The Keys To Freedom

Have you ever had intricate plans that have gone astray? Is the life that you are living now completely different to your expectations? Some people feel this way, as though they are chained to a chair, unable to reach their full potential.

These metaphorical chains could be chains of pride, illness, anxiety, low self-esteem or broken relationships.

Jesus wants His followers to live life to the full. God uses all things for His glory and He can break chains

For some people, chains are broken instantly and miraculously. For others, the breaking of chains is a long process over a number of years.

This week, Miriam spoke to us about Psalm 27.

1The LORD is my light and my salvation—

so why should I be afraid?

The LORD is my fortress, protecting me from danger,

so why should I tremble?

2When evil people come to devour me,

when my enemies and foes attack me,

they will stumble and fall.

3Though a mighty army surrounds me,

my heart will not be afraid.

Even if I am attacked,

I will remain confident.

4The one thing I ask of the LORD—

the thing I seek most—

is to live in the house of the LORD all the days of my life,

delighting in the LORD’s perfections

and meditating in his Temple.

5For he will conceal me there when troubles come;

he will hide me in his sanctuary.

He will place me out of reach on a high rock.

6Then I will hold my head high

above my enemies who surround me.

At his sanctuary I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy,

singing and praising the LORD with music.

7Hear me as I pray, O LORD.

Be merciful and answer me!

8My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.”

And my heart responds, “LORD, I am coming.”

9Do not turn your back on me.

Do not reject your servant in anger.

You have always been my helper.

Don’t leave me now; don’t abandon me,

O God of my salvation!

10Even if my father and mother abandon me,

the LORD will hold me close.

11Teach me how to live, O LORD.

Lead me along the right path,

for my enemies are waiting for me.

12Do not let me fall into their hands.

For they accuse me of things I’ve never done;

with every breath they threaten me with violence.

13Yet I am confident I will see the LORD’s goodness

while I am here in the land of the living.

14Wait patiently for the LORD.

Be brave and courageous.

Yes, wait patiently for the LORD.

(Psalm 27)

Why do we settle for a life in chains? David knew the chains of fear because he had people coming to kill him when he wrote the Psalm. He knew the pressure and uncertainty of leadership because was appointed with no experience at a young age. He knew the chains of temptation, shame and guilt, when he stole the wife of another man.

But David still knew God’s grace and knew his life didn’t need to remain wallowing in sin. This Psalm shows that he still prayed for a life of freedom and didn’t want to settle for current life

6 freedoms that are found in a Godly life:

A life free of fear

Then Bible tells us so many times not to be afraid. Jesus is our salvation and nothing can compare to Him. We don’t need to fear death because He is our risen Saviour.

A life in friendship with God

A friendship that makes us feel whole, satisfied and fulfilled. God encourages community in churches, but He also provides the cure to loneliness in Himself when we press into Him, His promises and His presence.

A life of worship

Verse 6 talks of singing and making music to the Lord. Life is better when we focus on being thankful for what we do have rather than wallowing in what we don’t have. Joy and happiness are different; happiness comes from our circumstances, whereas joy is a constant from knowing the Lord. Jesus came to die for us when we were still sinners and that is the source of our joy. Nothing can compare to Him and nothing can replace Him.

A life of security

Verse 10 speaks of the Lord’s adoption of those who come to Him. Remember that the Lord will never leave you or forsake you. He will never turn His back on you or cheat you out of a situation. He wants you to know the freedom of security as a child of God in His love.

A life always learning

Learning isn’t a chore. Everyday we get the opportunity to better ourselves and bring glory to God in our callings. How can you develop your gifts to glorify Him more and more? If God had called you to something, He will equip you.

A life confident in the goodness of God

Break the chains of worry and trust in His goodness. He is constant and faithful and regardless of what the future holds, He is with us and will be guiding us through it. Have confidence that we will see God’s goodness!

Review those freedoms and see which ones you can focus on in your life this week.

3 things David did to maximise his freedom in God:

Spending time in God’s presence

Are you walking in the light or walking in the darkness? Just because God gives us multiple chances, doesn’t mean we should run back to our sin.

Seek God’s face in everything

Learn to prefer God’s opinion. Use Scripture to discern whether something is right or wrong. His ways and thoughts are higher than ours. Always look into God’s Word before making big decisions.

Hold onto faith

Know that God is doing a work in your life. What He has started He will finish. God might not transform you straight away, so remember life with Him is a journey.

Love Each Other

25One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: “Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?”

26Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?”

27The man answered, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”c

28“Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!”

29The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

30Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road.

31“By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. 32A Temple assistantd walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side.

33“Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. 34Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. 35The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins,e telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’

36“Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked.

37The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.”

Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”

(Luke 10:25-37)

Jesus was the best storyteller that had ever lived. He told more stories than lots of others in the Bible.

So why tell stories? Aren’t stories just for children? Well, adults still love stories; take Lord of the Rings, for example. It’s a book enjoyed by many adults and children alike!

Looking at today’s passage, in verse 25, an expert in the religious law stood up. Jesus was telling the story to someone who knew the Scriptures as much as He did.

“Teacher what should I do to inherit eternal life?”, said the expert. The expert was clever enough to know that this is a wise question to ask. He was trying to test Jesus.

Instead of giving a straight answer, Jesus fires a question back at the man: “What does the law of Moses say?”

Jesus knew that the expert would know this. The issue for the religious expert was not that he didn’t know the Scripture, but that he didn’t know how to apply it. Sometimes that’s our problem as Christians: we know the Bible but we don’t know how to apply it to our lives.

“You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.”

We must love God, for He first loved us. He calls us His treasure. We don’t just say “I love you” to Him; we also have to show it in our actions. The letter from James shows that while only faith saves us, good works essential for displaying our faith, living a life of thankfulness to God for saving us.

Love God with your heart - our heart is our feeler, the source of our emotions. God wants us to honour Him in the way we control all our emotions, both the happiness and excitement but also the anger and the sadness. Let us honour Jesus in how we do this.

Love God with your soul - this is the immaterial part of you that makes you unique. God wants us to love Him with all that we are.

Love God with your strength - we should love God with everything that we have got, everything that is in our possession. If we have the power to bring a sacrifice of praise, to love God in places where it hurts, then let's do that.

Love God with your mind - in church these days we can fall into the trap of focusing on our emotions, on warm fuzzy feelings and experiences of the Holy Spirit. But we need to fix our minds on what is good, true and noble. We need to be a people who dig into the Scriptures, who wrestle with God to understand the Truth of what He has written. A lot of our wrestling with God is in our minds. Our life moves in the direction of our strongest thoughts, so we need to focus our minds on Jesus let God-honouring thoughts drive us.

Love your neighbour as yourself - the religious expert will have known all the previous items in the list, for they were a direct quote from the Old Testament, so Jesus focused on showing love for neighbour by telling a parable.

The Jewish man ignored the beat-up man. Sometimes we as Christians don’t see the needs around us and help non-Christians in society.

The Levite also ignored the beat up man.

But the Samaritan didn’t! Samaritans were culturally separated from the Jews and were looked down upon by them. According to Jews, the Samaritans were the lowest of the low. The social outcast decided to help the beat-up man, despite the beat-up man looking down upon him due to difference in social status.

Jesus asked who the religious expert's neighbour is. Clearly, it was the Samaritan.

The religious expert described the Samaritan as the “one who showed mercy” - that is also how God’s love for us is. For our sin, we deserve God’s wrath, but for those of us who are in Christ, we receive mercy instead, the withholding of God’s punishment.

So we need to look at who’s neighbour we can be, who we can show mercy to, even if they have hurt us. Ultimately none of us deserve God’s mercy and so we shouldn’t withhold mercy from those around us.

Let’s never be too spiritual that we forget the practical. We live in a material world with material needs. Let’s help those around us in need.

Love-Driven Truth

1Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. 2Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. 3Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. 4For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future.

5There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

6one God and Father of all,

who is over all, in all, and living through all.

11Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

14Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. 15Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. 16He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

25So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body. 26And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.”d Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry,

(Ephesians 4:1-6; 11-16; 25-26)

29Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.

30And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own,e guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption.

31Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. 32Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.

1Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. 2Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved usa and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.

(Ephesians 4:29-5:2)

Pastor John Townley, Leader of the Free Methodist Church UK, came to bring us our message this week, titled “Love-Driven Truth”. It was a word of encouragement for our church, because the best love and the greatest truth all come through a relationship with Jesus.

The Apostle John, in his biography of Jesus, described Jesus as being “full of grace and truth”. We need to be people of love and people of truth as Christians.

