Talk - 1 John 2. verses 1 to 14.

1 John 2. verses 1 to 14.

As Campbell has explained, the main theme of 1 John is Knowing God, and this is what is at the heart of genuine Christian discipleship.  A true Christian disciple is someone who knows God and experiences fellowship with him.

John is concerned therefore to outline in his letter how true knowledge of God may be discerned in a person. In other words what are the hallmarks of a genuine Christian disciple and how can such a person be sure that they do indeed know God.

If I asked you to describe the hallmarks of a farmer you might come up with a few suggestions. A farmer might have a slightly weather beaten face – a sign of someone who is outside in all weathers.

He may have rough hands. He may well wear practical workman like clothes and drive round in some sort of truck or 4 by 4.

This vehicle is quite likely to be muddy and if you ride in it, it might be advisable to have a tetanus injection first.

He is quite likely to wear boots of some description and to talk about the weather a lot. If someone came up to you claiming to be a farmer but exhibiting none of these characteristics you might be a bit suspicious of their claim.

So in this passage John identifies two particular essential hallmarks of a genuine Christian disciple – someone who really does know God, as opposed to someone who claims to know God but whose lifestyle and actions do not back up this claim.

Firstly in verse 3 John says “Now by this we may be sure that we know him, if we obey his commandments. Whoever says “I have come to know him” but does not obey his commandments is a liar and in such a person the truth does not exist.”

The first hallmark of a genuine Christian – one who really knows God - is obedience to God’s commandments. What does it mean to obey his commandments?

Well initially one would point towards the ten commandments but I think there is more to it than this.

Its not just trying to live in obedience to a set of moral guidelines but as John says in verse 6. - Whoever says “I abide in him” ought to walk just as he - (i.e Jesus) walked.

So a genuine Christian should try and live in obedience to God’s moral laws but their lives should also reflect the hallmarks of obedient discipleship that we see in Jesus life.

As we look at Jesus life and see how he walked in perfect obedience to God we can see essential elements of that obedience that should also be part of our own walk with God.

There are numerous elements to Jesus life that we could pick out but I’d like to highlight just a few of what I believe are the most important.

Initially and most importantly Jesus life was totally focused on pleasing God rather than himself.

We see this most clearly of course in the Garden of Gethsemane when he faced the cross. “Father if you are willing remove this cup from me, yet not my will but yours be done.”

Jesus’ will was submitted to his heavenly Father and his whole life was focused on pleasing God rather than himself.

If a person truly knows God, their life should be focused on pleasing God rather than themselves and their life should be submitted to him.

What other elements of Jesus’ life can give us indicators as to how we should live? Well Jesus spent time alone with his heavenly Father in prayer.

He knew how important this was if he was to fulfil his mission and he always made time to do this, whether very early in the morning or at the end of a very busy day.

A person who truly knows God should have a healthy and regular prayer life.

Jesus also knew the scriptures extremely well. He’d taken the time and trouble – one imagines since he was a boy - to learn and study the Jewish Scriptures. He had immersed himself in God’s word and knew exactly what it said.

A person who truly knows God should read their bible regularly and get to know what it says.

And of course Jesus was concerned to extend God’s kingdom at every available opportunity. Even a chance meeting with a woman he’d never met at a well in the middle of the day was an evangelistic opportunity for him.

A person who truly knows God should be concerned to work for and extend God’s kingdom in any way they can.

I was thinking of genuine and committed Christian people I have known reasonably well over the years – people who definitely knew God - some of whom have now died or moved away - and it struck me that without fail their lives had all been focused on pleasing God.

In their own ways they had all sought to walk in obedience to God as Jesus did and to do their best to serve him in whatever way they believed he was asking.

Most of them weren’t in full time Christian work but clearly their relationship with God was at the centre of their lives and something of God shone out of their lives.

What other hallmarks were there to these people’s lives?
The people I was thinking of all belonged to churches with which they were actively involved and they were all people who prayed and read their bibles regularly.

All of them were also concerned to see their families and friends walking with God.

Their lives bore the first hallmark of a genuine Christian as outlined by John in this passage - obedience to God’s commands and doing their best to walk as Jesus walked.

The second hallmark of a true Christian disciple that John identifies is loving our Christian brothers and sisters.

Thus in verse 10 he says; “whoever loves a brother or sister lives in the light ...but whoever hates another believer walks in darkness.” So as Christians we should seek to love our fellow believers and indeed to demonstrate God’s love to all those we know.

