David Hathaway

“Sanctify yourselves, because tomorrow God will do wonders among you.... Hereby you will know that the Lord God is among you and He will not fail to drive out before you all the inhabitants of the Land, behold the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord is passing over before you into Jordan.” (Joshua 3.) For Moses, the greatest miracle was the crossing of the Red Sea – (and the whole might of the Egyptian army was destroyed as the waters closed back over them) – now for Joshua, we have a very similar miracle, in that not just Jericho, but the Jordan stood between Israel and the whole Promised Land. I had always thought that it was Jericho that was the problem. But how do you get two million people, with all their sheep and cattle, and their little children, across this fast-flowing flooding river? But God worked the same miracle as He did for Moses and held up the water so that they crossed over on dry land!

I’m very moved by Joshua Chapter 1, where God is speaking to Joshua after the death of Moses, saying, “Now therefore, go over this Jordan with the people and enter the Land I have promised you, as I said to Moses… Be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid. No man will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not fail you or forsake you!” I take a lot of courage from this. Despite all the difficulties in life, and even though we make mistakes – I am very conscious of mistakes that I have made – yet God has always been with me and has never failed me.

There are times when we go through despair, as individuals and as nations. This was the experience of the prophet Habakkuk, and of Israel. Habakkuk begins in Chapter 1 verse 2, saying, "O Lord, how long shall I cry, and You will not hear?!" But we need to be patient as we wait for the fulfillment of God's promises.   

Jesus could do no mighty works because of their unbelief. Mark 6 reveals a very similar situation to the unbelief in Mark 9, only here, Jesus Himself could do no mighty work, save that He laid His Hands on a few sick folk and healed them, and He marvelled at their unbelief. I’m quite amazed, because in this case, it’s Jesus who could not do the mighty works – because the people in His hometown didn’t recognise who He REALLY was. They only recognised Him as being from Nazareth like them, a carpenter, whose whole family lived there. This is the challenge to me and to you, because even in the Church, even amongst godly people, God is sometimes limited in what He can do because of our unbelief. We’re too familiar with Jesus, too familiar with religion, too familiar with God – not realising who Jesus really is! We have to come back to this question, WHO JESUS REALLY IS! That He IS the Son of God, that He has ALL the Power of God, and ALL the Power of God is IN JESUS! We have to RECOGNISE this. 

Jesus says in Mark 9, “If you can believe – EVERYTHING is possible!” This is incredible, tremendous. EVERYTHING! ALL things are possible to him who believes! This is a tremendous challenge to the Church! It’s not just a challenge to the boy’s father, it’s now a challenge to the disciples themselves, who are there, listening in to the conversation! I want to challenge Christians today – everyone who listens to this – our God is a God of miracles – NOTHING is impossible with God! I’ve had to take this challenge – many times – in my own life. My ministry is not just as an evangelist, but to prove that God is a GOD OF THE IMPOSSIBLE. 

God is your Father! Many people know God as their Saviour, which is important. Others recognise God as Sovereign and Omnipotent, which He is. But when you know God as a Father, your relationship with him becomes more personal. Jesus said in Matthew 6.6, 'When you pray, go into your room, and pray to your Father.' In Verse 8, Jesus said, 'Your Father knows what you need, before you ask Him.' Then finally in verse 9, Jesus told us to pray like this, 'Our Father in heaven.'  Jesus told us to call God, ‘our Father’. And in the Bible, He Himself is described as the ‘Son of God’. And we are sons and daughters of God! This is why we have the right to approach Him, and talk to Him personally, as we would with any father. 

Jesus says, “If you can believe ALL things are possible to him that believes!” I find this a fascinating and remarkable way in which Jesus is speaking. Quite honestly, it’s a challenge to the Church. It was a challenge to the disciples. But at this point in the story of Mark 9, the challenge was to an unbelieving father who had seen the failure of the disciples! Yet Jesus still said to him, “If you can believe – EVERYTHING is possible!” This is incredible, tremendous. EVERYTHING! ALL things are possible to him who believes!

"I know Jesus is alive because I talked to Him this morning!" That’s the reality of the resurrection and our salvation. We’ve got to get away from the symbolism and ceremonial, and come back to the reality that Jesus rose from the dead, and we who believe in Him, have died to self, we’re born again in Him – and we will rise with Him! Do you understand the importance of resurrection? We worship a living God who is alive! Because He’s my friend, I walk with Him, I talk with Him. There’s an old song which says: ‘I go to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses, and the Voice I hear, falling on my ear, the Son of God discloses. And He walks with me, and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own. And the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known!’

God's light shines in the darkness. Thank you for your fantastic response to our appeal for Ukraine. Our staff and their families are safe, and our office is undamaged! Even Sergiy, our TV Director, whose family live in Mariupol, have survived the siege and are now on their difficult way to safety. Vadim, our Official Representative in Ukraine, is very active in organising and supplying humanitarian aid. He is working with the church leaders in Kyiv, using the team he set up to organise our National Days of Prayer for Ukraine. They are saddened and horrified as they minister to the survivors of the terrible atrocities in the small towns and villages which were occupied by the Russians north of Kyiv. To make a donation visit: eurovision.org.uk/donation

I want to deal with a portion of Scripture that many people find difficult, and it’s in Mark 9. The reading starts with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration with His three closest disciples, Peter, James and John. Moses and Elijah appear – it was an incredibly powerful experience, but as they come down the mountain, Jesus tells the disciples, “Do not tell what you have seen, until the Son of Man is risen from the dead.” And they questioned one another, what does Jesus mean when He says He will ‘rise from the dead’? At this point in the ministry of Jesus, the disciples had not grasped that Jesus was literally going die and be resurrected three days later. For us in our Christian faith, Resurrection is a challenge. When we repent of our sins and come to Christ, we die to the old life, we’re born, ‘resurrected’ into a new life – and this new life WILL RISE FROM THE DEAD. Whilst the Pharisees accepted Resurrection at the end of the age, the Sadducees didn’t! So it was a great controversy surrounding the ministry

On Good Friday we commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus; but to me, the most important thing is, Jesus rose again! Because He lives, we can live also. For me, this Easter is a special celebration, and is particularly poignant, because Easter Sunday is my birthday - and 49 years ago, God released me from a communist prison in answer to prayer. So this Easter is not just a celebration of new life in Christ, but also I remember the Power of God to answer prayer. He is faithful to His Promises!

