Episodes
Saturday Oct 31, 2015
Gems in the Gospel of John - Part 10
Saturday Oct 31, 2015
Saturday Oct 31, 2015
Part 10 - John 1:29-51
Names and guys
The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”
They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”
“Come,” he replied, “and you will see.”
So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon. Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter).
The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.” Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote —Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked.
“Come and see,” said Philip.
When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”
“How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.
Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”
Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”
Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.”
Have a go yourself. How many names and titles can you find? I put my list at the bottom of the page – don’t look until you have had a go yourself.
They range from the bottom of the pile, which is surely ‘son of Joseph’, son of his step-father, to ‘Son of God’ at the top of the pile. Some have deep Old Testament connections like ‘Messiah’ and ‘Son of Man’, while others are simply derived from what John the Baptist knew first hand.
The really interesting thing is what we see if we compare what is said here with what is said in the other Gospels at the call of the twelve disciples. Without exception the other Gospels are less detailed except they all say that the disciples were called to ‘fish for people’ or, in the older versions, to be ‘fishers of men’.
Why the difference? What does it mean?
The answer has to be that John is solely concerned with Jesus. The rest is incidental. As we shall find as we work through the rest of the Gospel John is completely Jesus centred, or Christo-centric as it is called. Because Jesus was, and is, God He could be all those things at one and the same time. He could meet each one of the men listed here: John, Andrew, Andrew’s companion, Simon Peter, Philip and Nathanael, and meet them at their point of need. That is what John is telling us. And he is going to go on and tell us that Jesus would meet many other people, all at their point of need, no matter how way out that might be. Before long we shall be in chapters 3 and 4 where Jesus meets at their points of need a senior professor in Jerusalem and a slightly dodgy woman in a country village. Rather different people. I wonder how successful any of us would be at being equally effective in conversation with such different people. Not many, I am sure. Certainly not me!
But turned round and looked at from the other direction this is enormously encouraging for us. It does not matter who we are, what our problems may be, what is our point of need, Jesus, because He is the Son of God can speak to us encourage us, forgive us, save us, for this life and the next. Hallelujah and hooray – many times over.
Names and titles: Lamb of God/the Surpasser/the One to be revealed/ the One on whom the Spirit had come/the Baptizer with the Holy Spirit/God’s Chosen One/Rabbi=teacher/ the Messiah=the Christ/Jesus of Nazareth/the son of Joseph/Son of God/king of Israel/the Son of Man.
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Monday Oct 26, 2015
Think Spot 26 October 2015
Monday Oct 26, 2015
Monday Oct 26, 2015
26th October 2015
Reading in my Bible this morning following a pattern of reading through the Bible in a year I am not always aware till I open my accompanying Bible notes of what I am about to read. This morning I needed to read a portion of the Old Testament concerning Israel and Judah and sadly their disobedience towards God after He had blessed them so much. It was a wake up call for all of us who profess to know Christ to “Count every blessing” as the song goes then we will not forget His abundant kindness towards us Whom He loves dearly.
To make sure you are constantly doing this without having to think about it why not share your blessings with others you meet during the course of the day? I find that is a refreshing way in serving our Lord is giving praise and glory to Him by passing your blessings on.
Try it and see I am sure you will find it to be true and you will receive a measure of joy in your heart as well. In psalm 23 we read of the believer’s daily walk with the Lord and even though we walk through the vale of death we need fear no evil.
Why? The Lord is with us giving us reassurances He will never leave us. Note the joy in David the psalmist’s voice as he perhaps shout “My cup runs over” Oh the joy there is to be found in knowing Jesus. Then the climax of the ages as we move towards the day when we see our wonderful Lord face to face. Psalm 23:6; “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever!”
Have a nice day and may you be blessed in all your circumstances and remember “Count your blessings name them one by one and it will surprise you what the Lord has done?”
Joy’s Prayer
Dear Loving Heavenly Father,
Thank you for the wonder of knowing You as our Heavenly Father and the One who supplies our every need on every occasion we require help and surprises us with unexpected blessings which delight us. Forgive us if we ever take You for granted or forget to thank you for your regular daily blessings. Help us to remember just how dependant we are on You. We sometimes find ourselves asking even for the seeming impossible and although we may have to be patient and wait.
You have never let us down. As the hymn writer reminds us “We are coming to a King, large petitions with you bring we can never ask too much...You have amazing resources Lord and we can never out ask your provision. Thank you for that knowledge and help us to be wise in our asking and swift in our thanksgiving. We love You for loving us so much and making sure our cup is never empty.
