7th September 2025 - Communion Service - Yasmin Chaffer - Position yourself to Listen

So Father, thank you for our dear sister. Thank you

that you've given her a rema word for us today,

Holy Spirit, feel her, feel every word.

She will speak.

Grace her with rememberance, with the anointing that breaks every yock,

that she may deliver according to plan in Jesus' name.

Amen, Good morning, So we have the title of this

morning's message is position yourself to listen, and we have

a new theme this month, students of the King. Jesus

has many names in the Bible, each one expressing different

roles that he has or different truths about him. Because

they're a mixture of actual names and descriptions of his

various roles, there isn't an exact answer to how many

there are, but approximately how many names and titles do

you think Jesus has? One hundred and ninety eight was

the most common answer that I found. Some of us

think that we wear a lot of hats, so to speak.

So if ever we feel a little overwhelmed by it all,

it's save to say that Jesus understands. He understands what

it is to have many roles in life and can

support us through it all, strengthen and help us to

do what is ours to do, and advise us what

can wait, and what is not ours to do. Amongst

his many titles, Jesus has the ultimate title of royal honor,

as it says in Revelation nineteen verse sixteen, and that's

in the NIV Revelation nineteen verse six On his robe

and on his thigh he has this name written, King

of Kings and.

Lord of Lords.

Jesus is called King of Kings and Lord of Lords

because all other rulers will be conquered and he alone

will reign. There is no power, king or lord who

can oppose him and win, not even the coming Antichrist.

All will falter and fail, for only Jesus is the

King of Kings and Lord of lords. This title indicates

that he has the power to exercise absolute dominion over

all creation. One day, as it says in Romans fourteen eleven,

every knee will bow before him, and every time confess

that he is Lord. And we are students of this king,

or can be if we're not yet. Jesus, the son

of Man and the son of God, who came to

earth as a baby, died on the cross to take

the punishment for our sins. And rose again in victory

over death and satan and the power of sin. Jesus

invites us to make him king in our hearts and lives,

not only so we'll go to heaven when our time

on earth is over, but to enable us to fulfill

God's plans and purposes for us in this life, because

He has them for each one of us. Romans ten,

verses nine to ten says, if you declare with your

mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that

God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

For it is with your heart that you believe and

are justified, and it is with your mouth that you

profess your faith and are saved. Jesus is the King

of kings, and it's so worth being a student of his.

I was thinking about what it takes to be a

good student, and the Green Cross Code came to mind.

I've not gone off on a bunny trail, as Simon

would say, stay with me. I'm not sure how many

of you know what I'm talking about when I mentioned

the Green Cross Code.

Apologies to those of.

You who weren't brought up in this country. You may

have your own version of it. It's the advice that

children are taught to help them learn to cross the

road safely. So firstly, find a safe place to cross

the road. Secondly, stop, look and listen and for traffic.

And thirdly look right, look left, and look right again

before walking across the road, whilst continuing to look and listen.

Now there is a reason you have heard this, although

you may understandably wonder why I'm bringing it up. It's

the second point that the Lord brought to mind when

I stopped to listen and find out what he wanted

me to share today. Stop, look and listen. One of

the basic elements of being a good student is positioning

yourself to listen. We focus best on looking and listening

if first we stop, which is my first point.

So Mark one thirty five.

Mark one thirty five in the NIV says, very early

in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got

her up, left the house and went off to a

solitary place where he prayed. Jesus was a busy man

with a busy job, but he stopped to spend time

with God by himself. If Jesus needed to, We certainly

do our need to spend quality time with God. Praying, listening,

and reading the Word is not in question. How and

when we do it will be individual, depending on our responsibilities, lifestyles, etc.

It's not a duty a job to tick off the list.

It's about relationship, spending quality time with one you love,

who knows you and loves you completely. I'm going to

say from the outset, the purpose of this is not

to send anyone on a guilt trip who is already

heavenly burdened with responsibilities and finds it difficult to physically

stop to take quality time out with the Lord. My

suggestion would be ask the Lord each day, what is

realistic for you, If it's not already obvious to you,

how and when you can stop. For some I realize

it may not even be a physical stop, but for

example mentally choosing to take a break from everything that's

going on, for example, worship in the shower, read the

Bible over breakfast, pray and also listen whilst you go

to work, meditate on a particular verse whilst you're waiting,

be it in traffic or whilst you're in a shop.

There are many different ways where we can engage with

the Lord, interact with him throughout our day, and that's relationship.

That's what we're all called today.

But the point is, let's intentionally stop and take time

with the Lord in whatever way we can. We probably

all need to ask the Lord daily, how do I

prioritize you today? It won't necessarily be the same each

day either.

It wasn't for Jesus. For example, before walking on.

Water, Jesus had been working ministering, and afterwards he went

off to pray and was there alone in the evening.

