Let Your Fire Fall - Acts 2:3

Let Your Fire Fall

June 12, 2011 - Pentecost

Acts 2:3

Introduction

• Today is Pentecost Sunday
• 2000 years ago an event happened which turned the religious world on its head
• The disciples were assembled in an upper room, where they had been praying for the coming of the promise
• 10 days before the resurrected Jesus had told them to wait in Jerusalem to be baptized with the Holy Spirit
• He told them that when this happened, they would receive power, and that they would be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth
• Let's read it
• Acts 1:4-8
• The disciples continued to pray
• They selected a successor to Judas Iscariot, and chose Matthias, so the number of apostles was once again 12
• And they continued to pray

The disciples were together, keeping Pentecost

• Acts 2:1-4
• They were all together in one place
• First of all, it was Pentecost
• This was one of the holydays described in Leviticus 23
• Pentecost is a Greek word which means Count Fifty
• During the days of unleavened bread the Israelites were to bring a wave sheaf offering to the priests, to be offered before God
• This was rougly at the time of Easter
• This wave sheaf was the first stalks of barley to be harvested in the spring harvest
• From the day that they offered this before the Lord, they were to count 7 weeks or fortynine days, and then it says on the day after they finished counting the 7 weeks, in other words the fiftieth day, they were to keep the feast of weeks or Shavuot
• So Pentecost means count fifty, and it always lands on a Sunday
• Pentecost was unique in God's festivals in that it had to be counted out.
• On that day there was an assembly of the church
• So the disciples were all together in one place, observing Pentecost

The disciples were together, praying

• There was unity among them
• One was not thinking, I'm going back to see mom
• Mat 6:33
• Another was not thinking, I don't want to be here with Peter
• Psalm 133
• There was a unity of purpose, they were all praying for the promise to come, the baptism of the Holy Spirit
• Acts 1:14

The disciples were together, obedient to what God had said

• Acts 1:4-5
• Jesus tells them to do something and they did it
• Are we obedient to every word the Lord tells us?
• It was said of Samuel the prophet he let none of the Lord's words fall to the ground - 1 Sam 3:19

Revival

• This last week I have been reading about revival here in the US, starting with Stoddard back in 1672
• I want revival in my own life
• I want revival in this church
• and I want revival in this town
• As I read through this book I noticed a number of things
• Each of these awakeners was sold out, not afraid of consequences, and had a hunger to do what the Lord had laid on their heart
• I am convinced that most all of us have had fire in our bones at some time
• But often we are not obedient to what God says, and we grieve the Holy Spirit
• As we grieve the Holy Spirit, it creates distance between us
• Today we are contending for that fire to return
• We want to return to an obedient walk with God
• We want to do the things we have neglected
• Maybe we are like the church at Ephesus which left its first love
• But we can rebuild what was lost
• Like a marriage
• A marriage can grow cold by not doing the things that make for a vibrant marriage
• But it can also be rebuilt, starting by getting back to the things we did when we were first in love
• So let's turn back to the hunger for God that we had at the beginning, and new life will come into our walk with God

I am accepted! - Eph 1:6

I am accepted!

June 5, 2011

Ephesians 1:6

Introduction

• Keith Hernandez is one of baseball's top players. He is a lifetime 300 hitter who has won numerous Golden Glove awards for excellence in fielding.
• He's won a batting championship for having the highest average, the Most Valuable Player award in his league, and even the World Series.
• Yet with all his accomplishments, he has missed out on something crucially important to him -- his father's acceptance and recognition that what he has accomplished is valuable.
• Listen to what he had to say in a very candid interview about his relationship with his father:
• "One day Keith asked his father, 'Dad, I have a lifetime 300 batting average. What more do you want?'
• His father replied, 'But someday you're going to look back and say, "I could have done more."

