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Welcome
“The rose gave off its beautiful fragrance. Our Lord was called ‘the Rose of Sharon’. We, His children, spread the fragrance of Christ everywhere.”
Stella
Worship
Word
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel – which is really no gospel at all.
Galatians 1:6-7
Christians, in a sense, are an easy target in a culture that is being moulded, not only in this nation but world-wide, where tolerance of everyone (except the Christians) is being encouraged. But here in this verse we see that the answer to the divisions and hostilities in the world is not to give in to all those divisions and hostilities, but to stand firm in the Gospel of Christ. The doctrine of the Gospel cannot be divorced from the application of it. We cannot preach Christ crucified, and risen again, and encourage people to believe and be born-again, and then say it is okay for you to continue stealing.
Yesterday Ben Bradshaw MP’s’ ten-minute rule motion’ aimed at forcing the Church of England to conduct same-sex marriage was passed by the House of Commons without a vote. The motion does not change the law. But it sends a message that some politicians are becoming increasingly willing to compel acceptance of same-sex marriage on those who disagree … Speaking in support of his motion … Bradshaw said it was “a gentle nudge” to the C of E, suggesting it needed to “adjust to the new reality”.
Coalition for Marriage.
Where do we draw the line in “adjusting to the new reality”? What if Paedophilia took off and in say 50 – 60 years from now we had a similar scenario with Ben Bradshaw no. 2 giving the Church a gentle nudge that we should bless this practice!
The strength of the Gospel is the Lord Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever; He is unchanging, and He is the Truth (John 14:6) and so Truth is unchanging. So what God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit stood for in Leviticus:
Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable.
Leviticus 18:22
(cf. Lev. 20:13; Romans 1:26-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9; 1 Tim. 1:10), He still stands for that truth. There will never be unity in this world for matters like this are so divisive. How will there be unity in heaven? By then all believers will be “changed from glory, into glory till in heaven we take our place” (Charles Wesley). We will all be one in Christ living under His Lordship – there won’t be all these different opinions about what is right and what is wrong, it will be according to Jesus Christ, the Truth. We need to continue standing for the Truth, for the whole counsel of God, and pray for those who disagree with the Truth, that they might come to know the One who is the Truth, Amen.
Quote of the week
I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.” That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things that Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic-on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg-or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God, but let us not come up with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.
C.S. Lewis, ‘Mere Christianity’
Verse of the week
He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfilment – to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.
Ephesians 1:9-10
Let’s Pray
Heavenly Father, it seems an impossible task to bring unity between people from all sorts of backgrounds and beliefs. But Lord as You have already done so, continue to transform numerous lives, and our lives, more and more into the image of Your Son, Jesus Christ, Amen!