The Miracles of Jesus Christ - in the midst of a storm

Sermon notes from Sunday 17 May 2015

Matthew 8 verses 23 – 27

The Miracles of Jesus Christ

There is a tremendous lesson about the disciples in these miracles.  We see a failure on their part, they had somehow lost the wonder of this miracle working in the man in their midst.  These were the same men who walked with him, ate with him, preached with him, prayed with him, seen so many mighty miracles performed but somehow they couldn’t put this miracle working power into their lives.  The Jesus in the midst of the storm in the sea of Galilee is the same one who stands in our midst today.  Remember the words of the apostle Paul.  I think he got it right when he weighed up the whole situation he was in from time to time especially to the church of Ephesus “now unto him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us. Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.”  Let’s apply His guiding hand to our lives today, apply it to the storm going on in our lives look to the one who with one word can calm the storm within.

The course that was taken.  Verse 23 “and when he was entered into a ship his disciples followed him.”  Here’s a course set out for the disciples that would take them into the midst of the storm.  The disciples knew nothing about it, didn’t know what lay ahead.  Here were the disciples at the bidding of the Lord, got into the ship and followed him.  Are you following the Lord today through his word as you meditate on it, as you hear him speaking to you through it?  Are you involved in the things he really wants you to be involved in this morning?  He is asking you to follow him.  Maybe you are unsaved.  If you haven’t stepped out to follow the Lord yet he beckons you to follow him.  “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”  In our natural state we will never see heaven’s gates nor look into Christ’s own face.  He asks you to take his hand so that he can show you Calvary, to see Christ dying there for your sins.  He wants to take away your sins and make you ready for home one day.  In Mark 4 where this same story is recorded we read Jesus saying “let us pass over unto the other side.”  Here was the Lord Jesus Christ speaking to the disciples and telling them “I want to get into the boat and go to the other side and I want you to be with me.”  He wanted their company that day.  He said to the disciples “let’s go to the other side”.  They didn’t know that half way across they would run into a serious storm, run into an awful crisis.  Right now in your life there is something happening and the Lord has spoken to you and you are following him.  Through the words of Mark’s gospel there is a sense that there was going to be a far side.  There was no way this boat would sink in the middle.  We might have many a storm but Christ is in control, in the midst of the storm.  It is up to you and I to keep our eyes on him.  Peter said “we are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.” (chapter 1 verse 5)  John 10 “my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me.”  He is speaking of his sheep, how they hear his voice and they follow him.  A hireling they will not follow, the hireling is just paid to do the job, he doesn’t care for the sheep.  “My people hear my voice and follow me.”  Great onus is on you and me today, to read and meditate on the word of God, following hard after the Lord Jesus Christ.  You and I need to get so acquainted with the word of God that we know his voice.  Jesus said to the disciples “let us get into the boat and they followed him.”  What course are you on today?  Have you heard his voice?  Are you following after him?  Jesus speaking to the apostle Peter in John 21 verse 18 said “Verily verily I say unto thee, when thou wast young thou girdest thyself and walkedst whither thou woudest but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands and another shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.”  The Lord was telling Peter he wouldn’t die before he reached old age.  The Lord is in control of your situation and life today.

The crisis that developed.  They soon found out, would find a crisis, there was a calamity, the tragedy.  They thought they would perish in the midst of this storm.  In the place where they thought God wanted them to be yet found a calamity.  Isn’t that what Abraham found when he came to the land of promise? The first thing Abraham found was a famine in the land.  Are we in the place where God would have us to be today?  Yet there is a tragedy.  Verse 24 the storm arose.  The sea is surrounded here with mountains and very quickly a storm could rise up.  This little boat was in the middle of the sea.  They were startled, gripped with fear.  You can be going on with the Lord so well when something happens.  A crisis comes into your life and somehow you are gripped by fear.  The apostle Paul saved by God’s grace on the road to Damascus called into service to preach the word of God, small churches were formed and he encouraged them in the work.  Something happens in the life of Paul, he referred to a thorn in the flesh and he asked the Lord to take it away.  Think of the Old Testament days when David was raised to be the king.  They were difficult times for him.  He went down to face the giant, felt so strongly about the presence of God.  “You have come with all your weaponry, experience in battle but I come to you in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel” he told Goliath.  He knew the presence of God in his life yet one day he had to flee from Saul the king of Israel – why – because Saul got jealous of him.  The people used to sing “Saul has slain his thousands but David his tens of thousands.  David had to flee from his presence.  Later we find he had to flee again because of his own son.  We will face crisis in our lives.  Maybe you are going through one crisis at this moment in time.  The one who has called you into the midst of it will be with you, through it all.  Jesus was sleeping in the boat when the storm rose up.  He was still with them, right in the midst of the crisis.  There may be disappointments at this moment in time.  God has meant it for good.  Elijah was God’s prophet, evangelising, all out for God.  God told him one day to flee to the brook Cherith.  He was right in the centre of God’s will.  He would take a drink from the brook, looked to the heavens for the ravens who would bring him bread and flesh in the morning.  At the time when he felt peckish again in the evening he looked for the same ravens.  He trusted the Lord would point them in his direction.  They never failed.  The only time they stopped was when God moved him onto the next stage.

