The Healing Congregation - Theme of Service

Dried Or Revived?

Image taken from Google Images

These daffodils in my hand are very dry - see above for a picture of dry daffodils. Instead of throwing them away after Easter I kept them but no longer watered them. Look at them now. At certain times in my life I have felt as tired as these flowers look. Spiritually there have been times when I have felt as dry as these flowers are.

Those of you who have experienced such times will know how wonderful it is when you begin to feel better, revived, or as the dictionary states you recover new vigour. God is good and his Spirit knows how to help us. There is always hope, and just like this beautiful fresh daffodil taken from our garden this very morning, we too can feel revived once again, if not physically, at least spiritually.

Daffodils taken from Google Images

The only problem that I have is that I have cut this flower from its stem so it does not matter how much water or sun it gets it will not last long. Having had difficult times in my own life, and having observed other peoples' lives I now know from experience that we cannot last long without the Lord in our lives.

We try, we try very hard but at some point, sooner or later, we will end up like these dried-up daffodils. We really need to be connected to God. The thing is that we are meant to be connected to God, we are actually going against the grain, the tide when we attempt to detach ourselves from him.

That's why it is better to stay close to the Lord. I encourage you, urge you to connect with God, to let his Spirit revive you, transform you into a deeper level with him than ever before in your life.

What Kind Of Wounds Do You Have? - Nooma

What kind of wounds do you have?
How have your wounds shaped who you are today?

Bible Reading - Romans 12:19 (MSG) "Don't insist in getting even; that's not for you to do. I'll do the judging", says God. "I'll take care of it"

Have you ever really gotten revenge? If so, how did it make you feel afterwards? If we take revenge when we get hurt, do you think it's like saying to God, "I think I can handle this better than you"?

Bible Reading - Proverbs 15:3 (CEV) The LORD sees everything, whether good or bad. If God's right there when people get hurt, why do you think he doesn't step in to stop it from happening? Do you trust that God is ultimately going to take care of everything? Why is God's forgiveness of us so crucial to our forgiveness of others?

Bible Reading - Luke 6:37 (NIV) Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

Can we forgive somebody without being able to be around them? Do you have people like that in your life? Do you believe forgiveness is really more about the one forgiving than the one being forgiven? Does that view on forgiveness make it easier to forgive? Are there people you need to forgive? If someone you need to forgive died before you made amends, what kind of regrets would you have?

Concluding Words by Rob Bell... So may you forgive as you've been forgiven, may you give to others what's been given to you, may you set someone free and find out that it was you, and may you do it today, because you might not have the chance tomorrow

XS Baggage - ToThinkabout

Are you one of these people who always manages to carry excess baggage? You packed too many shoes, too many clothes for all eventualities, too many toiletries and gadgets to save you money and so that you can enjoy home comforts whilst on holiday? And why not?

The problem with such a appealing idea is that you will usually have a price to pay for the luxury! Excess baggage at the airport is no laughing matter...nor is having to carry a lot of stuff about on your own! Packing, unpacking ...

I recently found out I had been carrying baggage myself for a very long time which was weighing me down. We all do in some way or another. Life is full of things we carry and don't know what to do with it or how to get rid of it.

I am dealing with my luggage, painfully and slowly...and as time goes by it seems to feel easier. What excess luggage do you have, and do you really want it weighing you down? De-clutter like me and together we shall get through. Not easy, but possible.

Going anywhere tomorrow? -ToThinkabout

Lots of thought provoking stuff here!
What do you think?

Easter is over - so what now? - Bible Message

Easter Sunday - Morning Worship at Gainsborough Corps


Introduction:
There are times when we do not feel 'at home'. On visiting a refugee camp, for example, an aid worker will find people suffering and in their eyes will likely see pain, humiliation, disappointment, anger. No matter how caring the aid worker is, can a refugee ever feel 'at home' in such an environment? Probably not! Throughout the world authorities find that when people don't feel at 'home', when people don't feel welcomed or safe, they will generally try to move to a different place hoping for a better life. This, unfortunately, often means more of the same again!

Jesus was homeless
Not long after the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, Mary and Joseph felt very vulnerable and, guided by an angel, Joseph took Mary and Jesus to Egypt until the danger from Herod was over. At his birth, Jesus experienced the power of sin and its consequences to interfere and ruin people's lives. As a young child he would have picked up his parents' stress and unsettledness. As a grown up Jesus also experienced some of these feelings, for example, he was not welcome in Nazareth where he had been brought up and, He would sometimes talk about birds and foxes having nests and holes to call home and yet Jesus himself had no place to lay his head that he could call home.

Jesus was not welcomed
John's Gospel (Chapter 6:66) tells us that many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him because they found his teaching too hard to take! Through the days before his crucifixion Jesus definitely experienced being unwelcome, lonely and threatened, except this time there was not going to be an escape route to Egypt! In Judas' suicide we see powerfully the consequences of the power and darkness of sin to interfere and ruin peoples lives. If Jesus found it so hard to feel 'welcome and wanted' during his life then we might as well ask what hope do we have of doing any better?