• How many of us can relate to this story
• Today we are going to see what the Bible tells us about our worth as a person, individually

Early Days and Life

• Often we grow up in families which do not value us as a person
• It may be our Mom, it may be our Dad, it may be someone else
• But as we grow up we are being molded into the person we will be as an adult
• The things that are said to us have huge impact, particularly in the early years
• As we grow up, we start working and other people start to make comments about us
• These comments often relate to the things we have done and accomplished
• I had a boss who praised me for good accomplishments, and this was a big help for me
• He also told me when I needed to improve a report I had written, but without putting me down
• So in life, we can have both positive and negative influences
• We see ourselves in terms of what has been said of us

The flaw

• The things that are said of us vary, depending on who is saying what
• So on Monday someone may praise us for an accomplishment, while on Tuesday we may be criticized
• When we see ourselves based on our performance, our self-image will change depending on what we have been told
• This means that the way we see ourselves is constantly changing, our feelings are fickle
• This is not the kind of foundation we need for our life.
• Jesus tells us that he is the Rock on which he would build his church
• David talks of God as being his rock, his shelter
• Paul talks about us being built as a temple for God, on the foundation of Jesus
• So God does not want us to be ever-changing in the way we see ourselves
• He wants us to have a solid basis, a real foundation for our life

How does God see us?

• Is God continually looking at how we are measuring up to certain standards?
• Does this change from day to day depending on how well we have done in following Him?
• Ephesians 1:5-6 "Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
• "To the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he made us accepted in the Beloved"
• Paul is telling us that the Father specifically chose us to be his children! He did this according to his will, he was not forced into it by any set of circumstances
• It is by his grace that we have been made "accepted in the Beloved"
• The Beloved in the context here, refers to Jesus
• So we have been accepted in Jesus
• The word used for accepted here, is Charito-o
• This means "to be highly favored, to make accepted, to make graceful, charming, lovely, agreeable, to pursue with grace, to compass or surround with favor, to honor with blessings"
• This is the way God sees us
• Notice, the word means to MAKE accepted
• It is God who does this work, we are his workmanship, as Paul says in verse 10
• God makes us accepted, he favors us, he surrounds us with honor and blessing
• This is how God sees us.

Performance or Being?

• God sees us not as the person who skimped on his prayer time yesterday
• He doesn't particularly look at our spiritual accomplishments either
• Because all our personal accomplishments are to him like filthy rags - Isaiah 64:6
• He doesn't put us down by saying this, it's just that whatever we do will never measure up!
• Instead of our standing with God depending on our performance, God makes us into someone he loves, cherishes, honors, favors
• It is no longer dependent on how we perform
• Instead, it relates to the person God has made us to be
• In Jesus, we have received grace, and are sinless before Him
• How can this be?
• It is because God sees Jesus in us, and Jesus is the One to whom we have surrendered
• And God says in him there is no shadow of turning - James 1:17
• The process is that we are made acceptable - as a result we desire to walk worthy of our calling
• This is pure grace
• All comes from God - He draws us to Him, His goodness leads us to repentance, and then He makes us acceptable
• The process is NOT that we walk worthy of our calling, and then God makes us acceptable
• This would mean our being made acceptable is conditional on our performance, which is a form of works rather than grace

We are worthy

• So God has made us acceptable
• He has made us worthy
• It is not dependent on our performance
• It is solely dependent on grace
• God has made us worthy to have fellowship with Him -
• 1 Jn 1:3

Communion/Last Supper

• 1 Cor 11
• It is this grace that makes us worthy to share in communion
• Not anything we have done

Memorial Day - Hope for the future - Isa 2:2-4

Memorial Day - Hope for the Future
May 29, 2011

Isa 2:2-4

Introduction

• Tomorrow is Memorial Day
• Many of us have family members or friends who have served or are serving in the military
• We may have family members who gave their all to this calling on their life
• They may have been a grandfather, a dad, perhaps it was a brother or sister or nephew or a son
• They may have been a friend, even a fellow combatant
• We will now watch a short video honoring those who have given their lives for our freedom
• VIDEO
• There is so much suffering associated with war
• Man was not made for war
• 10,000 US troops killed in Afghanistan since 2001 = 900/yr = 3/day
• 32,000 killed in Iraq since 2003 = 3500/yr = 10/day
• This pales into insignificance when we think of the 600,000 who died in the American Civil War in 1861-1865 = 340/day
• More husbands and fathers died in that war than in WW1 and WW2 combined
• A total of over 1.3 million US military personnel have died since the Revolutionary war in 1775

Cause

• When man chose to obey the enemy, war was a part of the consequences
• The enemy seeks to kill, steal and destroy - Jn 10:10
• One of Satan's names is Abaddon or Destroyer
• Rev 9:11

Jesus came to bring life and peace

• But Jesus came to give life, abundant life
• Isa 9:1-6 His name is Prince of Peace

When/How will He come?