We all need to feel loved, yet many live in rejection and loneliness. David has three daughters. When they were young, they would come running up to him with their arms outstretched, and he would lift them up and embrace them. Our relationship with God is the same. As you draw near to him, He will draw near to you. We all need to be touched,  to be loved, to know that someone cares just for us. So many of you reading this, have secret problems which you cannot share: they are too deep, too painful, you cannot open up. But you need to tell everything to Jesus, it’s the only way to be healed, delivered, and set free. Talk to Jesus. He’s listening. Ask Him to forgive your sin, to heal you. He loves you. He’ll answer! 

When Paul preached Jesus and the resurrection, it was regarded as strange… In disputing with the Jews and Greeks, the contentious issue was the resurrection. As Christians, are we confident in our own belief in the reality and certainty of the resurrection? The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians, 'It is the same way with the resurrection of the dead. Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever. Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength. They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies.' (1 Corinthians 15:42-44.)

We’re living in a very difficult time, and I feel led to go back again to the Acts of the Apostles. In Acts 16:25, we find God has released Paul and Silas from prison by a miracle. They then, in Acts 17, continue their missionary journey and come to Thessalonica, where Paul begins discussing and debating with the Jews in the synagogue. He’s preaching Christ, who suffered, died – and rose from the dead. The teaching of the New Testament is centred on the resurrection! This teaching on the resurrection was so powerful, that many complained the Apostles had turned ‘the world upside down’! Acts 17:6. I would to God that our preaching was so powerful today that we could be accused of turning the world upside down! 

God is in control! Psalm 23 says, 'The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures... Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me...' The 'valley of the shadow' is more literally translated as, where the light of the sun is cut off. I want to tell you: wherever you are, whatever your trial, no matter the problem - even if you feel the light of the sun is cut off - God will not fail you. He says, His rod and His staff will comfort you, and you will come safely through. 

The Coming of the Lord is near. I believe there is limited time left in which we can evangelise. When the Holy Spirit is taken out of the way, how can we evangelise? In the words of Jesus, it is the Holy Spirit who convicts the world of sin, of righteousness and the coming judgement. The Holy Spirit is the ONLY Power and the ONLY influence that can convict the world of sin and righteousness and judgement. If He is removed, there will be no conviction of sin.

There is no question that the power of the devil is increasing and multiplying, this demonic iniquity of the 'man of sin' is at work – “only, He who now hinders, will hinder until He be taken out of the way.” It seems to me that it is the Holy Spirit who is holding up that floodtide of evil, and that one day, He, the Holy Spirit, will be removed – and then the man of sin will be revealed (2 Thessalonians 2:7). This is the sequence of events that Paul is revealing will take place in the closing days before the return of Christ. Yes, I’m still believing for revival and I’m still preaching and seeing revival – but the time is limited. Jesus Himself says in Matthew 24:14, this Gospel of the Kingdom in all the world as a witness to all the nations and then the end will come.” So not just in the words of Paul, but in the words of Jesus, the time for evangelism, the time for revival is limited. 

We all experience the waters of affliction. In your life and mine, there are many times when we need the power of God to deliver. God’s timing is perfect, coming at the darkest hour, when the storm is at its fiercest, and our need is the greatest. Jesus said, "I will be with you always." Every day, every hour, in the middle of every storm, in the middle of every sickness. There’s never a moment when He is not there. You may need Jesus, like you’ve never needed Him before. He is walking towards you, to help you right now. Step out into the security of His arms! Consider the words of this wonderful hymn: 'What a friend we have in Jesus. All our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry, everything to God in prayer. Can we find a friend so faithful, who will all our sorrows share? Jesus knows our every weakness, take it to the Lord in prayer.'

The Coming of the Lord will be as a thief in the night. The Apostle Paul wrote, 'Of the times and the seasons you have no need that I write to you, for you know that the Day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night. For when they say ‘Peace and safety’, sudden destruction shall come on them, as travail on a woman with child, and they shall not escape.'' So the final moment of the return of Christ is sudden and unexpected. As Jesus said, there’ll be two in a bed, two in a field – two in a factory – one taken, the other left. That’s how sudden it will be, even for the believer. Paul exhorts us to be ready, to live according to God’s standards: Warn, comfort be patient toward all, do good to all, rejoice, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks for this is the Will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you; quench not the Spirit…

Jesus spoke more about the Coming Kingdom than He did about salvation. Salvation is the way in, but the main thing He was talking about was the Kingdom! The Bible describes it as our Inheritance! We inherit the Kingdom with Christ. In many of the parables which Jesus told, He was trying to describe something that is mysterious, unknown – but yet it is a Kingdom that we are to be part of. He said, His Kingdom is ‘not of this world’ – it’s true. But we are looking for this Coming Kingdom.