{"id":938,"date":"2019-09-15T14:38:47","date_gmt":"2019-09-15T13:38:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/broughtybaptist.org\/wpsite\/?page_id=938"},"modified":"2019-09-15T14:38:47","modified_gmt":"2019-09-15T13:38:47","slug":"the-invitation-from-jesus","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/broughtybaptist.org\/wpsite\/?page_id=938","title":{"rendered":"The invitation from Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nthe life and ministry of Jesus there are many encounters on a daily basis that humanly\nspeaking were unplanned. But they became opportunities to glorify God through\nthe lives and circumstances of people in need. The message of the Gospel in the\nNew Testament is very clear that we are a people in need of divine assistance\n\u2013the only difference between human beings is that some are aware of their need\nof God and others are not! This means that some people are open to being helped\nand others are not! However, unless we acknowledge that we have a problem we\nwill not be seeking a solution to that problem. It takes humility to face up to\nour situation and see our need to ask God for help in our daily lives. It takes\nself-discipline to send time each day reading His Word and praying to God.\nThese short passages from the New Testament that we have read and reflected on\nalready in the service have plenty to say to us about how we live our lives\ntoday approximately two thousand years later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\ndo they say to us?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. The welcome from Jesus <\/strong>(Matthew\n11:28-30)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(a)The sovereignty of God the Father\ndeclared<\/strong> (Matthew 11:25-27)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5 <\/sup><\/em><\/strong>At that time Jesus said, <\/em>\u2018I\npraise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these\nthings from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.<\/em> 26 <\/sup><\/strong><\/em>Yes,\nFather, for this is what You were pleased to do.<\/em> Who is in control? How often do we ask that question about\nthings going on in the world? The list of situations that seem so confusing or\ncomplex and without an obvious resolution in the world seem to grow year on\nyear; each of us can give our examples far too easily it seems. From war zones\nto countries with an endless cycle of terrorist attacks; to disturbing election\nresults returning unlikely candidates to important offices let alone the\ncomplications of Britain\u2019s relationship with Europe, are just some of these\nscenarios. There may equally be things a lot closer to home going on in your\nlife at work or in your immediate family circle or even with respect to your\nindividual circumstances. In these situations we can wonder why are you\nallowing this to happen to me, God? Asking the question is absolutely a good\nidea. It is at the heart of what education is about. However, there are many\noccasions on which we don\u2019t get an answer. There are times when we understand\nwhat is going on in our lives, but in many other situations we have no idea.\nWhat an assurance it is that ultimately things are in God\u2019s hands and under His\ncontrol. Do you need to hear that today? \n <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(b) The\nplan of God the Father revealed<\/strong> (Matthew 11:27)27 <\/sup><\/em><\/strong>\u2018All things have been committed to Me by My Father. No one knows\nthe Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those\nto whom the Son chooses to reveal Him. <\/em>How\ndo we know what God is like? God is the Father is invisible (I Timothy 6:16: who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see<\/strong>. To Him\nbe honour and might for ever. Amen<\/em>) How do we know what God is like?  In the person of Jesus Remember these amazing\nwords from John 1:14: The Word became flesh and\nmade His dwelling among us. We have seen\nHis glory<\/strong>, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father,\nfull of grace and truth.<\/em> <\/em>What was John\u2019s testimony? We have seen <\/strong>His\nglory\u2026<\/em> God wants us to\nknow Him and sent someone who could clearly tell us how God loves us and wants\nto be our friend. Are you\nlistening to Jesus? Do you ask Him to help you live for God? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(c) The invitation\nfrom God the Son offered to us<\/strong> (Matthew 11:28-30)28 <\/sup><\/em><\/strong>\u2018Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give\nyou rest.<\/em>29 <\/sup><\/em><\/strong>Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and\nhumble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.<\/em> 30 <\/sup><\/strong><\/em>For\nMy yoke is easy and My burden is light.\u2019<\/em>\nWho is the Gospel for?  