• 1 Thes 4:17 There will be a rapture
• The dead in Christ will rise first
• 1 Cor 15:51-54
• We will all meet Jesus in the air - can't wait to get together with his people
• Jesus will set up a kingdom
• Zech 14:4-9
• Feet on Mount of Olives
• Isa 2:2-4
• Swords into plowshares
• No more war
• God will reign!

What if loved one has died

• They are in safe keeping with Jesus
• They are in heaven today
• They are able to commune with him one on one, any time they wish
• and they will be resurrected at Jesus' return, as we read
• And we will embrace each other once more

Conclusion

• So be comforted
• The loved ones you lost, you will see them again
• We honor those who have fallen
• We honor all who have the calling of fighting for the freedom of their country
• And there is hope for the future, because Jesus will return and set things straight, and usher in a time of peace

Looking in the mirror - our identity - Eph 2:6

Looking in the Mirror

May 22, 2011

Eph 2:6

Introduction

• Please raise your hands if you have not received a bulletin - you will need it before the end of the service
• We have all heard about identity theft
• we become paranoid about someone seeing our social security number or birthdate
• I even started altering my birthdate on facebook and my email accounts, but later felt that was dishonest and changed them back
• But we do so much online
• email, paying bills, it is convenient
• but when we go to nasty places on the web we can contract a nasty virus, which compromises your identity
• You may not know it has happened to you until you receive bills for a credit card you never had, or you are held liable for bad checks passed in your name, on a bank account you did not know existed
• it affects your credit and your credibility and you end up owing lots of money
• Identity theft happens in our spiritual life too

Thief steals ID

• John 10:10
• Satan is a thief
• What does he steal? Not our goods, he has no need of them
• he steals our identity
• How does he do this?
• He plants bombs in our thinking
• He starts off when we are very little, and sets up situations which are designed to steal our value and worth
• It may start off when we are conceived - maybe we were an unwanted child
• Some of us were adopted or fostered out, and at the core of our being we feel like we don't belong, because we did not have a sense of being wanted, in the early years of our life
• Maybe our family split up and we became part of the 50% of children that grew up in a broken family - 50% of marriages end in divorce
• As a child you don't know you are not responsible, nor that it is not unusual anymore - instead you feel like your family is sub-standard and that means you are sub-standard too
• This is all stuff the enemy engineers
• Maybe your teachers were old-school and tough and put you down
• maybe home life was affecting your grades and you bombed out at school
• Later on, we are affected by our employers
• They can build us up or tear us down
• It happens in church too
• we can be beaten down in church, convinced we are going to hell, convinced we are the scum of the earth, and that we don't measure up to the standards expected of us
• I grew up with a measuring rule - you had to pray one hour per day, study the Bible one hour per day, and also find time to meditate. I would try and try to do it but it never really worked. So I walked around carrying a huge load of guilt
• This was all part of the enemy's plan for me
• When we look in the mirror, this is what we see
• But Jesus has a different perspective on this

We are in Christ

• Eph 2:1-7
• The Bible teaches that when we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are "in Christ"
• This is more than a theological concept
• It is more than imitating the life and teaching of Jesus
• It is the present experience of the risen Jesus, living in us!
• Paul and John both use this term, being in Christ, to express the personal and dynamic relationship between the believer and Christ.
• This term is used 8 times in Galatians, 34 times in Ephesians and 18 times in Colossians
• This term refers to what we call "identification with Christ"
• It means God has done something in our life, so that we have become identified with Christ.
• As a result, what is true of Christ's standing, has become true of us
• Jesus was crucified, so were we! We are crucified with Christ - Gal 2:20
• Jesus is risen from the dead - so are we - Rom 6:4
• But it goes beyond this
• Jesus rose to heaven to be with the Father - if I am identified with Christ I too have ascended to heaven and am seated at the right hand of the Father!
• Eph 2:5-6
• Of course we have not become creators of the world, nor have we become God
• But our identification with Christ goes much further than we think

Who am I?