We are all painting pictures with our tongues by the words we speak. Some people, such as writers and comedians, make a living out of their words because they paint articulate poetic pictures with their tongues. Stand-up comedy, like that of Michael McIntyre and Peter Kay, is laughter-driven truth. In that context, their exaggerations are not a problem, because they skew the picture of reality for laughs and paint a picture using poetic licence.

In real life, however, we should not paint a false picture, because false truths can be hurtful to those around us.

And when it comes to speaking the truth, we must always ensure to speak the truth to one another in love.

When we detach love from truth, we end up with a lesser love, an incomplete love. In society today, love is affirmation. It affirms people in their sin.

Affirmation has a place in the toolkit of love; it is like a pump, good at inflating, but useless at mending. But before inflation, a flat tyre needs other tools like sandpaper and a patch to fix it.

God wants love and truth to be coupled together, for the health of our friendships, relationships and marriages. It’s at the heart of healthy relationships. When absent, we are left short-changed.

In society today, it’s fashionable to self-identify as a gender that hasn’t been gifted by God. Self-identification is wrong when it doesn’t comport with objective biological sex. If we tolerate self-identification that doesn’t match the truth, we aren’t being loving. People who feel something that isn’t the reality need pastoral care. Pastoral care doesn’t dictate the truth, but the truth of God dictates pastoral care.

We end up doing what’s right in our own eyes when we cast off God’s Truth. Tolerance doesn’t become a fruit of a tolerant society, but a tolerant society breeds intolerance against God’s Truth. We end up with people hating Christians because of belief in an absolute truth, an eternal hope, the eternal unchanging Truth of God. God is absolute Truth and He is the only hope for a unified society.

Gods way is higher than mere tolerance, it’s a self-sacrificial love, with everyone created in the Image of God, with a value. It acknowledges that we are all sinners in need of God’s forgiveness. We don’t force people into our faith, but instead we evangelise with love, both spoken words and actions.

When explaining God’s Word to people in a pastoral setting and calling out sin in a gentle, loving manner, this can be life-transforming. In contrast, exposing certain sins in public has the appearance of selfish pride. It’s far better to speak sensitive truth when a friendship is built with a person:

6Wounds from a sincere friend

are better than many kisses from an enemy.

(Proverbs 27:6)

Friends love each other enough to point out blind spots; it brings transformation and wholeness in life. Love is kind, and so weighs its words carefully. It doesn’t condemn, but confronts in a beautiful way.

For example, if you need the dishwasher to be emptied, you do not want to get in somebody’s face and shout “the dishwasher needs emptying”.

Instead, you could cook someone a meal and politely ask for assistance with the dishwasher whilst cooking. Love is an action, a verb.

Truth without love is brutality, and love without truth is hypocrisy. In society today, this message is so important. Love-driven truth is attractive, yet truth-driven truth with an absence of love is repugnant.

Love-driven truth is counter-cultural. Most people don’t (and can’t) do it these days. Displaying love-driven truth is a sign of our maturity as believers in Christ.

Do you need Jesus? Without Jesus, we are messed up. If we measure ourselves by own standards, we don’t even make it! When we measure ourselves by God’s standards, we fall short even more.

9But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

(1 John 1:9)

If we admit we are messed up, there is forgiveness for us.

Living at peace with yourself is the most important thing because you take yourself wherever you go. Only peace with God can provide true inner peace.

Come, Follow Me

Have you ever felt like you wouldn’t account for anything? This week, Pastor Ian from Garstang Free Methodist Church brought the message as we worshiped outdoors in Wyre Estuary Country Park.

Teachers and parents can sometimes write off troublesome children as not accounting for anything, and this negative prediction can overshadow a child for the rest of their life and become a self-fulfilling prophecy as the child believes that they will always be a failure.

What’s worse is that this can affect how the child perceives God throughout their life, and they might live a life with no interest in God because they believe that God also considers them as useless and good-for-nothing.

16One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simong and his brother Andrew throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. 17Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” 18And they left their nets at once and followed him.

19A little farther up the shore Jesus saw Zebedee’s sons, James and John, in a boat repairing their nets. 20He called them at once, and they also followed him, leaving their father, Zebedee, in the boat with the hired men.

(Mark 1:16-20)

2000 years ago, the Jewish education system worked like so.

Firstly, it was only for males.

The first tier was for ages 6-10 years. The Jews believed that the children should be “stuffed like an ox” with the Torah. The children had to memorise the entire Torah, the entirety of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy and Numbers.

The second tier of education was for 11-14 year olds. They had to learn the entire Old Testament, so the Writings, Prophets and Psalms, in addition to the Torah. It wasn’t uncommon for a 14 year old to have committed the entire Old Testament to memory!

The boys were tested by the Rabbis asking them theological questions. For each theological question, they had to rephrase it in a different way, including the answer. Imagine the following conversation between a maths teacher and student, and then imagine the conversation with theology and Bible verses instead of maths:

Teacher: “What is 4 multiplied by 2?”

Student: “What is 8 divided by 2?"

As the boys became young men, they had to sit a further exam, likely as complex as an Oxford or Cambridge exam today. They would be questions that asked for Scriptures that referenced other Scriptures, such as “Give me 4 references to Deuteronomy that appear in Habakkuk in order?” Very complicated!

This education was known as the “Rabbi’s Yoke”. It was a heavy complex burden, and as we review it, we can see why Jesus described His burden as “light” in comparison!

The Jewish students had to follow their Rabbi around everywhere they went, and Orthodox Jews still do that to this very day!

Following the very difficult examination step, anybody who didn’t pass was told to go home, learn a trade, have a good life and pray that their sons would do better than them. In other words, they were told that they wouldn’t account for anything.

As you can see, this system shows the context behind Jesus’ disciples lifestyles and why they were so willing to drop everything to follow Jesus. They will have failed their Scripture tests and been rejected by their Rabbis. Jesus didn’t choose the most educated people as Hid followers, He chose those who the culture saw as failures. Jesus was planning to transform them and make something of them more than they had ever thought!

So ask yourself today: the risen Christ is asking you to follow Him. You don’t have to work to earn His favour, He is calling you to merely follow Him and trust in Him as your Saviour and Lord.

Will you follow Him?

Refresh, Renew, Revive

This week, Stephen brought a message to perfectly fit hand-in-glove with our church camping trip.

Often, our English words have very interesting roots. For example, “telephone” comes from the Greek words “tele” (meaning far away) and “phone” (meaning make a sound). So a telephone means to receive/make sounds from far away.

So our camping trip is called “Refresh, Renew, Revive”, and the root of all those words is “re”, which is Latin for “again and again”.

The concept of “again and again” is very applicable to the Christian life.

God refreshes us by the power of the Holy Spirit again and again.

God renews us every day, again and again.

God revives us and makes us more like Christ again and again each day.

But just as God does these things, we also have the responsibility to go to God for those things. We all sin and fall short of God’s glory each day, and we need to go to Him to be refreshed, renewed and revived.

God wants to refresh us

The Bible tells us that we can become spiritually thirsty.

37On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! 38Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’”e 39(When he said “living water,” he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him. But the Spirit had not yet been given,f because Jesus had not yet entered into his glory.)

(John 7:37-39)

We can go to Jesus and we can drink spiritually through time spent with Him. This can be in prayer, in worship or in Bible study, letting Him speak into our lives through the Holy Spirit.

The Bible actually gives us an example of this. Just look at the desperation of King David for the spiritual nourishment that comes from time worshiping the Lord:

1O God, you are my God;

I earnestly search for you.

My soul thirsts for you;

my whole body longs for you

in this parched and weary land

where there is no water.

2I have seen you in your sanctuary

and gazed upon your power and glory.

3Your unfailing love is better than life itself;

how I praise you!

4I will praise you as long as I live,

lifting up my hands to you in prayer.

5You satisfy me more than the richest feast.

I will praise you with songs of joy.

(Psalm 63:1-5)

We can be made new again

If you’ve ever seen the process of upcycling furniture, it’s fascinating. People take worn down pieces of furniture and restore them so they are like new again, sometimes very much like they originally were, or sometimes modified with a different, more contemporary finish, such as shabby chic.

God does this with us:

17This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

(2 Corinthians 5:17)

Not only are we made into a new creation, but from the day we come to Christ until the day we go to be with the Lord, He is working a restorative process within us called sanctification, where we are being progressively made more like Jesus, more holy and more mature in our faith.

We all have days and times where we feel like an old piece of furniture, threadbare, good for the skip, condemned. We can be plagued with financial issues, family problems, and depression and anxiety to name but a few .

All these things can make us feel disconnected from God.

But just look at how God can empower a Christian:

28Have you never heard?

Have you never understood?