Is it for the\npeople who have everything sorted out? No! The very opposite for the people who\nknow they need help! Are you struggling with life in general or some particular\nthing? Jesus says, let Me help you. You do not need to carry the burden alone,\nlet me help you. The picture here is from the land around them with the\nfamiliar sight of a young ox learning to carry and manoeuvre the plough assisted\nand directed by an older one standing alongside it to ensure it succeeds in\ncompleting the task. Jesus promises to be there with you. You are never on your\nown. Do you need to hear that today?   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. The\nencouragement from Jesus <\/strong>(Luke 8:43-48)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(a)Taking\nour opportunities <\/strong>(Luke 8:43-44) As\nJesus was on His way, the crowds almost crushed Him. 43 <\/sup><\/strong>And\na woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one\ncould heal her. 44 <\/sup><\/strong>She came up behind Him and\ntouched the edge of His cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.<\/em> <\/em> There are many\nopportunities in life that only come once and we either seize them with both\nhands or we lose them for ever.  There\nare many situations where it is not easy to know the best answer to give; maybe\nyou are looking for a job but are not sure whether what is being offered to you\nis better for you than the one you already have? Maybe you have a place at\nuniversity and you are offered a place at another college or university and you\nask yourself \u2013should I change or keep with what I have got? We cannot assume we\nwill always have more opportunities to take. This is especially true with\nrespect to the good news of the Christian Gospel. Today, if you have never\ncommitted your life to following Jesus, you have an opportunity to put your\nfaith and trust in Jesus. None of us is guaranteed tomorrow. Will you take your\nopportunity to trust Jesus? This woman in the story was unwell and no doctor\ncould cure her \u2013 in fact they had no medical means of making her better. Yet\nJesus passed by and she believed that He could cure her and reached out to Him\nand Luke tells us: immediately her bleeding stopped. <\/em>Life is not always so simple. Sometimes we pray for healing\nfor someone and there is no change. Sometimes they continue living with the\nillness and on other occasions they sadly die. But praise God there are other\ntimes when we see amazing answers to prayer. But we need to ask. Jesus in the\nSermon on the Mount said these words: \u2018Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find;\nknock and the door will be opened to you.<\/em> 8 <\/sup><\/strong><\/em>For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks\nfinds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.<\/em> \n(Matthew 7:7-8) What do you need to talk to God about today?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(b)Confessing our\nfaith <\/strong>(Luke 8:45-47) 45 <\/sup><\/em><\/strong>\u2018Who touched Me?\u2019<\/em> Jesus\nasked.<\/em> When they all denied it,\nPeter said, \u2018Master, the people are crowding and pressing against You.\u2019 46 <\/sup><\/strong>But Jesus said,  \u2018Someone touched Me; I know that power has gone out from Me.\u201947 <\/sup><\/strong>Then the woman, seeing that she could not\ngo unnoticed, came trembling and fell at His feet. In the presence of all the\npeople, she told why she had touched Him and how she had been instantly\nhealed. <\/em>In\nthis case there was a miraculous healing and the problem went away for good. It\ndoes not always do that. Yet Jesus wanted her to do something. What was\nthat?  He wanted the person who had the\nfaith to seek healing from Him to speak publically about their faith. Jesus\nwants His followers to be open about their faith and share it with other\npeople. Sadly this does not mean that everyone you speak to will necessarily be\ninterested in hearing about what Jesus has done in your life \u2013 but there are\npeople searching for God and hoping they can find someone who can tell them\nmore about Him. Are you asking God for opportunities to tell other people about\nHim? Stop and pray at the end of this service for who God wants you to speak to\nabout Jesus \u2013 maybe even this week! Our faith is too good to keep to ourselves\nwe need to pass it on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(c)The\nreward of stepping out in faith <\/strong>(Luke 8:48)48 <\/sup><\/em><\/strong>Then He said to her, <\/em>\u2018Daughter,\nyour faith has healed you. Go in peace. <\/em>What\na blessing as Jesus honoured this lady in public. In Matthew 10:32-33 He said: <\/em> <\/sup><\/em><\/strong>\u2018Whoever acknowledges Me before others, I will\nalso acknowledge before My Father in heaven.