In Jesus Name
Amen
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Saturday Oct 24, 2015
Gems in the Gospel of John - Part 09
Saturday Oct 24, 2015
Saturday Oct 24, 2015
Part 9 - John 1:40
The Lamb of God
Part 9 - John 1:40
Following The Lamb of God
John 1:43 we read “The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, ‘Follow me.’”
One or other of the ‘follow’ words appears more than 70 times in the Gospels, nearly always as ‘follow me’ or ‘follow him’. So following is a very important and significant word about our relationship to Jesus.
There has been a very distinct and valuable turn by many people towards talking in terms of ‘following’ rather than any of the possible alternatives recently. Not so long ago the common term was ‘deciding for Jesus’ and before that it was ‘born-again’. But the first of these is a very imprecise and somewhat wooly term to use while the second has been taken over by all sorts of people just to mean somebody taking up again a sport or an activity that they used to take part in but had not done so for some time.
Instead of those terms many people are talking about those who are converted (yet another old and Biblical term that is no longer much used) as having set out ‘to follow Jesus’ and those who are going to church but have made no profession of faith as those ‘who are not yet following Jesus’.
There is considerable merit in this. ‘Following Jesus’ indicates not only the starting point of making a profession of faith but the setting out on a journey which will last for a long time – in fact the rest of life – and will include a commitment, therefore a life-long commitment, to following Jesus.
But the obvious question is ‘what does following Jesus’ or following anyone actually mean. We use ‘following’ in much the same sense when we talk about following a team in some sport, such as football. (Apologies here to American friends who have the curious idea that a game in which foot is seldom applied to ball is football! I am talking about what you call ‘soccer’ where foot and ball often meet up.) Those who ‘follow’ a team such as Manchester United act in certain fairly well defined ways. They go to meet – well, watch – their team as often as possible; they worship – well, cheer them on – as vigorously as they can; they rejoice visibly and audibly when they do something good, like score a goal; they identify themselves with the team by wearing their colours in a scarf or a shirt; they spend considerable sums of money to support their team and in various ways assert that support to their friends and other people.
We can parallel all those things in what we should do as we ‘follow Jesus’. We should meet with him, at church, in small groups, in our private prayer as often as possible; we should worship Jesus and the Lord God in our singing etc. ; we should identify with Jesus in many subtle ways – the ways we behave, the things we say, perhaps too the words we do not use, where appropriate in the wearing of small emblems indicating our allegiance; we will be prepared to use our resources to support the Lord’s work in many different ways.
Certain words have sneaked into those last paragraphs, almost without me noticing. Words such as: cheering on, vigorously, identify, support, assert, allegiance, use of resources. All those words have a place in our thinking about how we are to follow Jesus.
Not all of them can be found in this passage in John 1, but many of them can. Andrew was quick to identify himself with Jesus, to support him, to give him his allegiance, and to use his resource of time. Philip did exactly the same things in his search for Nathaniel. It seems likely that Philip was a rather ordinary sort of guy with no great leadership qualities yet evident, whereas Nathaniel was probably the village wise man. That did not stop Philip sharing his discovery of Jesus with a man he probably looked up to as very much his superior.
I’m sure I don’t need to labour the lessons for us that are so clear in this passage. Follow Jesus – it is by far the best way to journey through life and arrive at a worthwhile destination.
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Friday Oct 23, 2015
Friday Prayers 23 October 2015
Friday Oct 23, 2015
Friday Oct 23, 2015
Partakers Friday Prayers!
23th October 2015
We pray together and when Christians pray together, from different nations, different churches and different denominations - that reveals Church unity! Come! Let us pray together!
A prayer of Aquinas
Creator of all things,
true source of light and wisdom,
origin of all being,
graciously let a ray of your light penetrate
the darkness of my understanding.
Take from me the double darkness
in which I have been born,
an obscurity of sin and ignorance.
Give me a keen understanding,
a retentive memory, and
the ability to grasp things
correctly and fundamentally.
Grant me the talent
of being exact in my explanations
and the ability to express myself
with thoroughness and charm.
Point out the beginning,
direct the progress,
and help in the completion.
I ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
(Aquinas 1225 – 1274)
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Monday Oct 19, 2015
Think Spot 19 October 2015
Monday Oct 19, 2015
Monday Oct 19, 2015
19th October 2015
The best Connexion
Recently a relative warned me of a scam where someone pretending to be a BT representative was informing BT Customers that they had outstanding bills to pay and if they did not comply they would have further bills trebling the amount they were supposedly owing.
