No.32 - To whom shall we go?

Eternal life, Christ's work and casting our anxieties on Him.

Verse of the Week

“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” 

John 6:68

After many disciples turned away from Jesus and stopped following Him, Jesus asked the twelve, "You do not want to leave too, do you?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

Isn't it mind-blowing to think that someone's words could bring eternal life! But that is the power of the gospel. Through the words of Christ Jesus that he revealed to his apostles and now to us, we can enjoy a restored relationship with God, real life, for all eternity. Hallelujah, praise the Lord!

This is what will keep us putting our trust in Christ when many around us have given up.

Encouragements

Again, God has been good to me in bringing me joy from preparing to share his word. Though it hasn't always been easy, I have really enjoyed preparing for the sermon I am preaching in just under three weeks. I have particularly been in awe of how much God seems to care about helping change our hearts. I have been amazed at how understanding what God was saying to the original readers can help us apply the amazing truths God has revealed to our own hearts.

In my TEAM course, we learnt about Christ's work on the cross. It was a privilege to get to spend time wondering at how Christ gave himself as a sacrifice for us. What an earth-shattering act of love, that Christ would take the wrath of God that we deserve on himself, so that we may be counted right with God and become his children, through being united with Christ, who never sinned. The cross really is a magnificent display of God's glory

There have been a few moments where we have been able to love those around us in a greater way, and it has been a joy to share the love God has for us with them. However, I had been finding myself getting more anxious at the thought of trying to love them well. Wonderfully, over the last few weeks, God has been helping me to trust him and his good plans. This week, it was such a joy to realise that something that had previously brought me quite a bit of anxiety didn't seem to affect me in the same way. By God's grace, I was able to be a loving support without worrying. Praise the Lord for his grace!

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 his kindness!

The Last Week

• Prepared for - Bible handling talk, Preaching (1 Corinthians 15:1-11), Bible study prep

• Wednesday - TEAM Bible Course

• Wednesday - Attended a Church Trustees meeting

• Thursday - Attended our Life group meal and bible study

• Friday - Met with Church members to study The Westminster Confession of Faith

• Sunday - Gave a talk on studying the bible at our teaching session before church (Joining The Dots Adults)

The Next Few Weeks

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

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

• 8th June - Preaching at Grace Church on 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

• 10th-11th June - Attending a Presbyterian Christian Conference (Catalyst)

• 12th June - Leading sung worship at my Grandma's funeral

• 13th July - Leading our Church meeting for the first time

Prayer Requests

Over the next week, I am hoping to put together a good draft of my sermon. I would love your prayers that I would be faithful to the text whilst not getting overwhelmed by trying to make it perfect, and enjoy the time I get to spend in God's word.

Praying for you all,

God bless <3

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 hope you may find it encouraging :)

TEAM Study Notes

The work of Christ

Christ came to save us John 12:47

Sin is

• Turning away from God (Romans 3:12)

• Idolatry (Romans 1:21-25)

• Disobedience / trespass (Romans 5:15, 19)

• Rebellion (Psalm 5:10)

• Self-focus / selfishness (2 Timothy 3:1-5, especially v2)

Sin leads to

• Death (Romans 6:23, 1:32, Ephesians 2:1)

• Condemnation / guilt (John 3:18, 2 Thessalonians 2:12, Romans 2:1, 5:16-18)

• Wrath (Romans 1:18, 2:5-6, Ephesians 2:3, John 3:36)

• Slavery to sin (Ephesians 2:3, Romans 6:6, 17, 2 Peter 2:19)

• Slavery to Satan (Ephesians 2:2, Hebrews 2:14-15, 1 John 5:19)

Other Key Points

• We can’t save ourselves from sin

• Through Christ we can be justified - seen as right before God

• Christ is our substitute - died in our place

• Christ is our representative - he died = we died

• We receive our righteousness by a God given faith

• Jesus rose, defeating death and is now reigning

• Jesus is making us holy

The work of the Spirit (p1)

The Holy spirit is a person by is mainly described impersonally - Fire / Wind / Water

The work of the spirit

1. He carries Christ to us

2. He enables us to receive Christ / unites us to Christ

3. He carries us in our response to Christ

Test of whether someone has the Holy spirit - do they point you to Jesus

All christians have the indwelling spirit

The spirit must do a supernatural regenerative work

Biblical counselling

Loving others as sinners

Helpful reasons why God shows us our sin

• So that we’ll repent

• So that we could draw closer to him

• So that we could enjoy him more

• So that we could stop hurting our selves

• Show us our need for him - so we’ll cling to him more

Sin is our biggest problem so helping someone battle sin is one of the greatest ways you can love them,

Barriers to loving others to sinners

• We forget they are also saints and sufferers

• We act in a unhelpfully self-righteous way

• We are overwhelmed by feelings of being wronged

• We care more about people pleasing and loving people

• We are lazy or overvalue comfort

• We are to ashamed of our own sin