Ian’s lets listen to Jesus

The greatest wonder, greater than all of creation is the wonder that thou my Lord should die for me.

”Take that all in. My creation is larger and more complex than you could ever imagine. Yet the plan I have had for the redemption of the lost is even more complex and precious than all of creation. Look up at the cross, it is my love letter to you. It is my love letter to the whole world Written in drops of blood, each one squeezed out with infinite agony but carrying a multitude of blessing to billions. The wonder of it all! Just accept it. Accept it as my greatest token of love and share it with as many as you can so that this great news, this infinitely powerful Gospel may become the war cry of the new kingdom – so that many more may appreciate and be transformed by the wonder of it all.”

Today we come to an end of the so-called discourse by Jesus with some important final words. Our reading is John 16:25 – 33.

Throughout the discourse Jesus has repeated the invitation to the disciples to ask anything from the Father in His name on a number of occasions, following that with the promise that they will receive what they have asked for. Today He expands on that with an explanation that up to now He has been speaking figuratively but from now will speak plainly. Let’s look at what He is saying.

He repeats the offer to ask anything in His name but then expands on that. Although He is inviting them to ask the Father in His name this does not mean that He has to persuade or squeeze God for an answer. No, the Father wants to answer because He already loves them because they have loved Him and believe that He came from the Father. He came on a mission to earth and is now returning to be with the Father so they together will be available to these disciples and every disciple after them, including us to answer whatever prayers we ask. However the limitation is “in Jesus’ name”. That means according to the will and program of Jesus.

Now we come to the end and a verse which most Christians find huge comfort in. However we may actually miss the full impact of this verse if we don’t read it in context. The verse is vs 33: “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

This amazing promise must be seen against the background of the previous verse where he warns them that they are going to face such trouble that they will all be scattered and will return to their homes abandoning the whole kingdom program. As they face this, His promise is that He will give them peace in the midst of all that. He is speaking of the whole crucifixion event of course.

This is another of the great enigmas of Christianity. The word translated here as trouble is often translated as tribulation. The whole of the book of Revelation describes the gospel era as the time of tribulation. We live in a fallen world with potent enemies. Yet Jesus promises that despite outward appearances He has overcome the world and will give us an inner peace which the world will never understand during these times of tribulation. Paul repeats this in Phillipians ch 4:4ff “Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice:…….The Lord. Is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus”.

So during this time of tribulation we live in, Jesus makes a secure promise, repeated by Paul that despite the tribulation, which will come since we are living in the time of tribulation, God will give us whatever we ask in Jesus name and so that we can have deep inner peace in our hearts and minds. We are never offered total physical protection, although God often does give that, but the true blessing of our intimate relationship with the Father through Jesus is the deep inner ability to trust God completely in everything and reap the fruit of pure peace from that.

This is a lot to digest and difficult to unravel the full implications of in a short devotion, yet, if we believe it there is an amazing promise we just need to take hold of and believe to experience it.

Richest blessings till next week.

Take my heart and let it forever be your royal throne.

“While you offer Me your heart, I have already captured it within the warmth of My love for you. You would never be able to truly give Me all your love if I had not made it possible. The key has always been the death on the cross of My precious son Jesus. As His heart was ripped out by the sin of the world and My irrepressible wrath being spent there on him it opened a glorious golden highway for My love to flow to you and whoever would desire to have it. It is only then, as My love overwhelms you that you can truly release your heart to Me. But, yes I receive your heart, your love and adoration with great pleasure this morning. However do not keep My love to yourself alone, share it with those you come into contact with so they can also benefit from it.”

We proceed today with John in 16:16-24. John has been explaining in the last three chapters how the disciples’ and our relationship with God would proceed after He departs. He now comes to the hard part. He has first got to go to the cross before this will be put into place. Although He has been warning them for some time that this must happen, they had obviously not fully taken it in. I suppose among other reasons the almost automatic response we often have as humans to bad news is denial, shutting out the full implications from our minds.

