Talks

Matt brought us the season finale in our “Who do you say I am?” series based on the incredible statement that Jesus made in John Chapter 14 where he says: “I am the Way the Truth and the Life.”

He looked at each statement in turn:

“I am the Way”
Jesus is saying: “If you want to know the WAY to the Father, there’s only one road, there’s only one path — and it’s Me.”

In contrast to other religions Jesus is saying that self-effort, or earning favour with the higher power aren’t the way to God but the ONLY WAY is through Him.

Our culture says, “All paths lead to God,” or “Be sincere and you’ll be fine.”

Jesus contradicts that idea — not out of intolerance, but out of truth and love.

“I am the Truth”
Jesus doesn’t just speak truth — He IS truth.

•    Our Culture says: “You have your truth, I have mine.”

•    Postmodernism: Truth is fluid.

•    Eastern philosophies: Truth is mystical or unknowable.

Jesus confronts all these ways of thinking… “I am the truth!” : Definite, knowable, absolute.”

“I am the Life”
John 10:10 – “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

In contrast to all other religions Jesus offers REAL life: Forgiveness of sins, Freedom from guilt, Purpose in suffering and Eternal hope.  Now and forever!

Jesus is saying to us:

If you’re lost, I am the way.
If you’re confused, I am the truth.
If you’re empty or dying inside, I am the life.
He isn’t offering a philosophy. He’s offering Himself!  Let’s accept and have fresh confidence that Jesus is EVERYTHING!

Helen spoke to us about “Jesus the Rock”.

Rocks are firm, stable and trustworthy.  Throughout the Old Testament, God is often likened to a rock.  For example: Psalm 18 verse 2 “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge”  He is completely trustworthy, dependable and solid.  And then in the New Testament the Apostle Paul tells the church in Corinth that the ultimate foundation is Jesus.  (1 Corinthians 3 verse 11)

Jesus Himself told a famous story about 2 men who built their houses.  One built on the sand, and when the storms came it came crashing down, but the wiser man built his house on the rock.  Jesus didn’t pull any punches! He says build your life on my teaching and you’ll be wise – otherwise you’re foolish.  We believe it’s still true today!

Helen’s 3 points were:

1) The Foundation is everything
Every life is built on something! The question is: What are we building on. It’s easy to build our lives on success, money , our past or relationships. These things are not bad, but we shouldn’t build our lives on them.
So many people are looking for truth in a world that is full with lies.

2) Hearing is not enough - obedience is the key
Being obedient draws us closer to Jesus and we can feel the safety of His refuge.

3) Storms will come, we have to build now to withstand!
Helen said – don’t wait for the rain to start to come before building your foundations! It will be too late!

Helen shared (very vulnerably) some of her own personal story of Jesus being her rock, recently as she faced the death of her mother. Let’s make sure we all build our lives on Jesus the rock.

Rachael Heffer (Head of Missions of the Evangelical Alliance) spoke to us about Jesus the source of all courage.
In Isaiah 43:1-13, Jesus says: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine”.
When we see the news in the world, it can make us spiral into darkness and hopelessness: Our response to this should be like the three train experiences Rachael had in the last few months: stop – review – advance.

Stop:
Train scenario: Pull the emergency cord!
Isaiah was in a similar situation to us today: the world around him looked very bleak. But God says: do not fear, I have called you by name, you are mine. Whatever scenarios you find yourself in today, do not fear. We are called for a purpose. STOP and consider whose you are and focus on positives. There is a lot we can celebrate:  1 in 5 people in the UK believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. 45% can believe in Jesus dying and rising again.

Review:
Train scenario: The train driver comes into the carriages, explains the situation and the plans.
We need to look to Jesus as our driver.
In Isaiah’s time, the people were in exile, but God reframed their situation and encouraged them: “Forget the former things, do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up, do you not see it? “

Advance:
Train scenario: Once the obstacle is removed the train can move on in your journey.
The Lord our God is powerfully with us and will not forsake us.
You are my witnesses, declares the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen.
Advance with confidence!
We’re on a journey of a lifetime to become like Jesus.

