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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Matthew Henry: “Justification gives peace, because it rests not on our works but on Christ’s merit.”
A.W. Pink: “Justification is God’s legal declaration that the believer is righteous in His sight.”
John Bunyan: “My justification is in Christ, who stands before God for me.”
Thomas Boston: “In justification, Christ’s righteousness is put upon the sinner, and the sinner is accepted as righteous.”
John Calvin: “All that Christ has is ours when we are united to Him by faith.”
Extracts from Jim’s Preach ‘Giants of Faith’
Extract from Hebrews 11
There isn’t enough time to tell you of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah , also of David and Samuel and the prophets:
Who through faith subdued kingdoms, did works of righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, And others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.
Still others had the trial of being mocked and whipped, and of chains and imprisonment.
They were tested, they were stoned, even slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted and tormented, people of whom the world was not worthy.
Two years after crossing the Red Sea the people of Israel reached the border of the Promised Land. But they had not deepened their relationship with the Lord. They seemed to know about Him but did not actually KNOW Him enough to trust Him. They had forgotten His promise to give them this land.
At the border they sent twelve spies to spy out the land. Ten reported, ‘There’s no way we can go in because the cities are like fortresses. The locals are built like Swartznegger and there’s men so big they’re like giants!’
But 2 spies thought differently. One of them, Caleb said ‘Hang on there’s nothing to fear, the Lord said He’d give it to us. All we have to do is walk in and see what He does!’
Scripture records that Caleb was of a different spirit. He knew the Lord enough to trust in Him and Caleb had confidence the Lord could overcome any giant.
We all have different giants in our lives that we struggle to defeat. By giants I mean the fears, and obstacles that block our ability to trust God. We can’t overcome them by willpower. But the Lord can overcome them in us as we desire him to work in us to build our faith.
Hebrews 11 lists giants of faith – people of exceptional faith. I have my own list.
My list would start with exceptional people I knew in Blackburn, retired from life as missionaries in India. In the 1930’s Margaret and Lawrence Livesey were mill workers who felt the Lord called them to India. The call came with the promise that they would have more spiritual children than they could count.
They sold everything to finance themselves and set off. They had very little money and no financial support from home. They moved to the region they felt the Lord wanted them in. There they lived in slum conditions with the lowest caste of society known as ‘the untouchables’. All they had to rely on was their faith in the one who had sent them to the depths of poverty.
But the Livesey’s told me that the Lord cared for them. Despite contaminated water and food, open sewers and no vaccines they never became ill. They survived on a near starvation diet. They responded to the needs of people around them with their limited first aid and prayer.
8½ years after receiving their promise of spiritual children the first local man came to know Jesus. At last they had their first spiritual child! His name was Gnana Prakasam. Gnana was gifted with the ability to communicate his faith in a way that enabled others to encounter Jesus for themselves.
Many, many people came to know Jesus and in time they numbered them in tens, then hundreds then thousands, then tens of thousands. The Livesey’s had their spiritual children. Countless people had come to faith because of them.
I was fortunate enough to meet Margaret and Lawrence after they retired. I soaked up their stories of the Lord’s faithfulness to them and how they always clung to the promises He had given them no matter what the circumstances were like. Later I met Gnana. He visited England and stayed in my home. From him I learned more about them.
They were 2 ordinary people with a different spirit, materially poor but spiritually very rich. They knew Jesus well enough to trust his leading for their lives and discover that he is always reliable, always trustworthy.
We all face obstacles to trusting God, like giants in our lives in different ways at different times. To grow in trust in these circumstances we need to ask Him to give us that ability to know Him in a deeper way and to help us rely on Him.
As we turn to Him with a heart that desires Him we gradually discover the unique ways He relates to us and walks with us through life.
And He grows in us a different spirit, a spirit that trusts Him in deeper and deeper ways and there are no greater riches in life than the richness of a trusting relationship with Him.
To Contact Us:
Email:nina (at) libertychurchblackpool.org.uk
Tel/Txt: 07 9555 97771
Postal Address:
Liberty Church Blackpool,
9 Wilvere Court
Thornton Cleveleys FY5 1PG