Last week we looked at the name and some of the titles of God that Father in the Old Testament. To recap, we discovered that God has a name that He declares Himself as. And this name is represented by four Hebrew consonants that we don’t know how to pronounce in English, and these letters are known as the tetragrammaton. English translators traditionally used the word Jehovah, or more accurately Yahweh to represent this name in English. And the meaning of this name is “I AM” God’s name is not a noun but a verb, a verb that encapsulates His Authority, His supreme being.

Exodus 3:13-14 (NLT) But Moses protested, “If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ they will ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what should I tell them?” God replied to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. Say this to the people of Israel: I AM has sent me to you.”
This is such a powerful name. It demonstrates how God is the centre of everything. He is the cause of everything, which is why one title that is ascribed to Him is Alpha and omega, beginning and the end. He is everything, and everything is in Him.

And we also looked at as well as being named as I AM, God has many titles that go along with that that reveal parts of His nature and who he is.

He is Yahweh Rapha, the God who heals
Yahweh Yire, the God who provides
Yahweh Nissi, our banner
Yahweh Shalom, our peace
Yahweh Tsikenu, our righteousness
And many more that we are not going to cover today.

This week we are going to move to the New Testament and look at how this ties in with Jesus. I always mention that the Old and New Testaments match up so perfectly despite having been written hundreds of years apart and in different languages from different cultures.The names of God the Father and God the Son are another example of that same continual working taking place throughout the Bible.

We’re going to start by reading from John 8.  Here, Jesus is arguing with the Pharisees. The Pharisees were convinced of their righteousness because they were descended from Abraham. But Jesus tells them that that is not enough. Although they did indeed have Abraham as their ancestor, they were actually rebellious against their Heavenly Father, who Jesus came from. Jesus explained to them that as long as they rejected Him, they were rejecting their Heavenly Father

John 8:56-59 (NLT) Your father Abraham rejoiced as he looked forward to my coming. He saw it and was glad.” The people said, “You aren’t even fifty years old. How can you say you have seen Abraham?” Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I AM!” At that point they picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus was hidden from them and left the Temple.

It’s hard to get a grasp on just how powerful a statement Jesus is making here. The Pharisees are complaining that Jesus is not yet 50 years old so how could He have possibly known Abraham. But Jesus replies to them, explicitly stating his deity, staying that He existed even before Abraham. In the very beginning of the book of John it states that Jesus was there in the beginning of creation, and here He backs up that statement. But then He goes even further, and declares Himself as “I AM.” He uses the very name that God used in the Old Testament, the one that the Jewish people were forbidden to speak or even write down, the one they usually substituted it the the word “lord.” No wonder the Pharisees picked up stones and threw them at Him. They knew exactly what He was saying by declaring Himself I AM.

This incident is not the only example of Jesus declaring that He is I AM. Our next passage takes place in the garden of Gethsemane when the Romans, led by Judas had come to arrest Jesus:

John 18:4-8 (NLT) Jesus fully realised all that was going to happen to him, so he stepped forward to meet them. “Who are you looking for?” he asked.
“Jesus the Nazarene,” they replied. “I AM he,” Jesus said. (Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.)  As Jesus said “I AM he,” they all drew back and fell to the ground! Once more he asked them, “Who are you looking for?” And again they replied, “Jesus the Nazarene.” “I told you that I AM he,” Jesus said.

Again, Jesus identifies Himself as I AM. There was such power in this that the Roman soldiers fell to the ground as He proclaimed it. He wasn’t just casually announcing His name, He was declaring who He was with such authority, such power that it knocked people over. Can you imagine the authority He must have spoken with to knock people over. Jesus is I Am just as His Father is. As He declared:

John 10:30 (NLT) The Father and I are one.”

When we looked at God’s titles last week, He didn’t always use I AM or yahweh or Jehovah on its own, he often used it to declare more about his character, I am the one who heals, I am the one who provides etc. And Jesus did exactly the same. As well as these two examples where He just used I AM, there are seven times he went further in explaining His purpose through titles. We call these the seven I Am statements of Jesus.

1. The first of these is found in John 6:35. As we have been looking at in the Bible study, throughout John’s gospel Jesus did lots of miracles. But these miracles weren’t an end in themselves, Jesus used them to demonstrate who He is and His character. And in John 6 Jesus fed 5,000 people with just five loaves of bread. After performing this great miracles, He then turns to His followers and says:John 6:35 (NLT) Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

Yes, He performed this miracle and provided for the physical needs of His followers, but that in itself was not the point. Jesus stated that He was far more than a provider of physical needs, that in fact is He that is essential for life. Jesus is trying to get the Jews’ thinking off of the physical realm and into the spiritual realm. The physical bread that He provided will go mouldy and perish. But Jesus is the spiritual bread that brings eternal life. It is interesting to note that Jesus had his biggest following while he was feeding the people. People love free gifts, and to see miracles. But when Jesus turned this message around to make it about Him and eternal life, the Bible says that many at that point many left Him.


2. The Second “I Am” statement comes from John 8:12 (NLT) "Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”

By declaring Himself the light of world, Jesus is saying that He is the source of truth. The darkness that Jesus refers to in the passage is a spiritual darkness.  When can’t see the truth of God we walk in darkness, unaware of the correct purpose for our lives, we stumble blindly, being led by our own desires or our own reasoning. But Jesus is an illuminating truth. His words and His Spirit lead us into what is good and what is right. The light of His truth illuminates the correctly for us, and provides a light for us to follow.

3. Jesus third I am statement is found in John 10:7-9 (NLT) “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them. Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved."

Jesus often used the analogy of people being sheep is because sheep are a helpless creature. They easily become lost, they are not aware of their surroundings and are very susceptible to predators. Sheep need a pen where they are protected and looked after. By calling Himself the gate for the sheep, Jesus is saying that He is the way into the sheep pen. He is the way into the protection of our Heavenly Father. By contrast he calls others who have tried to lead the sheep thieves and robbers, They are people who have tried to rob the sheep and lead them away from God. But He is THE way into true sanctuary, the only way into the sanctuary of God.

4. Jesus’ fourth I am statement continues the same theme: John 10:11-13 (NLT) “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep. A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming. He will abandon the sheep because they don’t belong to him and he isn’t their shepherd. And so the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock. The hired hand runs away because he’s working only for the money and doesn’t really care about the sheep."

Again, He uses this same analogy comparing us to sheep, people who are helpless and in need of care and direction. Jesus declares Himself the good shepherd, a shepherd who loves and cares for His sheep do much that He will lay His life down for their sake. He also talks about hired hands, those who are paid to look after the sheep. I was having a debate with someone on an online forum for pastors. And he was talking about a pastoral job that he had been offered, but he wanted to make it very clear to the board who were hiring him that he only worked certain hours, and out of those hours he would not be available for ministry.
I debated with him on the forum, pointing out this verse and that a true shepherd, Jesus obviously being THE shepherd, but also pastors who continue His role should lay their lives down to look after and to take care of the sheep. If the wolf attacks after 5pm, then that is when we are needed for the sake of the sheep.
Do you know everyone else on the forum, all of whom were pastors disagreed with me. They all saw being a pastor as being hired hand, but I believe it is much more than that, it is a calling to lay your life down for the sheep, and that takes it far more from being a job, but a lifestyle of care and protection.

5. The fifth I am statement: John 11:25-26 (NLT) Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. This is another I am statement that came with a demonstration.  Jesus said these words to Martha as her brother Lazarus was lying dead in his grave. When He first met Martha after Lazarus’ death four day earlier, she was upset that He had not been there earlier to heal Lazarus. But Jesus knew that He hadn’t needed to be earlier, because even death submits to Him. He doesn’t just give life, He is life. This is why John wrote:

1 John 5:12 (NLT) Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life.


6. John 14:6 (NLT) Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.

This next statement is similar to His other I am statements. We have just seen how Jesus is the life. We also saw how His light is truth. When he proclaimed Himself the gate, He made it clear that He is the way. Jesus is the source of all these things.  He is the only way to God the father. There are no other prophets, messiahs or schemes that bring us close to Him. There is no truth outside of Him, there is no light outside of His truth. He is the only source of life. That is why He was involved in creation at the very beginning.


7. John 15:1-2 (NLT) “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.

This is Jesus’ final I am statement. He says it to His followers shortly before he is to be led to His death, in fact it is a part of one of His last messages to the disciples. His point was this, that even though He was going to die, we can still remain in Him. And not only can we remain in Him, we must remain in Him. Outside of Him we can do nothing. Only by remaining in Him can we produce fruit. We cannot produce fruit by our own works, our own strength or ideas. And if we do not remain in Him, we will not produce any fruit and will be cut off, while those that do remain in Him will be pruned in order to produce more. Jesus makes it even more clear when He said, 

John 15:5 (NLT) For apart from me you can do nothing.

Conclusion

We did not look all the title son God the Father last week, but we can see how closely Jesus’ I am statements correspond to the Father’s statements. The most important being that they are both I am. But they are also both the source of all life, all goodness, all strength, all mercy and peace.

Revelation 19:7-8 (ESV) Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”—for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

The Bible is full of analogies that are used to help to explain God’s purpose for us and the nature of our relationship with Him. We read that when Jesus talked to the people, He often spoke in parables. He took relatable situations and used them to explain the Kingdom of God, to show us our purpose and the nature of our relationship with Him. In this verse in Revelation we see another analogy, where the relationship between Jesus and His church is likened to the relationship between a bridegroom and His bride.

When a man and woman become engaged, they become promised to one another.
They are not yet married, they don’t yet live in unity, but they are committed to each other. An engaged woman will wear a ring as a symbol of the fact that she is promised to someone. In the same way, when we first gave our lives to Jesus we became promised to Him. We become set aside for Him and for His purposes, He becomes our focus, our passion and our desire, He becomes our passion now, but at the same time He is also our promise for the future.

When we first turn our lives to Jesus we enter into a covenant with Him, We are bound together with Him through His promise, just as a betrothed couple are. As we accept Him as our God, He accepts us as His child and heir, and He changes our status. We were once merely people of the world, and in the world we hold whatever status we have, be that as a person of importance, or we may have no importance at all. When we accept Jesus as our saviour, He changes our position, He changes our status and makes us citizens of His Kingdom. We become a new creation who doesn’t have to live in the same way as we used to, but can now live under the authority of a mighty God.