The LORD is the everlasting God,

the Creator of all the earth.

He never grows weak or weary.

No one can measure the depths of his understanding.

29He gives power to the weak

and strength to the powerless.

30Even youths will become weak and tired,

and young men will fall in exhaustion.

31But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength.

They will soar high on wings like eagles.

They will run and not grow weary.

They will walk and not faint.

(Isaiah 40:28-31)

God fulfils His promises, and if you feel like you need to return that renewing power of Jesus, know that His mercies are new each morning. His mercies are renewed. His mercies are new “again and again”.

22The faithful love of the LORD never ends!b

His mercies never cease.

23Great is his faithfulness;

his mercies begin afresh each morning.

24I say to myself, “The LORD is my inheritance;

therefore, I will hope in him!”

25The LORD is good to those who depend on him,

to those who search for him.

26So it is good to wait quietly

for salvation from the LORD.

(Lamentations 3:22-26)

Each day, we need to be bringing our struggles and trials to God.

If you are not a Christian, consider giving your life to Jesus and you will no longer be condemned. If you are living in Christ, you are a new creation and need only be reminded of His promises by spending time in the Word.

Jesus came to bring us new life

Question: do you have a close personal relationship with Jesus Christ? Do you know what He did on the cross?

If yes, then that’s brilliant news! Points 1-2 apply and you can seek God and be renewed daily again and again. This applies to you:

8And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. 9We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. 10When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. 11So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.

(Romans 6:8-11)

If your answer is “no" or "not sure", then the Gospel could be life changing for you.

God created a world perfect with Adam and Eve. There was no death, no darkness, no depression or anxiety. This didn’t last due to Adam and Eve's decision in the Garden of Eden. Humans are now separate to God, sinful and self-serving, surpassing the truth of God in unrighteousness. We make decisions based on our own selfish nature, we don’t respect life, we lust, we are jealous, we gossip, swear and are not attentive to God.

There are consequences for our actions, however. Sin has consequences. The Bible tells us wages of sin is death. We are broken people living in a broken world.

God, however, plans to one day make the earth perfect again and have His children in relationship forever with Him.

The Old Testament points to the coming of a Saviour, Jesus. Jesus came, lived the sinless life that nobody could ever live, and was nailed to the cross by the Romans to pay for sin that nobody could ever pay for in this life. Jesus could have stepped down from the cross but He remained on the cross, His love for people kept Him on the cross.

Then Jesus rose from the dead, and in doing so, He took the whole of death on so that for those who believe in Him, we can walk out of the tomb one day too.

16“For this is how God loved the world: He gaveg his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

(John 3:16)

We can have life after forgiveness and be revived. It’s about God’s love and grace, and our faith in Christ: not “trying” to keep the rules to earn forgiveness, but “trusting” in the one who kept the rules one our behalf.

Now is the time to be made alive again!

Treasures Of Truth

Geoff came and gave an all-age message, speaking to us this week all about the treasure of the Kingdom of God, and some treasure truths of the Bible and the Christian life.

44“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field.

(Matthew 13:44)

The man was so thrilled about finding the treasure. He was probably working for someone and digging the field. The only way to own the treasure was to buy the whole field!

Some other “treasure” found in the Bible

Loved By God

Nothing can illustrate God’s love better than this Scripture. He loves us all:

16“For this is how God loved the world: He gaveg his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

(John 3:16)

Forgiveness Of Sins

We have all done things wrong by the way we’ve lived. God loves us and knows us. To have our sins forgiven, we need to repent and believe in Jesus as our Lord and Saviour

8But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

(Romans 5:8)

Freedom From Guilt And Regret

Some Christians still walk around like they have a big bag of guilt on their back. God makes us into clean and new people, and we ought to walk that way, rather than walking as though we are still dragged down by the past.

5Finally, I confessed all my sins to you

and stopped trying to hide my guilt.

I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the LORD.”

And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.

(Psalm 32:5)

Peace With God

As we choose to follow Christ, He fills our hearts with peace. Even when things around us aren’t great, we can still have that peace.

7Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

(Philippians 4:7)

Family Of God

We have a Royal Family in the United Kingdom. William and Kate are heirs to the throne and will one day be King and Queen. Kate had a life and a career before marrying William and she had to give it up to become a Princess. When we become Christians, we are adopted into God’s family. We become heirs of His Kingdom and will one day inherit the earth.

6God places the lonely in families;

he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy.

But he makes the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.

(Psalm 68:6)

Eternal Life

As soon as someone becomes a Christian, they become spiritually alive and will live in eternity with Jesus forever. As Christians, we don’t need to fear death, because we will enter straight into the presence of Jesus once we leave our current lives.

People around the world find this treasure and are willing to give everything for it. Jesus gave everything for us. Let’s be ready to give everything for Him.

Why Worship? The Purpose of Praise

This week, Scott brought a message all about worship.

What is worship?

A definition from a concordance (a resource like an index mixed with a Bible dictionary) says this:

“Giving God great respect, honour and devotion“

Worship can encompass a lot of activities. In the church, it’s mainly musical, but it’s also about how we live our lives:

1And so, dear brothers and sisters,a I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.b

(Romans 12:1-2)

So while worship is largely what we think of as singing in church, this verse means we can live our lives each day in a worshipful manner.

It’s important to remember that in addition to just singing, you can let your worship spill out into the day to day stuff and you can have a worship-driven life.

Worship is first and foremost an encounter with the living and holy God

1It was in the year King Uzziah dieda that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. 2Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3They were calling out to each other,

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Heaven’s Armies!

The whole earth is filled with his glory!”

4Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke.

5Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.”

(Isaiah 6:1-5)

Did you notice what they said as they worshiped?

Holy holy holy.

When Jews wanted to emphasise something, they used to repeat it several times. They didn’t really have the concept of bold text or italics or underlines back then, so if they wanted to hammer a key point home, they would repeat it.

So God is “holy, holy holy”.

And here’s another key point that Isaiah was hammering home: we are not holy holy holy!

Notice how Isaiah contrasts his own sinfulness, his “filthy lips” as he puts it, with how majestic, how big, how perfect God is.

It’s easy to slip into an attitude of “oh, we’re living in New Testament times, God’s just all about grace and love and mercy now, He was a lot more holy back then and all about the law”.

The truth is that God is still holy now and still cares about our obedience in New Testament times. You can read Acts 5, all about Ananias and Sapphira, they existed in New Testament times, lied to God and were punished by Him.

The other thing is God was still all about grace and love and mercy back then in Old Testament times just as He is now.

Abraham was counted righteous not because of his works, but because of his faith, and the same with King David.

In the Old Testament times, the people who were declared righteous were always declared righteous because of faith, not because of works, and you can read more about that in the letter to the Hebrews, which has a section called the Hall of Faith.

And we see God’s love and mercy poured out in this Isaiah chapter, straight after where we left off, in verse 6:

6Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.”

(Isaiah 6:6-7)

As much as God is our friend, He is also our sovereign Lord, and so we shouldn’t be approaching worship frivolously or lightheartedly. We have to come sincere and with respect.

Remember that the God of the Bible is big!

He isn’t just like a magic genie that grants wishes and answers prayers (although He does answer prayer)…He is the King of the Universe!

Do you come to worship casually or do you come to worship with the attitude as though you’re about to encounter a king?

A true experience of worship is often a direct result of preparation for worship

The phrase “you get out what you put in” is quite appropriate with worship.

Each Sunday morning before coming to church, if you want to worship God as He wants to be worshiped, which according to Jesus, is “in Spirit and Truth”, your heart should be prepared.

Spend time in prayer, focus on the truths of who God is and what He’s done!

In the Old Testament, much of the worship involved the Jews following physical step by step rituals, but as well the rituals themselves, they also had step by step instructions on how to prepare these rituals:

1The LORD said to Moses, 2“Give these instructions to the people of Israel: The offerings you present as special gifts are a pleasing aroma to me; they are my food. See to it that they are brought at the appointed times and offered according to my instructions.

(Numbers 28:1-2)

Those verses are found at the start of a passage listing a set of instructions the Israelites had to follow as part of bringing their offering to God.

Notice how God wanted stuff doing at certain times and according to specific instructions.

It’s quite interesting because at face value, it just comes across as just a list of religious rituals, but when you delve deeper into it, you notice that following these rituals took time, and the whole point of them was to give people the opportunity to prepare their hearts for worship.

Jesus calls us to worship in Spirit and in Truth, and when you focus on the truth of the Gospel, that Jesus died to pay for your sin and give you eternal life, you can’t help but feel grateful, and God delights in hearts that are thankful and grateful.