• Let's read aloud from the insert in the bulletin:
• I am the salt of the earth - Matt 5:13
• I am the light of the world - Matt 5:14
• I am a child of God - Jn 1:12
• I am part of the true vine, a channel of Christ's life - Jn 15:1,5
• I am chosen and appointed by Christ to bear fruit - John 15:16
• I am a son of God and one in Christ - Gal 3:26, 28
• I am a saint - Eph 1:1, 1 Cor 1:2, Phil 1:1, Col 1:2
• I am God's workmanship, his handiwork, born anew in Christ to do His work.

Conclusion

• Please read the summary of our Christian identity
• During the next few weeks we will take a closer look at the kind of person we truly are
• This will be a life-changing experience for you

Dealing with disappointment - Gen 39-40

Dealing with Disappointment

April 17, 2011

Gen 39-40

Introduction

Today is Palm Sunday

This morning we looked at the triumphal entry into Jerusalem

We saw how it was a time when they were sick of the occupying Roman army

They were looking for a Messiah

Prophecy had told that Messiah would come at this time

Their expectation was that Jesus would be the one to take power away from the Romans, and set up the kingdom of God, at that time

They hailed him as the Messiah and threw down palm branches and clothing in front of him as he proceeded from Bethany to Jerusalem

They called out Hosanna, Hosanna, to the Son of David and wanted to make him their king

But their expectation did not match God's plan

6 days later, Jesus was arrested by the Romans

Suddenly, Jesus seemed not to be the answer to their expectations

Suddenly their hopes were dashed

Their disappointment turned to anger, and they now called out, Crucify him, Crucify him

What are our disappointments?

Job, sickness, loneliness

We wanted something better, but God has not yet seen fit to give it

The disciples must have been disappointed too

Giving 3 1/2 years of their lives to follow Jesus, and then it all turns bad

But Easter is a time of hope, that Jesus not only died but was resurrected, and is alive and well and at the controls of the universe

Today we will look at some keys from the life of Joseph to see how he defeated disappointment

God will not desert us

Gen 39:20-23

In such a situation another man would have become angry and bitter

Joseph instead used the situation to become a stronger person

CS Lewis - "The Problem Of Pain - "God whispers in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but he shouts in our pain"

So where is God when Joseph is thrown into jail? Is he absent? Is he ignoring Joseph?

No, v23 says God was with Joseph, both when he was with Potiphar, and now in prison

Only sin separates us from God

False accusations put Joseph in prison, but God stayed with him, even in the bad circumstances

God helped him through this

When we go through our situations, which seem like prison, we are quick to think God is far away, and that God has forgotten us

But he hasn't

Deut 31:6, Josh 1:6, Heb 13:5 "I will never leave nor forsake you"

God is with us in our painful times

He was with Jesus as he walked the Via Dolorosa, he was with Joseph in prison, and he is with us in our trials

Spiritual maturity is learning to continue walking in faith, no matter what the circumstances may be

Use each situation as an opportunity to serve

Gen 40:1-8 Joseph served the butler and baker

Gen 40:4 "Shawrath" = he ministered to them, not just doing menial tasks

He saw the expression on their faces

He asks what is going on and then he asks God to provide the answer

He ministers to them, even in his own prison time

And God honored his prayer and gave the interpretation to the dreams

His ministering to them, helped him in two ways

1. It stopped him feeling sorry of himself, he was still useful to God

2. Ultimately, his ministry to these men was the means God used to set him free

Choose to trust God despite the circumstances

After years of waiting in prison, Joseph thought he was about to be released
But instead, he was forgotten by the butler

Real life can be cruel

People cannot be trusted, only God is totally faithful

People let you down

But God comes through with the goods

There was a reason for the delay - that was that a bigger opportunity for service lay around the corner

God is God, and God is good

Rom 8:28 - God works ALL things together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose

This is a promise

God is faithful (Psa 33:4, 57:10)

Story of a stonemason

“Billy Graham tells of a friend who went through the Great Depression, losing a job, a fortune, a wife, and a home. He was a believer in Jesus Christ and tenaciously held to his faith even though he was naturally depressed and cast down by circumstances. One day in the midst of his depression he stopped to watch some men doing stonework on a huge church in the city. One was busy chiseling a triangular piece of stone. ‘What are you going to do with that?’ he asked. The workman stopped and pointed to a little opening near the top of the spire. ‘See that little opening up there near the top?’ he said. ‘Well, I’m shaping down this down here so that it will fit up there.’ The friend said that tears filled his eyes as he walked away from the workman. For it seemed that God had spoken to him personally to say that he was shaping him for heaven by the ordeal through which he was passing.” [as quoted by James Montgomery Boice. Genesis : An Expositional Commentary. Vol. 3 p. 76]