After being homeschooled on a cosy Karoo farm until at 11 years of age in standard 6 I was sent 500 km away to a very strict boarding school in P.E. I had never learned to relate to other children and easily became the target of all the bullies. The next 5 years were a nightmare of rejection and loneliness which I finally escaped from with huge relief. I have often thought back on that time and have thanked God that He took me through that so that I could, in some very small measure also experience the rejection Jesus must have felt while here with us on earth.

So here in this passage Jesus is trying to share with His close friends what was about to happen. Yet He wanted them to get this news into the full perspective of the bigger picture. I like the way He uses childbirth as an example of huge joy following great pain. Every woman who has had a child will attest to this amazing feeling of joy after the intense pain of the birth process.

The most comforting words are in vs 22 “So with you: Now is the time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice and no one will take that away from you”. The joy of the full realisation of what Jesus accomplished on our behalf transcends any pain we may ever feel after that. This is a joy which is really supernatural and cannot be explained to someone outside of the kingdom. It is the final outcome, the background music as it were of our whole relationship with our loving Father through Jesus.

The next two verses complete the picture with a repetition of His promise of the Father’s attitude towards them and to us as His very own adopted children. Ask and keep on asking and as He responds it will flow into that supernatural joy. The joy of the knowledge of a secure and loving relationship which will extend beyond our human suffering into all eternity.

I have realised, especially lately that I have to remind myself of that joy as often as possible. It is so easy to focus one’s mind on the difficulties and fears of this world that they swallow up the very reality of that joy that God wants us to experience. Rejoice in the Lord always is the instruction that Paul gives in Philippians ch 4:4 but then he goes on to admonish us to think correctly in vs 10ff. This actually develops that part of your brain so that it can become your default way of thinking. But it takes practice. But, again we have a “Helper” and coach who continually encourages us.

This section on discipleship has brought me to see this as a whole package which should guide us in our everyday walk with God. So let’s continue to practice. Until I see you all again next week, may you be blessed.

Oh taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34). Lord please touch all my senses, fill this room with the fragrance of the Rrose of Sharon, with the warmth of your love. Cause all my senses to come alive to you so that I can worship you with all of me.

”Yes, I am all around you and want you to know that, not only by faith but also experientially. That is why you have been given all your senses so that you can experience Me in all My fullness. Maybe you can’t see Me physically but you can see Me spiritually as you close your eyes and allow Me to illuminate your imagination. I am always present with you, in the beauty and fragrance of the flowers, in the warmth of the touch of a loved one, in the sunset My glory sets your eyes aglow. Allow yourself to truly taste and see and experience Me in My person not just in the words on a page. I am here in all My glory ready to make your senses come alive and be receptive to Me so that you can fully worship Me.”

As we come to the end of John’s teaching from Jesus on the full understanding of what the disciples (and our) continuing relationship with Jesus is going to consist of we reach the conclusion of this teaching as we read John 16:2-16, ending with the the words which must have been like an arctic wind to them in vs 16: In a little while you won’t see me. Yet the vs ends with the strange promise: after a little while you will see me. This introduces the next section as He reveals what this was to meant to them.

So way back in the last part of vs 3 He introduces this thought: I was still with you. And then in vs 4 Now I am going to go to Him who sent Me. This must have been devastating to these men. Put yourselves in their shoes. They had left everything to follow Jesus. He had promised them, and they believed Him when He said that He was going to introduce God’s kingdom and in fact, He was going to be the ultimate King. Now He is speaking of leaving them apparently with very little to show for His time with them. Little did they realize that the climax of Jesus’ life and in fact the whole of history was on the verge of taking place. The main reason He came – to die for our sins and open the way to the Father was about to happen.

From our perspective we can now understand what He was telling them and we can appreciate the provision God had planned from the beginning for when Jesus would leave the earth. Obviously Jesus in His humanity could only be in one place at a time and therefore His ministry would always be limited to where He was. So God’s plan was to send the Holy Spirit to replace and continue Jesus’ ministry. He would be able to be everywhere and minister in multiple places at the same time. In fact the world would discover after Pentecost that He would not only be present everywhere, but that He would actually indwell every born again believer enabling him/her to live their Christian life.

