1st September 2024 - Communion Service - Yasmin Chaffer - Knowing me, knowing you

And because of a vacancy in the school, she was

asked to work in reception year.

At the school. So for those not familiar with our system.

Children are in like four to five. And she cried.

She absolutely hated the idea. She prayed, she was a

believer and she believed that she was supposed to do this,

so she went and obediently went to work and absolutely

loved it.

God knows us better than we know ourselves.

Sometimes God puts us in different situations because.

He knows what did or bring out of us.

She knows the change E can effect both in and

through us, especially when we're completely dependent upon me even

to just get through the day.

He knows us well.

This month's theme is about knowing Jesus. I think it's

worth starting by considering how well He knows us and

how completely he knows us, and with that comes the

invitation for us to completely know him.

That's just amazing.

God himself, the one true holy God, who is our

heavenly Dad, who is Love, knows and loves us completely

and invites us into a real deep relationship with him.

And the more we get to know Jesus, the more

we get to know who we really are, because we'll

become more and more like Him, which is our original design.

We won't lose our individual characters or personalities, but these

will become more infused with Him.

Hence the typler the message knowing you. I'm well aware that.

God sometimes does need us to do things and the

situations that we don't love at all.

But that's where trust comes in. Trusting God's nature, trusting his.

Love, Trust that he will give us what we need

and that He will be all that we need to

get through. As we were singing earlier about walking about trust,

allow orders, excuse, excuse me, there's some wondering that you wanted.

That's when knowing Jesus comes in. As I heard one

preachers say, the excuse me, don't forgot something sorry, as

I heard one preachers saying, there are revelations that we

get in the valley that we don't get on the mountaintops,

revelations of His nature.

The more we know that the Lord, the more we

know and our.

Room for him stuff for us, the more we get

used to trusting Him even when we can't see where

we're going, where He's leading us, when we can't see

the beginning from the end, we trust the only one

who does of exercising Isaiah. Let's start by looking at

what Jesus says in John ten, verse fourteen.

And I'm reading from the Holmans Christian Standard Bible. That's

John ten, verse fourteen. I am the good shepherd. I

know my own sheep, and they know me. And let

two was saying, ilia, and I know my own sheep

and they know me.

I had a quick look on the Internet at the

meaning of the Greek word callos meet, which means good,

but the meaning also includes noble and wholesome and beautiful.

And it said in New Testament Times callos redlies that

the conducting the question not only is good.

But also appears so.

And I think with that in terms of Jesus being

our wrong model, and therefore the importance of our witness,

how we appear to others. The equivalent Latin term for

chlos and ask us I've seem described as that quality

which makes a man worthy of praise even if you

strip him of everything else. For me, that so describes Jesus,

our good shepherd.

That I thought it was worth to mention I am

the good shepherd. Jesus embodies goodness. Men as the shepherd

of the sheep, he is the.

One who protects, guides and nurtures his flock.

His people know my own sheep, and they know me.

The Greek word for no includes to understand, and it's

helps me to realize that Jesus not only knows us

but understands us. The Greek word for no also includes

the Jewish idiom for sex. So to me, there's a

real intimacy expressed here, and not only how well Jesus

knows us, but also how well we're invited to know him.

My personal take on that is that the meaning of.

That word no must therefore include no shame and nothing hidden.

Philip Keller was a guy born in Kenya in nineteen twenty.

He was the son of missionaries, and for a period

of his life he was also a shepherd. His book

A Shepherd looks at the Good Shepherd was written in

the nineteen seventies, but it is still available.

It's a cassock, I think it's great.

Following is a quote from Who's book The Good Shepherd,

and he quotes John ten the first String, So John

ten first string, the sheep is voice. And he calls

his own by name and leads them out. The sheep

heard his voice, and he calls his own sheep by

name and leads them out. He says, the great relationship

that rapidly develops between the shepherd and the sheep hunder

his care is to a definite degree dependent upon the

use of the shepherd's voice. We sheep quickly become accustomed

to their owner's particular voice. They're acquainted with its unique tone.

They can distinguish it from that of any other person.

If a stranger should come among them, they would not

recognize or respond to his voice in the same way

that they would do that of the shepherd. Even if

the visitor she'd use the same words and phrases as

that of their rightful owner, they would not react in

the same way.

Here I have to add that my mum had a

unique gift.

If she ever bleeded it, sheep, they would reply. She

never knew what they said to her, or how to

interpret their responses, but sufficed to say they.

Never came to her. Back to Philip, it.

Used to amaze and intrigued visitors to my ranch to

discover that sheep was so indifferent to their voices.

