Life Under the Apple Tree

(Song of Solomon 2:3-14)

Preached at Poulner Baptist Chapel

25th January 2009

Dave G Roberts

• Introduction
• 1. The Beloved’s Portrait of the Lover (SoS 2:3-6)
• 2. The Beloved Encourages Others about the Lover (SoS 2:7-9)
• 3. Lover is like no other and wants to hear your voice (SoS 2:10-15)
• Recapitulation
• Conclusion

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Introduction Please do open your bibles to the Song of Solomon! It can be found on page 679 in the Church Bibles. I of course don’t know when you last read it, heard a talk about it or if you have ever read it or heard a talk about it! So, if you are in that category, it’s a new thing for you! In my preparation, as I talked to other Christians about this book, I have found that some people are aghast at some of the very frank and provocative language used! But this should not stop us from reading it, studying it and learning from it. It is, after all, part of the Bible and therefore part of God’s Written Word. Jesus Himself and the Disciples would have read this book at Passover time.

It is a book that tells of the love of a woman (the Beloved) for a man, the man probably being Solomon. Different translations have different places where the beloved, the lover and others are actually speaking. But for ease of use tonight, we will use the guidelines of the church bibles, the New International Version.

The Jews called it the Greatest Song of All Songs. Martin Luther called it the noblest of all songs! It is poetry that is full of love, romance and some say eroticism. Greater than Shakespeare’s sonnets if you can believe that!

Tonight, we are delving only into Chapter 2. Historically this book has been interpreted in 3 ways Firstly as a treatise on the joys of biblical sexual love; Secondly as an allegory for God’s love for His people Israel; These two interpretations have great merit! However, some of you may be sad to know, and others very happy to know, that I am going to concentrate principally on a third way that encompasses those two and that is seeing it as a picture of the immense love that exists between Jesus Christ for His church and its people, where the bridegroom is Jesus and His bride is the church. Paul highlights this relationship in his letter to the Ephesians.

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The First Deaconate ~ Acts 6v1-7

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Introduction

So far in the book of Acts, we can see that the Church has come under attack by the

• The world (persecution),
• satan (deceit & moral compromise)

Now a new crisis appears. Unable to destroy the church by way of persecution and deceit, satan now tries to create a split in the church by getting believers to argue and fight with each other.

If satan had succeeded in creating an implosion within this church, the only church in existence at the time, then the effects could have been devastating. The media in our world loves to report about anything negative to do with Christianity and the church. So any form of dissension, pressure splits and arguments within the Church, is often reported with an almost earnest gleefulness by the media.

From this Bible passage, four questions quite naturally arise.

• What was the problem?
• How was it resolved?
• What happened after it was resolved?
• How can we apply it to church life, 2000 years after the event?

Summary

The Problem! (v1)

The Solution! (v2-6)

Three things about the solution

Transformation of the Apostles – James, Peter & John particularly (v2)

All together now! (v2-5)

Commissioning (v6)

The Result! (v7)

Growth and witness = conversion of former enemies… (v7)

Growth and witness = reasoning and transformation

Conclusion

Transformation

Ministry for all – serving!

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If you find these resources helpful to you, please do prayerfully consider making a donation. It does cost me money to produce these resources, mainly the storage facility and the bandwidth. I have very little other means of support. Thank you

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is GOOD!!, originally uploaded by Jeanette’s Ozpix.

CONGRATULATIONS TO DAVE (EMPTYBELLY)!!! Today is his day!!
Today is his day!! Glory to God!!

His online ministry is being launched. Dave is an Aussie who lives in England. And this morning, British time, his church is holding a special commissioning service to launch Partake Ministries.

His podcasts are here… davegroberts.podbean.com/

The Lord has been growing this ministry, with many people from around the world listening to the podcasts, especially in China. Isn’t God GOOD??? And isn’t it wonderful to know that He is also a high-tech God?… even bigger that the Internet!!

He commissioned us to go into all the world and preach the Gospel, and look at the way that is happening today!!

Please check out Dave’s Podbean site, and listen to and/or download his podcasts. Please pray as the gospel goes out around the globe, and especially pray today!!

