John 1
The Word Became Flesh
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome[a] it.
6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

15 (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) 16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and[b] is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

Verse 1-4
Does knowing that Jesus existed in the beginning and was part of creation alter your image of the baby born at Christmas?
Genesis 1
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
3 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light "day" and the darkness "night."

Verse 5 tells us that the light shines in the darkness and the darkness can never extinguish it. Do we believe that nothing can ever separate us from the love of God, that the light, the love revealed in Jesus is here for eternity?

Romans 8:38-39
38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Verse 6- 9, tells us about John the Baptist and how he came to tell people about Jesus. Our role in this life is to show people Jesus, how do we do this?
Matthew 28: 18-20
18 Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Verse 10-13 talk about Jesus not been recognized by everyone, in fact the people he came to who should have been expecting him the Israelites rejected him. The verses go on to say that those who do believe have the right to become children of God. We live in a world that seems to have rejected Jesus, what can we do to stop that from happening where we live or work.

1 John 3
1How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!

Verse 14 – 15 refers to the humanity and the deity of Jesus. Do you struggle with this concept?

From “The Message” translation:
14The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
the one-of-a-kind glory,
like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
true from start to finish.
15John pointed him out and called, "This is the One! The One I told you was coming after me but in fact was ahead of me. He has always been ahead of me, has always had the first word."

Finally Verses 16-18 Jesus reveals God to us, through him we can receive unfailing love and faithfulness.

The splendor of a King,
Clothed in majesty
Let all the earth rejoice,
All the earth rejoice
He wraps himself in light,
And darkness tries to hide
And trembles at his voice,
And trembles at his voice

Name above all names,
You are Worthy of all praise,
and My heart will sing how great,
Is our God.

Light of the world

John 8:12 "When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."


Matthew 5:14 "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.
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John 1:4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men.
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John 3:19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
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John 9:5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."
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John 12:35 Then Jesus told them, "You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. The man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going.
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John 12:36 Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become sons of light." When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.
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John 12:46 I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.
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1 John 1:6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.

21st November 2010

Good News!

" For God so loved the world that he gave..." Jesus to be our Saviour, our friend , our Lord...

This Sunday we are joined by our Divisional Leaders Lieut-Colonel Mike and Joan Parker who will lead our 11am service.

Please pray for them.

We are going to be blessed and God is going to speak through them.

For God so loved the world he gave his one and only Son,

that all who trust him and believe have life for ever on.

And if I were the only one who had let him down and turned away,

He'd still love me as his own and just for me he'd pay!

Rememberance Day

“They shall grow not old as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning.

We will remember them.”

John 11:25 “Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;”

The poppy was chosen as a symbol for Remembrance Day because it reminds us of a place called Flanders Fields where many soldiers from the first World War are buried. The poppies grow wild there between all the crosses that mark their place. We live in a country that is free because people gave their lives and continue to give their lives for our freedom.
In reality, we enjoy a lot of freedom. We are free to come to church and worship, we are free to choose what we want to be when we grow up, we are free to choose where we want to live, we are free to choose most of the things that affect our daily lives. This might come as a surprise to some of you -- but did you know that freedom isn't free? Someone had to pay the price for us to have the freedom that we enjoy. There may be men and women right here in this room this morning that have helped to pay that price. There are probably some people here this morning who had loved ones who gave their lives fighting for our freedom. These are the ones that we honor as we celebrate Remembrance Day.
We have a lot of freedom, but the greatest freedom that we have is the freedom that we have in Christ Jesus. The Bible teaches that the penalty, the price for sin is death, but you and I have been set free from paying this price. We have been set free because Jesus paid the cost. The Bible tells us that Jesus died to set us free from the penalty of sin. Instead of death, we have been given eternal life. This freedom wasn't free, Jesus paid the price.
Today as we celebrate Remembrance Day, let us remember to stop and thank God for those who have paid the price for our freedom. Let us also remember to thank God for Jesus, who has set us free from the penalty for sin, because he was willing to pay the price.

Sunday 7th November 2010

Isaiah 40:31
‘But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; THEY WILL RUN AND NOT GROW WEARY, they will walk and not faint.’

Hebrews 12: 1-3
‘Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us RUN WITH PERSEVERANCE THE RACE MARKED OUT FOR US. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that YOU WILL NOT GROW WEARY AND LOSE HEART.’

1 Corinthians 9: 24-27
‘Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last for ever. Therefore I DO NOT RUN LIKE A MAN RUNNING AIMLESSLY; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.’

The 2012 Olympic Games are now on the horizon. London is bringing the Olympic Games back to Britain for the first time in 64 years. Excitement is building as Olympic athletes all around the world are training hard with their minds and hearts set on being the best in the world at their particular sport. Their goal – an Olympic medal!

If Paul one of the writers in the New Testament were alive today, he would probably read the sports pages of the newspaper and follow the progress of various teams and athletes. Several athletic references in his letters indicate his interest in sports especially that of foot races in the arena. Paul was aware that the Jewish believers were possibly getting weary and wanted to give up on their Christian journey; so he encouraged them to keep moving forward in their Christian lives like runners on a track.

Paul wrote that he ran the race in such a way as to obtain the prize; he disciplined himself and continually pressed forward toward the goal in Christ Jesus (1 Corinthians 9:24-25; Philippians 3:12-14). At the end of his ministry, he declared that he had fought the good fight, finished the race and had kept the faith (2 Timothy 4: 7-8).

Athletes in a race do not crawl! They run! They exert themselves ,giving their undivided attention to the task at hand. The Christian life requires that same kind of discipline and focus if we live out Kingdom values and are engaged in Kingdom ambition. We must understand and embrace the fact that we not only need to run, but to run in such a way that we make a difference in our lives, our church, our communities, and even our world!