Service Recordings

Luke explores Luke 15 and looks at how Jesus searches for us, he values us and he waits for us and desires to call us home.

We’ve seen this week wonderful effect of good people fighting on behalf of the powerless. Bahraini Footballer and refugee Hakeem Al Arabi was released from prison in Thailand after advocacy from people around the world. It is further evidence to many that we can achieve our dream of a better world if we all just work together for justice and accept everyone.

But as history shows us, wars continue, injustice still pervades and the world is a place of winners and losers. Deep in our hearts we know the world we long for will remain a dream as it has done for the millennia of human existence. There is good news for the world though. And His name is Jesus.

Compromise is often a good thing. It helps us find a way to maintain relationship when people think differently. But not all compromise is good. For example its not right for us to compromise our obedience to God. The scriptures regularly challenge churches who seek to find a middle ground between obedience to God’s Word and the dominant view of their culture. The bible is also filled with examples of how costly this way is. What might help us to not compromise our faith without turning into miserable legalists? The New Testament’s answer is the resurrection of Jesus. There is uncompromising Hope for all of us if we don't give up.

What is a Christian? Have you asked yourself that question lately? A Christian is not a person who believes in a set of doctrines or prays to God or has a particular way of seeing the world. A Christian is someone who has been drawn into a relationship with their Father in heaven through Jesus Christ and his work on our behalf in the power of the Holy Spirit and knows and lives in that place. God desires the whole world to be Christian. To be Christian first, before we are good or Godly or do Christian things like share the gospel. If we are truly Christian then these things will follow. Jesus is the one who shares and leads us into the place of intimacy and power because only He knows what it is like. We need to set our eyes on him. That's what I think God wants for all of us in 2019. To be a people focused on Jesus.

After his baptism and temptation Jesus is filled with the Spirit of God for God’s task. This task was prophesied by Isaiah centuries before and Jesus knows that it is fulfilled in him. That task is to proclaim good new to the poor, freedom to captives, sight to the blind, freedom to the oppressed and the present time of God’s favour and grace to the world. He proclaims it. It’s an announcement, not an instruction. It’s no longer even a promise. That’s why it is good news. It’s not fake news or an empty promise. It’s a promise fulfilled and a promise that continues to change the world.

We’ve more than likely all had times in our lives when we’ve felt like God is at a distance, and a quick read through the scriptures reveals that many of our heroes of the faith felt the same. In Psalm 13 we read David’s words of lament, when he felt as though God was distant, and we also see his reassurance that God is faithful despite our feelings. I hope today that you will walk away feeling encouraged by the abundant grace of God, which demonstrates God’s faithfulness to us, whether we feel it or not!

The life and ministry of Jesus was, and still is, governed by four things that happened one after the other: his baptism, his anointing in the Holy Spirit, his temptation in the desert, and his ministry in the power and authority of Holy Spirit. These four things have the same place and significance in the life of a Christian. We are baptised into Jesus Christ, anointed with the Holy Spirit, tested by evil forces, and then share in Jesus’ ministry today. There is no neutral place, but we can be victorious by his grace.

Psalm 16 concludes with the words “You make known to me the paths of Life; in your presence is fullness of Joy; at your right hand are pleasures for ever more”. The beginning of a the year is always a good time re-evaluate what is important to us. There is no greater peace, no greater guidance, no greater encouragement than the presence of Jesus. How easy it is for us to live in Jesus presence without stopping to shelter in it. Our lives might be challenging and chaotic but the presence of Jesus will always be the anchor that keeps us safe in the storm.

The end of 2018 is nearly upon us and a new year beckons with all its opportunities, its challenges and promises. People in Christ will always have a hopeful trajectory when we are a people focused on Jesus. As we know, this is not a promise of an easy life but it is a promise of a blessed life. Jesus himself leads the way. And it is not always what we expect.