The conversation proceeded with a demonstration of the so called rep saying he would prove that he was official. He then told the person to put the phone down and try to phone a friend. The person did try and found the phone had gone dead. However not being vulnerable they refused to pay with cheque card details given which the man was requesting and the man rang off. The number he had given was given to the police and discovered to be untraceable. He had wanted to get details of the persons credit card details to gain a great deal of money that way. “Be warned”, the offended person told me.
Yes we have to be careful in this world of wrongdoing where selfishness, greed and dishonesty are prevalent in a broken society as many have turned away from the Lord.
Talking of disconnection's many do not know anything of the wonderful, beautiful and safe connexion that God wants to make with each one of us. We are all switched off and disconnected until God responds to our cry to be connected through realising our switched off connexion (Read Ephesians chapter 2:1; where disconnection is described as either being dead or alive).
The Good News (Gospel) is that God wants to be in the very centre of our lives (the power house) controlling and leading us in a way of peace joy and contentment through the amazing connections in reading the Bible and through the equally amazing connexion through prayer, where we communicate with Him and He with us in a very troubled world.
He is more than willing to connect us to Jesus our Saviour and Lord who
died for us to remove our wrongdoing justly held against us.
His glorious resurrection assures us of eternal life here begun on earth below when we become connected and a marvellous existence with Him in Heaven where we remain connected for evermore. Wow !! Isn't that amazing?
So next time you are disconnected from electricity, gas or phone (when you move house or phone) remind yourself , if you are connected to God that connexion will never change as God's power to keep is eternal. Hallelujah!! ps. The telephone line to heaven is always open and …...... is free!! I would encourage you to try it if you have never tried before .
Joys Prayer
Dear loving Heavenly Father,
Thank you for reminding us today of the wonderful relationship we can have with You and the certainty that the power line will never be broken as we continue to read our Bibles and pray every day. Not out of habit but delighting ourselves in You.
Help us to do this especially when things begin to go wrong when illness, or a sudden loss or change takes place that can alarm or cause us to be tempted to panic.
Please enable us to remain calm and to persevere knowing that whatever happens we are connected to You and that Your power is always there for us to tap into because of your wonderful love, grace and passion towards us.
You love us so much so help us to love you in return by trusting and believing that You can make everything work for good on our behalf as we bring everything to you in prayer.
“Oh what peace we often forfeit oh what needless pain we bare because we don't bring everything to You in prayer.
Lord we love you, keep us strong when trials come and keep us ever looking upwards to You and believing and trusting You in all our comings and goings.
In Jesus Name
Amen
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Saturday Oct 17, 2015
Gems in the Gospel of John - Part 08
Saturday Oct 17, 2015
Saturday Oct 17, 2015
Part 8 - John 1:29-31
The Lamb of God
John 1:29–31, “ The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, “A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.” I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.’”
John, John the Baptist that is, must have used an expression that would be meaningful to those who heard him but we cannot be sure what that meaning was. Nowhere in the Old Testament is a lamb said to be ‘of God’. That John said a striking, important and memorable thing we cannot doubt – but what did he mean.
There seem to be 4 main possibilities. In Biblical order, but not necessarily order of importance, these are that he was thinking of:
- the near sacrifice Abraham made of his son Isaac on Mount Moriah. When Isaac asked, “where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham replied, God himself will provide the lamb.”
- the lambs that were sacrificed on the night of the Passover at the exodus from Egypt. The Lord told Moses, “it is the Lord’s Passover” and Paul uses the same expression in 1 Corinthians 5:7 when he said, “Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.”
- the lambs that are frequently mentioned as sacrificial offerings in passages such as Exodus 29:38, 41 where we read, “This is what you are to offer on the altar regularly each day: two lambs a year old …a pleasing aroma, a food offering presented to the Lord.”
- Isaiah 53, which clearly lies behind so much of what happened in the life of Jesus. It says, “the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.”
Which of these, or other possibilities, John had in mind as he called Jesus the Lamb of God – or all of them – we cannot tell. Rather amazingly these 4 possibilities point us to 4 distinctly different concepts. They are in order: obedience to the call of the Lord, determination to set out on a difficult journey, the forgiveness of sin and the complete provision made for us on the Cross.
They are not in sensible or logical order. What is that logical order? Stop for a moment and think it through for yourself before reading on. (This sentence is a simple place filler to ensure you don’t see what my answer is too quickly!)
