Today’s sermon at our church in the morning was very challenging! We finished the book of John. We looked at John 21:15-24

¹⁵ When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?’ ‘Yes, Lord,’ he said, ‘you know that I love you.’ Jesus said, ‘Feed my lambs.’ ¹⁶ Again Jesus said, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ He answered, ‘Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.’ Jesus said, ‘Take care of my sheep.’ ¹⁷ The third time he said to him, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’ He said, ‘Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said, ‘Feed my sheep. ¹⁸ Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.’ ¹⁹ Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, ‘Follow me!’ ²⁰ Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, ‘Lord, who is going to betray you?’) ²¹ When Peter saw him, he asked, ‘Lord, what about him?’ ²² Jesus answered, ‘If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.’ ²³ Because of this, the rumour spread among the believers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; he only said, ‘If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?’ ²⁴ This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.

Jesus and Peter were having a conversation. That same Peter that had denied Jesus just before He was crucified. Jesus was asking him if he loved Him. Not once but 3 times Jesus asked the question: Peter, do you love me? (verses 15, 16, 17) Each time Peter answered Jesus was working on restoring him completely. He was forgiven, accepted and chosen to carry out an amazing but very hard job: to look after Jesus’s sheep (verses 15, 16,17). Peter like most of us, failed greatly in his walk of faith and trust in Jesus, yet, Jesus in his mercy and grace offered him a part in building his church here on Earth and leading His people.

Jesus being God and knowing all things also presented Peter with the reality of the task ahead! Peter was to follow Jesus – in everything. In life and in death. It would not be easy. Christian life is not easy. We may not live in a country where we are killed because we confess to be Jesus’s followers, but standing firm and trusting in Him is not always seen as a good thing. Jesus was clear to Peter though, the commitment to Him had to be complete.

Wow! It really made me think. We are to follow Jesus period. We are to follow Him no matter how hard it will be! No matter how many people will laugh at us, oppose us, hate us, we are still to follow Him. Not only that, we are not supposed to compare our lives as Christians to anybody else’s. We need to keep our eyes on Jesus. It does not matter how I have lived, how many times I have chosen to do things my way, how I have pushed Jesus away from the throne of my heart, if I LOVE Him truly and return to Him, He will restore me and use my life for His glory. How amazing is this? What love is this?

A few weeks ago we had a guest speaker at our church. The sermon was on a very well known passage from the Bible. We know it by “The prodigal son” in Luke 15:11-32

The story of a father and two sons. The father represents Jesus in this story and what He offers us. His amazing invitation to come home to Him. The younger son represents all the people who want no ties and choose freedom. They choose a life of experiences but put no real value in the relationship with the father. The older son represents those who live by the book. The respectable ones, those who work hard and achieve something.

If we are honest with ourselves, we can identify with both brothers. When was the last time you said to God: “Yes God, I would like your blessings and your gifts, but as far as having you as my King… ” ? That is what the young son did wasn’t it? He wanted the father’s money but not the father.

The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. ¹³ “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.” Luke 15: 12-1

When we come to think about the older son, when was the last time we said: But God, I am doing everything by the book: I am not drinking, steeling, lying, I pay my bills, I have a good life and I am an example to everyone, I even go to church every Sunday … why this or that is not happening? It is just not fair!” See the older son kind of had a tantrum when he found out his father was celebrating his son’s return.

^“29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. ³⁰ But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’” Luke 15:29-30

The father went out to both sons. To the first he run while the son was still a long way out and opened his arms to him to receive him back not as a slave but as a son. Jesus does not want slaves.

“²² “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. ²³ Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. ²⁴ For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.” Luke 15:22-24

God does not just tolerate us, HE loves us! He wants us in the feast. Then the father went out to the older son to beg him to come into the feast. There again He was extending the invitation to the second son, who, despite being there with the father, did not have a relationship with him… a father son relationship. He saw himself as a slave and the father as a slave driver.

Jesus is offering to both kind of people the same thing: a place in the feast – eternal life with Him. The young son had a bad past – he had done something terrible. He was as bad as bad can be. But no one can be too bad for Jesus. HE died on the cross for all the badness in the world. So it is not badness that keep people out of heaven.  The older son, was respectable, hard working, by the book kind of son. But he was too good to accept charity… he was doing all the things right. Goodness can keep people out of heaven because they fail to recognize the mercy and grace that was extended to them as well. The older son refused to take part in the feast of mercy and celebration of a life that had been found.

May God help us all to accept the invitation to be part of the feast!

