Jesus is the Word of God
Leon preached a corker tonight at Emmanuel, Plymouth.
From Psalm 84 he answered the question, Why isn't church more exciting?
We're the only source of life for this dying world.
We're the only place where people can meet with God.
We're the only place where the broken and hurt can find healing and refuge.
We're the only place on earth where God lives.
David Meredith The Trinity Applauded
Mike Reeves How the Trinity Shapes the Gospel
Mike Reeves How the Trinity Shapes Evangelism
Discussion: Mike Reeves, David Meredith with Melvin Tinker
David Meredith The Trinity Applied: Church life
The discussion time is particularly worth hearing.
Here's a point I didn't have time for in the sermon...
In Egypt, Abram is far from the altar of the LORD and so he's far from calling on the Name of the LORD. It's the altar of the LORD that makes sense of the Name of the LORD.
Think of where Abram's altar is. It's on a mountain ridge between Bethel and Ai. "Bethel" means “house of God” and "Ai" means “ruin”. To the west lies the presence of the Lord. To the east lies a ruin. And this hilltop place of sacrifice stands between them. Where God’s house meets our ruin – there is bloody sacrifice.
At the altar God meets our ruin and provides the blood that saves. Here sinners can call on the true Name of God. Through the blood of the sacrifice we find that the LORD truly is "the compassionate and gracious God..." (Exodus 34:6ff). But who can call on the gospel character of Christ when they are far from His altar??
Abram shows what happens when we stray from the cross. Having sinned, he gives us a picture of a spiritual sulk. In Genesis 13:3, he moves through the “Negev” - the "wilderness" - going from place to place. Moping in the dryness, moping around the fringes of the promised land.
Isn't this what we all do when we fail? I do. I put myself in a self-imposed “time-out” with God. I try not to bother Him for a while and hope He forgets what I’ve done. But no, time doesn’t atone for our sins. Tears don’t atone for our sins. The LORD Himself provides our atonement.
So then, let's flee to the cross, let's know the blood of the LORD Jesus. Let's not mope around on the fringes of His promise, let's not try to clean ourselves up. Let's come to Christ for the bath. Then we will call on His gospel character - the Name that makes sense at the altar.
I had a great time this weekend with Emmanuel Church, Plymouth. It was a time of refocussing our vision through the lens of Jesus. In Him we see God, the world and ourselves rightly.
If you've heard me before on any of these passages, move along, nothing new here. But if not, here are the mp3s and Powerpoint ...
Beginning with Jesus - Colossians 1:15-23
God's Threeness - Galatians 3:26-4:7
The World's Twoness - Romans 5:12-21
Our Oneness - John 15; Ephesians 5; Hebrews 4
Communion - 1 Corinthians 10:14-17; 11:23-26
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We spend our lives worrying about what we’ll eat and Jesus takes bread saying “I’m the bread of life, broken to feed worriers like you.”
We spend our lives worrying about what we’ll drink and Jesus takes a cup saying “This is my blood poured out for anxious souls like you.”
We spend our lives worrying about what we’ll wear and on the cross Jesus is stripped, so that we can be clothed in His righteousness.
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Audio (I had to re-record the last 3 minutes after the service).
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You might have heard me (or others!!) bang this drum before. But if not, here's a 25 minute evangelistic talk entitled "Which God don't you believe in?"
Colossians 1:15-23
Three thought prompter questions...
What do you picture when you think of God?
What do you picture when you think of Jesus?
What does God picture when He thinks of you?
When you think of God…?
Problem - v15: He's invisible. Which means unknowable!
There's been a divorce- v21.
But there's an Image: Jesus.
This is the reverse of natural thinking
We think God is obvious, we're unsure of Jesus.
Bibles says, Jesus is on show, God is unknown.
God is Jesus shaped.
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When you picture Jesus...?
V15-20 What kind of God is this!?
Climaxing in the cross.
Jesus is God sized.
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When God pictures you…?
Not dimmer switch. On or off.
V21: OFF - going against the grain of reality
V22: ON - holy, without blemish, free from accusation.
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Have you been reconciled?
Have you forgotten Jesus?
Every day I imagine an unChristlike God on the throne.
Let's return to the God of Jesus.
It's twelve years since I first heard this. Think it's still my favourite sermon:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZQcbjTRsA0]
This is Jesus: The Son of Mary. Our Brother in every way. A pure gift of the Father. God the Son entering our Family that we might enter His. A true Joshua bringing us rest. A true David crushing our Enemy and setting the world to rights.
And He’s for you.
In the light of the news from America you may be asking, What can Christmas possibly say to Newtown, Connecticut? Isn’t Christmas now inappropriate? How can we dare to teach these children about the joys of Christmas when children just like them were gunned down in a school on Friday? After all that’s happened, how can talk of Christmas go on? After these events Christmas has been cancelled for scores of families. How can we speak of Christmas??
I suggest to you that the real question is: How can we not?? How can we NOT speak of Christmas when the evil and suffering of this world is unmasked in such a horrific way? How can we NOT speak of Christmas? Christmas is FOR Newtown, Connecticut. Christmas is precisely FOR this evil and suffering world.
If we feel that Christmas doesn’t fit with the horrors of Friday’s shooting, I suggest we’re thinking about the wrong Christmas. I hope you know that Christmas is NOT about elves and tinsel and warm cocoa and X-Factor number ones. It is NOT about wandering blank-eyed through shopping malls and maxxing out the credit cards. It’s not even about sweet Carols and even sweeter Nativity plays. There is NOTHING sweet about the real Christmas. There is NOTHING sentimental about the true Christmas story.
Matthew chapter 2, verse 16:
16 When Herod realised that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under… 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: 18 "A voice is heard in [the region of] Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more." {Jer. 31:15}
That’s the real Christmas. Christmas happens in the dark...
Audio download