In theology we call this positional sanctification. Our status changes from people of the world to people in God’s Kingdom. This is what Peter has to say about this:

1 Peter 2:9 (ESV) But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.

This passage is originally from the book of Exodus, where God is telling the Israelites of their importance and their purpose. Now Peter uses this same quote to talk about not just about Jews but gentiles too. He is addressing all followers of Christ.

The first thing that Peter calls us is a chosen race.

We are more than just people with a religion, Peter describes us as a race of people, a people with a distinct culture. It doesn’t matter what race we are on the earth, where live or where our ancestors are from, in Christ we become one people, we become those citizens of the Kingdom of God. We are a race of people because we all have the same Father, and each of us are being transformed into His image. And so spiritually there are two races upon the earth, those who belong to the world and those who belong to God. Jesus makes it clear in John 17:16 that believers in Him are not of the world.

Secondly we’re described as a royal priesthood. In the Old Testament, the Levites, one of the tribes of Israel, were set aside to be carry out the priestly functions. They led praise, worship and prayer and all the other priestly ceremony that the Old Covenant required. And only the high priest could enter into God’s presence, and then only once a year. When Jesus died, the veil in the temple that separated man and God was torn in two, The way into God’s presence was made open to everyone who turned to Jesus.  There is no longer a distinction between the priests and the people, we all have the right to come into His presence, to worship him, to pray to Him and to be His ambassador on the earth, to stand for His purposes. It’s not even just those who have been ordained, but all believers.

Not only are we described as priests, but as royal priests. As well as giving us a priestly role, we re also adopted as a co-heir of Christ. We become accepted into His family, and because His family is royalty, then we become a part of that royalty.
We carry His Royal authority.

Next we’re described as a holy nation. To be holy means that we are set apart, which is why Revelation describes us as His bride. We are set apart for Him and His purposes.

So this is the work that He does for us. This is the position that he places us in. And he does this work for a reason. Peter goes on to say, we are these things that we might proclaim the excellencies of Him who called us from darkness into the light. As His priests we represent Him upon the earth, or as Jesus phrased it, we are His witnesses.He calls us to proclaim Him, to tell the world about this God who has saved us, We point towards Jesus and lead others to Him too. We can tell the world about this God who has taken us out of the darkness and into His light.

What a privileged position He has put us in. We may think that we are just a normal person with normal responsibilities, but we are not. We are a part of his royal Kingdom, a priest before Him, His holy nation, all so that we can point towards the might and the goodness of God.

The apostle Paul further expounds upon this when he wrote:

2 Timothy 2:21 (ESV) Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonourable, he will be a vessel for honourable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.

If anyone sets themselves aside for the Lord, then God will use them to do His works. In our opening verse from Revelation, it says that the saints of God are dressed in fine linen, and that fine linen is our righteous works. That is how we are clothed, with our righteous works. We’re not saved because of our good works, but works will flow naturally out of a life that is lived in God. Because we do separate ourselves from the world, we are in a place where we can do God’s work.

So this is how He positions us, but our position depends upon Him being the head of His church

Ephesians 5:23 (ESV) For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Saviour.

Jesus is the head of His church, and we are the body. Here in Ephesians, Paul likens this relationship to the relationship between a man and a wife. Our earthly marriages are modelled upon how things are in the Kingdom of Heaven. When Jesus taught us how to pray, He taught us to pray, “your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” Jesus wants us to take how things are in Heaven and see them done upon the earth. And He takes this relationship between the church as a bride and Jesus as her husband and applies it to our earthly relationship too. Our earthly relationship such as marriages or relationships with our fathers or brothers or sisters are all modelled on God’s divine order. That is why the current battle that is going on around marriage in society and the church is so important, because the do represent God. And that order is for our good. It blesses us. God does not show us His ways to diminish us, but to bless and increase us. We fight for these things for a reason, because they represent God’s order on earth, and it is in His order that we are blessed.

When we as a church accept Jesus as our husband, we are accepting Him as the head of His church. in doing so we accept His authority, and then allow Him to do His work within us.

We acknowledge Jesus as the head of His church. The amazing work that He does in us is entirely His work, done by His power and grace. It’s not because of how good or bad we may be, but it is entirely dependant upon the goodness of God.

Ephesians 5:25-27 (ESV) Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

I love this verse! In earthly weddings, The bride dresses up for the groom, she does all that she can to prepare for her marriage. In Revelation it does tell us that we as the bride have made ourselves ready. But Jesus does more than what we ourselves can do. He comes to do a work in us to prepare us.This work is far deeper than anything that we could do by our own strength. He comes into us and washes us with water and His word to make us ready to meet Him.

We’ve talked about positional sanctification, the change in status that Jesus gives us when we first know Him, but the work does not stop there. Out of our positional sanctification, Jesus begins a process called progressive sanctification. Progressive sanctification is an ongoing work that He does in us preparing us for Him. it is a continual work that Jesus does in us that transforms us into His image.

Ephesians 5:26-27 (ESV) that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

We are called to set aside ourselves aside for Him, that part is our responsibility, but when we do this, it allows Him to do his work. He clothes us with His righteousness

Isaiah 1:18 says, “though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow”.

It’s this process that he does within us that makes us a reflection of Him upon the earth. We can represent Him on this earth because of Him, but only because of the work that he does in us.

Jesus not only sanctifies us and prepares us for our marriage to Him, but He also nourishes us.

Ephesians 5:29 (ESV) For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church,

The word of God is described as milk (1 Peter 2:2,) bread (Deut 8:3,) and meat (1 Cor 3:2.) Psalm 119 says that the word of God is sweeter than honey. Jeremiah talked about eating God’s word (Jer 15:16) Jesus is continually sustaining us in preparation for our marriage to Him.

Revelation 21:2-4 (ESV) And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

In Revelation we get this beautiful picture of a new Jerusalem that has been prepared as a bride for her husband. The result of all this preparation that God has been doing from the very beginning of Genesis to the end times is that God will come and live with us and us with Him. There will be no more separation.Because of the work of Jesus, we will be united forever and will live in eternity with Him.

Ecclesiastes 12:1-7 (NLT) Don’t let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your Creator. Honour him in your youth before you grow old and say, “Life is not pleasant anymore.” Remember him before the light of the sun, moon, and stars is dim to your old eyes, and rain clouds continually darken your sky. Remember him before your legs—the guards of your house—start to tremble; and before your shoulders—the strong men—stoop. Remember him before your teeth—your few remaining servants—stop grinding; and before your eyes—the women looking through the windows—see dimly.
Remember him before the door to life’s opportunities is closed and the sound of work fades. Now you rise at the first chirping of the birds, but then all their sounds will grow faint. Remember him before you become fearful of falling and worry about danger in the streets; before your hair turns white like an almond tree in bloom, and you drag along without energy like a dying grasshopper, and the caperberry no longer inspires sexual desire. Remember him before you near the grave, your everlasting home, when the mourners will weep at your funeral.
Yes, remember your Creator now while you are young, before the silver cord of life snaps and the golden bowl is broken. Don’t wait until the water jar is smashed at the spring and the pulley is broken at the well. For then the dust will return to the earth, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.

The book of Ecclesiastes does not state its author, but it’s traditionally assumed as having been written by Solomon towards the end of his life. In this book, the writer reflects upon life, and with the benefit on hindsight and all the wisdom he had gained over his time on earth, he comes to the conclusion that everything is worthless outside of God. So in the 12th chapter, Solomon talks to young people to share the wisdom that He has gained from his perspective as an old man.

It’s difficult when we’re younger to listen to what old people say, because it’s hard to get a grasp of how much there is to learn about life. Even in my advancing age I’m only just beginning to relate and to and understand what he is saying here. The author here has an understanding that can only come from the perspective of being at the end of life.

The passage begins by stating that when you are young and the world is new and exciting it is really easy to get carried away with things that we discover as we grow up. We may get carried away with the passion of our hobbies. When we get older and maybe go to university we may become excited about new ways of thinking and learning, or maybe with relationships that we form. And many of these things are good things, God wants us to enjoy life, enjoy hobbies or learning and have healthy relationships,

However, the author warns us not to let these things make us forget our creator. He recognises youth as a very narrow but precious window of opportunity. Despite how little of our lives we spend as a young person, it is so important in terms of how we develop as an adult.


Remembering God helps us to Understanding Ourselves 

Until we come into the knowledge of our creator, we will never properly understand who we are. It is when we are younger we begin to develop our identity.

Our identity is how we think about ourselves. It is our self image. It is our self esteem, meaning  how good or bad we think of ourselves. Our identity is shaped by many things. A part of it is shaped by our family, by how they’ve raised us and by what they tell us about ourselves.It is also shaped by our friends, by how they react to us and what they say about us, by our experiences in school or in after school activities. It is also shaped by the traditional media and now increasingly by social media, by what we see on instagram or TikTok and so on. We are surrounded by people telling us what it takes to be a success, how we should look, how we should behave.
Society tries us what our value is, based on how well we do at school, or maybe how we look, how we act or what we can do. Now of course some of these things may be good. It’s good to do well at school or to have talents, don’t misunderstand me, but if we let these things define our worth, what happens if we don’t get the exam results that we want, or when our looks fade or if we’re not quite as talented as the next person.

A few decades ago we had a school system where everyone took an exam at 11, called the 11 plus to determine what type of high school you would go to. Those who passed the exam went to what’s called a grammar school, aimed at those who are more academic, and those who failed this exam were sent to a secondary modern school.

There were some advantages to this system, and it still exists in some parts of the country including where I went to school. One of the disadvantages with this system was that those who failed the 11 plus exam were effectively told that they were not as important as those who did pass the exam. They were told there was only certain jobs they could do, only a certain future that they could have. For men that meant that you would have to learn a trade or work in a factory or something similar. Women were told they were going to become a secretary or maybe a nurse, (but definitely not a doctor.) or work with children. 

All this was based upon one exam you did when you were 11. Your value to society was assigned to you by this exam. Many people who went through that system and failed their 11 plus still carry a burden in them even today of being told what they were worth at such a young age. So while of course it is great to be successful in all areas of life, that is not our identity, that is not what defines our value.


Our Value

Our real value is found in Jesus. That means who we are is rooted in who Jesus says we are, and that truth holds regardless of how much of a success the world thinks we are. It is so important that we  understand our true worth.

We are each created uniquely. You are not your friends, and you’re not even your siblings, and they are not you. What they may do well at does not define who you are.

So what does God say about us?

