The Community Church: Sermons and teaching

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I'm also gradually turning into Ali Rothwell. Is this spring in your bag? But I want to. I want to do a quick testimony to the goodness of God. Because, Friday afternoon, I was getting ready to go to the funeral of Eileen Draper. And I had my suit and my tie ready, and I suddenly thought, no, I won't wear that tie.

I'll wear this one instead.

And I went to the rescue crime. And as the people gathered, almost everybody was wearing something purple, and I thought I must have missed the memo.

I didn't get the memo to wear something purple, but fortunately, the tie that I had put on has a lovely purple streak in it. So I thank God, and you may say, God isn't interested in things like that. Yes, he is. God is concerned about the details of our lives, and I just thank him that he prompted me in that way.

Okay. This time last week, those of us who were in Cardiff will remember that Carrie Jones got up to speak first time of the weekend. And, he asked a question before he started preaching. He said, have we got any good singers here? My friend Debbie and I were looking at each other and wondering, do we dare put our hands what we sing in the worship team in Southport?

Does that make us good singing? And anyway, when Carrie Jones asked you a question and you put your hand up. You're likely to be picked on. So we were very hesitant, but gentleman panel behind us and they were prodding us and saying, put your hands up. So we did. And Carrie said he looked round. He said, for the benefit of the tape, Carrie still thinks in terms of a tape to record meetings.

By the way, for the benefit of the tape, I'm speaking to 400 people and we've got four good singers.

I think he was making the point about responsiveness, and we've already had that brought to us this morning very eloquently. There's a lady in the Cardiff church who is very, very responsive.

If you know, you know. She's a lovely lady and I won't mention her name. Spare blushes even though she's not here. Every few seconds, whatever is being said, you will get a response from this lady here.

And to me, it sounds rather like a little sheep lost on the Welsh mountain this year. Yes. Amen. Yeah. And that happens all the way through every 4 or 5 seconds. You can guarantee. But Carrie loves that Carrie responded to that. He recognized the the word.

And he commended the lady. Where are you? Oh, there you are. Yes. I'm very glad you're here this morning. So if in the next half hour or so, you are inclined to respond to anything that I say.

That will be wonderful as long as you don't do it in imitation of a sheep on a Welsh mountain.

Tomorrow, Monday, it will be five weeks since Southport was being mentioned in the news bulletins across the world. Maureen, start out you're not here this morning as she was away in, I think Derbyshire that Monday hadn't seen or heard any news and she suddenly gets a phone call and it's her granddaughter Ellie from Lima in Peru where she's backpacking.

Grandma, are you okay? I've heard what's happened in Southport, but it really was worldwide news. And I want us to consider this morning how we can respond to people who have been through the heartache of Heart Street. Been through the tough times and are still going through this to help us on the way. I'm going to do something a little unusual.

In the message version of the Bible, Eugene Peterson writes a little introduction to every book of the Bible. And I was reading the prophecy of Joel not long ago, and I thought, how appropriate. So what I want to say this morning. So I just read you part of what Peterson writes when disaster strikes. Understanding of God is at risk.

Unexpected illness or death, national catastrophe, social disruption, personal loss, plague or epidemic, devastation by flood or drought turn men and women who hadn't given God a thought in years into ancient theologians. Rumors fly. God is absent. God is angry. God is playing favorites. God is ineffectual. God is holding a

a while and asked God what I could learn from this situation.

And very clearly I believe God said, most people don't know me, and therefore they don't have the spiritual resources to deal with a situation like this.

I noticed that even people in dog collars who are interviewed on television have spoken only of the community coming together, of church buildings being open or people being there for you. I never once heard any mention of God. God's heart for the suffering, the pain that Jesus went through. The power of the risen Christ to bring consolation and strength.

I don't say that with any sense of superiority, because if I'd had a microphone suddenly thrust in front of me in a tragic circumstances, I'm not sure that I would have been any different. There was actually one man who gave a head of Christian faith. An elderly man who lives across the street from the dance studio where it all happened.

And when the little girls were coming screaming across our street, he was shepherding them into his house with his wife to protect them. And they locked the front door to make sure they felt secure. Hats off to him. And when he was interviewed later, the interviewer suggested that he himself might have been traumatized by seeing all these blood stained little girls in there screaming.

