Stairway To Heaven

Apr 7, 2024

Tonight’s Little Big Church featured an animated story about stick people trying to get over and around a wall. They tried running at it, pole-vaulting over it, using a JCB to smash it and even flying over it with a Superman cape …but the wall – representing the sin that separates us from God – could only be overcome through the ladder which is Jesus Christ. He sets us free from sin so that we can live with God for eternity.
We then got to make our own “stairway to heaven” using origami.

Living According to God’s Will (Pt 1)

Apr 7, 2024

This morning we looked at living according to God’s will (see Luke 22:42). It isn’t always easy to know God’s will and there are times when His will definitely goes beyond our understanding (as Joseph and Job could both testify.) Nonetheless, as we read the Bible, pray and have fellowship, there are many things which God makes plain are His will – and if we want to know His will, we have to start by doing the things He has plainly commanded.

The first thing to note is that it is God’s will that people are saved and come to repentance. (2 Pet 3:9) We know that God wants us to have eternal life (John 3:16) and that our chief work is to believe in Jesus (John 6:29). Since faith is essential to pleasing God, then our lives must be faith-filled.

1 Thess 5:18 gives us sound advice for living according to God’s will: we are called to give thanks in all circumstances. This is possible because God is with us in every situation and is working for good in all things. (Rom 8:28) We have to let reason, faith and hope into our emotional turmoil when things are difficult and choose to give thanks.

Micah 6:8 outlines other ‘obvious’ areas which please God: acting justly, loving mercy and walking humbly with Him. In this, we are simply reflecting how Jesus lived and being salt and light to the world. We cannot afford to be hypocrites; we need to reflect God’s nature to a world which desperately needs to see the invisible God through His visible followers.

We may well wonder why so few people choose God’s will above their own. God’s will is never forced upon us, since He gave us free will and we must now choose – either to follow His will and ways or to follow our own choices. If we want to be blessed and live life to the full, we need transformation by the renewing of our minds (Rom 12:2) and can then know and obey His good, pleasing and perfect will.

All-rounders

Apr 7, 2024

When I was a child, I used to go to cricket matches with my Dad and I was privileged to see Ian Botham play. Ian Botham was an ‘all-rounder’, someone who was equally effective as a bowler and as a batsman. His performance in the 1981 Headingley Test match against Australia was a major contribution to an unexpected England victory there, and I admired his ability to contribute significantly to every match. He was an exciting player!
Most of us are better at some things than others. We tend to be more ‘specialists’ than ‘all-rounders’ in cricketing terms, and there’s nothing necessarily wrong with that. We can’t be good at everything! But I was struck today by Jesus’s words to the Pharisees in Luke 11: “Woe to you, Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God.” (Luke 11:42)
The Pharisees were keen to get the little things right, to obey the law right down to tithing herbs. They were specialists in that area, it seems. But they missed the bigger picture. Their scrupulous attention to detail in this area (which Jesus did not condemn) meant they failed to look at other areas which were also important.
We can’t afford to ‘specialise’ in God things (“oh, I’m good at helping and serving, but I leave the forgiving part to X who is so much better at that.”) The fruit of the Spirit needs to grow equally within each one of us, so that we become people in whom love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness, kindness, faithfulness and self-control are seen in equal measures. (Gal 5:22-23) We need to be “all-rounders” because God’s character needs to be seen in all areas of our living.

The Submission of Christ

Mar 31, 2024

Garry spoke tonight about the submission of Christ. The last time he spoke on a Sunday evening, he talked about the need for our submission (to God and to other people), but submission was also vital for Jesus Christ. God exists in three persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit – see Matt 3:16-17, John 14:15-18); one God but existing in three persons. God is righteous, He is love. These two aspects of HIs character are seen at Easter, for we all went astray from God (Is 53:6) and He cannot ignore this. The price for our disobedience was death, but since God is also love, He paid that debt Himself through Jesus. Jesus came to do God’s will (Heb 10:5-7). There were times when this caused Him anguish (Matt 26:36-46). His soul was troubled by the price He had to pay (John 12:27), but His submission to God meant He was prepared to pay this price.

