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Listen to our new Liberty Church Podcast! Extract from preaching Sept 28h 2008 Man knows more than he understands Habakkuk 2: 1-4 1 I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint. 2 Then the LORD replied: "Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. 3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay. 4 "See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright—but the righteous will live by faith
Romans 1:16-17 16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."
Habakkuk was an Old Testament prophet and he spoke what God told him to say ‘The righteous(those in right relationship to God) will live by faith.’ Martin Luther was a German monk in the 1500’s and he discovered the truth of the statement "The righteous will live by faith." and because of it started to reform the church in Europe. Jim Parker, a French Viking from Blackburn discovered the truth of that statement , ‘The righteous will live by faith’ in 1990. In Galatians chapter 3 verso 1 Paul says to the Galatians Christians ‘ You set of prats!. You are now keeping rules to get your spiritual goals but you didn’t start like that, you got your faith simply by hearing….!!’ (paraphrase) Paul followed his own advice and in Galatians 2:20 wrote ‘ ……I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.’ Luther wrote about his life ‘in the body: “My life seems to be a mere animal life ‘in the body’, but this is not my true life; it is but the mask of life under which lives another, namely, Christ, who is my true life” What Paul, Luther and Jim had discovered was union and communion with Jesus as inspired according to John 17:21-23 making us one in Him. 21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: 23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; In Hebrews 11:2 it says ‘by faith we understand’. On the road to Emmaus, when Jesus met two of his followers after his resurrection, He opened their minds so that they suddenly understood scriptures they had known all their lives. In the story of the Garden of Eden there was the tree of knowledge of good and evil’ and the ‘tree of life’. God said don’t eat from that tree of knowledge of good and evil, eat from all the other trees, including the tree of life. It was by eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil that Adam and Eve lost their innocence and their close relationship with God. They gained knowledge but they did not gain wisdom. They were able to judge things with their head, but not with their hearts. Earlier in my Christian life I was very good at judging according to knowledge. I had my Bible which I used as a rule book to judge myself and others. I ended up condemning myself and others according to my knowledge. The serpent in the garden said eat from the tree that gives knowledge and you will become a judge like God. I had found myself inadvertently living according to what the serpent said instead of what God said. ‘Don’t eat’, and what he wanted is reliance upon His guidance through life by His Spirit who dwells within you. I discovered that eating from the tree of life, trusting in the life of Jesus, living by faith in Him, the judging fell away – it simply wasn’t in me any more. Instead of judging I was more able to love because I understood. In that I found release and freedom. Prayer for LibertyChurch: Lord give us the understanding that comes by revelation straight from you. Understanding and a deep knowing of you and your love for us. Understanding that is pure and holy that brings us your love and peace. Bring us into a place of rest from endless trying and failing . Give us the faith to rely totally on you and the grace you freely give. Extract from Sarah’s testimony Sept 21st 2008
Sarah said that as a child, in her heart she was looking for God. She attended an Anglican church and remembers frequently confessing her ‘sins’ because that is what she was taught to do. Sarah didn’t know what ‘sins’ were, only that saying sorry repeatedly was required. Discovering her sexuality at the age the age of 13, and coming out was a very painful, lonely process involving self rejection and a belief others would reject her. She could not understand why a God would have created her to suffer in this way. She concluded that as she had been to church a lot and not found God then he could not exist. She now saw herself as an atheist. Homophobia in school caused her major stress and unhappiness. She then made contact with the LGBT young people’s group run by Hayley and for the first time found support from people who understood her sexuality. She became active in that group. As she understood herself more, she was able to support others and she eventually chaired the group and represented them to different official bodies. Hayley was keen for the young people’s group to be aware of all the LGBT groups locally so suggested that they visit all local groups including Liberty Church. Sarah couldn’t understand why Hayley wanted to visit Liberty but came along anyway. The evening of the visit Hayley and two young people, including Sarah, came and had a meal at the mid week meeting. After the meal different people around the table spoke about their relationship with God and what Liberty Church meant to them and answered questions that came up. Sarah had never heard people speak openly about how they related to God before. She felt God was saying to her ‘This is it’ and she knew this was what she had been searching for. It was nearly a year after that first visit that Sarah followed up on that ‘inner voice’ and came to Liberty one Sunday evening. It was not as she expected a Sunday service to be. It was lively, not miserable and a bit strange to see people singing with their hands in the air. However she felt at ease, liked it and wanted to come back. A few Sundays later, during the worship, she felt she connected with God. It was like receiving a great big hug from Him and gave her an incredible sense of peace deep inside. Sarah now knows that God loves her. She senses He is with her and she talks to him in her heart. She has more peace within her and her friends have noticed that she is calmer. She concluded be saying that in the past her church had taught her to seek forgiveness and strive to be perfect. At Liberty she has found that God loves her as she is and she has come to know Him for herself.
