So what reasons did we come up with, then?

We can rejoice in God because He is:
* faithful
* loving
* forgiving
* kind
* life-giving
* in complete control, working all things together for good
* just and fair
* omnipresent & always with us, never leaving us or forsaking us
* omniscient (yet loves us, even though He knows everything about us!)
* merciful
* compassionate
* unchanging
* slow to anger
* tender-hearted
* both transcendent and immanent (above all and yet close!)
* Saviour
* Healer
* Provider
* Protector
* the Creator
* our Shepherd & guide
* patient
* not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance
* peace & the bringer of peace
* relational (the triune nature of God reflects His heart for relationships)
* personal
* righteous
* the One who brings reconciliation
* our Defender
* preparing a place for us
* working in our lives to conform us to the image of Christ
* our Father

There are so many reasons to praise God and it’s good to list them, to remind ourselves of them, to have objective reasons for praise. That way, no matter what our mood or circumstance, we can give thanks continually for everything (see Eph 5:20 and 1 Thess 5:18)

One of my current favourite songs is Aaron Shust’s ‘Long Live the King’ which has the lines:
“There are always days when I don’t feel like singing
There are always days when I don’t care at all,
But I know the King of all Creation reigns completely
Over every moment, great and small.

Long live the One who gives us life and peace and hope for tomorrow.
He’s given everything we needed from the palm of His hand
I’ll give my everything to the One who pledged to cancel my sorrow,
All I have is Yours – Long live the King!”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElHMMxoz3iQ

We are not progressing very quickly through Romans 5, but maybe that’s because we are finding so much in the chapter! Yesterday, we still only made it to verse 11, and we certainly lingered on that verse!

“We also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” (Rom 5:11)

Garry encouraged us to list reasons that we can boast (or rejoice) in God. Firstly, we made lists of all that God has done for us (yes, that’s why it’s taking us so long!) and then we also listed all that God is, before looking at how our experience of God matches up with the Bible’s revelation of God.

So often, God works in our lives in a particular way and that reminds us of a particular attribute of God. For example, when we moved into St Mark’s, that was, for us as a congregation, a definite reminder of God’s faithfulness to keep His promises. We already knew that God is a faithful God from His word, but we saw that afresh in our experience.

There are times, however, when our experience may lead us into places where we feel we are NOT experiencing God in the way the Bible leads us to expect. There are times when we may feel forsaken, rejected, abandoned or lost. All the more reason, therefore, that we root ourselves in what we know to be true about God and can declare, like the psalmists, the truth about God, even if our hearts don’t seem to be experiencing that truth.

We looked at various psalms which give us good reason to find that God is our joy and our delight (Ps 43:4), but also at psalms of lament (eg Ps 10, Ps 13) where the psalmist may start from a position of desolation and loneliness, but ends by declaring – by faith; it’s all by faith, not by sight! – truth about God. We can trust in God’s unfailing love, even if we may feel forgotten (see Ps 13:1, 5). Rejoicing in God is a choice that we make.

Stephen spoke on Sunday evening about the Holy Spirit who is given to each believer to help us in everyday living. He spoke about the Holy Spirit being there to:
1) help us
2) guide us
3) lead us
4) stand for us
5) speak for us
6) show God’s power through us

In John 14:16-18, Jesus talks about the Holy Spirit living in us and being with us. He is able to be all things to us in all circumstances (rather like Batman’s utility belt helped him to be equipped for every situation!) The Holy Spirit teaches us and reminds us of all Jesus has said (John 14:26-27) and gives us the courage to speak in difficult circumstances (such as Acts 6-7, when Stephen was given the words to speak out before his stoning.) God’s power working through Peter allowed the lame man to be healed (Acts 3) and gave him the words to speak to rulers (Acts 4:8-11). This same power is available to us all (Acts 2:17-19), since God’s Spirit has now been poured out on all people. May we get to know God better and understand that the Holy Spirit lives in us to help us in every way.