Now this doesn’t mean saying right – when I go to church today I’m going to make a real effort to love so and so, although I can’t really stand them.

This love should already be in our hearts because God’s spirit is living in us and God is love. So the love we feel for fellow believers and those around us should be a love inspired by the spirit of Jesus living within us.

It’s not a gooey romantic sort of love – its more caring and being concerned for the wellbeing of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

It’s a desire to bless them and encourage them and to build them up in their faith.

A desire to help and support them in practical ways and if necessary to pray for them.

So the obvious question for us to ask in the light of what John is saying here is do we truly know God and if we claim we do, are we walking in obedience to his commandments and demonstrating something of God’s love to those around us?

Are we walking as Jesus did and if so, do we recognise these hallmarks of discipleship and love in our own lives?

If we do genuinely know God and therefore are walking as Jesus did, John has plenty of words of encouragement and assurance for us at the end of today’s reading

and indeed throughout this letter.

However if we don’t know God then we need to recognise it and face up to it and do something about it.

I used to work with a man I’ll call Bob. Bob confused me because he seemed interested in Christianity and liked to talk about it, but apparently despite his best efforts it seemed he hadn’t yet managed to come to know God.

He said he’d asked Jesus into his life lots of times but nothing had happened or changed.

I shared my confusion about Bob with a friend I sometimes pray with. As we prayed about his situation I had a picture of a man who liked to look admiringly at something in a shop window but who would then pass by the shop without going in to buy it.

My friend said the reason the person didn’t actually go into the shop to buy the item was because it was too expensive and they weren’t prepared to pay the asking price.

We both felt that God was saying that Bob was indeed interested in Christianity but that when it came to actually repenting he wasn’t prepared to do so.

He wanted God to be there for him when things got tough but he didn’t want to

pick up his cross and follow Christ. It was too costly.

I think Bob’s predicament is true of many people who would like the benefits of a relationship with God but who do not want to repent and allow God to direct their lives

If you’ve been coming to church for a while and deep down - if you’re honest, you don’t really know God, the solution is to genuinely repent.

What do I mean when I use the word repent? Well to repent means to turn around or change direction. It means to reach a point in our lives where we truly want to follow Christ.

It means to cease rebellion against God and instead to work with Him to extend His kingdom.

It means to make a U turn in life and rather than living for our own purposes and desires, to decide that we want to live for God’s purposes and desires.

Repentance is a decision and not a feeling or emotion.

If you think of your life as a car – before repenting you drive wherever you feel like. You have your own destination in mind.

However a person who has repented has invited Jesus to come and sit on the passenger seat and to give them directions as to where he wants them to go.

Of course the car is still under your control because you have free will but because you know that Jesus loves you and wants the best for you and those around you, you trust him to give you good directions.

Sometimes you may not follow a direction that Jesus gives you straight away, and then you’ll end up at a dead end or getting lost.

Jesus won’t leave the car. He’ll wait patiently and lovingly until you’re ready to listen to him and then he’ll start directing you again.

He’ll always respect your free will and the further you drive with him the more you’ll start to appreciate that he always knows best.

The destination of the car with Jesus in - is heaven, and the way to get to heaven is to follow Jesus.

Sometimes people can feel a bit scared or threatened by the idea of repenting and choosing to follow Christ.

But actually choosing to follow Christ is the wisest decision anyone can make.

The world is a scary and unpredictable place and choosing to put your life in God’s hands is extremely sensible.

Furthermore God loves you perfectly and He always wants the best for you.

As Paul says; “In all things God works for the good of those who love him, those who have been called according to his purpose.”

Whatever you experience in life, if you’ve chosen to follow Christ, God will be working for your good

Because God created you and knows you better than you know yourself, whatever he asks you to do will be ideally suited to your talents and abilities.

The majority of people who become Christians stay in their current roles and jobs and homes and find that God is calling them to extend his kingdom where they are.

Some may feel called to some form of full time Christian work.

As you step out in faith and do the things you feel He is asking you to do, you will derive a great sense of satisfaction and achievement.

God will always respect your free will. He understands that as humans we are weak and we often fail. You will find as you walk with Him that God is extremely kind and patient and loving.

God is also always positive. When we make a mess of something or get something wrong once we’ve acknowledged our mistake, He’s always there to pick us up and dust us off and help us on our way again.

So let me ask you again? Do you truly know Christ? Do you experience fellowship with him? Be honest with yourself.

If not, then I would suggest that God is waiting for you to truly repent, to make that decision to follow Christ wholeheartedly.