Jim spoke following Sarah’s testimony : He adapted Paul’s letter to the new Christians in Corinth and said: 2 You, Sarah, are our (Liberty’s) letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. 3 You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. 4 Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. 5 Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. 6 He has made us competent as ministers of a living covenant— not what is written in ink, but of the Spirit; for what is written in ink will kill you, but the Spirit gives life. 2Cor 3:2-6
Sarah’s experience of Liberty has the power of eternal life as she tells her testimony to others. For it is the truth from beginning to end. In reality it is the testimony of Jesus in her life. According to 1Cor 1:8 He will sustain you (Sarah) to the end, blameless and free from guilt or shame until the day of the coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Extract from preaching Sept 14th 2008
From Acts 15:1-11 As Paul and Barnabas 3 ……………travelled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the brothers very glad. 4 When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them. 5 Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, "The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses." 6 The apostles and elders met to consider this question. 7 After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: "Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. 8 God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. 9 He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. 10 Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? 11 No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are." EXPERIENTIAL THEOLOGY; Is a belief in God based on what you know yourself through your experience of God. I recently met a man who believed that God was displeased with divorce and if you divorced you must never marry again. After his divorce he followed his beliefs. Even though he knew a woman at church who he was attracted to, he kept his distance. However one night he had a vivid dream that he was marrying this woman and felt that the dream came from God. He told the woman about it. He was astonished to learn that the same night she had had the same dream. They both felt the Lord was speaking to them, started a relationship, and got married. They have now had many happy years together and believe that the Lord brought them together. This experience has caused the man to change his theology (doctrines or beliefs about God).
In Acts 10 is the story of how Peter went to Caesarea and, because of a vision from God, had no hesitation in accepting the invitation to go the house of Cornelius, a Gentile, to tell him about Jesus. For a Jew it was forbidden to go into a Gentile’s s house or to eat with a Gentile as Gentiles were seen as ‘unclean’. The experience of the vision changed Peter’s theology and he said ‘God has shown me that I should not call ANY man impure or unclean’ Acts 10:28. Peter told Cornelius and his family and servants about Jesus and while he was preaching the Holy Spirit came on them, they were born again and filled with the spirit. Peter reported back to Jerusalem and the Christian Jews there were shocked that Gentiles had become Christians. Peter’s experience of what had happened to Cornelius changed their theology (beliefs about God) and they accepted the Gentile Christians. However, later, as recorded in Acts 15 (see above) Jewish Christians were putting pressure on for the Gentile Christians to get circumcised as Jews were. They could not take in the fact that the Gentiles were acceptable to God purely because of grace (Acts 15:11) because all their lives their theology (beliefs about God) had told them that you had to be circumcised to be acceptable. Paul and Barnabas put them right by reporting on their experience which was of Gentiles coming to faith in Jesus and being filled with the Holy Spirit without being circumcised. The account of this experience had to change the thinking of the Jewish believers and they stopped pressuring the Gentile believers about circumcision. The theology of many churches says that LGBT people cannot be Christians. Look at your experience rather than these theologies. As an LGBT person do you know God? Have you found faith in Him and a relationship with Him? For the many LBGT people who have, their experience has changed the condemning theologies they used to believe. Richard came to faith in a church where he was taught that God was only in that denomination and was not to be known outside of it. He was taught that as a gay man he was not acceptable to God. Richard had a powerful experience of God when he was baptised in the Holy Spirit at Liberty. That experience enabled him to change his theology and realise that God can be found in many different churches and that God was blessing him as a gay Christian. If you come to know God through personal experience in the morning you can tell someone about that experience in the afternoon. Your experience of God is something that no one can argue with and it can help others who are seeking God to move closer to finding Him. Many of us have been brought up with beliefs about God that we have later questioned and adjusted according to different experiences in life. You can trust your experience. Extract from Brian’s preaching Sept 7th 2008
While Paul was in prison he wrote to the Christians in Philippi in Greece:
1 From Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons: 2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. 7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. Philippians 1:1-7
Brian said that he has been through the 12 step programme to enable him to recover from compulsive gambling. These steps can be applied to the Christian life. The first two of the 12 steps are:
Step 1: Admit that you are powerless to conquer your condition
As Christians we are powerless to deal with the effects of sin in our lives that block us from a relationship with a holy God. Often we see Christians putting a lot of effort into trying to make themselves ‘good enough for God’. This is as futile as trying to take the air out of a cup with a spoon or a straw or even a Hoover. As fast as air is taken out more flows in. It’s like that with sin. As fast as we remove some aspect of it something else comes in to take its place.
