Spiritual Peace

Dec 9, 2024

Paul tells us in Philippians 4:6-7 that there is a peace that transcends all understanding which guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

 

How do we find that spiritual, supernatural peace of which he speaks?

Philippians 4:6 urges us to leave anxiety behind and to learn the benefits of prayer. The first step to finding peace is to make the choice to trust God above anxiety. Many believe this is impossible. “I’m a worrier by nature; I can’t change that.” “You don’t know my circumstances; it’s only natural to be anxious.” “I can’t help myself.”

The truth is that we always have a choice how we think and react. Paul says, “Do not be anxious about anything.” When fear, anxiety and worry threaten to take over our lives and rob us of inner peace, we have to shift our focus back to God.

Paul shows us how to do this: “In every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” (Phil 4:6) The only way out of anxiety is to let God in. Talk to Him. Lay out the reasons for anxiety, the troublesome situations, the objectionable people, the hurdles and hills before you. Make definite requests. Shape your worries into prayers.

It’s alarming how little God’s people pray. Worrying is much easier, we feel, than praying. But when we pray, we must then leave the requests with God and allow thanksgiving into our hearts. We must believe and not doubt. We must wait for God’s answers.

It’s then that God allows peace to replace anxiety. It’s then that our hearts and minds are protected from the insidiously destructive nature of anxiety. It’s then that we can know peace which cannot be explained rationally, but which can be experienced daily and which can quieten our restless hearts.

Hopeless or Hopeful?

Dec 8, 2024

Tonight Garry spoke from Ezekiel 37, the valley of dry bones, and asked if we were hopeful or hopeless? Often people seem to be just going through the motions of survival, with hope and faith seen as little more than wistful wishes. For Israel at this time, in Babylonian exile, it seemed their hope had gone. They had thought God would protect them and they had automatic rights to help, but they had not listened to His calls to repent through the prophets and so were bewildered when exile finally came.
We too can often be bewildered by what God does (or doesn’t do). Someone dies unexpectedly, despite our prayers, and we feel lost. Life is unfair and God does not always protect us from this. Sometimes we have to go through things rather than be taken out of them and to live in Good Friday is profoundly disappointing. But there is hope: Sunday’s coming.
We need hope to survive and to thrive. Rom 12:12 urges us to ‘be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.’ We have the hope that death is merely an end (not THE end). We have the hope of life and light and that we are not alone now (John 14:15-18, Matt 28:20). We have the hope that comes from being unconditionally loved (Eph 3:18-19) and valued (Luke 12:6-7). We have also been given peace (John 14:27) and have the hope of eternal life (see 1 Pet 3:15-16).
We all need hope. Hope outside of God is limited at best, but God can give us hope. Paul prayed, ‘May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.’ (Rom 15:13) What a hope we do have! What a hope we can share!

Why Celebrate Christmas?

Dec 8, 2024

Dave spoke this morning from Isaiah 9:6-7. Christmas is highly commercialised nowadays, but we need to recapture the reason for the season. The birth of Jesus was not an unexpected event, but was the fulfilment of God’s promises throughout the ages. Isaiah spoke about the One to come as ‘Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace’, and in Jesus we see the beginning of God’s reign on earth which will be fully seen on His second coming. We live in the times between His first and second Advent, but Christmas becomes a time of hope and reminds us also of the challenge to be ready for when Jesus comes again.

We long for hope, living as we do in times of suffering, trials, disappointments and wars. God still has a good plan for our lives (Jer 29:11) and this includes hope and a future. Sacred truth such as this is always lived out in a secular realm. At Christmas, we remember how Jesus was born in a place ordered by the Roman emperor, but also realise that this was foreordained by God, long before it happened. (Micah 5:2) The two realities of God’s rule and Roman rule were brought together as God orchestrated every aspect of life to serve His purposes. Jesus being born in a stable in Bethlehem may not have been Mary’s ideal birth plan, but this was all part of God’s plan. Jesus was born at ‘just the right time’ (Gal 4:4) and despite the tensions of the day (with Herod trying to kill all those baby boys whom he saw as potential rivals to his throne), God’s will prevailed.

