14th August 2022 All Age Service - Dave Food - Communion with CHrist

Today I want to look at communion with Christ. So let me pray,

Father, as we lay hold of your word this morning. Father, I

pray that Lord, it would be meet to our substance. Father, would

you feed us well this morning? Lord, I pray for those who I

pray for all of us, that we would get something from your word today,

something that will lasts into the week, through the week and beyond.

Father, I pray that you'd feed our souls well today. Father, help

me to share what you placed in my heart today. Ogi in your mighty

name. Ahmen, We're going to look a little bit at John chapter seventeen,

verses twenty to twenty six, and let's my printer didn't work this morning,

so I'm going to have to work off streams. Let's start with the

first scripture then from John seventeen, verse twenty to twenty six, and we'll

read right through. My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also

for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them

may be one Father, just as you are in me and I am in

you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe

that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave

me, that they may be as one. We are one, I in

them and you in me, so that they may be brought to complete unity.

Then the world will know that you have sent me and have loved them,

even as you have loved me. Father, I want those you have

given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory,

the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of

the world. Righteous Father. Whough the world does not know you, I

know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made

you known to them and will continue to make you known in order that the

love you have for me may be in them, and that I myself may

be in them also. This is Jesus's words. Jesus is saying that,

Okay, they don't know you, but they know me, and as they

recognize, if they will just recognize that you sent me, then they will

see the love. They will see the love of the Father. And I

want to in this talking about communion with Christ. I want us to identify

with Christ in this and that actually we could put ourselves in that place,

not that with the Son of God. But we are his messengers. We

are his disciples. We are his followers, and so they may not know

Him, they may not know God, but they know us. And in

knowing you and me, they know something of our lifestyle. And one of

the things that's most important about our lifestyle is our lifestyle should ask questions.

Our lifestyle should ask us at work in play, just just imagine you're you're

a carpenter and you're working with a group of other builders, and you're hammering

some nails in and you quite clearly hit your thumb with your hammer. You're

probably going to go out. Most builders would probably use some other colorful words

to go with that as well, but you don't. And someone notices,

They say, that obviously hurt. Why didn't you swear? Why didn't you

I may even use the Lord's name in vain, you go, do you

know what? Firstly, I want you to know that name you've just used

is precious to me, and so actually I never use it, that word

in anger that for me is the Son of God, my savior. But

then there's another reason. I don't want to communicate things that are not in

my heart. And yes it hurts, and I don't want to do it

again, but I don't want to communicate that with other people. I don't

want to communicate with other people the anger inside me or how I feel.

So what comes out of our lips, what comes out of our tongue.

So we are witnesses, and as witnesses we echo something of God. We

echo something of Christ, And in our communion, our common union with Christ,

we carry some of his characters, some of his nature, And in

carrying that, hopefully people will just see a little glimpse of Christ in us.

Christ in us at Christ that work in us because we do things differently.

There have been times in my life, and I'm sure there's been times

in your lives when you've traveled through some difficult moments. And I remember colleagues

who have said to me, Dave, why aren't you stressed about this difficult

because they know what was going on. I would be telling them, they

say, why aren't you stressed? Why aren't you back at home? I

said, Well, because God's got it in control. There's no point in

me worrying about it because I can't do anything about it. Many times we

worry about things that we can do nothing about. They're the best things to

take to God. Let's hand them over to God and say, God,

I can't do anything about this. Hand them over to God and then leave

them with him. Do you know. Unfortunately, one of the things we're

very good at is we hand things over to God. Say, Lord,

would you sort my relationship out with my sister. Yeah, I've done all

I can, but I can't do anymore. We take we hand it over

to him, and then the next day we take it back again, and

we pick up the phone and we try and ring and we make it worse.