Step 2; Come to believe that a power greater than yourself can restore you to a relationship with God. However, Jesus is the person who is greater than us who can restore us to a relationship with God. Step 3: Decide to turn our will and our life into the care of that higher power.
We can’t get the sin out of ourselves any more than we can spoon the air out of a cup. But when we hand the problem over to Jesus and ask him to take care of the effects of sin in us He gives us the gift of His Holy Spirit which makes us clean and pure in God’s sight. The effects of sin are pushed out by the life of the Holy Spirit in us a bit like the way air can be pushed out of a cup when it is filled with water. Coming to know Jesus and receiving His Holy Spirit replaces our unworthiness with His worthiness and gives us connection to and relationship with God. Paul in his letter to the Philippians says he has every confidence that ‘He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion…’ Even though the Philippians were new in their faith and Paul was in prison and could not be there to guide and teach them Paul knew that a spiritual process had been started in them by the Holy Spirit. Paul also knew that God had started this process by first giving these people a desire to know Him and would continue this process until it was complete. Paul had seen the process come to completion over and over again in people’s lives. Paul knew that once that spiritual connection was made with God, once a person became ‘born again’ by the Holy Spirit, then the outcome, having that spiritual life despite our imperfections and faults, right through to eternity, was guaranteed. It is guaranteed because Christ himself guaranteed it. The outcome relied on what Jesus could do for and in us and not in what we can do for Him. Turning our will and life over into his care allows us to rely on Him to make us worthy and keep us worthy before God and to live ‘carefree in the care of God’ (Message Bible) Paul said that when he prayed for the Christian Philippians he did so with joy. He experienced that joy, evening a prison cell, because the joy came from the life of the Holy Spirit energising him from deep within. The power of God in him enabled him to see his situation with spiritual eyes that could see beyond the physical circumstances and see and even experience some of the joy of eternity in heaven ahead for him and for all those who came to know Jesus. Extract from preaching August 31st
Psalm 25:4-10 Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your path; Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Saviour, and my hope is in you all day long. Remember O Lord, your great mercy and love, for they are from old. Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; According to your love remember me, for you are good, O Lord. Good and upright is the Lord; therefore He instructs sinners in His ways. He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them His way. All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful for those who cling to His promises. Moses had a deep longing to know God. In Exodus 33:13 it tells us that Moses prayed to God ‘… if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your ways, that I may know You”. Grace was vital because Moses knew he was not worthy to know God due to his own merits. Moses needed God’s grace (undeserved favour) to make Moses worthy to approach Him. In my deep desire to know God I searched the scriptures to find out what God’s ways are. I found His ways, (His characteristics) are holy, righteous, just, faultless, sincere, upright, right, loving, faithful and eternal. But I was no nearer to knowing Him. Then I realised that to know someone it is not enough to know their characteristics, their ways, but the way to really know them is to live closely with them sharing your life with them. To really know God we need to share our joys and sorrows and hopes and fears with Him and allow Him to guide us and direct us through the ups and downs of life. It took Moses 40 years to know God deeply. Moses did this by an ongoing close relationship with God through all the ups and downs of those years. I realise that the ways God has responded to me through different experiences in my life have drawn me to know him more. The experience of Edward, over 20 years ago, was one of these. Edward was a withdrawn, elderly man who attended my old church in Blackburn. He said very little to anyone but always came to church. Edward died without any family or close friends and the pastor announced that the council would take care of and pay for his funeral and burial. When I heard this I realised that deep within me was a voice saying ‘We’ve got to bury Edward’. Over and over it repeated. Then Derek, my business partner put into words what I felt and told the pastor, ‘We’ve got to bury Edward, God wants us to take care of all the arrangements’. We both thought that the church would then offer to foot the bill. To our shock the pastor told us as Derek and I felt the Lord had spoken to us we should pay for everything. At the time we were skint and running on an overdraft. We extended the overdraft to get the £623 required and arranged the funeral. Everyone from church came to the service and it was a wonderful uplifting time. The