Reading: Mark 6: 6-12

Then Jesus went from village to village, teaching the people. ⁷ And he called his twelve disciples together and began sending them out two by two, giving them authority to cast out evil spirits. ⁸ He told them to take nothing for their journey except a walking stick—no food, no traveler’s bag, no money. ⁹ He allowed them to wear sandals but not to take a change of clothes.

¹⁰ “Wherever you go,” he said, “stay in the same house until you leave town. ¹¹ But if any place refuses to welcome you or listen to you, shake its dust from your feet as you leave to show that you have abandoned those people to their fate.”

¹² So the disciples went out, telling everyone they met to repent of their sins and turn to God. ¹³ And they cast out many demons and healed many sick people, anointing them with olive oil.

Christians aren’t supposed to be ‘Lone Rangers’, we’re called to be joined together in a church family, witnessing together, living our lives, not independently but interdependently, sharing genuine love and care; in short we are called to disciple one another.

In our text today, Jesus sends His first ‘church group’ out and whilst there is material enough here for many sermons, let’s just consider the basic facts, that the disciples were:

• sent in pairs;
• sent by Jesus, and so they went in His authority;
• to take nothing;
• to walk away if the Gospel wasn’t welcomed;
• obedient – they preached the gospel, prayed and God healed and delivered people through them.

But how does this relate to you and me today? Again, in so many ways that we won’t have space to explore in depth here, but in essence I believe that this text is a incredible reminder that our tendency to live our lives in ‘little boxes’ is wrong. Christians are not called to specialise, yes some will be gifted in certain areas and we should use our gifts for the benefit of the whole church, for God’s glory, but…we are all called to be disciples, we are all called to disciple one another, we are all called to evangelise, we are all called to share what we have, we are all called to be praying people, we are all called to follow our Lord only, and to trust in Him only for our needs.

These disciples were called to live and love and serve together, in the big group of the church, in the smaller numbers as we read in the gospels at times, there a threes and fours, and here in pairs.

We need each other, I need you and you need me, and that can be uncomfortable at times, but the way of Christ is discipleship, not to lives life of lone rangers.

Reflect: Am I obediently following Jesus’ model for my life as an interdependent part of His church, am I letting others disciple me, and am I willing to give of myself to disciple others? Might I be too much of a lone ranger?

Act: take time today and over the coming weeks to take a stock take of things with God. Ensure that you are regularly praying with others within our church, meeting to study the Bible and share real fellowship with others within our church, and encourage and be encouraged, as you pray and work with others within our church to tell others that amazing Good News of Salvation.

Children’s Prayer Activity

Day 7 

Today use a ball inside or outside. Each time you catch or kick it think of anything you have done today that has made you and God sad. Talk to God about it as you play with the ball.

It's only fair to share...

Twitter

Linkedin

email

Facebook

Reading – 2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Those who know me will know that I have an eclectic taste in music from classical to punk, rock to soul, jazz to folk. And as I was thinking and praying through what to post this morning, I found myself thinking of the lyrics to a classic punk song (oh dear I can almost hear you groan…) they go like this:

“my daddy was a bankrobber
but he never hurt nobody
he just loved to live that way
and he loved to steal your money”

Now I’m not going to suggest that within this lyric there is some deep theological point, I don’t think Joe Strummer went in for much theology, but I do see parallels with the way some of us might think at stages in our Christian journey. You see there is such a danger of us living a life that is unchanged from the life we had before we were set free by Christ. Our text reminds us that a Christian is a new creation in Christ, and if we are new creations, we ought not to be using excuses from our old lives to stay in that rut that we were in before Christ redeemed us. Do you ever hear yourself saying, when you’ve acted in a less than Christian way, “well I can’t help it, that’s just the way I am”. The point is, for Christians that’s not true, we can’t say that, because our bad attitude is part of the way we were, not the way we are… we are new creations! Will we mess up, yes, but when we confess our sins Christ forgives us, restores us, and keeps on that miraculous work of recreating us in His image.

Reflect: today and everyday consider how profound a truth it is that: if you have accepted Christ as Lord and Saviour, you are being recreated in His image.  

Act: in your prayer time today: give thanks to Christ for that freedom won for us at immense cost to Him, and  take time to consider with Him which part of that old person you’ll take apart together, so that He can further that great exciting, fulfilling work of recreation in you.