Firstly, that we are loved. (Romans 5:8.) That means that he loves us when we have lots of friends, but it also means that he loves if we feel rejected or if people think we are too different to fit in with them. It’s always a temptation to want to change ourselves to make ourselves fit in, but actually God wants to make you into His image, not anybody else’s. If we try to make ourselves too much like other people, we may miss out on being the person that God wants us to be.

Secondly, God says that when you feel weak, in Him you are strong. (2 Cor 12:10.) Our feelings can be very deceptive, our feelings can trick us into believing that something is true when it isn’t. This is why it’s so important to listen to what God says about us rather than listening to how we feel. 

Thirdly God says that even though we do sometimes mess up and sin, In Him we are forgiven.(Romans 8:1.) Again, sometimes we find it hard to forgive ourselves, but when we know God we know we are forgiven.

Fourthly, if we feel abandoned by people, God says that we are adopted into His family. (Ephesians 1:4-5.) When we feel alone, He says that He is with us.

Fifth, when we think that we have no hope, we need to know that God has a plan for us: Jeremiah 29:11 (NLT) For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. He has a purpose for each and every one of us, and again that purpose may not be the same purpose as someone else, because we are unique.

Sixth, When we think that we are lost, God gives us direction: “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying ‘This is the way; walk in it’” (Isaiah 30:21).

And lastly if ever we think that we are worthless, God sent His Son to die for us because we are worthy. He died for each and every one of us because we have value. (John 3:6)

​
Remembering God helps us to Understanding the world around us

So knowing God when we are young helps us to understand ourselves, but He also helps us to understand the world around us. The people we meet, study with, form relationships wit her work with with all have their own ideas about the world, how it works and what is right or wrong. When we grow up we will move into new situations like different schools, different friendship groups and each of them will have different values. We however remember God, because He teaches us what is right and what is wrong. He is an anchor, a rock. He does not move. His values never change.

Psalms 18:2 (NLT) The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my saviour; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety.

The thing about big rocks is they cannot be moved by people. They don’t blow around, they aren’t fickle, but they are solid and trustworthy. This is why the Bible urges to build our lives upon the solid rock of Jesus, because then we will be steadfast and unshakable ourselves. Our emotions and our judgement will be less changeable, because they are based upon truth. I guarantee you that the values that society has in 20 years time will be different from today’s, but Jesus remains the same yesterday, today and forever. His truth never changes

When we remember Jesus, we will always be grounded in truth and goodness. The circumstances of our lives may change, but we will always be safe in His purpose.

This is what the apostle Paul wrote and the towards the end of His life:

2 Timothy 4:6-8 (NLT) As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing.
​
He realised that the true prize of life is having remained faithful to God. Before we talk apart in any race, our focus is upon what it takes to win the race. This is why we remember our creator, so that we know what the true purpose of the race is that we are in.
The purpose of our life is this: to remain faithful to the Lord, and even at the end of our days, to be found in Him.

There is a life that God has for each and every one of us. That life is more than a mundane existence, more than one where we simply talk about God without encountering Him. What He has for us is rooted in the very presence of God, a life that is built upon Him and in Him, a life where we can see and live in His glory.

Now, If I were to ask you to name a famous worshiper in the Bible, what would your answer be?
My favourite example of worship is actually found in the New Testament, with a person who chose to live a life of worship. Someone who wanted to sit at the feet of Jesus and to be close to Him.
John 12:1-8 (NLT) Six days before the Passover celebration began, Jesus arrived in Bethany, the home of Lazarus—the man he had raised from the dead. A dinner was prepared in Jesus’ honour. Martha served, and Lazarus was among those who ate with him. Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance. But Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray him, said, “That perfume was worth a year’s wages. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor.” Not that he cared for the poor—he was a thief, and since he was in charge of the disciples’ money, he often stole some for himself. Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. She did this in preparation for my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”
If you want to understand what worship is, this passage demonstrates it. In it we have Jesus, and then we have two different people, each of whom react differently to Jesus’ presence. The first of these people was Mary. This was not Mary the mother of Jesus, but Mary the sister of Lazarus, who we often call Mary of Bethany.
Mary was a nobody. She was a woman in a middle-eastern society that did not hold women with much value. She held no status and had no worldly importance.
The second important character in this passage is Judas. Judas as the person in charge of the money bag is considered to be the best educated of the disciples, and perhaps the most respectable one of the disciples. He maybe had a background in finance. When they came to sit at a dinner prepared in Jesus’ honour, they each react very differently. Mary took a jar of expensive perfume, worth a year’s wages and used it to anoint Jesus’ feet. The average annual wage at the moment in the UK is around £37,000, so she took a perfume that was that expensive and precious and poured it onto Jesus. Later on in the book of John we read of how Jesus washed the feet of the disciples, but Mary is going even further than just washing feet, she is honouring them. She took everything that she had, probably most or even all of the wealth that she had in the world and she poured it out onto Him. This was an extravagant act, one demonstrating her overwhelming love and devotion to Him. In pouring this expensive oil over his feet, she was recognising the worth of Jesus and understanding that even his feet, the lowest part of his body deserved everything given to it.

What Mary demonstrated that day was true worship. To worship someone or something simply means that we give them worth. Worship literally means worth-ship It means that we think that they have value, and we recognise that value, and because they have value we honour them.

Not only do we recognise their worth, but we recognise their authority too.We know, and crucially we submit to their authority. There are people in society today such as magistrates or mayors who we still address as “your worship.” By using that title we are acknowledging their importance, or their worth and that we recognise the authority that they have over us.

The Greek word for worship is “Proskuneo” There are two parts to this word. The first part means to move towards (pros) and the second part is to kiss (kuneo.) Kissing in this sense is not a romantic action, but is actually a sign of devotion, submission and reverence. People traditionally kiss the ring of a king or even the pope as a sign of reverential submission. Mary’s anointing of Jesus’ feet is the perfect demonstration of prokuneo.

Romans 12:1 (NLT) And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.

So worship is giving our entire lives as a living sacrifice for that which is worthy. It is submission before an authority that has real value. Because He is worthy, because He is valuable, we respond to His worthiness by honouring Him with everything that we have, by pouring our lives out onto Him. That is why Paul states that how we live is our true act of worship.

Mary demonstrated that when she poured her wealth on Jesus feet, she was giving Him everything, her entire life, all that she owned. She gave everything just to bless Jesus, to minster to Him, just to love Him. This was a true act of worship.

It is really interesting to contrast how Mary reacted to Jesus with how Judas reacted. When Judas sees this selfless, love filled act, his response is to draw attention to himself, and to demonstrate how spiritual he was. Judas points out that that perfume could have been sold, and the money given to the poor, and he was right! I never understood this verse when I was younger because Judas is right. That money could have gone a long way to helping those in need. But Judas wasn’t saying this because he cared for the poor, but because he wanted to draw attention to himself, He wanted to look spiritual before others, and of course he wanted some of the money for himself too.

Judas was concerned with how he looked in front of others, whereas Mary didn’t care what she looked like, and she had no interest in drawing attention to herself. She was only interested in honouring and surrendering Jesus.

We read of a similar situation in 2 Samuel 6:16.

2 Samuel 6:16 (NLT) But as the Ark of the LORD entered the City of David, Michal, the daughter of Saul, looked down from her window. When she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she was filled with contempt for him.

When the ark of the covenant was bring brought into Jerusalem, the whole of Israel celebrated with praising and music. David Himself danced and leapt with celebration, filled with excitement at what God had done and wanting to give Him the glory. But Michal did not care for this amazing act of God that was going on before her, instead she was consumed with anger and jealousy about her own situation, and despised David as he gave his all before the Lord.

The difference between Mary and Judas, David and Michal was very simple, it was the state of their hearts. Judas was doing and saying on the surface the more Christian thing.Yet God does not judge us by our appearance but by the heart. Judas was interested in self promotion, his heart did not desire Jesus, he only desired to promote himself. But Mary desired nothing for herself, her only desire was to be close to Jesus, and she happily paid the cost to be close to Him.

Last week we looked at when God was leading Samuel to chose a king for Israel, Samuel wanted to chose David’s strong and tall and experienced warrior brothers, but this is what God said:

1 Samuel 16:7 (NLT) But the LORD said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The LORD doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

It’s no different today, God is looking for people who want to put their life out to Him, to life a lifestyle of worship in surrender to God. Just like we saw last week, these are the people whom God chooses for His purpose.

Worship is the correct response when we realise how worthy God is. It is the reaction of our hearts when we are faced with this mighty God.The book of Revelation gives us a glimpse into what is happening in the heavenlies. 

Revelation 5:11-14 (NLT) Then I looked again, and I heard the voices of thousands and millions of angels around the throne and of the living beings and the elders. And they sang in a mighty chorus: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered— to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing.” And then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea. They sang: “Blessing and honour and glory and power belong to the one sitting on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever.” And the four living beings said, “Amen!” And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped the Lamb.

We read how all the angels, all the living beings, all the elders are around God’s throne, and their response is to pour out praise and blessings and honour to God. And I guarantee that if we saw Him in this room now today we would have the same response. But here’s the thing, we are privileged to be in a position where we can worship Him even now upon the earth, just like they are in Heaven. In fact, as the Lord’s prayer teaches us, it is our purpose to do on the earth as it is in heaven. If we fix our eyes upon Him we too will see his worth and we will join in the with angels and the worship of heaven here upon the earth.

A life that is given over in worship is a life that is intimate with Jesus. Our desire for God directly corresponds with how close we are to Him. 

James 4:8 (NLT) Come close to God, and God will come close to you…

It’s a very simple equation, if we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us. The truth is that we are always as close to God as we want to be. If we want to have more of the reality of God in our lives, we have to learn to live a life full of worship.

The Bible makes it very clear that we can have that reality of His presence.

Hebrews 10:19-22 (NLT) And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. 

We need to realise the enormity of what we are being told here In Hebrews. It is urging us to go right into the presence of God.  In the Old Testament, God told Moses to construct a tabernacle, meaning a place of meeting.

This tabernacle was divided into 3 sections, the outer court, the holy place and the most holy place, or the holy of holies. The most holy place the presence of God lived in the Ark of the Covenant. Only the high priest could enter into the most holy place, only once a year and only after a lot of ceremony But Hebrews tells us that we can now boldly enter into the Holy of Holies because of Jesus’ blood. IIt urges us to go right on in to the presence of God.