Gill picked up our “Who do you say I am?” series and spoke to us about: “Jesus the Teacher”.
Did you know that in the four gospels, Jesus is referred to with a title 90 times, and 60 times out of these he’s called “Rabbi” which means Teacher?
We read in those gospels that everywhere he went the crowds were astonished at His understanding even though he wasn’t from an educated background.
Without any degree, Jesus changed our world and culture more than anybody else in history. Even today, in our society many of our core values are based on the teaching of Jesus!
Jesus taught with authority because His teaching came from the one who sent Him: His Father God.
Sometimes the people, even the disciples struggled to understand what Jesus was saying and the same is true for us today. Don’t be discouraged - let’s keep studying and also embrace the mystery sometimes too!
We sometimes don’t grasp how radical, counter-cultural and transformative Jesus’ teaching was in His time: He taught people to Love, (even enemies) Humility, Forgiveness (the hardest thing for anyone to do), Live by Faith (and not by rationale or science) Service – living lives for others not ourselves! And still radical today.
Let’s make sure that we’re still following the teaching and truth of Jesus today!  Is Jesus your teacher?

In the 12th part of our series “Who do you say I am?”, Matt took us through a highlight reel of some of Jesus’ healing stories in the new testament:
1) Jesus heals a leper (Matthew 8:verses 1-3). Jesus touches people who nobody else should or would. Don’t you just love Jesus!
2) Jesus heals the centurion’s servant (Matthew 8 verses 5-13). Jesus is healing with authority from a distance. The centurion’s faith and understanding even amazed Jesus.
3) Jesus heals Peter’s mother in law (Matthew 8 verses 4-15). A normal setting – Jesus still heals!
4) Jesus heals the paralysed man who is lowered through the roof by friend (Mark 2 verses 1-12). Jesus demonstrates that He also has the power to forgive. Do we have friends who will carry us to Jesus -> Don’t live life on your own!
5) Jesus heals the woman with the issue of blood (Mark 5 verses 25-34). Jesus felt healing power going out of him. We believe Jesus still has “Healing Power today!”
6) Jesus heals Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5 verses 35-43) Jesus can even heal dead bodies! Jesus is the healer!

Does Jesus still heal today? YES (see story from Dave Bell)

But why isn’t everybody healed?
1) Honest answer is “We don’t know!”
2) We need faith (maybe sometimes more faith….)
3) We have an enemy and dark forces in the world.
4) It’s a mystery!

But there are three things we do know and can hold on to:
1) Jesus has done everything we need to be healed: “By His stripes we are healed”
2) One day there will be no more sickness and pain
3) Jesus can still use suffering for our benefit.

Jesus the Leader
What a great weekend!  It was a privilege and delight to have Jack and Trish Groblewski from Bethlehem USA with us both on Saturday with leaders in the morning, and Transformed Worship in the evening.  And finally Sunday morning – where Jack continued our “Who do you say I am? Series speaking on Jesus the Leader.

Jesus never described Himself as a “leader” but He was and is clearly the greatest role model we can ever have as a leader.  Leaders (by definition) are those being followed.  When we look at Jesus we see why so many people chose to follow Him.

Jack said:
“Spiritual leadership in the church and the kingdom should be spiritually obvious to those being led.”
What is leadership? It’s not “Lordship”. Earthly lordship voids biblical leadership. It is humanly centred and its authority rises from position and ego rather than relationship and call.
However - leadership in the kingdom is God centred and its authority arises from call, sacrifice and servanthood.
In Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, His agenda was to be our saviour and king. In Jesus’ ascension His agenda was and is to build His church.
Jesus the leader is filled with zeal for His church, and leaders who lead in His name are filled with zeal for His church too.

If Jesus is the leader – how can we follow Him well?

Jesus the Redeemer – And That Means Jesus Is My Redeemer. -

In Bob’s message on Sunday, we explored the beautiful truth that Jesus is not only the Redeemer, but our Redeemer, personally, powerfully, and lovingly. Drawing from the Old Testament idea of the kinsman-redeemer—a family member who would step in to rescue, restore, and redeem. We saw how Jesus fulfils this role perfectly for each of us. Like Boaz in the story of Ruth, Jesus became one of us, paid the price for our freedom, and offers us a new beginning.
Redemption means we are not forgotten, not beyond hope, and not defined by our past. Jesus came close, entered our brokenness, and gave His life so we could be set free. His sacrifice wasn’t just for the world in general, but it was deeply personal. Jesus sees you, values you, and calls you worthy of rescue. That’s the heart of the gospel.
So, the question becomes: Is Jesus your Redeemer? He invites each of us to recognise our need, receive His gift, and live the redeemed life, a life that is free, forgiven, and full of purpose. If you missed the sermon or want to reflect more deeply, ask for the notes or listen online. This is good news worth holding onto and sharing.

During “Fostering Sunday” we heard from Zoe about the work of 100 Homes and the need for foster carers in our region.  If you want to find out more about fostering you can!  Head to https://www.100homes.org.uk/

Zoe then spoke to us in our Series “Who do you say I am?” on the topic of Jesus the Restorer.

