Pastor Nigel

OPEN THE DOOR.

Continuing our studies on the words of Jesus we looked at these famous words from the Revelation of John:

 Rev. 3:20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. 

This verse is most often used in an evangelistic situation but in reality Jesus is speaking to the church in Laodicea and reminding them of their half-heartedness and lukewarm faith. Here Jesus offers an invitation to believers to experience true intimacy with him and uses the image of a fellowship meal together. He declares that He is always waiting for an invitation back into the centre of the believer's life, and that the believer needs to firstly be sensitive enough to hear the call of Jesus and secondly needs to willingly and deliberately invite Jesus into each day of their existence. There may be several things that block out the voice of Christ, and several pre-occupations, habits, or attitudes that prevent us from issuing that daily invitation to Jesus.

GREATER THINGS!

Back out on Winterjam, our devotions tonight centered around these words of Jesus:

 John 14:12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 

This is an incredible statement! Just pause and recall all the amazing miracles that the disciples would have seen Jesus carry out- making blind eyes see, feeding 5,000 with a boy's packed lunch, calming a storm, walking on water, casting out demons, and even bringing Lazarus back to life. Yet Jesus says that anyone who has faith in him will not only do what he has been doing but will do even greater things.

It wasn't too long after Jesus spoke these words, that on the day of Pentecost after Peter's speech, thousands gave their lives to Christ- an occurrence that didn't actually happen throughout Jesus' own earthly ministry. And while Jesus never left Palestine, the early church influenced and shaped the whole of the Roman Empire.

When we read further on into chapter 14 of John's gospel, we see two keys to doing 'greater things'-

1. Praying in the name of Jesus- v. 13 and 14

2. The provision and  presence of the Holy Spirit- v.16 and 17

So really it's the Lord doing even greater things through us! We can read these words and move on, or we can really claim them, stand upon them, and take them as an invitation to join in a glorious, miraculous, lifestyle of intimacy, obedience, service, and power.

WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO FOR YOU?

Although I haven't posted them all, we have been able to enjoy regular devotional times together on the Winterjam tour. Recently we have been focusing on the spoken words of Jesus, and yesterday we read about an encounter Jesus had with two blind men:

Matt. 20:32  Jesus stopped and called them. “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked. 

Our prayer time concentrated on believing that Jesus was asking each of us personally that question, and we took the opportunity to write a very personal response and place it in a sealed envelope. Each of us then prayed for the enveloped request of another guy.

So often in our devotions I'm challenging the guys to look outside of their own world and to discover more ways to serve and grow as disciples. But now and again it's important to remember that the Lord wants to minister to us before he can minister through us.

Recognizing our need and our utter dependance on Jesus is a core part of our Christian journey, and living in the security and comfort of God's provision is the only place that we can truly minister to others from.

Psa. 23:1  The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. 

You might want to get on your knees right now and answer this question from Jesus:

what do you want me to do for you?