Sunday 15th September

Tori Pinfold shared a message titled, 
'A New Covering in Christ'

John‬ ‭5‬:‭1‬-‭11‬ ‭NIV‬‬
“Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.” But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ””
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For 38 years this man has been sick, unable to heal himself. Daily he sits and waits, but he can't get into the pool. The culture suggested that it was his sin or his parents sin that made him unwell.

Jesus, recognizing his prolonged shame, asked if he wanted to be well.

“Shame is the fear of disconnection.” - Brene Brown  

We all fear being disconnected. 

This is so prevalent today, especially with social media in the mix. Well known figures get disconnected or 'cancelled' because of things they say wrong or actions our society deem.

As humans, we aren't perfect. We wrestle with sin. Paul describes it this way...

Romans‬ ‭7‬:‭15‬-‭20‬ ‭NIV‬‬
“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.”
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We want to do good and we know we’re called to more. 

Sin is part of our human condition. Sin made Adam and Eve feel exposed and shameful. Sin brought nakedness upon us. Shame leaves us vulnerable.

Humanity are on a constant attempt to hide our shame. We live in a cover up world where we are afraid to show our real me. 

Blaming others is our way of covering ourselves up. "I have no one to help me!"

When humanity points the finger, God refuses to follow our gaze. 

Isaiah‬ ‭61‬:‭10‬ ‭NIV‬‬
“I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and covered me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”

"Sin brought nakedness upon us, and shame is the result; but he who hath Christ hath lost both sin and shame, for the blood of Jesus removes guilt from the soul and terror from the conscience. Man was naked, and is still naked apart from Christ, but in Christ he is covered, and has become comely before the Lord." - Charles Spurgeon 

Synonyms for comely, 'beautiful, arresting, lovely'.

In Christ we have become beautiful before the Lord! 

Jesus asks us if we want to be free and starts the great re-connection with God, with others and with ourselves. 

Isaiah 53:5 NIV
"But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed."

10 in every 16 hermit crabs are living in trash rather than a beautiful shell as designed.
Watch on YouTube here!
It’s not how it’s meant to be - it’s a cover up.
God offers us a shell, a new covering fit for purpose.
Jesus has a beautiful covering for us.
Sometimes we grow out of our shells and God offers us a new one!

"No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine!
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness Divine,
Bold I approach the eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own."
- Charles Wesley hymn 'And Can it Be'

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You can watch the full message below: