Jesus is Lord
10/05/20
Prayer By Samuel
Lord we come before you acknowledging our brokenness and that we are in need of your grace. Lord we thank you for your grace which washes us clean making us acceptable to you. Lord we praise your name, because it is by your sacrifice on the cross that we can be in fellowship with you.
Lord we thank you for all that you provide for us, the ability to see light in the darkest of places and an opportunity to call on your name when we are in need. Lord your wrap around love surrounds us, even though we are undeserving we receive your warm embrace ensuring we are never alone. Thank you for working in our lives each day, intimately being involved with our joys and our struggles. I pray that we will each make you king of our lives and allow your perfect love to fill us so you can will out any of the fears that we may have. Lord I pray that we will submit our fears and our worries to you because your hands are the safest place to entrust our lives too. Lord may we allow you to work through our lives each day, giving you the glory allowing you to lead. Help us transform our everyday life, work, rest and play into worship for you.
Lord we thank you for the secure promises which reach out and break away the doubt we may have. We praise your name for the hope you bring, the protection you give and the life you provide. Lord we pray that your kingdom will come and transform the world into a place which reflects your glory so we may dwell in your light and love for eternity. We give you the honor, God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit for the investment you make in each one of us each day.
Finally, Lord I pray for all the people who are feeling lost, lonely or in need of a hug during this time, may we as the church seek to connect with our community so that all people may be lifted up by your presence. I pray for all the mothers or women who are expecting, that they will hold on to your certain hand and feel your peace in these uncertain times.
Lord we thank you for the perfect assurance we have in you.
Amen
Sam Prior
We all have a home
I’m filling in this week for Carolyn. Unfortunately Carolyn was not up to doing the message this week as scheduled, partly due to not being well. We pray, Carolyn, that you will enjoy God strengthening your body and restoring good health.
One of the things to ask people who are doing the right thing and staying home at the moment is ‘Are you keeping warm?’ It is good that so many are still keeping their distance but now that the weather has changed it is also important that we don’t get cold – especially our older people who feel the cold, and the isolation, most. I truly hope you are all keeping warm and safe and healthy.
In Acts 7 this week we read that Stephen was well and truly out in the cold. If we go back a little into chapter 6, we read that Stephen had been taken to the Sanhedrin to face the charges of blasphemy against God because he had become one of them; you know, one of the followers of this Jesus person. In his defence speech, Stephen fired all the guns and went back to the beginning and quoted prophecies of Christ. Then he told of Christ and His time on earth. Then he stated that they had murdered the very Son of God. This really got them going and Stephen drove the next nail in his own coffin by stating he could see God in heaven. Ah, how the truth really upsets some. They couldn’t get him outdoors quickly enough to stone him. But he asked God not to hold their actions against them. Words that are so reminiscent of Christ on the cross. Stephen knew he was heading home to join Jesus in heaven.
John 14 starts with the words; Let not your heart be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. Then in verse 6; Jesus answered “I am the way and the truth and the life.” Stephen would have heard these words from Jesus and he definitely showed no fear when talking in the Sanhedrin, he showed no fear in facing the rocks flying at him; he was looking into the rooms prepared in glory for him. He was heading home after his pilgrimage through this life. David was also expressing the same confidence in God’s provision for him in Psalm 31. We all have that assurance of God’s providing for us in all things at all times. God has every moment of each and every day planned and provided for; for each of us. We can, and should, know that strength and courage in all things.
There is a hymn I enjoy; unfortunately we don’t sing it very often if at all. It goes:
My Hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
Chorus. On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.
Words by Edward Mote.
There are other verses but that’s enough for now. While we are securely on that solid rock we have safety and security. We may never face what Stephen faced, and I pray that none of us do, but we have the words of Jesus when He said “Don’t be troubled in your heart.”
David talked of the same thoughts in Psalm 31. He focussed on living in God; walking and talking with God and knowing that God is his strength and refuge. He refers to God as his rock and fortress. In verse 16 he penned the words “Let your face shine on your servant.” From verse 19-24 he then embarks on worship and praise of his amazing Father God. And I particularly enjoy verse 24 “Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.” Even though David had been talking with God of some of his difficulties and problems, he still looked to God’s provision and protection. He had complete and total, unquestioning confidence in God.
Jesus had made statements that many did not believe or trust. Many of the religious leaders did not believe He was the Son of God, they didn’t believe He would die and rise again on the third day, they didn’t believe He would return to His Father in heaven to come back one day and gather His people to Him in heaven. Many people today do not believe those words. Yet those of us who truly believe the words of Jesus and the scriptures know with complete and full assurance that we have that security of knowing Him and that He spoke the truth. We know without doubt that He is our rock of security and refuge. Jesus’ words have always been truth, will always be. Remember in John 14:6; He said “I am the way and the truth and the life.” It is a great exercise to read those words and emphasise different words each time you read them. It’s also interesting to note that Jesus said I am, not I will be or hope to be.
All who truly know Jesus as Lord and Saviour of their own life have this permanent security of knowing they have an eternal home in heaven with God the Father, God the Son and the Holy Spirit. We may be fortunate enough to have a vision of seeing into heaven as Stephen did. We have the promise; that guarantee. I certainly hope that none of us get called home to heaven in the immediate foreseeable furture; we enjoy your company in the here-and-now too much. That home in God has started from the time we became god’s children by our personal choice to know our sins forgiven through the death and resurrection of Jesus.
David suffered many struggles through his life, but even though those problems got the better of him at times, he always knew God was with him and caring for him. The struggles and problems did not stop (hindered maybe) his worship of God. As I talk with some people through this time of COVID-19 I hear many of us are struggling with isolation and the changes brought on us without our consent or prior consultation. Yet we can see this virus coming under control so that we can resume life to a new form of normal. But that cannot change our assurance of God’s presence and us living each day in His hands and security, to know His care and provision, to know His strength and the
truth of His words.
In this time when so much has changed and we might question so many things being told us and we may question the authorities who are trying to protect us, let us say with David from psalm 31: v16 Let you face shine on your servant. V19 How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you, which you
bestow in the sight of men, on those who take refuge in you. V24 Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.
Let’s all continue to keep our feet on the solid rock and daily look to our Father in heaven. Until we meet face to face ‘may God hold you safe in the palm of his hands.’ (No apology for another song).
Allan Fahlbusch