Genuine worship results in obedience to Jesus

In Matthew 17, Jesus had taken some of His followers up a mountain, and a bright light comes from Heaven and transforms Jesus from looking like a normal guy to where His face shone like the sun. And then, in verse 5, it says

5But even as he spoke, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy. Listen to him.”

(Matthew 17:5)

In amongst witnessing the miracle of the Transfiguration, God wanted the disciples to focus and “Listen to Him” - that is so important.

Jesus speaks not only in the Gospels, but the whole of Scripture is God-breathed and the whole of Scripture taken in context explains who God is and what He has done and is God speaking.

When you grasp the Good news and listen to Jesus and take a hold of Him, the only adequate response is worship. 

The natural progression for people who worship Jesus is that they start to let that worship flow out into day-to-day life in the form of obedience.

They start to act like Jesus in the way they treat others around them.

It means you can go to work and do it for the glory of God as an act of worship.

It means that you can love your spouse or your partner as an act of worship.

It means when you’re raising your children, whether it be treating them when they’ve been good or disciplining them if they’ve not been so good, you can consciously do it as an act of worship.

It means that on difficult days, you can choose to follow God even when the path is difficult, and you can do it as an act of worship.

Some practical things you can do as you worship too:

• If you know the words of the song and you’re feeling confident, maybe close your eyes while you’re singing.

• If you’re feeling even braver, maybe raise your arms in the air as an outward expression of your worship, as a sign that you surrender all that you are to God.

• And then treasure your time of worship and let that flow out into the way you live your life this week!

Getting The Wind Back In Your Sails

This week, Sam came and preached a message about how to get back up again when we’ve been knocked down in life.

We’ve had a year and a half of the Coronavirus pandemic, and many of us feel as though we’ve been “knocked down”, whether it be through catching the virus, financial and work situations changing as a result of the pandemic, losing family and friends to the virus, or even just loneliness from the isolation of the lockdowns. It has been a time of confusion, grief and loss for all of us.

What we need to remember is that God’s plans are above our plans, and that He is working all things out for the good of those who love Him.

Throughout her message, Sam used the analogy of a boat with a sail. The boat represented our lives, and her message’s purpose was to show us how we can sail this vast ocean of live hope-filled, happy and joyful.

When the wind fills the sail, the boat has power to move. As Christians, our desire should be that the Holy Spirit is that wind, propelling us forward into a life-changing, ever-growing relationship with Jesus.

8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

(Acts 1:8)

How incredible that we receive power to be witnesses for Jesus. We should ask ourselves where our Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and ends of the earth is for us? Speaking about Jesus to non-Christian friends and family can be faith-building for us, and might end up changing lives as God uses us as tools to further His Gospel through society.

The book of Acts shows us that the Holy Spirit is not just a gentle breeze, but a rushing wind powerful enough to sweep people off their feet. We need to be guided by God the Holy Spirit.

8The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”

(John 3:8)

In the boat analogy, the Holy Spirit is the wind in our sails.

So how do we catch the wind of the Holy Spirit? How do we live such a life?

1) Free the sails

We might have things in our lives holding us back. These could be anything from finances to family issues and anything in between. If we are like a boat with no sales, we will lack direction. We need to surrender control to God.

20My old self has been crucified with Christ.e It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

(Galatians 2:20)

As Christians, we have Christ living within us, so we ought to listen to Him.

2) Keep the boat moving

Life is full of distractions and these distractions can easily become sins when they draw us away from God.

The best thing to do is to avoid dwelling on these, taking them to God to deal with and moving on.

When we have times where we hit rocks or storms (continuing with the boat analogy), we can know that we have the comfort of God to help us and move us on.

Read the Bible! God’s Word is powerful and changes us so that we act more Christ-like in our character the more time we spend meditating upon it.

Spend time with God in prayer, both praying and listening.

Don’t base decisions on feelings. Feelings are inconsistent and are often a reflection of our current state of brain chemistry and hormones rather than a reflection of our true situation. Instead, our lives should be based upon the truth of God and His Word. We have Christ, and therefore, like the Apostle Paul, we can endure all things as we live for Jesus:

13For I can do everything through Christ,d who gives me strength.

(Philippians 4:13)

3) Keep your eyes on the horizon

Be a forward-looking person, looking to the future instead of the past. If all we do is focus on ourselves and on the past, we will end up living a life that goes round and round in circles, potentially making the same mistakes again and again.

We ought to see problems, fix them and move on, but understand that there will be more problems ahead. The more we focus and plan for the future, the more we can see obstacles and issues coming towards us that we can avoid. We can see potential sinful situations.

Ultimately, we should look forward to the day when we will see Jesus face to face, and, as His Word says, He will wipe away every tear and there will be no more tears, crying, sadness or pain. That day is coming, but in the meantime, live everyday with the joy of the Holy Spirit, chasing after Jesus and learning how to live more like Him. He is the ultimate prize.

What We Believe // Pneumatology

This week Cath came and taught on the topic of pneumatology, which is the academic term for the study of the Holy Spirit.

The word “pneuma” is Greek for spirit, wind or breath, and is also the root for the word “pneumatic”, which of course is a type of air power, often used in tools.

We can read in the Bible that people are made up of three parts: body, soul and spirit.

The body is the physical part of a person, and refers to the flesh, bones, brain, internal organs etc.

The soul is the heart, mind, will and emotions of a person.

The spirit is the non-physical supernatural part of us that allows us to connect with the Lord and have a relationship with Him.

We need to have a spirit to connect with God because God is Spirit and the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, is how He works in this universe:

6Then he said to me, “This is what the LORD says to Zerubbabel: It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.

(Zechariah 4:6)

Who is the Holy Spirit?

So a few weeks ago Pastor Jonny spoke to us about the Trinity: the Father, the Son (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is the hands-on facilitator in the work of creation and redemption in this world. He also actively brings glory to the Father and the Son by His works and actions. He is the breath in which we live and move and have our being.

In the Old Testament, He was known as the Spirit of God or the Spirit of the LORD (Yahweh).

Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as an advocate, One who testifies about the truth. The Holy Spirit speaks to us, convicting us of sin and convincing us of the Truth of God’s Word. He illuminates Scripture for us and ensures that we no longer see it as a complex and seemingly-irrelevant book and instead see it as what it truly is: the very Word of God, authoritative in all areas of life.

16After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were openedg and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him. 17And a voice from heaven said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.”

(Matthew 3:16-17)

In this early chapter of Matthew, we see Jesus being baptised, and this is a rare part of Scripture where we get to see all three Persons of the Trinity working together in unison. We read of the Holy Spirit descending like a dove from Heaven as Jesus gets baptised, all while the Father speaks in an audible voice above.

The phrase “Holy Spirit” is almost explicitly referred to in the New Testament, but if we read the Old Testament with the lens of the Holy Spirit, we can see references to Him all over the place.

He was hovering over the waters at the start of Creation in Genesis.

Pharaoh saw the Spirit in Joseph in Exodus.

The Israelites were led by the Spirit out of Egypt, across the Red Sea and towards the Promised Land.

He inspired the various leadership roles of Ancient Israel, from judges, to prophets, priests and kings.

Crucially, He was with Jesus as He did His ministry, as we see prophecied in Isaiah 11, which was fulfilled when the Spirit descended on Him at His baptism as we saw earlier:

2And the Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—

the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,

the Spirit of counsel and might,

the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.

(Isaiah 11:2)

Turning to the New Testament, we see the Holy Spirit active in the book of Acts and the Epistles as the church began to grow and spread across Europe.

The Holy Spirit’s ministry is pretty obvious in the pages of the New Testament.

He gave the Apostles the right words to speak when arrested on Jesus’ behalf.

He fills us with joy, hope, life and peace.

He helps us in our weaknesses.

He prays for us when we don’t know how to pray for ourselves.

He convicts us of sin, teaches, witnesses, guides, supports and comforts us.

Most importantly, for every single believer, the Holy Spirit is present and available for us:

7But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocatea won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you. 8And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment. 9The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in me. 10Righteousness is available because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more. 11Judgment will come because the ruler of this world has already been judged.

12“There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now. 13When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. 14He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me.

(John 16:7-14)

As we can see in this passage, after Jesus left earth, He left His Spirit to fill His people and minister to us in a new way, beginning at Pentecost:

1On the day of Pentecosta all the believers were meeting together in one place. 2Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. 3Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. 4And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages,b as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.

(Acts 2:1-4)

38Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far awayh—all who have been called by the Lord our God.”

(Acts 2:38-39)

Everybody in the New Testament, Jews and Gentiles, who became a Christian, received the Holy Spirit.

What does being filled by the spirit look like?

