Woody's Words

THE CONDITIONS FOR SALVATION Romans 10:1-13 By David Woodbury In the deepest recesses of his heart, Paul yearns for his fellow Jews to come to the place of understanding that salvation and being put right with God is a matter purely of faith. He acknowledges that they have a zeal for God which is misdirected by trying to gain righteousness before God by their own merit and achievement. They felt that they could get right with God by their own efforts; that they could earn a right standing and accumulate enough credits with God, and because of that God owed them salvation. 1Dear brothers and sisters, the longing of my heart and my prayer to God is for the people of Israel to be saved. 2 I know what enthusiasm they have for God, but it is misdirected zeal. 3 For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with himself. Refusing to accept God’s way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law. 4...

THE GIFT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS Romans 9:30-33 By David Woodbury 30 What does all this mean? Even though the Gentiles were not trying to follow God’s standards, they were made right with God. And it was by faith that this took place. 31 But the people of Israel, who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law, never succeeded. 32 Why not? Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law instead of by trusting in him. They stumbled over the great rock in their path. 33 God warned them of this in the Scriptures when he said, “I am placing a stone in Jerusalem that makes people stumble,   a rock that makes them fall. But anyone who trusts in him   will never be disgraced.” (Romans 9:30-33 - NLT) Here Paul returns to the main theme of his letter to the Jews in Rome; righteousness, being in a right standing with God through faith alone. How we understand the words righteousness is central to our re...

THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD Romans 9:14-32 By David Woodbury 14 Are we saying, then, that God was unfair? Of course not! 15 For God said to Moses, “I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.” 16 So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it. 17 For the Scriptures say that God told Pharaoh, “I have appointed you for the very purpose of displaying my power in you and to spread my fame throughout the earth.” 18 So you see, God chooses to show mercy to some, and he chooses to harden the hearts of others so they refuse to listen. (Romans 9:14-18 – NLT) Once again we are confronted with the difficulty of this passage which seems to depict God as showing bias. It needs to be remembered that Paul is reflecting on a period in Israel’s history when the nation was in rebellion against God. In a conversation with Moses God asserts his sovereignty and his right to exercise hi...

THE DESTINY OF GOD’S CHOSEN PEOPLE By David Woodbury In Romans ch. 9 Paul turns from the crucial subject he has been covering in chapters 1 to 8; that of salvation by grace alone, to an explanation of God’s present dealing with Israel. For the next three chapters, this will be his main focus. In them, we see the heart of a Jewish patriot as he grieves for his own nation’s disobedience and rejection of Jesus Christ . Indeed, as we read this particular section of Romans (chs. 9-11) it becomes increasingly clear that Paul sees in God's judgment a means by which his mercy will finally triumph . (Interpreter's Bible, The – Exposition – Romans 9) He is at pains to emphasise the utter truthfulness of his message to the Jews in Rome. He is willing to suffer the tortures of hell and separation from God is it would save his Jewish people. God’s Selection of Israel With Christ as my witness, I speak with utter truthfulness. My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm it. ...

We Are Entering A New Age Of Christian Persecution. By David Woodbury The spectre of the cross is beginning to cast its dark shadow once again over 21 st century Christianity. The halcyon days where the majority of the population accepted and, in some ways, loved Christianity and the Christian church are drawing to a close. The invitation of Jesus to take up our cross daily, with all its suffering, humiliation and persecution, may well turn out to be a current reality. The recent Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has highlighted deficiencies within the church and the opposition of many churches to the recent Marriage Equality debate have significantly impacted the influence of the church. However, two events have highlighted the current situation: Biased media commentary on Christchurch and Sri Lanka massacres The sacking of Christian Rugby Union player, Israel Folua. Biased media reporting Leading media commentators...

The Power of Belief By David Woodbury In western culture today The Salvation Army may well be a pale imitation of what it once was. True, it may appear successful, effective and relational, but the reality is that it lacks the potent energy that once fuelled the early Salvation Army. Somewhere, along the timeline of our existence, some vital dynamic went missing. Perhaps we became too sophisticated, too influenced by other religious organisations that surrounded us, or we allowed too much of the influence of an unchristian culture to seep into our organisational thinking and structure. Perhaps it is this very situation Paul had in mind when he wrote to Timothy: They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. (2 Timothy 3:5 – NLT)  In a previous post I explored the impact that early Salvation Army song writers had on the mindset of the organisation and its soldiers: What are we to make of their literary and music sentiments? Som...

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN GOD IS ASLEEP? By David Woodbury As we cannot share Christian fellowship in our usual church community, perhaps this video along the lines of my post will bring some comfort. Please click the link below: https://youtu.be/WssOBl3xbfk Humanity is now facing a pandemic that threatens to take thousands, if not millions of lives. Within the matter of a few weeks, our entire world is facing a threat the like of which few, if of any us, could have ever imagined. Thousands of business closed, many millions now facing unemployment and the world economy in total chaos. The reality is that the world, and our nation as we currently know them, will never be the same again and we may well ask: “Where is God in all this?” We feel that in times of great suffering and trauma on an extensive scale God should somehow intervene, however, history tells us that He rarely does. There are two things to consider here, the first is the operation of nature and the sec...