But a moment ago I read about how he got

up early to spend time with the Lord in Psalm

twenty seven, verse eight. Psalm twenty seven, verse eight, the

psalm in this is in the Amplified Bible. The psalmist writes,

you have said, seek my face, inquire for, and require

my presence as your vital need. It's an invitation to

spend time with the Living God, the one perfect parent.

My heart says to you, you your face, your presence, Lord,

will I seek, inquire for, and require of necessity?

And on the other authority of your word.

In essence, you have said, seek my face, require my

presence as your vital need. My heart says to you,

your face, your presence Lord, will I seek. I've been

reading the book Experiencing Father's Embrace by an American guy

called Jack Frost. It shares how performance driven he was

as a result of always trying to earn his dad's

approval and acceptance and not succeeding. Although his dad loved him,

he grew up in the nineteen thirties and didn't know

how to express affection. Jack says, I was slowly being

consumed by a deep fear of failure and rejection, a

fear that caused me to feel worthless unless I performed

well enough to earn my father's approval. When Jack became

a believer, his performance driven behavior continued in a Christian setting.

He says, it seemed perfectly natural to express my love

for God by building my identity through hyper religious activity.

Jack talks about aggressively pursuing God, praying and reading the

Bible two to three hours a day, and doing all

the right things, but he says, inwardly, I lack the

ability to express love.

At home, I was joyless. I had no inner peace.

Jack talks about the legalism that crept more and more

into his life until the time he went to a

healing conference, and God broke through and he started to

change the point of sharing. All that is to say that,

for example, praying, reading the Bible for however many hours

a day, these are great things in themselves, but it's

really important that we know why we're doing them. If

it's to earn God's love and approval, it won't work.

We can't earn God's love and approval.

Even by doing what's right, such as reading our Bibles

and praying, you can't earn a free gift. God's love

and approval can only be received by faith in what

Jesus has done for us, as it says in a

number of different verses such as Ephesians one, verse six,

by his grace he has made us accepted in the

Beloved Jesus. We read the Bible to spend time with

God because he is in his word, as it says

in John one, verse one, and we need him. We

need God's word to teach us how to live God's way,

and we need the Holy Spirit to do it. So

the point is, let's stop to spend quality time with

the Lord in whatever way and however we can. We

need it, and let's remember it's not to earn God's

love and approval or his acceptance.

We already have that in Jesus.

Let's turn to a well known passage which I believe

the Lord wants us to look at today. So it's

Luke ten verses thirty eight to forty two. That's Luke

ten thirty eight to forty two, and I'm reading from

the Christian Standard Bible. While they Jesus and his disciples

were traveling, he entered a village and a woman named

Martha welcomed him into her home. She had assists named Mary,

who also sat at the Lord's feet and was listening

to what he said. But Martha was distracted by her

many tasks, and she came up and asked, Lord, don't

you care that my sister has left me to serve alone?

So tell her to give me a hand. The Lord

answered her, Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about

many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has made

the right choice and it will not be taken away

from her. I really like this passage. There's something RESTful

about sitting at Jesus' feet, listening to him, and even

thinking about it encourages us to do the same. So

Luke ten thirty eight. While they were traveling, he entered

a village and a woman named Martha welcomed him into

her home. Martha may not have got everything right, which

of us has, but she started well, her heart was right,

and she welcomed Jesus into her home. If Jesus physically

turned up at your home this afternoon.

What would you instinctively do.

It's different for us because he's already died and risen

again and ascended to heaven. But for Martha and Mary,

he was there, physically present, with the instinct to be hospitable.

Kick in to get him a drink and offer him food.

A drink wouldn't take long, but then Jesus starts talking,

and you don't want to miss any of it, But

neither do you want to be rude and not offer

him anything. Both Martha and Mary wanted to do the

right thing. It says Martha welcomed him into her home,

so she may have felt that responsibility regarding hospitality. Even more,

Martha wasn't doing anything bad, She just made a poor

choice in that moment. Sometimes we need to set aside

something that's good for something that's better. When we have

a habit of doing that which is good. That which

is better may not come as easily to us. It

may not be on actual choice, but it's important that

we learn to listen to the Holy Spirit so we

recognize if we need to set aside a habit that

is good, because something better is available in that moment.

Luke ten th nine she had a sister named Mary

who also sat at the Lord's feet and was listening

to what he said. Honestly, when I was preparing this

and read this, my heart said, let's just stop there.

I love the image of being that close to Jesus,

setting everything aside, sitting at his feet and just listening

to him. So in fact I stopped and did just that.

It's so good just to stop and listen to Jesus,

whether he speaks to you or whether you just enjoy

his presence in silence. It doesn't matter whether you sense

him or not or not he is with you. If

you find it hard to focus, I suggest you slowly

and silently repeat Jesus' name, breathing it in and breathing

it out. When I stopped whilst I was preparing, the

Lord gave me a word for a number of people,

not just those in the room, but also those listening

on life and those who will listen to the podcast later,

he said, I am proud of you. It's not something

that you've heard much, or maybe for a long time.