Adam, the first man, chose not to submit to God; he effectively chose the way of death. But because Christ chose the way of obedience and submission, this led to life, to the resurrection! This leads to eternal life for us.His death and resurrection mean we can be forgiven. We can have a new life here on earth and forever more with Him. Christ will return and take all those who follow Him to heaven to live with Him forevermore. Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again! Are we ready?

Resurrection Power (2)

Mar 31, 2024

God’s power is seen in many places in the Bible, first of all in creation (see Gen 1 & 2). God is the ‘Maker of heaven and earth’ (Ps 115:5, Ps 121:2, Ps 124:8, Ps 134:3, Ps 146:6), and there are many poetic descriptions of the God of creation. Job chapters 38 to 41 list God’s amazing, awesome works of creation: laying the earth’s foundation, creating the sea and setting its boundaries, making clouds, creating weather, making the stars, making different animals and birds and sea creatures. The detail and scope in these chapters are stunning; no wonder, at the end of this, that Job says, ‘Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.’ (Job 42:3) The whole of creation cries out as testimony and witness to the power of God (see Ps 19:1-4, Ps 104).

God’s power is also seen in the Exodus, in the miraculous deliverance of God’s people from the slavery of Egypt. The plagues and then the parting of the Red Sea meant the people saw God’s power before their very eyes. This was not something they could do for themselves; it was something which God did for them. It defined them; it created who they were – no longer simply slaves but the people of God. (Ex 14 & 15)

The Exodus foreshadows the death and resurrection of Jesus, who is our Passover Lamb, slain to take away the sins of the world. The resurrection shows us the wisdom of God, for here we see that death does not have the last word, but we still must walk through the way of death. Easter Sunday, with its brilliant, dazzling light and its message of supreme power and authority, is reached through the pathway of Good Friday and Easter Saturday. There is no glory without suffering; there is no power without paradox.

The resurrection shows us that God’s almighty power defeats sin, death and the grave. The same might and resurrection power which was used to raise Christ from the dead now lives in us so that God’s glory and honour may be proclaimed. God’s ‘immeasurably more’ power (Eph 3:20) now lives in us.

Resurrection Power

Mar 31, 2024

Today is Easter Sunday, the high point of the Christian calendar, the moment when light bursts forth from the empty tomb and we see that not even death could defeat our Saviour. Easter Sunday is the day when God’s plan of salvation is revealed more fully to people, when the suffering of Good Friday and the sorrow of Easter Saturday are dispelled, and hope is born again in the hearts of mankind. Those two disciples on the road to Emmaus who spoke with a stranger about their dashed hopes and whose faces were downcast (Luke 24:17) are transformed into believers; the day is changed from one of confusion and duty (hiding away in fear of the Romans, wondering how to sort out a dead body when there was a massive stone in front of the tomb) to a day of radiant light as Jesus appears to His followers and they begin to absorb the life-changing truth that ‘He is not here; he has risen!’ (Luke 24:6) The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the event which separates Christianity from all other religions whose leaders have died and remain dead, but Jesus tasted death for us (Heb 2:9) and yet is alive forevermore. As Jesus said to John on the island of Patmos, ‘I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever!’ (Revelation 1:18) As the song says,
‘The prodigal is welcomed home;
The sinner now a saint,
For the God who died came back to life
And everything is changed.’ (‘Christ Is Risen’, Phil Wickham)
The resurrection of Jesus Christ reveals to us once and for all God’s power. That power is described by Paul as ‘mighty strength’ (Eph 1:19), but what is so amazing about this power is that this same power now lives in us. Paul prays that the Ephesians may know ‘his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.’ (Eph 1:19-21) Paul talks of us being strengthened with power through God’s Spirit (Eph 3:16) and says that God ‘is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.’ (Eph 3:20) The resurrection is not simply a historical event to be noted, but a powerful truth to be lived out daily.