So in a very compact way John gathers together the teaching on main ways that the Counselor would work fro then on. Why don’t you read this paragraph and see all the ways He is depicted as going to be working?

Let us look if we can pick up the teaching: Three things mentioned in vs 8 He will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgement.

His first great work would be to convict the world of the importance of their culpability of sin. And notice the very basic and all pervading cause of sin is “unbelief”. It is because we don’t believe in the triune God that all other wrongdoing flows. So the Holy Spirit convicts each sinner with the knowledge of the need to come to faith in God so that their sin can be dealt with.

Then righteousness. Jesus’ departure means He is going to be removed from the scene and the Spirit must take over in directing every believer on true righteousness. How to live and behave correctly .

Then lastly judgment. He reminds us that we are being held responsible for our behaviour because there is one who judges every move, every thought we have, we will be culpable for. all the wrong that is done. He brings the Devil in here because he is the ultimate deceiver.

Furthermore the Spirit is going to carry on teaching where Jesus has left off. Today we have God’s word in writing but it is only as the Holy Spirit interprets it to us that it truly comes alive and has the power to change us. And the purpose of all this? Vs 14 to bring Jesus all the glory. So the Spirit does not seek glory for Himself but opens the door so that all the glory is poured out for Jesus and the Father.

The paragraph ends with the most beautiful summary of the trinity in vs15.

Well, welcome to the Holy Spirit the most import companion we all have representing Jesus to us continually in our lives. I was once again convicted as to how seldom I was aware of this on a moment by moment basis. How do you personally experience Him and the work He is doing in your lives?

God bless till next week dear loved ones.

Amazing Love how can it be that thou my God should die for me.

” Yes you should be truly amazed. The King of creation, the ultimate Father, the personal Shepherd – prepared to die for you, yes for you personally. I came to die for all of My creation to open the way for true fellowship which I have longed for from the beginning. Fellowship based not with a being who like a puppet has been created to obey everything he is told to do, but fellowship which is based on a choice – a choice to have fellowship with Me rather than claim the heart of fellowship for himself. Yet at the same time I have been wooing you and every other human into a love relationship with Me. So I have used my death on a cross as the ultimate love gift to you and every person who would receive it and enter into a marriage with Me as the Bridegroom.”

As John comes to the conclusion of the extensive teaching of Jesus on what it is going to mean to have a relationship with God through Him we come to a less pleasant aspect of what this fellowship will bring. Read John 15:18 – 16:4.

The theme of this teaching on relationship with Him moves now to another aspect of what this fellowship with Jesus is going to bring. The hate and rejection of the world. Being a disciple of Jesus is going to change you. That is the definite promise of the last few chapters. This change which is going to happen will not always be welcomed in the world. While on the one hand our love for each other and for the world should attract the interest and desire of the world, it often has exactly the opposite effect on many who embrace the values of the world.

From the beginning Jesus was rejected by many for various reasons. Behind it all of course we see Satan’s hand, but even without his influence many rejected Him. In today’s passage Jesus warns His disciples, that is you and I, that if we are like Him we must expect rejection and even hate from many as well as we follow Him. Of course we don’t experience it to the same degree and maybe as openly as we may think, but the promise is clear that if we follow Jesus as a branch of the Vine we can expect that to provoke feelings of hate from many in the world. This is another of the great enigmas of our faith. While Jesus’ love expressed through our actions and speech may attract some it often has the opposite effect on others.

The frightening thing is that if they hate you for demonstrating your Christian love they are actually ultimately rejecting God Himself vs 23. We should be careful though of not being the cause of that hate through the way we represent our Christianity. I am thinking here of brothers and sisters who are pharisaically judgmental in the way they treat outsiders. No one becomes a Christian by being told how evil they are. Of course we need to take a stand on open sin, but ultimately it is the Spirit that convicts and draws people to the love you are showing them. So in vv 26 and 27 we are reminded of the very real work of the Spirit, the Counselor in carrying you along in your testimony of God’s love. More on that next week.

