Stephen looked at two passages from the New Testament on Sunday evening, both demonstrating God’s presence with people.
The first passage (Luke 23:40-43) looked at the thief on the cross and how he came to know Jesus, being given the promise of being with Him in paradise. The second (Acts 7:54-56) looked at the martyrdom of the deacon Stephen, who saw ‘heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God’ immediately before he was stoned to death. In both cases, the presence of Jesus made all the difference: the two men were not alone.
Jesus is near to us, to comfort, direct and guide us. As Ezekiel wrote, ‘The Lord is There’ (Ezek 48:35). His presence makes all the difference.
We ended by listening to the Casting Crowns’ song ‘Who Am I?’ This is a question which seems to have been recurring in various guises lately – Dave preached recently on a similar theme and I used this song last week in a PSHE lesson on the same theme as well! If you’d like to know the answer, watch the powerful mime and listen to the song at:
youtube.com/watch?v=CT7x3VnrqbA
Many thanks, also, to those who supported the Macmillan Coffee morning on Saturday. This raised £124. THANK YOU!