If we're going to give it to God, Let's trust God. Let's

trust God. And Jesus said, I have made you known to them and

will continue to make you know. Jesus wasn't shy about talking about his daddy,

his father God, and I want to encourage us all. Let's not

be shy, let's not be afraid, let's not be concerned. In this

world where political correctness seems to rule and writing, I still want to have

kingdom correctness. And for me, kingdom correctness is if I need to speak

about the kingdom, I will speak whether it's appropriate or not, as far

as the agenda is concerned, or whether it's appropriate or not. There are

many meetings around the world that used to open in prayer, where that prayer

has now been removed from the meeting out of a sense of political correctness.

Yeah. And I can think of many friends of mine who are men and

women of faith of other faiths, and if I feel I should pray,

I'll turn to them and say, do you mind if I pray? And

do you know what? I can't think of a time when they said no,

please don't go, because they recognized prayer, they recognized prayer as a

powerfully, they recognized them. They see me as a man of faith,

and hopefully they will see you as men and women of faith as well.

And so when you say would you mind if I prayed, take the opportunity.

Let me give you an example. It's about three weeks ago now.

I bumped into someone who was limping down the street. I was in Egham

doing a little bit of shopping and I bumped into someone who was walking down

the street with a bit of a limp. And I know them. I

wouldn't say well, but I said, oh, how are you? And

I said what's going on? And said, well, yeah, I dropped

something on my foot. Yeah, yes, yesterday it's something quite heavy.

I was out in the I think they're out in the garden and they dropped

something on their foot and it's really bruised and it's really painful. And I

said, well, could I pray? Would you mind if I prayed?

I didn't know whether a person of faith or not, so I took the

opportunity. Now, I don't know what I don't know what you would think

at that moment, but they started. They said, okay, thanks very

much, Dave, thank you, please do and then they started to walk

off and I grabbed their hand and I just said, I mean now,

I don't mean I'm going to go away, and said, can we pray

now? And they said, oh oh, and they were a little surprised,

and I said, and we stood. I stood there and held their

hand and just had a little prayer in the high street and then they said,

okay, let me know how it goes. I haven't heard from them

since. But what I did notice is they walked off, is they weren't

limpid. I don't know whether that's a sign or whether they just by standing

still they'd ease the pain. But you know, God, God does little

things, and we need to keep on looking to him. Let's look now

at our next scripture as we press into what's that one called my prince too

small to bring it up? When we right? John fourteen, Yeah,

John fourteen, Verses one to six, a scripture I love very dearly.

I've had the privilege of sharing this a number of funeral and you'll understand why

this might be read at funerals. But I want to encourage you to not

think about end times, not to think about the end of your life,

but think about this in its relevant today. Do not let your heart be

troubled. It's not just heart, it's hearts, many hearts. Your heart,

my heart. You believe in God, believe also in me. This

is what Jesus is saying. My father's house has many rooms, many mansions

in a different translation, many places. If it were not so, I

would have told you that I am going there. I am going there to

prepare a place for you. Oh, Jesus is going ahead of us to

get the room ready. And if I go and prepare a place for you,

I will come back and take you to be with me that you also

may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I

am going. Now I don't know what you would say at this particular point.

You might say exactly what Thomas says. Because Thomas said to him,

Lord, we don't know where you'll go, so how can we know the

way? And Jesus answered, I am the Way and the Truth and the

life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Thomas said,

I don't know where you're going, so how can I know the way?

Jesus says he's going ahead of us to prepare a place for us to be

with us. Jesus wants fellowship with us. Christ, the Son of God,

wants fellowship with you and with me, and that means lingering with him.

I don't know whether you're like me. You like to be busy,

but I'm really rubbish at lingering. I've practiced it this week because of because

of this sermon, actually just because of some of the things God was saying

to me. There are a few times this week where I just sat and

instead of getting up and doing something else, I just sat for two or

three or four minutes. I don't think I got to five minutes yet,

but two or three minutes extra, sometimes in silence, sometimes just playing some

music. In one particular moment I was actually on a team's call. The

team's call had finished, and I just sat in silence. And then I

realized that the team's school was recording and I was still on camera because I

hadn't stepped out the team school, and it had recorded me sitting in front

of the camera for two or three minutes in complete silence. So I don't

know. I don't know what will happen now. I don't know whether that

will speak to somebody. Somebody might watch the recording and think, oh,

why is they've just sitting in front of the camera, you know. But

I want to encourage you linger. Linger for a few moments with Jesus.