following Saturday our shop in Blackburn was overrun with customers and it earned far more than it usually did. I sat down with the figures and did my sums. I was looking for the amount of extra profit we were left with after all our costs. I took off the amount the shop usually made on Saturday, took off the cost of stock and the VAT. I was left with an extra profit of £622.95, within 5p of the cost of Edward’s funeral! As the Lord does not make mistakes I think I must have made a slight error somewhere to come up 5p short. Going through this experience showed me things about God and deepened my relationship with Him. It showed me He cared about Edward, a man who wasn’t able to relate to people but who God cared about and loved. It showed me that when He asked something of me and Derek He provided the finances for us to do it. This showed me He could be trusted to care for me when I follow His leading. We each need to walk with God, allowing Him to lead us, in order to have our own experiences of His care and goodness towards us. In allowing Him to be involved in our hopes and dreams, our decisions, our disappointments and our sorrows we truly come to know Him on a personal level and discover more and more about his love and His faithfulness. We can then, like Moses, come to know Him by experience, in an ever increasing measure. Extract from preaching 25 th August
Psalm 95: 1-10
Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me, though they had seen what I did. For forty years I was angry with that generation; I said, "They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known my ways."
Moses had witnessed amazing miracles, and, on the Lord’s instruction, set up a tent on the edge of the Israeli encampment. It was in this Tent of Meeting that God spoke to Moses in an intimate way. It was in this Tent of Meeting that Moses, who wanted to truly KNOW God, asked a question. In effect Moses said to God ‘What are you really like?’ In Ex 33:13 it records Moses saying to God ‘Show me your ways that I may know you’ God responded. Over his lifetime Moses came to know the ways of the Lord and found that God is not known through the intellect but through the heart. (Ps 95:8, 10). So, what are God’s ways? God is ‘holy’. He is divine and powerful. God is ‘righteous and just’, (Ps 145;17). In Rev 15:3 it tells us that the Lord is faultless and sincere. In Micah 2:7 it tells us God’s ways are ‘upright’ i.e. have moral and ethical excellence. In Hosea 14:9 it says The ways of the LORD are ‘right’. He conform to the truth. In Psalm 25:10 it says All the ways of the LORD are ‘loving and faithful’. Moses found that throughout his life the Lord was loyal and steadfast to him. In Hab3:6 it says His ways are ‘eternal’ Counting up His ways find there are 10 in all listed in scripture. 10 is the number of completeness. There is nothing to add. Knowing what God’s ways gives us more understanding of his likely responses in different situations but in itself does not cause us to know Him personally. To know Him personally requires a spiritual process to happen within us. A spiritual process activated by the Holy Spirit. To be continued… Extract from preaching 17th August
Hebrews 3 1-13 Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. Jesus has been found worthy of greater honour than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honour than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house, testifying to what would be said in the future. But Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast. So, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’ So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’" See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
Hello, I’m Moses. I was a Jew in Egypt when the Jewish people were slaves and Pharaoh was killing all the Jewish baby boys. My mother hid me in a reed basket and floated me down the Nile. I was found by Pharaoh’s daughter and my mother was employed as my nanny. I grew up in a palace as a prince of Egypt but I knew my background. My mother taught me about the God of Israel and how he looked after his people and she taught me about people of faith in Jewish history. One day I went to see the Jewish people and found an Egyptian beating up a fellow Jew. I attacked the Egyptian and killed him. That made me a murderer. To escape punishment I had to go on the run into the desert of Midian. I settled with a family of nomads in the desert and lived the life of a nomad for 40 years. It was a far cry from the luxury and riches I had been brought up with. One day, looking after my flocks in the desert I saw a bush on a hillside on fire. The strange thing was that the bush was not being burned up. I went closer to investigate and God spoke to me out of the bush. He told me to go back to Pharoah and lead the Jews out of Egypt. I was shocked and terrified. I was a murderer on the run and he wanted to make me a leader! After a lot of miraculous events, and the 10 plagues of Egypt, Pharaoh gave in to God’s demand to let the Jewish people go. I led the march out of Egypt at the front of millions of people who were walking away from slavery. God guided us with a column of cloud in front of us in the day and a pillar of fire in the night. It was incredible! I then instrumental in an