A FRESH PERSPECTIVE

Scripture: Matthew 8: 1-4 / 14-17

As I grew up there was one thing I was totally convinced about and that was that church was boring. I am not sure how I first got that impression, but I remember attending a Sunday School for just two weeks as a 7 Year old. That was enough to persuade me I didn’t want to go to church. Later on at the age of thirteen I was persuaded to attend a Carol Service by my dad who wanted me to do this just to please our stepmother who was a devout Roman Catholic.

I went to my local parish church for this service and every worst fear I had about church was confirmed in that brief hour. When I left that building I felt like I had escaped from prison and I never wanted to ever return again.

Like many other children I attended assembly at school, sang hymns and listened to boring talks about religion. I was also educated to believe that human beings evolved from other form of life. That my ancestors were probably apes. This proved to me that Christianity must be untrue. That human life did not start with Adam and Eve. I was being taught these things by people who were educated and therefore if I wanted to show any sense of intelligence I couldn’t accept the things Christianity taught.

Looking back I realise I never really understood much about church or Christian faith. I had never given serious thought or attention to the person of Jesus Christ, His life, His death, or His resurrection. I was making judgements without real understanding or knowledge. I was allowing other people’s opinions and peer pressure to mould my thinking. All that changed for me on Thursday 20 August 1962 when at the age of 15 I discovered God was real. It happened as I asked Jesus in a simple prayer to forgive me and take over my life. To my amazement I experienced the very real presence of God and I have never been the same since.
That sense of God’s hand on my life has never left me and after over 45 years. I am convinced that one touch of the love of God on any life can change everything.

Pastor Mick Reynolds

GOING FOR THE REBOUND

Scripture: Luke 22: 31 – 32

One of the most important moves in the game of basketball is ‘going for the rebound’. Behind the basket into which your team is trying to score is a large board and often the ball will come back from that board if you miss a shot. A good player can anticipate this happening and quickly get into the right position to jump and catch the rebounding ball in order to have a second attempt to score. A similar thing happens in football. When a player takes a shot at goal and the keeper parries the ball a skilful player will be ready to follow up and score from the rebound. A missed opportunity is turned into a second chance for glory.

The same principle is so relevant in life. We all miss the mark at some time. We all make mistakes. We’ve blown it and let ourselves down or failed to live up to our promises. There are occasions when we know we said the wrong thing or made the wrong move. We can even feel we have made a complete mess of our lives. What is important is how well do we rebound when we miss our shots? How well do we come back from failure? How well do we follow up our mistakes with the right moves? Going for the rebound is so important if we are going to make it in life especially as a believer.

The greatest comeback of all was not by a boxer returning to the ring, but by Jesus Christ, God’s Son. He appeared to be down and out as His Life slipped away while He hung from the cross. For those who watched Him die His mission seemed to have ended in failure. As they buried Him in the tomb all their hopes were dashed. Death however, could not keep this good man down. Jesus bounced back, rising from the dead and He’s alive for evermore.

There are times in our lives when we feel we have made a mess of things, we have failed God, we have missed the mark and the enemy like He did with Peter wants to try and wipe us out. Peter as we know bounced back and was able to stand up on the day of Pentecost to proclaim the good news.

Jesus has given all of us who love Him, but have at some point blown it, the power to bounce back and go again for glory.

Pastor Mick

TIME FOR CHANGE

Scripture: Romans 1 : 18-32

If we are to believe the media about what is going on in our nation it should shake us to the roots; for example:

• Young people spend their leisure time binge drinking themselves to an early grave
• Many men are so emotionally inadequate that the only way they can have sex is by rape or by spiking a woman’s drink.
• Violence in the home and society is on the increase and discipline has reached an all time low in our schools.
• Our government is undermining the institution of marriage, introducing children to sex at the earliest possible age and supporting every minority group at the expense of the majority.
• Going into hospital is bad for your health.
• Vast numbers of people cheat the system every day to make fraudulent claims for benefits.
• Most people will spend the rest of their lives in permanent debt.
• The threat of terrorism is now so real that no one is safe.
• Every religion practised in this country is to be encouraged with the exception of Christianity.

If any of this is even remotely true then something is very seriously wrong with our way of life. Human beings are not evolving to be better; they are degenerating into a life form that lives only to satisfy its own selfish desires and greed.

I believe there is good in most people and that every human being has the potential to live like a child of God given the opportunity. There are still many examples to be found of love that is willing to self-sacrifice for the good of others.

Our society can be turned around if the majority will recognise as they once did their need of God and call out to Him for this nation.

Romans 3 : 22 “We are made right in God’s sight when we trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, no matter who we are, or what we have done” (N.L.T.)

Pastor Mick Reynolds