And he said, no, no. My Methodism goes deep. And I thought, there there's a man who's worshiped in the Methodist Church in years gone by, probably in the church because of where he lives, the church that is now be the base for compassion acts that used to be the Methodist church in that locality, no longer used by the Methodist, but used very well by compassion act.

Generations of growing up, which, sadly spiritually illiterate. And when a catastrophe happens, they've little or nothing to fall back on. So they offer what they do have, which is flowers and teddy bears and balloons. Sympathy. That is good. I'm not decrying that for one moment. People do what they can. They offer what they have. But I do believe there is something better that we as Christians could and should offer.

I went for prayer walking down the street at one point. I know other people were curiously at the same time. At the church, the, schools and church down to Moss Side and somebody else in the town center with the same heart, just to pray for the people who were traumatized. And when I was in Hart Street, people, this was three weeks after the events.

People were still bringing flowers. Quite near to where the police barrier still stood across Hart Street. But when the flowers have faded and died, when the balloons are deflated, when the little children's chalk messages on the flagstones would be washed away by the rain, there are still people walking in darkness. People suffering the loss of loved ones.

People unable to face the reality of daily life without the constant reminders of the heartache of heart. Street. So folks, what do we have available to offer to them? I believe we have a responsibility. Counseling will have an important part to play for people who were traumatized. And I can recommend an excellent counseling service. But I believe that we as Christians, we who claim to have some knowledge of God, we who have the Spirit of God living inside us, have the responsibility of offering more than flowers and teddy bears and sympathy.

Would you agree? Could the book of job can be very helpful when horrible things happen? Joe goes through awful trauma himself, debating with God and with his, companions all the way through. And right at the end of it all, it's as if God simply says, Joe, I'm God. You're not. I see the full picture. You don't. And that, in a way, is what we have to accept.

But I believe we can help brokenhearted people to bring together the broken bits and begin to fit them together so that some kind of recognizable picture will emerge from the darkness. So what do we offer to folks in desperate need? Compassion? Of course. Love? Of course. Consideration, etc.. But I want us to look at the passage of Scripture, which I believe we as Christians could well use as a basis for how we can help people.

If you have a Bible, turn please to Luke 24. And starting at verse 44, this is in the New Living Translation.

Thank you. Josh. The words are on the screen. If you haven't got a Bible and I won't tell you off for having a Bible, but I think Carrie Jones would.

Verse 44 of Luke 24. Then he that's Jesus said, when I was with you before, I told you that everything written about me by Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms must all come through. Then he opened their minds to understand these many scriptures, and he said, yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah must suffer and die and rise again from the dead.

On the third day with my authority. Take this message of repentance to all the nations beginning in Jerusalem. There is for goodness of sins for all who turn to me. You are witnesses of all these things. And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.

These are the last words of Jesus as recorded by Luke. Put them into context. Jesus has suffered beating, flogging, crucifixion, stone cold, dead, laid in a stone, cold to. And then on the third day, he's alive again. He's speaking to people. He's allowing people to touch him. He's eating food. He's moving here and there. He is very much alive.

And he's about to leave the world, about to complete his earthly ministry. And these are the words that he chose to speak before he departed. So we will say, don't we? Last? Words are very important words. And I think we can learn from them. Verse 44, when I was with you before, I told you that everything written about me by Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms must all come true.

What I believe we can take from this is that the God we worship and serve has stepped into the flow of human history. This is not a God who stays remote somewhere beyond the clouds. He's a God who's been here and he's been with us. We do not offer people clever ideas. We offer them the person and man who lived here among real people, in real places.

Not a specific point in history. You can see on a map where he lived. You can pinpoint places where he actually did these things. He's referring to here everything written about me by Moses, the prophets. And in the song, he was aligning himself up with the flow of human history. The passionate translation of verse 44 says, I told you that I would fulfill everything written about me.

This God knows what it's like to be a human being who suffers.

Then in verse 45, it says, he opened their minds to understand these many scriptures. I've often puzzled about that verse. How did he open their minds to understand? It's very important that we do have our minds open to the truth. We live in an age of fake news, and when the tragedy happened, there was deliberate misinformation that led to riots just over the bridge between the people deliberately spread lies in order to stir up trouble.

And the trouble spreads across the nation. So how important is the truth? The truth. These days, people talk about how you have your truth, and I have my truth and will agree to differ. But there is such a thing as absolute truth which is embodied in a person called Jesus who said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No silly playing with Jesus.

