Good Friday Parkrose United Congregation 14/4/17 Geoff Thompson

This is the communion address I shared with the Parkrose Congregation this Good Friday.

 The first communion, as we practice it today, came into being at the Last Supper Jesus had with His disciples prior to heading off to the Mt of Olives, the Garden of Gethsemene, and His trial before Pilate and then His crucifixion;
His death on the cross.
At the supper with the 12 disciples,
Jesus broke the bread apart.
 (as we will read in a minute,)
We can wonder even then was He feeling as He broke it, as it crumbled, as it was torn apart, 
“is this what is going to happen to my actual body?”
He may have been thinking and asking His heavenly Father is there another way that you can bring your people, mankind, back into a right relationship with you.
He knew also His father would not be there to comfort Him and make the pain go away as He hung dying on the Cross.
He knew His Heavenly Father loved the world and everyone in it so much that He was willing to sacrifice His only Son for the purpose of redemption from Sin.
For each one of us.
We read also that when Jesus and the disciples(now 11 as Judas had gone off to betray Him) were in the Garden of Gethesemene that
^“41-42 He walked away, perhaps a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed this prayer: “Father, if you are willing, please take away this cup of horror from me. But I want your will, not mine.” ⁴³ Then an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened him, ⁴⁴ for he was in such agony of spirit that he broke into a sweat of blood, with great drops falling to the ground as he prayed more and more earnestly.”
The problem Jesus had was that for this sacrifice to be valid was that  He had to die as a man, totally human with all the physical pain and emotional and spiritual pain they we are all subject to.
He had to die as a human being with all the sin of each person becoming as if He had committed that sin.
Manifesting itself in Him.
He had to die in our place.
He took all our guilt on Himself.
He could have called on all the Angels to rescue Him but He had to resist that temptation.
He knew that He would not be able to be comforted  and strengthened by even one angel,

 as He was in the garden ,

as He sweated great drops of blood in anguish.

So we read this:

Matthew 26:26-30Living Bible

 ²⁶ As they were eating, Jesus took a small loaf of bread and blessed it and broke it apart and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take it and eat it, for this is my body.”

²⁷ And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks for it and gave it to them and said, “Each one drink from it, ²⁸ for this is my blood, sealing the new covenant. It is poured out to forgive the sins of multitudes. ²⁹ Mark my words—I will not drink this wine again until the day I drink it new with you in my Father’s Kingdom.”
³⁰ And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives."
So let us remember as we give thanks for this bread and the cup why we take it.
We do so in memory of what Jesus has done for us ,
and any who will receive Him,
and we give thanks that our Heavenly Father would allow His son to go through such agony,
 and that Jesus was willing to obey.

The Centrality of the Cross

Below is an extract from a book or series of sermons with the above title by Jessie Penn-Lewis.
Every serious Christian should consider her work and teachings.
These are a few paragraphs taken from her writings.
You can find all this book at the following link.

http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/jessiepenn-lewis/8791/8791tc.htm

Put simply the cross of Christ is the key to Christian Living,Experience and Victory.
Some teachers like John Stott,Neil Anderson, Charles Solomon,Frank Hunting and others will show you how we can exchange our lives for the life of Jesus.
The Great Exchange.
Romans 6 is the key.

from Jessie Penn-Lewis

"Now let us pass on to see the Cross as the centre, or 'fixed point', for VICTORY OVER SIN, OVER THE WORLD, OVER THE FLESH, AND OVER THE DEVIL. For a clear unveiling of the Cross as the 'fixed point' for the Christian's victory over sin, we turn to Romans 6. It is the basic chapter in the whole of the New Testament, where the deep meaning of the death at Calvary is set forth, in language which is extraordinary in its simplicity and clearness, and marvellous in its comprehensive explanation of the gospel. No wonder that the "god of this world" has influenced so many to relegate Romans 6 to the theologians, so as to keep believers from understanding its simple truth, because the deceiver knows it to be the CRUCIAL MESSAGE OF THE GOSPEL from the experimental standpoint.
God-ward, the death of the Lord Jesus Christ was the atonement, and the propitiation for sin, but in Romans 6 we are shown the Cross in its manward aspect-in its dealing with the sinner. Here is the practical, deep and vital message to the sinner, showing him the way of deliverance from the power of sin, from the world, the flesh and the devil. Here in the Romans 6 message of Calvary, Paul laid the foundation deep and, strong. Here lies the bed-rock depth of the Cross, as the 'fixed point' for the personal life of the believer, personal equipment, and personal victory in every aspect of need.
Let us read the passage slowly and carefully: Verses 1-2, "What shall we say then? Shall we persist in sin that the gift of grace may be more abundant? God forbid! WE WHO HAVE DIED TO SIN." Here is the Cross in its aspect of the death of the sinner with the Saviour. It is clear from this that Christ's Cross was the sinner's cross, not, of course, in the matter of atonement God-ward, but in the taking of the old creation life to the Cross, that the believer should be delivered from the power of sin; and that, not by conquering it, but by dying to it. Here is the key to victory. The deepest things are the simplest.
The real trouble about understanding the sixth of Romans is not a theological, but a moral one. When we sincerely want deliverance from the power of sin, it is within our reach. It lies just here for the simple soul who will take the statements as a fact. For the sake of a lost world, let us have no 'moral' hindrances to our knowing the reality of the Cross. If men and women would be utterly willing for the deepest work of the Cross to be wrought in or applied to them, there would be a trembling of the powers of hell, a shaking of the kingdom of darkness. The pivotal secret of God's plan for the redemption of a lost world lies in the meaning of Romans 6. The central fact of the Cross being the sinner's cross, as well as the Saviour's.
Moreover, this Romans 6 meaning of the Cross must be recognized as the root foundation of the Christian life, just as the 'root' is necessary to the life of the tree. A tree cannot part with its root, but must strike it deeper into the ground, so that all external growth may have strong support in the earth, and strong life-force for its maintenance.
" We who have died to sin," how can we any longer live under the mastery of sin? Or "have you forgotten that all of us ... were baptized into fellowship with His death?" writes the Apostle. 'All of us'-not the few who wish to be advanced souls, but young converts also! If every convert to Christ was 'born again' through the gospel message of this chapter, and they knew its power in experience at the very beginning of their Christian lives, there would be less backsliding, and need of careful nursing lest they fell away, for a new life would be imparted to them in stronger power, and Christ as the Living One would be known as a real Saviour."