The shepherds were the first visitors to the stable (see Luke 2). Shepherds were not held in high esteem at this time (they were not even allowed to testify in court), but these were the people chosen by God to visit Jesus and to tell others about the miracle they had witnessed. God broke into their mundane world in spectacular fashion, and they remind us that simple obedience to God brings blessing and joy. They were blessed as they went to visit Jesus as commanded; they were essential to the Christmas story, for they remind us that we must celebrate the King.

As we prepare for both Christmas celebrations and the return of our King, we too can be blessed if we obey Jesus’s commands (see John 13:17). We must not just hear the word; we must live it!

 

Happening This Week…

Dec 8, 2024

What’s happening this week?
We have services at 10.30 a.m. and 6.00 p.m. this Sunday (8 December). Our morning service is Holy Communion and refreshments will be served after our evening service.
Our Parent & Toddler group meets on Wednesday and Friday mornings between 9 and 11 a.m. Don’t forget that this Friday (13 December) is our first Christmas party! There will be lots of fun, games, presents and raffle prizes at the party, so we are really looking forward to this (not to mention the food!)
On Wednesday afternoon (11 December) we will be joining with other churches to sing Christmas carols at the care home Parkside in Wombwell. If you would like to join us at 2 p.m., please let Garry know.
On Thursday evening (12 December) we have our prayer meeting at 7.30 p.m. .
We’re very excited to have our Christmas coffee morning/ fair coming up on Saturday 14 December between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. Join us for bacon butties or sausage sandwiches, home baking, and the chance to buy that perfect stocking filler gift! All monies raised from the event will go towards our community events. Please let others know and invite them to this lovely social event.

Advent Peace

Dec 8, 2024

Today is the second Sunday in Advent, and the theme for this week is peace.

We live in a world where peace is a rare commodity. Families often are at enmity with each other; family feuds can last for years and lead to bickering, arguments and the cold result of estrangement. Countries are at enmity with each other, often resorting to war to try to achieve dominance and superiority. Living at peace, on a personal or more general level, is not always easy.

The difficulties we have with peaceful living result from sin, from our need to dominate, from our lack of humility and love. At Christmas we celebrate the arrival of the Prince of Peace, the One whose death and resurrection pave the way for those who have been far away from God because of transgression and sin to be brought near to God (see Ephesians 2.)

The path of peace is lined with humility, forgiveness, love, mercy and service. There is no way we can have inner peace, peace with God or peace with others unless we focus on how Jesus achieved peace. There is no way we can be peacemakers unless we study His life and how He did it.

Peace comes when there is unity. Instead of being fragmented people, torn apart by conflicting desires, warring elements within us, when we allow Jesus to bring purpose and wholeness to our lives, we can live at peace.

Christmas reminds us of the helplessness Jesus embraced in putting on human flesh. We see the indignity of the Incarnation, the voluntary self-limitation the Son of God embraced. He ‘made Himself nothing,’ as Philippians 2:7 tells us.

Perhaps our lack of peace comes from our unwillingness to humble ourselves. Instead of strutting and boasting, if we are willing to be servants of God, we can know peace within.

Hope In God

Dec 6, 2024

Ps 42:5, 11 urges us to ‘put your hope in God.‘ The psalmist is in a confused and bewildered place, feeling downcast and disturbed. Others ask him all day long, ‘Where is your God?’ (Ps 42;3), and we get the impression this is a difficult time for him, with no ready answer to that question. There are times in life when God’s presence seems almost tangible and we see His working clearly, but there are other times when He seems distant and aloof. In those times we are aware of a deep spiritual longing and thirst (Ps 42:1-2) but cannot perhaps fully articulate how we feel.
The psalmist talks to himself (‘Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?‘) and gives himself a metaphorical kicking (‘Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Saviour and my God.‘) We often think of things to do in our Christian life, but our chief duty is to hope and trust in God and to praise Him. These are our daily duties, along with the command to love God and our neighbour as ourselves. These things don’t change, no matter what our circumstances are. Hope, trust, forgiveness, love – these are our everyday duties, the things we can do.
There are plenty of things we can’t do. We can’t solve many of our problems. We can’t make other people like us. We can’t control the weather or all our circumstances. We can’t resolve all our health issues. We can’t do many of the things we would perhaps like to do. But we can put our hope in God and we can praise Him. That is a choice we can make.
Perhaps if we focus more on what we can do and spend less time worrying about what we can’t, we will find God speaking peace to our healts and will be in the place where He steps into our world again in miraculous ways. Keep hoping. Keep trusting. Keep praising.