We often hear the expression these days, oh, I can't get my head around that. But I think that's how these disciples were. Even after three years in the presence of Jesus. It's amazing, isn't it, that seeing all that he did, that listen to all his teaching and still they didn't quite get it. We have the benefit not only of hindsight, but of the Holy Spirit enabling us to see and understand truth.

As Christians, As Christians, we face facts. We don't deny facts, but we embrace truth. We don't deny the facts. If somebody well, we don't say you're not ill. Just believe in God. No. If you've got an illness, we face the facts, but we also embrace the truth. And the God who heals, a God who restores the God who saves, the God who could make an impact.

And it's the truth, Jesus said, that sets us free. And he said before he left, he said, the spirit can go when I've gone and the spirit comes. Rose, to guide you into all truth. That is so important in these days. Verse 46, Jesus says, yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah must suffer and die and rise again from the dead.

On the third day. This is the historical facts of the death and resurrection of Jesus. It actually happened. These are facts, and no other religion matches this. Buddha, Muhammad, Confucius, all that. No resurrection. Jesus submitted himself to ultimate cruelty, to pain, to death. And then he was seen alive by all kinds of people in various situations. Absolutely unique.

No one compares. Nothing compares with our Jesus. God took the very worst that Satan could do, pounding an innocent man to such a cool death. And he turned it into the most glorious victory tragedy to triumph inside three days.

And when we're thinking about people in the current tragedy, some say time is a great healer. Well, I'm not so sure about that. Time may eventually erase and erode bits of the memory of the trauma. So I believe what matters is how you use time and what you put into the time that's available to you. And somehow this amazing, awesome God can bring people through.

From the heartache of Heart Street to a place of peace and comfort and hope. That's the kind of God he is. Verse 47, Jesus says, with my authority, take this message with my authority. I wonder if you're aware of the authority that we have a servant of the king. The king? It's awesome when you think about it. Authority is often questioned these days, particularly sadly, if it's a government minister.

We've grown to be suspicious of what they say because their deeds don't often don't always match up with their words. But if you can submit to the authority of King Jesus, then he gives you authority to move, to speak, to operate in his name. In his name means with his authority. I finished reading a very interesting book recently.

It goes through all the wars of the, 20th century. But it looks at occasions when prayer clearly made a difference. You know, they go into very great detail and demonstrate it wasn't just coincidence, but prayer and then prayer and then prayer and then, and there's some wonderful episodes in there. I could use an hour telling you about them.

I'll just tell you what I think. The island of Malta in the Second World War. If you can visualize Malta, it's very close to, Italy, which, of course, Germany and Italy were together attacking Malta. Malta is also close to North Africa. Rommel and his troops were there in North Africa, so they were in a nasty sandwich in that way.

Being an island, there were reliant upon ships coming with the food and the other necessary things they had. Ships were being bombed and sunk, and the people of Malta were starving because the food wasn't getting through. But then a man was appointed governor representing the kingdom in the UK, because Malta was still in the British Empire and the man appointed was a Christian.

General William Dobbie, and he prayed not just in the seclusion of his room. He prayed openly and encouraged the mainly Catholic population of Malta to join him in prayer. They saw the desperate situation they were in and they said, it is only God can save us. So let's do some prayer and let's believe and expect that God will make a difference.

And our prayers were answered because the Germans began to make errors of judgment. They began to change tactics. They began to move resources which could have been used to flatten Malta completely. And they took them somewhere else. All serious series of changes which came together for the benefit of the people of Malta. I'll give you one example of a miracle.

A bomb weighing 4,000 pounds dropped on the dome of the Rotunda Church in a place called Mostar. It pierced the dome. It bounced off two walls and it skidded the length of the nave. It came to a halt without exploding. If it had exploded, the whole building would have been blown to smithereens. 300 people inside would also have been blown to smithereens.

Vertical miracle God intervening because a man and other people with him praying with authority. And he not only had the authority of King George the Six back in England, but had the authority of the King of Kings to stand in the gap and lift up his voice in prayer and touch the throne of heaven to release angelic powers or whatever it was, unseen powers at work and Malta was saying, was awarded the venture of the George Cross.