I think: the last one must come first, Jesus is in all and through all that happens; then we have forgiveness of sins, the promise of new life as we embark on the journey of faith and finally we must learn to be obedient in all that happens.
What is really striking is what happened when he said the same thing the next day in the hearing of two of his (John’s) disciples. It is recorded that, “When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God!’
When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Jesus saw them following and asked, ‘What do you want?’ They said, ‘Rabbi’ (which means ‘Teacher’), ‘where are you staying?’ ‘Come,’ he replied, ‘and you will see.’”
Is it possible to do a really good job of explaining something you don’t fully understand yourself? The answer has to be yes – when you are driven by the Holy Spirit of God. Because that is what happened to John the Baptist. He must have done a wonderful job explaining the Old Testament passages promising a Messiah, even although we know he was not himself fully convinced about Jesus at this time (Matthew 11: 2,3).
We too will never have complete knowledge, nor will we ever be sure that we are completely obedient, but like John we can have the key that unlocks all the best things in life: here is the Lamb of God – follow Him.
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Friday Oct 16, 2015
Friday Prayers 16 October 2015
Friday Oct 16, 2015
Friday Oct 16, 2015
Partakers Friday Prayers!
16th October 2015
We pray together and when Christians pray together, from different nations, different churches and different denominations - that reveals Church unity! Come! Let us pray together!
A prayer of Anselm
Lord, because you have made me,
I owe you the whole of my love;
because you have redeemed me,
I owe you the whole of myself;
because you have promised so much,
I owe you my whole being.
~
Moreover, I owe you as much more love
than myself as you are greater than I,
for whom you gave yourself and to whom you promised yourself.
I pray you, Lord,
make me taste by love what I taste by knowledge;
let me know by love what I know by understanding.
~
I owe you more than my whole self,
but I have no more,
and by myself I cannot render the whole of it to you.
Draw me to you, Lord, in the fullness of your love.
I am wholly yours by creation;
make me all yours, too, in love.
(Anselm 1033-1109)
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Wednesday Oct 14, 2015
Wednesday WOW Worship - 14 October 2015
Wednesday Oct 14, 2015
Wednesday Oct 14, 2015
Worship Wednesday
October 14, 2015
Order of Service
Song - Oh for a thousand tongues - Peter Schrock
Jesus - Part 1 - My Jesus
Poem - I fell in love with Jesus
Jesus Part 2 - Why I am a christian
Song - I have decided - K
Jesus Part 3 - Jesus calls you by name
Song - Come unto me - Julie McMinn
Open prayers
Doxology - Jeff Wooldridge
My Jesus
Almost everybody has an opinion of the man Jesus Christ! Countless millions worship him today and down through history! People sometimes ask me "Who is my Jesus?" So, let me answer that briefly - "Who is my Jesus?"
My Jesus Christ, is the man who splits history BC & AD! The man who we claim is the messiah and saviour as spoken about by the prophets of old and written about by those who met Him...
My Jesus Christ, the man who healed the sick, fought for justice, did many great deeds, filled with compassion, driven on by joy and in constant conversation with God the Father.
My Jesus Christ, is the man who claimed to be God and was God! Jesus who emptied Himself, made Himself nothing, so as to take on human form. Jesus Christ, fully human and yet fully God.
My Jesus Christ, is the most amazing man who ever lived, born of a woman, in a humble stable. Jesus Christ, the man born to die that he may come back alive and give all people a chance to live forever.
My Jesus Christ, is the man who died on a grubby Roman cross, pierced, battered, bruised and scarred. Jesus Christ, the God-man who died physically. Jesus Christ, buried within and sealed into a cold empty tomb.
My Jesus Christ, is the man who conquered death, came back alive as witnessed by uncountable others. Jesus Christ who defeated the sting of sin, so that humanity may choose to live forever!
My Jesus Christ, whose very death and resurrection we celebrate at Easter, who ascended to the right hand of God the Father. This Jesus Christ, who with the Father, sent the Holy Spirit to transform into His own image, all who choose to follow Him.
My Jesus Christ, who covers His followers in His own robe of righteousness so that they would be acceptable to God the Father.
Jesus Christ, coming again soon in glory to judge humanity and claim those who follow Him. Jesus Christ who calls to you and I "Come and follow!"
Why I am a christian
If that's my Jesus Christ, why am I a Christian and identify myself as such?
The Apostle John, writing in 1 John 5:9-12 - "We accept man's testimony, but God's testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life."
