No.26 - Christ our hope in life and death

Rejoice that your names are written in heaven.

Verse of the Week

'The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”'

Luke 10:17-20

Jesus had set his disciples out on a mission trip and they had performed wonders. The disciples are amazed. They say "Lord, even demons are subject to us in your name!" And Jesus' response is incredible. He says he saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven! Jesus says he's given the disciples authority over all the power of the enemy! Nothing shall hurt them! The power and authority the disciples had been given is so glorious. It should take our breath away.

But Jesus' next words are even more amazing. Jesus has just said his disciples have all the power over the enemy. They are performing wonders. But then Jesus says "Do not rejoice in this". What, how can they not rejoice in this? They have been given all power over the enemy!

Jesus tells them not to rejoice in all of this because there is something even greater that has been given to them.

Their names are written in heaven.

More glorious than having power over evil spirits, more amazing than being able to overcome scorpions, more incredible than the many wonders the disciples had been performing, their names are written in the Book of Life.

The thing that should cause the disciples to rejoice is that they are going to spend all eternity in the new creation to come, where they will see the glory of the Lord face to face and be fully satisfied in Him.

As Christians trusting in Christ's work at the cross we also have this unparalleled reason to rejoice. The price has been paid. Our future is secure. We will one day soon be in paradise enjoying eternity with the God who loved us enough to die for us.

Encouragements

It has been a bit of a rollercoaster of emotions this week. My grandma, Margaret, went to be with Jesus on Friday. It was very sad to say goodbye and we will mourn her. However, by God's amazing grace, she is now rejoicing in heaven with our Lord and Saviour! She is far happier than she has ever been and she gets to enjoy seeing Christ. This has been a great comfort to me and my family and the reason we are able to find joy in her leaving.

We are also very thankful that we got to go and be with her the day she passed. It was a real answer to prayer to be able to pray with her and encourage her that Christ is our hope in life and death. God has also been very good in sustaining us as we try to love our family and serve him on very little sleep.

Outside of this, I had the real joy of attending a St Helen's ministry training conference focusing on leading bible studies. It was like a small slice of heaven to be surrounded by so many people who are so passionate about Christ and sharing his word. Praise the Lord. It was also amazing to be reminded of the incredible, eternal, transformative power that is at work when we open the bible with people. It was also a real joy to learn how to help people be transformed by God's incredible word as we study it in a group.

A Little Update

Here are a few of the things we've been up to and some of what we've got coming up. Praise the Lord for he is good!

The Last Week

• Prepared for - Youth Evangelistic Talk, Bible studies, Easter event

• Wednesday - Helped with our evangelistic mums and tots group

• Wednesday - Music rehearsal for Sunday

• Thursday - Attended our Life group bible study

• Friday + Saturday - Attended a 'Tools For Ministry' conference focusing on running bible studies

• Sunday - Gave a children's talk on the resurrection

• Sunday - Helped lead the sung worship in Church

• Sunday - Gave a talk at a youth evangelistic event on John 2.

The Next Few Weeks

• Mid-day bible study

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

• 13th April - Leading the prayers in Church

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

• 30th April - Helping with our Church Members Meal

• 2nd May - Leading an evangelistic event - leading the singing and giving a short talk

• 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

It has been quite a stretching week so thank you so much for all your prayers. God has been very kind in answering many of them.

We would love your prayers that we would be able to continue loving our family as they work through the next few weeks. It would be wonderful to be able to mourn with them in their grief and encourage them, and the rest of our church, with the joy of the new creation.

We are so grateful 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. There have been many challenges this week, but God is good and so it has also been filled with lots of reasons to rejoice. I hope you may find it encouraging to :)