In Acts it was quite dramatic. For others it can be quite gentle. For instance, the founder of Methodism, John Wesley, didn’t have any dramatic encounter,  but described having a warmth in His heart.

What are the marks of the Holy Spirit?

The evidence of the Holy Spirit being present in a person is usually that of a changed life.

In Ezekiel’s prophecy about the coming Kingdom of God, which we can see fulfilled in Jesus and His Church, we see a promise:

26And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.b

(Ezekiel 36:26)

We also see the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5, the evidence that the Spirit is active in a person’s life:

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

What are spiritual gifts?

Often, when spiritual gifts are mentioned, people think of dramatic things that we see in Acts, like tongues and miracles.

On a day-to-day basis, spiritual gifts are often much more subtle and diverse. The Bible lists gifts that are much more ordinary in appearance, yet no less supernatural, such as administration, mercy and teaching. The Holy Spirit equips Christians to serve the Body of Christ, the Church.

If you want to read more about spiritual gifts, Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12-14 and Ephesians 4 are chapters that cover this topic in more detail.

Warnings

We are in a spiritual battle and we need to guard ourselves against spirits that are not of God.

This means we ought to avoid mediums, horoscopes and astrology, amongst other things. God holds and ordains the future, and it’s not in our interest for us to know the future, so we shouldn’t try and seek it. Additionally, the spirits behind these acts of divination could be deliberately deceptive in the information they might reveal.

So how do we know the difference between the Spirit, who we can trust, and a spirit that we cannot trust?

2This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God: If a person claiming to be a propheta acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God. 3But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here.

(1 John 4:2-3)

Psychic mediums, astrology and other such spiritual arts don’t point to Jesus, and so they cannot be trusted. They could be empowered by spirits that serve Satan, so should be avoided.

Another warning is that we shouldn’t make up false prophecy or pretend to have spiritual experiences for the sake of it, whether it be to try and copy other people in church, or whether it be because we’re feeling particularly emotional. The Holy Spirit always speaks in line with God’s Word, and there are stern warnings against false prophets. In fact, in Ancient Israel had the death penalty for false prophets (Deuteronomy 18:20-22).

Blaspheming against the Spirit, otherwise known as the Unforgivable Sin, is the conscious and hardened opposition to the Truth of Jesus all the way up until a person’s death. King Saul in the Old Testament is an example of a person hardening themselves against God.

How to stay in Spirit?

It’s important to remain close to God, praying and repenting of sin daily. Romans 8 is an incredible passage on life in the Holy Spirit:

1So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2And because you belong to him, the powera of the life-giving Spirit has freed youb from the power of sin that leads to death. 3The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature.c So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. 4He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.

5Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. 6So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. 7For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. 8That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.

9But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) 10And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you lifed because you have been made right with God. 11The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.

12Therefore, dear brothers and sisters,e you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. 13For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature,f you will live. 14For all who are led by the Spirit of God are childreng of God.

15So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children.h Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”i 16For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.

(Romans 8:1-16)

This concludes our series on systematic theology. We hope you’ve been blessed over the past few weeks by all the blog posts and sermon videos.

What We Believe // Soteriology

Doug came to bring us a message on salvation this week. The technical term for the theology of salvation is soteriology.

Salvation can be summed up quite simply like so:

9If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

(Romans 10:9)

Jesus is Lord! A controversial statement today, just as it was back then. Jesus had the appearance of being nothing more than a mere carpenter, one of several siblings of ordinary people. He began His ministry aged 30 and was crucified aged 33.

Once He was buried, His followers began to return to their old lives, but three days later, Jesus reappeared and spoke to them about who He really is. In the first century, Jews were looking forward to a Messiah who would defeat the Romans and claim lordship over them, but Jesus’ Lordship is bigger than that. He is Lord of all past, present and future.

39One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed, “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it!”

(Luke 23:39)

One of the criminals hanging beside Jesus mocked Him, but the other criminal believed Jesus’ claims about Himself.

40But the other criminal protested, “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die? 41We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.” 42Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”

43And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

(Luke 23:40-43)

Crucially, Jesus confirmed that the believing criminal would be part of the Kingdom of God.

Faith is key.

We see in the book of Acts that the Apostles spread the Gospel far and wide across the Mediterranean and people were saved.

30Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

31They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household.”

(Acts 16:30-31)

Let’s dive into the theology of all this! As Romans 5:1 states, we are justified (declared righteous) by God, having peace with Him, through the blood of Jesus.

Before someone is a Christian, they are under the wrath of God according to Romans 1. If someone dies in this state, they inherit eternity in Hell. There are no works that anyone can do to become righteous, because all humans have inherited a sinful nature from Adam, separating everybody from God from birth. People are naturally what the Bible calls “in Adam”.

So often, people ask themselves how they can be right with God. Many fall into false religious systems that include good works to try and earn the favour of God. The Bible tells us that good works cannot earn salvation, they are like filthy rags. God’s standard is perfection, and nobody can reach it. Nobody but Jesus. To try and live a life working to God’s standard of perfection would be like trying to climb a ladder to the moon. We can only be declared righteous before God if God can look at us as though we have lived the perfect life of Jesus.

There will be many people who will stand before God having done amazing works such as feeding the hungry and looking after the poor, but without faith in Jesus, it’s worthless. There will even be people who did these good works in the name of Jesus, but without saving faith, a trust in Jesus’ perfect work on the cross that leads to a deep relationship, a person is lost to a Christless eternity.

22On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ 23But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’

(Matthew 7:22-23)

So that’s the bad news. Now for the good news!

When someone believes in Jesus as Lord and Saviour, they become a Christian and they are declared righteous by the grace of God. They are now no longer “in Adam” but are “in Christ". When someone becomes a Christian, they are no longer under the wrath of God, but they now have peace with God and inherit eternity in Heaven.

Isn’t it amazing that God expresses so much grace and grants eternal forgiveness to people who don’t deserve it. Salvation comes from the Father’s love. The Father gave His Son, Jesus Christ, to come to this earth, live a sinless life (because we could never do so) and then die a sinner’s death (a death that we deserve, but that Jesus didn’t), so that we could have eternal life. God is both perfect love and perfect justice.

If a judge in a court of law decided to declare a guilty man innocent, while there was enough evidence to convict him of a severe crime, people would cry out that an injustice had taken place. In a similar way, it would be an injustice for God to declare us guilty people innocent when we have spent our lives sinning against Him…unless our sin was punished. If our sin goes unpunished, we cannot say that justice has taken place, and so the God of the Bible is the only God who can offer forgiveness while maintaining perfect justice. In other words, to meet God’s justice, a person’s sin must be paid for either by Christ on the cross, or by the guilty person in Hell for all eternity.

If you don’t fully grasp salvation, it’s worth considering the most famous Bible verse in church history:

16“For this is how God loved the world: He gaveg his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

(John 3:16)

Believe in Jesus today and come to know the amazing love of God on a deep and personal level.

What We Believe // Christology

This week, Pastor Jonny brought the next instalment of our series on systematic theology. Most people who have been Christians a while are systematic theologians. This is where we systematically organise and categorise our beliefs.

We cannot just pick and choose what parts of the Bible to believe. We must take everything the Bible says and live life in accordance to it.

For example, we cannot simply say that God is love without also saying that God is justice, because the Bible shows He is both.

God considers sin to be so serious that He cannot let it go unpunished, and so it must be paid for. But God is also love, hence why He sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross to pay for sin. So the choice is yours: will you pay for your own sin in Hell for eternity, or will you repent and trust Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, to have peace with God and be in His presence for all eternity?

So who is Jesus?

Even secular sources admit that Jesus was a real man, many believing that He was a politician and a troublemaker. The Bible, however, tells us that Jesus is fully God and fully man.

He needs to be fully man so that He could deal with God’s wrath on man’s behalf. God’s wrath must be quenched for anybody to be in right relationship with Him. If Jesus isn’t fully man, then nobody could ever be saved.

Yet Jesus also needs to be fully God so that He could deal with the problem of death. He died on the cross, but defeated death and was resurrected, ascending into Heaven where He currently still resides.

Jesus is not simply God disguised as a human, He is fully God and fully human. His flesh is not just a disguise, it’s part of who He is.

6Though he was God,a

he did not think of equality with God

as something to cling to.

7Instead, he gave up his divine privilegesb;

he took the humble position of a slavec

and was born as a human being.

When he appeared in human form,d

8he humbled himself in obedience to God

and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

(Philippians 2:6-8)

Throughout the Old Testament, there were prophecies about Jesus, Emmanuel, “God with us”.