The cry they made.  It was a cry that revealed a lack of trust.  The master was sleeping at the back of the ship.  The disciples felt he didn’t care.  Sometimes we get to the place where we wonder is God in this, could I have taken the wrong step?  That is where the disciples were.  Their cry was directed to him.  It might have revealed a lack of trust.  They came to their feet.  When Jesus sent his disciples out he told them they would have power over demons and spirits but they had something very special than that.  “Rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”  That is far more important, that is the most important thing.  That your name is written in heaven.  When the disciples began to worry about food and clothes he told them their heavenly father knew all about that but they were not to concern themselves.  He knew all about them even in the midst of the storm.  The children of Israel were delivered from bondage in Egypt by the blood sprinkled on the door of the house.  The Lord delivered them out into the wilderness but somehow they forgot about the God who had delivered them.  He had power to bring them out of slavery.  They saw the Egyptian army coming after them and they started to doubt that God was with them.  They faltered and didn’t trust God.

The challenge Jesus gave.  The disciples asked him to save them or they would perish.  Verse 26 “why are ye fearful?”  Isn’t that what the Lord wants us to do?  The challenge is we must bring our fears, doubts and unbeliefs to him.  The disciples had such fear that they couldn’t see the great miracle taking place before them.  Verse 27 sometimes in a crisis we have cause to reflect.  Sometimes we feel the finger of God on us.  Peter walked on the water, able to do that unnatural thing because the Lord had bid him to do it.  As long as his eyes were on the master he could do it but when he took his eyes off the Lord he began to sink.  “Why did you look away, where’s your faith” Jesus asked him.  It was all Peter’s own thinking.  Did the disciples feel the storm would defeat God?  Did they think He had no control over the sea?  Did they lose out on his power?  Their cry went before the Lord.  There is a storm today, a crisis today.  Sometimes we don’t have any answers, cannot’ understand it.  There will be things in our lives we cannot understand, there will be things in our world we will never understand but I have to keep trusting the God of heaven as go through because he is in control of the storm.

The Miracles of Jesus Christ - complying with the word of God

Sermon notes from Sunday 10 May 2015

Matthew 7 verses 14 – 29

The Miracles of Jesus

Jesus is here preaching on the Mount of Olives.  He comes to a very very important topic – the topic of hearing the word of God.  Not only that but obeying the word of God.  Turning to Peter on the shores of Galilee as he is washing and mending his nets.  I want to pick up this miracle that comes.  Peter’s way in the draught of fishes he caught.  The first miracle was at a wedding, young people wanted to make sure they had the presence of the Lord on their special day.  Jesus performed his first miracle in turning the water into wine.  Then we looked at the noble man who had a son who was sick.  He wanted Jesus to heal him and that is what did happen.  When he returned home he found his son healed as Jesus had said.  God is doing miracles all around us.  God is working in the home today, working in relationships today.  When I open my eyes I think that is a miracle, when I put my feet on the floor that is a miracle, health and strength, breakfast on the table.  God gave me so much, appetite from God, food.  See many who cannot walk or eat, my grandchildren running around I think that is a miracle.  Have you allowed him to work that greatest miracle ever?  The miracle of redeeming grace when Jesus came into world, on the cross of Calvary died and gave his life that we might be turned from sin, made new creatures in Christ Jesus.  The old things have passed away, all things have become new, that the gates of heaven are open to you today.  Have you had a miracle?  Peter was here after a night of disappointment and failure.  Luke 5 verse 5 “go out again and let down your nets.”  Peter replied “we have toiled all night and taken in nothing, we are weary, discouraged, tired, never the less at thy word I will let down my nets”. 

Peter complies with the word of God.  If you want that miracle in your heart you have to comply with the word of God.  That means acknowledging you are a sinner.  The only place sin is dealt with is at the cross of Calvary.  We have got to make our way to Calvary.  In Revelation Jesus said “behold I stand at the door and knock, if any man will hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him.”  You have to comply with the word of God and invite Christ in, open up your hearts door to him.  The word of God captured Peter’s heart.  This is a fast world we are living in and we are not making time for God’s word in these days.  This is a very busy world, got to leave aside time that the Lord can speak to us.  The Lord also challenged Peter.  The Lord can capture us with his voice, even challenge us.  We need to be willing to comply with what the Lord’s word says.  Never the less at thy word I will go out again.  Moses complied with the word of God standing at the burning bush.  In the end he went down into Egypt and brought the Israelites out of their bondage and slavery.  Jonah did not comply with God’s word.  God told him to go down to Ninevah and tell them of the word of God to save them.  The word of God came unto Jonah and it challenged him knowing that this people would respond and turn to God if he went down and preached the word to them.  Is there something in God’s word here is asking you to comply with today? We don’t want to do it.  Verse 5 “Master” he is putting the Lord as the one who rules him, as ruler of my life today. He wants to be Saviour and maybe he wants to be King.  He wants to be ruler of your life over all your life.  Is there a compartment in your life that is not open to the Lord?  You opened your heart, allowed him to come in but there is one area you are not allowing him to enter into.  He wants you to comply with his word today.  Peter knew not what he was going out to but he was going out on the water with the Master.  Do we really take on board that the Bible is the word of God?  All scripture is given by inspiration of the spirit of God for prophecy, came not in own time but in the will of God only.  Men of God speaketh as moved by the Spirit “moved”.  In Acts 27 there is a shipwreck recorded for us.  Rough winds made the ship drift, carried along by the strength of tides and the winds.  Man speaks as moved by the Holy Ghost.  Drifted along under the power and influence of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus set out for the place even he would have some work to do.  Peter went out standing on the word of God alone.  Mattered not what his friends said.  Maybe you are trying to serve God and it is so hard.  Maybe in your family or in the work place.  Seems so little for all the effort.  Nevertheless go back to the word of God.  What I am doing is done by the authority of the word of God.  No matter what you are doing make sure you are standing on the word of God.  There will come a time when that will be all you have left.  It is all of God.