Mark preached from 2 Corinthians 2:14-17 on the ‘fragrance of Christ’ this morning, opening with the provocative question ‘What do you smell of?’

Paul begins these verses ‘Thanks be to God’, reminding us that we should always start with thanksgiving. He is thankful for the triumph we have in God, reminiscent of the triumphal processions of the Romans, where the conquering army’s victory parade would be celebrated with burning spices – a pleasant smell for the conquerors but the ‘smell of death’ to the captives. In the same way, we have been given the ‘aroma of Christ’ and our role is to diffuse that fragrance gradually (rather as Mark did with his aftershave for us all to smell!)

We are not responsible for how others respond to the fragrance: some will respond to Christ; others will reject Him. But we are called to be diffusers, spreading the aroma of Christ wherever we go.

Romans 5 talks about the many blessings of salvation: peace, grace, hope being the ones initially mentioned.

Peace with God means that we are in harmony with Him; there is no longer enmity between us. We have found favour with God (Luke 2:14) and with that comes the peace of Christ (see John 14:27). Peace doesn’t necessarily guarantee peaceful circumstances (see John 16:33), but we can be at peace with our circumstances, even when they are painful or difficult, as Christ Himself demonstrated on the cross.

Peace is also one of the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22) and is available through Christ. We are able, through faith, to stand in the grace of God, working with God but accepting His gift of grace, knowing that His peace is available to us at all times.

Later in the chapter, we looked at the three things we can rejoice or boast in: the hope of the glory of God (vs 2), in our sufferings (vs 3) and in God Himself (vs 11). The glory that God has prepared for us is almost more than we can imagine, but we have the hope of a glorified body (see 1 Cor 2:6-10 and 1 Cor 15:42) and the hope of being transformed into God’s image (see 2 Cor 3:18).

This hope of glory acts as an anchor, giving us perspective in our present sufferings. The suffering that God allows into our lives produces good things: perseverance, character and more hope!

Despite technical problems with the projector which meant we had to use a large screen to project the words of songs, we still managed to get through a variety of topics last night!

First of all, an important birthday!

Then, a sermon inspired by Psalm 68:19 and looking at Matthew 11:28-30 on loads and burdens and how God wants us to come to Him with our burdens and exchange the heavy yoke we carry daily for the light yoke which is available through Christ.

Rarely seen without a host of bags, Julie talked about the daily load she carries:
/>First, there was the exercise bag, complete with towel, shampoo, deodorant, MP3 player and headphones and gym equipment:

Then there was the work bag, containing useful guidelines for her job as a teacher, including GCSE specifications and the infamous yellow ICE booklet to help with conducting exams:

Finally, there was a rucksack, containing tapes and the lever arch folder that holds the weekly plan for each lesson taught:

At times, we too wrestle with a host of baggage that we ought not to be carrying around. We can help share each other’s burdens (Gal 6:1) as part of the church community, but there are also times when we must be prepared to lay down the burdens of wrong attitudes and thinking, sin and guilt and idolatry which God never intended us to carry.

Sin and guilt are burdens which will crush us: “My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear.” (Ps 38:4) With God, there is forgiveness from sin and no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:1, just like a shower after exercise can wash away the sweat and dirt! Wrong thinking and attitudes have to be replaced by the truth of God’s word, so that our minds are renewed (Rom 12:1-2) – rather like listening to one’s own MP3 player at the gym instead of the music blaring forth from Kiss radio! And instead of relying on a over-full Lever arch folder of carefully constructed lessonplans, we need to face the fact that life was not meant to be lived solely under our control. We are not meant to be in sole charge of our lives. We don’t have to have everything neatly organised and tidily filed. Life is messy at times and we are not the ones who have to fix everything. Instead, we can come to Jesus and learn from Him who is gentle and humble in heart. We can rest in Him and exchange yokes. We can find rest for our souls.

Aaron Shust’s song ‘Come To Me’ takes the words of Matthew 11 and puts them to music:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVa7nheT56Y