looking over my shoulder to ensure I wasn't being cheated. That's not to say you shouldn't have a business partner because a load shared with a good friend is a wonderful blessing. Just choose wisely under Yahweh's revelation to you.

So again, I repeat, most emphatically and urgently, that this inevitable change which runs through life, can transform us, not only into lower, inferior and dstructive patterns of living but also into higher, superior and edifying ones but only if we choose to do right and be guided by Yahweh and by wiser, more experienced, people than ourselves. And it always boils down to agency, Yahweh will never compel you to do anything or make a particular choice. We can choose to allow which forces we will allow to shape and mould us, and like it or not, the people we choose to associate with do shape and mould us to one degree or another, whether we admit it or not, because we are none of us islands. Some of my best friends had a huge impact on me and yet my enemies also helped shape me positively when I chose to react to them the way Christ taught...not that I always did at first, mind you. We are affected by, and in turn affect, those whom we live and work in close proximity to, for better or for worse.

You all know the famous hymn, Abide With Me, written by Henry F.Lyte, who included the line, "Change and decay in all around I see", which expressed only a half-truth (a reason you need to be careful about the words you choose to sing in worship), for it is possible to allow the forces, that flow from Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ), to so operate within us that 'change and decay' become instead change and Christ-like transformation. Of course, Lyte was probably thinking about the material world when he wrote that hymn, and we do indeed change, get old and decay. Just wait until you're older! But that's not what I mean here. The fact is that when men and women shut the door to Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ), along with the supernatural upward thrust He gives to life, they open the door to change in a downward direction, into mental, emotional and spiritual decay, because that is the prevailing force in this fallen world - you must either go with it or resist it. Only those forces which we allow to affect us do, in actual fact, affect us. It is possible to allow the power that resides in Messiah to work in you so that you can become a transformed person but you first have to say no to any, and all other, competing forces. You must be loyal to the King and to the Kingdom to enjoy the present and eternal benefits.

So let's pray: "Dear Father, I stand before you today with a simple but important need - the need to be a transformed person. I throw open the door of my life to all You have to offer, in Yah'shua's (Jesus') Name".

Until Rosh Chodesh in a couple of day's time, after which the Sabbath will be moving here to Fridays for four weeks (see the Creation Calendar), may Yahweh bless, protect and prosper you in Yah'shua's (Jesus') Name. Amen.