Peter and the celebration that followed.  He never realised what would happen with God.  In the morning never really knew what God is going to do.  The night before he had fished and caught nothing.  On the shoreline the next morning he was washing and mending his nets.  The Lord comes and tells him to launch out into the deep and let down his nets.  Peter is ready to go again.  The Lord comes and speaks to him.  We do not know what the Lord has for us.  Maybe speaking to your heart and comes with a precise word today.  Verse 6 and when they had done this goes out into the waters, lets down his net and they enclosed a massive amount of fish, such was the multitude of the fishes.  The net looked as if it would break.  The same God that provided that catch was the same God who provided no fish the night before.  He allowed Peter to toil all through the darkness of the night and caught nothing.  We shouldn’t let some failure over take us.  We shouldn’t let this failure overwhelm us.  How can we say that failure is of God because God is providing it for some reason.  Maybe you are praying for your family yet somehow God doesn’t seem to be working, not hearing.  Maybe he is allowing you to go through the dark spell of a night just to show us what faith is all about.

A company that is influenced and “they beckoned unto their partners which were in the other ship that they should come and help them and they came and helped.”  The influence Peter had on others around these other fishermen.  Peter saw the consequences of hearing God’s word.  Remember the man with demonic devils.  He wanted to go with Jesus but Jesus told him “no I want you to go back to your own village and family, tell them of the great things you have done for Christ.”  Others can be influenced through our lives.  He would take the Lord at his word.  Psalm 40 Psalmist cried from an awful pit, depths of misery, when the Lord had lifted him he provided “a new song in my mouth even praise unto our God, many shall hear it and trust in him.”  Are people influenced by your acts and attitudes?  Peter asked the other fishermen to come and help him.  Are you stepping out today?  Have you launched out into the deep?  Is your life a blessing to others?

A confession that Peter makes.  “Depart from me for I am a sinful man”. 

A course that changed Peter’s life.  He followed the Lord that day.  He left the nets and followed the Lord from that day forwards.  Peter didn’t know that day it would change him for ever.  Maybe the Lord is asking you to leave all behind, change your course for ever.  “I will make you fishers of men” Jesus told him.  He changed the course of Peter’s life through one meeting.  The Lord has the directions for your life all mapped out but is waiting for you to step out for him - because you have asked I am going to do it.

The Miracles of Jesus Christ - Launch out into the deep and let down your nets!

Sermon notes from Sunday 3 May 2015

Luke 5 verses 1 – 11

The Miracles of Jesus Christ

After a disappointing night of fishing the next day Jesus told Simon to “launch out into the deep and let down your nets.”  Simon’s reply was “I have worked all night and caught nothing nevertheless at thy word I will let down my nets.”  Are we ready to rely on what God’s word has to say at any time?  Peter obeyed the word of God.  Maybe there is something on our hearts that is bearing down on us.  The word of God is the control, the focus in our lives today.  It matters not what the world says but what the word of God says.  It matters not what the church says about your salvation – remember the word of God says “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1 verse 18)

