HOW TO FULFIL YOUR OWN PROPHECIES

HOW TO FULFIL YOUR OWN PROPHECIES

To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.
Titus 1:15

The tricky thing about predicting, someone once said, is that it often involves the future! This is what makes prophesying very difficult. Australians, perhaps more than most people, are very well accustomed to people failing to predict the future. In 1976 John Nash publicly prophesied that Adelaide would be destroyed by a tidal tsunami at 10:30AM on January 19th because the Don Dunstan Labor Government had decriminalised homosexuality and God’s wrath was about to be unleashed. Premier Dunstan defiantly went down to the Glenelg pier and awaited the impending yet fanciful tidal wave. 

Clairvoyant John Nash predicted that an earthquake and tidal wave would hit Adelaide in January 1976. It was all a big joke to Chris Overall of Rosslyn Park, who paraded in Glenelg wearing hard hat and carrying a sign that read ‘surf’s up!’.

Australians well remember what the pundits had predicted about Steven Bradbury’s chances of winning gold in the 2002 Winter Olympics, or Scott Morrison’s chances of defeating the unbeatable Prime Ministerial candidate, Bill Shorten in 2019 Australian Federal Election, or even Alan Bond’s chances of wresting the prized “America’s Cup” from the undefeated USA, in 1983. 

Then, having established that prophesying the future is incredibly difficult, how can I dare to claim that I know how to ensure that we can prophesy and ensure its fulfilment? Here’s how…

Hatred stirs up strife,
but love covers all offenses.
Proverbs 10:12

HOW FULL IS THE GLASS?

There was once a manager who was conducting interviews for a position in their company. The first applicant arrived for the interview and the manager asked them about their previous job. “Oh, I left there because the other staff were so self-centred and always gossiping! It was not a very enjoyable place to work at all.” The manager listened. The applicant then asked, “What are the staff like here?” The manager replied, “You’d find them exactly the same here.” Later in the day the manager interviewed the next applicant and the manager asked them about their previous job. “Oh, I loved working there. I got on so well with all my colleagues. We worked really well together and were more like family than work colleagues. They were all so caring and committed to each other, the company and our customers—it was great!” The manager listened. The applicant then asked, “What are the staff like here?” The manager replied, “You’d find them exactly the same here.”

This story highlights one of the most powerful principles of self-fulfilling prophecy—our attitude toward others. Some people have a very fearful, negative, opinion about others and even before they’ve taken the time to get to know someone they’ve already made certain ‘prophecies’ about them, which their attitude ensures will be right. “I bet the people in this church won’t be friendly toward me either!” And sure enough, they find what they ‘prophesied’ to be true. Another person says, “I made so many great friends in my last church, I bet God is going to connect me with a whole set great friends in this church as well!” And sure enough, they find what they ‘prophesied’ to be true.

Our attitudes can become the main ingredient in how we ‘self-fulfil’ our prophecies.

Whoever covers an offense seeks love,
but he who repeats a matter separates close friends.
Proverbs 17:9

It takes humility to forgive and to choose not to harbour hurt and it is the humble person whom God favours with grace and blessing (James 4:8, 10). Such a person has discovered the joy of how humility brings sweetness to a person’s soul which in turn affects how they see others. This too leads to the powerful principle of how our ‘prophecies’ can be fulfilled. When it comes to the core teaching of the New Testament, it is most interesting how incredibly simple and short that list is. The expression “above all”, as it relates to Christian conduct, only occurs three times in the New Testament and might be boiled down to two rules: (i) tell the truth to each other (James 5:12), and (ii) love each other richly (Col. 3:14; 1Peter 4:8). 

Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.
First Peter 4:8

And it’s in these two things that we discover our greatest potential to fulfil our own prophecies about our situations and those we come in contact with. People are not your problem and may well be God’s answers to your prayers to come to know Him more deeply and intimately. May God help us all to see and prophesy that the glass really is half full!

Pastor Andrew

THE EDGE OF YOUR SEAT

Tinted glasses change the way we see things. Attitude changes the way we hear. And there's something very simple that can change attitude - which can make all the difference in a business, a club, a church, a family, and especially a marriage. But it's so unwell known, it might as well be a secret. Until today.

Phil. 2:5 You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had

When your attitude changes, your perspective changes. With the right attitude a hopeless situation can look hopeful. With the right attitutde a marriage on the skids can become a marriage to be envied. With the right attitutde a church that is struggling can become a church that is triumphing. 

But how do you change someone's attitude? Answer: by changing yours. And changing your attitude is quite simple.

First Peter 4:1 ¶ So, since Christ suffered in the flesh, you also arm yourselves with the same attitude, because the one who has suffered in the flesh has finished with sin,

Changing our attitude begins with our behaviour. If you want a positive attitude you must first behave like a positive person. If you want a hopeful attitude you must behave like a hopeful person. If you want the attitude of an on-fire, Holy Ghost filled, spiritually passionate, loving, thoughtful, fully devoted follower of Christ, then you must begin by behaving like one. 

I just described the type of attitude that I want. As you all know, this means that I've got some behaviour modification required. But I've got a huge advantage - I want this attitude. I don't want to be an insipid, half-hearted, luke-warm, distant follwer of Christ. As the pastor of our church I am increasingly feeling like the most blessed man on the planet. As I see you each Sunday morning in worship, I am encouraged that you also want to be a fully-devoted follower of Christ. As I join in prayer with you at our Sunday night prayer celebration I am stirred and greatly encouraged to hear the passion for God, for the lost, for our church, for our community. As I hear the testimonies of young and old each Sunday night about how God has been so good to them, I find it incredibly easy to be a happy, positive, hopeful pastor. It's my hope that when people come into our church looking for God, answers, hope, and love, that they will find a church that has an attractive attitude shaped by our worship of and devotion to Christ. 

This reminds me of something I heard from two preachers. The first preacher said that he went to a conference where the speaker was utterly terrible. During the first break in conference proceedings he grumpily went to the refreshments complaining under his breath. It was then that he said the Holy Spirit rebuked him about his attitude. He determined to go back into the next session with a renewed attitude. He took his pen and notepad and was ready to take notes of the profound points that the speaker was about to utter. He says that the exercise was made all the more easier because the speaker was vastly different from their first session! In the first session the conference speaker said nothing profound, nothing moving, nothing informative. But in the second session, suddenly the speaker was dopping the most profound insights, moving her audience from tears to laughter, and revealing truths that would change lives forever. The pastor found himself sitting on the edge of his seat eager to soak in all that the conference speaker was sharing. 

The second example occurred recently. A pastor was training younger pastors when he told them that how they sit during the worship service was extremely important. When the senior pastor of the church is speaking, he said, don't sit slumped in your seat - instead, sit on the edge of your seat and look attentively to your pastor. "You'll be amazed how much more interesting he will sound if you sit on the edge of your seat attentively than sitting slumped in the seat!"

So there you have the great untold secret to changing an attitude: sit on the edge of your seat attentively. Apparently it not only changes attitude but what you hear as well.

Psa. 34:8 ¶ Taste and see that the LORD is good.
Oh, the joys of those who trust in him!

Ps. Andrew