Occasionally I would invite them to call my sheep using.

The same words and phrases that I've habitually employed.

But it was to no avail. The Us and.

Lambs and even the Rams would simply stand and stare

at the newcomers in a rather blank bewilderment, as if

to say, who are you.

We see this, of course, when Jesus was led.

Into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit after his baptism,

fasted for forty days, and the devil tempted or tested

him then including quoting Scripture to Jesus to try and

add weight to the temptations. We won't look at this now,

but yes, it was God's word, but not his voice.

To put it that way, Jesus knew his heavenly Father

so well, he knew his word so well that he

knew how to refute the wrong use of the word

of God with the word of God.

By using Scripture appropriately.

As we get to know God and his word better

and better, we will be able to do this or

get better at it. It really illustrates the importance of

knowing God, of knowing.

His voice, so to speak, by his word.

When we see Jesus using it this way in order

to assist temptation.

John ten three. He calls his own sheep by name

and leads them out, just as an inside. Recently, the

Lord had.

Me read Genesis thirty six, which is primarily lists of names,

who was born, to whom, etc.

So I asked the Lord, why did you want me

to read this? And he said each one mattered. It

wasn't just a list of names to.

Him, like us, each one matters.

I mean as we come to understand more and.

More how much we matter to Jesus, our desire to

know who better will grow, and he will matter more

and more to us.

The other thing I took from these lists of names

is that we may have a part to play in

a chain reaction.

In Genesis thirty six, it lists someone who gave birth

to someone who gave birth to someone else, et ce.

So each one had a role to play that mattered,

or it wouldn't be recorded. Equally, our part is.

Sometimes to facilitate someone else to do something, who then

facilitates someone else to do something, etc. So yours may

be a name in a long list that God has recorded.

He always notices. Jesus calls us by name.

As Letti said earlier, he leads us out when we

know him well enough to trust and obey.

When we can't see the point of what we're doing,

it could be that we're playing a part.

In a chain reaction, so to speak, and only God

sees the bigger picture.

Back to John ten, verse fourteen. John ten, verse fourteen.

I am the good shepherd. I know my own sheep,

and they know me.

I heard one creature say that our heart is the canvas,

the Holy Spirit is the artist, and the Word of

God is the The more we spend time in the

Word of God, the more opportunity the Holy Spirit has

to paint the image that God has of us on

our hearts.

I think that's good, so I'm going to read it again.

Our heart is the canvas, the Holy Spirit is the artist,

and the Word of God is the oil. The more

we spend time and the word of God, the more

opportunity the Holy Spirit has to pay the image that

God has of us on our hearts. We are being

changed into His image, being changed from glory to glory.

As it says in Two Corinthians three eighteen, the point

is we cannot separate knowing Jesus getting to know him

better by spending time in his word et cetera, from

getting to know ourselves better. In other words, as he

sees us, this invariably involves changing our own self image

at some level.

None of us have got it all right. It might

be because the.

Things we were told when we were growing up, things

that have been said about us, and all things that

we wrongly believe about ourselves for a variety of reasons.

The more we look into.

The mirror of God's word and accept it into our hearts,

even when it's contrary to the negative things that we've

believed about ourselves, the more it can change us and

make us more like Jesus. It can be hard when

we've wrongly believed something about ourselves for a long time,

but we need to remember that God's word is the

truth and accept it by faith. It may take a

lot of meditation on the truth over a period of

time for it to really sink in, but it's well

worth persevering.

It's such a.

Great way to get to know Jesus better by allowing

the life in his word to change us and make us.

More like him. John ten forty. I am the good shepherd.

I know my own sheep, and they know me A.

Number of other translations say I know my own and

my own known me.

There's belonging in that we belong.

Some people have a real interest in their ancestry, and

I get that, and some of that is about a

desire to know our roots. I realize not everyone knows

their roots or has the option to.

Find out more.

But for those who are born again, the Word of

God gives us our roots and our sense of our identity.

For example, as it says in Ephesians three seventeen, may

you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love.

God is love, as it says elsewhere in the Bible.

So we can actually read this as, may you be

rooted deep in God and founded so purely.

Uncle, Oh God, He is our firm foundation.

And long.

I am the good shepherd. I know my own sheep,

and they know me. David expressed something of this sin

Psalm one hundred and thirty nine. Let's look briefly at

verses one to two, but I'm going to read up to.

Verse four to just give that little bit more context.

So Psalms at one hundred and thirty nine, and I'm

reading from the New King James version. Oh Lord, you

have searched me and known me. You know my sitting

down and my rising up. You understand my thoughts so

far off. You comprehend my path and my lying down.