Lets pray.

Picture Jesus standing a little way in front of you.

He’s issuing that same invitation that he gave to his disciples – to you.

Come and follow me.

Quietly in your own heart respond to that invitation now. Amen

Questions on 1 John 2 vs 1 to 14

Questions on 1 John 2 vs 1 to 14

1. How can we be sure that we know God?

2. What does to obey his commandments (verse 3) mean?

3. John says we ought to walk just as he (Jesus) walked (verse 6).

a) What does John say we can be sure about if we do this?

b) What does it mean to be “in him” (verse 5) and to “abide in him” (verse 6)?

c) What characteristics of Jesus’ walk with his Heavenly Father strike you as the most important?

4. John stresses the importance of loving other believers – our brothers and sisters (verses 9 to 11).

a) In what practical ways can we do this?

b) Where does this love come from do you think?

5. Think of Christian people you have known. What strikes you about them?

6. In these verses John outlines how we can be sure that we know God. What can we do about it if we don’t yet know God?

The Letters of John’ – week 1 1 John Chapter 1 verses 1 - 10

The Letters of John’ – week 1         1 John Chapter 1 verses 1 - 10

This morning we start our new series of talks on one of the early Christian letters written by the Apostle John. Whilst we cannot be absolutely certain that it was John who wrote it, there certainly is enough similarity with his Gospel and other evidence to presume in his favour as the author of the letter.  And whilst there is an increasingly popular approach in the Church of England to view the scriptures as purely inspirational, and to not worry too much about  who wrote them or the situation either in which the original author was writing or writing to, I think we do John a disservice - not to mention short-changing ourselves! - if we just treat them in that way: he certainly didn’t intend them to be treated as such because he wrote these letters – there are three of them – with two very clear aims in mind.

The first aim was to encourage and inspire his readers in their faith and discipleship of Jesus. He needed to do so especially because – and here is his second clear aim – false teachers had infiltrated the church. Here in the area of Ephesus in the Roman province of Asia in the 60s and 70s of the first century, false teachers were attempting to mix pagan ideas popular in Roman Asia with the Christian faith that had arrived there some thirty years earlier. And certainly two aspects of their false teaching were, first, that knowledge of God was really only fully available to a special few, an elite known as the Gnostics; and, secondly, that Jesus had only seemed to be human: he was really a spirit.

John, however, wants to make it absolutely clear, first, that knowledge of God is open to everyone but only through the true Jesus and only because of Jesus; and, secondly, that Jesus was no apparition; he didn’t just seem to be human, he was human and fully so. (The reason why Jesus’ humanity was an issue with the false teachers was that most philosophies of the ancient Mediterranean world tended to have problems in believing that matter was good. They thought that the spiritual world was the only good and that true spiritual progress involved escaping from the material. But God created our world to be enjoyed ‘God saw what he had created and it was ‘good’’.)

John, as I said, wanted also to encourage and inspire his readers. He is obviously concerned, as we shall see, that the false teaching is robbing his readers of the joy (v4) rightfully theirs through fellowship with the risen Jesus. What he wants them to understand is that in the coming of Jesus and as a result of his sacrificial death, mighty resurrection, and glorious ascension, the world is now a different place; and the lives of those who welcome Jesus as Saviour and Lord are to be characterised by a new kind of love, fellowship, truth, obedience, joy, plus a great deal more to boot!

 John’s experience of knowledge of God makes it practically synonymous with, identical with, fellowship with him. Indeed, John’s major theme throughout his letter as he writes both to encourage his readers and warn them of false teaching, is ‘true knowledge of God’: it was this that was the main matter in dispute between John and the cult that was trying to entice his readers away to erroneous beliefs about the nature and person of Jesus. 

John’s definition, if you like, of ‘knowledge of God’ is this: the rich experience of him, the living God, at work in our lives. It is a knowledge that comes by reflecting prayerfully on what God has done in our lives – in the bad times as well as the good. And when we do reflect prayerfully on what God has done in our lives and are able to relate this to the ministry and death and resurrection of Jesus, together with his teaching, answers, and promises to us, why then our hope, assurance, and confidence in belonging to him will increase. This is knowledge; and if this knowledge is genuine, then it must flow out in love towards others - or else it is entirely fake. The person who claims to know God just because they had an amazing or even a quietly profound experience of God but who does not then evidence a greater loving concern for others is simply deluding themself. For Christians, discipleship and service are the only marks of authenticity: anyone can have a spiritual experience, but taking up our cross and serving others is another matter entirely.