The reason that I am a Christian is not because I chased God, but rather He chased me
I am a Christian Disciple not because of anything I have done, but rather because He first chased me, and because He first loved me. Jesus himself said "I came to seek and to save the lost" (Luke 19v10). God was chasing me and following my every path with the urgency of a lover after the beloved, just as described in the Song of Songs 2v2-14.
If you are a Christian today, it is not because of anything you have done. It is because of the events at Christmas and Easter that you are a Christian, when God entered this world as a human baby and took all the necessary steps so that all people could have the choice to be His people or not. In my more smug moments I used to congratulate myself for being a Christian. How proud I was that I, was a Christian and that God was a jolly lucky God that I had decided to follow Him. It was during one of my less self-deluded moments, that I examined myself and I found God pricking my conscience and correcting me, and I read the New Testament "For the Son of Man came, not to be served but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many" (Mark10v45).
Jesus calls you
This Jesus, my Jesus, also calls you!
Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."
"Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water."
"Come," he said. hen Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?" And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. hen those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God." Matthew 14:22-33
If you would not call yourself a Christian today, and this Jesus appeals to you, this Jesus who speaks with authority, and you want to become a Christian there are three simple steps to follow. Firstly, admit that you have done wrong against God and His ways. Secondly, believe and trust in Jesus. Call on Him, receive, trust, obey and worship Him, recognizing Him for who He is and what He has done. Lastly, confess Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. Once sin has been confessed, and Jesus is believed in and trusted as Saviour, then you are a Christian. Now you are ready as Peter writes in the Bible, "to grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 3:18). Welcome to the family of God. God has chosen you; Jesus has paid for you and has put His mark within you through His Spirit (Ephesians 1:1-13).
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Monday Oct 12, 2015
Think Spot 12 October 2015
Monday Oct 12, 2015
Monday Oct 12, 2015
12th October 2015
You may well have heard the song 'Love Changes Everything' made famous by Michael Ball several years ago. One of the lines reads Life will never be the same again.
Certainly when a young man meets a girl and like turns to love and from once a week the scene changes and they cannot see enough of each other. In fact t they do not want to be out of each others company and marriage takes place and they become One. Life will never be the same for them ever again.
Likewise when a person realises who Jesus Christ is and what Jesus Christ has done for them they see that in God not only do have they a Saviour but see that a vital part of their life has been missing and God has a plan for their life. Having dealt with their sin problem through atonement and now He wants them to love and serve Him. Again think of the line of that hymn. Life will never be the same.
Isn't it sad that God often has to use shock tactics to get through to us. How many have been brought to that crisis point through a tragedy or some kind of conflict in their life where they have to face up to their need of God. They discover they are now insufficient of themselves. They see that life is not a bowl of cherries (another song title I think) That Life if to be lived with a capital L must have Someone bigger than themselves at the helm. Someone who knows the pathway through. Someone who knows and is indeed the Way, Truth and Life, even Jesus
Recently in the UK we have had an incident in our national game of football where a man suddenly drops to the ground during a match, an important cup tie and those around him suddenly are made aware of a man dying. A young man with a whole life ahead of him in his early twenties not breathing, a cardiac arrest.
Medics and doctors rush on to the pitch, players stand around absolutely shocked and the game of football which had been so very important up to that 41st minute now completely forgotten for here is a matter of life and death.
A Specialist heart Surgeon in the large crowd of spectators rushes down onto the pitch and begins to give directions to the medics and decide which hospital to take the player to. (The fact that he supports the other team has no significance now for here is a much more important matter to be dealt with, A matter of life and death. ) The crowd whoever they supported doesn't matter any more are silenced also shocked what is about to happen? Will he make it to the hospital in time to give special treatment to bring him back ot life? They want the man to live..
We are told later that the young fiancée of the dying man is a believer in God and has said "We must not worry God is in control here."
On the pitch they were thumped the man's chest but could not bring him back to life. He is hurried to a waiting ambulance and soon he is heading for that special hospital. There a team of specialist doctors are already alerted and waiting to get the man's heart working again. Players from both teams are now coming to the hospital. They are so concerned for this young man. Future games are postponed. Life will never be the same for any of those who had taken part in this cup tie nor the same for the spectators either. Those moments will not want to be experienced again. They were very frightening. On national news the whole country were alerted and went to prayer and other countries also. Now people die every day but this was a drama on national view through television and many tears flowed and many many prayers were prayed. But it had to take a tragedy to strike, a crisis to bring people to view a glimpse of eternity. Supposing it were them would they be ready to face God? They had seen it can happen so suddenly. They had seen it can happen to the most unlikely person, a young athletic man., They could see it could happen at any moment!! Death in the midst of life.