The whole island folks, as Christians, if we have given Jesus command authority over our lives, we are here to serve the purposes of God, the King and the kingdom. And he says in my name, with my full authority you can do all the things that Jesus did. You believe that is true. He gives us the authority to operate in the same way that Jesus did.

And there are more others now. Jesus is not just one. We've got millions. And if you think you're too small to make a difference, you haven't spent the night with a mosquito.

So we've got prayer and praise on Wednesday. Thank you. I'm glad you came. Wonderful response. Jesus says, with my authority, you can come before the throne of grace together. On Wednesday evening. You can make your prayer requests to the King of Kings, and he will release angelic powers. And he will impact situations, and he will change people's lives.

And he will do the stuff. And we can all be involved in that because we have his authority.

I had John saying yesterday that after a tragedy like High Street. It's almost to be expected that God will respond with something pretty good. Who knows that revival will not come to Southport. Southport was known across the world for stabbings and riots and looting. Why not Southport, known across the world for the power of the living God, operating in revival.

Thank you for that, John. I appreciated that. Verse 47 in full says, with my authority take this message of repentance to all the nations. There is forgiveness of sins for all who turn to me. When the tragedy happened, you heard people being interviewed and saying, well, transport isn't like that with nice people in Southport. We don't go around stabbing and looting and rioting.

It's just foreign to us. Well, yes, we do try to live decent lives, but do you know what? We all have the capability of doing some lousy stuff. But just by the very nature of being human, isn't it? We all are. We are all capable of doing stuff. Don't. Don't say. Well, I only operate at the level of the occasional white lie, because I don't think God has a a scale of sins.

White lie at the bottom, going up through, a bit of shoplifting, right? The Holocaust at the top. I don't think it worked like that. What the Bible calls sin is falling short of God's standards. Not say, anybody here ever fallen short of that. Of course. You know, I don't need to ask not do it. But the message here is repentance.

And repentance, we know, means change. Change direction. Change your heart. Change your mind. And we can say that to people. Yes. You're in the tough situation, but God can change things if you are willing to change. To repent. And there is forgiveness of sins for all who turn and leave. That's what Jesus said. Some people have said that particular, essence of the gospel is only in Paul, though it is is Jesus very clearly forgiveness of sins for all.

Return to me.

And on that basis, even the young man who is believed to have stabbed all those people is not the old way. That's God's grace and forgiveness.

I think a thief dying on the cross next to Jesus. We don't know the details of what he done, but it must have been pretty serious stuff. He might kill people. And this man just reached out with a word which indicated a change of heart. Lord, be with me. When time goes.

What did you say? Thank you. Lord. Remember me, not me. When you come into your kingdom, Lord, remember me. And Jesus turned and said to him, today you will be with me in Paradise. We didn't have a chance to get baptized or anything like that. You just reached out in a moment to Jesus and Jesus said, come on, you're with me.

Nobody is beyond the range of God's grace. Now verse 48, you are witnesses of all these things. We've had some witnesses this morning. We the power of God to provide a downstairs toilet.

And to enable me to change my tie to a more appropriate one. But more than that, these people have seen Jesus. They've lived with him. They listen to him. And Jesus said, as a result, you've got a testimony. And I would say to everybody who can hear my voice this morning, you I've got a testimony. You have witness the power of God.

The one degree or another. We all have something to share. And our neighbors, our work colleagues, our families have every right to expect more from us as Christians than just balloons and flowers and sympathy. God does our. Do not discount the power of a simple testimony. Let me tell you how God has made a difference in my life.

Or it might be you talking to somebody and you're prompted just to pray for them. May I just pray for you? Because I worship and serve a God who answers prayer. It can make a big difference. Verse 49 and now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.

These are the very last words of the last words, and it's important. Jesus is saying, I'm on my way. I'm leaving you. I've done my bit. When I go, the Holy Spirit will come and he will come and live inside each one of you who trust in God, and he will make the difference for you. Oh, I love it.

I love the word power. Power from heaven because it's got a power in it. Power. All of it. How do we develop in power? Well, when I was a kid learning to play tennis, we had a wall in the back garden between the garden and the little bit of yard. And then the house. And I used to spend hours hitting a ball against the wall.

My backhand wasn't very good, so I practiced my backhand over and over and over again. My volleying wasn't particularly good. I practiced my volley against the wall, and the wall was really brilliant. The wall returned the ball every single time.