Let’s take a look at the verses of this morning’s reading. The first 4 verses have John explaining his purpose in writing. Those who have seen the life (Jesus) and have been captured, willingly, by its beauty, holiness, and promise, find that they have come to belong to a new kind of family, a ‘fellowship’, which has a very different quality and set of principles and purposes from those of the world.

John wants to emphasize the physical realty of the person of Jesus when he was in the world. And here we have to bear in mind that he is emphasizing this physical reality because of the false teaching opposing it. People need to grasp securely the truth of this in order to have fellowship with God, which is,to know him and to understand what he is about, as also to know the joy which comes from such fellowship. It is only the true Jesus and not any philosophically invented spiritualised phantom who can give us fellowship with God.

John makes three points about Jesus here. First, that he was ‘from the beginning’; that is to say, the Jesus whom they had seen and touched was none other than the eternal Son of God who existed before the creation of the world. Secondly, this Son of God was physically tangible, not an illusion. St. Ignatius, writing early in the second century has this to say.’ Be fully persuaded in the matter of the birth and suffering and resurrection in the time of the regime of Pontius Pilate, for these things were truly and certainly done by Jesus Christ.’ Thirdly, John wants to explain that the Son of God is characterised by ‘Life’. (Remember the opening of John’s Gospel ? ‘in him was life’.) One of the most basic descriptions of God is that he is the ‘living God’. Other so-called gods are idols, the creation of human hands or human minds – gods that cannot actually intervene, however powerful a hold they have over our minds and principles. 

But the essential characteristic of God is liveliness, the ability to get involved with human kind: and this life is light and love – the one who brings true and fulfilling ‘joy’ (v 4).

Now of course it was wonderful for those who were physically present with Jesus to have had fellowship with him, but what about those of subsequent generations? Well, John’s answer is that when Christians who were not eyewitnesses come to accept the apostolic testimony concerning him, they begin to share the fellowship with Jesus and with the Father that the apostles had known. And remember, the apostles themselves had to change the nature of their fellowship once he had ascended to heaven. But through their day to day fellowship in taking up their crosses and following him, through their unashamed proclaiming of him, through their suffering, and through their prayerful reflection on what he was doing in their lives, they  knew him to be no less real: his gift to them of the Holy Spirit ensured this.

And that same gift is available to all today who will only admit their need of a Saviour and welcome him into their lives as Lord. But to do so requires an act of the will on our part to open the door of our lives and welcome him in. We have to do this - and as far as I know the English have not been granted any special exemption – because there is a very strong temptation in some social and intellectual circles to poo-poo such ‘emotionalism’ or ‘excess of zeal’ and to keep God at a socially, culturally,  and emotionally ‘healthy’ arm’s length.

You know I almost despair sometimes at the people who accuse God of being distant or of being absent when they needed him, when they themselves have gone to great lengths to keep him at arm’s length because they’re concerned that he might be real after all and actually interested in them in spite of their opinion of themselves – be that high or low – and in spite of their moral and social track records – be they dazzling or decidedly dodgy. It makes no difference where you or I are on the spectrum of social standing or spiritual success, we shall have neither joy nor fellowship unless we invite him into our lives as Saviour and Lord; and such is the common understanding of the New Testament authors.

In verses 5 – 10, John begins to explain how we may have this fellowship with God. He tells us that there is something we need to know (v6); something we need to avoid (v8); something we need to do (v7); and that something will happen (verses 7 and 9). And he repeats his points for emphasis!

First, we need to know that God is light. To walk in darkness is to walk in sin – whether we realise it or not. ‘Light’ is the opposite of darkness; it is the holiness of God, the sin-hating part of God that is based on purity, justice, and genuine love. It is the characteristic of God that he illuminates: to walk in this light means to walk in true knowledge, true understanding, and fellowship with God. This light is also love and joy, and the mark of genuine holiness. Those who consciously set themselves apart for God and for their neighbour are those who are walking in this light and deepening their fellowship with God and neighbour as a result.

Secondly, because light and darkness are incompatible opposites, we need to avoid walking in darkness – which is both sin and ignorance. This is exactly why Christians are called to proclaim a ‘gospel’ of forgiveness: people need to know! It’s as simple as that.

Thirdly, there is something that we have to do. We have to want to and determine to ‘walk in the light’. It is a Christian’s responsibility and it is highly practical. Fellowship with God will not necessarily come simply by piety or by prayer alone: no, it requires the steady, step-by-step obedience to God’s word and God’s call which always and inevitably leads to the service of others.

