In January 2013 I sat in our church building and heard a sermon from Stephen Burgin from Luke 9, when Jesus sent out His disciples. God spoke to me through verse 2: ‘Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt.’ (Luke 9:2) I did not fully understand what God was saying at that point, but I knew He was calling me to set off on another journey with Him, one that would lead to me leaving the job He had provided for me at Hope House School, a job I loved, working among people I cared for deeply. At that point, Mark Burgin was the pastor here and I thought he would be here for ever. I had to take the scary step of talking to Garry about this call, of talking to my boss about no longer feeling I could stay at the school, and I was probably more shocked by their acceptance of these conversations than I was by God speaking! What made this even scarier at this point was I knew that I was being called to give up things, but I had absolutely no idea what I was being called to. So I identify very much with Abram setting off on a journey, knowing he had to leave all they had acquired and accumulated in Harran but not knowing where he was going or why. It is not a comfortable thing to have God speak to us. Though there is the promise of blessing here – great blessing, the promise that ‘all peoples on earth will be blessed through you’ (Gen 12:3) – there is also much uncertainty, doubt and questions when God speaks to us. We do not have all the answers to our questions; we do not have all the answers to other people’s questions! We simply know that God has spoken, and this speaking revolutionises our lives.

God speaking to people is a miracle in itself, but it is interesting that there is often a long period between this speaking and the fulfilment of His promise. Such was the case for David (anointed king of Israel as a young man but not crowned over the whole country until the age of 37) and for Abraham (whose journey of faith started, it seems, at 75 but who did not see a son born to him and Sarah until he was 100.) During this period between the promise and its fulfilment, it can be difficult to hold on to God. There were many days of doubt and frustration for me between handing in my notice at school and being appointed as one of the pastors here, and most days I had to go about my ‘ordinary’ life, doing mundane things. Yet what God promises, He also does, and so on 4^th January 2014, Garry and I were inducted as pastors here. If you are in the season of the mundane and wonder when you will ever see the miracles happen again, you are called to serve God, to worship Him, to keep on running the race and not give up in that difficult ‘in-between’ time, but keep holding on to God’s promises in faith. The mundane may make up the majority of our lives, but if we will do what God tells us to do, if we will listen to the voice of the Lord and obey it, then we too will see the miraculous in our everyday lives.

Dave spoke this morning from 2 Samuel 5:1-5, a very significant passage in the history of David, for it was during this period that he was finally appointed king, first of all over Judah and then over Israel. David, one of the most popular Old Testament characters, may not have got everything right all the time, but he was a man after God’s own heart, and the heart matters to God. David was 30 when he first became king, but then had to wait another 7 1/2 years before he was crowned king of all Israel.

He had not had an easy life, and there was a long period between Samuel’s anointing of him and this moment. During those long years, he not only had to endure problems in his own family (with his brothers scorning him) but also opposition from Saul, who tried on more than one occasion to kill him. David refused to lift his hand against Saul, despite having the opportunity to kill him on at least two occasions. He was prepared to wait for God’s timing. This is a valuable lesson all of us need to learn. Moreover, we have to acknowledge that sometimes we do not always see the promises fulfilled (see Heb 11:39-40); there is a need to wait for the revelation to come to pass (Hab 2:3).

We have seen this in our own church’s history, from the early beginnings in the 1950s when a few people met in rented rooms before believing God and building on Beever Street. Frequently, God’s promises came that these premises were too small, leading to an extension being built and then ultimately to our move to Market Street in 2010. We have seen God do miracle after miracle of provision, but still there is so much more He has promised us. We believe there is much more to come, that this is a period of partial fulfilment of God’s many promises to us, but we long for that complete fulfilment which God has promised and which David saw. May we not grow weary of waiting, but continue in faith as we wait for the appointed time to come.

‘The Message’ paraphrase of the Bible came out of Eugene Peterson’s frustration that so many ordinary people in the United States of America had no real connection with the Bible. As a pastor of a local church, he longed for people to share his love of the Bible, and so he set about translating it into ordinary language they could understand. The Bible – God’s word to us – is worth understanding. It has a revolutionary message of good news; it explains the world as we see it and as we long for it to be; it tells us that God loves us and has done things which can have a lasting impace on our everyday lives if we believe.

All of us at all times need to read the Bible in language we can understand (one reason for the many different versions of the Bible we find nowadays.) There is no point simply admiring the Bible from a distance. It’s a book which needs to be opened, read and re-read, digested and lived out, because it contains God’s heart, the fount of wisdom and the good news that Jesus Christ has made a way for us to become children of God.

Yet few people take the time to read this book and dismiss it as irrelevant or merely of historical interest.

There is little point admiring a beautifully presented meal or a magnificently decorated cake if you don’t then eat the food. The Bible is daily bread for us, nourishing us, nurturing us.

There is little point admiring a glass of ice-cold water in hot weather without imbibing it and being refreshed. The Bible is water for our souls, refreshing us, restoring us.

Don’t leave the Bible as an unopened keepsake on a shelf. It’s not meant for decoration. It’s meant to change the world, one person at a time.

In Noah, we see one of the first amazing miracles in the Bible: the rescue of Noah and his family from the destruction of the flood. Noah lived in difficult times (Gen 6:5-10) but was able to remain blameless and upright and to find favour with God even in these times of great sinfulness. He is a reminder to us that we don’t have to go along with the crowd, be moved by peer pressure or conform to the world; we can influence others for God and swim against the tide!

God communicated His heart and His plans to Noah, and the fact that God does this consistently with people is a great miracle (see also Ps 103;7, Ps 25:8-9, 14). Jesus said that He was the good shepherd and we, His sheep, know His voice (John 10:2-4). It is a miracle that God communicates with us and has removed all barriers created by sin through the sacrifice of His Son. God spoke with Noah and gave Him the exact plans for the ark (see Gen 6:13-21). Noah had to do more than listen to God, however; he had to mix what he heard with faith and act in obedience. The secret to his success was ‘Noah did everything just as God commanded him.’ (Gen 6:22, see also Gen 7:5) If we want to see God do miracles in our lives, in our church, in our community, then we must be people who hear God speaking to us and who obey Him when He tells us to do something. The church is a God-led community. It’s not about our good ideas or our good works in themselves. It’s about God speaking His life into us and sharing His plans with us and about our response to God.

But of course, Noah had to do his part, and much of that must have seemed ordinary and hard work. Phil 2:12-13 says, ‘continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil his good purpose.’ On the one hand, there is nothing we can do to earn God’s favour and we are saved by God’s grace through faith (Eph 2:8-10), but we also see that there can be a human element to the miracles of God (the boy offering the disciples his picnic lunch and the disciples distributing and collecting food in the Feeding of the Five Thousand, for example.) Noah is an example to us of persevering faith. He worked hard to build the ark and then waited patiently for over a year till all the flood waters finally receded. Much of that time must have seemed dull and mundane, but his ongoing obedience resulted in a new covenant with God and new blessings (see Gen 8:22, Gen 9:8-16). Blessing will always follow perseverance and obedience (see also James 5:11, Gal 6:9)