<\/em> 33 <\/sup><\/strong><\/em>But whoever disowns Me before others, I will\ndisown before My Father in heaven<\/em>. What a joy for this women who had come to\nJesus totally at her wits end. Life was barely worth living as she struggled\nthrough, simply surviving. We can have hard\ntimes too. God never promises us an easy life. However, we are blessed by God\nwhen we seek to live in a way that pleases Him and points other people to\nJesus. Don\u2019t be afraid to let people know you are a Christian and seeking to\nlive for Jesus. God will bless you for your willingness to be open about your\nfaith. However, there are a minority of people who will be critical and may say\nsome unkind words to you for doing that, but don\u2019t be put off by that. God will\ngive you the strength you need. In what situation this week do I \/ you need to\nask God for the strength to cope? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. The power of\nJesus <\/strong>(Luke 5:17-26)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(a)Thinking of\nthe needs of others<\/strong> (Luke 5:17-19) One\nday Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting\nthere. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and\nJerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal those who were\nill. 18 <\/sup><\/strong>Some men came carrying a paralysed man on a\nmat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. 19 <\/sup><\/strong>When\nthey could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the\nroof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd,\nright in front of Jesus.<\/em> <\/em>It\nis so easy just to think of our needs. I want\u2026.! It can be amusing when a\nlittle toddler is saying I want\u2026 but if that little one grows up into a young\nperson or an adult or an older person and is still speaking and thinking in the\nsame way then it is very sad. Most of us have limited amounts of money and time\nand opportunities, but do not forget how encouraging it can be for someone in\nneed to have another person coming alongside them. I thank God for the many\ntimes over the years I have been aware of the generosity of people in this\ncongregation to others both within and outside the congregation and in a wide\nvariety of different ways. I am sure there are many times I and other people\nhere know absolutely nothing about what you may have done to bless someone else\n\u2013and that is absolutely right. We don\u2019t do it to parade how good we are. We\nwant to follow Jesus and along the way encourage other people to live for Him\nas well. Here these four friends could not do what they wanted to happen for\ntheir friend. This did not stop them doing what they could do.  This is very important. How often do we give\nup doing something because we think what is the point? The little I can do\nwon\u2019t make any difference.  Here all\nthese four friends could do was take this man to a meeting where Jesus was\nspeaking. What matters is that Jesus did the rest! You and I cannot save someone,\nheal someone or do a whole lot of things that they need to happen. The question\nis this:  when you feel God prompting you\nto do a little thing for someone in His name \u2013 will you listen to His\nprompting?    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(b) An unexpected\nblessing <\/strong>(Luke 5:20-21)20 <\/sup><\/em><\/strong>When Jesus saw their faith, He said, <\/em>\u2018Friend, your sins are forgiven.\u2019<\/em>21 <\/sup><\/em><\/strong>The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to\nthemselves, \u2018Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but\nGod alone?\u2019 <\/em>I don\u2019t think for a moment\nthese four men expected this to happen or even asked Jesus about it. All they\ncould see was his need of healing of his paralysis. Yet Jesus saw a more\nfundamental need in this particular young man\u2019s life. Just think about the\nprayers we pray for someone in need. We only know a tiny bit of what is going\non in someone\u2019s life. But God knows everything \u2013 even our prayers for one thing\nmay be used by God to bless someone in some other area of their life, because\nHe knows what we need. Jesus made this point with respect to our prayers for\nourselves in Matthew 6:8: \u2026 for your Father knows what you need<\/strong> before you ask Him.<\/em> The Christian life is far from boring. We\nserve an amazing God. As we trust Him unexpected blessings can come for\nourselves or for other people through us doing the little thing God prompts us\nto do.  Who was the last person you\nsought to help and who was blessed in some way by your obedience to God\u2019s\nleading?  <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(c) A remarkable\nmiracle<\/strong> (Luke 5:22-26)22 <\/sup><\/em><\/strong>Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, <\/em>\u2018Why are you thinking these things in your hearts?<\/em> 23 <\/sup><\/strong><\/em>Which\nis easier: to say, \u201cYour sins are forgiven,\u201d or to say, \u201cGet up and walk\u201d?<\/em> 24 <\/sup><\/strong><\/em>But\nI want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.\u2019<\/em> So He said to the paralysed man, <\/em>\u2018I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.\u2019 <\/em> 25 <\/sup><\/strong>Immediately he stood up in front\nof them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. 26 <\/sup><\/strong>Everyone\nwas amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, \u2018We have\nseen remarkable things today.