My personal experience over time has been that the more active I am at any time with kingdom affairs the more likely I will be the focus of Satan’s attacks, often mediated by unsuspecting people. The original apostles were going to face huge opposition and rejection with most of them actually dying because of their faith. Jesus is warning them, but His warning goes down the ages and in many places Christians face huge persecution even today. I call on you all to think of these people in your prayers, while being warned not to take it personally if you face rejection in your personal life. We need to be continually conscious that we are involved in a very real if mostly unseen battle with the Evil one and we should constantly be on the alert for his whiles and ways. His aim is to bring discouragement and hopelessness and to make us ineffectual as witnesses.

We must also remember that Jesus has overcome Satan and therefore the victory has already been won although the battle rages on. So let us end by remembering Paul’s words in Philippians to “rejoice in the Lord always” and not let Satan have the satisfaction of seeing us discouraged. On that bright note may the Lord bless each one of you till next week.

Take my heart Lord prone to wander and seal it for thy grace above. My heart is on the loose Lord – only you can fasten it upon yourself.

”Just as all the rest of you, every little cell in your body, your heart was sculpted by me, deep in your mother’s womb. My eye was on it as also on the rest of you as I planned our love story together. To promote that love and see it flourish growing as a beautiful bud into a full bloom drawing it ever nearer to Me here in the heavenly realms. That has given Me such pleasure and such joy as does every other true son and daughter in My kingdom. Yes your heart may be prone to wander, but your deep desire as I measure it, is to fix it on Me and so I am busy all the time moulding and drawing that deepest part of your motivation into our love story which will be brought to a climax when you come to meet Me Face-to-face.”

We pick up this beautiful relationship picture of a vine as we continue to read in John 15:7-17. Over all this Jesus reveals an important purpose of this relationship story: That Jesus’s joy in us will make our joy complete vs 11. It may be that we see our role in keeping our side of the relationship as a bit onerous, but Jesus wants it to be a continuous, growing experience of Joy for us. Hence Paul could say in Philippians, Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. Let us look now at the various components of our relationship with Him as revealed in this section.

Firstly, Jesus’s promises: vs 9 He has loved us, just as the Father has loved us.

Vv 7, 16 Whatever we ask (within this relationship) He will give us.

Vs 14, We are His friends.

v 15, Everything He has learned from the Father He has revealed to us. This is a wonderful promise of the completeness of His word.

v 16, He chose us we did not choose Him. He has always taken the initiative in our love story.

v 16 He has appointed the place for us to be where we will be able to produce the most fruit.

Then within this relationship He has also pointed out what our responsibilities are to be: We are to remain in Him v 7, in His love v 9. This is revealed by us keeping His commands, v 10, 12.

By remaining in Him (I like the old translation ‘abide’, speaks of a whole lifestyle), we will be able to produce fruit. It seems as I stand back, that the ultimate purpose of His relationship is revealed by our producing fruit. He repeats this several times vv 2, 4, 5, 8, 16. In fact v16 sums it up “I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last” . It is important to notice that while it is our responsibility to produce fruit, it is the natural result flowing from a healthy covenant relationship where we continue to abide in Jesus

He does not really explain exactly what He means by fruit except to emphasize the importance of Love. Taking and appreciating the Father’s love and demonstrating it by loving one another. This echoes His word in 13:5 “By this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” . It seems our life under the new covenant is covered by this command, from which all the other’s flow.

What an appeal, what a promise, what a joy to be able to be part of this. To have a real, viable relationship with the Living God through His Son who opened this way and sent His Spirit to mediate all this for us. I am almost overwhelmed by the thought of all this as it comes rushing in to my consciousness and understanding. Why don’t you meditate on it and allow the pictures to become part of your whole default being? And ….. let’s all keep abiding in Him. God bless till next week.

And can it be that thou my God should die for me? What a thought – the God of the universe, Creator of all has made a way forward that He himself should, in a mysterious way die for me and for you personally. What a thought, what an amazing truth?