When Jesus walked the earth, He acknowledged God as His Father (referring to the Father in the Trinity, as discussed last week) while at the same time claiming to forgive people of their sin. Nobody but God can forgive sin, which can only mean He is God Himself.

Jesus is also described as the Word of God. Whenever we read about the Word of God in Scripture, this is referring to Jesus.

There are also various leadership roles in the Old Testament point to Jesus in the New Testament.

The prophets spoke God’s truth into the world, and Jesus did the same when He walked the earth.

The priests made the sacrifices for the people of God and interceded on their behalf. Jesus does that for His church today.

The Old Testament Kings ruled ancient Israel, and so Jesus rules His Kingdom as King too.

Therefore, Jesus can be described as Prophet, Priest and King.

Adam brought sin into the world, but God promised a Second Adam would take sin out of the world. This is Jesus. He is the Messiah, the prophesied One who was foretold throughout the Old Testament.

When the Pharisees were trying to trip Jesus up in the New Testament accounts of His life, Jesus responded that He didn’t come to abolish the Mosaic Law, but to fulfil it.

There were covenant promises fulfilled in Jesus too:

Abraham was promised by God that through him, all nations would be blessed.

Jesus fulfilled this by bringing the Good News out of Judaism and to all the nations through the Gospel, and there are people of all nations blessed by Jesus. Jesus, of course, was descended from Abraham.

Moses was given the Law by God; a threefold set of standards for the people of Israel to live by: the Ten Commandments, the civil law, and the ceremonial law. We will see below how Jesus fulfilled it.

The Ten Commandments are impossible for people to keep due to our sinful nature, but Jesus kept them on our behalf. We are expected to strive to keep the Ten Commandments as best we can, out of the thankfulness of our hearts to Jesus for saving us, yet none of us can keep them perfectly.

The civil law is God’s standard for a Biblical society and was used as the foundation for English Common Law, the foundation of the legal structures of Western nations today.

The ceremonial law were the various feasts, rules and animal sacrifices for sins that the Israelites had to keep, including dietary laws (like not eating shellfish) and a Holiness Code to separate Israel from the surrounding Pagan cultures (like not wearing garments with mixed fibres). The ceremonial law was fulfilled in Jesus, as He was our once-for-all sacrifice, meaning we don’t need to strive to keep these laws anymore.

In Jesus we are free from the condemnation that the law brought!

King David was prophecied to that from his line would come the ultimate King of Israel, the best ruler to ever walk the earth. All the kings came but none were fully righteous and none fulfilled the prophecy. Jesus came and fulfilled that prophecy in an unexpected way, however. He was not a conquering earthly king with a palace and servants, like David and the other kings. Instead, Jesus was, and is, the King of Kings, the ruler of Heaven and Earth, growing His Kingdom to this day.

He is the Lamb of God, our Saviour, our friend, and the Lord of our lives.

The Bible tells us that Jesus isn’t dormant now. He is in Heaven interceding on our behalf before the Father. He’s so amazing, loving us enough to forgive the sins past, present and future, of all who come to Him as Lord and Saviour.

Pastor Jonny covered a lot of ground this week, but it’s important to know this stuff because it’s where the rubber hits the road with our personal relationships with God.

He is the lamb that was slain. Is He your Saviour? Is He your Lord? We will all meet Jesus one day, so it’s important to consider Him and His claims.

What We Believe // The Trinity

Pastor Jonny kicked off our brand new series this week about what we believe as Christians.

We’re going to be diving into the fundamentals of the faith. Some people might ask why we can’t just keep it super simple and just believe “Jesus saves us” and not bother to delve any deeper, but if we oversimplify the Gospel, we lose something of the awesomeness of God and the intricacies of the Christian life.

We won’t ever fully understand the eternal aspects of God and how He interplays with the temporalities of life, however we can do our best to apply ourselves and study the Bible to find out more.

It’s also good to study theology because if people get the wrong idea about God, they can slip into dangerous territory called heresy. To identify heresy, or heretical beliefs, we need to have a good grasp of the truth.

We also need to learn to get a full orbed big picture of who God is. We can’t cherry pick Scripture, otherwise we lose balance. For example, we can’t focus purely on God’s love without recognising His justice. All attributes of God are important.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be looking at Christology (the study of Jesus), soteriology (the study of how we are saved) and pneumatology (the study of the Holy Spirit). But today we are starting with the study of the Trinity.

To study theology, we must start with who God is.

Christianity, like Judaism and Islam, is a faith in one God, and so is called Monotheism.

Polytheism, on the other hand, is the belief in multiple gods, like the Romans believed and the Hindus still believe today.

Christianity stands out, however, because we don’t just believe in one God, we believe in one God revealed in three Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. 

This concept is called the Trinity. It’s important to understand that we aren’t talking about three gods, but one God.

People get confused as to how the Father and Jesus could both be God.

The answer is that God is one substance and three Persons.

There are various metaphors for God, but all fall down because the Trinity is totally unique and unlike anything on Earth.

An example could be an egg. One egg is made up of three parts: the shell, the white and the yolk. This metaphor falls down however, because the shell, white and yolk are different parts of an egg, whereas the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are each fully God.

Water is another example. One substance (H2O) but it can be solid, liquid or gas. But this metaphor also fails because solid, liquid or gas cannot coexist at the same time. H2O changes based on its circumstances, whereas God never changes.

Another example might be three people with their arms locked together in a circle, making them one substance, but three people. But this also fails because the three people will each have their own thoughts, ideas and agendas, whereas the Trinity is one in unity and purpose, although there are separate roles that each plays.

The Father is the Creator, in Heaven, judging and ordaining Creation.

The Son, Jesus, is prophet, priest and King. He is the redeemer, the Saviour, coming to earth, living a sinless life, dying on the cross, rising again and enabling humanity to have relationship with the Trinity.

The Holy Spirit is present in believers, bringing the power and presence of God into our lives, bringing Scripture alive to the believer and enabling the believer to walk with Jesus and grow in Christ-likeness.

We look forward to studying more in the coming weeks!

Baptisms On The Beach

Back To Church // Growth

This week James came to speak to us about the topic of growth. This came out of our Vision Sunday which was all about enlargement in our relationships with God, enlargement in our church unity, and enlargement of the church as we see more people saved into the Kingdom of God.

We looked at how we need to be established and fed in the local church, putting down roots that spread wider and stronger, allowing us to produce even greater fruit.

We also looked at how we need to be more like thermostats than thermometers. We need to be people who create positive atmospheres with people rather than mirroring negative atmospheres they might have created in a room.

As Christians, we are connected to the vine that is Jesus Christ, and all aspects of our growth come out of that connection.

We also saw what prevents us from growing: pride, agenda, and self-esteem.

2Dear brothers and sisters,a when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

(James 1:2-4)

When Arnold Schwarzenegger was in the gym, he used to smile. Whenever anybody asked him why, he would reply that people are too miserable in the gym and that with every rep that he makes, he was getting closer to his goals.

In physical fitness, there is something called DOMS.

Delayed

Offset of

Muscle

Soreness

Torn muscles cause pain over a 48 hour period after a workout. New muscle fibres then grow over the old ones and provide bigger muscles. When you exercise, knowing that you’re becoming fitter, you can consider it a source of joy, even though it’s painful at the time.

The difficulty is powering through the negative emotions from the brain and the temptation to stay in bed instead of getting up and going to the gym or going out for a run.

Just like the opportunity to go for a workout, we should see opportunities in life to test our faith as pure joy.

What tests your faith? Your finances? Mental health issues? Temptation to sin? You might hit a fork in the road where you feel like you can either give up and give in, or push through to victory.

Don’t feel bad if you feel as though you aren’t making much progress, because even a little bit of progress is still progress.

Ultimately, it’s as the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:12-13, that there are no temptations that we experience that others haven’t been through or aren’t going through. God always provides the way to escape sin and push through to victory, it depends upon whether we want to overcome and power through to the way out.

Looking at the bigger picture, if you experience spiritual DOMS, the trials will be painful, your growth will seem small and painful, but over the long-term, it will be large and fruitful and so worth it!

Back To Church // Vision

Pastor Jonny brought a message this week about our church vision, which was established at the start of Feb following our month of prayer and fasting in January.

Give freely and become more wealthy;

be stingy and lose everything.

(Proverbs 11:24)

Our word for the year is “enlarge”, which is another way of saying “growth".

Growth is an indicator of health, because healthy things grow. Baby grows, and a healthy farm has growing crops and animals.

Growth is the natural response to the gospel message: growth in prayer and holiness.

4 areas for growth:

Individually

I will pursue your commands,

for you expand my understanding.