But I developed the power that I needed to become a tennis player. And if we are serious about developing the power of God in our lives, we need to go big on God's Word and go big on the Holy Spirit. Those two are, the combined power source, the Word of God, and the Spirit of God, but only by daily absorbing the word daily.

Spending time in the presence of God. Worshiping. Waiting on God. Allowing the Holy Spirit to do things and to prompt us. Only then can we do the serious damage to the enemy that God wants to do, and the serious good for the kingdom. Excuse me. My voice is very. Funny. Today. I want to finish with the next episode in the narrative.

You will know, I'm sure that Luke didn't only write his goal. He also wrote the act of the apostle. And the next episode in acts chapter one, verse 11. Jesus is actually doing what he said he would do. He's he's rising to be he's ascending to be with the father. Disappearing from their sight through the clouds. Must have been amazing, actually.

And there are two angels there. And they see all these people watching Jesus going up on the words of this man of Galilee. Why are you standing here staring at the sky? Jesus has been taken away from you into heaven, from someday, just as you saw him go. He will return. He will return.

Three weeks after the day of rioting. King Charles came to town. Very good of him. Under the day before he'd gone to Balmoral. Start of his summer holidays. And then suddenly in Southport. I wouldn't have known, but for some reason I had this 1:00 news on. I don't usually bother with the 1:00 news, but it was King Charles in Southport.

I thought, what? I'm going down there. Hopped on the bus, went down and stood in the crowd outside the town hall. And in due time, out he came and he walked amongst us. And he came probably from there, as you are to me. If I'd been rude, I could have pushed through the little people in front to shake his hand.

But I didn't. But many of them were shaking his hand and thanking him for coming. The King came to town. King Charles the Third came amongst us. But get this King Jesus the first and the last is going to come again. And not just for the people of Southport to see, but all the world to see, which some good twice already this morning he's coming on the clouds.

And every eye will see him. I can't work out the mechanics of that, but it will happen. He's God. I'm not. Every night every eye will see him. Every knee will bow. Whether they like it or not. Every tongue will confess. Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father will be caught up to meet him. Those of us who are still alive on the earth, we caught up to meet him and to welcome him back to this earth, because he's going to establish new heaven, new earth, his kingdom fully established on the earth.

And then just worthless. Thank you. Good response. He will establish his completed kingdom. The kingdom is already here. In a measure. As long as you and I are operating in the power of the Holy Spirit under his authority. But it's not complete yet, is it? By any means. But one day he will return. The kingdom will be complete.

And then the prayer which Jesus taught his followers will be fulfilled. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth, on earth as it is in heaven. And we'll be there to see it. It's not good news. People need to hear good news. We don't want people afraid of Jesus coming back. We want them to pardon me before he comes about.

Willingly accept him as Lord and Savior, and then to be ready for him. We are to be the Advance warning Brigade, the forerunners for the King's return. John the Baptist was the forerunner for Jesus in his earthly ministry. Jesus was, amongst other things, many other things, the forerunner for the coming of the Holy Spirit. When you think about it, and we, the church, are to be the fall and the heralds for the return of King Jesus to Jesus, the first and the last.

I pinched that phrase, actually, from Andrew Eagle, who prophesied powerfully last week at one voice and he mentioned King Charles the said, But King Jesus, the first and the last. A great thought, isn't it? I love that. Some people seem to live on nostalgia. 1 or 2 people I see on Facebook is all about to remember when you know this is what we did when we were kids.

And I'm thinking, get a life.

Let's be looking forward. Let's enjoy today and look forward with hope and expectation. Jesus is going to return.

So I will pray. And then I'll ask the musicians if they'll come back up. Let's pray. Father God, we want to pray for those who are traumatized by these events in Heart Street. We know it's a very tough experience and we don't underestimate the long term impact that can have. And we want to express our love and compassion towards those people.

So thank you, Lord, that you've given us more than that. You've given us ammunition that we can use. To fend off the enemy who would like to keep people in the darkness. We pray that there will be means by which people can hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. Can learn about a God who came and suffered as a man and knows all about the suffering.

And we commit ourselves, Lord, to be ready when the opportunity arises to share with other people what you have graciously given to us in the gospel and in the Holy Spirit.

So thank you, father, that you see every detail of every life. You see the end from the beginning. You see where individual lives will go. And we pray that by whatever means you will impact all the suffering people with your compassion and your love. In the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.