Fourthly and finally, something will happen. If we walk in the light we will have fellowship with one another. The idea that one is meant to be or even can survive as an effective Christian on one’s own is nowhere to be found in the New Testament: the whole emphasis is on corporate living, on genuine fellowship within the Christian family. This is why I mentioned it in my AGM Pastoral Letter. It is not an optional extra but a requirement lest we become introverted in our discipleship and exclusive in our relationships. True fellowship with God will always involve fellowship with one another in the Christian community. As the last two verses tell us, an honest and truly humble confession takes away the obstacles to fellowship both with God and with our fellow Christians. Why? Well, because with a clear conscience, with the knowledge that we are forgiven – whatever we’ve done, and with the joy that comes from knowing we are forgiven and put right with God, the more we shall feel free to be open and interested in others – which is what genuine fellowship requires! V10 speaks for itself and is really the beginning of next week’s talk – so I shall leave it to Joe, who will be preaching next week.    

   

QUESTIONS

1. Why is it important for belief about Jesus that he was both God and man?

2. How important is it to hold orthodox views about Jesus?

3. How does doubt affect our fellowship with God?

4. How does fellowship lead to joy?

5. What is it like to ‘walk in the light’?

6. How can we fall into pretending that we have fellowship?

7. How does the character of God affect our relationship with him?

Luke chapter 24 verses 36 to 48.

Today’s gospel reading from Luke is about the resurrection of Jesus, which as Campbell explained a couple of weeks ago, is at the very heart of Christianity

Jesus made extraordinary claims. He claimed that he would judge all humanity. He claimed that his was the only name under heaven by which we could be saved. He claimed to be able to forgive people’s sins. And He claimed that anyone who had seen him had seen God.

The resurrection authenticates Jesus’s claims. The resurrection is God’s validation of Jesus’ claims. The resurrection says that everything that Jesus said and did, can be trusted.

The resurrection shows that Jesus has overcome the power of death and opened the way for people everywhere to be free from sin and death as they put their faith in Him.

The resurrection is about new life and hope for all people and this is what I’d like to look at this morning but first let’s briefly set the scene to today’s gospel reading from Luke.

It is now the third day since Jesus was crucified and some of the women who went to the tomb early in the morning with spices, find the stone rolled away and the body gone.

They then have an encounter with two angels who tell them that Jesus has risen from the dead. The women tell the apostles what they have seen but Luke tells us in verse 11 of this chapter that the women’s testimonies seem like idle tales to the apostles, who remain unconvinced.

Simon Peter however runs to the tomb and finds it empty and returns home amazed.

That evening a couple of disciples come to tell the apostles of their encounter with the risen Jesus on the road to Emmaus. When they arrive Luke tells us in verse 34 that some time during the day Jesus has also appeared to Peter.

Why did Jesus appear to Peter first before the other disciples? I believe it was because Peter was in desperate need of comfort having disowned him and Jesus simply couldn’t wait to re-assure him.

By now with all these apparent sightings the rest of the apostles doubts are probably beginning to subside, but while they are talking about what these appearances can mean, Jesus himself comes and stands among them and says peace be with you.

The apostles’ first reaction seems to be shock and some of them seem to think he is a ghost. However Jesus proves that it is him by showing them his hands and his feet. 

He then gets them to touch him so that they can see that he has flesh and bones and 

as a final proof that he isn’t a ghost he eats some broiled fish in front of them.

Jesus resurrection is a physical resurrection of his body. It is a resurrection of the same body that he died in, and to prove this, his body still bears the marks of the nails on his hands and feet.

Some cults like Jehovah’s Witnesses claim that Jesus body was just a spirit body - not flesh and bone but as we can see in this passage from Luke, this is not the case.

However it is clear that Jesus’ body has undergone some sort of change. For instance he can suddenly appear when doors have been locked and then disappear at will. He can hide his identity from people but then open their eyes to recognise him.

It seems he can now exist quite happily in both the physical and the spiritual realms. His body is physical - flesh and bone, but it is also a spiritual body in the sense that it is no longer subject to the laws of physics.

What is the reason for this?

I think Paul gives us some clues in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 where he talks about the change that will occur to our own bodies when we are one day resurrected, if we have repented and put our faith in the resurrection of Jesus.

Talking about our body, Paul says; It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body.”