Dead-end or life-line
You might also be wondering why am I being a prophet of doom on Easter Sunday when it is meant to be a very happy hour not a depressing one! The point is that, soon enough, Easter and the celebrations will be over and then what? Well, there's a quote which says Rather than death being a dead-end to life, Christ reverses that for his people into a life-line. Isn't that wonderful news? To the lonely, disappointed, abused or persecuted? When Mary and Joseph heard that they must escape into Egypt they may have wondered what kind of help that was, to move yet again, into the unknown? But had they ignored God's voice they might have experienced a dead-end but obeying God's Spirit, however strange the request was, meant that they received a life-line. We can take courage that however vulnerable, lonely or unwelcome we feel in this world - specially because we follow him - we are comforted by the fact that Jesus is now preparing a place we will be able to call home for the rest of eternity. There's more to life than a dead-end! There's a life-line found in Jesus! How do we know? because Jesus came back for us! He didn't leave us as sheep without a shepherd!

Mary's life-line
Mary of Magdala was one of the women who found out that Jesus was alive. When she realized death had not held Jesus she began to understand all that Jesus had ever said and that it had all turned out to be true! Things like... whoever hears my words and believes has eternal life and has crossed over from death to life. In today's Bible Reading in John 20 the voice of the risen Jesus brings comfort to Mary, amazing comfort because she now knows for certain that her faith has been based in a powerful, real and living God! Powerful because her sin put his body to death but God's Spirit made him alive again! Mary had not only seen the Lord but she had also experienced something profound.

Romans 10:9 says that... if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead ..then you will be saved! This woman Mary, who had experienced so much sin in her life, who was suffering the consequences of that darkness still threatening to ruin her life for ever, had now found salvation! She does not say much in this reading but I am interested in what she does not say. If, when it came to it, Mary was not going to accept that it was Jesus risen from dead who stood in front of her, she would not have called him Jesus but she recognized him. She gave him his respectful place. Rabboni. Yes, she had not only seen him but she had now accepted him.

Your Life-line
You know what's exciting about all this? that anyone who receives Christ into their lives will receive power to become what God has in mind for them! That's mind - blowing. Are you currently finding out what God has in mind for you because whatever it is, it will be mind-blowing! From my own experience of God and from the witness of so many other followers of Jesus it will be better than anything you might be sorting out or planning for yourself. God helps you follow him and will help you obey some of the seemingly crazy things he might ask you to do.

Who will otherwise turn your fear into courage? Your despair into hope? Your weakness into triumph? Can you find these things elsewhere?

Let's look at Mary of Magdala's experience of the risen Lord. She now had to go and tell everyone that she had seen the Lord. Surely that was a crazy command from Jesus! Indeed when she did tell the other disciples, they had the cheek to ask her if she had been drowning her sorrows and gotten drunk! In fact, her testimony , became extremely effective because she had met the now risen Jesus. Her once weak testimony now became a persuasive one and a tremendous change could be seen in her. A woman who for years had not felt 'at home' in her own town, amongst men, uncomfortable in the presence of the church authorities, now feels very much at 'at home' and instead of standing at a dead-end she stands ready to give her life to her Saviour in devotion, commitment and service. It seems that we can live on earth and feel 'at home' after all. It is good with God's Spirit at our side, following the example of Jesus and faithfully showing the effects of the risen Lord in our lives. Amazing stuff!

Conclusion:
As we go out from this hall let us go determined to show that effect in our lives-having met the risen Lord today why not share our profound experience of him with those around us who do not feel 'at home' anywhere. For a variety of reasons they don't fit in at school, at work, socially inept. Families, children, youths, individuals who show in their eyes sadness, humiliation, terror in some cases. We are in a privileged position of bringing to them our witness just as Mary did after meeting her Saviour. Will you? Will you be the hands, the lips, the feet of Jesus and like him and Mary and countless followers ever since be there for the unwanted? Not easy is it? we find it easier to judge their behaviour, we easily loose patience with them or give up on them as the losers of life. What did Jesus do for them? He came back.

Let's sing about showing by works of power - through God's Spirit - that Jesus is Lord!

Jesus asks: do you love me? - Bible Message

Sunday Worship Meeting at Gainsborough Corps
Sunday 17 February 2008

Introduction:
Next Saturday morning during the coffee morning we will be able to enjoy an all day breakfast here at the hall. Many, many years ago Jesus cooked fish and served breakfast to the disciples on the waters' edge. The Lord Jesus who had been crucified, buried and now is resurrected, appears to his disciples who were fishing.

Jesus asks Peter ...do you love me? What a question to ask Peter by a campfire when It was probably during the last three campfires that Peter had denied ever knowing Jesus. (John 18:17) Do you love me?

Last Thursday it happened to be Valentines Day, when traditionally people have tried to find out if the other person loves them, or if there might be a chance of love? Cards might have asked 'Will you be my Valentine? in other words- will you go out with me, will you spend lots of time with me, will you share my dreams...etc..etc... Do you love me?