You are acquainted with all my ways. But there's not

a word on my tungue. But behold, oh Lord, you

know it altogether. I know I sheard some of this

or to rise and shy the women's group that meets monthly.

Li little while ago, but I thought it was right

to share it again here.

Palm one hundred and thirty nine, verse one, You have

searched me and known me. That word searched in the

Hebrew includes to search thoroughly, to examine intimately. He knows

us intimately inside out. He knows what we're doing when

we sit down, when.

We get it up.

I actually like this in the voice translation, which I've

never looked at before. The voice is what's known as

a dynamic equivalent translation, so it's written to express the

original text in a way that's easily understood, in our

case in English, so it's not trying to be a

literal translation. So in the voice, Psalm one hundred and

thirty nine, Verse one reads, Oh, eternal one, you have

explored my heart and know exactly who I am. Eternal one,

you have explored my heart and know exactly who I am.

For me, there's something RESTful in that, to know that

God knows God knows me that well.

When I was in my twenties, I did a certain

anti fact hacking, mostly in.

Europe and some of which was on my own. I

loved it.

I loved the odd exploring and meeting people from different countries,

which is easy to do when you're staying in youth hostiles.

I also remember something of what it was like.

For example, I spent a little time with some English

girls in Salzburg in Austria.

The best way I can explain it.

Is that there was something about myself that didn't need

explaining because of the shared culture. This verse reminds me

of that what it is to be known, but in

this case, to be completely known.

When we search scriptures, when we spend time.

In the Word, we can really get to know God,

as it says, for example, in John one, verse one

in the beginning was the Word, and the word was

with God, and the word was God. That's one way

in which we can search and know God like he

searches and knows us. What does that say to him

about how much he matters to us? What if we

knew God as well as he knows us.

That takes a lot of imagination. What would that be like?

How would that change us? So it's easy to think

that we can't do that He's God.

But as we read earlier.

In John ten, verse four, Jesus said, I know my

own sheep, and they know me. He knows every journey

begins with just one small step, and each step we

take is a step closer.

What step can each one of us take towards that.

Goal from where we are right now?

What is the Lord saying to you and to me?

The first step will obviously look different for each one

of us, and it's a goal that will take us.

A lifetime and well beyond. But it's a great goal

to have in life.

To know the Lord, the One True God, creator of

the heavens and the Earth, God Almighty, our Heavenly Father,

the Holy One, the Alpha and the Omen Girl, the

Beginning and the End. Jesus the Christ, the Good Shepherd, Messiah,

Savior of the world, Light of the World, the Way,

the Truth and the Life, Redeemer, Prince of Peace, the

narrow Way, bread of life, living water, the line of Judah,

the Lamb of God, heal, son of Man and son

of God, the Word of God made flesh, the Living Word,

the risen One, the one who was, and is and

is to come.

I Manuel, the Holy Spirit, our counselor, our helper, our advocate,

our intercessor, our strengthened and ask for God himself, live,

living is us.

He calls us by name? How well do we know his?

And his names? These terms tell us something about who

he is. How do you know him?

In?

Which ways would you like to know him better?

Each name brings with it an invitation to know him better,

to know him better more intimately.

That's the gift of each day.

Every day we have the opportunity to know the Lord better.

Soul In Hughes was a Welsh minister who went to

be with the Lord about twenty years ago, and he

not only wrote many books, but also a daily devotional

every day with Jesus.

That's the goal of our lives, isn't it? Oh Lord,

you have searched me and known me.

You know my sitting down, my rising up. You understand

my thoughts are far off When I was at university,

an Italian tutor asked me to babysit her young daughter

for about an hour one time in the office.

I don't recall the exact agent.

The child, but she was crawling and I knew when

she was sitting down and when she was.

On the move.

Now, I didn't take my eyes off her. I just

still remember there being a socket about the right height

for her to reach, and when she set off towards it,

I obviously moved very quickly to distract her. The point

is I knew when she was sitting down and when

she was on the move because I didn't take.

My eyes off her. That's what God's like with us.

When I got baptized a non Christian friend and she

gave me a bookmark and I still use with Psalm

thirty two.

Verse eight on it.

It's God's promise, I will teach you and instruct you,

and the way that you should go.

I will guide you with my eye.

God doesn't take his eyes off us, and this means

that we need to keep our eyes on him. What

would it be like if we never took our eyes

off him?

That may seem impossible.

We live here on earth and we have to get

on with the practical things of life. But we can

learn to live connected to Him, surrendered to Him, to

the Holy Spirit living within us with.

A listening ear.