My friends do you see Someone has made provision for you to be ready at such a similar time when God says "Now is the hour" Would we be ready?
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whosoever believes on Him should not perish but have the gift of eternal life" John 3:16
Talking to two members of a cult a few days ago I asked the question "Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ?" They looked shocked as I had cut right into their planned speech for the day. A speech to be copied from their leaders. Do you see why we should love Jesus? I enquired further. They were struggling when I said He is The Lord Jesus Christ. He is God. He came in the flesh to suffer bleed and die for you. That is why you should love Him.
Come back to that Football Stadium in London. Picture the scene again. This time see the invisible angels standing by in support. See the Lord Himself drawing near. Feel the atmosphere as you look into the crowds faces. There is fear and other mixed emotions. Tears are unashamedly shed. If they could look into their own hearts at that moment would there have been faith there to be seen, a confidence that if anything similar happened to them, would they feel safe and comforted in the knowledge they were going to a beautiful secure place in heaven?
Love changes everything as you look much closer at Jesus Christ and see what great things He has done for you. Don't let a tragedy have to strike suddenly for you to make the wise decision to receive Christ the Saviour into your hearts. Now is the day of Salvation do not lets yours catch you unaware. Time may not be on your side . Make your decision now. Get right with God and be sure of your allotted place in eternity labelled for you at present. May God draw you to Himself
Joys Prayer
Dear Loving Heavenly Father
We have been made aware that life can change so suddenly. We can fall in love suddenly, but we can be suddenly in a crisis which is not so pleasant as someone suffers and is about to die. It could be a close family member or a work colleague or a church friend or a neighbour. In the midst of life there is death. Lord make us fully conscious of the way paved for us so that we have no need to fear the consequences after death.
Lord Jesus Christ You loved us enough to die for each one of us that we may be saved from our sins and receive a home in heaven and the gift of eternal life and joy. If we are unsure or blinded by other things of no consequence help us Lord to see the straight path ending in glory. We can waste so much time chasing our tails so help us to deliberately seek after You Lord and to follow You unwaveringly and relentlessly keeping our minds and hearts focussed on Jesus our Saviour Lord and King. Help us to be shining lights for You in a dark world and a place where materialism has a stronghold. Help us to proclaim Him Who is altogether lovely and full of mercy 'and grace.
In Jesus Name
Amen
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Saturday Oct 10, 2015
Gems in the Gospel of John - Part 07
Saturday Oct 10, 2015
Saturday Oct 10, 2015
Part 7 - John 1:18
Unseen – but known
What does God look like? We don’t know as this verse tells us very directly when it says: “No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.” But that almost certainly won’t have stopped us from having some sort of mental image of God and of Jesus. The trouble is we are probably completely wrong!
I remember as a young boy seeing pictures of God or of Jesus on the walls of the room we had our Sunday School lessons in. God was always a very old, but big strong looking, man. Jesus was always a very good-looking young man with broad shoulders, blond hair and a small beard. He was usually surrounded by animals and children and had a lamb in his arms. You can tell from which part of the world I come from.
I want to share with you the moment when my mental picture of Jesus was turned upside-down. We were in Pakistan, near the bottom of a steep mountain path, when a Pakistani man went by. He was a medium small lithe fellow moving up hill with the easy grace of a mountain man. He wasn’t blonde; he wasn’t big; he wasn’t European. His clothes could have been cleaner, being covered with the dust of much walking. I suddenly realized that is what Jesus must have looked like.
Isaiah said (53: 2, 3), “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.”
Clearly there was something markedly different about Jesus: he was able to confront an angry crowd and walk away through it unharmed. He was strikingly different.
What is your image of Jesus like? Of course, it wont be accurate, but that does not matter. If you are American he will be American; if you are Pakistani he will look Pakistani; if you are Chinese he will definitely look Chinese; and so on. It does not matter how accurate you are. Jesus was everyone; he still is.
And, of course, I have swerved sideways from talking about what God is like to talking about what Jesus was like. That is deliberate. The most we know about God is Jesus. It is all too easy to have a mental picture of God in which he is basically a wrathful God full of judgement and reserve the idea of a concerned, gracious and loving person for Jesus. But that is not the way it is. Our God is the God of Love as well as of Judgement.
And so we come to the end of the Prologue, the Introduction, to John’s Gospel. We have come all the way from the Word who was with God to Jesus and the Father. God with us as Matthew says – Emmanuel.
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