Listen to our Liberty Podcast “Rejection”
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Simply click on the link to read or listen or,
You can download either of them to read or play on your own device.
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Big Jesus wins award for the ‘Best Community Entry’ in the parade.
We had a unique perspective on Jesus, His fame and renown. If the crowds were silenced even the stones would have cried out to Him.
This must be what it was like for Jesus to enter Jerusalem, re-enacted for the benefit of his LGBT people…What does this say for us and for Him?
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“If God kept His promise to us at the cost of His Son, how will He not also keep every lesser promise?” Tim Keller
“Faith does not eliminate questions. But faith knows where to take them.” Elisabeth Elliot
“Every promise God has ever made will come to pass exactly as He intended.” John MacArthur
“Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done.” C.S. Lewis
“God will never fail to perform what He has promised to His people.” Matthew Henry
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Extract from Jim’s Preach ‘Hope’
From Paul’s letter to the Christians under persecution in Rome: Romans 5: 1-5
‘It is by faith that we are given righteousness, let us grasp that fact so that we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Through him we have confidently entered into this new relationship of grace, and here we take our stand, in happy certainty of the glorious things he has for us in the future.
This doesn’t mean, of course, that we have only a hope of future joys — we can be full of joy here and now even in our trials and troubles.
These very things will give us patient endurance; this in turn will develop experience and experience produces hope, a hope that will never disappoint us.
Already we have the love of God flooding through our hearts by the Holy Spirit given to us.’
A crowd gathered around Jesus and a guy named Jairus pushed through. Jairus begged Jesus to come to his house immediately where his child lay gravely ill. Jesus went surrounded by the crowd. But he delayed on the way to heal someone else.
Then news came that the child was dead. Jairus was crushed, all hope gone, total despair, but Jesus insisted on going to the child who He said was only asleep. When he got there he threw out the mourners and raised the child from the dead, totally restored to life.
This story has similarities to another episode in Jesus’ life. When Jesus got the news that Lazarus his close friend was dying, he delayed for days before going to him. All he said was that Lazarus’ fate was in God’s hands and all this would be to God’s glory.
Jesus arrived when Lazarus had been dead 4 days. Lazarus’ sisters Martha and Mary, deep in grief, felt very let down that Jesus had not bothered to come sooner. ‘If only you had been here….’but Jesus was listening to what God’s Spirit was telling Him Lazarus was only asleep. Then to everyone’s amazement Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.
So two stories that of the dead being restored to life. .
Both featuring people thinking or saying, ‘if only’ ….’ and ‘its too late,’
But Jesus knew that God would be glorified in what seemed to be an awful situation.
Tonight’s reading from Romans 5 begins with a faith that brings peace, a peace that is an unmerited and undeserved gift. A faith that gives us a certainty about the future. This confidence, this optimistic expectation is what scripture calls hope. It’s a hope that is felt inside as a reality.
Hope is a rope that links us to a truth not yet experienced. And the truth is that Jesus is committed to bless us in every aspect of our lives.
Between the trials and the blessing we will struggle. At times we’re likely to question how Jesus is working and get upset at what he is not doing. ’If only…’ However, as we experience Jesus working things out in His way to bless us we develop more and more trust in Him and patience to wait for him to work things out in his way.
Sixteen years ago my previous wife and I parted company after a marriage of 34 years. The morning she was leaving I was saddened and a tear ran down my cheek as got into the car to go to work. I had prayed for years for Jesus to intervene and save our marriage but to no avail. Now it was over.
Ten minutes from home as I drove onto the motorway, Jesus spoke to me. He said ‘it’s a new beginning’ and with those words he gave me a joy that welled up from within that made me sing His praises all the way to work.
At times I wondered what the new beginning would involve. Then the Lord brought Nina into my life in a marvellous way. He spoke to us both when we barely knew each other, telling us he had brought us together and arranged our marriage.
A new marriage and shortly after a new church. A new beginning it certainly was, a life very different from before.
He is committed to bless us as we walk with him, no matter what we are experiencing. The blessing may not be what we imagined, however, it will be right for each individual and will be better than our own plans.
Life is guaranteed to throw problems at us. In the turmoil we need to remember that God has promised to bless us. He will bless us no matter what the mess is and his blessing to us will glorify him in our lives.
It’s on the promise of his blessing that we should rest. It’s in the promised Son Jesus we find peace.
Full Notes in Preaching
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Email:nina (at) libertychurchblackpool.org.uk
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9 Wilvere Court
Thornton Cleveleys FY5 1PG