(Psalm 119:32)

Doug has prepared some Bible reading plans. Contact the church if you want to know more. We hold Scripture in the highest honour as the God-breathed Word of God.

We ought to be seeking to improve our prayer life too, perhaps even fasting from time to time.

As a Christian, we ought to follow Jesus’ command to get baptised and publicly declare our faith by being submerged in water.

Grow in unity as a church

Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose.

(Philippians 2:2)

The more we have a great relationship with God, the more we will have a great relationship with those around us.

The Bible also says that unity commands a blessing.

How can we do this?

Get plugged into a Life Group. The church has several groups operating throughout the week, which you might feel inclined to get involved with. We study the Bible together and work through series of teachings while growing friendships and fellowship together.

Another way to grow relationships is to be intentional with people in church. Encourage each other more. Send cards, flowers, and celebrate special occasions with people.

Grow church numbers

Invite people to church. The Great Commission calls us all to evangelism even if evangelism isn’t our spiritual gift. We shouldn’t feel pressured to convert people, as the Bible says that the Holy Spirit does the converting.

Remember we belong to the global church and bless other churches

2“Enlarge your house; build an addition.

Spread out your home, and spare no expense!

3For you will soon be bursting at the seams.

Your descendants will occupy other nations

and resettle the ruined cities.

(Isaiah 54:2-3)

God created us to grow, and we can play our part while also celebrating other local churches.

Let’s be generous in our lives and growth will follow.

Back To Church // Simple Living

As we go through life, we pick up more and more baggage. Travelling through life can be easy, but carrying stuff through life makes it harder.

We ought to travel simply in our life and our relationships to keep God as the focus. Less is more.

Unfortunately, the world tells us that more is more: more wealth, more work, more money. The truth is that we aren’t called to be participants in this world and its systems, but we are called to be otherworldly instead.

The aim is to have less of what is meaningless and more of what matters:

4Then I observed that most people are motivated to success because they envy their neighbors. But this, too, is meaningless—like chasing the wind.

5“Fools fold their idle hands,

leading them to ruin.”

6And yet,

“Better to have one handful with quietness

than two handfuls with hard work

and chasing the wind.”

The Advantages of Companionship

7I observed yet another example of something meaningless under the sun. 8This is the case of a man who is all alone, without a child or a brother, yet who works hard to gain as much wealth as he can. But then he asks himself, “Who am I working for? Why am I giving up so much pleasure now?” It is all so meaningless and depressing.

(Ecclesiastes 4:4-8)

King Solomon, the author of Ecclesiastes, had everything that money could buy, yet concluded it’s all meaningless.

This doesn’t mean we ought to deliberately live in poverty, however. God doesn’t want us not to have things, but He doesn’t want things to have us. We need to be aware that money can the desire for riches can become an idol.

It’s a bout quality vs quantity. God wants us to have quality in our life. For some, that might be a lot, but for others, that might not necessarily be a lot of things.

Remember, don’t get overwhelmed by work or take too much on. It’s better to have one hand full and peace, rather than being overwhelmed with work with no margin or capacity to help others. If we have one hand empty, we can support others.

Back To Church // Get In The Fight

This week, back at the Marine Hall, Jonny brought us a recap on his sermon series Get In The Fight from last year.

But you will not even need to fight. Take your positions; then stand still and watch the LORD’s victory. He is with you, O people of Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid or discouraged. Go out against them tomorrow, for the LORD is with you!”

(2 Chronicles 20:17)

We are in a fight

We all go through difficult times in life. When we are in a time of relative peace, however, it’s wise to work on our relationship with Jesus so that when we are in a fight, it will pay dividends.

Fights come in all forms: relational, financial, or spiritual. The reason why we end up in so many fights is because we are all broken sinful humans, living in a broken sinful world.

This is the pattern until Jesus returns. Until then, nothing will be made perfect.

When we are in fights, the best thing to do is understand that trying to resolve everything in our own strength is not the way forward. We have a part to play, however. We need to stand firm and see the deliverance that the Lord will give us. We need to take up our position as children of God, standing firm. When we see God making a way, we ought to give Him the praise and glory that He is due.

The fight is not in the flesh

In life, fights manifests themselves physically, but they doesn’t start in flesh. Ephesians 6:12 tells us that the fight is against spirits and unseen powers.

Our fights are a symptom of the spiritual brokenness in us. The Enemy wants to get into our brokenness and separate us from other people through fights.

When we have this awareness, it makes it easier to love people and see things from God’s perspective.

The fight is fixed

All the way through the Bible, we can see that God fixes fights in favour of His people. For example, Moses and the Red Sea, Joshua and the walls of Jericho, David and Goliath, Jesus and His miracles. None of these are possible through man, but instead by the grace of God. None of us should really be in our position as children of God, but it’s a miracle that God has forgiven us and saved us.

No enemy can stand against God. The devil is limited; he isn’t omnipotent or omnipresent, unlike God, who can do anything and is in all places at once.

With God on our side, we can’t help but win.

At the end of time, Jesus will return and vanquish all our enemies. The fight is not in the flesh, and we cannot win it on fleshly terms. The good news is that Jesus will have victory over sin and death. Choose to follow Jesus today.

I AM // Part 6

Jesus is the true vine

This week, Doug came and brought the final message of our I AM series to us:

1“I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. 3You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. 4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.

5“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. 6Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. 7But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! 8When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.

9“I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. 10When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. 11I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! 12This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. 13There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command. 15I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. 16You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. 17This is my command: Love each other.

(John 15:1-17)

When Jesus walked the earth, He wasn’t much to look at, but His words and actions drew people in. Jesus wants people to work out for themselves who He is.

We see in John 10:30 that Jesus tells everybody that "I and the Father are One”. Jesus couldn’t be more clear here! He’s saying that He is God in the flesh!

In Exodus 3, Moses was out in wilderness and encountered God in the burning bush. Moses asked who was speaking and the answer God gave was “I AM”. When Moses persisted, God said “I am who I am". He has always been, He was never created and He is life itself. In the Gospel of John, Jesus repeatedly says that He is the same person who was talking to Moses.

The context of today’s passage is that Jesus was talking to His disciples and celebrating Passover. Judas the betrayer had fled the scene and Jesus was talking to His remaining faithful ones. He was describing a Christian life using the visual aid of a vine and branches.

This metaphor wasn’t unfamiliar to Israel. Vineyards were common in ancient times and even featured in Old Testament Scripture:

1Now I will sing for the one I love

a song about his vineyard:

My beloved had a vineyard

on a rich and fertile hill.

2He plowed the land, cleared its stones,

and planted it with the best vines.

In the middle he built a watchtower

and carved a winepress in the nearby rocks.

Then he waited for a harvest of sweet grapes,

but the grapes that grew were bitter.

3Now, you people of Jerusalem and Judah,

you judge between me and my vineyard.

4What more could I have done for my vineyard

that I have not already done?

When I expected sweet grapes,

why did my vineyard give me bitter grapes?

5Now let me tell you

what I will do to my vineyard:

I will tear down its hedges

and let it be destroyed.

I will break down its walls

and let the animals trample it.

(Isaiah 5:1-5)

Verse 1 of today’s passage shows Jesus is the vine and the Father is the gardener. The Father prunes faithful Christians back and cuts off unfaithful people who pretend to believe in Christ.

In verse 4, Jesus tells us to remain in Him. Like a caving rope hanging in the abyss, any climber must hold onto their rope for dear life. We must do the same with Jesus.

The purpose of a grapevine is to produce fruit, but they sometimes can’t, due to overgrowth and dead branches. In spiritual terms, the problem is sin. Sin feels good and appeals to our flesh. If it didn’t feel good, we wouldn’t do it. If we’re trying to break a habit before it takes root, it’s like snapping off a dead twig. The longer the twig is allowed to grow, it becomes a branch. Branches need pruning back. This is what the Father does with us. He prunes us back so that we produce fruit and look more like Jesus.

Judas was a dead branch. He was treasurer of the group and would help himself to the money of Jesus’ ministry. He betrayed Jesus and disappeared for 30 pieces of silver. Judas was snapped off and thrown into the fire (cast into Hell), but the other disciples were pruned back for more growth.

Verse 7 is where Jesus tells us to ask Him for things in prayer. We must always be praying, as 1 Thessalonians 5:16 says. We ought to always be thanking God for what He has blessed us with and asking Him to grow us in Christ, praying without ceasing.

In verse 13, Jesus sums up the heart and pinnacle of the Christian faith. There is no greater love than laying down life for friends. This isn’t a film or story, but it’s what God has actually done.

Jesus was nailed to the cross for people who take His name as swear word, people who don’t care, people who betray Him, yet He shows His love through dying so that those who wish to have eternal life can turn to Him in repentance and faith and be born again.