“It is really impossible for you to grasp the full dynamics of that statement because My ways are so much higher than your ways, My thoughts than your thoughts but the facts are there and the specifics of a great event which was fired by My love for My creation, for you and all who read this blog. An event which demonstrates more graphically in image that in word that if I should be prepared to die for you – how much more will I give you all things you need and most of all My love which is inseparable from Me. Take that in every moment of the day and let it continually transform you.”

John’s story continues into one of the best-known chapters in the bible. The chapter on the vine and the branches. Let past familiarity not rob you of the insight into this astonishing bit of teaching. Read John 15:1-11. Although the scene has changed to some time later, the flow of teaching continues from the previous chapter. John is putting together a number of stories which are aimed at encouraging the reader to understand the benefits and dynamics of having a relationship with God the Father through Jesus, the Son.

One of the reasons this passage is so well-known is that it is relatively easy to understand the point of Jesus’s teaching. Read it through and meditate on it, especially as it applies to you. While it is easy to understand it is not always obeyed completely. The message is clear: God wants us to produce fruit. Fruit are the signs of a good relationship with Him. But fruit will only grow on a branch that is healthy and well-fed. Whose responsibility is it that this should happen? Well God desires to bring His side of the deal. He wants a healthy branch, yet it behoves each one of the branches to make use of all that the Vine offers and starts with the instruction to abide or remain in Jesus. A continued state of close fellowship.

God cannot feed the branch if it does not stay connected to the vine, drawing sustenance from it. How do we do that? Well that is what relationship is about. There are many facets. We need to feed on His word, and relate to Him by speaking to Him in prayer. Then there is a constant sense of obedience and surrender to His will. There is interaction with others in the kingdom family. Teaching and fellowship both in the church and elsewhere. If we do not participate and draw from these and the many other ways that God provides we will dry up and produce only shrivelled and sour fruit of self pity, complaining and bitterness.

God is always busy in the lives of the branches. He uses His painful pruning shears to cut off the dead wood of our branch lives. We don’t always see it that way but in everything that happens to us He is busy and often pruning away those areas which stop us from producing fruit. Like in agriculture, when a branch has been pruned it gathers new vitality and produces a greater abundance of fruit. While the immediate experience may be uncomfortable or even painful the harvest of fruit that is produced thereafter makes it really worthwhile.

The question we should all ask ourselves is: am I so closely bound to the Vine that I am producing fruit which honours Him and goes towards the building of His kingdom? What is stopping me from truly feeding effectively from Him? The ultimate repeated instruction is “abide (or remain) in Me”. That is a minute by minute state of close connection with the Father through the Son, a connection which is demonstrated by obedience. 15:10.

Then, most importantly, he returns to the earlier statement when He was introducing the concept of a relationship with the True God through Jesus the Son in John 14:14. That this close relationship with the Father gives you the privilege of asking anything in Jesus’s name and He promises that it will be given you 15:7. This promise is part of the privilege of having a real relationship, one of a branch remaining and depending on the Vine. But notice it is contingent on remaining in the vine. Its aim is to help you produce fruit for the glory of God. And by that to show that you are His disciples. We cannot demonstrate true discipleship and God’s ongoing love without this dynamic. It is an amazing promise, often misunderstood because it is not read and understood in the context of the whole passage.

Friends, why don’t you read this passage again and allow your mind and imagination to run as you ask Jesus to speak to you through it. Let it become part of your thought process and flow into your mind as you apply what you are hearing.

God bless till next week.

”I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene, that you should die for me – a sinner, condemned, unclean”, but do I really appreciate the true awfulness of my sin – so awful it drove Jesus to die a horrible death on a cross to redeem me? I use the word easily, applying it to myself almost as if it is a badge of honour that qualifies me to receive Gods hard won forgiveness and to become one of His precious children.

”Words, if used often enough may lose some of the impact of their full meaning. Sin was the catalyst, the cause of the huge trouble creation is in, the huge trouble mankind in general and each one of you specifically experiences. Look around you at the suffering, disease, poverty, crime, war, floods, earthquakes, genocide, murder, rape et cetera et cetera and hang out a banner over it – a banner spelt SIN. And in the middle is I. Each one of you has this problem. Creation groans waiting for its release. Stop from time to time and remind yourself of the seriousness of that short word that lies beneath all this horror and appreciate Jesus’s death again afresh, understanding the absolute need for His awful suffering”.