We have a legal right to come into God’s presence, we have a pass to come in, and that pass is the blood of Christ. Despite this, many of us fail to take up that right. We’re too content with the things of the earth. We’re too content with a life that isn’t built upon Him. But God is looking for those with the same heart that Mary of Bethany had, those who see the worth in Jesus and are prepared to pour everything we have out to Him.

In the Old Testament, in the tabernacle and later the temple, God required a blood sacrifice before the priest could  enter into God’s presence. But that was never God’s desire, but it was a necessary law because of the fall of man and because of sin. But the sacrifice that God is really looking for is our hearts turned to Him. David understood this when he wrote

Psalms 51:16-17 (NLT) You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one. You do not want a burnt offering. The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.

He realised, even in Old Testament times that it wasn’t animal sacrifice that God desired, but our hearts broken and repentant before Him. David actually established his own tabernacle, one that was radically different from Moses’ tabernacle. Like Moses’ tabernacle it still had the ark of the covenant at its heart, which contained God’s presence. But unlike Moses’ tabernacle, it did not have the same sacrificial system. Instead it had musicians and worshipers continually ministering before God day and night, giving Him all the glory and honour that He deserved. This was effectively a New Testament church in the Old Testament.

About 200 years after David’s tabernacle, the prophet Amos said this, also quoted in Acts:

Acts 15:16-18 (NLT) ‘Afterward I will return and restore the fallen house of David. I will rebuild its ruins and restore it, so that the rest of humanity might seek the LORD, including the Gentiles— all those I have called to be mine. The LORD has spoken— he who made these things known so long ago.’

Amos was saying that in New Testament times, in the times that we are living in now, God will restore Davidic worship, He will restore worship that is based not upon animal sacrifice but upon ministry direct to God, where all of humanity can come and seek, and worship this living God.

So how do we worship as God wants us to? Let’s go back to this verse from Romans:

Romans 12:1 (NLT) And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.

We worship Him by giving Him our entire lives. We give Him our life as a sacrifice to him. Because when we focus upon His worth, we can see that owe Him everything. If we have that understanding of worship then we can worship Him at work, when we’re out, or wherever we are. We worship Him by our love for Him and our obedience to Him. We become that living sacrifice.

But we also worship Him with our mouths.

Hebrews 13:15 (NLT) Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name.

Hebrews tells us to continually offer Jesus a sacrifice of praise. So this means that praise is a sacrifice. This is the sacrifice that David had in His tabernacle, a continual 24/7 pouring out of love to Him. It’s not about being musical or about sounding nice, God doesn’t care about that. He wants us to have hearts that are overflowing with love and joy for Him, that give Him the glory that He deserves, pouring out onto Him just as Mary did and just as the worship of heaven is.

We sing many different types of song in church that are all correct and all have their proper place. Some are praise songs, thanking God for who He is. Some are songs that speak about the work that God has done in us. Some are songs that proclaim the truth of God. Some songs are designed to uplift and encourage us.
But a worship song is one that does not talk about God in the third person. A worship song is not a song about God, but rather it is a song sung to God,It focuses upon the holiness, the majesty of God, and it leads us into submission to Him.

A great example of this Holy, Holy Holy, written exactly 200 years ago.  It is sung to Him, It ministers to Him, and just like Mary we can sit at Jesus’ feet and pour out to Him. It is the worship that is described in Revelations 4:8, and it is the worship that is going on in Heaven right now. It helps us in the continuation of the worship of heaven here upon the earth.

It’s not about a particular song, it’s about our hearts pouring out in love, reverence and awe. The famous Matt Redman song “Heart of Worship,” says that “I’ll bring you more than a song, for a song in itself, is not what you have required.”

Let us join us now with the worship of Heaven as we minister before Him.

1 Samuel 17:41-51 (NLT) Goliath walked out toward David with his shield bearer ahead of him, sneering in contempt at this ruddy-faced boy. “Am I a dog,” he roared at David, “that you come at me with a stick?” And he cursed David by the names of his gods. “Come over here, and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and wild animals!” Goliath yelled.

David replied to the Philistine, “You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies—the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. Today the LORD will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut off your head. And then I will give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel! And everyone assembled here will know that the LORD rescues his people, but not with sword and spear. This is the LORD’s battle, and he will give you to us!”

As Goliath moved closer to attack, David quickly ran out to meet him. Reaching into his shepherd’s bag and taking out a stone, he hurled it with his sling and hit the Philistine in the forehead. The stone sank in, and Goliath stumbled and fell face down on the ground.

So David triumphed over the Philistine with only a sling and a stone, for he had no sword. Then David ran over and pulled Goliath’s sword from its sheath. David used it to kill him and cut off his head.”

Over 150 years ago, Henry Varley, the great evangelist and brethren minister said, “The world has yet to see what God can do with and for and through and in a man who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him.” There was a young man named D.L. Moody heard those words and determined in his heart to be that man!  He gave himself fully to the will of God for His life and the Lord used him to shake two continents for Jesus.  Moody preached to more than 100 million people during his ministry and many thousands came to know Jesus Christ as their Saviour. And the Lord is still looking for men and women that He can fill with His Spirit and use to make a difference for Jesus. 

In our opening passage, we are told about a young man named David.  David was chosen by God not just to kill Goliath but to defeat many of Israel’s enemies: The Philistines, Moabites, and Ammonites. He went on to established Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. He planned the temple that Solomon built. In fact David was the greatest king Isreal ever had. Even Jesus Himself came from David’s line.

And yet David was not someone that most people would have picked out to be a king, let alone a king who was as great as he was. But this was the man that God chose. This morning we are going to look very briefly at the early life of David. I want us to understand why God chose Him and who it is that He chooses today.

God chooses common people

In 1 Samuel 16, we read how the Lord was guiding Samuel into choosing a king for Israel. And Samuel was told to go to meet with Jesse, because God had selected one of his sons to be that king. Let’s read what happened next.

1 Samuel 16:6-13 (NLT) When they arrived, Samuel took one look at Eliab and thought, “Surely this is the LORD’s anointed!” But the LORD said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The LORD doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

Then Jesse told his son Abinadab to step forward and walk in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “This is not the one the LORD has chosen.” Next Jesse summoned Shimea, but Samuel said, “Neither is this the one the LORD has chosen.” In the same way all seven of Jesse’s sons were presented to Samuel. But Samuel said to Jesse, “The LORD has not chosen any of these.” Then Samuel asked, “Are these all the sons you have?”

“There is still the youngest,” Jesse replied. “But he’s out in the fields watching the sheep and goats.”

“Send for him at once,” Samuel said. “We will not sit down to eat until he arrives.”

So Jesse sent for him. He was dark and handsome, with beautiful eyes. And the LORD said, “This is the one; anoint him.”
So as David stood there among his brothers, Samuel took the flask of olive oil he had brought and anointed David with the oil. And the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon David from that day on. Then Samuel returned to Ramah.

Jesse actually had eight sons, and here we read of how seven of them are presented to Samuel. And by all accounts these men were strong and handsome and as we read later in the book of Samuel, very capable warriors. In fact, they were just the sort of person that most of us would choose to be our leader. As humans we tend to judge by what we see with our eyes, and yet despite their outward appearance,  God had rejected these men.  God does not look at award appearance but instead he looks at the heart of a person. He looks at what our inner desires are, not at how we appear before others. God passed over all these seemingly good choices for king, and instead chose the youngest son, a boy who was merely a shepherd working in the fields. He wasn’t physically impressive or experienced, and neither did he have high status even within his own family, But he was the one that God chose, based on one criteria, his heart. One of the reasons that God uses ordinary people because it means that He will get the glory

1 Corinthians 1:27 (NLT) Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful.

God is not able to work in those who are already strong in their own strength or their own wisdom. They already know everything or can do everything themselves, and they have faith in their own ability. The people that God uses are those who are weak in their own strength or their own understanding, but crucially are willing to be obey God, be used by Him and obey Him. God is able to do something with humble people because they will allow Him to work through them. It’s not that being strong or intelligent is wrong, of course it isn’t, it’s just that if we have our own strength it can be harder for us to humble ourselves before God and therefore be used by Him.If we are strong in our own understanding we will not seek God’s. 

Proverbs 3:5 (NLT) Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.

The Bible is full of flawed and sometimes weak people being used by God. In Exodus, Moses complained to God when he was chosen to lead the Israelites, that he was unable to do the job

Exodus 4:10 (NLT) But Moses pleaded with the LORD, “O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.”

Maybe God chose Moses to lead the Israelites not in spite of his weakness, but because of them. When Jesus chose is disciples, 12 men to change the entire world he chose working class, untrained men with nothing apparently special about them apart from their willingness to follow and obey Him.

God choses obedient people

So we can see that as well as choosing ordinary people, God chooses obedient people

Acts 13:22 (NLT) But God removed Saul and replaced him with David, a man about whom God said, ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do.’

David was chosen because God knew that he would do what He wanted.  The people used by God are those willing to do the most mundane tasks for the glory of God.

1 Samuel 17:17-19 (NLT) One day Jesse said to David, “Take this basket of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread, and carry them quickly to your brothers. And give these ten cuts of cheese to their captain. See how your brothers are getting along, and bring back a report on how they are doing.” David’s brothers were with Saul and the Israelite army at the valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.

While his brothers were out fighting with the Israelite army, David was sent to serve them. Jesse could easily have sent the least of his servants to do such a simple task, but David willingly took on what was quite a humiliating task in serving his older brothers while they did the tough work because he was commanded to do so. David didn’t look down on the small tasks that he was given, and God noted this when he said that David is a man who will do what he wants him to. And in being obedient to the small tasks, God was actually secretly training him. And then when Israel needed someone to fight for them, this lowly shepherd boy was ready and able to take on the challenge.

1 Samuel 17:32-37 (NLT) “Don’t worry about this Philistine,” David told Saul. “I’ll go fight him!”
“Don’t be ridiculous!” Saul replied. “There’s no way you can fight this Philistine and possibly win! You’re only a boy, and he’s been a man of war since his youth.”
But David persisted. “I have been taking care of my father’s sheep and goats,” he said. “When a lion or a bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock, I go after it with a club and rescue the lamb from its mouth. If the animal turns on me, I catch it by the jaw and club it to death. I have done this to both lions and bears, and I’ll do it to this pagan Philistine, too, for he has defied the armies of the living God! The LORD who rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear will rescue me from this Philistine!”