This post was based on the sermon preached by Glen Scrivener. The original sermon can be found here http://www.angmering.org.uk/sermons/?preacher=Glen+Scrivener

Forgiving someone is a very difficult thing. Perhaps this is because we feel hurt or upset when someone offends us, and sometimes we just find it would be so unfair to forgive what people did to hurt us. Our pride and dignity is hurt. We are focussing too much on us, and we ignore our own guilt before God.

You see, God is holy and his honour and dignity are perfect and eternal! When we recognize that, it becomes easier to see that we have received something we do not deserve.

Have you ever stopped to think about your sin, your offenses against God? Can you count them? Perhaps if you did that and then multiplied it by God’s holiness and dignity you would find the result is the size of your debt to HIM. Your guilt.

The Bible tells us that the penalty for our sins is death:

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23

Striking isn’t it? To think that we deserve death but we received forgiveness. This is what God did with our sins:

“You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. ¹⁴ He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.” Colossians 2:13-14

Our record is now clean. While we are letting revenge and bitterness cloud our minds and hearts God sent His Son to die on the cross for us.

“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

Amazing isn’t it? So, when we focus on that it becomes easier to forgive those that offend us.

“Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.” Colossians 3:13

May God give us the strength to practice forgiveness in our lives.

God bless.

Thanks to Ricardo Libaneo who shared a fantastic post on this subject and has encouraged me immensly. Ricardo is my brother-in-law and is a pastor of a Baptist church in Brazil.

I am not much of a gardener! In fact, I normally kill all the plants I touch, not by choice, of course! I love gardens though! One of the things that always amazes  me about the British people is how much pride they take in having a nice tidy garden!

Even with my small knowledge of the gardening world, I know that certain plants like shade, others like direct sun light. Some are outside plants and some are indoors. I also know that in order for a plant to thrive in the garden and get well established it needs pruning. I have always been fascinated by the pruning process! The gardener there, looking after the beloved plant, cutting away the over growth, the dead bits, the tired ones. Sometimes I watch thinking to myself: “will that ever grow again and be beautiful and colourful?” I often forget the dedicated gardener loves his plants and he knows when the pruning needs to happen and which plants in the garden need it. The gardener knows the plant well. He speaks to it and shows how much he cares and how much he wants to see the plant flourishing and blooming in the right season. The plant cannot do anything, but wait until the time is right and the work has finished.

God is the greater Gardener! He knows all his plants well and in the right time He will start pruning his garden. He will be cutting away, taking the dead, dry bits away, removing what is not good. This process is hard but necessary. All of us, as Christians, will be pruned by the Master in order to grow and flourish. Sometimes it might seem as if we will not be able to get through it, but the supreme Gardener, the Creator, the King of our lives has the whole design in mind and HE knows each plant well. He knows how much light or shade we need, how much water or feed to give us and He knows how beautiful we will be and how much fruit we will produce after the pruning is done and the right season comes.

Perhaps there are times in our lives that we think it is hard and we might not be able to get to the other side of a problem, a disappointment, a health issue, a broken heart, a broken relationship, a different answer to our heart’s desire. Perhaps through these times we find it really hard to understand why.

God is most likely pruning us. Training us to grow in a way He has already designed for us. He is preparing us for, in the right time, produce the fruit or flowers that will embellish the garden and bring an amazing fragrance to the air.

May I suggest that we should respond to God in the same way the plant respond to the gardener: with complete trust that the Gardener knows what he is doing. Although we might feel hurt, cold, ugly, alone, He loves us and is taking care of us. If we carry on trusting and reminding ourselves that God has a perfect plan, it might not be the same plan we think it is perfect for us, but we can confidently say that HIS plan is far better and truly perfect.

“Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.” Psalm 62:8

“Lord Almighty, blessed is the one who trusts in you.” Psalm 84:12

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; ⁶ in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6

“I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry.” Psalm 40:1

I am not sure I should be spring cleaning my house yet. It doesn’t feel like spring yet! I guess, officially, it is not, until next week anyway! But I decided to start! What a daunting task ahead! I have lots of cupboards, wardrobes, toy boxes to clean and organize, lots of furniture to move around in order to get to those little corners and get it cleaned! I am having to do 2 rooms a day so I can carry on with the rest of the family routine.

So far I have 3 big bags of recycling paper, empty bottles, pots, and one big toy bag to take to the tip and I only did one room and two bathrooms today! If you are like me, I find it really hard to throw things away. I hold on to everything and have been advised many times that when it comes to spring cleaning I need to be ruthless. This is a new thing for me! I have decided to have a little break before I attack my son’s wardrobe!

