The Peace of God, Which Surpasses All Understanding.

In these turbulent times, with storms - both physical and emotional - raging at us, trying to unsettle us, we need to understand that Jesus is alive in us and if He is with us and for us, who or what can be against us? 

When storms seemed to be about to capsize the little boat that the disciples and Jesus were in, did He go into a panic and shout out that they were all going to die? No! Just remember that Jesus was asleep in the back of the boat - they had to wake Him up - so if He wasn't concerned or worried about the storm, why should we worry?

Mark 4:35-39 "On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm."

Jesus knew that He wasn't in any danger. The disciples were in a state of panic, but He was so completely at peace that He was sleeping like a baby! The disciples' faith clearly wasn't strong enough, but then, at this point they had no Holy Spirit to guide them! We have this advantage over them.

Psalm 46:1-5 "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling. There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn."

I love this passage! It tells us that God will overcome every storm the world or the enemy sends against us if we just give it all up to Him. We have the Holy Spirit flowing through our veins and He will give us the peace that we need to barricade ourselves against the howling winds and torrential rains that buffet us throughout our lives, trying to bring us down! We are so blessed!

Philippians 4:6-7 "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

When storms come, and come they will, we need to rest on God's promise that He will always be there for us, will listen to our prayers and answer them. I have faith that when I cry out "God help me!" He will hear and he will act on my behalf. I know He has my best interests at heart and that He wants me to know that I can call on Him whenever I am under spiritual, emotional or physical attack. 

James 1:2-4 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

Know Jesus, know peace! No Jesus, no peace! It's a no-brainer!

So take heart, friends! Peace, be still! God's got this!

Amen

"Take My Yoke Upon You"

Matthew 11:28-30 "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Pastor Steuart Payne used this passage as the basis for his lesson today and while I was listening I saw pictures in my mind of, firstly, what a yoke is and, secondly, how powerful that image is.

The yoke Pastor Steu was talking about  is a wooden beam normally used between a pair of oxen to enable them to pull together when working in pairs and looks something like this:

The pairing needs to be equal in order to be efficient so you need to yoke two animals of similar size and strength like this:

You can see that the yoke falls across the shoulders of both oxen so that they share the load.

That is what it looks like to be yoked to Jesus. He told us to take on His yoke for His yoke is easy. This means that for us to yoke ourselves to Him we are working alongside Him and being led by Him. He will help us to carry our burdens and fears so that we are not overwhelmed by them. We can only gain strength from this, but we must make sure that we are always walking alongside Him throughout our daily lives.

Many of us carry our burdens all by ourselves like this:

Isn't it great to know that we don't have to - that there is someone who is not only able but willing to help with the load? Thank you, Jesus!

Others turn to the wrong kind of help - to those who will in fact only increase the weight we carry. This is what the enemy wants us to do. He wants us to turn from God as Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden and follow the ways of this world, which are not God's ways. He wants to separate us from God's love and light!

2 Corinthians 6:14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?

Here is an example of what an unequal yoking looks like:

The yoke isn't even touching the mule's shoulders! Which means that the ox is not only carrying the whole load but the weight of the yoke as well! The ways of the world are like that mule - no help to you whatsoever - because the world in general doesn't really care, and in some cases will add to your burdens and bring you down further. Yes there are good people out there who don't believe in God, but they are merely human and will fail you eventually.

The yoke of Jesus, who is both fully human (so understands human frailty) and fully God (at one with the Father) - this is the only yoke you can rely on!

I'm reminded of the yoke that Jesus had to bear for our sins - the cross!

He had to carry this through the streets of Jerusalem being jeered at, spat upon and reviled by all those He passed - and all this after being beaten and whipped till His flesh was torn so badly that He was almost unrecognisable! He had objects and insults hurled at Him all along the route and was finally nailed to that awful burden to die a horrible death at the end of His long and arduous walk. 

This was His yoke! All of our sins were laid upon that cross. He literally carried the whole weight of our sin with Him to His death. And when He died, all our sins died with Him so that we can choose to live free and be back in relationship with the Father.

Since He did that for us, why wouldn't we choose to take up our cross and follow Him? This man, this Son of God, the Word made flesh showed us how to live in love and peace and harmony. He taught us that there is no other way to the Father but through Him. Yes, it's a narrow path but a sound one and He will be with us throughout our journey, helping and guiding us, through the Holy Spirit whom He sent to be our constant partner, friend amd companion. 

John 16:7 "Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you."

John 16:13-14 "However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you."

Hallelujah!