You see while his brothers were doing much more important jobs, David had been on his own, out of the public gaze apparently just looking after sheep but in reality learning how to fight lions and bears. So when Israel was in trouble and had to face the Philistines, David was ready and trained for what had to be done without anyone every realising what had been going on.

When I was younger and I heard the story of David and Goliath, I always assumed that God guided David’s sling shot supernaturally, but now I don’t think this was the case. I imagine that as well as using a club to defeat these animals, David also used a slingshot to defend the sheep, and so he was consistently practicing that skill. In psalm 144, David praised the God who trained his hands for war and his fingers for battle. So when he did stand up to defend the Israelites against Goliath, that was the weapon that he chose. The work that God did with David was when he was on his own, out of sight, quietly obeying the Lord and being the least of his family.

Zechariah 4:10 (NLT) Do not despise these small beginnings…

These small beginnings are there for a reason, to train us and to test our faithfulness to the Lord. In fact if we despise them, if we think that we’re too important for them, then we will miss the training and maybe even the purpose that God has for us. And when we have been trained and are ready, then God can do extraordinary things through us.

God chooses people who have a relationship with Him

One thing that we know about David is that he had a passion for God.

Psalms 27:4 (NLT) The one thing I ask of the LORD—the thing I seek most— is to live in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, delighting in the LORD’s perfections and meditating in his Temple.

Above everything else, David’s desire was God himself, to live in His house and to meditate on Him. This is why God could trust and use him, he was truly a man after God’s heart.

We were talking in the Bible study this week about the difference between knowing and knowing in the Bible. We can know God exists but the people that God uses have more than head knowledge of Him, they have a relationship with Him.
 
God uses people who trust Him.

When David was fighting Goliath, He said that although Goliath would come at him with sword, spear and Javelin, David would come back with the armies of Heaven. David even trusted God enough to not even wear any of the fancy armour that he was given. He went into battle against this champion of the Philistine army armed only with 5 stones. David wasn’t used to great armour and weapons, and so he relied upon that which he had relied upon all his life, faith in the living God. When God uses people today it is because they have that same faith in the strength and the power of God and in His provision.

Another person used lightly by God because of her faith was Esther. Esther was a jewish girl living in Persia roughly 500 years before Christ. And she was chosen by the king Ahasuerus to be his wife, and hence she became the Queen of Persia The Jews were hated in Persia, and so there was a plot by one of the king’s advisers to kill all the jews in a single day At this time the Persian empire was vast, and so killing all the Jews in that Persia meant killing most of the jews that existed. Esther’s response to this decree was to fast for three days, She needed God’s wisdom on how to deal with this. and Esther came out of her fast with an understanding on how to deal with the king, She spoke up for the Jewish people before the king, even though it put her very life on the line. Because of her trust in God, because she taught His ways, and because of her faith her words and deeds found favour with the king, and the Jewish people were saved. She was used to save pretty much every Jewish person who existed at that time because she had the faith and the boldness to stand up for God’s people.

God chooses courageous people

And so we also see how God chooses courages people, people are willing to take the risks, to step out in faith. David was willing to put his life on the line for the glory of God. If the Lord hadn’t come through for him, David would have died. And Israel would have been defeated. Esther was willing to put her life on the line. If God hadn’t have come through for her, she would have lost her life and the jewish people would have been exterminated. 

We looked a couple of weeks ago at how Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego were willing to walk into the fire because of their faith in this living God. A part of being courageous, God also chooses are also willing to accept ridicule. David was willing to listen to the taunts of his opponents and the jibes of his critics. To him, the rewards that came for obedience to the Lord outweighed any personal humiliation he might suffer because of others. Even Jesus faced ridicule

John 7:3-5 (NLT) and Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, where your followers can see your miracles! You can’t become famous if you hide like this! If you can do such wonderful things, show yourself to the world!” For even his brothers didn’t believe in him.

God chooses people who are committed to Him

And finally, God chooses people who are committed to Him. They are committed to his purposes despite the obstacles they may face. David was determined to honour the Lord despite the size and power of Goliath. His eyes were not on the problem, but on the Problem-solver! God’s people are committed in spite of the opposition.Some said that David couldn’t do it. Others questioned his motives, but David was determined to defeat Goliath despite those who stood against him. We need to be aware that if we want to live a life for God there will be opposition

2 Timothy 3:12 (NLT) Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

God’s people are also committed in spite of the opportunities to walk away. David had the chance to walk away, but David had his priorities in order. To him, the main thing was the glory of God! He had made up His mind that God would come first, no matter what! 

Conclusion

Do you want to be the kind of person God uses? I do! Regardless of what it costs in time, energy or reputation, it will be worth it to be used of the Lord. Wherever we may be right now, we can become a person God uses for His glory.  Let’s determine to pay the price, whatever the cost is to be that person for the glory of God!

The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is one of the things that sets Christianity apart from other religions. Whereas other religions worship a God that is far away and unknown, we serve a God who we can know personally and have a relationship with. When Jesus died he did not abandon us as orphans leaving us without a Father, but He has come to live in us, to lead us into all truth and to equip us. The Spirit reveals God to us. And that makes Him more than just someone who we read about in a book, but makes Him a living truth in our lives.
So over the next few weeks we’re going to be looking at various aspects of the Holy Spirit, And today we are going to look specifically at who the Holy Spirit is and the work that He does in our lives.

Understanding the Holy Spirit

A common mistake that people make is thinking of the Holy Spirit as an impersonal force or power.Although he does have power, He is a person. He is referred to as He throughout the Bible. His preferred pronouns are He/Him, not it! He is part of the triune of God along with God the Father and God the Son. He is considered equal with the Father and Son.And he has their characteristics of being omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent. Because he is a person he has a personality and a character. He possesses a mind, emotions, and a will. He thinks and knows, and he makes decisions according to His will 


Holy Spirit in Creation

​Now, the Spirit was there right at the beginning of creation. In the second verse of the Bible we can see The Holy Spirit involved in the creation of the world.

Genesis 1:2 (NLT) The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

And then as God created man the Holy Spirit was breathed into man and man gained life.

Genesis 2:7 (NLT) Then the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.

The phrase for  breath of life is the same Hebrew word as the Spirit of God. When man is created, God breathes into man much like the kiss of life. We can see a parallel to this in the New Testament.

John 20:19-22 (NLT) That Sunday evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said. As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

Again there’s a perfect mirroring of the Old Testament and the New of the Holy Spirit breathing life into mankind.

Guarantee - Owned by Christ

And from the point that we are saved, God fills us with His Spirit

Ephesians 1:13-14 (NLT) And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.

So He comes in us as a seal of our salvation, He is a guarantee of our inheritance in Christ  - He is proof that we have been purchased by  God as one of His own people. He is a receipt showing proof of purchase, proof that we have been bought by the blood of the lamb and set aside for Jesus.

Ephesians 4:30 (NLT) And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption.

When we turn to Jesus we cease to belong to ourselves, but rather are owned, and paid for by God.  And if we don’t have the Spirit of God in us, then we do not belong to God, and indeed Jesus said that those who are not His cannot receive the Spirit.

Romans 8:9 (NLT) But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.)

Advocate - pointing to Jesus

John 14:15-21 (NLT) “If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognise him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you. Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also will live. When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.”

Jesus gives a promise to all those who love Him and obey His commandments. This promise is That He will send us an advocate. The use of the word advocate here means counsellor or someone to come alongside us and show us the way. 

John 14:26 calls Him our helper

So when Jesus died, He did not abandon us. He did not leave us as orphans, as a people without a father to love and lead us. Instead He sent His Spirit to guide us and be with us. And His Spirit comes and lives within us for a purpose, to advocate for Jesus. He comes in us to reveal Jesus to us, to reveal His will to us. 

John 16:12-15 (NLT) “There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me. All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me.’

He comes to glorify Jesus, to show us His will and His way. He also reveals to us what Jesus is saying, bringing Him glory and even telling us about the future. Everything that the Father has belongs to Jesus and He in turn reveals His will to us by His Spirit.

John 14:26 (NLT) But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.

The Spirit teaches us everything.  When we read our bibles, when we listen to sermons or read teaching books or even in our everyday life the Spirit reveals truth to us if we allow Him to. God’s word is more than a piece of history that we can read about, when the Spirit opens ours eyes and ears to understand it, it becomes life. 

1 Corinthians 2:10-12 (NLT) But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.

Our Christian walk is one of knowing the truth of God deeper and deeper. The Spirit shows us even God’s deep secrets, even what He is thinking. To have him living in us and revealing the truth of God is such an amazing and precious gift and something that we should eagerly desire.

New Life

So He comes to live is us to guide us, to seal our redemption but He also brings us into new life. We’ve already heard that the Spirit is a part of creation, He literally breathed life into the world and mankind.

John 3:5-8 (NLT) Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”

So don’t be surprised when Jesus says that we need to be born again. Humans can only produce human life, so when we are born in the natural we have human life that has come from humans ie reproduction. But Spiritual life only comes from being born again by His Spirit.  When we are filled with His Spirit we are born again into a new life. A new life with a new Heavenly Father, who we can know and follow because He lives in us. God doesn’t want us to be the same as we were before we were saved, He wants us to be transformed, and we can do that because His Spirit in us reveals Jesus to us.

Titus 3:5 (NLT) he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.

The life that he brings us is abundant life, life that flows out of that connection that he gives us with Jesus.

John 10:10 (ESV) The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

Sanctification

The Holy Spirit also sanctifies us. 

1 Corinthians 6:11 (NLT) Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Sanctification is a work that takes place within us by His Spirit. We are made holy and right with God in Jesus’ name and by the work of the Spirit of God. Having His life within us makes us right with God. We are justified, just as if I’d never sinned, because we have His righteousness within us. When we are born again He gives us His righteousness. When He lives in us, when God looks upon us He sees the righteousness of Jesus living within us. We’ve seen before how we could never make ourselves right enough for a holy God.  And where most religions are about the works we must do to try to achieve that holiness before god, Christianity is about God entering the lives of sinful people and making them holy by His Spirit, He justifies us from the inside out, and he does that by His Spirit within us, not because of us or anything that we have done, but because of His grace and mercy.

Conviction

The Holy Spirit does not just work in believers. He also does a work in unbelievers.

John 16:5-8 (NLT) “But now I am going away to the one who sent me, and not one of you is asking where I am going. Instead, you grieve because of what I’ve told you. But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment.