"Emptying the Cross of it's Power" by F C Hunting

I have posted a podcast with the above title on my blog of Life Changing Sermons.
See link below.
http://geoffthompsonstapelibrary.blogspot.com.au/

Three Important Questions

I have been trying to clean up my office.
I am something of a random collector but my main things are books,records,magazines,photographic equipment,cassette tapes and other random stuff.
I have over the years collected some Time Magazines , mainly because of the topic on the cover and the feature article within.
There have been significant ones that are a wonderful progressive collection of modern history.
The ones I particularly like are those that confront us with our place and worth in the world and things of a spiritual nature.
Three I found today pose these questions.

"When did the Universe begin?  March 6 1995(actually probably a little before this)(issue date only)

A crucial question to which you need to add how did it begin?

The Bible says "In the beginning----"  A good place to start reading.
It starts in Genesis.

"The God Gene"  November 8 2004

We have had  "The God Particle" propostioned to us recently but we had the "God Gene" before that.
This was propositioned in a book called "The God Gene:How Faith is Hardwired into our Genes" by molecular biologist Dean Hamer.
There are some interesting quotes in this article.
I like this quote in the mag from Henry David Thoreau.

"With all your science,can you tell me how it is that light comes into the soul?"

"Why did Jesus have to die?"  April 12 2004

Once you have used your "God Gene" to be attracted to Jesus then this is the big question.
I would urge you if you are in this quest to not be satisfied until you find the answer and then act on it. A tip . Click on the the tag below.The cross.

In Search of Meaning-from the Wayside Chapel

Dear Inner Circle,

I once helped a woman with seven children escape domestic violence. She'd had years
 of beatings without mercy but in more recent times the children were also beaten to
the point where the woman chose to escape for their sake. On the day that I arrived
to enable the escape, two of the children were missing. The woman decided that the
 best course of action was to escape and seek to retrieve the other two children as
soon as possible. The husband was so enraged by the action of his wife that he took
 his five year old daughter to a river, put her in a bag that was weighted and he lowered
 the bag into the river. The little girl was drowned. I blamed myself. The bottom fell
out of my world. I'd been brought up to believe in God and my deepest, most pressing
 question was, "Where was God when this little girl was being lowered into that water?"

I spent some years being pretty cranky with the lack of answers that Christianity
 could provide whenever I faced unspeakable injustice. It was in a Good Friday service
when a massive penny dropped for me. I saw an image of a crucified man and
 wondered where was God. Bingo; I got it. I was looking at it. Suddenly I knew
where God was when the little girl was being lowered into that water.
God was in the bag. 

After my son died, quite a few people took me to lunch and provided an opportunity
 for me to confess that my faith had failed me. But at the centre of my faith is a
 dying son and a father, breaking his heart. My faith didn't give me my son back.
When my little grand daughter asked me if I could bring her daddy back,
 I had nothing for her. All I had was meaning. Meaning that required no reflection
 but only realisation. Meaning that empowered me to live as if every day since then
 was my last day. It loosened my grip on many things that I'd always held too tightly.
 I no longer cared where I lived or if people around me thought that I was doing a good job.
 I wear two watches. On my right arm, I wear my son's watch which, somewhere in the
first year after his death, stopped at one minute to midnight. I never replaced the battery
and yet the watch is always accurate. It reminds me that we only live for five minutes
and that I've only got one minute left. When I'm tempted to eat too much, drink too much,
 spend too much or if I'm invited to another talk fest, I look at that watch and ask myself
if this is how I want to spend the last minute of my life. 

So now I meet God every day in people whose world has collapsed; in those defeated
 by addictions; those who are mad after years of solitary life; in those who one way or
 another, are "in the bag". Sometimes it's a homeless person, sometimes it's a staff member
 and sometimes it's me. What appears to be God forsaken; that whose appearance is
judged and condemned; that which looks like desolate suffering, can be and is transformed
by love into the powerful presence of the Divine. The power to love is the power to
 overcome power.

Good Friday service at Wayside is at 10am and then all the local churches will 

combine in a procession through the main drag that we call, "the stations of Kings Cross". 

Also, Sunday, Resurrection Day, will be a hoot at 10am. 

I'm expecting hundreds of "out of office" replies as many will off on a break. 

Enjoy your Easter, rest up and stay safe.

Thanks for being part of our inner circle, 

Graham

Rev Graham Long

Pastor

The Wayside Chapel

Kings Cross

http://www.thewaysidechapel.com/