Dear Friends,
Palm Sunday reminds us that God’s King is coming. But as we look at the crowds they were expecting a different type of king to Jesus. The use of Palm branches and the singing of Psalm 118 was the same as what happened about 100 years earlier when Judas Maccabaeus, a Jewish hero drove out the Greeks from the temple. Palms were the symbol on the coin of the second Maccabean revolt. Just as the great heroes of the past had challenged Greek power so there was hope that this Jesus would challenge the power of Rome. You can understand how exceptions about Jesus were building as he healed people and raised Lazarus from the dead and had fed the 5000 and earlier had thrown out the money changers from the temple. But the great problem then and today is that people don’t really understand the type of King that Jesus has come to be. The crowd cry out Hosanna which means Save us and they see that Jesus comes in the name of the Lord and is the promised King but their expectations are very different to the reality of how Jesus has come. In John12:14-15 we are told that Jesus rode a donkey and then there is a quote from Zechariah 9:9 that speaks of God’s King coming to his people but this King comes in gentleness which could appear as weak to people. It is no

wonder in 12:16 the disciples don’t understand all this. They didn’t understand the significance of this until after Jesus was glorified - that is died on the Cross. Throughout this

extended teaching Jesus is trying to communicate that the central reason why He has come is for

the hour of His glorification 12:23 which is His death. The great mystery of this king is that His power and life is released in weakness and humility and gentleness. The metaphor of the seed of wheat falling to the ground and dying speaks of His death bringing life to others. In fact this is also the pattern for the disciples that they too must learn to die to self and follow Jesus. Jesus explains this in 12:25-26 that we need to lose our life for Christ’s sake meaning that we put HIs Word and HIs purposes and His priorities above our own. At our 5pm service we are looking at 1 John 3:1-20 and the fact that we are a loved image. In v1 John speaks of Jesus lavishing his love on us to make us His children and this love is most fully expressed in Jesus laying down His life for us - 3:16. May the Lord reveal His love to us in Christ and may we enjoy this love. God’s Blessing Rev David O’Mara

Dear Friends,
Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:14-21 is one of the greatest prayers in the Bible it. It is a prayer that seeks God’s power to strengthen our inner being. So often as Christians we pray for our circumstances to change or for healing but not for spiritual strength to face our problems. We need spiritual strength so we can face doubts and fears and the pressure of the devil to turn away from God. We are strengthened by Christ dwelling us through faith. This is an amazing prayer because these people are already Christians. Why does Paul pray for these Christians that Christ may dwell in our hearts. Paul is concerned for Christian growth. This prayer for power is focused on God helping us to know the love of Christ more deeply. Paul uses 2 images, one from the agricultural world and the other from the building world. Paul is praying that our lives will be rooted in Christ’s love. That is that there will be depth in our relationship with and experience of Christ and His love. The second image speaks of being established meaning that we have our lives founded on Jesus and His love. This of course is revealed to us through the power of the Cross. In v18 Paul’s prayer recognises the importance of other Christians in the process of growing in faith. This has been the consistent message in Ephesians. You can’t grow in love by yourself. This growth comes within the context of the church. We need each other to grow in faith. Paul prays that we grasp this love. That is that God’s love takes hold of us. Ashley Null a renowned theologian who is an expert on Thomas Cranmer one of the English reformers says that Cranmer recognises that reformed faith is a faith of the heart. This is not synonymous with emotions. The heart includes mind and will and our affections. Our affections are what we love. Let me share a quote from Null. “According to Cranmer’s anthropology, what the heart loves, the will chooses, and the mind justifies. The mind doesn’t direct the will. The mind is actually captive to what the will wants, and the will itself, in turn, is captive to what the heart wants. “The trouble with human nature is that we are born with a heart that loves ourselves over and above everything else in this world, including God. In short, we are born slaves to the lust for self-gratification, i.e., concupiscence. That’s why, if left to ourselves, we will always love those things that make us feel good about ourselves, even as we depart more and more from God and his ways. Therefore, God must intervene in our lives in order to bring salvation. AT 5pm we will look at Matthew 8:18-34 and it contains one of the saddest responses to Jesus in the Bible. The people saw the demon possessed men set free by Jesus and in their right mind and they begged Jesus to leave. They rejected Him despite seeing his power. This is shocking and still happens today. God’s Blessing Rev David O’Mara