He convicts the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness. Because this Spirit is the goodness and the righteousness of God He brings conviction, because when we see His righteousness we realise our sin and our need for Him. It’s not our preaching or finger pointing will convict us of our sin, it is the Holy Spirit, although His conviction may come through our preaching. The world is facing judgment, and the Holy Spirit also convicts them of this truth There is a day of reckoning scheduled—a day in which the holy God will hand out justice and rid His creation of sin

Gifts

Another role of the Holy Spirit is to distribute gifts amongst His people

1 Corinthians 12:7-11 (NLT) A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.

We looked a couple of weeks ago at How Jesus has given gifts to the church in terms of roles such as pastors or evangelists, but He also gives gifts to His people within the church with the same purpose of building it up. It says that they are given in order that we can help each other. Again, we are made to rely on each other, not one of us has the fullness of god, so that we need each other.

And He alone decides how these gifts are distributed,  but it does state that we are each given a gift. Each of us are a gift to the church, and we’re each given gifts by the Holy Spirit in order to help one another.

Advocate in Prayer

The Holy Spirit assists believers in prayer

Jude 1:20 (NLT) But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit,

So when we pray we are not just to pray, but pray in the power of the Holy Spirit. Praying in the power of the Holy Spirit means that it is not just us praying, but the Holy Spirit praying through us. The advocate shows us what we are to pray. We don’t even know what is right to pray, so the Spirit prays for us.

Romans 8:26-27 (NLT) And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. The Holy Spirit partners with us in prayer.

Worship in the Spirit

John 4:24 (NLT) For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”

Jesus taught this after talking to the woman at the well where she asked Jesus where she should go to worship. But Jesus replies that she does not need to go to any physical location, because the Holy Spirit has made a way that we can worship Him anywhere because he has come to live in us, so we can glorify him anywhere. We no longer have to go to a temple to worship, because our bodies become the temple of the Holy Spirit. Just like the Spirit partners with us in prayer, he also partners with us in worship, so it is Him in us worshiping God.

Unity in the Spirit

Ephesians 4:3-4 (NLT) Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. The Holy Spirit brings is in unity with Jesus, the head of the church. That in turn brings us into unity with each other, because we are one body. If each of us are connected to Him by His Spirit we will each walk in perfect harmony with each other.

Led by the Spirit

The Holy Spirit leads us in every part of our lives.

Galatians 5:25 (NLT) Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. We live by the Spirit and we follow the Spirit.

Conclusion

There is no such thing as a Christian walk that is not led by the Spirit.

Romans 8:14 (NLT) For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

The Holy Spirit isn’t an optional extra to our lives, but our following of Him defines whether or not we are a child of God. We cannot do this without Him.  The Spirit is God Himself working through us, and anything that is not from Him is merely our own works.

​In the book of John chapter 13, Jesus is nearing the end of His ministry here upon the earth, and we read about how He starts to prepare Himself and his disciples for His going away. And He turns to His disciples to give them a new commandment:

John 13:34-35 (NLT) So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

Now the key to understanding this passage, and to understanding today’s sermon is understanding what that new commandment is. The new commandment is not to love, that command had already been given. No, the new commandment is to love each other like Jesus has loved us.

Disciples

Jesus could only give His disciples this commandment towards the end of His time here on earth, because it was only then that his followers could understand how Jesus had loved them. By this point, the disciples had spent up to 3 years living under Jesus’ ministry, following Him, being taught by Him, watching how He lived and what he did. They had got to know Him and understand Him and His love. This is why they were called His disciples.

To be a disciple means to be a follower. A disciple does more than just intellectually learn something, they are actually trained and transformed into the image of the one they are following. A great way of understanding what a disciple is to think of apprentices. If you undertake an apprenticeship you do more than just sit in a classroom learning theory, instead you work alongside someone and they train you by not just by telling you the job but by demonstrating it then getting you to reproduce what they do. You don’t just learn the theory about a job, you actually do it.

The disciples were Jesus’ apprentices. They didn’t just learn his words in a classroom, Jesus demonstrated to them how to live. To be a true Christian, one not just in name but in deed means that we too must become disciples.  We need to be people who do more than merely profess Christianity as our religion, and we need to be more than just church goers, we need to become disciples of Jesus, someone who follows Him, who learn from Him and are changed by Him.

Jesus clearly defines the distinction between being a cultural christian or a church goer and a real disciple:

John 8:31-32 (NLT) Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

If you remain faithful to my teachings, then you will be my disciples. Jesus makes it so clear what His standards are and what he expects of us.

One of the reasons we are part of a church one of the reasons that we are here this morning and why we listen to teachings is not just to increase our intellectual understanding of God, but to learn what it is to follow Him, and how to become more like him. We want to understand Jesus’ teaching and then follow Him ourselves. Listening to Jesus’ teachings alone is not enough, they have to have an effect upon our lives.

I want to do more than learn,  I want to be changed, to be transformed into the image of Christ, because this is our ultimate goal. All the teaching, the worship and everything else that we do has that one purpose, that we might be more like Him and less like our old self. And we need to be careful, because it is possible to learn all there is about God and yet still not know Him.

Jesus Himself warns us of this 

Matthew 7:21 (NLT) “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter.

This is a sobering passage that we have to take seriously. Calling Him Lord is not enough, saying we’re a Christian or going to church is not enough. We have to follow it through by doing His will.

When Jesus or the Bible gives us commandments, they’re not optional parts of our walk with Him, it is Jesus telling us exactly what His father’s will is, what he is looking for from us, what He expects of us if we are to be His  disciples.  This command to love each other like Jesus loved is so important that Jesus said it will be used as proof to the world of whether we are or not a disciple of Christ.  Only a real disciple of Jesus, only somebody who really knows Him will understand how it is that He loved us and will in turn will be able to give that love to others. People from outside the church will recognise us as being genuine or not according to whether we display Jesus’ love and character, because if we can do that then we must be a real disciple of Jesus.

The sad reality is that there has been a lot of abuse on many different levels within churches, sexually, emotionally, financially, and the world looks at that and recognises that that has nothing to do with the real God. I think the world spots what is wrong in the church before we do. But Similarly when they look at a church that loves beyond anything that they have experienced before they will know that we are followers of the one true God.

Jesus Loved us

The question we need to ask if we are to understand how to love like Jesus loved is how has Jesus loved us? If we know that, then we will know how we need to love each other. His love for us is so much deeper than anything the world understands, we can only know it and model it by knowing Him

He served us. 

Matthew 20:25-28 (NLT) “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Christianity is unique compared to how the world acts. In the world, if you are a king then you are in a position of power. People serve you, run around after you looking after your every need. But it’s not just true of kings, it’s true of all positions of power. Be that business leaders, politicians, or leaders at every level. People crave power because they want to be served, they want to be the boss and tell everybody else what to do and to feel important and to get all the benefits of that.

This even goes on in churches. Even in churches people fight and argue for power, because they want to be the “one.” I’ve witnessed this in many places throughout the world. They don’t understand that leadership in Christianity is so different from leadership in the world. Having a position such as a pastor or any other church position is not so you can be served, but it so you can serve. The bigger a church you have, the more the responsibility to serve and to put the needs of others over yourself.

Jesus was the King of all Kings the Lord of Lords and yet how did He act upon the earth? He came as a servant, a servant to all mankind, even to the point of torture and death. That is what leadership in the Kingdom of God means, and that is the example that we are called to model.

1 Peter 4:10 (ESV) As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:

Whatever gift that we have, and we have so many varied gifts amongst us today note that it says that our gifts have been received from god, we use it to build others, as stewards of what god has given us. For those of us on the platform, these gifts that we have are to serve others, to bless them and to lead them to Jesus. They are never to draw people to ourselves or to what we are doing, they are to lead men to him.

Philippians 2:3-8 (NLT) Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

Philippians tells us that we must have the same attitude as Christ, who though He knew who he was, he gave all that up and instead took the position of a slave. That’s what the greatest King ever to be chose to do

In Matthew 23:11 (NLT) Jesus said that: The greatest among you must be a servant. 

Being great in the Kingdom of God and in the world are 2 different things. Greatness in the Kingdom, in God’s eyes only comes from serving and being a servant. That is how you can become great in the Kingdom.

Jesus demonstrated his love for us and set an example to us


John 13:1-17 (NLT) Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and  return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end. It was time for supper, and the devil had already prompted Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him. When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus replied, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.” “No,” Peter protested, “you will never ever wash my feet!” Jesus replied, “Unless I wash you, you won’t belong to me.” Simon Peter exclaimed, “Then wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet!” Jesus replied, “A person who has bathed all over does not need to wash, except for the feet, to be entirely clean. And you disciples are clean, but not all of you.” For Jesus knew who would betray him. That is what he meant when he said, “Not all of you are clean.” After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing? You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message. Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.

In Jesus’ time in Israel the people walked in sandals in dusty roads, and before  people ate together they would wash their feet, or have a servant wash their feet. This job was reserved for the lowliest servant, and yet Jesus took it upon himself to do this job Himself. In fact this verse starts by saying that Jesus loved them until the end. He even washed Judas’ feet knowing what he had done and what he was going to do.

Jesus led by example. He didn’t live in a palace while commanding others to serve, He demonstrated what it was to serve, taking the very lowest place Himself. This is one of the things that made Him so unique as a leader, and so different to anyone who has come before or since. This King of Kings, this Lord of lords came to serve us first. Jesus also explains that this is the example that he requires His followers to copy, to serve one another. 


His Love Cost

Jesus’ love cost.

Ephesians 5:1-2 (NLT) Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.

​True love carries a cost. In fact we can measure the depth of love by its cost. We can believe Christ’s love for us because it cost His entire life. If someone where to die for our sake we can be left in no doubt as to the genuineness of their love. It’s easy to do something for others when there is no cost involved for us, but it becomes harder when there is a cost, be that of our time, our effort or anything else.

John 15:13-14 (NLT) There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command

There is no greater price we can pay, or greater demonstration of love than to lay down our lives.  Again here Jesus reemphasises those who are His friends, and it is they who love. Love sometimes requires a sacrifice on our behalf for the sake of someone else. Love looks like something, it has an outworking in our and others lives. The greatest love that we can do is lay down our lives for someone else. This doesn’t just mean physically dying for someone, it also means dying to one’s self for the sake of others.

His Love is undeserved

What makes God’s love for us even more powerful is how little we deserved it

​Psalms 103:10-11 (NLT) He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve. For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.