They're not just nice words or only for someone else.

I don't want you to dismiss them automatically because you're

not used to hearing them addressed to you. This is

what I, your Heavenly Dad, Almighty God, creator of heaven

and Earth, am saying to you. Receive it by faith.

I am proud of you. You don't have to have

done anything specific for me to be proud of you.

It's simply because you're my child and I love you.

In John fifteen sixteen, it says you did not choose me,

but I chose you. Going back to Luke ten, verse

thirty nine, this is how this verse reads in the

Passion translation. Mary sat down attentively before the Master, absorbing.

Every revelation he shared verse forty.

But Martha was distracted by her many tasks, and she

came up and asked, Lord, don't you care that my

sister has left me to serve alone?

So tell her to give me a hand. Tell her

to help me.

This to me demonstrates something of the relationship that they

already had that Martha felt able to say this to Jesus.

Martha was right to share her problem with him. He

didn't share her view, he didn't give her the response

that she wanted, but Jesus didn't tell her off for

sharing her problem with him. It's right to share everything

with Jesus, all our concerns, all our busyness. But he

may not always give us the answer that we'd like

or that we expect, but it'll always be the right answer.

Verse forty one. The Lord answered her, Martha, Martha, you

are worried and upset about many things. Jesus acknowledges how

Martha's feeling. He doesn't dismiss her, but he lovingly corrects

her verse forty two. But one thing is necessary. Mary

has made the right choice, and it will not be

taken from her. Literally, it means that Mary has chosen

the good part, or has chosen the better portion, or

the right meal. Given Martha was busy, was busying herself

with hospitality, probably a meal. It's interesting how Jesus phrased it.

Mary's chosen the right meal. In other words, spiritual food.

One thing is necessary. It's so important that we make

that one thing the main thing.

Stop.

It's fundamental to positioning ourselves to listen to Jesus. Back

to the green cross code stop, and on to my

second point. Look it doesn't only mean look around, look

and also draw our attention to something. What we look at,

what we pay attention to, be it literally or look

by looking or metaphorically in terms of what we're thinking about,

will either hinder or help us to focus on Jesus.

Stuff happens in life that can take us off course

and can distract us from our focus on Jesus if

we allow it to.

Thank God for.

The privilege and power of prayer, As the song says,

what a friend we have in Jesus, What a privilege

to carry everything to God in prayer. Worry is just

one example of something that can take our attention of

God and the truth of how all powerful He is

and how much He loves us. The American author and

speaker Joyce Maya has a well known book called The

Battlefield of the Mind. The title says it all the

mind can be a battlefield, but we have the spiritual

weapons to win. Two Corinthians ten versus four to five.

So two Corinthians ten Versus four to five in the

NIV says, the weapons we fight with are not the

weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine

power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension

that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. And

we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Joyce Maya puts it this way in the notes in

her Amplified Bible. Our thoughts get us into trouble more

than anything else. This is because our thoughts are the

roots of every.

Word and deed.

In Isaiah fifty five, verse eight, the Lord says, for

my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways

my ways. No matter what you or I may think,

God has written his thoughts for us in his book

the Bible. We must choose to examine our thoughts in

the light of the Word of God, always been willing

to submit our thoughts to His thoughts, knowing that his

our best. So whatever we look at the most, whatever

we pay the most attention to, is what will get

bigger in our eyes, be it a problem or God,

God's word the Bible is one way that he speaks,

so paying attention to it is one way of paying

attention to him, the same way that Jesus dealt with

Satan in the wilderness in Luke four, when Satan tried

to tempt him. We use the Word of God, which

is our spiritual sword, as it says in Ephesians six,

verse seventeen, to deal with, for example, worry. When we

choose to deal with worry this way, we don't allow

it to take our focus of God, but choose to

fix our eyes on Him instead by focusing on the Word.

It's a conscious effort that we may need to repeat

over and over. I remember once when I was in

the middle of a situation, and I kept repeating to

myself over and over. God has not given me a

spirit of fear, but a spirit of power and of

love and of a sound mind, which is too Timothy one,

verse seven. Therefore I refuse to fear. God has not

given me the spirit of fear, but the spirit of

power and of love and of a sound mind. Therefore

I refuse to fear. To Corinthians ten, verse five, we

demolish arguments and every pretension that sets ourself up against

the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought

to make it obedient to God, to Christ.

That's our part.

We can only think one thought at a time, So

if we actually choose a relevant verse or the Holy

Spirit suggests something, we can put it on repeat and

keep applying it to ourselves. And that's one way of

dealing with, for example, fear and not allowing it to

take our focus of God. Philippians four, verses six and seven.

