A new beginning

God's desire is that not one person should perish but because of the way the human race has drifted away from God, He felt that he had no alternative but to promise a salvation that mankind could never achieve

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Many of you will know our dear friends Roy and Sue Westwood, who were members of the Coleshill fellowship for many years. A few years ago, they moved to Lincoln to be nearer family and after a number of years ministering in Lincoln itself, have become active in a vibrant and growing fellowship in the village of Waddington.

Sue has a Prophetic ministry and Roy is an anointed speaker who’s preaching style is “Short and to the Point” and we have been blessed many times by the word he has brought.

On 28th August Roy was asked to preach to his fellowship and God gave him a word which, although relevant to the Waddington people, had something to say to others and he shared his notes with me.

I believe the word has a significance for us, as Christians, faced as we are, with a time of massive change, not only within our country but also within MCF as we develop the work based on Victory Hall, Church at the Farm and our return to Coleshill Town Hall on 2nd October.

These are Roy’s notes which I’ve re-printed, with his agreement, slightly edited to widen the context beyond the Waddington fellowship?

“There are at least 44 fulfilled prophecies about Jesus in the Bible. Today I would like you to use your imagination:

Lets say we are in Jerusalem the days following the crucifixion. The newspaper’s have reported about this strange man Jesus. The Hebrew Herald, the Jerusalem Journal, and The Galilee Gazette are ALL reporting the same thing. I’m reading the report in the Bethlehem Bugle:

Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem 
Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities; he punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter  and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
By oppression and judgement, he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people, he was punished. 
He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.
Therefore, I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.

Of course, that report wasn’t printed in any newspaper. It was in fact written in the Hebrew Bible well over 750 years BEFORE Jesus was even born. It was from the book of Isaiah chapter 53 God gave Isaiah prophetic words for Israel, and this is an incredible detailed account of the life, death and resurrection of the yet to be born Jesus.

Now let’s fast forward 700 years: Matthew 27:12-14

When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. Then Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?” But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor.

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Matthew 27:24-31: When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!” All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!” Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged and handed him over to be crucified. Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. They spit on him and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

Matthew 27:33-50: They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. Above his head they placed the written charge against him: this is jesus, the king of the jews. Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

The Death of Jesus

From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.” Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.” And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

God's desire is that not one person should perish but because of the way the human race has drifted away from God, He felt that he had no alternative but to promise a salvation that mankind could never achieve. 

So, He made Jesus a scapegoat. In Leviticus 16 the priest would lay hands on a goat’s head and prayerfully place all the sins of the Israelites symbolically on the goat, like a burden of pain and suffering. I imagine that that was represented by the crown of thorns on the head of Jesus. It wasn’t placed gently on Jesus it was probably rammed down to make sure it stayed in place.

Remember that after it was placed on his head the soldiers repeatedly struck him on his head, which would have knocked the thorns deeper into his flesh creating even more pain and suffering, which he suffered for you and me. Do you realise that if you have not yet received Jesus as your personal saviour He is STILL symbolically hanging on that cross. Today I invite you to gently lift him down and let Him take control of your life so that, as he promised in John 10:10 “I come that you may have life in ALL its fullness“. Perhaps you already know the risen saviour Jesus but how is your walk going? Is it filled with uncertainties, perhaps the daily pressures seem at times overwhelming.

I started my talk by asking you to use your imagination. Let me ask you Two questions: 

Is your Christian walk with God like being in a revolving door constantly going in and out of the spirit?. 
And where will you spend eternity? 

If your answer to the first is ‘YES ‘: Well today that can change because God wants His church to be the body of Christ in the nation and to be a spirit filled group of Christians filled with and focused by the Holy Spirit, Alive and on fire for God.

If your second answer is ‘I’m not sure ‘ then in John 8:36 promises “if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed"                  

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ In His great mercy He is giving us new birth into a living hope through the Crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, And into an inheritance that can never perish spoil or fade, and this inheritance is kept for you in heaven.

Let us ask Jesus for an anointing of His Holy Spirit on ALL who read this, that they may embrace the gifts and promises you have given us.

Author: Roy Westwood and Alan Cameron

May God bless and enrich your life

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