Had we had done something good to earn God’s love, then we would not have been shown as much love from God as when we deserved nothing.

So while we were at our least deserving, then God blessed us. And when we understand that, when we have a revelation of that then we can bless others no matter what they have done of even how they have treated us

Matthew 5:43-48 (NLT) “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbour’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.

In the same way that we did not deserve Jesus’ love, our love is for those who do not deserve, even for those who hate and persecute us. Matthew tells us that God’s love falls on the just and the unjust alike, and so must ours, without prejudice.

His love builds up

Romans 12:10 (NLT) Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honouring each other.

Love looks to raise others higher than ourselves. It looks to increase others. While we take the lowest place, we want to build others up and see them raised up. We want to see them go further than us. We put the needs and honouring others above ourselves. Our job is to increase, but not increase ourselves, increase other people. This applies when we’re face to face to people or when we’re talking about them when they’re not present. Our talk should be edifying, building and uplifting.

His love was only ever the Father’s will. 

John 5:19 (NLT) So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing.
​
Loving others and doing what is right for others is not always the same as doing their will. Jesus’ agenda was what was right, what was good. Which isn’t always the same as what we want. We must be careful not to mix up doing good with encouraging what is wrong. Just because humans desire something it does not mean it is good or right. True goodness, the goodness that we are to increase is goodness that comes from the Father, His will and his way.

Many churches and christians have fallen into the trap of not realising that true love has to be in line with the father’s will and has to be based on what is good. We only know what is good because of what Our father tells us. A good parent who loves correctly knows what is right and good, and is driven by that rather than what a person may want. For example, a child may want to eat chocolate cake for breakfast. A parent who truly loves that child will say no and put boundaries down out of love. Counterfeit love is centred on the will of people. Correct love is centred upon the truth and goodness of God. Children do not always know what is best for them, they only understand what they desire, and so they need an external figure to guide and train them. We are exactly the same. We’re God’s children and we need a Heavenly father to train us and lead is in the eways of righteousness.

A child sometimes confuses not being allowed to do what they want with hatred. Sometimes someone not being affirmed in doing wrong is mistaken for hate. But we have to remain people who hold onto the truth, because that is where goodness really comes from.

Conclusion

1 John 4:7-8 (NLT) Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

It’s that simple.

As a church, We may never have the big resources that some churches have or the space to host great meetings. We may not have the biggest worship team or most expensive resources.  But what we can offer is love. In fact, I will go further and say that this church is going to be built on love and grow in love.

Matthew 5:46-48 (NLT) If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.

Even non believers can do that! How does that make us any different? If we manage as a church to show love to people that we like then well done us! We’ve reached the same level as the pagans! The question isn’t how are going to love those people we like or are the same as us, but how do we love those who are different, how do we love those who are different, those who are a bit strange to us. That is the measure of our depth of love in God.

The love that the father gives us is for all people, it loves, honours and lifts up those who don’t deserve it

1 Corinthians 8:1 (NLT) … But while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church.



​

last week we looked at a broad overview of who the Holy Spirit is, His person and His work.

And we saw that when we first get saved God seals us with His Spirit as a guarantee of our salvation, as proof that we have been purchased by Him.

Ephesians 1:13-14 (NLT) And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.

So every true believer has the Holy Spirit living inside of us as that guarantee of our inheritance in Christ And we also looked at some of the roles that He does in our lives:  He is the advocate, councillor or helper, revealing the will of Jesus to us to lead us the correct way, glorifying Jesus and bringing us into greater unity with Him

The Holy Spirit is also a creator, and when He comes into our lives He brings us new life, He brings that abundant life that God has for us. The Spirit sanctifies us, cleansing us and making us holy. He also works in the world, convicting people of their sin and of their need to turn to a holy God. The Holy Spirit distributes gifts to each of us as he desires for the purpose of building each other up. He also leads our prayer and our worship so that we are led his way. He also leads every part of our lives.

So as we looked at last week all these are works that he does in our lives when He comes and lives in us. God designed us to be reliant upon Him. The Bible is full of examples of God having to rebuke His people for going their own way rather than relying upon Him and living in Him. Over the years he sent many prophets to warn the people of a consequence of a life outside of following God. One of the prophets that He sent was Jeremiah.

Cisterns

Jeremiah was sent to the Judean people in the late 7th century BC.  And he was sent by God to warn the people of the consequences of their ceasing to rely upon Him. And this is what Jeremiah told them:

Jeremiah 2:13 (NLT) For my people have done two evil things: They have abandoned me—the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!

So God sends a prophet to His people, and He can tell them anything He wants, but what he chooses to rebuke them for is their plumbing system. A cistern was a large well dug in the the rock that was designed to store water. In the Middle East, as we know, it rains irregularly, so surely it’s only common sense to try to collect and store the rain when it does fall. And yet God rebukes the people for having dug these wells. not only does God rebuke them, but He calls what they have done evil. And then He explains why this is an issue.

God Himself is the fountain of living water, a living spring, and yet instead of going to Him for this living water the people wanted to store the old, stagnant water. And not only did they want to store the old water, they couldn’t even do that correctly. Their cisterns were cracked and couldn’t even hold the water anyway, what water they had managed to store leaked away.

God so often uses analogy’s and parables to explain His ways to people, and here God was pointing to what the Judeans were doing physically to make a message about what they were doing spiritually. The Judeans had lost their connection to God, they had turned away from Him and instead they were trying to go alone without Him, replacing the living water that He had for them with stagnant and leaking water that they were desperately trying to hold onto.

They had stopped following God and His ways believing that they could do it better on their own. God wanted them to come to Him and drink, He is the fountain of living water. As people we like to store and hold onto what God has done with us in the past and then do the rest ourselves. When we looked at the sermon do not worry about couple of weeks ago, we looked at the Israelites in the desert, and how they had to trust in God’s provision by giving them fresh manna every single day. This is the nature of sinful man to want to provide for ourselves outside of God, and this is not just true of tour physical needs but our spiritual needs too. 

Living Water

As usual, this Old Testament situation is mirrored perfectly in the New Testament with Jesus, who is the fulfilment of the Old Testament law.

John 7:37-39 (NLT) On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’” (When he said “living water,” he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him. But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into his glory.)

Jesus attended the Feast of Booths or Festival of the Tabernacles which took place in Jerusalem incognito.  He had spent the festival keeping low and not revealing himself to anyone. And the people attending the festival were talking amongst themselves about whether Jesus was truly the messiah. Because they were thirsty, they were looking for a messiah. And it was at the end of the festival that Jesus stood up and announced Himself to the crowds and proclaimed Himself the living water, and that anyone could come to Him and drink. The timing of Jesus’ offer of living water was perfect.  One of the rites performed during the Feast of Booths involved water. Every morning for seven days, a priest led a procession with music from the temple to the nearby pool of Siloam. There the priest filled a golden container with water and carried it back to the temple as the people rejoiced. At the altar, the priest poured the water out, while another priest poured a drink-offering of wine on the other side of the altar. On the eighth and final day the water-pouring ceremony was not repeated. It was during that time—the one day when there was no water—that Jesus stood up in the temple and shouted the news that He Himself was the source of living water. 

Here was the Messiah, offering the “water,” that was conspicuous in its absence. All that was needed was to come to Jesus in faith. And anyone who believes in Him and comes to him, rivers of living water will flow from his heart, just as God said to the Judean people in Jeremiah. And then the  Bible specifies what this living water is, in case we hadn’t guessed, it is the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit would no longer just come upon a believer occasionally as it had in the past, but would live in all who come to Jesus, and not just live in them, but flow into and out of them, a continual stream of His life Just like with the Judeans, God doesn’t want us to get a bit of Him and store it away where it will become stale and old, He wants us to come to him continually to be filled by Him, so that His life will flow out of us.

Be Being Filled

Ephesians 5:15-20 (NLT) So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I’ve already mentioned how every believer is filled and sealed by His Spirit when we are saved. But the Bible also talks about the Holy Spirit in another context, in terms of an ongoing filling of Him. Paul tells us to Be filled. “Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit”

The English language doesn’t quite do justice to Paul’s intent here. In the Greek, this command is what is called a present imperative, indicating that Paul isn’t speaking of a one time filling, but rather a continual pattern of being filled. So “go on being filled with the Holy Spirit” is a better way to phrase this or as I was always told how to understand this phrase “be being filled.”

In addition to our initial sealing with the Spirit when we are saved, God wants us to be continually filled with Him. He has an abundance of life for us! Being filled is something more than the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit we receive when we are saved. It is that continual flow of His Spirit both in and out of our lives. But God wants us to draw upon Him daily so that he moves in our lives and so we in turn can affect other people’s lives. When he freely flows into us we can then freely bless other people.

Stephen

When we’re filled with His Spirit we can do remarkable things in God, things that we would not normally be able to do in our own strength. And there’s many examples from the Bible of someone filled with the Spirit, but let’s look at passage about the stoning of Stephen. We take up the story as Stephen is addressing and rebuking the religious leaders of the day

Acts 7:51-58 (NLT) “You stubborn people! You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That’s what your ancestors did, and so do you! Name one prophet your ancestors didn’t persecute! They even killed the ones who predicted the coming of the Righteous One—the Messiah whom you betrayed and murdered. You deliberately disobeyed God’s law, even though you received it from the hands of angels.”

The Jewish leaders were infuriated by Stephen’s accusation, and they shook their fists at him in rage. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honour at God’s right hand. And he told them, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honour at God’s right hand!”

Then they put their hands over their ears and began shouting. They rushed at him and dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. His accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul.

“And He was full of the Holy Spirit.”

The Holy Spirit gave Stephen the words and the courage to address and to rebuke such a large crowd of important people.  He was faced with a crowd full of rage who were so angry with him that they were going to kill Him. Now if I were in that situation I would buckle under fear and intimidation, but Stephen didn’t Instead he was filled with the Spirit as he focused upon Jesus’ work.

And because of this filling he was able to completely ignore the horror that was going on around him and instead what he saw was the glory of God. Faced with a murderous crowd full of hatred he was full of love and God’s glory. Here was a man living in the living waters that come from Jesus, and even in his most horrendous death he was full of peace and joy.