We continue now by reading John14:25-31, as Jesus continues to introduce to us, the reader, the full understanding of what it means for His disciples (and us) to have a relationship with Him. Last time we met the One whom He called “the Counsellor” and saw how He was going to be the main player in building out and maintaining this supernatural relationship.

In vs 29 He closes the bracket which He opened at 13:19, where He explains the reason why He is using this time to explain these things. He is preparing them for the almost excruciating thought for them that He was soon going to leave them physically. I don’t think we can overestimate the huge sense of loss they were soon going to experience. He wanted to soften this by showing the fact that His leaving was actually going to benefit not only them but all of mankind after His death. He goes on to tell them that by telling them all these things in advance when they happened later it would greatly expand their faith in Him.

His death was going to make it possible for them to have such a close relationship with Him because the Father was going to actually give each one of them (and every believer since) the presence of His Spirit to dwell within them. And in this section He is explaining what the full significance of that will be.

In vs 26 He tells them that The Holy Spirit will continue to teach them and remind them of all the things He had said to them. We should stop there as we consider this. The key to us hearing Jesus through His word and any other way He decides to speak to us is the work of His Spirit, who is intimately bound to us every moment of the day and night. We have that supernatural connection! Friends it was the rediscovery of this that set off the Charismatic renewal. Because the Spirit is so humbly apparently quietly, working in the background He has over the years almost become lost in sight by many evangelicals. We need to be reminded of His work and rediscover the awe at the thought of His continued presence indwelling us and what that means for us as we live our Christian life.

If we are to be true witnesses for Jesus, it is the supernatural work of the Spirit that will make that possible and one of the best ways is explained in the next verse. “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give it to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid”.

Can I ask you, each one of you my beloved readers, do you know that peace? Or are your hearts deeply troubled. The presence of God’s peace in the midst of the turmoil of this world is one of the greatest witnesses to His supernatural work. Real peace (shalom) does not always come instantly, but grows as we grow in our faith and trust in His full providence over every aspect of our lives and those of our dear ones. But every true Christian should know something of this huge promise from our all powerful, all knowing Creator.

The passage ends with a reminder of the very real role of Satan in the turmoil of this world and the fact that we are warned in several places to be on our guard against His attacks, using the full armour that God has given us to resist him. It is when we are complacent towards him that we are the most vulnerable.

”Come let us leave” he ends the chapter with. So we will see next time how chapter 15 continues this revelation. God bless and take care.

Worthy – worthy – is the Lamb who is a King – the King of all creation – yet slain. He is worth everything I have and am.

“I receive your praise, as I receive the praises of countless millions of your brothers and sisters. The time will come when you will really understand how worthy I am. You will understand the true depth of the meaning of that word as it describes Me. How can you put a price or a worth on anything as great and stupendous as I am in my Father and for what I have done? Just allow it to sink in to your mind and cause it to well up in you with a sense of gratitude and love and express it in song yes, but also in obedience in all spheres of your life and your thoughts. It is cosmic but it is also personal – the great transformer of your life.”

As we read John 14:15-24, we are introduced to another aspect of the Trinity. We have met Jesus and discovered that He and the Father have such an intimate connection that Jesus Himself is described as being God. That the supernatural work He has done has been the Father working through Him. Vs 10. This new aspect is in fact a Person. Jesus calls Him the Comforter. The Greek word is actually “Paraclete” which means “one who comes beside you”.

This passage is perhaps the most expansive in describing the person and work of the Holy Spirit that we have. Notice first of all the continued context of the intimacy of relationship. Jesus with the Father and flowing from that us. But now this “Person” of the Spirit who Jesus is introducing to us appears to be the very factor that is going to draw us into the same sort of relationship with Jesus that He has with the Father.