So our physical bodies will be resurrected and transformed into spiritual bodies.

Our perishable and mortal bodies will put on the imperishable and immortal aspects of the spiritual body.

Paul tells us that Jesus was the first fruits of this resurrection and that just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, that is Adam, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven, that is Jesus.

In other words when we are resurrected our bodies will be like Jesus’ body.

The reason Jesus can appear from behind closed doors is because his physical body has become imperishable and spiritual. Thus on the one hand he still has flesh and bone but on the other hand he can also ascend in to heaven. On the one hand he can eat broiled fish but on the other hand he can pass though walls.

Heaven isn’t a fluffy sort of spiritual place full of wispy mists where lots of disembodied saints float round like clouds.

The bible doesn’t tell us a huge amount about heaven but from what it does say, we can see that it is a place of beauty that contains many of the things we are familiar with on earth.

The apostle John for instance describes heaven – the New Jerusalem - as a city having walls made of precious jewels, while its twelve gates are made from single pearls. The city itself and its streets are are made of pure gold, that is like transparent glass. There are trees and a river, and one imagines - grass and flowers.

People who claim to have had glimpses of heaven describe a place of great beauty with vivid colours and beautiful landscapes and gardens.

So heaven is a place that exists in what we’d call the spiritual realm – but which bears some resemblance to the physical realm. And in order to enjoy it we will have bodies that bear much resemblance to our physical bodies although our new bodies will be imperishable and immortal.

So if we put our faith in him and believe in him, Jesus’s resurrection can give us hope for the future.

In heaven we can hope to meet loved ones again who also believed and when our bodies have worn out and failed us we can one day look forward to being renewed and seeing our bodies become immortal and imperishable.

But the resurrection isn’t just about hope for the future. It’s about hope for today whatever we are experiencing in our everyday lives, however bleak or hopeless life may seem.

In the period between Jesus’ death and resurrection the disciples went through a very low time. The man they’d given up everything to follow and on whom their hopes were set had been brutally crucified and killed. Their world had seemingly fallen apart.

But when they met with the risen Lord Jesus and saw that he had indeed returned to life, all their doubt and fear disappeared. Everything Jesus had taught them started to make sense and their lives were transformed.

And this is what is still happening all over the world today. People everywhere who will acknowledge their need for him are finding new hope and new life as they too encounter the risen Lord Jesus and come to believe in him.

In the vast majority of cases this encounter doesn’t involve seeing Jesus, although occasionally some Christians do see him, but rather it is a spiritual revelation. 

However it is none the less real.

Interestingly today’s other reading is from the Acts of the Apostles where Luke tells us how following the  disciples experience of meeting with the risen Lord Jesus and being empowered by the Holy Spirit the early church grew rapidly as they shared this message of new life and hope.

Just before today’s reading from Acts Peter has spoken words of hope and healing to a man lame and crippled from birth and the power of Jesus resurrection has broken into his life and healed him.

What hope did this man have until he encountered Jesus? Very little. The prospect of begging for the rest of his life. But when he encounters the healing power of the risen Lord Jesus his life is changed completely.

And this is the message of the gospel, that as the light and love and power of Jesus resurrection comes into our lives everything can change.

Death can turn to life and darkness to light. Forgiveness can replace hatred and love can replace cold heartedness. Relationships that were seemingly irreparable can be restored and lives that were empty and pointless can receive meaning and purpose.

I have no idea what you are experiencing in your life at the moment but if you are in need of hope or or forgiveness or purpose, Jesus can provide it if you will only take a step of faith and invite him wholeheartedly into your life.

Perhaps the sheer mundaneness of life is grinding you down. You are materially comfortable but deep down your life is empty and without meaning or purpose and you are crying out for more.

Jesus can fill that void and provide the purpose you so desire.

Perhaps you are already a Christian but your faith has become dry and parched and you feel distant from God.

Jesus can refresh and revive you.

Perhaps you are sad and confused. You put on a brave face to the world but inside you are crying.

Jesus can provide the comfort you need.

He loves you and longs to reveal himself to you as the risen Lord but the onus is on you to invite and welcome him into your life as your Lord and saviour.

As Peter says in the verses just after today’s reading from Acts “repent therefore and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, so that times of refereshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Messiah appointed for you, that is Jesus.”

Lets pray.

Jesus you are the risen Lord and your presence is here with us now.

Silently in your own words share whatever is on your heart with Jesus and if you are in any sort of need invite Him wholeheartedly into your heart and life.     Amen