Philippians four six to seven gives us very practical advice

about how to deal with worry. To it says, do

not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by

prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will

guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. The NIV

Cultural Background Study Bible says Paul emphasizes an active dependence

on a benevolent God who hears our cries and takes

care of us, if not always the way we expect,

always in love.

These may be well known.

Verses, but they're always worth repeating as a reminder, especially

when we feel overwhelmed. Sometimes we just don't have the

words for prayer, but that's okay. Silence, submission to God,

just sitting before him in your heart is fine. He

gets it, as it says in Romans eight twenty six.

Romans eight twenty six. In the same way, the Spirit

also helps us in our weakness, because we do not

know what to pray for us we should, but the

Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings. I like

how the Passion translation puts it. At times we don't

even know how to pray, but the Holy Spirit rises

up within us to super intercede on our behalf with

emotional size too deep for words. Philippians four goes on

to tell us what we should be looking at, so

to speak, what to focus our thoughts on, so we

can position ourselves to listen. So Philippians four, verse eight.

Philippians four verse eight in the Christian Standard Bible says, Finally,

brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is on, whatever

is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable.

If there's any.

Moral excellence, or if there is anything praiseworthy, dwell on

these things. We obviously can't float around on a spiritual

cloud singing praise songs all day long. There are many

things in this world that we hear and see that

don't fall into any of these categories. We're not told

to hibernate or go and live in a cave or

on an uninhabited island. We need to deal with what

we need to deal with, and we can invite Jesus

into all of that and practice learning to listen to

him in the middle of it all.

God is practical. Jesus dealt with taxes.

In Matthew seventeen twenty four to twenty seven, so we

can listen to him whilst dealing with ours. We live

in a physical world and need to attend to physical things.

But thankfully, one of God's many promises is that he

will always be with us. As it says in Matthew

twenty eight twenty the point is here what we dwell on.

We need to think about what we're thinking about to

ensure it doesn't detract us from our.

Focus on Jesus.

Have you ever thought something then immediately thought I'd better

not say that, and a couple of minutes later found

it coming out of your mouth. I'm guessing it's not

just me, but that illustrates the importance of managing our

thought life. As it says in Lute six forty five,

out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

As it says in another translation, what you say flows

from what's in your heart. Sometimes another Bible translation can

help us to understand a familiar verse in a new light.

It can help us to think on it in a

fresh way. This is why I've again included the Passion

translation here for Philippians. For their say, keep your thoughts

continually fixed on all that is authentic and real, honorable

and admirable, beautiful and respectful, pure and holy, merciful and kind.

And fasten your thoughts on every glorious work of God,

praising him always. We enjoy watching nature programs. For me,

that's an example of fasten your thoughts on every glorious

work of God. It's RESTful and it's whole. We find

it relaxing discovering God's creation from the comfort of our lounge.

I don't need to be any closer to certain creatures.

But not surprisingly, as it's God's creation, it often reminds

me or illustrates to me something about Him. For example,

yesterday we were watching something about alligators in Florida. There

were hatchlings or babies at just a few weeks old,

which were just eight inches long, so too small to

hunt and could themselves have easily become prey if it

wasn't for the protection of their eight foot long mother.

But to help the hatchlings learn to fend for themselves,

the mother alligator swishes her tail in the shallow water,

and in doing so brings up little insects, et cetera

within reach of the babies, which gives them a chance

to practice hunting, and by catching them and feeding themselves.

It made me think of God.

There are things which he does for us which we

can't do for ourselves, but he'll facilitate our learning like

a good parent, rather than doing everything for us. He

doesn't want us to remain spiritual babies. The point is

when we keep our thoughts on that which is just pure, lovely, etc.

It's easier to stay attuned to the Lord and hear him.

I'm not saying that he can't or won't speak if

we're looking or focusing on things that we shouldn't be,

such as worry or gossip, but it's easier for us

to hear when he does speak. If we're focusing on

what he says, we should so when we stop and look,

we position ourselves well to listen, which is my third point.

We need to pay attention to what the Lord says

and not be like the man described in James one

twenty three to twenty four, where it says anyone who

listens to the Word but does not do what it

says is like someone who looks at his face in

a mirror and after looking at himself, goes away and

immediately forgets what he looks like, or, as we would say,

he lets the word of God go in one ear

and out the other. We need to position ourselves to

listen and allow the word of God to change us,

to make us more like him, so that the world

can see that we are students of the King.

Let's pray. Lord, we love you and we need you.

Thank you for inviting us into a real relationship with you,

for making a way where there was no way. Please

help us to position ourselves well to listen to you

and learn how to stop, look and listen to you

in the way that works best for us as individuals.

Because we ask it.

Lord, in Jesus' name, and we thank you so much

because you've promised that you've heard us.

Thank you, Lord, Amen,