Nothing can stop us getting closer to Jesus Christ (Liam Parker)

Liam read Acts 8 v 26-39, the story of the Ethiopian eunuch who met Philip and was baptised.

Following this message, people responded at the 9:30 am and 11:30 am in Bracknell for salvation and for immediate baptism in water.

We trip ourselves up

As a teenager, Liam would present a request to him mum, and she would say “No”.  But Liam likes to be right, and to persuade others of his point of view, which would lead to ‘heated discussions’!  One day, his dad took him aside, and taught him to think how to say things, to pick the right moment, and to realise that he was the problem in these arguments.  

We are often our own worst enemy and keep tripping ourselves up.

Similarly, the only thing that can stop us coming closer to Jesus Christ is ourselves.  We need to get out of our own way, and choose to respond to Jesus.

Nothing else can stop us drawing closer to Jesus

It is most likely that the eunuch would have asked the queen he served for permission to take the 1500 mile journey to Jerusalem to find out more about God.  But when he got to the temple the law did not allow eunuchs admittance (Duet 23 v 1, Lev 21 v 20).   People would look at his sexuality, his skin, his race, his wealth, his job and count him out from finding God.  But none of these things or anything else can separate us from access to Jesus.

Rom 8 v 35-39 says ‘Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? … No … For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God.’

Getting out of our own way

We may put up reasons as to why we can’t get close to God – perhaps because of the bad things we have done, our present lifestyle, our current circumstances, or our uncertainly of the future, but actually it is only our choice right now that stops us getting closer to God.

The eunuch made the choice to stop the chariot, and right there and then to get baptised.  We must decide right here and now to obey Christ, and trust him to deal with the past and sort out our future.

Questions

1. Have you been baptised?  If not, what is stopping you?

2. What external things try to stop us drawing closer to Jesus, and how should we respond to them?  [With faith that they have no power to stop us.  Read Rom 8 v 35-39; Eph 6 v 10-20]

3. What things within you (e.g. past experiences, fears, attitudes) are stopping you right now from becoming more abandoned to Jesus?

4. Who are you praying for and asking to come to church this Christmas?

19th Nov 2017 - Living by Faith, Tope Koleoso

Living by Faith

Joshua 5:13-15

Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”

Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?”

The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

Heb 11:6

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Dealing with Strongholds

Joshua, like the gospels, is part of a story of deliverance – a good God redeeming his people – and the way God delivered Israel tells us a lot about how He operates.

Delivered by miracles. Exodus tells of the Israelites in slavery, and of the plagues brought upon the Egyptians to convince them to let God’s people go.  Frogs, flies, floods, hailstones; each time, Moses warned, but the Egyptians didn’t respond.  Do you remember ‘darkness’ as a plague (Ex10:21) – described as a darkness so dark you could feel it, and no-one in Egypt moved for 3 days.  At the same time, the Israelites had light.  Finally, when all other warnings failed, there was the death of the firstborn.

Destined by promises.  The wonders changed Israel – changed their worship, changed their attitude. They saw God keeping his promises, they rejoiced and truly believed.  In all, God made seven promises –seven ‘I wills’ about redeeming Israel.

Sustained by the supernatural.  Camped at the Red Sea and seeing the Egyptian army approaching, the Israelites turned to Moses, and Moses to God – who said “Why are you crying out to me?”(not what Moses wanted to hear!) But then God gave Moses instructions, and as Moses raised his staff, a path opened in the waters of the Red Sea.  Taking that path required trust – walking between the walls of water!  Beyond that day, the Israelites were sustained in other miraculous ways:

·         God’s directed them, pointing out the way with clouds and fire

·         God fed them – food from heaven for 2m people for 40 years.

·         God refreshed them with water - from rocks

·         Their shoes never wore out

And yet, there was unbelief.  As Psalm 106 puts it, “Then they despised the pleasant land; they did not believe his promise.” The mentality of Egypt had a strong hold on them.

By the time of our reading (Joshua 5), we have a new generation; a new leader, new people, and new battles to fight.  They arrive at Jericho – a city with a formidable wall that prevented their advance.

We all face Jericho’s – sometimes they are more of an obstacle than we realize.  They can shape our lives, cause daily difficulties.  It may be:

·         Relationships:

·         Chronic illness,

·         Things of the mind, such as doubt

·         Emotions – guilt, perhaps of past deeds, perhaps unjustly.  Fear – of the future, of the unknown.

People try to deal with Jericho in different ways

·         By climbing over it – Basically a ‘salvation by works’ it rarely works.

·         Sometimes they hit it and then shrink back – perhaps blaming something/someone else for their inability to progress

·         Some camp at the bottom and decide to live there – them never move further on in their journey.

How does one break through?

Acknowledge God afresh. – see the bigger God, the bigger picture.  Joshua’s big picture was a big soldier, and he asked him the wrong question: “Are you on our side?”.  But God hadn’t come to take sides, he’d come to take over.  Joshua’s response was to worship – the only possible reaction to an encounter with a big God.

Walk by faith again.  Often we start by faith, then say ‘Thanks God, I’ve got this’ … and it all falls apart.  Whatever plan the Israelites might have had for beating Jericho, it wouldn’t have been like Gods plan.  “the wall will come down, we just have to walk around it every day for a week”.  It sounded crazy … but they start doing it. 

Everyone can do this faithful walk once, but repeating it when you’re not seeing results comes harder.  Other thoughts and attitudes bubble up.

·         Negativism – always projecting to the worst-case scenario.  That kills faith stone dead.

·         Criticism - - the disposition to be pre-occupied with the imperfect

·         Skepticism – always questioning, but never committing

·         Cynicism – never believing human actions are unselfishly motivated

Obey Gods word boldly.  On the seventh day, the Israelites walked around 7 times, and still it didn’t come down – until on Gods command, everyone shouted.  Then, finally, the walls came down, and Israel was free – they had freedom around, and freedom with because they knew God was with them.

Questions

These might be good questions to discuss with a trusted friend

·         Look at your own heart and life – are there Jericho’s there, blocking your Christian journey?

·         How have you tried to deal with your Jericho?

·         Are you ready to walk by faith and see the walls come down in Gods way? 

·         For which part of the breakthrough do you most need prayer?