awesome miracle. The opening of the Red Sea when Pharaoh changed his mind and sent his army after us to capture us. We were trapped between the army and the sea and, at the last minute, the sea opened and we walked through it on dry land. As the Egyptian army started to follow, the water rolled back and the soldiers were drowned. I saw so many miracles: The miracle at Meribah where we were in the desert and the only water was a stagnant, poisonous water hole. God changed the water to pure, fresh water. The miracle of manna, bread that came from heaven that we gathered every morning and that fed us, without fail during the years of travelling in the desert. The miracle of the quall when the people were badgering me for meat and a millions of quail landed around the camp and supplied us with meat that was more than enough for our needs. God had brought me, a murderer, a bad person, and had made me a leader and done marvellous things through me. He talked with me and guided me in how to lead this nation of His people. I saw amazing things but I wanted something more! I wanted this so much that I asked God a question. And I’ll tell you about that next week! Extract from preaching on August 10th
Jesus has become a high priest for ever, in the order of Melchizedek. This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, And Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, his name means "King of righteousness"; then also, "King of Salem" meaning "King of Peace". Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God he remains a priest for ever. Hebrews 6:20 - 7:4 ‘….those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his experiences in order that we may also share in his glory.’ Romans 8:14-17
Romans 8 tells us that becoming a Christian makes us part of God’s family. Even if some other Christians don’t treat us like part of the family we are part because the Holy Spirit has made us so. I have inherited characteristics from my mother and my father. As we inherit qualities from our natural parents we inherit spiritual qualities from our heavenly parent. Becoming a Christian also makes us part of ‘a Royal priesthood, a holy people, a people belonging to God’ 1Pet 2:9 A priest is one who is able to give worship to God that is pleasing to Him. Because we are made holy by Jesus we are able to offer God worship that is acceptable and pleasing to Him. It says in Heb 2:11 ‘Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers’. Our priesthood is according to the order of Melchizadek. Melchizedek appears in the Old Testament at the time of Abraham. He was Prince of Peace and ‘had no beginning or no end’. He is regarded as a visible representation of God (Theophany) and was a priest ‘according to the power of an endless life’. Our priest hood in Jesus is ‘according to the power of an endless life’ that He gives us. Abraham’s son Isaac was born because of a promise of God. Jesus was born because of a promise of God. We become Christians because of a promise of God. In Romans 5:17 it tells us that we have received ‘God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness’. A royal priest should have a crown. Scripture tells us we have 5 crowns: - an everlasting crown 1 Cor 9:25 - a crown of rejoicing 1Thess 2:19 - a crown of righteousness 2Tim 4:8 - a crown of life Jas 1:12 - a crown of glory 1Pet 5:4 Five in scripture is the number of grace. The crowns are not ours because we deserve them or have earned them but are ours purely because of God’s grace, the favour he shows us that we do not deserve. I have crown upon crown upon crown from the Father who is the King of righteousness and the King of peace. I have peace in my heart because I have right standing with him – not due to what I have done but purely because of what He has done for me. Extract from preaching on August 3rd
Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, "Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you." He (Jesus) answered, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they turned to God at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here. Matt 12:38-41
Jonah was a prophet in Israel hundreds of years before Jesus lived. As with many prophets many Jews rejected his message to them. The Lord spoke to Jonah and told him to go to Nineveh (in Iraq) and tell the Ninevites to that God couldn’t stand their wickedness any more and if they didn’t turn to Him he would destroy their city. Jonah was frightened at the thought of going to hostile people so he did a runner in the opposite direction & got on a boat going as far away as he could. The story tells us: -a storm blew up while Jonah was asleep - Jonah said the storm was his fault due to running away from God -Jonah offered to be thrown overboard and when he was the storm stopped - A whale swallowed Jonah and after 3 days ‘spewed him up’ on the coast near Nineveh. - Jonah delivered God’s message to the Ninevites - To his shock the 120,000 Ninevites turned to God and the city was spared - Jonah was angry because he despised and hated the Ninevites & had wanted them destroyed. Jonah was angry with God for having mercy on the Ninevites and disapproved that God was ‘gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in mercy’ . Jonah thought that God carried grace and compassion too far.