I actually learned the following from an article by the

Christian author and speaker Joyce Smyer. Some horses have what

the trainers call a reigning ear spelled.

Ri n I n G.

While most horses need to be led by a strap

arsend bit in their mouth. Some hosses keep one ear

tune to their master's voice. One ear is open for

natural warnings, the other is sensitive to the trusted trainer.

This is what I'm talking about. Whilst it's about hearing,

we're not obviously literally keeping our eyes on the God,

but learn to live a tune to the Holy Spirit

within us. And this describes it so well, living aware

of our natural surroundings and circumstances and at the same time.

Staying a tune to the Holy Spirit.

You know, my sitting down on my rising up, you

understand my thought, afar off.

He not only knows.

What we're thinking, but why you understand my thought? Afar Off,

Our heavenly Father knows our path, our ways.

On our words, and our why why we think what

we do.

Clearly, God knows us completely, and he still shows us

and loves us completely. I want to finish by looking

briefly at a well known.

Passage in the New Testament.

There always plenty of good reasons for looking at passage

which are familiar to many, one of which is, we

may know a truth even well in our heads, but

not necessarily be great at consistently applying it, So it's

good to remind ourselves of the truths in it.

I assume I'm not the only one anyway. In this instance,

Let's look at.

Just one aspect of knowing Jesus, and that's understanding his

priorities in a given moment. Let's read the passage about

Mary and Martha in Luke ten Versus.

Thirty eight to forty ten.

So that's Luke ten Versus thirty eight to forty two,

and I'm reading from the Hollands Christians stand of Bible.

While we were traveling, that's Jesus and his disciples.

He entered a village and a woman named Martha.

Welcomed him into her home. She had a sister 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. Martha welcomed

Jesus and his disciples into her home.

She made a great start by inviting him in. She

created the opportunity.

To spend time with him, but then got distracted doing

something good.

It's good to serve others, and here we're talking about

serving Jesus. Her heart was right, we're.

Talking about hospitality, but she made a wrong choice at

that point in time.

How many of us can relate to that.

It's so worth repeating this story as a reminder to ourselves.

Jesus' perspective on this matter. Verse thirty nine, Mary sat

at the Lord's feet and was listening to what he said.

She sat and she listened to my mind, this is

a position of humility, sitting at Jesus' feet.

The main point is Mary was attentive. She sat and listened.

When we sit are listening can be a bit intimittent.

I'm guessing I'm not the only one. Just keep doing it.

Creating the habit of sitting and listening is what matters.

God sees. Our God is not about performance.

It's about relationship, and like anything that we practice, we

will get better at it. This isn't very deep, but

it can be missed too easily by getting busy and distracting,

like Martha, even by good things. Martha was distracted by

how much she had to do and ask Jesus, Lord,

don't you care that my sister has learned her to

serve alone?

So tell her to help. Notice Martha is not disrespectful.

She calls Jesus.

Lord, but she also knew Jesus well enough to know

she could.

Be honest with him.

Important point was highlighted recently, and I'll week the daily

online Bibles weekly daily weekly daytime onlin own Bible Studies,

which incidentally is open to anyone regardless of whether you

attend this church or not.

We're looking at Pete Gregg's study of the model of

prayer that commonly known as the Lord's Prayer in the

introductionory session.

In an overview of prayer, he said, keep it simple,

keep it real, keep it up, keep it simple, keep

it real, keep it up.

Keeping it real is about being honest. That's so important.

Martha knew Jesus well enough to know that she could

be honest with him.

Do we? She presented the problem as she saw it

to Jesus, to who she knew. Justice is important, and

she saw the situation is unfair.

She even told Jesus, who is God, what he should say.

She really knew him well. Even though you didn't agree

with her point of view.

He wasn't angry with her for expressing it, he answered

by generally correcting her. Martha, Martha, you're 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 him. As we get to know Jesus better,

we'll get better at understanding his priorities at a given moment.

Which is helpful.

And there can be so many demands on our time.

It's about knowing Jesus and also about keeping a reigning

ear to use that porsonality.

Let's pray.

Thank you so much, Father, God Lord Jesus, you know

us completely and you still love us. Show us if

we've been trying to hide something from you, Help us

to be real with you and deal with it. Eternal One,

you have explored my heart. You've explored our hearts and

know exactly who we are. Help us to adjust our

self image to how you see us. Help us to

make the time to sit and listen, and also learn

to live.

With a reigning air. Thank you that we can ask

this in Jesus' name knowing.

That you've heard us because you always hear us, because

that's your promise. Thank you in Jesus' name.

Thank you,