Prepare for 4th Sunday after Easter YR B 2015
MONDAY 20 APRIL
Acts 4:5-12
Salvation is found in no-one else
Peter and John had been arrested and were on trial for the crime of proclaiming that the Jesus whom the Jews had crucified was the Christ and that God had raised Him from the dead! The first thing that their accusers asked them was, “by what power or on what name did you do this?” They were referring to the lame man who had been healed.
Jesus had promised His disciples that when they were arrested because they were His followers, the Holy Spirit would give them words to say, “At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking but the Spirit of the Father speaking through you” (Matthew 10.19-20). This promise was fulfilled. The Bible says, “Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, made his reply to his accusers. “It’s by the name of Jesus, crucified by the Jews, raised by God, that this man is healed”, he said. Peter goes on to proclaim that salvation is found in no-one else. Jesus is the only one that can save. Paul proclaims the same message. “I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through Him everyone who believes is put right with God” (Acts 13.38). He goes on to say, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, first the Jews and then the Gentiles” (everyone else) (Romans 1.16).
Jesus didn’t come to condemn the world but to save it (John 3.17). We must not write off or judge people from other lifestyles or religions or cultures, but pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to tell them that Jesus loves them and died to save them and encourage them all to seek and find the glorious salvation that only Jesus can bring.
PRAYER: Jesus, we thank you that through you God created us all. Help us to believe your word that you are the only one who can bring salvation. Empower us by your Holy Spirit to spread the wonderful good news to peoples of every lifestyle, every religion and every culture. Help us Christians to persevere in spreading the good news until all the world is saved. Amen.
TUESDAY 21 APRIL
Psalm 23
The Lord is my Shepherd
When Jesus saves us He really looks after us. Psalm 23 is a wonderful summary of all our wonderful Good Shepherd does for us. “We all like sheep have gone astray, the Lord has redeemed us with his precious blood” (Isaiah 53.6 and 1 Peter 1.18-19) and now we belong to Him. Let’s look at all the Good Shepherd does for us.
- He supplies all our needs. We are never in want for the things that we need. He helps us through the most difficult times in our lives.
- He makes me lie down. The world is full of people who are burnt out and cut down by stress. Jesus encourages us to come apart with Him in prayer and restfulness so that He can feed us and keep us ever calm and refreshed.
- He restores my soul. When I lie down He gives me all the energy I need to keep going. He rids me of all discouragement.
- The Good Shepherd is always with me. Because His presence is so powerful, I need not fear trouble or danger or even death itself. He is always protecting me, rescuing me from trouble and leading me in the right way.
- He prepares a table for me in the presence of my enemies. God doesn’t promise all life will be easy and that all our enemies will disappear, but He gives us all the grace or power we need to love our enemies and not to be defeated by them. In Holy Communion, this grace is given when we proclaim the Lord’s death. We are given all the power we need to die to self and love our enemies and bring the whole world to faith in Jesus!
- He anoints us with His Holy Spirit. The same power (Holy Spirit power) that raised Jesus from the dead is in us who believe. This power is for everyone and it overflows to bless and refresh all the people around us!
- God never lets us go. He keeps us topped up with goodness and love and promises us a place with Him for ever in Heaven.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, our Good Shepherd, we feel so secure since we decided to follow you. Thank you for all you do for us. Keep us ever trusting in you to receive all you long to give us and do for us, our most loving Saviour. Amen.
WEDNESDAY 22 APRIL
1 John 3:16-24
What He does for us, we do for them
In John 3.16 we read about how God loved us so much that He gave us His Son. In 1 John 3.16 we respond by showing our willingness to love the world so much that we follow in Jesus’ footsteps and be willing to give our lives to others and lay down our lives for them.
Love (God’s love) is very practical. It’s more about what we do than what we feel or what we say. We lay down our lives for others when we see them in need and meet that need. It means turning the T.V. off and helping when other members of our family are struggling and we are lying around. If we see people lacking anything and do not share, we are guilty of not loving them. Once we obey the command of Jesus to love everyone in the way He loves us, we never feel condemned. In the world, apart from God, whenever we give away a lot we run out. When we run out we can’t give. This is not so when we are with Jesus. He feeds us with faith to ask Him for all sorts of things. He answers our prayers and keeps on supplying us with many resources to give away. He makes us rich enough to be generous all the time (see 2 Corinthians 9.11). The more we obey His command, the more we please Him and the more He gives us. God pours love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit He has given us (Romans 5.5). He then commands us to love as He loves by giving as He gave. As we obey these commands, we live in Him and He lives in us. The more we live in Him and He in us, the more loving we become.
PRAYER: Lord, Jesus, thank you for loving us so much that you laid down your life for us. Help us to respond to your love by laying down our lives for each other and by giving to each other. Pour lots of love into our hearts by your Holy Spirit to enable us to love as you love and for ever dwell in you and you dwell in us. Amen.
THURSDAY 23 APRIL
John 8.1-11
Neither do I condemn you, leave your life of sin
In the letter of James we read, “judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful - mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2.13). We are all sinners and all fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3.23). The only way we can get into a right relationship with God is for God to have mercy on us. This He did in our place on the cross. The power of the cross is being poured out all the time, wiping out our sins and bringing us into a right relationship with God.
God’s mercy and forgiveness is so beautifully illustrated in the story before us today. The woman caught in adultery was most probably Mary Magdalene who had been quite an evil person. How blessed she was that Jesus was there when she was about to be stoned to death. Jesus’ heart was filled with so much compassion for her. He came to her defense in a very wise way by saying, “Let him who has no sin cast the first stone”. When all those who had condemned her slunk away, Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin”. Mary’s experience of Jesus’ forgiving love was so great that all her heartache and sadness in her life was taken out and replaced with a tremendous joy. She made sure that she stayed very close to Jesus from then on. She was one of those who stayed at the foot of the cross and when she went to embalm Jesus’ body on Easter Monday she became the first person ever to see the risen Lord. She was forgiven much and given this great and wonderful privilege.