Both from Galilee Most Jews didn’t believe them Most of those who believed them were Gentiles (for Jesus His Gentile following occurred after his death and resurrection) Both slept in a boat through a storm Both offered their lives for others (Jonah for the sailors on the boat) Jonah was in the ‘belly of the whale’ 3 days Jesus was in the ‘belly of the earth’ 3 days Jonah’s prejudice against the Ninevites, who he despised as Gentiles, came from his religion that told him they were not worthy to know God. According to Jewish religious law a Jew couldn’t eat with them or go into their homes. However, the Ninevites responded to God and came to faith in Him not by following Jewish religious Law but by hearing God’s message to them and responding to that. Many Christians are prejudiced against LGBT people and think they are not worthy to know God. However LGBT people come to faith by responding to God and knowing Him, often despite his people. The Ninevites had no scripture, no bible, but they ‘believed God’ and found faith. After finding faith they didn’t then live under religious law because they didn’t know it existed. Abraham was a Gentile, he had no scriptures or bible but he ‘believed God’ and found faith. After coming to faith he didn’t live under religious law because there wasn’t any at that time in history. The key thing was not what religious laws they lived under but who they had faith in. The key thing for us is not the details of how we live but who we know, trust, love and have faith in. The key thing for us is knowing Jesus and allowing Him to work in us as He will. We can have a Jonah mentality and look down on ourselves because of what we know of religious laws. By using religious laws we can see ourselves as unclean & unworthy of Him. However as Jonah knew ‘ the Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love’. He revealed Himself to us, He brought us to know and love Him. He has fully paid the price for all our wrongdoing and failures so that simply by knowing Him we are counted worthy in His sight. Extract from Brian’s testimony and Jim’s preaching on Sun 29th July 08
Brian spoke about how he was impacted by God last Sunday and now knows Him and knows His love. Brian first came to Liberty Church because he was checking out LGBT groups in town to link with his alcohol outreach project. At first he thought we were weird and that people being expressive in worship were putting it on ‘because no one could be that happy’! However he kept coming back because he wanted ‘a piece of what you had’. Two weeks ago he called round to see Nina and said he wanted to pray that if Jesus was real He would come into his life. He prayed a simple prayer and went away. Last Sunday Brian was at church and during the worship he suddenly felt wrapped around in a sense of love that almost physical, like a warm, cotton wool blanket. He was overwhelmed by a feeling of safety, security and incredible happiness. The presence of God was so powerful to him that he was almost unable to stand and wanted to shout out ‘Its true! He’s real!’
He left church straight away at the end to get his train to Chorley and all evening felt overwhelmed by this love and could not get his head around it. That night he didn’t want to go to sleep in case the feeling went but when he opened his eyes in the morning it was still there. At home, for the first time in his life, he started to talk to God on his own and found himself pouring out all the pain of things that had happened in the past to Him. He experienced a relief that felt like a weight lifting off his chest and he knew that the pain had gone. He said he now walks down the street knowing that God is with Him. He has gained a ‘Buddy’ who will be there to help Him and guide him through life. He has given his life to the Lord to lead him through life and he feels incredibly happy that he knows His love in his life.
In Scripture It Explains What Has Happened To Brian.
Brian has now been born again by a work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has infused his spirit to make him aware of his connection to God and is able to relate to God. ( John 3:3)
In Galations 3:2 it says; I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Brian has received the Spirit who brings faith in God, not by trying to follow rules and regulations but by recognising what God has done in others and wanting that and then responding to what God is doing in him. He ‘heard’ God calling him with ‘spiritual’ ears. Brian’s powerful sense of God’s love, the sense of security and safety and the overwhelming happiness are some of the fruit of the Holy Spirit and are written about in Galations 5:22 which says ‘….. the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.’ Brian now has the sense that God is with him as his ‘Buddy’. This is exactly what Jesus promised. Jesus said: ‘I will talk to the Father, and he’ll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you. This Friend is the Spirit of Truth. The godless world can’t take him in because it doesn’t have eyes to see him, doesn’t know what to look for. But you know him already because he has been staying with you, and will even be in you!’ John 5:16-18 Message. Brian knows him already. Brian wants his Buddy, the Holy Spirit, to lead him through life. We will see, in the next months and years, how God leads Him and the wonderful things He will do in Brian’s life. Extract from John’s Testimony on Sunday 15th June 08