Conclusion

Perhaps your prison is the process of waiting for healing

Perhaps you are waiting for a job

Perhaps you are waiting for God's call on your life to become reality

Just as Jesus walked the Via Dolorosa

Just as Joseph endured prison and hardships

1. Believe that God will never leave or forsake you

2. Use the situation to serve

3. Choose to trust God, no matter what the circumstances

There is no formula

Just do it

Healing and the Word - 2 Pet 1:4

Healing and the Word

March 6, 2011

2 Peter 1:4

Introduction

• I grew up in a church that believed in healing
• The odd thing was that we were not spirit-filled
• As a kid I remember being bitten by a spider, being prayed for, and the bite did not swell up or cause problems
• I remember stepping on a rusty nail and getting blood poisoning, being prayed for, and my life was spared
• I once had blood poisoning in a finger, and the red line was racing to my heart and it stopped halfway up my forearm
• One time my first wife had an abcess and was in excruciating pain. After praying for God's intervention the infection was totally healed
• A woman in our small group had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, and after prayer, she was healed and got her driver's license back
• Someone had x-rays taken and there was a spot on the x-ray, the size of a quarter, right around the appendix. We prayed, and after tests and surgery it was determined that there was nothing there
• The same person went to Renown and was told his aorta, the main artery into the heart, was 75% blocked. After prayer he went back and the doctor said the blockage had mysteriously gone.
• Another person was in the agonies of methodone withdrawal. Our home group prayed for him and he slept peacefully and the withdrawal symptoms had left, overnight
• I know the Lord heals from personal experience
• But God's Word is more real than my experiences
• There is power in God's Word to heal
• Tonight we will look at some of God's promises to heal, and hopefully they will help to bolster your faith

Is sickness normal?

• Many believe that God sometimes heal the sick, but they don't believe God wants to heal them personally
• They feel they need a special revelation of His will for them personally
• If it is not God's will for you to be healed, then it would be wrong for you to seek healing through natural means
• If it is God's will to heal you, it would seem the best way to go about this is through divine healing
• God is as concerned about your physical as your spiritual problems
• Psa 103:2-5
• He wants our sins to be forgiven and our diseases to be healed
• Sin is unnatural and a result of the fall of Adam
• Sickness also is a result of the fall - man was created "very good" Gen 1:31
• It is only after man was evicted from the Garden, that the curse went into effect
• If sin is unnatural and needs a divine remedy, then sickness also requires a divine intervention
• So the answer to the two problems of sin and sickness, is to be found in the single remedy, Jesus our savior

The bronze serpent

• The Israelites were complaining about God, and as a result, punishment came in the form of poisonous snakes
• Num 21:4-9
• They cried to God, and he told Moses to raise up a bronze serpent on a pole
• This serpent was a type of Christ
• John3:14-15
• As the Israelites fixed their eyes on the serpent, they were healed
• As we today fix our eyes on Jesus, we too are healed of our sins and sicknesses
• We are not to be looking at the symptoms
• Instead, we are to look to Jesus, our Savior
• When they were healed they received both forgiveness of their sin (complaining about God), and physical healing from the snakebite
• They were a physical people inheriting physical blessings
• We are a spiritual people, inheriting eternal blessings
• John 3:16
• They as a physical people, looking to a physical forerunner of the Savior, received physical healing
• When we look to the reality of Jesus for healing we should reap at least as much blessing as they did
• If they were healed, we should be healed
• The condition is that we must believe

We must believe

• If we believe that Jesus died to save our sins, personally, whenever we turn to Him, we can also believe that he will heal us, personally
• The removal of our sins and the removal of our sicknesses are both included in what Jesus did on the cross
• Isa 53:4-5
• It takes faith to believe in Jesus' sacrifice for us personally
• Some may say, that the healing referred to here is our spiritual healing from sin
• But Jesus shows it refers to actual physical healing
• Matt 8:16-17
• God's will for us is that we be protected by Him and kept healthy even in the midst of pestilence
• Psalm 91 (whole psalm)
• When we believe in Jesus, healing is promised for us

