"Pick up your stretcher and walk" from the BBC's Heart and Soul Programme.

I came across this podcast on the BBC website.

There are some good points for well meaning Christians to be aware of here.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3csz41y

What price,forgiveness?

I follow a blog by an Anglican minister ,Daniel Owen, who lives in Ireland.
In his Good Friday sermon just gone he starts off with an amazing story of a man being pardoned by his victim's mother.
Daniel's sermon you can read in full if you follow the link below.
Also you will find the link on the story just mentioned.
It is wonderful the young man was pardoned but how sad that so called "blood" money was required to obtain his release and forgiveness.
Each of us in this age of Grace have the wonderful privilege that Jesus offers us forgiveness of Sin, eternal life and so much more through his death and resurrection and the shedding of His blood.

http://imprintsoflight.wordpress.com/2014/04/19/sermon-for-good-friday-2014/

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-27070087

Mutual Ministries-Gifts of the Spirit and other studies

Back in the 1970's my wife and I received excellent teaching from our pastors on the Gifts of The Holy Spirit and indeed on the Holy Spirit's role in our Christian lives.
We had study guides presented on
1. Mutual  Ministries-Using and discovering our gift or gifts in the Church
2. The Young Church in Action-Studies in the book of Acts.
3.The Holy Spirit
4.Spiritual Warfare
5. The Battlefield-in depth study on spiritual warfare.
6.The School of Prayer
7. Establishing and keeping a Quiet Time
8.Studies in the Gospel of John
9. Baptism
10.The men Jesus won, the men He did not win.(A guide to effective evangelism)
11. Miscellaneous truths from the Bible
12. Emotions and feelings.
13. After decision, then what?

In addition there were many audio tapes produced on topics such as
The New Man
Renewal
The Second Coming of Christ
Love

Some of these studies have already been posted on this blog and my Christian sermons blog. and on youtube(pembridge house) as audio tapes.

The New Man tape 3 by Frank Hunting is one of the most telling studies you could listen to if you suffer from rejection,are introverted, feel defeated, have low self esteem and many other things crippling you as a Christian.
Below is the link to it on my youtube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CY4VbTYMveE

Before listening to this audio you should determine that you will perservere to hear God speak to you.Blot out any judgements about the topic,the speaker or the audio quality.
I welcome any discussion or email about this message from genuine enquirers.

I am prepared to scan and make pdfs of some of the material mentioned above as an aid to you fully becoming a new creation in Christ.

Please note I am not a "qualified" academic type Christian. I am a layperson who understands well the battles we have as Christians from personal experience and know that my acceptance  of who I am rests entirely on the sacrifice Jesus has made for me on the Cross.
His acceptance means I can accept myself.
.

Jesus heals a blind man by Geoff Thompson

Sermon for Parkrose  Nursing Home by Geoff Thompson  30/3/14

Bible Reading : John 9:1-41

John 9

New King James Version (NKJV)

A Man Born Blind Receives Sight

9 Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. ² And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

³ Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. ⁴ I^[a] must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. ⁵ As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

⁶ When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. ⁷ And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.

⁸ Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind^[b] said, “Is not this he who sat and begged?”

⁹ Some said, “This is he.” Others said, “He is like him.”^[c]

He said, “I am he.”

¹⁰ Therefore they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?”

¹¹ He answered and said, “A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of^[d] Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and I received sight.”

¹² Then they said to him, “Where is He?”

He said, “I do not know.”

The Pharisees Excommunicate the Healed Man

¹³ They brought him who formerly was blind to the Pharisees. ¹⁴ Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. ¹⁵ Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.”

¹⁶ Therefore some of the Pharisees said, “This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.”

Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them.

¹⁷ They said to the blind man again, “What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes?”

He said, “He is a prophet.”

¹⁸ But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight. ¹⁹ And they asked them, saying, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”

²⁰ His parents answered them and said, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; ²¹ but by what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know. He is of age; ask him. He will speak for himself.” ²² His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue. ²³ Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

²⁴ So they again called the man who was blind, and said to him, “Give God the glory! We know that this Man is a sinner.”

²⁵ He answered and said, “Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.”

²⁶ Then they said to him again, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?”

²⁷ He answered them, “I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?”

²⁸ Then they reviled him and said, “You are His disciple, but we are Moses’ disciples. ²⁹ We know that God spoke to Moses; as for this fellow, we do not know where He is from.”

³⁰ The man answered and said to them, “Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! ³¹ Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. ³² Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. ³³ If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.”

³⁴ They answered and said to him, “You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?” And they cast him out.

True Vision and True Blindness

³⁵ Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of God?”^[e]

³⁶ He answered and said, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?”

³⁷ And Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you.”

³⁸ Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” And he worshiped Him.