Three times in these few verses Jesus reaffirms that he is speaking of our relationship with Him and the whole Trinity. Vs 15 If you love me you will keep my commands.

Vs 20 b, I am in the Father and the Father is in Me, and I am in you.

Vs 23 b My Father will love him (you), and we will come to him (you) and make our home with him. (You)

Key to this relationship is the other statement which is repeated: Obedience vv 15, 21 23. We need to understand it is not obedience that brings the Holy Spirit to dwell in us. Obedience is the fruit of our relationship with the Trinity. It is a demonstration that we have entered into this relationship. It is Jesus way of saying, “this is for those who have become my children, who are now part of the family”. Notice that the emphasis is not on faith here. The emphasis is on obedience. Does that mean that faith is not important? No – it means we only know that someone really has faith by seeing them live a life of obedience to Jesus commands.

In other words the clearest indication of the reality of our faith is the fruit we produce, here described as obedience. It is with that in mind that God sends the Comforter. He is the one through whom we are going to be enabled to produce fruit. Galatians 5:22 His role is to maintain and bring to fruition the relationship that God desires with us and the reason He sent His Son to die. His role is integral to that of the Father and the Son, as important in completing the relationship triangle. Yet He is the least visible. His work is to throw light on the Father and the Son.

Historically in the evangelical church the role of The Holy Spirit has often been neglected in their teaching. The charismatic renewal of the 70’s and 80’s was almost a reaction to that and focused to a large degree on a rediscovery of the importance of the Spirit’s role. Unfortunately as often happens it brought that role so much to the foreground that it changed it from a sort of silent partner in the Trinity to being on the forefront of the stage. That has subsided to some extent and I think everyone is more aware and sensitive today to the work He is doing.

Ultimately He is then an integral part of this relationship which Jesus is unfolding in these chapters. So as the Easter events are unfolding over the next days remember that it is His Spirit that is making all this real and interpreting it for us. What a wonderful God we serve!

May you all have a blessed Easter as we remember and relive the most important part of our faith which we call “The Way”. God bless till next week.

A wooden cross? The symbol of the most painful death by execution for the worst of criminals. How could that be the symbol of our faith? The symbol of Hope for everyone?

“That is what sets the whole of the Christian Faith apart from any other belief system. The enigma – the King of all creation, the very Creator, condemned as a common criminal of the worst kind. Take it in. Stricken for us! Made to be a guilt offering for you and everyone else who deserves to die for their sin of rejecting God as the only true one to worship, obey and follow. Every morning as you wake up and take your first breath, it should come home to you again in a flood of grateful thanks. That moment which changed the world, changed history, and set you free. Yes I did it for you personally and for every other person who would choose to believe and receive the most precious gift of eternal life with Me in the centre”.

We continue today with the conversation Jesus was having with His disciples about His departure, His destination and how they were to follow Him as the only Way. We read John 14:8-14.b

Jesus continues the conversation about who He is. We have already considered previously the importance of seeing Jesus as no less than God Himself, clothed in human flesh. It was obviously hard for the disciples to take that in and process it, just as it is for us today. We can read it over and over again, but until it grips our hearts it will not make any real difference. Key to seeing this are words like,”Don’t you know Me, Philip?”, “Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?”. “Believe Me when I say I am in the Father and the Father is in Me”.

The trend of this conversation is leading to an astounding statement. A principle which will be fleshed out more in the coming chapters. “You may ask Me anything in My name, and I will do it.” How did He get there from the previous conversation? What does it really mean? What did. It mean to those disciples and what does it mean for you and me today? I suppose this statement and others like it have been debated and written about many, many times over the years and that is not the purpose of this platform.

What i believe we need to see is the progression in Jesus’s thoughts. He is describing the close relationship He has with the Father and then goes on to explain that the miracles He has done have arisen from God within that relationship which he has with the Father. And now what? How does that affect us?

Well, He is following the thought which flows from that revealing and reminding the disciples of the relationship He has with them. This relationship is intended to be equally intimate to His relationship with the Father. So within that relationship they and us not only have the same intimacy but also the full benefit of the power which He has displayed in doing the miracles He has just mentioned. Notice the words, “It is the Father living in me, who is doing the work”. Just so we have the benefit of Him being within us and so we have access through Him, not only to the presence of God but to His full power.