Conclusion

• If we believe that Jesus died for us, so that our spiritual condition is healed, and our sins are forgiven
• In the same way, in Jesus' atoning sacrifice, his stripes were for our healing
• God's will for us is that we be healthy in every part of us, body soul and spirit.
• But that discussion will have to wait till a further sermon

A Man for All Seasons - Heb 12:2

A Man for All Seasons

March 6, 2011

Heb 12:2

Introduction

• In the 1970's there was a movie about Sir Thomas More
• He was the lord Chancellor under Henry VIII, in the 1500's, and he was responsible for the judiciary in England
• The plot of the movie is based on the true story of Sir Thomas Moore, the 16th-century Lord Chancellor of England, who refused to endorse King Henry VIII's wish to divorce his aging wife Catharine of Aragon, who could not bear him a son, so that he could marry Anne Boleyn, the sister of his former mistress. The play portrays More as a man of principle, envied by rivals such as Thomas Cromwell and loved by the common people and by his family
• Thomas More lived as a man of principle, and did not veer either to the right or the left in his responsibilities as the Chancellor of the English judiciary
• More represents "a man for all seasons", because he remains true to himself and his beliefs under all circumstances and at all times, despite external pressure or influence
• This character trait is something we all need to develop
• Today we will look at how Jesus was truly a man for all seasons, and how he lives his life through people who are similarly true to their beliefs

Jesus had a clear understanding of his mission

• Jesus was very clear about his mission
• Isa 61:1-3
• Jesus came to bring healing to a broken world
• This is a foundation stone of our beliefs
• This is why people come to Jesus, they want change in their lives, change back to the way things should have been all along
• Jesus invites us to be a part of this
• He tells us, as the Father sent me, I am sending you
• We go out with the same mission statement as Jesus
• What was that mission?
• Luke 4:18
• This means that we are ready at a moment's notice to be an instrument of Jesus' intervention in someone's life
• When we speak to a neighbor and find out her marriage is falling apart, we point her to Jesus and pray with her
• When a colleague at work is broken up because someone has passed away, we tell that Jesus is ready to comfort through this difficult time
• When our own life seems to fall apart, we turn to Jesus
• Why do we turn to Jesus?
• Because he is the same yesterday today and forever
• With him there is no inconsistency or ambivalence
• He is there for us, if we turn to him

Jesus did not allow pressures to distract him

• Sometimes when the waves of doubt and pain wash over us, we lose sight of Jesus
• The world around us seems so real, and yet it is only such a small part of the whole spectrum of existence
• When we see light, it seems so simple - just white light
• But when we pass that light through a glass prism, it is broken up into its seven constituents - red, orange, yellow, green, blue indigo and violet
• But this is only a small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum
• There are radio waves, sound waves, x-rays, all of which we cannot see
• It is the same with the creation
• There is a spirit world out there which is every bit as real as what we see with our eyes
• there are angels in this room right now
• The Holy Spirit is here at this moment, blowing through this church like an invisible wind
• Sometimes he becomes visible as the shekinah glory of God
• Don't allow the cares of this world to crowd out the place where our focus wants to be, on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith
• Don't be distracted by the pressures of life, allow Jesus to carry your burden

Jesus was a man of principle

• Jesus said in the OT, I am the LORD I change not
• The principles Jesus stands for were the same in the OT as in the new, and they still have not changed
• He inspired David to write Psalm 15
• He inspired it because this is how God is
• These are the principles he lives by
• A man who swears to his own hurt
• God himself will keep his promises
• This evening we will be talking about some of God's promises about healing, part of our Foursquare heritage
• we stand firm on the mission on which God has sent us
• Jesus has not changed, he still has the same mission, to bring healing to a hurting world, and draw all men unto himself
• We too want to be consistent in our walk with God, not on again off again
• God desires people who walk together with him in spirit and in truth and sincerity
• Be a man or woman of principle
• People know us for who we are, because the fruits of our life will be evident

Conclusion

• Thomas More was known for being a man of principle who would not weaken under pressure
• Jesus set us an example as one who does not change, who promised to always be with us
• The mission he started continues in us, he has invited us to partner with him
• The principles of that mission have not changed
• We too have been called to be men and women of God, standing as lights in the world
• We too have been called to be men and women for all seasons, never changing, always standing for what we believe