The word of God that captured Peter’s attention.  The word of God was the very foundation stone.  It captured his attention.  In verse 1 we read “the people pressed upon him (Jesus) to hear the word of God.”  Imagine the scene – the Lord was by the lake shore and the people had gathered there to hear the word of God.  That is what the people gathered for on that day.  It is the word of God that makes the difference.  “Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10 verse 17)  Remember when the Lord returned to Capernaum in Mark 2 verse 2 “And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door and he preached the word unto them.”  The people came to hear the word of God.  What does the word of God do to a person?  It can save their souls for all eternity.  Peter is sitting on the shore washing and mending his nets.  His mind is on his fishing.  He doesn’t throw them to one side but prepares them ready for the next fishing trip.  Peter attends to those things that needed attended to.  While he was doing that the Lord came to where he was and spoke to him.  Jesus told him he wanted to go out into the water so that he could speak to the people from there.  What are you doing for people around you?  The Lord will use you to reach them for the gospel.  The Lord began to preach to the multitudes.  The Lord is going to use you even in the little things.  The Lord sees how responsible we are in the week days.  Remember Samuel, a young child of 8/9 years of age.  Hannah his mother had prayed for him, prayed that God would give her a son and she promised if she had a son she would give him back to God.  Samuel was taken by Hannah to the house of God and given in service to God.  He had the most menial of tasks – to open and close the doors of the temple each day.  God knew he was faithful.  God spoke to him one night in his bed and showed him what he would do in the whole nation of Israel.  That is how important the Sunday School work is – bringing children into the house of God.  God can speak to them at that age about what he wants them to do for him.  It is in the little things that God can use people – tithing, opening the doors, being there when everyone has gone home.  The Lord looks on you and sees you in these activities.  Peter was mending his nets when the Lord said to him “launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draught.”  In verse 2 the Lord saw 2 ships standing by the lake side but the fishermen were gone out of them and washing their nets.  In verse 4 we see the Lord had left off speaking when he turned to talk to Peter.  Jesus had the attention of Peter.  The word of God captured Peter where he was at.  Whenever he had finished speaking to the crowd the Lord spoke to Peter.  Remember when Jesus visited Mary and Martha.  Mary was captured by Jesus’ words.  She sat down at his feet and listened to him.  We might see God moving in a tremendous way if only we could be captured by God’s word.  Jesus spoke into Peter’s ear.  Are we listening for God’s word when the preachers voice is silent?  Jesus met Peter at the point of his working.  We can be saved yet not really be captured by the word of God.  When the meeting ends we should still be listening, be sensitive to the people around us who perhaps God is speaking to.

The word challenged Peter.  Jesus said to him “push out into the deep.”  He had a personal word for Peter.  He is challenged to launch out into the deep.  Maybe you have been clutching the sides too long.  Maybe God wants you to trust him today because he wants to thrust you out.  Maybe the Lord wants to save your soul today.  Maybe you have never experienced the blood being applied to your life by simple faith.  “Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  Maybe you are holding the sides, not sure whether the Lord will save you.  Depend on his word and he will save you once you let go, let the Lord have his way.  Maybe the Lord is challenging you for service today but you are afraid.  Will you go through with God today?  God has a tremendous task for you if only you are prepared to listen and obey him.  God will not let you down today.  The word of God caught the attention of Peter.  The challenge came clearly to Peter.  The word “toiled” means right to almost the pain of exhaustion, means a tiredness, a weariness.  The Lord told him to go out again.  Peter agreed to do what the Lord told him to do.  We need to get to the place of really trusting the Lord.  Remember Moses passing by the bush that was burning in the wilderness.  He stepped aside to see what it was.  The moment he did that the Lord spoke to him.  He captured his attention.  The Lord then told him what he wanted him to do.  He began to argue with God.  Have you put up the arguments before God to serve Him?  Moses complained that he was slow of speech, was stammering.  There was a time when I could have done it but now I couldn’t do it.  The Lord has been asking you to do something but you have been setting it aside and saying “I couldn’t do it.”  Peter wouldn’t see that great catch of fishes unless he launched out with God’s word.  Maybe for Moses for 40 years previously he had tried to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt in his own strength and couldn’t do it. He ran away and failed.  Sometimes we fail.  Is it not better to fail than not to try at all?  To fail doesn’t mean we should never be persuaded to try again.  Maybe tried something and you have failed, you have felt the pain but don’t ever let it give you up.  The Lord told Peter to launch out into the deep.  Just you go out and do that, forget about the disappointments of past failures.  Peter was challenged.  Moses was challenged.  God is not challenging Peter today or Moses today or the missionary today.  He is challenging you today.  Will you do a work for me?  Give me your heart, life, your all?

The miracles of Christ - the nobleman's son

Sermon notes from Sunday 26 April 2015

JOHN 4 VERSES 46 – 54

The miracles of Christ

The very first public performance of Christ noted the importance of the first miracle, the marriage in Cana when the wine ran out.  His mother came to him and said “they have no wine.”  He asked the servants to fill the jugs with water and he turned them into wine.  Now look at what John speaks of as the second miracle which takes place in the home. Today Jesus comes to the home of a nobleman, a Roman officer of some description.  I want you to notice the miracle and the faith going hand in hand here.  It began as a little thought in his heart until it developed into something very strong.  Miracles and faith still go hand in hand.  God can work outside of our faith too.  He can work alone.  You will find time and time again God answers prayer as result of faith.  When he was in Nazareth we read “he didn’t do many mighty miracles there because of their unbelief.” (Matthew 13 verse 58)  The people knew who Jesus was, who his parents were.  He was familiar with those people and he didn’t strike a chord there to perform miracles.  Have you come expecting the Lord to do something in your life?  Have you come believing he could do that or is this just another Sunday morning when you come to the house of God, listen to the hymns and sermon but go away again.  It has lost the appeal.

