New Attitudes for a New Year
The Prayers of Paul
This morning Garry started a new series on the prayers of Paul. Prayer is a staple part of the Christian life, though sometimes we complicate it and think that it’s impossible (how can we possibly pray continually, as Paul urges us to do in 1 Thess 5:17?!) In Romans 1:8-10, Paul prays that ‘now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you.’
Praying really involves surrendering to God’s will. Paul had tried many times to go to Rome previously, but God had prevented him from doing so (see Rom 1:13). God sometimes does put obstacles in our way (see also Acts 16:6-10), but Paul was confident that He would lead him always. He had his own plans for evangelisation (based on common sense and his calling to be an apostle to the Gentiles, to go where the gospel had not previously been preached, see Rom 15:20), but he was well aware of the need to be led by God.
This is always the Christian’s experience. Even Jesus was led by the Spirit (see Luke 4:1), and all of us are sealed with the Holy Spirit (Eph 1:13) who can lead us into the paths God wants us to take. Rom 8:14 reminds us that those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
God leads us in different ways, sometimes through visions (see Acts 16:9-10), sometimes through discernment (see Acts 14:8-9) and sometimes through the voice of encouragement (see Is 30:19-21). There is nothing magical about being led by God, but there is something supernatural about this. We need sensitivity to hear God’s voice and the ability to surrender to even His prevention. Prayer is a conversation; we need not only to talk to God but also to listen to Him.
What’s Happening In January 2024
Services on Sundays will be at the usual times of 10.30 a.m. and 6.00 p.m. throughout January. There is no midweek meeting on 4 January, but midweek meetings resume on 11 January. Every Thursday thereafter, we have either a prayer meeting or a Bible study starting at 7.30 p.m. Our Bible studies are looking at lessons we can learn from the life of David.
Our Parent & Toddler group re-starts on Wednesday 10 January (9-11 a.m.) and is on Wednesday and Friday mornings between 9 and 11 a.m. during term time. £1 per family, including drinks and toast.
On Saturday 6 January between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. we have our coffee morning and prayer walk around Goldthorpe. All welcome.
On Monday 15 January between 6 and 8 p.m. we are hosting ‘Mindful Moments’, an evening of creativity for adults. Join us to make perfume and be involved in other crafts; combat the January blues with blasts of creativity!
On Wednesday 17 January we have our ‘Churches Together’ prayer meeting at 1.45 p.m. at GPCC. We’ll be looking at how attitudes are all important in the Christian life.
On Saturday 20 January we will be involved in the launch of the seflie board trail, part of the Dearne Community Arts’ Festival’s community art project which saw 16 selfie boards created to celebrate our local community. We’ll start the event in Goldthorpe Library at 10 a.m. with crafts, entertainment from storyteller Rebecca Dye and the opportunity to take photos with many of the selfie boards before moving on to see the boards in other locations such as Goldthorpe Town Square, the Scout & Guide Hut on Lockwood Road, Dearne Playhouse, Goldthorpe Railway Embankment, Thurnscoe Library, Station House and Thurnscoe Flower Park. Watch this space for more news!
New Year’s Day Party
2024 has started, and as is customary, we had a New Year’s Day party at church to celebrate! There was lots of delicious food to eat:
It was great to have so many from our Parent & Toddler group and ‘Mindful Moments’ come to the party.
As always, there were silly games and a quiz about 2023.