PRAYER: Dear Lord Jesus, thank you that your mercy triumphs over judgment and there is hope for the worst of sinners. Help us all to trust in you to forgive us and empower us to leave our lives of sin way behind us. Fill us all with the joy of forgiveness and the extreme joy of being one with you, Jesus our Lord. Amen.
FRIDAY 24 APRIL
Ezekiel 34.1-31;
Hebrews 13.7-20
Remember your leaders
God speaks very sadly through the prophet Ezekiel because the leaders of His people have failed to look after the Israelites. They have only been concerned for themselves. They have been like very bad shepherds who have neglected their flock. God says that He, Himself, would come and be a shepherd of the people of Israel. He would go and bring back the lost sheep and would look after the weak and injured and make them strong. He would deal with the sheep who gave the others a hard time.
God kept His promise to look after the sheep Himself when He sent Jesus. Jesus is the perfect shepherd. His fantastic ministry has brought so many millions of people into God’s fold. Through His laying down His life for the sheep on the cross, so many who had been lost and gone astray have been found by God and made part of His flock.
Jesus came Himself to be our shepherd, but when He went back to heaven He sent down His Holy Spirit on the new shepherds - the apostles and elders, who became later on the bishops and clergy of the church.
In the Hebrews reading we are encouraged to remember the leaders of the church by honouring them and imitating their faith. A responsive flock can aid the shepherd so much and make his task of looking after the sheep so much easier (verses 7-8). It’s important to obey the leaders of the church and to submit to their authority. They have to give an account and if the flock obeys their orders, it makes the shepherd’s job a joyful task and not a burden to stress them out (see verse 17).
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, when your shepherds of the Jewish church let you down, you came yourself to be our shepherd. Then you poured out your Holy Spirit on the new leaders you called. Continue to empower all bishops and clergy and help us all to honour and obey them to make their job a real joy and not a burden, Jesus our wonderful shepherd. Amen.
SATURDAY 25 APRIL
John 10.11-18
I am the Good Shepherd
Jesus is the Good Shepherd. Because He loves His sheep so much He was willing to lay down His life for them! Those of us whom God has appointed to be the shepherds in the church (it’s not only the clergy, but all members are called to take part in the job of looking after each other) are called to lay down our lives for the flock. The ministers of the church are not paid for the work they do. They give of their time freely and are willing to sacrifice everything for their flocks. The stipend they get is to enable them and their families to live. It is not payment for work done. All work is given free of charge! Any minister who is only interested in his pay or position is like the hired hand and is not fit to be in the ministry.
Jesus is the Good Shepherd, rather the very excellent shepherd, because He knows His flock. He knows us all by name. Every one of us, once we open the door of our hearts and let Him in, enters into a very deep, eternal, personal relationship with Jesus. Having this wonderful relationship with Jesus really transforms our lives. As we stay close to Him all His good qualities are transferred onto us. We become more and more like Him every day. Jesus is always concerned for the other sheep who are yet to come in. He will not rest until everyone in the world has heard the good news and given the opportunity to join His flock. To bring more in Jesus is always laying down His life and we have to lay down our lives for the other sheep. The more we Christians give our lives unstintingly to non-Christians, sacrificing everything for them, the more of them will join Jesus’ wonderful flock.
PRAYER: Dear Lord Jesus, our wonderful Good Shepherd, thank you for laying down your life for me. I enjoy knowing you so much. Please make me more like you every day. Inspire me to lay down my life and give myself sacrificially to enable all those who do not know you to join your flock and experience how wonderful it is to know you, Jesus our loving Friend. Amen.
SUNDAY 29TH.APRIL
GOOD SHEPHERD SUNDAY
THIS WEEK’S MESSAGE
AS we think of Jesus being our Good Shepherd we must remember that the shepherds in Jesus’ day were different from the sheep farmers and graziers we know in Australia today. They didn’t fence the sheep in paddocks or drive them with horses and dogs.
They stayed with their sheep all the time. They developed a relationship with their sheep in the same way we have relationships with our pets. They knew them all by name and the sheep knew them and responded to their names. As they called their names the sheep followed them and were led out to the pasturelands. At the end of the day they called them again and led them home to a safe enclosure where the shepherds slept alongside their sheep.
When Jesus says that He is the Good Shepherd it tells us a lot about our relationship with Him. He knows us all by name and takes a personal interest in each one of us. We are all so very special to Him. He does not force us to follow Him. He lovingly calls our names and beckons us to come after Him. Once we choose to heed his call and follow Him He looks after us very well and promises to never let us go.
The most wonderful thing about our Good Shepherd is that He laid down His life for His Sheep. His death on the cross purified us and qualified us to become members of His Flock.
The way Jesus looks after us is to use each one of us to look after each other. When we receive Jesus into our lives as Lord and Saviour He gives us a shepherd’s heart. That means He makes us very loving towards each other. He pours love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit He has given us (Romans 5.5). He wants us to be willing to lay down our lives for each other. In plain English that means to love each other more than we love ourselves Let’s all fully accept Jesus as our Shepherd and follow In His footsteps!
PRAYER:Dear Lord Jesus, thank you so much for being such a fantastic shepherd. Thank you for laying down your life for us to give us eternal life. Please inspire us to lay down our lives for each other. Pour lots of love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit You have given us. Amen.