Hang out with him and see what he has to say in your prayer times,

whether whether they're morning times, evening times, all day times, whether

they're short times or long times. Let me encourage you. Pause David,

as he wrote, if you read in certain translations, you will find the

five letter word SELA S E l A H. It actually means pause.

Just pause. And so, and we liked singing songs, and David wrote

those psalms as songs. He often sung them and then he paused. I

don't know whether he carried on playing his heart at those particular moments, or

whether he sat in silence. But I want to encourage you in your worship,

in your prayer, give some space and open your ears and see what

God will say. Thomas said, we do not know where you are going,

so how can we know the way? Do you know what? Has

anybody in here in the room or anybody at home ever got lost? Yeah,

we've all got lost of you know. Sometimes we have a general idea

of the direction. It's over there somewhere, and so you head off in

that and then maybe you walk around in some squares and ultimately you find find

the place that you want to be. I think sometimes we have the general

direction of where Jesus wants what wants us to be. We just have to

listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit to find out exactly where we should

linger, the moments where we should pause, the moments where we should be

in communion with Christ. And I want to encourage you in those moments when

you bump into people on the high street, when you're on a call and

you sense Jesus nudging into the conversation, linger with your friends. I don't

just mean linger with Jesus, I mean linger with the friend who's also there,

even if it means that an awkward ten seconds as you're just listening to

the spirit. Don't feel you have to fill everything with noise. I've had

the privilege of training many students over many years, and I encourage them to

try and stop using ums and ahs. Silence is okay, And actually we

speak by our silences as much as we do with the noise that we make.

So there's nothing wrong with silence, but we do try and fill it

on many days as we move on to the next one, as we explore

communion with Christ. In John's eight verses twenty six to twenty eight, I

have much to say in judgment of you, But he who sent me is

trustworthy, and what I have heard from him. I tell the worlds the

words of Jesus are trustworthy. They did not understand that he was telling them

about his father. So Jesus said, when you have lifted up the son

of Man, then you will know that I am here and that I do

nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. That's

why I think it's good to be silent for a moment. Sometimes Okay,

we know we're in the right place, we know we're the right person.

We just sense the God tapping us on the shoulder wanting us to say something.

That's the moment when we just need to be silent and let the other

person speak. Pick up a cup of coffee and pretend to drink a cup

of coffee as you're just listening to the Father. I've done this before now,

as I've sensed the Father nudging me, I've said, excuse me,

coul you mind if I just go to the loop, and in the loop,

I've been listening to the Father. If I'm being honest with you,

I just wanted a break from the conversation because God's got my attention in those

moments, and I don't want to miss those moments. I want to say

what he wants me to say. I don't want to miss that opportunity.

We've all been there when we think we should have said something, We've moved

on, we've done something else, and then weeks, months, sometimes years

later, we find out that actually that moment was really significant, and then

we wish I wish I'd said what what the Father had given me to say.

So let's lift up the Let's listen to what he has to say to

us and through us, and let's speak with boldness and with confidence. Jesus

quoted from Deuteronomy. He quoted from Deuteronomy, and this is where he was

quoting from. He said, he humbled you, causing you to hunger,

and when feeding you in manner which neither you nor the ancestors had known to

teach you that the man does not live on bread alone, but on every

word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Now where did Jesus say

this? Jesus answered when he was asked a question in Matthew, he said,

he said, it is written. He was quoting Deuteronomy. He said,

it is written man shall not live on bread alone, but on every

word that comes from the mouth of God. God's word can feed us.

God's word will feed us. But we need to sustain ourselves. We need

to look to be fed and are being fed, then we can feel fat.

