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.

This weekend was supposed to be when Franklin Graham came to Sheffield Arena to preach the gospel. Some of us from our church had been planning to attend as counsellors; many of us had been praying for people to come to know Jesus as Saviour at this event.

Even before lockdown, there were difficulties over the Franklin Graham tour as the venues decided they did not want to host the events. Then, in March, all such public events were cancelled as lockdown was imposed. All our plans have been drastically altered and at the moment, no one is quite sure when large gatherings will be allowed again.

It can be difficult to adapt to altered plans. All of us have experienced this in recent weeks as we’ve made arrangements to cancel or amend holidays, had to celebrate birthdays alone and live in ways we could barely have imagined at the turn of the year. This creates feelings of frustration, disappointment and loss in us, and it’s easy to become resentful or bitter about the changes.

The Bible says, however, ‘the plans of the Lord stand firm together, the purposes of His heart through all generations.’ (Ps 33:11) Our plans may be changed and thwarted, but God’s plans are not: ‘many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.’ (Prov 19:21) I’m sure Franklin Graham and his team have been exceedingly frustrated at the change to their plans, but we can be confident that none of God’s purposes can be thwarted. (Job 42:2) We may well be experiencing personal frustration and bitter disappointment right now, but even when we do not understand why, we rest in God’s promise that His plans are to prosper us and not to harm us, plans to give us hope and a future. (Jer 29:11) God’s plans and purposes can be trusted. We know that God is continuing to work in our communities and nation and world at this time; people are becoming Christians even in lockdown (read this testimony here.) Our prayer is still ‘Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven’ (Matt 6:10), even when our plans have to change.

On 6th June 2010 we held our first Sunday services in the building at Market Street. We had had the keys for the building since February and had worked tirelessly – every Saturday and many evenings during the week as well as all day during school holidays – on renovating and decorating the building. It truly was a labour of love as we all worked on making the run-down building fit for worship. At the end of the evening service, we took a photo of all who had been present.

Today, 6th June 2020, things look very different in some ways. We have not been able to meet together in the building since 19th March because of the situation with the coronavirus pandemic, although Garry and Julie have been livestreaming services from the building since 22nd March. We are very much hoping we will be able to physically meet together soon (perhaps from July, depending on the Government’s guidelines) and in preparation for that, we have decided to have the room decorated for the first time since 2010. Today has been spent emptying the room of all the chairs and furnishings. (We have since taken down the cross and moved other things too!)

The advantage of the current situation is that with no one using the building, we could transfer all these items to the community room (which is also not being used!)

Hopefully by the end of next week, we can show you photos of a newly decorated worship room and foyer!

In some ways, this has got us thinking about lots of things… There’s no doubt that a church building is hugely useful, and it’s deeply frustrating to us that we can’t use the building to its full potential at the moment. We miss not being able to hold services, prayer meetings and Bible studies, our Parent & Toddler group and youth club and are sad that other groups such as Slimming World, Dearne Stay Fit and TADS can’t use the building either for their groups. We are very much a community church, and we miss the physical contact we have through our presence on Market Street. But at the same time, we are very aware that the church is far more than a building… and the church is very much alive still, even if we have had to learn to meet in different ways over the past eleven Sundays. We are still meeting on Sundays at 10.30 a.m. and 6.00 p.m. and on Thursdays at 7.00 p.m. We are still holding prayer meetings and Bible studies. We are staying in touch with our parents and toddlers through Facebook Live on Fridays and have continued to work with other local churches, supporting the Salvation Army food bank and running virtual Family Fun Days at Easter and Pentecost. We are still in touch with each other through snail mail, telephone calls, texts, WhatsApp and Facebook. We have posted out craft packs and Easter eggs at Easter to local families and have posted out craft packs at Pentecost as well. We’re doing our best to stay in touch and to reflect God’s heart for our community. We are still seeking, ten years on, to be ‘with God in the community, with God for the community’ and we continue to believe that God has good plans and purposes for this area, this community, this church and this building!

When we talked about mental health issues during Mental Health Awareness Week in May, we used the analogy of a bucket which, if faced with too much stress, overflows (and said that overflow represents our inability to cope and the fact we then become pronte to anxiety, fear and depression). In that analogy, the goal is not to have an over-full bucket, but to learn coping mechanisms which allow us to let out water (stress) in a controlled and helpful way.

The image of an overflowing bucket does not always have to be negative, however. In the Bible, the image of a cup overflowing is often seen as a sign of God’s blessing which is so abundant it cannot be contained. Ps 23:5 says, ‘my cup overflows’ in the context of God’s anointing and blessing.

Jesus talked about generosity as a key to blessing: ‘Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap.’ (Luke 6:38)

Joel prophesied about a time of blessing when ‘the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.’ (Joel 2:24)

The abundance found in God is often described positively: ‘your carts overflow with abundance’ (Ps 65:11); ‘you will drink deeply and delight in the overflowing abundance.’ (Is 66:11)

If we view the overflowing cup in this light, we notice several things:

1. God is a liberal, generous God who is not mean or stingy in any way. James reminds us that every good and perfect gift comes from Him. (James 1:17) Paul tells us that we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus. (Eph 1:3) There is no lack in God, and He is not only able to bless us, but willing.

2. God’s generosity is so overwhelming, there will inevitably be mess. When my grandchildren play in water, I have to be prepared for everything to get wet! Their splashing, tipping and pouring result in water getting everywhere – their clothes get soaked; the ground gets soaked; the water goes everywhere. We mustn’t be afraid of the ‘mess’ blessing can bring us. Revival – surely the ultimate example of God’s blessing seen on earth – often looks messy: people weeping uncontrollably, people laughing for hours, people prostrate before God, meetings that last for hours as the Spirit of God moves in ways we have not seen before. For many, the ‘mess’ of blessing is too much, but we are urged not to quench the Holy Spirit. (1 Thess 5:19)

3. God’s generosity in overflow means everyone gets blessed. Blessing is not really meant to be contained. It’s meant to overflow to others. God’s plan has always been to bless others through His people: ‘all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.’ (Gen 12:3) The parable of the talents reminds us that ‘whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance.’ (Matt 25:29) Abundance isn’t meant to be simply hoarded, but to be used to benefit others. We are blessed to be a blessing.

4. Blessing comes from God. This truth is fundamental to our spiritual growth. We don’t earn blessing (we earn wages!) There’s no place in God’s kingdom for the quid pro quo mindset which governs so much of our thinking. Abundance and blessing are rooted in grace. They have nothing to do with our ‘rights’ or what we think we deserve, and we have to let go of all that’s connected to the legalistic way of life if we are to know God’s blessing more fully. Holding on to grudges, seeking revenge and trying to force blessing from God will all ultimately prove to be unsuccessful. We don’t need to twist God’s arm to bless us. We simply have to live as children of God.

 5.  The bigger the cup, the bigger the blessing! We may feel there’s not much we can do about the size of our ‘cup’: it is what it is. But if our cup is     clogged up and filled with other things, it does affect its capacity. Our part is to ‘put off’ our old self and ‘be made new’ in the attitude of our minds (Eph 4:23) so that our capacity to receive God’s blessing is increased.