Dear Friends,
Today we begin a new series on Ephesians continuing our theme of being a healthy church. Many theologians divide the book of Ephesians as follows :- chapters 1-3 teach us doctrine about God and people or what Christians believe and then chapters 4-6 teach Christians the implications of this teaching and how to live as Christians. Effectively healthy church follow this pattern by ensuring that the Gospel is preached so that people come to faith in Jesus and then they have God’s power to live the Christian life. If we teach just about behaviour without the connection to Jesus and His saving power then our churches become moralistic and lack power. Healthy churches place an emphasis on the proclamation of Jesus’ death and the power of His death to both save and forgive our sins. Ephesians 1:1-14 is jam packed with Christian doctrine. In particular we learn that in Christ we have every spiritual blessing. Throughout the chapter the phrase “in Christ” is used repeatedly ensuring that we understand that all spiritual blessings are received through Christ and what He has done. You cannot follow Jesus without encountering Him personally and receiving the power of the Holy Spirit. God’s purpose for our lives is that we will be holy and blameless. This makes sense because God adopted us v5 to be his children. Children physically resemble their parents and so God wants us to spiritually resemble Him and so grow in love and joy and many other qualities. We receive all this through believing in the death and resurrection of Jesus 1:13. Through faith in Jesus we have been redeemed 1:7 and this means that Christ has paid for our sin and bought us. We are His and we belong to Him. When we understand that we belong to Christ we recognise that means we have been given a great privilege to know God and to be saved from sin and judgement. Please don’t take Your salvation for granted because it is a great gift. Not only does God save us but He also gives us the Holy Spirit who seals us or protects us and ensures that we will make it to heaven 1:13. All this is received through faith or trusting what God says rather than what we feel. The parable for the evening in Luke 18:1-8 teaches us about the importance of prayer & is linked to not being discouraged. It is easy to be discouraged as a Christian because of the trials we face in the world as well as the awareness of our sin. Prayer is the key to being strengthened in faith because when you you are nourished by God. To pray is to decide to follow Jesus in His strength and not in your own. This parable teaches us about perseverance and trusting that in the midst of all the evils that occur in this world our God is just and will be vindicated. God’s Blessing Rev David O’Mara 

Dear Friends,
Today we welcome Michael & Caroline Clark speaking about their work with CMS in Germany. Michael will be speaking on Revelation 2:8-11 which is Jesus’ letter to the church in Smyrna. It is interesting that Jesus identifies himself as the First and the Last and the one who was dead and is alive again. He is writing to a church which is about to suffer persecution and some of them will be thrown into prison. The key exhortation is to not fear 2:10. So often we allow fear to dominate our lives. It can be fear of tomorrow or fear of rejection or fear that we won’t cope in a certain situation. The great antidote to fear is that Jesus is the First and the Last. Jesus is in total control because He is Lord. Further He identifies himself as the one who was dead and has come to life 2:8. Jesus has power over death. We are all subject to the fear of death. The great news is that Jesus has faced death and has conquered it by rising from the dead. His conquering of death is more than just being stronger than death. Jesus has dealt with the original cause of death that ushered death into the world. His death has paid the price for our sin so we can be raised from the dead and come into God’s presence free from guilt and condemnation. To conquer fear means to recognise that Jesus is stronger than the issues which we face. We notice also in this passage from Revelation that the devil is involved in the persecution of Christians 2:9-10. This persecution is fuelled by the devil’s hatred of those who belong to Jesus. Friends, there is a spiritual battle and we need not fear this battle because Jesus has won the victory but we do need to engage in the battle resisting the devil and the lies that he trades in. Some of his lies include - if this happens to me it is the end of the world. No it isn’t Jesus is in charge of the world and Jesus has a way through whatever problem you face. Another lie is that I fear that I won’t cope with a situation I am facing or anticipating. That is a lie because God’s grace is sufficient. Stop looking at your problems which generate fear and start looking at Jesus the one who has conquered death and controls everything and you will find that He calms our fears. In the evening passage from Hebrews 9:11-14 we are reminded that the whole Old Testament System of sacrifice was a shadow that pointed to the reality of Jesus sacrifice for our sins through His blood shed. The Old Testament sacrificial system couldn’t remove sin but it reminded us that we needed a sacrifice for sin and with the coming of Jesus we find that His blood is better. That is it is effective because He cleanses our consciences so we may serve Him. Please note that coming into a relationship with God and being forgiven is so you can have a clear conscience and serve God in freedom. Are you doing that and enjoying that ? God’s Blessing Rev David O’Mara 

