"Hands On" - that's an appropriate topic to be thinking about for people who like to do crafts, isn't it? 'Creative Living' really is a 'hands on' group. You're working with your hands the whole time you're there.

In a way, the other groups that might have people here are also 'hands on'. Our Cancer Support Group is made up of people who are able to help each other because they've had something to do with cancer themselves. That makes them 'hand on' helpers. They've 'been there-done that!' And most of our other groups are like that - people who help each other through life's ups and downs because, whatever the problem, there is sure to be someone who has coped with it before and understands.

That's what the church is for, really. It's for people to share with each other in life's joys and sorrows. Our Bible reading in Matthew this morning reminded us that's what the church is here for. The Church is also here especially for us to share in and help each other grow in our faith - in our relationship with God. That last bit is what makes a church so very different from other self-help groups and organisations.

This morning we've been singing and reading about God. We've sung about his love, his patience (his mercy), his power (never fails), his ability to help and sustain us in times of trouble. We've read in Psalm 18 that he is a 'rock' and a 'fortress' where we can take refuge. We read in Isaiah that he will protect us from harmful situations and people.

Well, we're told all that, but how do we know it's true?

What are the criteria you look for when you go to someone for help? For instance, if your car needs repairing, do you go to someone who has never repaired a car before and maybe has never even driven a car?

I think when I look for someone to help me with a problem, I look for someone who has had experience. I'd rather have someone who's been there and who I know will understand my problem.

A few years ago there was a film called "The Doctor" about a doctor who did not really treat his patients with much understanding - until he got sick and had to go to hospital and be a patient. That experience turned his attitude to his patients right around. I think I'd prefer to deal with a doctor who knows what it's like to be a patient too.

Well, we worship a God who's been there-done that! It was so important to God that we understand exactly what he is like that he became a man so that we can see what he's like. He confined himself to a human body like yours and mine with all its restrictions and limitations - a bit like you or me confining ourselves to the body of a paraplegic, I guess. As a man - Jesus experienced living in much the same way as we do. So we know he really does understand any situation we might find ourselves in.

Reminds me of a story about a boy who was delivering papers on his bike and saw a sign in someone's front yard advertising puppies for sale. He went in and asked the price, but it was more than he could afford. As he played with the puppies another little pup came hobbling around the corner with a leg that stuck straight out,without a joint, totally stiff. The boy picked him up and said to the owner, "I can't afford one of those puppies, but will you take $5 for this one? That's all I have" the owner asked in surprise, "Why do you want that one? He'll never be able to walk and run properly." The boy pulled up his trouser leg to show a calliper on his own leg and said "Mister. This pup is going to need someone who understands to help him through life."

This is very different from any of the gods other religions worship. In Old Testament times the gods of other nations were fearsome - needing sacrifices, sometimes human, to appease them or to curry favour from them. They were gods that were remote from human beings, totally self involved in their own pleasures, either created humans as slaves or were created by humans for specific purposes, such as keeping the crops growing. Or they were natural things like the sun or the moon which people had no control over, but also were totally impersonal. Some of today's world religions still have gods like these.

The Old Testament stories of a God who created human beings because he wanted someone to be friends with must have been a mind-blower to people who worshipped pagan gods.

The God we worship is supremely powerful - he doesn't share some Mount Olympus with a whole community of other gods. He is also a person who made us to be like himself. So we know he loves, he has a sense of humour, he needs to communicate, he is creative - just like all you Creative Living people!

Jesus re-enforced that picture of God.

Jesus was born as a baby, so he knows what it's like to be helpless, dependent on others. He knows what it's like to be part of a family and work for a living.

Mark 6: v3 tells us that when he went to his home-town, people were amazed at the things he was saying and just couldn't believe what he said, because they saw him as 'the carpenter, Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, Simon and his sisters.' Mary and Joseph obviously ended up having quite a large family. Jesus, being the eldest would have had great responsibility when Joseph died, to be the head of the family, with all the worries that can entail.

He had personal friends. We know of Mary, Martha and Lazarus at Bethany. Jesus also went to dinner with a man called Simon at Bethany.

He knew what it was like to have people not like him. Many people hated him.

He knew what it was like for friends to let him down. Remember how all the disciples deserted him when he was arrested.

He knew what it was like to lose loved ones in death. Obviously, Joseph must have died while Jesus was a young man. Matthew 14 tells us how he needed to go away by himself to grieve when John the Baptist was murdered. John was his cousin. John 11 tells us how he wept when Lazarus died.

He led an extremely busy life and was at people's beck and call all the time. Often he had difficulty in finding time to himself for prayer, so he often spent whole nights in prayer.

He obviously knew what it was like to be hungry. That was why he twice asked the disciples to find food for the large crowd he had been talking to. We find these stories in Mark 6 and 8 of how he miraculously made a small amount of food go around huge crowds of people.

He liked and understood children - insisted on them being brought to him when the disciples tried to send them away. He hugged them and talked with them - made them feel important.

He wasn't wealthy, but he had to pay his taxes, just like we do. Matt. 22: 17

He got annoyed with people at times. In Matthew 21: 23 -27 and in Matthew 23 we read of him speaking to the chief priests and elders and the Pharisees very curtly and even rudely when they tried to bait him and trap him into saying things that would give them reason to have him arrested.