The cross of Jesus Chris carries real power to change lives. If the cross is the answer, how big is the problem? We must choose to follow Jesus today. He has laid down His life so that sin could be forgiven.

As Christians, we must not only love God, but we should demonstrate our love for God by loving others, as Jesus says in verse 17.

I AM // Part 5

This week, James, our worship pastor, came and spoke to us about Jesus being the Way, the Truth and the Life.

1“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 2There is more than enough room in my Father’s home.a If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?b 3When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. 4And you know the way to where I am going.”

5“No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

6Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. 7If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is.c From now on, you do know him and have seen him!”

(John 14:1-7)

We live in a secular world where there are lots of opinions about everything, with lots of people claiming to be right about their claims to different things. At the same time, we live in a world of pluralism and postmodernism, where some people believe lots of contradictory things can be true at once. The thing is, when we take Jesus at His Word and believe His truth, everything else is brought into perspective.

The Way

Some journeys have many potential alternative ways. The right route isn’t necessarily the easiest, but it’s always more tempting to take the easy route than the right route.

13“You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hellf is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. 14But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.

(Matt 7:13-14)

Everyone can take their own routes, but taking the wrong routes have their consequences. According to Jesus, if we take the wide road, it will have bad consequences for us, so we should choose to follow Him, choose the narrow road, to get life.

In verse 6 of today’s passage, Jesus tells His disciples that nobody can come to the Father except through Him. God is Triune, He is one being shared coequally between three Persons: the Father, the Son (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit. If Jesus and the Father are one, we can be assured that if we are following Jesus, we are also following the Father and the Holy Spirit.

The Truth

We live in a society where people’s opinions are described as “their truth” today. This is incorrect. Instead of “your truth” and “my truth”, we should be referring to things as “your perspective” and “my perspective”. Even in the 4 gospels, there are slight differences showing different aspects of the life of Jesus. The 4 gospel authors were sharing their different perspectives, and we can harmonise those perspectives to see the one truth of the events of the life of Jesus.

In life, lots of people think they are right about spiritual things, but Jesus said He is the truth. According to the Bible, there is only one God. If multiple religions say there is one god and other religions say other gods or multiple gods, they can’t all be true. If Jesus is the truth, then everything else is from a different perspective, and an incorrect one at that.

The Life

Only in Jesus can we find eternal life and salvation. He lived perfect life to redeem our lives from the pit of sin. Nobody else could have done what Jesus did. In the Old Testament, God gave Israel the sacrificial system where they had to shed the blood of goats and lambs when they sinned. To be right with God, you have to be perfect. Shedding animals’ blood was only a foreshadowing of Jesus. In the New Testament, Jesus came and lived a perfect life, then died a sinners death to be the one sacrifice for sin so that we can be redeemed.

There might be things in our past we need forgiveness for. We can be cleaned of all unrighteousness by believing in Jesus. He paid for all our sin on the cross, and eternal life and forgiveness of sins comes from believing in Jesus.

Christianity isn’t a list of things to do, it’s a life to live. Our lives should be our worship to God, every second, minute, hour and day. Just like in a marriage or a relationship, the more we choose to be less selfish, the stronger the relationship. The more time we spend with God, more like Him we become.

So please consider Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life, and believe in Him for salvation.

I AM // Part 4

I Am the Good Shepherd, I Am the Door

This week, Geoff came to speak to us about more of the I AM sayings of Jesus.

In John 9, we have an account of a blind man who was miraculously healed by Jesus. The religious leaders of the day were angered by the event and threw the man out of the temple area. This is the context of today’s passage.

1“I tell you the truth, anyone who sneaks over the wall of a sheepfold, rather than going through the gate, must surely be a thief and a robber! 2But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. 5They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.”

6Those who heard Jesus use this illustration didn’t understand what he meant, 7so he explained it to them: “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. 8All who came before mea were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them. 9Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved.b They will come and go freely and will find good pastures. 10The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

11“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep. 12A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming. He will abandon the sheep because they don’t belong to him and he isn’t their shepherd. And so the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock. 13The hired hand runs away because he’s working only for the money and doesn’t really care about the sheep.

14“I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, 15just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep. 16I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd.

17“The Father loves me because I sacrifice my life so I may take it back again. 18No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded.”

19When he said these things, the peoplec were again divided in their opinions about him. 20Some said, “He’s demon possessed and out of his mind. Why listen to a man like that?” 21Others said, “This doesn’t sound like a man possessed by a demon! Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

(John 10:1-21)

There are many references throughout the Old Testament to God being the Shepherd and the people of Israel, the sheep. The most famous of all is Psalm 23, “The Lord is my Shepherd”, a passage read my millions through the ages.

Each one of these prophecies points to Jesus, who is now announcing Himself as the fulfilment, THE Good Shepherd. A good shepherd knows what’s best for his sheep, knows the best place for food, shelter and water. Sheep follow a good shepherd and a relationship of trust is built. For us, as Christ’s sheep, we are called to follow Jesus and His will.

Sheep aren’t easy to look after, as there are millions of parasites. They don’t know they’re sick until it’s too late, and they hate having anything done to them to stop them getting sick. A good shepherd carries on regardless and always goes above and beyond for the sheep. It’s the same with Christ for us. As sinners, we still go our own way, yet Jesus never stops chasing us, never stops working in us, bringing Christ-likeness and fruit of the Spirit into our character through blessing, trial and discipline. Sheep need boundaries to keep them safe, and it’s the same with us. Discipline is not the same as punishment. How much better if the sheep obey the shepherd. We need the boundaries of God’s Word to give us freedom, and sometimes a rebuke to keep us on the right path.

Sheep respond to their shepherd and run to them. In Jesus’ day, most families would have a few sheep for meat and milk. At night, sheep from many different families were put into a sheepfold to protect them from wolves and other predators. When a sheep’s owner came to collect it in the morning, the sheep would run to the owner immediately and respond to the call of the owner. As Christians, if we bother to listen, the Good Shepherd is always speaking to us through His Word and various other means.

Sheep are stupidly independent and yet brainlessly follow each other. In Luke 15, Jesus talks about the parable of the lost sheep, and the shepherd carrying the lost sheep home on his shoulders. This sounds very cute, but in reality, carrying a dirty smelly wriggling kicking sheep is a very difficult task. Jesus humbled Himself more than we could ever understand. In the most undignified way, He laid down His life to bring us to God. He chose to lay down His life on the cross and take it up again three days later, to save us from sin and give us everlasting life, because He loves us. He chose to do this for the joy that was set before Him, because He loves us and longs for us to become part of His flock.

The Jewish leaders who threw the man out of the temple also knew exactly what Jesus was talking about. There are many references in the Old Testament about the lazy and greedy leaders that didn’t shepherd the flock of Israel and allowed people to wander from the truth. These are wolves who climbed into the sheep pen without going through the door. This is also a warning to the present day church, as we have people preaching false Gospels of health and wealth, prosperity and ease, while Jesus said we should take up our cross daily and Paul said that we should always carry in our body the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have clergy that tell people that everyone goes to heaven when they die, that hell isn’t real and we don’t need to worry, that Jesus only came to bring a message of love and acceptance, a message of love without judgement. When we have false teachers preaching things like this, the church loses its life and power. This is a warning we all need to heed.

Jesus also says that the Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. In Jesus’ day, the shepherd would lie in the gate of the sheepfold to protect the sheep from any wolves that tried to enter. This leads us onto Jesus’ claim that He is the Door. Doors keep us safe, warm, keep thieves out, they’re a statement of boundaries and ownership. Jesus is the living door to the Father. He is the only way we can access God. God could only reveal Himself to us by becoming one of us, by laying aside His infinite majesty and becoming a man. Nobody can come to the Father except through Jesus.

Jesus is the door to salvation. We’re all born as sinners, falling short of God’s perfect law. Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty of our sin so that if we believe in Him as our Lord and Saviour, we will have eternal life, otherwise we will be eternally separated from Him in hell.

He is our door to abundant life. Until we come to know Christ, our spirit is dead and we can only live for ourselves. When we come to know Christ and live for Him, we become like fruitful vines, bearing bunches of fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and self-control. We are able to live a life shining for Jesus.

Jesus is the door to everlasting life. We know we will die one day, and everlasting life doesn’t start the day that we die, it starts the day we are born again.

Jesus is the door to heaven. Our bodies will wear out, but one day we will leave them behind and become safe with Him in heaven.

Jesus longs for us to come to Him through the door and into His care as the Good Shepherd. Please consider the claims of Jesus and trust Him as your Lord and Saviour.