He is the Way, the Truth and the Life! Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Salvation! Ever present, ever faithful, always approachable! Wherever you are, He will be with you! Just call on His name and He will hear! Don't struggle alone - give yourself to Jesus and He will help you with whatever it is that is weighing you down. 

"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

All I can say to that is,

Amen!

Outside the Box!

Pastor Andy Elmes spoke today about seeing Jesus for who He actually is, not for what we think He is, and having a childlike faith - innocent, trusting and vulnerable. Children see Him clearly as someone who loves and cares for them. They don't have to see Him with their eyes, they trust Him because they "see" Him with their hearts. We need to make sure that we don't lose that simple faith in Jesus. 

Children don't see the world the same way we do as adults. Younger children in particular see with much more clarity of vision. They haven't yet learned to filter what they see. As adults we do this far too much. Consider what we see on social media these days, where you can take a photo of someone and completely transform it into something more acceptable to the world's eyes. Filtering out what the world considers to be blemishes and imperfections until it becomes a total lie! 

I looked up synonyms of the word "childlike" and came up with words such as guileless, naive, unsophisticated and unworldy! That last word - unworldy - struck a chord with me because as Christians, though we live in the world, we should not be conformed to the world! So taking that a little further, we are called to be unworldy - ergo childlike!

Matthew 19:13-14 "Then little children were brought to Him that He might put His hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”

Matthew 18:1-5 "At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me."

Pastor Andy also brought up another aspect of what it is to see for yourself who Jesus really is rather than just seeing what we want Him to do for us. Throughout Jesus' time on this Earth there were people who had preconceived ideas of who or what He should be. Those people were happy to put the Messiah into a box that fit in with their plans and wants and desires, not realising, or perhaps forgetting, that while He was fully human, He was also fully God! So when He didn't "tick all the boxes" of their preconceptions because they had been expecting some great warrior or charismatic religious leader who would smite their enemies and free them from Roman rule, they spurned and condemned Him.

Colossians 2:9 "For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily"

John 10:30-33 "I and My Father are one." Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?”The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.”

Now let's talk about boxes! 

The problem with boxes is that, no matter how big they are, they all have set limitations! If we say that Jesus is this way or that way we are putting Him into a box - which is not only wrong, it's ridiculous! God doesn't have any limits! He doesn't fit into a box! 

The Jesus that I serve is working "outside the box!" Just look at those He chose as His disciples. These 12 people were not religious or political leaders, they weren't influential, weren't even teachers or speakers. They were just ordinary, run-of-the-mill, human, fallible people. Some would say the dregs of the Earth! He said they were the salt of the Earth and the light of the world! 

Matthew 5:13-16 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."

God works in mysterious ways and chooses the unlikeliest of people to do His bidding because He sees who we truly are and brings out our true potential.

So, the message is - remain childlike, joyful, innocent, and don't put Jesus into a box! Instead we should put the world, it's views, it's religious dogma, prejudices, fears - anything that's negative and doesn't come from God - into a huge box and lock it away out of sight and mind! 

All we really need to know about Jesus is His kindness, His mercy and His great and abiding love for us! Of course that shouldn't stop you from digging deeper into His word and finding out for yourself what kind of person He is!

John 1:14 "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."

He is the Word made flesh, the Son of God, Saviour of the world! My best friend! I have felt Him move in my life and the lives of those I love! 

Oh, how I love you, Jesus! Thank you for always being there, working inside me and through me! You are my guiding light, my heart's delight and my protector! 

I am Yours forever!

Amen

Repentance - What It Really Means!

Another great inspirational word this week from Pastor Andy Elmes, who spoke about repentance. He pointed out that that word can have a negative and judgmental aspect but that our loving and gentle Father only wants good for us. He just wants us to turn away from the purgatory, pain and anguish that the devil has in store and to bring us into forgiveness, mercy and grace.

While Pastor Andy was speaking about repentance and ultimate forgiveness, he said that when God has foriven our sins and we accept Him as our Lord we turn from our old ways, but we don't always do a full 180° turn. For some just turning away is enough, you've seen the error of your ways but carry on your life in much the same way, aware of the sins of your past and resisting them but still not giving yourself over, surrendering 100% to the Lord's will. 

That's all well and good for some of us but others, like me, want more than that for their lives. To experience the fullness of God's plan for us we have to turn fully towards Him, follow His plans, do His bidding, knowing that this is the way to truly honour Jesus's sacrifice. A half-turn won't do! We need to seek God's countenance and His guidance and experience His great love for us all.

