St Johns Marthoma Church UK - Worship, Study, Witness, Service

John 21 :1-14

JESUS APPEARED TO HIS DISCIPLES NEAR THE SEA OF TIBERIUS ( 3rd appearance)

1. JESUS FINDS HIS SHEEP
Mark 1: 16-18

Remember that jesus can follow and find his sheep until or unless they forsake their past and move forward into the future.

He lives because he knows how to find the astray.If you are his he will call you home.HE IS ALWAYS WATCHING US. It brings us great hope that we have a god and that he knows where to find us.

OUR GOD IS A GOD OF CHANCES.......

2. HE FEEDS HIS SHEEP....

Jesus was able to provide all they lack that morning. This shows us that WHATEVER WE LACK OUR GOD AND SAVIOUR IS ABLE TO SUPPLY.

When needs arise he is able to provide.The disciples remembered JESUS when he provided for them when they were in need..

John 20:24-29

JESUS APPEARS TO HIS DISCIPLES

Christian spirituality is a spirituality of FELLOWSHIP

The leader was killed , put into the grace, soldiers were appointed outside the grave, there was seal on the stone.

The disciples were insecure . They had second thoughts... what will they do? what will happen to their lives?

Only in fellowship of christ we will be able to experience the risen christ. Jesus only appeared within a fellowship.

Nowadays we only want direct relation ship with god but we learn that our spirituality should be two dimensional , we should have an outward fellowship, we should have a personal relationship with god

CROSS IS FOLDED HANDS AND STRETCHED HANDS

John 20:1-18

THE EMPTY TOMB GIVES GREAT JOY TO EVERY CHRISTIAN

The cross brought a great victory and the resurrection brought us the message of triumph over life and death

1.NOTHING CAN STOP THE PLAN OF GOD

Evil tried to seal Jesus in the tomb, recruited soldiers to stand outside the grave but dear fiends in Christ from the resurrection of Christ we understand that nothing can stop the plan of god from happening..... not even the heavy stone rolled at the opening of the grave.

Therefore whatever troubles we have we must have faith that nothing is going to stop the plan of god.

2.REVELATION OF THE TRUTH
" he is not here , he has resurrected"

God kept the grave open..... not for jesus to come out but for us to go inside and find the truth for ourselves.....

Maundy thursday was when the holy communion was first established.

THE DEFINITION OF THE CROSS IS THE FOLDED HANDS AND STRETCHED HANDS .

In Matthew 26 both the groups are preparing for something

Here we see that Jesus is preparing for the CROSS but on the other hand we see a group getting ready to betry jesus, kill jesus

1. There was greeting in a feast to the foot of the cross
one one sid ewe see people greeting jesus and on the other side we see a group of people betraying Jesus.
we see the narrow passage from a sacrament to a betrayal. One of such examples is Judas .

HOLY COMMUNION IS A LIFE GIVING SPIRIT

We also see that after having the holy communion, we see two different paths...
- one going to dark
- one going to eternal life.

Mark 11:1-11

" Look at things differently then they will be different"

PSALMS SUNDAY REMINDS US TO REDEFINE OUR LIVES

1. REDEFINING THE CONCEPT OF POWER

Through jesus's miracles we can understand that jesus redefinition of power was against the convections of boundaries in our day to day lives.For example Jesus entered the wedding and he deconstructed many boundaries.

THEREFORE WE MUST BE READY TO BE POSITIVELY DE CONSTRUCTED.The jews were expecting a king of kings , a king who will give freedom by showing anger to their enemies but JESUS WAS A KING OF LOVE.We see jesus's authority of love when he died on the cross for us ...... and with his death LOVE WAS REDEFINED.

" It wasn't the nails which kept him on the cross but it was the LOVE for YOU AND ME.

Jesus's LAST Miracle in PUBLIC MISSION............

MARK 10:46-52

FAITH PROCLAMATION WHICH TRANSCENDS BARRIERS

The meaning of Bathimayus is the son of Thimayus, an honourable man, the son of an unclean hebrew but he is not in an honourable condition as he is a blind beggar.He was a gentile ; an outcast. We understand this because only the outcast calls Jesus " the son of David " .

Many hidden qualities of Jesus is revealed here

1.EVEN IN HIS WAY TO THE CROSS , HE GAVE SIGHT TO THE BLIND MAN
From this we can understand that even in the midst of great agony , he can hear the cry of the vulnerable;"stood still".

As Christians we should be able to hear the cry of our neighbours and give a positive response - help - like Jesus did .

Kappito sunday - the healing of the women who was not able to stand straight.

LUKE 13:10-17
"Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”

The term Sabbath is mentioned 5 times here.Exodus 8:11 is a similar verse where they talk about the Sabbath.The fourth commandment clearly states that the sabbath is a day for rest and a day of worshipping god.

In Jesus's time the day of Sabbath was a day of legalisms.The Sabbath was a rigid law and therefore sabbath law prohibited the use or application of any remedies on the sabbath day. JESUS cured the crippled women on the Sabbath.

JESUS WHO VALUES A HUMAN BEING

1.THE TORMENT SHE ENDURED

LORD WHO LISTENS TO THE CRY

Matthew 15: 21-28

1. THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH

In our day to day lives we have many problems.As Christians we usually seek god's help at the mist of burdens .This is not to ask god to take away our problems but instead it should be to ask god for the strength to over come our burdens.