As I was finding all this unwanted junk and cleaning, scrubbing and vacuuming, I thought about my life and heart! I guess it is time to spring clean my heart as well. Not that I have any power to make it better, because only Jesus and through Him my heart can be clean and new, but I guess, there are things I store there that shouldn’t be in there.

We quite often are very meticulous about our house and cleanliness. Whenever a friend comes around we are frantically cleaning, making sure it is presentable and that people would not think bad of us. Well, at least we do that downstairs!

Why is it that we don’t do that with our hearts? There are lots of clutter in our hearts, unwanted things that are taking too much space. These things could be thoughts we have been having, or the desire to have more material things, or the way we use our tongues to say things we shouldn’t say. It could also be the way we use our eyes, what we watch on TV, or the way we treat other people. How about the lack of patience with our children, or our selfishness screaming louder for “ME” time or recognition for all that we do. To be completely honest it could be all of the above or any combination. We often keep these things stored in our hearts in a little corner, in the dark, collecting dust, being a good ground for all the spiders to crawl in and it is looking ugly.

Surely that is not the way we want to present our lives to the King of kings. It is time to stop and look inwards. Look in all the little corners, cupboards unopened doors of our hearts and let the light in and get the cleaning started and finished so the house is ready for the King.

It is all very well, you might say. But how? How do we do that? We must ask Jesus to help us. It is such a daunting task to get rid of all the things that take space in our hearts and lives that should not be there. Jesus will help us through it. First thing we need to do is recognize that we need to clean our hearts and want to, then, we need to tell Jesus we are sorry for the mess we have made and we would like to present to Him a heart that is in better shape. We can only do that by giving it all to Him, in a big black sack so it can be disposed of.

I remembered a passage that I heard many times and even memorized when I was growing up and it gives us some important things we should keep in our hearts and they will help make it a more presentable home for our Lord and King,

“Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! ⁵ Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon.⁶ Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. ⁷ Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. ⁸ And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” Philippians 4:4-8

Happy cleaning everyone!

I was reading Psalm 36 and had to share it with you! What a wonderful description of God’s character! What a contrast with the wicked!

“Sin whispers to the wicked, deep within their hearts. They have no fear of God at all. ² In their blind conceit, they cannot see how wicked they really are.³ Everything they say is crooked and deceitful. They refuse to act wisely or do good. ⁴ They lie awake at night, hatching sinful plots. Their actions are never good. They make no attempt to turn from evil.⁵ Your unfailing love, O Lord, is as vast as the heavens; your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds.⁶ Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the ocean depths. You care for people and animals alike, O Lord. ⁷    How precious is your unfailing love, O God! All humanity finds shelter in the shadow of your wings.⁸ You feed them from the abundance of your own house, letting them drink from your river of delights. ⁹ For you are the fountain of life, the light by which we see.¹⁰ Pour out your unfailing love on those who love you; give justice to those with honest hearts. ¹¹ Don’t let the proud trample me or the wicked push me around. ¹² Look! Those who do evil have fallen! They are thrown down, never to rise again.”

These are the notes I wrote on my Bible the last time I read this Psalm and I am grateful to God I went back to it today.

Verses 1-4 – the wicked sin because they have no fear of God at all. They refuse Him as king and because of that they can’t see their corrupt and evil hearts. These verses remind us that people who don’t know God will act in ways that will be against His desires.

Verses 5-9 – this is a beautiful description of God’s character and His love. Oh the magnitude of His righteousness and justice! What a contrast! God is always ready to show His love to those that love and fear Him.

Verses 10-11 – a prayer for protection from those wicked in heart.

Verse 12 – the certainty of the wicked man’s fate: they will be defeated. They will never rise again.

It was so nice to read these notes and be reminded that God’s love is greater than the wicked! His righteousness and justice are perfect! He will never fail!  In fact, verse 12 tells is that the wicked will be destroyed.

God bless!

“Do not talk Jesus Christ and set your heart on the world.” Ignatius of Antioch

I read this quote on my sister-in-law status update on Facebook today. I felt very challenged by it. How wonderful would it be that I could live a life that reflects all the things I know and say about Jesus. How wonderful would it be if I be more preoccupied in pleasing Him than other people. How amazing would it feel to let go of my control freak self and give everything to Him every single day of my life! How fantastic would it be if every time I thought of a verse from the Bible challenging me I would bow my knees and confess to God I am sorry I have tried to do things my way.