We need to see that repentance isn't a negative; it's a positive start to our journey in Christ. When we fully repent, we are saying that we realise that we were living for our own selfish wants and desires but that now we see how empty and meaningless those desires were and want something richer and more fulfilling. By turning from our old lives and turning towards God we are seeking a new life in Him. A life in abundance!

And when we have repented, turned and have seen the light we start to think and feel differently. Ezekiel 36:26 says "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." We start to see that while we live here on this world we are no longer a part of it, that we are now part of God's Kingdom. Romans 12:2 says "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

We will find ourselves re-evaluating everithing and every one around us, but we must not judge others. That is not our responsibility and not what God wants. Jesus has instructed us to love not only ourselves and our neighbours but also our enemies. Those that have harmed us or given offence in some way. We are called to forgive them, pray for them, love them.

I speak from experience when I say that this is not an easy thing to do, but when you do, it will lift a tremendous weight from your heart. I have had cause to forgive others that have caused me pain and anxiety, and when I did, I felt so much better and happier! However there is one enemy that it is the hardest of all to forgive - ourselves! This is probably because we are very often our own worst enemy! Take heart people! Remember that when we came to Christ we said a prayer of redemption and salvation - so if He can forgive us, then we definitely need to do so, too. Micah 7:18-19 "Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? Because He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea." 

Our sins, the chains that bound us and held us captive, are gone. Psalm 103:12 "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us."

Repentance, therefore, is giving yourself a chance for something much better for your mind, your heart and your soul! I think we can all give that a huge...

AMEN!

No Middle Ground!

I have just heard a great message from our Senior Pastor's daughter, Olivia Elmes! The question she posed today is "What do we believe about the Gospel?" She was asking what we truly believe - not what we think, or what we may have heard or been told, but what we believe in our hearts and souls to be the truth! 

To understand the question we first need to understand the meaning of belief! The dictionary gives this description:

1. 1.

   an acceptance that something exists or is true, especially one without proof.
2. 2.

   trust, faith, or confidence in (someone or something).

It's something that comes from the very core of your being and is not just a passing thought. Thoughts and feelings can be easily changed but belief is not so easily persuaded. It comes from knowing the truth which starts in your head and then travels to your heart and deep into your very soul.

I BELIEVE THAT GOD LOVES ME, CHERISHES ME AND WANTS ME AS A COMPANION AND FRIEND!

I remember when I finally came to see the light of God's truth, that Sunday morning when I raised my hand in response to the prayer of salvation. It hit me like a lightning bolt! Suddenly my heart had hope and an immense weight was lifted from my soul! I cried tears of pure joy that day!

Before that day I had thought I would go to Heaven just because I was a good person, kind to children and animals, and involved in charitable works. I had thought myself a believer - but now I see that I really didn't know God and His heart for me! I didn't truly believe!

Now I see that there is no middle ground. You are either all in or all out! Olivia said that she pictured a great chasm opening up in the ground and I really like this image. You have to be on one side of it or the other because if you are straddling that chasm you are going to fall into the pit! There is literally no middle ground!

Come on people! Open your eyes! Look at what's happening in the world around you. It's collapsing in on itself and spiralling out of control. There is so much negativity along with wars, persecution, prejudice, sickness, famine, floods. droughts, starvation and death all over this world. You see it everywhere you turn!

The good news is that the Gospel is true! You can find salvation, peace and eternal life, but only in Jesus Christ, our Saviour! He who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

In the Old Testament people would need to offer up a sacrifice to have their sins forgiven, but would have to do that over and over again because this was only a temporary measure - rather like sticking a plaster on a gaping wound that will never heal - all because of the fall of Adam which had given mankind a nature of sin. 

Then Jesus came to Earth, lived alongside us as a mortal man and eventually died on the cross, as the Final Sacrifice, to wash away all sin and shame, and to defeat death through His resurrection. Because of Him we now have the Holy Spirit living inside us and all our sins are not just temporarily covered over but completely obliterated as though they never happened.

We are healed from that sinful nature we once had and have been resurrected along with Jesus. He has brought us out of the darkness of sin and shame into His glorious light and we need Him now more than ever. So I declare this in His mighty name:

Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek (gentile).

Believe this! Repent of your sins and turn to the only one who truly loves you with an all-consuming passion - without question, unconditionally and eternally! Experience God's agapē love for yourself!

If you want to know more about our church please go to the website at www.family.church or to the Family Church page on Facebook where you can also find and download our app. Check it out! It turned my life around and it could do the same for you!

God bless you all!