This is actually quite mind-blowing. What is happening now is a start to a slow revelation of the full benefits of being in a relationship with the Father through Jesus. We need to take this carefully, one step at a time to peel back the layers so that we can eventually understand the full meaning of this enormous privilege we have as Christians, as children of a loving Father. I think that most of us do not really fully appreciate what this means and therefore don’t fully embrace the complete benefits of our relationship with Him.

As we approach Easter meditate on these truths and I will see you next week again.

Worthy is the Lamb, the Darling of Heaven crucified, worthy is the Lamb, crown you with many crowns, seated on the throne.

”Close your eyes and let the visual images I use to transmit my message of hope and salvation to you, play out before you. A lamb – the combination of helplessness, of true humility, apparently unable to fend for itself. Yet given the highest honour – the throne of the world, the ultimate ruler and King. That is how my nature is meant to unfold to you. Embrace it in your heart; the picture of a lamb, not just any lamb, a Lamb so precious that He is known as the “Darling of Heaven”, being mistreated and killed by the most brutal means, for a purpose – to take the Father‘s wrath on Himself so that you all may go free – what a Saviour – deserving all your worship – worthy indeed is the Lamb to receive many crowns.”

Now back to John’s gospel. Just a few verses as they are so rich in meaning, ch 14:1-7. Before the members of the early church became known as Christians they called themselves “The Way”. Each one was part of this exciting new movement which was focused on one main purpose. They had discovered the true “Way” and wanted to reflect that to the world. Where did they get that idea? I suppose the whole of Jesus’s teaching would have reflected that, but the actual passage where this title arises is the one we read today.

Jesus has been trying to get His disciples to understand that He was going to leave them soon, meaning His approaching sacrifice on the cross. It must have been most puzzling to them as on the one hand He said He was leaving them and on the other that He was not really going away. Vs 36 must have been really difficult for them. “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later” What on earth was He talking about?

This is where the impetuous Peter puts his foot in it as usual, insisting nothing would stop him from following Jesus! Please don’t be too hard on him. Imagine their confusion. He was the Messiah, coming to rescue Israel and now He is “going away”without apparently having accomplished anything.

So in Ch 14 Jesus tries to introduce them again to the difference between this world and the Spirit world which no-one can see. In reality, what Jesus says here is mind-boggling. This is not your ultimate abode. This world is only temporary, the place He was going to is permanent, and guess what, Jesus has gone ahead to sort things out for them and for all of us, so that we will not only get there but be most welcomed, with our own place specially prepared for us.

It is not coincidental that this passage is recited at many funerals. It is one of the most encouraging passages in the bible. Unfortunately we have all heard it recited off pat so often that we are often no longer struck by this tremendous message. Stop and let that thought sink in to your inner heart.

But now we come to the key to this passage. Can you see what it is? Thomas leads us to it. “We don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the Way? Then comes the favourite passage of every true believer: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through Me”.

Christians are often accused of being exclusive. This passage is exclusive! There is no other way, if you are to believe the bible. It has become fashionable to suggest that there are many ways to heaven depending on what faith you follow, but this verse gives that the lie. Our way is exclusive and our life style should show how different we are. However we should not use this exclusivity to turn inward and show our backs to the world. Our faith is ultimately invitational and we should at all times have our arms wide open to welcome the world like Jesus’s were on the cross, but not at the expense of our belief!

The early Christians understood this clearly. Perhaps that is one reason the early church grew at such a phenomenal rate. They had the message and lived the lifestyle. Loving Jesus first and their neighbours like themselves. Is that how you picture your lifestyle to be? If someone had to describe you would they put that first?

Friends, as we approach Easter, we are going to hear several deep truths, maybe repeated in various ways. Do not let that interfere with the awe you should be feeling to be part of this, most exciting, exclusive Way. Be ready to share it with whosoever the Lord brings across your path. God bless till next week.