\u2019 <\/em>Wow! This\nis amazing! Listen to these words the great apostle Paul was praying for the\nChristian in the church in Ephesus in western Turkey. Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine<\/strong>,\naccording to His power that is at work within us, 21 <\/sup><\/strong>to\nHim be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for\never and ever! Amen.<\/em>  (Ephesians3:20-21) What can you pray for with\nexpectancy for someone else this week?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. The challenge from Jesus <\/strong>(John 5:1-9a)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(a)Nothing changes here?<\/strong> (John\n5:1-5) Sometime later, Jesus\nwent up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 <\/sup><\/strong>Now\nthere is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called\nBethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 <\/sup><\/strong>Here\na great number of disabled people used to lie \u2013 the blind, the lame, the\nparalysed   5<\/strong><\/sup>One who was there had been an invalid for\nthirty-eight years<\/strong>.<\/em> There\nis a lot we do not know about this situation. \nWe often assume but cannot be certain the man had been there most of his\nlife, but it was clear he had been there doing virtually nothing for years! But\nbecause nothing had happened in the past that he wanted to happen he had given\nup expecting anything to happen in the future. Sadly there are churches where\nno-one is seriously praying for God to change things, for people to come to\nfaith in Him or some other need to be met. It is a profoundly sad situation.\nWhat are your hopes and expectations for this church in the next twelve months?  What are you praying will happen in the next\nyear? What are you willing to do to be in part an answer to your prayers?   <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(b)I am responsible! <\/strong>(John 5:6-7)6 <\/sup><\/em><\/strong>When Jesus saw Him lying there and learned that he had been in this\ncondition for a long time, He asked him, <\/strong><\/em>\u2018Do you want to get well?<\/em><\/strong>\u2019<\/em>7 <\/sup><\/em><\/strong>\u2018Sir,\u2019 the invalid replied, \u2018I have no one to help me into the\npool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes\ndown ahead of me.\u2019 <\/em>It was not a stupid\nquestion. Jesus respected the man enough to ask this open question \u2013empowering\nthe man to take his opportunity- or not- as the case may be. We can miss out on\nblessings from God that He has planned for us if we don\u2019t ask Him in faith-\npersonally and collectively. It is your responsibility and mine to pray for God\nto work in our lives and circumstances. It is your responsibility and mine to\nstep up and do the work He has provide for us to do in His service and through\nwhich lives are being touched by God.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When there is a need to ask \u2013 what can I do? Not always\nthinking who else might do it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(c)Jesus\nmakes all the difference <\/strong>(John 5:8-9)8 <\/sup><\/em><\/strong>Then\nJesus said to him, <\/em>\u2018Get up! Pick up your mat\nand walk.\u2019<\/em> 9 <\/sup><\/strong>At\nonce the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. <\/em>God will do what we cannot do. He is the ultimate answer to\nour prayers. God wants to work through YOU this week! Take a few moments to ask\nHim \u2013 how can I make a difference for you this week? Then live with an\nexpectancy of seeing God at work in your life and in our church, both for our\ngood and ultimately for His glory, Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Introduction In the life and ministry of Jesus there are many encounters on a daily basis that humanly speaking were unplanned. But they became opportunities to glorify God through the lives and circumstances of people in need. The message of the Gospel in the New Testament is very clear that we are a people in … Continue reading The invitation from Jesus<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-938","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/broughtybaptist.org\/wpsite\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/broughtybaptist.org\/wpsite\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/broughtybaptist.org\/wpsite\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/broughtybaptist.org\/wpsite\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/broughtybaptist.org\/wpsite\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=938"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/broughtybaptist.org\/wpsite\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":939,"href":"https:\/\/broughtybaptist.org\/wpsite\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/938\/revisions\/939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/broughtybaptist.org\/wpsite\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}