Our thanks to DW Painter for their efficient decoration of the church worship room and foyer. It’s looking a lot cleaner and brighter now – got to start thinking about where to put the chairs now, so that we can be socially distant!

Getting things back to normal:

We may feel weary and on the point of giving up, but God wants us to keep on keeping on at all times. Troubles will always be present, but Jesus reminded His disciples that He has overcome the world. (John 16:33)

To keep on keeping on, we have to:

1. Keep trusting. It’s so important to remind ourselves of who God is and what He has done. ‘Your righteousness reaches to the skies, O God; You, who have done great things. Who, O God, is like You?’ (Ps 71:19)

2. Keep hoping. ‘You will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth You will again bring me up. You will increase my honour and comfort me once again.’ (Ps 71:20-21)

3. Keep worshipping. We choose to worship, no matter what the circumstgances. Praise and worship, singing and playing music all help to focus our attention on God. (Ps 71:22)

4. Keep loving. Love is how we show we are God’s followers. (John 13:34-35)

5. Keep forgiving. Forgiveness is not an optional extra, nor is it a one-off! (Matt 18:21-35)

6. Keep giving. God loves a cheerful giver and generosity is always the response He looks for. (Mark 12:41-44)

7. Keep going! Perseverance must finish its work so we can be mature and complete. (James 1:3-4)

We are grateful to DW Painter for decorating the worship room and foyer while we cannot use the building for our usual services. Here are some photos after their first day of decorating.

Garry spoke from Eph 4:1-3 last night, talking about unity, working together and harmony. God wants us to be united, but when we think about the church, we realise we’re not building a brick building (where all the bricks are identifcal); we are more like hewn stones. We are all different, not uniform at all, and yet we are being built together by a master builder.

Unity involves us:

1. being completely humble, not being interested in our self-importance but understanding how God sees us and how He sees others. Humility is the first step towards unity.

2. Unity also involves gentleness, a non-imperious attitude where we don’t lord it over anyone, where we again see people as God sees them, not ‘ranking’ them according to their social worth, physical strength or mental ability.

3. It also involves patience (‘the capacity for restraint in the face of obnoxious acts or attitudes’, putting up with, being long-suffering.)

4. It involves bearing with each other, even though it causes personal difficulty.

5. It involves making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. We need to be diligent and zealous in this; the word conveys the idea of hard graft or labour!

Unity isn’t the same as unanimity, but it does involve harmony. In musical harmony, different notes are played, but the overall sound is richer and more textured than if we simply played or sang in unison. This is what happens when people who are so very different work together: we produce a sound that is richer and reaches more people. We truly are better together!

Garry told a story last night as part of our ‘Little Big Church’ and like all good stories, it started with…

So, once upon a time there was a single thread of cotton. The thread was very small – so small people could easily miss it. So small people took ages trying to thread a needle with it. So small the best way to see it was with a magnifying glass!

The cotton thread didn’t feel very important or useful or strong.

The little thread wound up on a reel, left on a shelf, where there were some others like this little thread.

The thread still didn’t feel very important or useful or strong, even when one day someone came with boxes and took all the cotton reels off the shelves and took them away.

Someone opened the box and the reel was taken out. They put it on a machine and started to thread it along and did the same with many other reels. The thread was wrapped and pulled and twisted and pulled some more!

It seemed to go on for a very long time and then there were lots of threads altogether in a huge group and people called the group of threads a rope. The rope was rolled up and taken to the docks and put on a large ship, with one end fastened down and the other end fastened to the land.

The thread felt more important: it had a job to do, to hold the ship. The thread felt more useful because it had a job to do. But it still didn’t feel very strong.

After a while, the ship began to move and the rope began to stretch out. The only thing holding the ship was the rope. The thread didn’t feel very big – and this was a very big ship. But the thread wasn’t on its own; there were lots of other threads in the rope. And even though none of the threads felt strong on their own, together they held the ship. Together, they stopped the ship drifting away. Together, they were strong.

Like the threads, if we work together, we can do things we can never do on our own. But we are different to these threads, because we are not all the same. We are all different, but that doesn’t mean we can’t work together. Instead, when we work together, we work in harmony. In music, when notes are played together which go well together, the result is called harmony and it sounds good! When we work together, our differences don’t matter, because we produce a work that is better and stronger than we could produce on our own!

Dave’s sermon this morning focussed on Acts 3:1-8, showing us the power of God to heal completely. Here, Peter and John, on their way to the temple to pray in the afternoon, encountered a man crippled from birth, begging for money. They may not have had silver or gold to give to him, but they had received power from God on the Day of Pentecost, and that power transformed the man from a human tragedy through a heavenly touch.

Pentecostal power is not given to us so we can become an exclusive club, content with power for our sakes. We must never be content to simply sing the old hymn, “Standing On The Promises” while all we are doing is sitting in the premises (or in our own homes, as is currently the case!) This power is given to transform lives, and though we may feel that we have nothing to give to others, the truth is that behind the affluence and apparent self-satisfaction all around us, there are hurting people desperately in need of God’s heavenly touch, which we can offer through His power in us.

A Human Tragedy

This man had been crippled from birth and had never known the pleasures and joys of childhood, learning to walk, run and play with other children. He was entirely dependent on others to bring him to the Temple gates to beg. All he could do was beg, to sit there, and hope that people would have pity on him. This man symbolises for us the reality of tragedy in life. As we look at him, we are reminded that everywhere around us there is human hurt, human suffering, and human tragedy. Sometimes it shows itself through a physical affliction such as this man had, but more often it goes unseen to human eyes. For every one who is crippled physically, there are literally tens of thousands who are crippled emotionally and there are hundreds of thousands who are crippled spiritually.

How many of those we work with, how many of our friends or neighbours, who appear outwardly to be doing OK, are inwardly struggling? They are struggling financially. They don’t know what to do with their children.Their marriages are falling apart. Their job is hanging by a thread. They’ve lost all self-esteem. They’re guilty and depressed and don’t know where to turn. Behind every door there is human need. Every person has a story to tell, including us; each person needs Jesus.

A Healing Touch

This man had no expectation of meeting with God or being healed, and many people today simply don’t see the need for God or think that the church has anything to offer them. Peter and John knew their lives had been turned around by Jesus and now they wanted to share what they had received. And because of that, they weren’t in a hurry. They had time for people. After all, Jesus always did. In the midst of His busy schedule, He always had time for the individual. His ministry was to people and so was theirs. The man wanted money, but needed healing, and healing was what they offered through the outstretched touch of their hands. The apostles didn’t have silver and gold, but they had the power of God.

What we need are not possessions, but power. Power to touch people’s lives with the presence of the living God. Power to reach out to people and lift them up out of their tragic circumstances and give them hope and healing, friendship and fellowship.

A Heavenly Transformation

By the power of Jesus of Nazareth, the lame man was healed… and not only could walk, but began to run and jump and praise God! More than just the tremendous news of healing, the man could now live in communion with God every day. He had been healed in more ways than one. What else could he do but rejoice? And that is precisely what he did. He was walking and leaping and praising God. He was ecstatic.

People need the healing and transformation that Jesus brings, and we have what they need. May we have the courage and faith to step out as Peter and John did, knowing God has given us HIs power through the Holy Spirit living in us.