Preaching with a purpose

Today we are looking at Thomas who missed out on seeing Jesus after his resurrection when he appeared to the other ten disciples and the women. If a farmer was intending to buy a cow he wouldn’t send someone else to get one he would want to check it out for himself.   He would want to check its health by looking at its teeth and putting his hand over its body to check for problems.   This is the kind of person Thomas was.   He wanted to see for himself.   He didn’t want to trust anyone else with such an important matter as that of the resurrection.   His fellow disciples had told him that they had seen Jesus alive, but he could not bring himself to believe it unless he saw him for himself.   This attitude is not a bad one really.   Is it wrong to be cautious?   We all need to find Jesus for ourselves we cannot live on our parent’s faith, we have to have faith of our own. This is the third time we read about Thomas in the gospel of John....

Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the comforter.   Little children often have a blanket or soft toy that they always take to bed with them.   This is called a comforter.   Often they will not go to sleep without it. When they have it they feel safe and secure and content.   The Holy Spirit is profoundly more comforting to those who trust in Jesus.   His presence and comfort are promised to all who trust in Jesus.   Just as Jesus promised He is given to us to remind of all that Jesus taught His disciples.   They remembered what He taught them and they wrote it down for us to read.    The word translated Comforter can also be translated Counsellor.   The Holy Spirit is our defence counsel.   In a court if you have been accused of a crime there is a lawyer for the defence and one for the prosecution.   The prosecutor is Satan.   He is called “the accuser of the brethren.”   He drags up all the wrong things we have done ...

   I wonder how many ladies here like to knit.   I find that if I have spare balls of wool after I’ve finished a project I will put them in a bag with previously saved balls.   But often when you later go to see what you have you find that mysteriously the wools have all become entangled with one another and you have to spend a lot of time sorting it all out again.   It’s a bit like that in the passage from John 17 I am looking at today.   There is so much there to learn but you have to tease it apart in order to understand it and benefit from it.   As we read from John 17 we realize we are eavesdropping on a very special conversation, although we only hear one side of it.   Jesus is talking to the Father. This passage comes after Jesus has been teaching His disciples about the true vine and about the coming of the Holy Spirit to be their comforter. He begins by stating that “The time has come.”   What time is this? It is the time fo...

Mum's are very special.    They have so many things to do to organize all that their children need, these days often helped very much by Dad. When there is a new baby in the house everything revolves around it.   This is the sort of mother looking after her baby's every need that God spoke of in our Bible reading from Isaiah. He said that mother's do not usually forget their babies, but even if they did He God would not forget His children.   T he Bible is a wonderful book. Back in the time of the prophet Isaiah who wrote these words down, the children of Israel, God's people were going through a very difficult time in their life.   They had been taken captive and taken away from their own country and made to live in another country where they had to obey a foreign people. We see this in the following verses. 49:14 “Zion said, ‘The Lord has abandoned me,   the sovereign master has forgotten me.’   49:15 Can a woman forget her baby who nu...