If you've ever eaten a meal and thought that was lovely, and you've

got that kind of comforting sensation in your belly, thinking I'm full, I'm

replete, there's a wonderful word. I am replete. I have enough,

not I've eaten too much. Not that you've got heartburn, but you've just

had just enough. Do you know what? That can be absolutely true with

God's word as well. You can read something and sometimes I have read one

verse, one verse only, and I have sat in some silence, and

I've read around it. But I've only read one verse, and I thought,

that's enough for me today. That's all I need. That's filled me.

It's filled my mind, it's filled my heart. It's going to carry

me through the day. Man shall not live on bread alone. Jesus goes

on to say this, as the Father has loved me, so I have

loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commandments,

you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my father's commands

and remain in his love, the love of the Father. I have told

you this so that my joy may be in you, and that's your joy

may be complete. My command is this, love each other, as I

have loved you. By this, shall all men know that you're my disciples.

How by love, by love, communion with Jesus means we end up

carrying a reservoir of love. Communion with Christ means we end up with a

capacity to do more than we can do in the natural. We step into

a place where we end up being super and supernatural in hope, supernatural in

love, supernatural in peace. People say, why aren't you angry? How

can you be so joyful in this moment? How can you be hopeful in

these times? Well, because I am replete. I am complete. That's

your joy maybe complete? Now. Generally speaking, if you are complete in

joy, then you will overflow in some way or other. You will laugh

unexpectedly. You're smart in a moment. What are you smarting about? Well,

I was just thinking about and you just share something of Christ, and

you share something of your communion with Christ. And in sharing something of your

communion with Christ, people just get a little glimpse of their savior. And

in those moments, I believe you will get opportunities to say, do you

know what would you like to accept Jesus as your savior. I'm believing in

the modern world that we live in, there'll be more people saved outside church,

outside the buildings of church, then there will be inside the buildings of

church. I don't mean outside the reach of church, because it will happen

through you and me in restaurants, on buses, at work, at home.

But it won't happen in a church building. It will happen because the

church is on the road. The church is in communion with Christ, and

we've gone out rather than stayed in. Let me pray, Father, God,

we want to draw near to you. We draw near to you,

And as we draw near to you, we draw near to you because of

Christ. And as we've drawn near to you because of Christ, we are

four that our joy may be complete. Father, I pray those words would

be true for everyone who's within my voice today, online, in the room

wherever they are. Father, I pray their joy your joy might be complete.

Father. Would you open doors where the opportunity seems to have gone.

Would you complete where things have not yet completed? Father? Would you heal

where healing is required? Lord? Would you do the impossible where we've been

asking for the impossible? Lawgo for God, you are able to do immeasurably

more than we ask or imagine. And as we commune with your son,

we carry something of your son, Jesus Christ, into our world, into

our homes, into our streets, to our friends, to our colleagues,

to our sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers. Father,

help us to shine something of you into our world, that they too

might say what Thomas said, we do not know where you are going,

so how can we know the way? And then this will be true for

them too, that they accept Jesus, you, the Son of God,

because you are the Way, the truth, and the life. Let it

be we pray in your Mighty name a man. And if that's a prayer

that you've prayed, and you've prayed it for the first time this morning,

if you said I want I want to find that way. I want to

find this God that you've talked about, Dave, I just want to pause,

and maybe for other people is the time to refresh and just say,

firstly, we recognize that we've fallen short, we've sinned, we've got it

wrong. And in these moments you might just say, do you know what,

I'm sorry, I've got it wrong. And we returned from those habits

and choices that we make, we say, Lord, Father, God,

I want to turn from this stuff that I'm in and I want to turn

to a wholesome, healthy, fresh and glorious way. So I turn,

I repent, will be the language that we might users Christians. I turn

from those habits and I put my trust in this savior that day's been talking

about today, this savior Jesus, Son of God. And I accept Jesus

your Son as my savior. Amen. If you prayed that prayer for the

first time this morning, let me encourage you. Come and speak to me

WhatsApp, messaged me, contact me any way you want to, and I

will get back to you. Let's just have a few notices. I'm not

I would be surprised if anybody remembers the memory verse this