Mark and Amanda led worship on 30 June and Yvette brought us the word . Amanda used bindweed to illustrate how we can be snarled up with problems. She showed how we needed to get rid of the things that snare us like bindweed.
Yvette told us we’re on a journey today and asked ” Have you packed everything?” This is the call to discipleship, Jesus is heading for Jerusalem, no wandering the equivalent of the A1 despite knowing that he is heading for the cross. He knows time is short and nothing is going to stop him. He looks on it as the time he will be received in heaven. He set off for Jerusalem for the blessings that he receives. We can share in that, God isn’t going to let us go through it alone. Samaria is a big obstacle on the ways. 3 Kings sets the scene with the Assyrian invasions. Jews thought of these settlers now known as the Samaritans as half breeds and not as good as them.
The good news of Jesus should be our answer. Notice how polite Jesus was, He sent men to try to prepare the way. James and John wanted to return hate for hate, but we all know how well that works. John and James had been told what you should do when faced with rejection ie move on, James and John showed great confidence in the power of Jesus. We need to use the power carefully in the way it should be used . To quote Peter Parker’s uncle Ben “with great power becomes great responsibility “
How many times have we leapt to God’s defence. God is perfectly capable of defending himself. You only have to look at social media to see how is it has got perfectly reasonable Christian people to end up attacking those who are different. James and John gave been told off and Jesus moved them on.
We encountered three blokes the first gets the answer that Jesus has no home. The man thinks he’s getting riches and fame and Jesus shows he doesn’t even have a home! The man did not know what following Jesus would mean and what the cost would be. Jesus goes into rough places today thanks to people who count the cost and go anyway. Let go of the bindweed that ties us up and drags us down. Nothing here on earth is permanent.
Bloke number 2. Asks to bury his dad first. He wanted to do his duty by his father, but it’s an excuse. How many times have we said yes lord but….
Bloke number 3 wants to go back and say farewell to his family but Jesus tells him that he can’t look back if he wants to serve the kingdom of God.
We need to use and trust Jesus to take care of us. Why don’t we want to get close to God? Are we scared? Yvette’s mum asked her once would she go to Australia without Dave and the kids, Yvette really struggled with this and God eventually showed her that he would never ask her to do anything she couldn’t.
What about other people’s opinion? What about struggling to read the Bible. Take it small chunks use the lectionary in the In Touch to help you week by week.
Be obedient trust him to take care, don’t follow the crowd, don’t look back,
Don’t cling to regrets or mistakes.
If we want to follow Jesus we need to count the cost and then follow anyway.
People will try to hold you back. We need to be Jesus to a broken world. Our journey is over for today but remember Jesus is our navigator.