eNews | Thurs 28th May '20

Dear e-News friends and church members,STAND"Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand…" - Romans 5:1-2The Apostle Paul had some favourite words, and ‘stand’ was one of them. We read it in the above verse and in many places, perhaps most notably in Ephesians, where we are told to stand, stand and stand again.He’s not talking about our posture of course, like standing in the queue to get into the supermarket as we have to do at the moment, but he is talking about our position. He tells us to stand in this way because there is the possibility that we won’t, we could settle for less, give way when we shouldn’t.He also tells us where we are now standing, he calls it ‘this grace’, meaning this special place of favour with God. That’s right, you and me both have this very unique privilege, an open door in heaven and an open ear with God. You may only have been a Christian 5 minutes but there you are - right there along with the others who have been saved 50 years.For some of us we could quit standing in this place because we might feel we don’t deserve it, and you would be right we don’t! That’s why it’s called grace. Others might say I don’t believe it, but then that would be a most unfortunate choice that you would make, when we are told here that this special place is accessed by faith, and so we should use it. There might yet be others who would say I don’t want it, it’s of no interest to me, which would be regrettable and only showing they haven’t as yet realised what’s on offer here. A hymnist caught sight of it many years ago and he wrote: 

“Thou art coming to a King, large petitions with thee bring, for His grace and power are such none can ever ask too much.” ― John Newton

This is the same John Newton who wrote the most popular hymn on earth: 'Amazing Grace'. This is the same John Newton who was a self-confessed raping murdering slave trader. Yet he knew exactly where he was standing now. He was saved and he was determined never to leave that position - stand he would, come what may.Like David in Psalm 23, they both valued their high status in God, and both used it to good end. Like Paul the Apostle they knew what it cost to get into this place of Grace, Paul wrote above and said, "we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction."If I wanted to meet the Queen, we know I couldn’t just walk in, I would need someone to make a way, make the introduction to the palace. This someone would need to have the Queen’s confidence, access to the Queen’s presence, be able to negotiate the Queen’s attention. Jesus made that introduction for us, at great expense, His own blood and body broken on a tree. So, this access is free, but it’s certainly not cheap. So, let’s stand and stand strong, let’s pray and pray big, let’s believe and believe for much.Prayer is high on our agenda.

• You can pray every morning online with one of our pastors.
• You can pray for and into our weekend services with Ivan and the intercessors team, and even whilst the meetings are happening.
• You can join the praying4u@destiny-church.com team who are seeing miracles every week as they pray for all those writing in.
• You can participate in The Box project running for women and pray alongside a group of ladies on a discipleship journey together.
• You can pray in your home at any time.
• You can pray with your social media friends for their salvation and their wellbeing.

Don’t waste the space and make much room for grace.

We received a lovely letter form Wishaw general this week thanking us for sending so many iPads and tablets to help those so seriously sick with Covid-19. We have received thank you emails this week from those receiving hot meals from us here at Destiny. Together we get to know the joy of giving by being partners together.Look forward to seeing you at church online - bring a friend, it might just change their lives.PS. Sue is doing an Instagram live chat this Friday at 8.30PM, make sure you tune in: @owensue300Love you guys,Andrew

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