I love Jesus and I am so grateful that He loved me first and gave His life for me so I could be part of His family. What a price He paid for me!

I want to talk Jesus Christ and always set my heart on Him.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” Mark 12:30

Tuesdays is a really busy day for us. Apart from the normal school run in the mornings, housework, shopping there is also mum’s Bible study in the morning, some baking for youth group in the afternoon and the group meeting at our house. Playing with the kids and cooking meals are also included in the routine. It is busy, but it is also one of my favorite days of the week. I get to spend time with some amazing women being encouraged to walk closer to God and to live for Him.

This morning was no different. The study was based on 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12:

You know, brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not without results. ² We had previously suffered and been treated outrageously in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in the face of strong opposition. ³ For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. ⁴ On the contrary, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts. ⁵ You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed – God is our witness. ⁶ We were not looking for praise from people, not from you or anyone else, even though as apostles of Christ we could have asserted our authority. ⁷ Instead, we were like young children among you. Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, ⁸ so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well. ⁹ Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you. ¹⁰ You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. ¹¹ For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, ¹² encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.

We started off making a list of things we do during our waking hours.  We then moved on to talk about Paul’s, Silas’ and Timothy’s attitude towards the Thessalonians and we realized that they cared deeply for them. They weren’t putting on a mask to attract them and trick them (v3, 5) nor were they trying to please people (v4). They loved them as a mother loves their children and dealt with them like a father deals with their children (v7, 11).

The main point of the study was talking about v8 “Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well”. We discussed the fact that they go hand in hand and if we shared the Gospel and did not share our lives, it would not be genuine or attractive to other people. If we shared our lives but did not share the Gospel then our lives would have no purpose and we would not be obeying God’s commands. So sharing the Gospel and sharing our lives are linked and are essential.

Reading v7 to 12 we had to answer what kind of meeting and/or event, Paul and his friends strategically used to attract people and share the Gospel with them. They didn’t use any meetings really. we get so worried about organizing church meetings and events to attract people and here we see the great apostle Paul living his life normally. That is not to say that church meetings and events are not important, they are and have a purpose and place. The verses list things that were normal day-to-day. It was most encouraging to see that we do not have to add 20 more hours to our days to organise big gatherings so we can share our lives with people who need to know about Jesus. It is all about using my whole day, all the normal activities we do to share both Gospel and lives with others.

The apostle Paul and his fellow Christian workers were living their lives normally,  but the difference was that the Gospel was in the centre of everything they did.

What a challenge that is! To keep all the things listed on our piece of paper happening but have the Gospel as our focus!

May our Lord help us share the Gospel and our lives with others for His honour and glory!

How big is our God? Have you ever asked yourself that question? Has anybody ever asked you? I read on Facebook this week a little post that was something like this:

A little boy asked his daddy: ‘daddy how big is God?’. His daddy pointed to an aeroplane flying in the sky and asked the boy: ‘how big is that plane?’. The boy replied: ‘very small’. Then the daddy took the little boy to the airport and as they walked to a big glass window, he said to the boy: ‘how big is the plane now?’. The boy smiled and said: ‘very big daddy’. See, with God it is the same: the closer you are to Him the bigger He is!

I love it! So simple and yet so profound!

There are times in our lives when we wonder how big God is. These are the times when we are not very close to Him. So, we find it difficult to see Him and trust in Him. It is almost like the plane flying high up in the sky: it is there but so small and so far. God is there, but because we are not in perfect communion with Him we see Him far away and small. Are we worrying too much about things that are not important? Are we going through a difficult situation and lost sight of His love? Are we filling up our time with to do things and not leaving any time to feed our souls and get to know our Maker? Are we falling in love with the world and moving away from Him?

Perhaps we should remind ourselves of some of the amazing things that God has done throughout history: He created the world, He sent a big flood to judge the whole world that was rebelling against him, but saved Noah and his family. He rescued his people from Egypt and parted the sea so they could escape pharaoh’s army. He guided his people through the desert day and night and provided food for them. He sent a big fish to swallow Jonah. These are only some of the things that God did. You might think: that is fine, but those things happened a long time ago in a very far away land.

Look closer: He also loved us so much that He gave his own son to die for us on the cross. He adopted us into his family! He offered us eternal live and a relationship with Him through His Son. WOW! How enormous is that love? How big is that? The more we get to know God the more we will see his love for us.

May He help us to do just that: get ever so close to Him so we can see Him as He is: Our Father, our Saviour, the King – our King. Our rescuer and our friend.