The experience of this man’s faith in regards to the miracle.  Here was an experience that came about in this man’s life.  His home was totally devastated.  It brought a burden to him, brought him to a difficult place.  His faith was being tested.  Are you going through a time of trial?  Does the way seem difficult, uphill, lonely?  That is what this man was going through.  Verse 46 “he had a son who was sick, he had a fever.”  He didn’t know what to do.  I’m sure he thought of a doctor, no doubt he had loads of money to spend on a doctor but there was no hope for him.  Maybe it was this that stirred a desire to have Jesus come and heal his son.  The son was at the point of death.  He had deteriorated.  His faith was being tested.  The experience of this man’s faith in regards to this miracle.  Verse 49 “come down, heal my son or he will die, you are my last hope.”  Notice this burden this man has.  A real burden for his family.  Have you got a burden for your family?  A burden like this man had?  He knew the boy was about to die.  Maybe our families are in the very best of health but they are dying, eternity is coming.  Have you a burden for them?  To see them coming to faith?  Whether this man was a believer at this point we don’t know, it was maybe a strengthening of his faith.  Your faith can be tested at the most severest time.  Here was a man, if it had not been for this ill child who was so near death this man might not have seen a mighty miracle even in his own home.  Maybe the trial you are going through now is that you will see something marvellous from the very God of heaven.  In Elisha’s day there was a woman who realised he was a man of God.  How many would really think that of you and I?  Could they say there is something different about you?  This woman did something special for Elisha.  She made him a room, set it aside for him so that when he was in the area he could stay there.  Elisha asked God to answer her prayer for a child.  The woman was delighted when she conceived and gave birth.  She nursed the child until one day something happened to that child.  He was out working with his father one day when he complained of his head hurting.  The father sent him back to his mother who nursed him until he died.  The tragedy of the time was a test and trial to her faith.  She sent a servant off to find Elisha who brought the child back to life again.

The expression of his faith.  This experience brought about an expression which manifested itself in this man going to look for Jesus.  Is that experience you are going through, does it manifest itself into an expression of faith?  This experience brought him to Christ.  It brought him a faith expressed in his actions.  It expressed itself in his thoughts.  It expressed itself in his feet, in his tongue, in his lips.  It expressed itself in all these means in holding onto the God of heaven for an answer to prayer.  Where has your recent trial taken you to?  We are not tested and tempted to destroy our faith.  It is to strengthen our faith.  Peter when writing to people going through difficult times wrote “the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold” (1 Peter 1 verse 7)  Romans 3 verse 10 “he knoweth the way that I take when he have tried me I shall come forth as precious gold.”  I am prepared to come to the place of prayer, open myself up and leave it all with the Lord.  As you go through the trial he wants you to lean your whole weight on him.  We need to bring it to the Lord.  Have we that burden?

The evidence of his faith in regard to this miracle.  We see Jesus rebuking the man.  The man brings his awful plight to the Lord himself verse 48.  For a moment or two this man is not worried about signs.  This man simply replied “come and heal my child before he dies.”  He had one thing on his mind – the state of his son.  I wonder does the state of our society move us today?  To get down before Christ and pray and seek God’s help?  We have people in our families not saved – does it bring us right to Christ’s feet?  Jesus said to this man in verse 50.  The Lord tells him to go his way and his son lived.  When he let his house the son was at the point of death.  He felt he would slip into eternity at any minute.  He has already travelled a distance to find Christ yet he believed against all the odds that what the Lord told him was in fact true.  Remember Peter out fishing all night but caught nothing.  Jesus told him to go back out and let down his nets.  Peter told him he had fished all night “nevertheless at thy word I will do it.”  He went out because he believed the Lord against all the odds.  Just because the Lord said it he believed it.  This was the evidence – the nobleman turned from the Lord and started to make his way home.

The excitement of faith in regard to this miracle.  The man came near to his home, he had the word of God in his heart.  There was excitement when he heard the servants tell him his boy was well again.  The time the fever broke was the exact time when the Lord had spoken.  Maybe God wants to do the same miracle for you today.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ - what does it mean to you?

Sermon notes from Sunday 5 April 2015

Luke 24 verses 1 – 12

As we come around to another Easter time again it is the weekend when we remember in particular the work of the cross.  Jesus Christ the Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us.  Jesus dying on the middle cross was dying to pay a great debt.  It is your sin and my sin that brought Jesus from heaven to that lonely place called Calvary to die for us.  Peter said “Jesus who his own self bare our sins in his own body he bare our sins in his own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2 verse 24).  “He paid a debt he did not owe, I owed a debt I could not pay.”  He picked up the bill there at Calvary.  Let’s not take it for granted what the Lord did for each of us.  When I think of the cross of Calvary I think of the suffering, beating and bruising, the torture in the judgement hall, how he was spat on, whipped and taken out to the cross for the shedding of his blood.  If suffering was enough that would have been enough but it wasn’t enough.  It took the shedding of his blood to forgive your sins and my sins.  The sacrifice of the cross is for my life.  The just dying for the unjust. That was what he was doing.  Think of the sufficiency of the cross.  This was the plan God had from eternity past.  God could raise him from the dead that was what sealed it.  His suffering and his agony was for the shedding of his blood that we can be saved today.  It is to the tomb we want to look again.  We see the mystery, miracle and mission that have come from that – “go quickly and tell the disciples”.  Tell what you have seen in evidence.  Today I want to speak of the resurrection.