³⁹ And Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.”

⁴⁰ Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, “Are we blind also?”

⁴¹ Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.

Jesus Heals a Blind Man by Geoff Thompson

In His ministry while He was physically on this earth Jesus healed many.

We are told about some of them and this report about the healing of the Blind man was one of them.

There are 6 healings of  blind men in the gospels.

If we look at the different healings Jesus is usually teaching a lesson to those who are witnesses.

There are often 2 responses by those who are there.

Some realize that Jesus is no ordinary man and come to believe in Him because of the miracles He has done.

Others chose to remain skeptics and even accuse Him of being the Devil on some occasions and are constantly trying to diminish Him.

The Pharisees in particular are very threatened by Jesus.

They see Him as a threat to their status and standing in the community.It’s a little bit like an employer being threatened by some new young employee as the employee may be smarter than them and take their jobs.

These religious leaders in particular are very set in their legalistic view of their relationship with God.

They think they are the only ones with a true knowledge of God’s ways.

In the Gospels Jesus is in the process of doing away with the age of the Law and ushering in the  the age of Grace.

In the Bible there is always something there for our instruction as well as the people who lived in Jesus’ day.

So what do we make of a story like this?

What are the implications for us?

Just a bit of background to the question “² And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

It was a common belief in the times of Jesus that if you were ill or blind or had some disability it was a result of your sin or someone elses.

Sadly there are still some today who think like this even in our own country.

Also in some under developed countries disabled people including children are just hidden away in a corner of the house and never given any help of any kind.

If we wanted to be pedantic we could argue that all suffering is a result of the fall of man and sin, but that is a general principle not to be taken in specific cases.

The blindman in this account  was certainly so touched by Jesus healing him he immediately became to believe Jesus was the Messiah when Jesus told him who He was.

He became so bold when challenged by the Pharisees that he suggested that they become Jesus’ disciples.

From verse 24 onwards we read

²⁴ So they again called the man who was blind, and said to him, “Give God the glory! We know that this Man is a sinner.”

²⁵ He answered and said, “Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.”

²⁶ Then they said to him again, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?”

²⁷ He answered them, “I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?”

²⁸ Then they reviled him and said, “You are His disciple, but we are Moses’ disciples. ²⁹ We know that God spoke to Moses; as for this fellow, we do not know where He is from.

They were so affronted by in their eyes,  such a lowly person telling them what to do, they excommunicated him from the synagogue.

Notice they were quite happy for the blindman to give God the glory but not Jesus.

They hated Jesus.

They were plotting to get rid of Him and try and catch Him out.

If we have received Jesus as our Saviour, as the Messiah, how bold are we in confronting the skeptics and pharisees of our day.

For example some  people in our circle of friends, we  value their acceptance and friendship but are frightened that  if we talk to them about Jesus they will cut us off.

While most of us here were not born blind, we have had our eyes opened by the Holy Spirit as to who Jesus is and if we have let Him ,He has set us free from all sorts of things that we are captive to.

That is is usually our own sin or the effect of someone else’s sin on us.

How many of you have read the story in the paper recently of former Adelaide Man John Short being imprisoned in North Korea for daring to distribute Gospel Tracts in what is known as the regime.

A place that is cruelly controlled  by someone who allows no personal freedom whatsoever to the people there.

You have to worship him.

John Short  was miraculously set free. He did not compromise the Gospel at all while in captivity.

He was under threat of Death, and stared death in the face but held firmly to His faith in Jesus.

There are many, probably many Christians, who will criticize him for what he did but you see somewhere along the way in his life he was blind but now he sees.

We sing amazing Grace often in Church and we will be finishing with that today.

We sing with much emphasis and enthusiasm, I once was blind but now I see.

Have you had the blindness removed from your eyes, can you see clearly who Jesus is and what He has done for you?

Jesus tells us in today’s passage

“As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

He has brought us out of darkness into light.

Have you so fallen in love with Him that you can share Him with others?

³⁵ Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of God?”^[e]

³⁶ He answered and said, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?”

³⁷ And Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him and it is He

Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” And he worshipped Him.

Shall we continue in our worship of our Lord Jesus now as we sing amazing grace

My Life Changing Christian Sermons Blog

To people who read this blog on a regular basis or also casually please note I have other blogs.
I am now going to be posting my own sermons on my Christian Sermons  site as well as this one.
I am speaking more regularly now in Christian Churches and it may be easier to locate all my Christian content in one place.
I will continue to post such messages on both blogs.
Note there are audio messages and written ones.

http://geoffthompsonstapelibrary.blogspot.com.au/

Sermons given at Parkrose Nursing Home and Renmark Uniting Church will be posted here and on that blog.