No.25 - Peace be with you

Peace, power, purpose and Psalm 8.

Verse of the Week

'On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!" After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.'

John 20:19-20

Jesus brought his fearful followers peace and reminded them what he'd done on the cross. Christ's death on the cross has brought us eternal peace with God our Father who promises to work all things for our good. The message of the gospel is so wonderfully focused on peace. When we are anxious let us remember the peace Christ has bought for us at the cross and join in with the disciples who were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

Encouragements

One of the great encouragements this week has been thinking more about the verses above. John 20:19-23 was the focus of our Sunday sermon and two bible studies I attended and led this week. I was particularly helped by the shift in perspective the cross can bring to our anxieties.

We will soon be perfectly satisfied for all eternity in the glorious new creation to come! Therefore we can consider whatever we go through now, even if it is extremely painful and lasts for 100 years, to be only a little suffering and only for a little while. And because we know God is working all things for our good, whatever hardships we do face we can be confident they are not pointless but will be part of God's good plan for his ultimate glory and our ultimate delight.

I had the joy of giving a talk on Psalm 8 at my Cambridge bible course (TEAM). It was such an encouragement to give. Psalm 8 focuses on God's grace which shows God's greatness so that we might be moved to want to proclaim the glory of the Lord to all the nations. Preparing and preaching this talk really grew in me a desire to proclaim God's greatness! Praise the Lord for he is good.

Finally, at the end of this week, I started preparing a talk on John 2:1-11 for a youth evangelistic talk I'm giving next week. Looking into what God wants to show us in John's gospel, and the first of Jesus' signs, was probably some of the most enjoyable time I have ever spent in the bible. Praise the Lord for many delights that can be found in his word!

A Little Update

Here are a few of the things we've been up to and some of what we've got coming up.

The Last Week

• Prepared for - TEAM Talk, Children's Talk, Youth Evangelistic Talk, Bible studies, Easter event

• Monday - Had a call with a friend about bible overviews and studies

• Wednesday - Attended my Cambridge bible training course (TEAM)

• Wednesday - Gave a Bible Talk on Psalm 8 at TEAM

• Thursday - Attended our Life group bible study

• Friday - Ran a mid-day bible study group

• Friday - Met to study a Christian book

The Next Few Weeks

• Life group, Mid-day bible study, TEAM bible course

• 3rd-5th April - Attending a Bible study Training Conference

• 6th April - Helping lead sung worship at church

• 6th April - Giving a talk on Mark at our Church's Children's group

• 6th April - Giving a talk at an evangelistic church youth event

• 12th April - Meeting up to study a Christian book with church family

• 19th April - Helping to run our Church Easter event

• 14th May - Attending a Church Trustees meeting

• 18th May - Giving a talk on studying the bible at our teaching session before church (Joining The Dots Adults)

• 29th May-1st June - Attending the St Helen's 10am weekend away

• 10th-12th June - Attending a Presbyterian Christian Conference (Catalyst)

Prayer Requests

These next two weeks I am going away for some extra bible training and to see some friends. I would love prayer that it would be a helpful and joyful time learning about and sharing God's word. But I'd also love prayer that God would look after Luci and I as we spend some time apart.

We are so thankful for all your kind prayers and encouragement.

Thinking of you all,

Much love :)

Joshua & Luci.

P.S. - If you want to hear more about how I've been delighted by Christ over the last week, feel free to listen to the video below. I found it really encouraging to think back over the week and delight in all the different things I've learned about God. I hope you may find it encouraging to :)

TEAM Bible Course Notes

Bible Overview

The Death and Resurrection of Jesus

The Cross: Utmost curse falls on the perfect king

Humanity is under a terrible curse

• For sinning against God (Eden)

• For not keeping the law (Moses)

Christ bears our curse in his death so that we receive his blessing

The Resurrection: Ultimate blessing displayed in the perfect King

There is lots of evidence for the resurrection

We can know the cross worked

Christ has dealt with sin and will give you the HS

So you can start to live a holy life

God wants us to enjoy the blessings that flow out of the cross

The Ascension: The perfect King enthroned forever

Christ’s rose physically to heaven

Christ is now ruling on the throne

Christ has the victory

Ultimate victory will come soon

Children's talks

Helpful points

• Aim your talk at one age and one level of spiritual maturity

• Don’t assume they know something

• Helpful to get them to - hear, see and do something

• Starting with a question / story + end by answering / finishing the question / story

• Make the most memorable thing - your main point

Workshops

My talk Summary

Passage: Psalm 8

Question - Why should we long to praise God?

Answer - God’s grace shows God’s greatness

So what - Long to proclaim the greatness of the LORD

What went well

• Passionate

• Clear

• Convicting

How could I improve

• Go deeper on explaining

• Link everything to main point even more

• Include personal testimony at the beginning