The qualities of the Canaanite women was that she was an isolated women, she had a liability and for the sake of her daughter she was ready to break the laws of society.She overcame racism, prejudiced comments raised by society . She overcame the pre dominant costume at this time - the boundaries set by race and gender.

(Mark 2 :1-12)

Here we see a alternative community comparing with our society.AT this specific time house fellowship was very frequent.Here at this specific miracle ,we see a mixed community where some people went to criticise Jesus talk, some people went to experience the miracles in their lives, some people went because they were passionate to hear the word of god.All of these different categories of people went to fellowship even though they had different intentions.

Here in this specific bible portion we see that Jesus uses the opportunity to speak to these people and therefore engaged them into an authentic community.

1. The first point is that JESUS APPRECIATES THE EFFORTS OF THESE MISSIONARY MINORITIES

Mark 1:40-45
THE CHRIST WHO WILL CLEANSE US

- The miracles of Jesus are the signs of life.This include physical, mental, spiritual life.From the healing of the leaper; Jesus's touch can be categorized as the nature of God, nature of the society.The nature of the society , this particular leper lived in was a society with barriers.Thus in this society we see Jesus's open heart to cleansing and healing.

This attitude of Jesus portrays the attitude of Jesus towards our society.Here the leaper is the microcosm of our society, where many people are badly treated because of they illnesses, diseases, their mistakes.Cleansing the leaper shows that Jesus wants life in its fullness (John 10).Here we also see that jesus is meeting an outcast with whom he traded his place with.

John 2:1-11
This is the very first miracle while Jesus was born as a man. A marriage is a very important time for two different families to come together as one.Jesus Christ chose his very first miracle to be within a family .This shows his divine love ( agape love) for us.

For this miracle to occur Jesus should be within our families.We shouldn't just call and ask for his help when we need it the most but we have to thank him and glorify his everyday.

1. ARE WE CALLING JESUS?
Jesus was there on the wedding day because the family was calling for his help , even before their time of need .Here we see that Jesus was INVITED...
Dear friends , in many of our hearts Jesus is knocking but are we listening to his call....???

2. There was clear evidence of a spirit filled life

Jeremiah 18:(1-6)
DIVINE LOVE THAT RESTORES US

God uses many images to describe his relationship with us.Some of these are a father and a son relationship, a husband and wife relationship, a shepherd and his sheep relationship.

This above bible portion shows different aspects of the potter and the clay relationship

- MISSION OF THE POTTER (Verses 1-3)
there are three reasons on why a potter makes pots
-the pots will bring money
- it will be useful for others
-it will reap a profit
-it will bring honour to the potter

These are the same intentions of God with us .
1 Corinthians 4:13

"DESPERATE FOR JESUS "

Luke 18:35-39 As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. They told him, "Jesus of Nazareth is passing by." He called out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" (NIV)

In Jesus' day, blind people were despised.

Often rejected by their families and without any means of earning a living, they resorted to begging.

When Jesus approached the city of Jericho a crowd of people accompanied Him, and the procession stirred up noisy interest from those who lived and worked nearby.

Ephesians 4: (1-7)
"As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it."

THEME - Jesus the true wine

Sermon taken from ST JOHNS 15 : 1-11
In John 15 Jesus is pictured as the true wine.Here Jesus uses the parable of the wine to teach his disciples about the white relationship... the relationship between Jesus and God.

WHY DID JESUS GIVE THE PARABLE OF THE WINE TEACHING TO HIS DISCIPLES?

OUTSIDE KERALA MISSION REMEMBRANCE DAY

Sermon taken from Acts: 12 -(1,2,24)
"It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them." " He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword." " But the word of God continued to spread and flourish."

The first point of message is that
- OUR GOD Changes IMPOSSIBILITIES TO POSSIBILITIES

DEAR FRIENDS THIS IS AN ARTICLE I FOUND VERY INTERESTING.....THIS IS WHAT JESUS View ON HOW WE SHOULD LIVE DURING CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR.....AND THIS IS WHAT HE WANTS TO SAY.....PLZ take some time tot read and to enjoy.....

Subject: Special Invitation (this what jesus wants to say)

Dear loved ones
As you well know, we are getting closer to my birthday. Every year there is a celebration in my honor and I think that this year the celebration will be repeated. During this time there are many people shopping for gifts, there are many radio announcements, TV commercials, and in every part of the world everyone is talking that my birthday is getting closer and closer.

Mark 4 : 35- 41
Theme is : AN UNSHAKABLE BOAT

Storms and disasters are frequent and come quickly in life and as Christians God's grace sustains us, his children in the midst of a storm and thus this also suggests that we as gods chosen ones should have faith in god and should pray to him in the middle of disasters and heartbreaking moments in life.

- We as Christians should be like Job, who is said to have a golden faith because job had a strong faith when trials and tribulations were in his life. Hard and stressful situations in life to test your faith and this is proved from Job's story.Job and his wife were living under one roof but job's wife was seen to have less faith and is seen to be questioning job about his faith.."Trust god and you will die"

Romans 12: 1,2
"Therefore I urge you brothers in view of God's mercy , to offer your bodies as living sacrifices ,holy and pleasing to god - this is your spiritual act of worship .Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world , but be transformed by the renewing of your mind"

- Submit your self to God
-Repent your self and transform

(Peter 2 : 9,10)
Here it says that we are not ordinary people .We are the chosen people and thus are Christians .We are god's own people

- Jesus is asking you to be a disciple ...Mark 16