The resurrection is a central theme.  When those woman went to the tomb they saw the stone was rolled back, they couldn’t see the body of Christ.  Then the angel came and said “you seek for Jesus he is not here, why seek for the living among the dead?  He is not here he is risen.”  Resurrection is the central theme on which the church is built.  The early sermons of the apostles didn’t waste any time in getting to the cross and the resurrection.  We see how God was satisfied with the death of his son.  If he had not been satisfied with that death then Jesus would not have been raised from the dead.  Peter on the day of Pentecost in that upper room, the Holy Spirit came down and they went out into the streets and began to proclaim the gospel.  The people were amazed at his words.  When he preached about the life of Christ, his miracles, his death then he got around to the resurrection.  The pangs of death could not hold him.  The resurrection was the central message to his preaching.  Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 said “the gospel I preached unto you … by which you are saved … or I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received how that Christ died for our sins … And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures … If Christ be not raised your faith is vain ye are yet in your sins.”  In Acts 17 the apostle Paul was preaching to a great intellectual audience.  What happened – they mocked him and laughed at him.  Paul knew how important the resurrection and said it was to the salvation of his soul.  Paul knew how important the resurrection was to the gospel message but people didn’t realise this.  They didn’t realise it was the foundation of the gospel message by which they could be saved.  The full gospel.  Jesus came into the world as a sinless being.  He took our place on the cross of Calvary but you need to take on the resurrection power.  They still mock and try to chip away at the foundation message.  “If the foundations be destroyed what can the righteous do?” (Psalm 11 verse 3)  We need to plead and pray today to ensure that the gospel message is truth.  Today the Lord’s name is being discredited.  The Lord’s day is under attack.  Family life is also under attack.

The resurrection is a current thought.  It is not a doctrine for the first generation but is a current thought in every day.  Jesus Christ is alive and is seated at the right hand of his father in heaven ever living to make intercession for you and I.  He is praying for us and the situations we face today.  He said to Peter “Satan hath desired to have thee but I have prayed for thee.”  He ever liveth to make intercession for you.  Think of the significance and importance of the women who went to the tomb.  They heard the message “he is not here, he is risen.”  It gives me comfort to realise and acknowledge and to know the one I am trusting in has broken the chains of death, is alive and is in heaven praying for me.  When I gather with other believers around this communion table the current thought is of a Saviour who is alive for evermore.  Jesus said “this do in remembrance of me.”  John the Baptist was exiled to the Isle of Patmos for taking a stand for Christ.  He heard God telling him “I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for ever more.”  The place that holds the mortal remains of Queen Victoria and her husband Albert has the words “here at last I will rest with thee, with thee in Christ I shall also rise again.”  The current thought is he hasn’t forgotten about me.  If he were to come at this point in time he would take those who are saved and take them into the presence of Christ for ever.”

The resurrection confirms the truth.  In John 17 when Jesus was praying for his followers he praised the God of heaven for sanctifying them.  The only way to be sanctified is through God’s word.  “Thy word is truth sanctify them through thy word.”  Jesus was praying for you and I that day too “neither pray I or these alone but for them also which shall also believe on the message through thy word.”  What does he pray for?  To set them apart.  That is what sanctification means.  He was praying for you and I.  It is as relevant today as then.  The moment you are saved you are called out from this world.  The word also means to make pure, to make holy.  Jesus Christ was praying for his people.  For a separated people, a pure people, a holy people, a sanctified people.  I wonder where you stand today?  Are you separated from the world?  Has he made your heart pure?  We can be today.  He is not here he has risen.  The empty grave confirms it.  Matthew 16 verse 21.  When I turn to John 14 Jesus is speaking of his death and says “I will come again.”  Jesus told his disciples that he must suffer, must be killed and must rise again the third day but then he says “I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there ye may be also.”  This is Christ’s word.  One of these days that word will be confirmed when he comes again.  He cannot lie today.  I wonder are you saved today?  Are you ready whenever he comes to break the clouds, when the trumpet will sound, the archangel will give the shout – will you be ready to meet him in the air?

The resurrection is a crowning testimony.  They mocked him in the Judgment Hall, put on a crown of thorns on his head, paraded him, beat him until he was barely recognisable.  The Pharisees came in and said “we remember he claimed he would rise again on the third day so seal the tomb.”

The resurrection is a challenging test for those who are saved.  The angel said “go and tell.”  Did you tell someone in this past week that Jesus is alive?  He is not in the tomb but in heaven now.  Could I leave that challenge with you.  Have you told anyone that Jesus is alive and alive for evermore?

