Worship led by Dawn Budd
SING 579 We have come into this place
Last week during our open service, we looked at some of the promises of God and then
a few days ago, a post popped up on my Facebook talking about his promises again. I
thought we could take another look.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, as we come into your presence this morning, we thank you for this opportunity to be together, to praise you and worship you. Thank you for all of your many promises and
the reassurance that these bring us. We ask for your blessing on this time and that you
would show us something of your love this morning.
Help us to have open ears and open hearts as we listen to your message.
Amen
God will protect me
Psalm 121 vs 7 & 8 ‘The Lord will keep you from all harm- he will watch over your life;
the Lord will watch over your coming and going, both now and forevermore’
Psalm 32 v 7 ‘You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround
me with songs of deliverance ‘
SING 625 You are my hiding place
God will always hear my voice
1 John 5 v 14 ‘This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask
anything according to his will, he hears us’
Psalm 34 v 17 ‘The righteous cry out and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from
all their troubles’
SING 89 Faithful one
God will grant me peace
John 14 v 27 ‘Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the
world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid ‘
God will wipe away every tear
Revelation 21 v 4 ‘He will wipe away every tear from their eyes There will be no more
death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away’
SING 1541 There is a higher throne
God is always with me
Matthew 28 v 20 ‘...and surely I am with you always to the very end of the age’
God will not forsake me
Deuteronomy 31 v 6 ‘Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them,
for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you’
God will not leave me
Hebrews 13 v 5 ‘Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you
have, for He has said “I will never leave or forsake you” ‘
So how can we be sure that God will keep all the promises He has made to us?
Because he tells us.
Malachi 3 v 6 ‘I, the Lord, do not change….’
James 1 v 17 ’Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father
of heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.’
SING 147 Great is thy faithfulness
Message by Ken Cowell
Jesus’s Farewell Speech John 13. 1-5, John 14. 1-7
In Japan I had the opportunity of teaching university students the King’s English in a Bolton accent. I never thought I would have the privilege of doing that with my Bolton ancestry. To graduate from a university in Japan you needed to earn a certain number of credits each year until you graduate. To earn credits you had to attend lectures and pass the exams at the end of each term. Some students didn’t get enough credits during the term time but during the holidays they can do a course of concentrated lectures for a week or so and earn extra credits to fulfil the requirements for their graduation.
When Jesus trained his disciples for three years there were times when he had concentrated long discourses with them. For example one of those was the “Sermon on the Mount” which covers Matthew 5-7. However I think the most important long discourse Jesus gave the disciples was his Farewell Message in John 13-17. This was at the Last Supper the night before he was to die on the cross the next day.
These disciples had spent the last three years of their lives with him. They had heard his wonderful teaching, witnessed his marvellous miracles and seen his sinless life before them. They had the dream that he was the Messiah, who would deliver the Jews from the tyranny of the Roman Empire and set up his kingdom in Jerusalem to rule over the world. That dream was soon to be shattered by what Jesus would tell them at that meeting. They were shocked, confused and fearful by what Jesus told them. was going to happen to him later that night.
Jesus told them that he would be betrayed by one of the disciples who was in the room that very evening. Then would follow his arrest by the religious leaders of the nation, a mock trial with a guilty verdict, and handed over to the Roman authorities for execution. He would later be beaten, flogged, mocked and ridiculed, and urged by the crowds to be crucified. Pilate the Roman governor would give in to their plea and Jesus would carry his cross to a hill just outside the city. There he would be nailed to the cross to die as a criminal. This all would take place in the next few hours after he spoke had spoken to them. The disciples must have felt terrified, bewildered, afraid, and maybe even wondered if they would get through this crisis and even lose their faith. We have never faced a situation like the disciples encountered.
As I was preparing this talk and reflecting on the horrific flood in Valencia this week killing over 200 people and with still many missing, my mind went to the words Jesus spoke relating to the signs before his second coming. In Luke 21 26 he says,” Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world for the heavenly bodies will be shaken.” That flood came about because a years rainfall fell in 8 hours upon an area where they the land was so dry having suffered from a drought of two years.
The torrential rainfall couldn’t be absorbed by the ground which caused the unprecedented flooding conditions. It was without doubt a freak storm. The prophetic words of Jesus have yet to be fulfilled in the future. I am not making any prophecies. But we are certainly living in traumatic days in our world with disastrous floods, severe droughts, terrible famines, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, wars, lawlessness, poverty, economic instability, violence and widespread persecution of the church. These things are causing many to be fearful. What does Jesus say should be the Christian response? Jesus says, “When you hear of wars and revolutions do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come yet.” (Luke 21.9) What do those words tell us.? They reveal that Jesus is in full control. Nothing that can happen outside his will and purpose. As the gospel song says “He’s got the whole world in his hands.”
We have never faced a situation like the disciples encountered, but there maybe have been times when our faith has been sorely tested. Some have faced a diagnosis of a terminal illness, a sudden bereavement of a friend, a breakdown of a close relationship, a financial crisis, experiencing a sudden calamity or a deep anxiety of about solving a difficult problem. There can be so many things that can cause despondency, fear and anxiety. What could Jesus say to the disciples to bring them through this terrible storm of events? Before he says anything he does something which is very important.