Children’s Prayer Activity

Day 6

Praying for others and ourselves is an important part of our everyday prayers. It is great to talk to and listen to God.

It's only fair to share...

Twitter

Linkedin

email

Facebook

Reading – Mark 10:21

…Jesus, looking at him, loved him…

Nothing is hidden to God—He sees everything; He is omniscient, which means, of course, that God sees even the sins we have successfully hidden from everyone else. How do you feel about that? It is a bit awkward to say the least isn’t it? Yes, we might think that, but really, we should be delighted, because our all-seeing God is also the one who loves us more than any other. Yes, He sees our sin and it hurts Him, so we need to come to Him, repentant and asking for forgiveness, but in seeing everything, He is pleased when He sees signs of obedience and responses to His love in us.

Today’s reading gives us a great picture of this in practice. As the rich young man reels off his long list of the good things he does, Jesus looks at him only the He can, He looks with amazing love. He tells the man that he is on the right track doing a good job, that spiritually, he’s getting there. Then his searching gaze rests on the one thing that is holding this man back: his love for all the things he has, and he has a lot… Jesus tells him a difficult truth, that only by giving away the thing he loves more than Jesus will he find true freedom.

It seems this rich young man sees the truth of Jesus’ diagnosis but gives the impression that he is unwilling to do anything about it. So he turns away sad.

Does he ever respond? That we do not know, but we do know that Jesus’ words hit the mark and so it’s possible that he after all became one of the first believers.

We can do nothing to make others respond to the truth, but when it comes to ourselves, we can do everything that is needed to respond to Jesus.

Reflect: As you spend a quiet time with Jesus in prayer today, thank Him that He looks on you with love.

Act: First Ask Jesus to show you all that is obedient and good in you. He knows how hard you try to follow His way; He hears, remembers and answers every prayer that you have ever prayed to Him. He feels everything that hurts in your body and your spirit. Now let him show you how precious you are to Him.

Next take another step. Ask Jesus put his finger on one thing you may love more than Him—one thing that may be holding you back. Perhaps its money or belongings like the rich young man. Perhaps you are trapped in a persistent sin, or perhaps you are holding a grudge that you are having a hard time letting go of. Ask Jesus, as He shows you these things, to take your hand, stay close and help you beat them in His power, in His strength; let go of them, take hold of Jesus and let Him, who loves you, encourage you and show you the way of healing and moving forward that He is providing for you.

Children’s Prayer Activity

Sometimes we need to say sorry in our prayer time –

Be quiet for a few moments today and think if you have made someone sad or angry.

Ask God to help you not to do it again.

It's only fair to share...

Twitter

Linkedin

email

Facebook

Reading -Hebrews 10:22

let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.

Just read those first 9 word’s again and let them sink in a bit – The writer of this passage is desperate for us to see that not only do we need to be close to God, sharing with God, speaking with God, but that it is actually possible for to do that, because He has made it possible. The sad thing is though, so many Christians settle for living their lives at a distance from God.

This going right into God’s presence isn’t a physical thing, it is not something we have to work at with all our effort. We don’t have to face a certain direction or go into a special building, we don’t have going to ask a special man wearing weird clothes to let us in. So how do we “go right into the presence of God?” Simply by an invisible act of our heart. You can do it while standing absolutely still, walking, sitting, driving, while lying in a hospital, or on the train or in fact anywhere.

This is the heart of the gospel — this is what the Garden of Gethsemane and the crucifixion are all about — about  the incredible fact that God has done the most amazing and costly thing to make it possible for us to come close to Him. That was the whole point of Him sending His Son to suffer and to die so that through Him we might maybe decide to come back to Him, to enjoy God’s presence and start to have life as it was supposed to be.

It is not that God needs us. If we turn our backs on Him He isn’t any less God, He doesn’t lose out. He does not need us in order to be content, but He loves us that much that He wants us to be with Him so we might know more of His love.

Reflect: Do you want to know what God wants most in your life?  It is this, that you come as you are invited.

Act: During this week of prayer take Him at His word and dive right into His presence.

Children’s Prayer Activity

Day 4

Thank God for the family you are part of and for your church family. Why not draw a

picture/take a photo of your family and use it as you pray to God today.

It's only fair to share...

Twitter

Linkedin

email

Facebook