The conscience

Sermon Notes from Sunday 22 March 2015

1 Timothy 1 verses 1 – 15

The apostle Paul was writing to the young man Timothy.  In Acts chapters 16 and 17 we read of Timothy’s testimony.  Paul sees something in him and takes him under his wing.  Timothy goes out with Paul on his teaching and preaching engagements and becomes a young pastor.  He is left in Ephesus to establish the church while Paul moves on to Macedonia.  Paul hears of things happening in Ephesus.  Timothy is being ridiculed, scorned, mocked, criticised because of his age and so many different things.  Paul wants to write to him to encourage him.  He wants to show the way ahead for him.  He shares some wonderful things with Timothy.  In light of all the persecution, difficulties, obstacles the old devil and those who profess Christ would throw in your face he says in verse 5 “Now the end of contentment is charity.”  That word charity means love.  “Out of a pure heart.”  A heart that knows the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the only thing that can purify the heart.  Jesus said “out of the heart comes murderous thoughts, envy.  Once the heart is cleansed out comes the good things.  Timothy keep your heart right before God.  That is our own responsibility today.  To keep ourselves right before God.  Walk in the light as he is in the light.  “And of a good conscience and of faith unfeigned.”  They all go together.  This word “conscience” has been creeping up time and time again and especially in light of the Asher Bakery case.  The government are trying to add into law a conscience clause.  This will give special liberty to those in business that they might refuse to supply anything their conscience would not allow them to.  For the Asher Bakery they could not place on a cake the slogan that supported same sex marriage.  That was going against their conscience.  As a result they are being taken to court.  Conscience is that mechanism that God has placed in each of us.  God has given it to us.  It distinguishes between right and wrong.  The human heart is a wonderful thing.  The amount of veins that are connected to it.  We have so many parts in our bodies but at the back of it all we have a thing called conscience.  Decides if it is yes or no.  An old Pastor used to say to me ‘if in doubt kick it out.’  That is the conscience.  When we go to do something the old conscience kicks in.  Look at some of the consciences found in the scripture.

A sensitive conscience.  A time whenever you know something is wrong.  That is the time to step away.  Conscience says “it is ok.”  See it in the Old Testament when the midwives in Egypt decided what to do.  In Exodus 1 we see a new Pharaoh became king in Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph.  Joseph was the youngest son of Jacob.  One day he went out to see his brothers.  They hated him with a passion.  Joseph ended up in Egypt.  The new king did not know anything about the history of the Jewish people.  Fear gripped his heart about this nation rising up against his authority and rule.  What did he do?  He made them into slaves.  He treated them harshly but the one thing he found out was that the more he persecuted these people the more they rose up.  They multiplied more and more.  Then Pharaoh came up with a great plan, a mischievous plan.  He planned to kill all the male children at the point of birth.  To do that he called in the help of the midwives.  He said ‘when you do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son then you shall kill him; but if it be a daughter then she shall live.” (Exodus 1 verse 16)  Then we read “But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them but saved the men children alive.”  Their consciences were sensitive.  Moses was a young man who grew up living in Pharaoh’s palace.  He was well educated, had great riches beyond measure.  He had everything the world could offer.  He had power, education, everything he could ever want.  He just had to ask and it would be given to him.  One day he went out into the forecourt and saw an Egyptian beating an Israelite slave.  He slew the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.  Exodus 2 verse 12 “And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.”  Moses questioned himself if it was right or wrong.  If he was not bothered why did he look either way?  His conscience was telling him whether it was right or wrong.  How many times have you heard God’s word preached and yet not accepted Christ?  How many times have you heard that you have sinned and come short of God’s glory and heaven will not be your home unless you come to the cross?  How many times have you heard the Holy Spirit speak to your heart, drawing you to the foot of the old rugged cross?  Your conscience has said yes that is right but you have set it on the back burner, gone out into the darkness of the night and turned your back on God.  If you were called out to eternity now you would be lost for ever.  You can be saved today though.

A stifled conscience.  It is suppressed.  You feel the Holy Spirit speaking to your heart but somehow you build up every difficulty and supress the conscience.  Joseph’s brothers hated him, planned and plotted his downfall.  At 17 years of age they wanted to sort him out once for all.  They devised that they would take and kill him.  They hated him so much.  They threw him into a pit, an old dry pit.  They shackled his hands and feet and then went back to the camp fire.  They listened to the cries from that pit, their own brother pleading with them to come and lift him out of the pit.  He must have been so scared and frightened.  They stifled their conscience but it came back to them many years later.  One day they stood before Joseph but didn’t know who he was.  “We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us and we would not hear therefore is this distress come upon us.” (Genesis chapter 42 verse 21)  Their consciences took them right back to that day when they had put him into that pit, now all these years later the brothers are down in Egypt looking for food and didn’t realise the man before them is their own brother.   Maybe there is something in your life at this moment in time coming back to your conscience.  It is telling you need to reconcile that in your heart, with God himself.  Your conscience is telling you what needs to be done.  The brothers felt their past feelings coming back to haunt them in the presence of Joseph.  They stifled their conscience.  It is dangerous to stifle the conscience, to set it aside.  If God is speaking to you don’t stifle the conscience, silence the voice of God.  Remember when John the Baptist came preaching the will of God through him?  John was imprisoned by Herod because he preached against Herod and his taking of his brother’s wife.  Herodius wanted John killed but Herod respected him for what he stood for.  One day Salome danced before him.  Herod became drunk and offered to give her anything she wanted up to half his kingdom.  She asked for John the Baptist’s head on a platter.  Some years later Jesus came before Pilate.  He was so excited to see Jesus and talk with him.  Jesus never spoke one word to him.  The voice of God was silenced for the last time.  Herod never heard the voice of God again.  Many people have got up from a gospel meeting, under the anointing of the Spirit of God and heard the invitation but have stifled their conscience.  They wouldn’t give in and closed their ears to the voice of God.  If God has spoken to you I would plead and pray with you come to Christ today.  Is your conscience sensitive to God?  Are you stifling your conscience to God today?