He got very angry about injustice. He was really 'hands-on' when he plaited his own whip to use when he created havoc amongst the stall holders in the Temple.

He experienced deep depression at the Mount of Olives just before he was arrested. On the cross, he experienced the feeling that God had deserted him. He experienced torture and excruciating pain.

I can't think of a human experience that God hasn't shared. So we know he really does understand. He truly is a 'hands on' God.

I can't think of anyone better qualified to go to for comfort, advice and support when I have needs.

I wonder sometimes about how other people cope with troubles if they don't go to God.

I called in at the Magic Shop in Niddrie to see if I could pick up some information about some of this 'new age' stuff that we read about. This stuff is the religions that many people are looking to these days for help. And they really are religions. I've heard for years about astrology and star signs and wonder how on earth people think that an impersonal star or planet could possibly have the answers to life's questions. I wonder how people can believe that a piece of rock can have healing powers.

I picked up a few pamphlets which offer to teach techniques for coping with life's hassles. I found that most of these tend to use the name of Christ or God somewhere in their literature. Not really a surprise, because even Satan believes in Jesus! He just doesn't accept his authority.

Listen to what the Bible says we need to do to find out whether we can really trust some of these religions:
(N.E.B. 1 John 4: 1 - 6.  But do not trust any and every spirit, my friends;  test the spirits, to see whether they are from God, for among those who have gone out into the world there are many prophets falsely inspired.  This is how we may recognise the Spirit of God: ewvery spirit which acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit which does not thus acknowledge Jesus is not from God.  This is what is meant by 'Antichrist';  you have been told that he was to come, and here he is, in the world already!
                                        But you, my children, are of God's family, and you have the mastery over these false prophets, because he who inspires you is greater than he who inspires the godless wotld.  They are of that world, and so therefore is their teaching; that is why the world listens to them.  But we belong to God, and a man who knows God listens to us, while he who does not belong to God refuses us a hearing.  That is how we distinguish the spirit of truth from the spirit of error.)

The way we recognise someone who is speaking for the true God is to ask what they say about Jesus. If they don't acknowledge Jesus as God, Lord and Saviour - you know they are not from God. It is some other religion probably serving some kind of pagan god.

I giggled a bit at some of the pamphlets I read, but really they're not funny at all!  Some promise all kinds of instant benefits - often material benefits.   Many are for courses or seminars on things of the spirit and they charge higher prices than I'm willing to pay.

Our God is the Creator. He designed and made us all. 'When something breaks down, go back to the manufacturer'!

Our God has 'been there' - we know he understands.

Most importantly, you don't have to pay $125 to learn some sort of techniques for contacting God. His gift is absolutely free. He is freely available to anyone who approaches him

You don't have to go out and put on a saffron robe and beg in the streets, or sit under a gum tree meditating in all weathers or even wear yourself to a frazzle trying to do multitudinous good works to qualify for his friendship. He loves you just as you are right now. His love cannot be earned. It is totally free.

God is constantly reaching out towards you and me in love. He wants to be our friend. He wants to help us cope with every problem or situation that we get ourselves into. He wants to share in all our joys and celebrations. All we need to do is ask him.

If you have never asked Jesus to be part of your life, why not ask him? Remember, he is the 'hands on God', he understands you and he's just aching to be your friend.

The story is told of the caretaker of a huge cathedral in Europe which had a most magnificent pipe organ. One Saturday afternoon as the caretaker was makinghis rounds, he heard footsteps echoing up the stone stairway to the organ loft.  A man in slightly tattered clothing came towards him.  "Excuse me, sir," the stranger said. "I have come from quite a distance to see the great organ in this cathedral.  Would you mind opening the console so I  can get a closer look at it?"  At first the caretaker refused, but the stranger was so insistent that he reluctantly gave in.  "May I sit on the bench?"  "Definitely not," said the caretaker. "What if the organist came in and found you sitting there? I would probably lose my job."  "Just for a moment", the persistent stranger begged.  So the caretaker agreed - just for a moment.  The caretaker noticed that the stranger seemed very much at home on the organ bench so he wasn't surprised when the stranger asked to be allowed to play the organ.  "No!"  said the caretaker. "No-one is allowed to play the organ except the cathedral organist."  The stranger's face fell.  He was so disappointed and reminded the caretaker of how far he had come to see this wonderful organ.  Finally the caretaker relented and told him he could play, but only a few notes, and then he would have to leave.  The stranger pulled out some stops and began to play.  Suddenly the cathedral was filled with the most beautiful muisic the caretaker had ever heard.  Soon, the unkempt stranger stopped playing and slid off the organ bench.  AS he started down the stone steps, teh caretaker called after him. "That was the most beautiful music I've ever heard in thei cathedral.  Who are you?"  The stanger paused and replied "Mendelssohn".  He was Felix Mendelssohn, one of the greatest organists and composers of the nineteenth century.  "Just think," the caretaker said to himself as the stranger left the cathedral, "I almost kept the master from playing his music in my cathedral."
 
God wants to make beautiful music with your life. If you send him away without letting him play, just think what a great opportunity you might be missing out on too.

Feel free to talk with me or Barbara or the leaders of the Creative Living or other groups you belong to if you want to do something about it.