Reading from John 21:1-19 Zoe read the amazing story of an encounter the disciples had with Jesus after His resurrection. They were lost, broken and had likely given up hope, going back to what they knew, their life before Jesus as fishermen.

Jesus met them and restored them in three ways:
- He met them when they were fishing asking them to cast out their nets. This was reminiscent of when they first met and followed Jesus, he was bringing them back, restoring them to when they first met him and decided to follow him.
- He invited them to share a meal with him, inviting them to bring the fish they brought, showing he still needed them and their gifts, and restoring his friendship/relationship with them through eating together.
- He ‘broke the bread and shared it with them’, bringing them back to the Last Supper, where it all started to go wrong for the disciples. He was restoring them from their mistakes and forgiving them.

He then had a beautiful conversation with Peter where he asked, ‘do you love me?’ three times, restoring Peter from the three times he had denied him on the night Jesus was arrested. Peter was frustrated by the repetition, but Jesus knew exactly what was needed for restoration. Jesus loves repetition and wants us to come back to him again and again in the same ways, declaring our love though prayer, spending time with him and daily practices. It’s in those moments that Jesus can restore us from pain, shame and struggle. Daily restoration!

We are often brought to our lowest moment before moments of restoration, God works in our weaknesses. When we are struggling we can ask Jesus: “What is your restoration plan?”

Jesus definition of restoration is not just bringing back to where we were before but doing something new. Peter in this moment was called to ‘feed the lambs’, to replace Jesus as the shepherd and become the new head of the church. Jesus is always restoring us into something new, bringing truth from our heads to our hearts to equip us for what’s next.

He calls us to BECOME restorers, stepping into the mess of other peoples’ lives to help restore them too. This can be hard and painful - Jesus told Peter at this moment he would be killed for following Jesus! - In fact following Jesus is always hard - but we have to give up our lives to gain our real lives in Jesus. And when we suffer for following him, he will restore us again! A beautiful cycle of restoration into all Jesus has for us!

In the next part of our series “Who do you say I am?” the answer is something that Jesus said about Himself:  I AM the Bread of life.

Paul points out that whenever Jesus says “I AM” the people of Israel heard Him say: “I AM GOD” as they were reminded of Moses’ encounter with God at the burning bush in Exodus Chapter 3 verses 13-14.

Paul explains that when Jesus said I AM the bread of life, the Israelite people would automatically think back to when they relied on God to provide Bread from Heaven (Manna) for them to survive.  Paul made some interesting comparison between the 2 stories in Exodus and the Gospel of John:

A large crowd follows both Moses and Jesus to see the signs and wonders they do
In Exodus, the people eat Manna in the wilderness - in John’s Gospel, Jesus feeds 5000 in the middle of nowhere
(There are 12 baskets left over - one for each of the12 tribes
Both Moses and Jesus go up the mountain
Moses leads his people through waters (of the Red Sea), Jesus walks on water and takes his disciples to the other side of the sea
In both stories, the people grumble

Manna and Jesus (bread of life) also have many parallels:

Both are miraculous provision
Both are sent from heaven
Both keep us going in the wilderness
Both are needed daily
Both demonstrate God’s faithfulness
Manna gives temporary life, Jesus gives eternal life
Manna needs to be eaten, Jesus has to be received

Jesus was saying that the people needed to feast on Him now and he would not only sustain them now (on earth) but also provide them with eternal life (beyond the grave).

The challenge for us is that we feast on “Netflix” and snack on Jesus! What would it look like for you to feast on Jesus daily?
Daily prayer?
Silence/solitude?
Reading the bible, especially the 4 gospels?
Listening to worship music?

Easter Sunday - and Matt continues the series - Who Do you say I am? JESUS IS THE SAVIOUR
Matt describes God, and the fact that He isn’t like other gods… unattainable, out of reach… He doesn’t want to be distant… He wants to be close to you! He wants you to know His presence, enjoy His presence…. know the joy and delight of His presence.. but there’s a problem… a big problem… You CAN’T!  There is a BIG CHASM!  A huge gap between us and God - and this gap, this chasm, this gulf is the reason we NEED Easter.
JESUS came to save humanity from: danger, ruin and defeat.  The world desperately needed a Saviour! And that’s the reason for EASTER and the reason why Jesus came!
Who do people say I am? The Answer for Today: JESUS IS THE SAVIOUR
We all need a Saviour!  Jesus is not just the Saviour but the Risen Victorious Saviour – rose from the dead and defeated the grave!
Jesus is THE Saviour – but have you accepted Him as your personal Saviour?

If you’d like to speak to someone, please email admin@ashwoodchurch.org.uk and someone will be in touch.