A seared conscience.  No longer hears, no longer feels.  Maybe there is an apology to be made, a debt to be paid.  God reaches down today – do not stifle God’s voice today.  Strive for a good conscience before God and men.

The foundation, focus and future of the church fellowship

Sermon Notes from Sunday 1 March 2015 

Philippians 1 verses 1 – 18

What should a church fellowship be like?  As we take these words from the person of the apostle Paul we see the longing and deep desire in his heart for the work of God.  He realised the work he left behind in Philippi was a work of God.  This book was written roughly about 10 years after he left them.  It is a very personal letter.  The Ephesian letter and Colossian letter were written to be shared with others but in Philippians though there were no instructions to share it with anyone else.  It was a love letter back to the church from Paul’s heart.  Bear in mind that Paul is in prison as he writes this letter.  As he writes he is full of fond memories of those early days in Philippi when he preached the word of God.  When people reflect on us, looking back on the situations in our lives, the people I have met – will they be fond memories?  There will be sadness in those memories too.  When Lydia met with the Lord, when she took them into her home and had fellowship with her.  The time when the Philippian jailer took them into his home and family, when they were all saved.

Paul is quick to get to the foundation.  A church, a fellowship must be Christ centred.  The work of God is based on the foundation of Christ.  If not it is not the work of God.  It could maybe be a good going concern, happy place to go to but it is not the work of God.  My life has to be founded on the Lord Jesus Christ if I ever want to be in heaven today.  Nothing else is important.  The most important part of any building is the foundation.  If the foundation is not right it will not matter what way the rooms are.  “He that hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”  Paul says “other foundations can no man lay.” (1 Corinthians 3 verse 11)  The doctrines which Paul had taught were the foundations.  They were accepted, believed and they changed the lives of men and woman.  Paul’s mind wanders back to those early days in Acts 16.  If he had had his way he would have gone into Asia but God didn’t want him there, he wanted him in Philippi.  It is good to wait on the Lord.  God can be calling, speaking this morning.  We need to be open to his call, ready to hear and willing to do what he has asked us.  Has God been speaking to you about your sin in your heart today?  He had to send His son into the world in response to the sin of this world that we could be saved.  What have we done with the Lord up to this day in our lives?  Rejected him?  Shunned him?  Set him to one side?  We are talking about the foundation of salvation today.  Paul had that dream of a man telling him to come into Macedonia.  The first meeting was by the riverside outside Philippi.  Lydia opened her heart that day.  Then a little maid started to follow them around.  She had an evil spirit.  She could tell the future.  We live in an age today of superstition and men and women are blinded.  Paul cast out the demon from the girl.  In the old prison house the apostle Paul spoke to the Philippian jailer and pointed him to Christ.  That was the foundation.  Jesus said “those who hear my word listen to me but don’t do what I say, he is like a man building his house on sand.”(Matthew 7 verses 24 – 27)  This fellowship was founded on the word of God not on the will of man.  You wouldn’t build your house on sand.  We can listen to God’s word, hear what it has to say and go out and disobey the word.  The man who puts my word into practice is like a man building his house on the rocks.  All such different people Paul met in Philippi, all came to the Lord to build their lives, came to one foundation.  “Henceforth be no more children cast too and fro tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;”(Ephesians 4 verse 14)

Christ must also be the focus of the church as well.  He places the responsibility to keep the work going on.  They must focus on Christ.  Verse 1.  Paul is writing to the bishops and deacons.  They are to keep focus on the Lord. He spoke of the opposition he faced when preaching the gospel.  As long as the word kept going forth Paul was happy.  “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”  The comfort it brought to Paul’s heart as lay in prison house.  The joy was that Jesus Christ was being preached.  This one thing I rejoice in.  You and I in like manner need to keep focus on Jesus Christ.  Keep him in view at all times.  Need not to be caught up with lesser things.  In Ephesus Paul complimented them on their faith but in Revelation we now see a church that has left its first love, has shifted their focus.  Revelation 2 verse 4 “nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, thou hast left thy first love.”  They loved the Lord with all their heart at a time but now had let it.  Not lost it but failed to keep Jesus in their focus.  Revelation 2 verse 5 Jesus Christ is talking not John.  He sees they have left their first love, gives the invitation “you have got to repent.”  That is what happened in that church.  There is not even a trace of a building to worship in that place today.  Demas shifted his focus – “he hath forsaken me”.  It didn’t happen overnight but bit by bit it happened.  The devil deceives us bit by bit.  That is where we need to be careful.  We need to keep our focus on the Lord.  We have to guard the pulpit today.  People may not like us for that.  The Laodicean church was similar – Christ was on the outside not the inside. “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”(Philippians 2 verse 5)  We need to guard our fellowship.

We also see the future of the church.  “He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”  The word “perform” is the focus, the words “until the day of Jesus Christ” shows the future.  The battle is not over.  It has only begun.  When you come to Christ and accept him as Saviour and Lord “that ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ.”  We have to live without offence and with sincerity.  To live with the view that Jesus Christ can come at any time.  Wouldn’t it be awful if Jesus came today and we met him with empty hands?