In John 13.2 we read “he now showed them the full extent of his love.” He did that by washing their feet. It was important to do this before he spoke to them of difficult things they were to face. He wanted them to know without doubt that before any tragic event occurred that he loved them. The washing of their feet showed to them that. When things began to turn bad and cause them to worry and ask why such a thing is happening to them, it would be easy think that Jesus no longer loved them. The devil would taunt them with words like, “If you are really Jesus’s disciples why is he allowing these terrible things happen to you. It shows that he no longer loves you.” The disciples could refute that accusation because Jesus had just showed his love to them by washing their feet. That action also pointed to his further proof of love for them by the sacrifice of his life for them on the cross.
When we go through trials and suffering which we cannot understand it can cause us to worry and be afraid. Also at such times we might feel God is absent or far away because we have failed him in some way. It is then that the devil whispers to us that because we are unworthy God doesn’t love us and we might begin to doubt his love for us. That is a temptation we must overcome or we will go further into discouragement and despair. How can we be reassured that God still loves us? As the disciples remembered the proof of Jesus’s love by his washing of their feet, so we can assured of God’s love for us by remembering the cross where he gave Jesus to die for us. That’s unmistakeable proof of God’s love for us. In Jeremiah 31.3 God speaking of his people says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love.”
If God loves us with an everlasting love that means he can’t stop loving us no matter what we do or what trials we face. As the song says, speaking of God’s love “Your love never fails, It never gives up, It never runs out on me.” When we go through trials and suffering that seem too hard to bear, we could pray a prayer like this, God no matter what I face today help me not to lose sight of the fact you love me and sent your Son to die for me. Amen. No matter what happens God loves us all the time. This is one of the foundational truths we can rely on, that will bring us through whatever we have to go through.
What are the first words Jesus says to the disciples? “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” It seems strange to say that when he knew they had every reason to be troubled after what Jesus had to told them what was going to happen. Jesus isn’t commanding the disciples just to cheer up. He knew they couldn’t that, as he knows also that we can’t do it either. He is saying to them don’t worry, because he has the solution to their worry and anxiety. The solution is “Trust in God; trust also in me.” The history of Israel was of a nation that trusted in God. When they trusted God he delivered them from their enemies and many other disasters. He is telling the disciples to trust in him as the nation of Israel trusted God in the past. In other words Jesus is saying I am God too, so you can trust in me This is a clear declaration that Jesus is equal with God.
The fundamental answer to every problem we will ever face is trust in God. We got saved by trust in Jesus. As God’s children seeking his kingdom first, He will provide what we eat, drink or wear and tells us not to worry but trust in him. David’s answer to fear is “In God I trust; I will not be afraid” (Psalm 56.3) Why should we trust in God and Jesus? We are commanded to do it? Why should we keep trusting him when we are going through a dark time? Because He is still loving us and working out that which is good for us. Also he is God and is with us, for us and the only one who can bring us through the dark tunnel and into the light. We have his love, his presence and his power. Why should we not trust him?
Another problem we face a when encountering a difficult situation causing us anxiety is that we can only see our part of the story and not the complete picture. The disciples by just looking at the situation from their perspective alone took a negative view believing the death of Jesus on the cross was a mistake and a failure. However, it was the very opposite. The death of Jesus on the cross was for their sin, the only way Jesus could prepare a place for them in the Father’s house. The cross wasn’t a failure but a great success. The cross wasn’t the place where Jesus was finished but where the work of our salvation was finished. Jesus on the cross didn’t say “I’m finished” but said “It is finished” meaning the work of salvation was finished. After three days he rose from the dead and went back to heaven to sit exalted at the right hand of his Father. The disciples couldn’t understand Jesus’s purpose for them at that time but had to wait until it was the right time for Jesus reveal it to them. The understanding would come later after his resurrection when they would see him and he would explain it all to them.
Jesus hadn’t forsaken them as they might have thought, but he was forsaken for them by his Father, bearing their sin so they could go to heaven to be with him. The cross wasn’t to be the end for Jesus. Jesus was going to his Father’s house in heaven via the cross. If he hadn’t have gone to the cross to die for them they could never have gone to heaven at all.
As we look back over our lives we can see times when we thought God was wrong to bring certain trials into our lives. But later we saw his purpose was for our good and blessing. Also the waiting time for God to show his purpose to us is part of the process of developing our faith. God wants us to trust his word that he is working for our good before we actually experience it in reality. Perseverance is an essential part of the growth of our faith.
About three weeks ago I tore my hamstring. I looked up the treatment for healing. The first word was rest. That didn’t sound very interesting to me so last week I thought I would be okay if I did the park run. It took me 6 minutes longer and it was quite painful. I looked on the internet again to find out how it takes to heal. It said two days to six weeks. I needed to learn more patience till it is the right time to run again.
Did Jesus forget about the disciples when he went back to heaven? No, firstly he sent the Holy Spirit to take his place while he was in heaven. He was just like Jesus to them except he didn’t have a body like Jesus so he could live inside them and be with them all the time. At the same Jesus was interceding for them in God’s Presence in heaven. Lastly he is coming back to earth to take them back to heaven with new resurrected bodies to be with him forever. What wonderful plans and purposes he had for them and it is the same for us.
As we go through the trial and troubles of life how can we keep going when it gets tough? Remember Jesus loves you all the time. Trust Jesus for his power will enable you to overcome all that you face. Rest in God’s purpose for you for it always the best. Walk in obedience to the Holy Spirit. If we live that we will be ready when Jesus comes back to take us to heaven.
Closing hymn 1799 God will make a way
Notices
Wednesday at 9.30am – Prayer Meeting
Next Sunday 10th November at 10.15am – Remembrance Day service, speaker will be Lee Jerromes.