The Pilgrim's Progress

Saturday 2nd July, 5pm til late, Chesham.
Tickets cost £9.
Transport will be organised, leaving from the church.

Adapted for the stage by David Robinson and Richard Hasnip.

Set in the Industrial Revolution, this new play is a modern adaptation of John Bunyan’s classic novel. The Pilgrim’s Progress has been heralded as a literary masterpiece around the world and having never gone out of print, it is the world’s second most read book.

Follow Christian and his companions as they set out on a dangerous adventure, a journey that will see him meet both friends and enemies along the way. With challenges great and small on his path, will he ever reach the Heavenly City? This remarkable retelling brings this timeless story to life for a whole new generation of people.

Jesus Heals a Paralytic

In order to show that He really did have authority over sin and all things, Jesus told the paralysed man to get up and walk.

Matthew 9:2-8

A father once said to his son, every time you do something wrong I will hammer a nail into this block of wood, and when you do one good action i will take a nail out of the wood. Soon the son was doing more good than wrong and held up the clean piece of wood, but the father showed his son the holes left by the nails. Whenever we do wrong, it is permanent and can not be removed by our good. The only one who has authority over the effects of sin is Jesus. Jesus also had authority over illness, nature and the spiritual realm. There is nothing outside of the authority of Jesus.

In this scripture we see that Jesus forgave the paralyised man of his sins. The relgious amongst the crowd accused Jesus of blasphemy, no believing that He was God and could heal the soul. They knew oy God could forgive sins so they knew, by His words, that Jesus was claiming to be God. Jesus clearly claimed to be God. He knew the people's thoughts. We are prone to assume that sin is only wrong actions but we forget that our wrong thoughts and sin in our private lives is also sin. God sees all things, there is nothing we can hide from God.

In order to show that He really did have authority over sin and all things, Jesus told the paralysed man to get up and walk. Jesus didn't just say, but He backed up what He said with awesome action.

The mistake the onlookers made was simply that, they were just watching from a distance. They missed the point that Jesus ws God and can forgive us our sins. Far greater than physical healing, Jesus can heal our souls. God gave His one and only Son for us to heal our souls.

Though there was only one man there who needed physical healing, everyone there needed spirituals healing. This man experienced forgiveness which is far greater than any physical healing.

If we confess our sins to Him and believe that He died for our sins, then we will be raised with Him and be with Him for eternity.

God's Power

God is Holy, hears prayer, rescues us, never changes & deserves our worship.

Exodus 3:16-4:17

God had shown Himself to Moses in the miracle of the bush that was on fire but wasn't being burnt up. God told Moses that he was standing on Holy ground. Moses was afraid in the presence of God, but God explained His concern for the Israelite people and the misery that caused them to cry out to Him. God heard them calling on Him and He was going to rescue them.

What we need to know about God: God is Holy, God hears our prayer, God can rescue us, God deserves our worship, God never changes, God was going to deliver His people, about 2 million of them, from slavery into a new land flowing with milk and honey - in other words, a very fertile fruitful place - the promised land.

This is a picture of what God does for us today when we trust Him to deliver us, to rescue us from the slavery of sin and set us free.

God told moses to confront the Egyptian leaders and request the freedom of the Israelite slaves. But Moses, like we are prone to when given a difficult task to face, doubted God. God promised to give Moses great power and authority and even gave Him miraculous signs to show the Egyptians the authority he was given by God.

This was great proof for Moses, but he still feared His own ability. He took his eyes off God and looked at the lack of his own strength. But God reminded Moses that it was He who created the world and gives people the gifts and abilities. We must remember who really is in control. Even our disabilities can be used by God and for His glory. Moses was wrong in being reluctant to do what God asked, and we too shouldn't doubt God's power through us, to change us, to make us new people and useful for Him.

Lance Mountain

I Am The Gate [John 10:7-10]

Jesus is talking to the Pharisees here. They would say that if you followed their rules you would be saved. They didn't like what Jesus was teaching or who Jesus claimed to be. It was to them that Jesus said "I am the gate".

We have gates for the purpose of getting somewhere. They allow people to get from one place to another. Jesus said He is THE gate and that we need Him to get to salvation. As humans, we stand in great need because we have rebelled against God. People know in their hearts that God is in control, no matter how they try to discredit Him or deny Him. Everybody knows there's a God and everybody knows what God expects of them, though we make excuses and try to rationalise our wrong. Our conscience tells us that we are not ready for God. If we're not ready to meet God, what lies ahead for us?

We all know there's got to be justice in the world. We know there's fairness because it's built into us by God. If there is no God, fairness and justice don't exist and every man can do anything they think is right in their own eyes. God will let us get what we want in the end. If we don't want God, He will eventually leave us and we will be away from God for eternity.

But God wants us to be His. He gives us every opportunity to turn from our rebellion and trust in Jesus who paid the penalty we couldn't pay. Jesus is the way to God - the only gate to God and we must enter through Him.

It means leaving our own selfish way of life behind, trusting in Jesus Christ and following His plan for our life. What will life be like then? Life will be good - the best life. Jesus came that we might have life to the full. God who created all the best things in this world, and the world to come, will guide our every step and bring us through every situation in life with satisfaction and joy.

Life without Jesus is a handful of dust. Everything else besides Jesus will come to nothing. Possessions, money and the pleasures of this world will tempt us to follow them whole-heartedly, but they are like thieves. Jesus, because of His life, death and resurrection, is the only way to have life to the full on earth and then life eternal after death, which is far better.

It's a promise.