Dear Friends
The church at Philadelphia was a church which was weak which probably means that it was small and yet we see that this is not a barrier to obedience and serving the Lord because the church is commended for being faithful 3:8. This is a great encouragement to us that the smallness of a church doesn’t precluded God’s commendation and blessing. Of course we want to grow and see more people converted but our first and highest priority is to be faithful to Jesus. It is the pattern of Biblical teaching that God always reminds us of who He is and His power. So for example in the message to this church Jesus is identified as Holy and true. Jesus is pure and there is no sin in Him and His word can be relied upon. As we reflect on our situation both individually and corporately it is good to remember that the Lord Jesus is powerful and won’t let us down. Further He holds the keys of David pointing to the fact that He is the promised Messiah who has come to save us from sin and also that nothing can happen without His permission - He holds the keys. This should build great courage meaning we don’t have to fear tomorrow and people and we can live boldly for the Lord now ! The message to this church about enduring patiently 3:10 is also our message. Much of the Christian life involves faithfulness and pressing on and not being discouraged. Finally the last church to receive a letter is Laodicea. This was a city renowned for its banking and clothing made from black wool as well as its famous medical skill. In 3:17 the church is aware of its material wealth but Jesus’ assessment is that it is poor and blind and pitiful. There is a link in this passage between independence and wealth and being spiritually luke warm. It is not an automatic link but it is a warning that dependance on wealth can lead to us saying like the christians at this church “that I do not need a thing” which must include not needing God. We see the Lord’s heart in all this that His rebuke come because He loves us and is willing to say hard things to us 3:19. Repentance combined with faith is one of the greatest gifts which God gives us because repentance calls us to let go of rubbish in our lives so we receive God’s Blessings. It is difficult to receive God’s blessings if we hang not unhealthy things in our lives. IN 3:20 we have some of the most quoted verses of Scripture which indicate that God’s attitude to us is gracious. Jesus says to the church He wants to be in their life and eat with them. To offer to eat with someone is an indication of friendship and intimacy and that is what the Lord offers us. May we accept His kind and gracious offer in 2018. God’s Blessing Rev David O’Mara 

Dear Friends,
As Jesus continues to speak to His churches He emphasises the theme of being victorious. In 2:20 to the church at Thyatira and in 3:5 to the church at Sardis Jesus encourages His people to overcome the temptations which inevitably await us as Christians. The Bible is very realistic about the fact that the Christian life involves suffering and trials. In James 1:2 we are encouraged to consider it a joy when trials come because these strengthen our faith. In 2:13-14 James recognises that there are temptations because our sinful nature wants to resist God and His purposes. However Jesus’ letter to the churches in Asia Minor or modern Turkey encourages us to fight the good fight and to overcome sin. When God calls us to do something such as live a godly life we must also remember that He provides the resources to do so. To the church in Thyatira Jesus reminds them of the fact that He has eyes like blazing fire which refers back to the vision of 1:12-18. This means that Jesus sees everything and so our life is lived before His eyes. This strengthens us to be obedient and also means that He sees sin and evil and with legs which are like bronze He has the power to crush evil. These letters also remind us that Jesus is powerful and His final judgement will not close to the end of the age and so as Christians we need to remain faithful as we wait for His return. This letter also speaks of a false teacher named Jezebel. This name in Bible history was synonymous with wickedness. We must remember that one of the great threats to godly faith and living is false teaching. When people don’t teach the Bible faithfully we can be led away from knowing God as He truly is and also false teaching contains no power for Christian living. It is interesting that the Lord makes a distinction amongst the people of Thyatira - some have been led astray and others haven’t. Whenever we hear preaching we must test it against God’s Word to see if it is faithful to the Word of God !. As these letters continue we see that Jesus is a spiritual doctor who discerns the true health of the churches. To the church in Sardis He recognises that their reputation doesn’t match their reality. May the Lord grant us a true understanding of our spiritual state as a church and as individuals. We note in 3:3 that the key to having an accurate spiritual assessment of oneself is to remember what we have received and heard from Jesus and obey it and where we have failed to do so we should repent. Our spiritual health requires continual check ups with the Lord and His Word. This happens within the context of God’s people the church. God’s Blessing Rev David O’Mara