Quenching the Spirit

God wants us continually filled with His Spirit, he wants us to come to Him and drink. But do you know that we can do the opposite and stifle the work of the Spirit within us? We can quench the work of the Spirit wants to do in our lives and even “grieve the Holy Spirit.” One of Stephen’s accusations against the religious leaders of the day was of resisting the Holy Spirit   

1 Thessalonians 5:19-20 (NLT) Do not stifle the Holy Spirit. Do not scoff at prophecies,

So it is possible to stifle or quench the Holy Spirit, meaning that he wants to do something but we stop it. That is the power that we have as humans, we can choose to allow God to do a deeper work in us or we can refuse it. Well, why would anyone do that?  It is much easier to organise things how we want them rather than allow God to do His work amongst us. That is our human nature, that’s what the Judeans did that made God so angry.

We want to be in control because we want things our way. Letting God take over is actually quite hard, especially when we know what it is that we want and how we want to do things. We have our own ways of doing things, and yet God has His and wants to reveal them to us. We can be filled with the Holy Spirit daily by yielding our will to God in submission and obedience to His Word. There is no formula to follow other than to allow Him to fill us and control every part of our lives—our thoughts, emotions, bodies, and actions. Only as we submit to Him and are filled with the Holy Spirit can we experience a harmonious relationship with God and one another. As we learn to be obedient in every area of our lives, He will work in us by His Spirit.

We also quench or grieve the Holy Spirit by how we live.


Ephesians 4:30 (NLT) And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption.

Sin and rebellion against God’s will hinder us from living in the fullness of the Holy Spirit. When we give in to sinful temptations and worldly desires, when we lose control and do what we know is wrong, living as we did before accepting Christ’s salvation, we prevent God’s Spirit from guiding, influencing, and governing our behaviour. Instead of being led by the Spirit we become led by sin.

Being Governed

Rather than quenching the Spirit or grieving Him, God wants to allow Him to rule over us.

Romans 8:6 (NLT)  So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace

We can decide who we want to rule our minds, our sinful nature or the Spirit of God. And when our minds are ruled by Him, by His truth they will be minds of life and peace. The more that we fill our minds with the truth however that comes, through what we watch or read or through how we spend our time the more we allow the Spirit to rule our minds.

Conclusion

Revelation 21:6 (NLT) And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life

Jesus completed His work upon the cross. And His death, resurrection and giving of the Holy Spirit means that we are free to enter into is presence, to come a drink from him. God is not offering dry religion, but life! Come and drink! That living water is ours to take. This is the life that He has for us. We have to learn to go to Him daily, to drink from this life that He has for us, this abundant life that flows out of living in Him.

Matthew 28:1-7 (NLT) Early on Sunday morning, as the new day was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to visit the tomb.Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint.
Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying. And now, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and he is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there. Remember what I have told you.”
​
That first easter Sunday 2000 years ago changed the world forever
We read of how Mary and Mary Magdalene went to visit the tomb of Jesus expecting to visit a full grave, but instead they encountered an angel of the Lord who gave them a very simple message: Jesus who they had seen crucified and killed was no longer here, because He is Risen.Now that is an unusual expression for the angel to use, “He is risen.”

Normally, to describe someone having risen we would  say “He has risen”, which emphasis that the action of him having risen is complete.But the angel didn’t say this. Instead, he said that Jesus is risen. By phrasing it like this the emphasis is on the fact that yes he did rise, but not only that,  he continues to be risen, or He is in a continual state of being risen.

The angel was proclaiming that Jesus rose and is still alive even today. But not everyone believed this message.

Mark 16:10-14 (NLT) She went to the disciples, who were grieving and weeping, and told them what had happened. But when she told them that Jesus was alive and she had seen him, they didn’t believe her.Afterward he appeared in a different form to two of his followers who were walking from Jerusalem into the country. They rushed back to tell the others, but no one believed them.Still later he appeared to the eleven disciples as they were eating together. He rebuked them for their stubborn unbelief because they refused to believe those who had seen him after he had been raised from the dead.
Mary and others who witnessed the resurrected Jesus excitedly went to tell others about this miracle, but many did not believe them. And we live in a world where many people still do not believe that He rose from the dead, But we are gathered here this morning because we do believe. Did we come here this morning to remember a dead man? Did we come here to remember a piece of history? No, we came here because we know that He lived then, and that He lives now.

Jesus is still alive today. He is a living, present tense God, and that means that we can have hope, because we do not worship an historical figure from the past, but a God who is alive now.That is why we celebrate Easter Day because Jesus’ resurrection brings us a hope that we cannot find anywhere else in the world.

Because he lives, we will have eternal life

As He was drawing near to the end of his time here on earth, Jesus told his followers this:

John 14:19 (NLT) Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also will live.

Jesus told them that the result of the fact that he is risen is that His followers will also live. Because he has eternal life, so do His followers.

There are a couple of ways of understanding what Jesus meant here The first is that when we follow Him, He gives us literal eternal life.

John 11:25-26 (NLT) Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die.

You see Jesus was more than just resurrected, He is the resurrection. There is no resurrection outside of Jesus, it’s more than just what He did on Easter Sunday, it is His very being. Similarly, He doesn’t just have life, he is life. He is the very source, the definition of what life is.  He was the giver of life at the beginning of creation, and everything is sustained by His word.

So Jesus gives us a promise, a cast iron guarantee that anyone who lives and believes in Him will live even after dying, that they will never die. It is an inescapable  fact since the day that that we were born is that we are going to die, Now this will be at different times for each of us, some of us will live longer, some of us shorter, And it’s not something that we like to think about, in fact most of us put it out of our minds, but death is going to happen to each of us. But Jesus promises us that if we live our life in Him, if we believe in Him, in who He is and what He says, then although we will still die, we will live forever even after dying. What He means by that is that our bodies will die but our soul and spirit will live with Jesus for eternity.

Because he lives, we can live a full life.

But there is a second meaning behind Jesus saying that since he lives we will also live. It is not just about the life he gives us after death, but that life that he gives us now. 

John 10:10 (ESV) The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 

When He said this, Jesus meant that in each of our lives there has been a thief. And that thief has come to rob us of life, to take away our joy of life by burdening us with some of the things that are wrong in the world. And this will be different in each of us, but we are all weighed down by burdens we face of life. And not only has this thief come to rob from us, but he has also come to destroy us, and even to kill us. It wants to take every bit of enjoyment of life away from us and then lead us to our death. But Jesus came to do the opposite to that. He came to give us life. And not just any old life, but abundant life, here and now.

Jesus’ resurrection accomplished that. By dying on the cross and being raised to life again Jesus broke the power of death that has existed since the beginning of mankind. By going to that cross for us, he paid the punishment that WE should have paid for our sins,  and when He rose again He emerged victorious over all death. And whoever believes in Him can experience that same life that He has for each and every one of us, that abundant life. 

John 5:21 (NLT) For just as the Father gives life to those he raises from the dead, so the Son gives life to anyone he wants.

The father gives life to those he raises from the dead, and when he raised Jesus the father gave Him life. And now Jesus imparts that life to anyone he wants to. That is what He came for, to impart life.

2 Corinthians 4:16 (NLT) Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day

We know that our physical body is slowly dying, but our spirit, that which is inside us, the life inside us is being renewed every day. We can’t help that our bodies are aging, that is a part of life, but our spirit, the life that is within us is being renewed every day. God is not done with us yet, no matter how old we may feel, He still renews our spirit.

Because He Lives He adopts us into his family

Jesus accomplished so much more than even giving us life when He rose from the dead.

John 1:12 (NLT) But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.

To whoever believes in Him and accepts Him, He gives the right, a legal right to be His child.  He signs the adoption papers, it becomes a legal contract that He becomes our father, and we become His responsibility, we become His problem! And because we are adopted as His child, we also become His legal heirs.

Romans 8:17 (NLT) And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.

Being a legal heir of God means that we are legally entitled to inherit all that He has, that we are entitled to inherit His life, His joy, His peace and His love.

Because He lives, we are provided for

And because God becomes our father, and we are His responsibility, He provides for us. God is not just any old father, He is a good father, and one of the jobs of a father is to provide for their children.

Philippians 4:19 (NLT) And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.

Philippians tells us that God has many glorious riches, and that through Jesus Christ He is able to supply all our needs. And he can only do this because He lives


Because He lives we can confidence that He hears us when we pray.

1 John 5:14-15 (NLT) And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.

We can ask Him for anything that pleases Him and we know that He hears us and gives to us. This good father listens to us. He has time for us, He cares for us. He wants us to come to Him and ask Him for what we need, and when we ask for what pleases him He gives us our requests. Because we are adopted by a loving father who provides for us hears us when we ask of Him it means that we are not alone.

Hebrews 13:5-6 (NLT) Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” So we can say with confidence, “The LORD is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?”

He will never abandon us, so we can say with confidence, the Lord is my helper. We can be confident in the provision of our Heavenly Father.

Because He lives We do not have to worry about the future

Matthew 6:31-33 (NLT) “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

Jesus taught us that worry about the future is what dominates the thoughts of unbelievers. And there is a reason for this, it is because unbelievers do not have a Heavenly Father looking after them, they haven’t been adopted into God’s family. But we are taught that as believers, we do not have to worry about the future. Jesus tells us to change our mindset, change how we think.

He tells us we no longer have to think like unbelievers, but as children of God. Our responsibility is to seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, which means seek His way, and everything else will be provided for us.

Because He lives we can have His peace.

Romans 5:1 (NLT) Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.

This living God is a god of peace, a God who gives us peace with Him, and even when our circumstances are hard, gives us peace within the world because we know Him. And Jesus death and life means that we are no longer enemies of God as we once were, but we have been restored to Him, That we can call Him Lord and King, but we can also call Him friend, because all those who follow God’s will become His friend.

Conclusion

Two days ago on Good Friday we looked at everything that Jesus accomplished by His death. And today we have heard some of what Jesus accomplished by His resurrection. The greatest news that humans has ever heard is the news that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead as He promised.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the chief proof of the Christian faith. It is the truth that lies at the very foundation of the Gospel.  Other doctrines of the Christian faith are important, but the resurrection is essential. 

Romans 10:9 (NLT) If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Easter is a day we associate with spring and all the new life that is going on around us. But it is also a day that can bring new life to us as well. All we have to do to receive this life is believe in Jesus, turn to Him and live in Him.

John 3:16-17 (NLT) “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

There is a famous Hymn that we are going to sing called “Because he lives.” - because He lives I can face tomorrow, because he lives, all fear is gone, because he lives, I know he holds the future. And life is worth the living just because he lives.