John spoke about attending a Catholic Church as a child and being confirmed there but not actually knowing Jesus. The Catholic Church taught that being gay was wrong and John believed it and suppressed his orientation. He was even homophobic to a friend who came out to him. As he grew up and when he was 20 years old and had moved to Accrington he was more able to accept himself being gay. He found the Liberty Church website and came to be in church with other gay people. It was a big change from the church he had been used to and at first he thought it was weird! However he kept coming back as he felt drawn. The third week he came he felt he saw Jesus in people’s eyes. During worship he felt a wonderful peace inside. He felt so full of this beautiful peace he felt floaty and slightly dizzy and almost a bit drunk with it. That night at home he started to say his catholic prayers and found himself speaking in tongues and didn’t know what it was but it felt wonderful and again there was that peace. Soon after, at church Jim spoke about getting out of the boat, daring to really trust God. That night John asked Richard and Nina to pray for him. He ‘went out in the Spirit’ i.e. felt so incredibly relaxed and heavy with peace he sank to the floor and lay there bathing in this really relaxed, warm, gorgeous feeling. It was like being filled completely with peace, from the ankles, up to his knees, and up through his body. Then he felt joy bubble up inside and he started laughing and laughed and laughed and couldn’t stop. Afterwards he felt he now really knew Jesus and his tremendous love. All his life he had felt there was something missing and now at last he had found what it was. It seemed the laughing had caused him to let go of lots and lots of things that had restricted his life. He went home and had the BEST night’s sleep ever and woke up feeling free to be completely himself. He went to WH Smith’s and openly bought a copy of Gay Times. Before he had always asked someone else to get it for him and had hidden it. Now there was no guilt or embarrassment. He felt free. A few days after, at home he shouted out ‘I love you Lord’. It was the first time John had said he loved Jesus. Then, for the first time he felt able, not only to accept himself but to love himself. Soon after this John had a picture in his mind’s eye. It was of him dressed in a magnificent white robe. Nina told him it was a robe of righteousness and showed him Isaiah 61;10 that talks about these robes. John could see that Jesus was not looking at what was wrong in him but was looking at him dressed in the righteousness that Jesus himself had given him. John said: ‘I used to think if you were a priest or a ‘High Up’ you were holy. Now I know that we are ALL equal in his sight and He makes ALL who trust in Him holy and worthy to know Him.
I thought I was a Christian before but I wasn’t. Now I KNOW Jesus. He’s everything to me. He’s my ng, my Friend he’s everything. He’s awesome!’ Extract From 'Rejection' (On Liberty Church Podcast. See Top of Page) Jesus knew from an early age that he was different from other boys. Under Old Testament Law Jesus, along with eunuchs, would have been disqualified from the congregation because Joseph was not his true father. His true father and mother were not married and that made him illegitimate. He had to keep this secret or face being ostracised by his community and bring shame on his family. The law rejected and condemned what he was and he experienced self-condemnation from knowing his peers would view him as unworthy to stand in the congregation of the Lord. When he returned to Nazareth to preach he was rejected by members of his family and rejected by people he grew up with and worked with. His friends rejected him when he was arrested. He was denounced by the religious leaders because he wouldn’t deny who he was and what he was. When he appeared before the King, the highest court in the land, an injustice was done with mockery and rejection. His rejection by his fellow Jews fulfilled the scripture that he would be rejected by men. He experienced the desolation of an overwhelming feeling of loneliness and when a cry to God ‘My God, My God, why have you forsaken me’ seemingly went unanswered. The final rejection. That rejection was too much, He died feeling desolate and alone. Scriptures used De 23:1-2. Joh 7:5. Mt 13:54-57. Mt 26:56. Mt 26:65. Lk 23:11. Is 53:1-3. Mt 27:46. His prayer was answered when he rose from the dead. God had not rejected his child. Jesus was the Son of God. He had died to his past and its rejection and now he had entered into a new life. Jim explained how the Lord can identify with the rejection experienced by many people today from the law that brings self condemnation, family, friends, community, religious leaders, those who you should be able to trust and receive justice, even feeling rejected by God. Jesus himself went hrough it in a profound way. The Lord touched the hearts of those listening who have been deeply wounded by such rejection. Some of the pain of this was expressed in the tears that were shed. Expressing the pain is part of the healing process. In His time and in His way He will bring each one to a place of healing the pain of rejection and into a new phase of life free of the burden of hurt. Jesus will never reject you. 1Pe 2:4 Come to Him...rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to Him. Rejection. CD’s or tapes are available free of charge. Contact Us |
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