Dave is also working on a new homepage for Partake. I will give you the link when it is ready.

Thank you, and may God bless you!! If you support Dave and this ministry, I know you will be more than blessed!!

Questions!!??, originally uploaded by Jeanette’s Ozpix.

Ever feel like that life doesn’t make sense?… that it has dealt you a raw deal?

King David did too!! But he did find an answer…

Day and night I have only tears for food,
while my enemies continually taunt me, saying,
“Where is this God of yours?”

My heart is breaking
as I remember how it used to be…

Why am I discouraged?
Why is my heart so sad?
I will put my hope in God!
I will praise him again—
my Saviour and my God!

Now I am deeply discouraged,
but I will remember you…
I hear the tumult of the raging seas
as your waves and surging tides sweep over me.

But each day the Lord pours his unfailing love upon me,
and through each night I sing his songs,
praying to God who gives me life.

“O God my rock,” I cry,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I wander around in grief,
oppressed by my enemies?”
Their taunts break my bones.
They scoff, “Where is this God of yours?”

Why am I discouraged?
Why is my heart so sad?
I will put my hope in God!
I will praise him again—
my Savior and my God!

(Psalm 42:3-11, NLT)

Let’s sit down and chat!!, originally uploaded by Jeanette’s Ozpix.

Notice how seats like this are not made for one!! They are made to share.

How easy is it for us not to take time for the people that matter to us in life? And not to mention the other people around us, who we’d sooner not matter to us?

I had this hit home to me this morning!! Lying in bed, listening to the Christian radio station, I heard a message about how relationships matter.

At one time, someone had asked Jesus what was the most important thing to God. He said…

“Which is the first commandment of all?”
Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.
“And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:28-31, NKJ)

So our relationship with God, and our relationship with others, go together. Our love for God is seen in our love for one another.

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” (1 John 4:7, NKJ)

“What blessings await you when people hate you and exclude you and mock you and curse you as evil because you follow the Son of Man. When that happens, be happy! Yes, leap for joy! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, their ancestors treated the ancient prophets that same way.” (Luke 6:23, NLT)

Some shots I managed to get from my friend’s backyard. They are regular visitors there.  This is a red-necked wallaby.

Like many others today, we’ve found ourselves caught up in this mortgage crisis. So I’d like to share some life lessons we’ve learned from it. If you are there too, I hope this helps!

Our situation reminded of the monkey who got his hand stuck in the peanut jar, because he wouldn’t let go of the peanuts.

LET GO OF THE PEANUTS, YOU STUPID MONKEY!!!

So what did we do? We looked at our situation, and realised that for years we’ve been working for peanuts, trying to hang on and keep our business afloat.

So we decided to LET GO OF THE PEANUTS!!! Sell up and move out before it was too late! For us, it worked out to be cheaper to rent. Maybe we can run the business from a new location, or maybe we need to work at something different!? Go and work for someone else?

Anyhow, that is all in the Lord’s hands! So, at the moment we are in limbo!! Between houses and jobs!! But the Lord knows, and He will work it out in His timing!

“And (I) know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28, NKJ)

And the Lord has things to teach us through the hard times. In my next post, I’d like to share about …

… SOME LESSONS I’VE LEARNED FROM LIFE’S LEMONS.

Jesus of the Scars by Edward Shillito
If we have never sought, we seek Thee now;
Thine eyes burn through the dark, our only stars;
We must have sight of thorn-pricks on Thy brow;
We must have Thee, O Jesus of the Scars.

The heavens frighten us; they are too calm;
In all the universe we have no place.
Our wounds are hurting us; where is the balm?
Lord Jesus, by Thy Scars we claim Thy grace.

If when the doors are shut, Thou drawest near,
Only reveal those hands, that side of Thine;
We know today what wounds are; have no fear;
Show us Thy Scars; we know the countersign.

The other gods were strong, but Thou wast weak;
They rode, but Thou didst stumble to a throne;
But to our wounds only God’s wounds can speak,
And not a god has wounds, but Thou alone.

Please do visit the Shillito family blog by clicking here That site is operated by the author’s grandson, Paul.

From Psalm 119 in the Amplified version.