Anecdote: Listen to this love letter:
Dearest Jimmy,
No words could ever express the great unhappiness I've felt since breaking our engagement . Please say you'll take me back. No one could ever take your place in my heart, so please forgive me. I love you, I love you, I love you!
Yours forever,
Marie
P.S. And congratulations on winning the lottery.

So how do I know if I love someone? I have now been married nearly 28 years and I still couldn't tell you exactly why I love my husband. All I know is that I love him very, very much. If I said I loved him for his looks then would that be true lasting love? If I said I loved him for his money then would that see me through my entire marriage? There has to be' that something very special' which I may not be able to explain, but I most certainly know it is there!

Watch a video clip from Sense and Sensibility where they discuss true love.

Does Peter Love Jesus?
How can Jesus know if Peter really loves him? We have a situation here, there's history between Peter and Jesus. We read all about it in our Bible readings earlier on. First in John 13 from verse 34 Jesus predicts that Peter is going to deny ever knowing Jesus. Jesus knew Peter in all his weakness. He knew his impulsiveness, he knew his habit of speaking before thinking. . Jesus knew that Peter would find it very difficult to follow Jesus just now but Jesus also knew what Peter could become. Jesus knew that whatever happened Peter loved him.

What makes Jesus great, special, is that he sees the hero in the coward. Jesus can see what Peter can be and has the power to help him attain it. Verse 36: Peter asked Jesus..Lord, where are you going? (in other words what’s all this about because I want to stick with you) verse 37: Why can’t I follow you now? ..I would die for you! (in other words try me!) Jesus then predicts Peter’s denial which must have hurt Peter and embarrassed him in front of the others. How awful to be told that there's no chance of dying for Jesus is he won't be able to cope with standing up for Jesus in the first place! But that embarrassment was nothing when compared with the actual time when Peter denied ever knowing Jesus. This denial did not happened once or twice but three times!

What’s going on with Peter who reckons loves Jesus so much? There’s a couple of things we need to know here about Peter. Just after Jesus’ death the rest of the disciples have gone into hiding of some sort or another. It is Peter who in the middle of his denying knowing Jesus, is also defending him. Peter did not go into hiding. Peter did the opposite and came out of hiding and said here I am Lord.

He failed the accountability test if you like at a time when no one else was prepared to take it. And how Peter must have suffered the mocking of passers by, imitating the crow of the cock and laughing at him. Peter had to confront the reality of where he was on his journey of faith whilst Jesus was alive, and now so soon after, he has to face the reality of where he is again in regards to his faith and discipleship. Possibly for the first time in his life Peter is needing to sort out what it is going to mean to follow Jesus.

Now let us go to the breakfast- by the lake and see Jesus and Peter begin the process of re-building their relationship again. There's no doubt that Peter's denial of ever knowing Jesus will have formed a barrier, a mask between Peter and his Lord. First of all, Jesus asks Peter if he loves him three times. Peter gets a chance to sort out those three ghosts. Three times Peter can affirm his love for Jesus and hopefully move on. So what does 'do you love me' mean now? Do you love Jesus? like Peter did? enough to move on with him?

So how are they going to move on? Peter is trusted with a most important task! Feed my sheep! again Jesus commands Peter to do this three times: verse 15 feed my lambs..verse 16 take care of my sheep..verse 17 feed my sheep.. It seems that with his great love for Jesus came great responsibility...to love and care ..to continue the ministry of Jesus ..to help others from going into hiding, from going astray, encouraging them to follow too.

Do you love Jesus?
When Jesus asks you- do you love me? What do you answer? How do you know if you love him? I am sure there are plenty nice things you can say about Jesus which would explain why you like to be with him...but why do you love him? If you cannot say exactly why then don't worry because what really matters is that you know you have something very special and even if you cannot explain it you know its there. Do you love him? Do you have that something special about the Lord which you cannot explain but you know its there?

Following our thoughts from last Sunday morning we need to remember the importance of following Jesus because in order to follow Jesus you are going to have to remain close to him...following from a distance does not work, from a distance you loose sight. Distance and discipleship don’t go together. We cannot love and remain distant. We cannot develop intimacy from a distance. There needs to be two to tango.

Peter and Jesus move on in their relationship by putting very important things in place. If Peter had been here today I think he would have sang this very song...It is the cry of my heart to follow you..to be close to you ..all of the days of my life (Songs of Fellowship 832)..and he did it! Peter, from that very day began to follow and to follow closely..and he never regretted it. How do I know?.. because you only have to read what Peter wrote in the N.T. 1 Peter has only 5 chapters and 2 Peter has only 3 chapters.

These two books were written by a mature disciple who has come a long way, who has learnt a lot about his walk with the Lord. Knowing what we know of him makes for extremely interesting reading. What a changed man. There, you will read things that you had heard of but didn't realize Peter had said them like..'Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.'..1 Peter 5:7

Concluding thoughts...
Jesus asks you this morning ...Do you love me? What is your answer? What practical things will you and the Lord put in place to help you deepen your love for each other and enrich your relationship, your discipleship? Lets sing a song that talks very well about following closely and see how it helps you just now and in these days...Song 740..Like to a lamb who from the fold has strayed...