Paul urges us to flee from sexual immorality (1 Cor 6:18), reminding us that whoever sins sexually sins against their own body, which is a temple of the Holy Spirit. (1 Cor 6:18-19). We live in a society which does not really recognise sexual immorality anymore. Everyone is free to do as they please sexually and if you say otherwise, you are likely to be criticised and condemned.

Nonetheless, the Bible urges us to avoid sexual immorality (1 Thess 4:3) and gives us a clear picture of marriage between a man and a woman as the only sanctified context for sexual activity. Jesus reminded us that sexual immorality starts with our thoughts and attitudes and we must therefore do all we can to maintain purity and holiness in every area of our lives, including this one. Far from giving us prohibitions to spoil life, God gives us commandments to protect us and others and to mirror His undying love for us. Embracing His restrictions sets us on the path of life and actually leads to freedom.

We all know people who are constantly criticising others, grumbling, complaining and being negative. ‘X never has a good word to say about anyone,’ we realise. Such negativity is oddly contagious, and we can easily become negative people ourselves.

At the present time, there is much negativity and fear all around, especially as people struggle to come to terms with the potential implications of Covid-19, a ‘new virus’ which leaves us uncertain and often afraid. Negativity and panic seem to be flourishing all around; remaining steadfast and sensible seems to be largely impossible.

The three wise monkeys in the story ‘see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil.’ Whilst they are often portrayed as being in the wrong (e.g. they turn a blind eye to wrongdoing), the principle of taking care what we see, listen to, say and do is wholly Biblical. Paul is particularly concerned with our thought life, saying ‘whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.’ (Phil 4:8) If we do that, negativity goes out of the window. That doesn’t mean situations automatically become favourable or easier, but it does mean we are anchored to the positive truth that God cares for us and is in control, no matter what our visible situations tell us.

Paul tells us we are children of the light (Eph 5:8, 1 Thess 5:5) and that we do not belong to the darkness or night. Jesus came as light to the world so that we no longer have to live in darkness, but this means constantly embracing the light in order to escape the clutches of the darkness.

God’s word is a lamp for our feet and a light for our path. (Ps 119:105) We need to embrace His word and turn from the things we used to do when we were children of the dark. (Eph 4:17-19) We need eyes that are healthy and will be a light for our lives (Matt 6:22-23), which means choosing not to dwell on things that are part of the dark side of life.

This might mean letting go of certain reading material, TV programmes, social media, pornography, alcohol or other substances which would drag us down paths of darkness and instead committing ourselves to pursuing all that is good and pure. It might mean learning to love people unconditionally and practically so that we are not dwelling in darkness. (1 John 2:9-11). Whatever we do, let go of darkness and follow the Light of the world.

Garry spoke tonight about the power of the word of God. God acts by speaking; in the beginning, He spoke creation into being (Gen 1:1-3) and so often, Jesus healed and calmed the storm through His words (see Mark 4:38-39, Mark 9:25-27). We need to be careful not to limit the power of God in any way, either through sin (Is 59:1-2) or unbelief (Matt 13:53-58).

What we should do is allow God’s word room in our lives (see John 8:37). We need to give the prime spot to the word of God, as demonstrated by the Parable of the Sower (Matt 13:1-23; Mark 4:1-20; Luke 8:4-14). In Matthew’s and Luke’s accounts, two different words for ‘choked’ are used. To the people, Jesus talked about the generic word ‘choked’, whereas when explaining the parable to His disciples, He talked about the word being choked by many things, all vying for our attention. So often, many other things compete for our attention and we can end up limiting and restricting the power of God’s word because we see it as one thing among many.

Is God’s word just one thing among many or does it have pre-eminence in our lives?

Col 3:16 tells us to let the message of Christ dwell in us richly; this is not what we do, but what we allow God’s word to do in our lives. Then we need to put into action what God says (Matt 7:24-25). James reminds us we need not only to listen to the word of God, but to do what it says. (James 1:22). God’s word requires more than mere mental assent (‘That’s a good idea’; ‘That makes sense’). God speaks to us to generate faith (Rom 10:17) and we need to be disciplined in our receiving and acting upon on God’s words, as swimmers get up early to train and musicians practise for hours to perform well. What are we prepared to sacrifice to progress with God?

Each day, the word of God has competition from good things and bad things: from the worries, cares and distractions of the world. The effect of these things is to stunt growth and to prevent us from fulfilling our potential in God. We need to allow God’s word the room it needs in our lives and to be prepared to obey Him, no matter what He says.

Roger spoke this morning at Cherry Tree Court about the need to be naked before God – not literally, but to approach Him with purity of heart and the confidence that He accepts us through Jesus Christ. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were naked and felt no shame (Gen 2:25), but when sin entered the world through their rebellion against God, they became aware of their nakedness and hid from God. (Gen 3:10) Most of us now carry that sense of embarrassment and shame related to nakedness, though it becomes the ultimate sign of intimacy in a marriage and children reflect the innocence once known by all humanity when they have no hang-ups about nakedness. Nakedness symbolises our dependence on God and the fact that He sees us and knows us through and through. (Eccl 5:15)

Spiritually speaking, the nakedness God wants from us is related to purity of heart. If we harbour sin in our hearts, we cannot approach a holy God, but through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, we can come before God with clean hands and a pure heart. (Ps 24:4) Sincerity, love and purity effectively act as a spiritual nakedness (see Prov 22:11, 1 Tim 1:5, 2 Tim 2:22, Heb 10:22). God asks us to leave everything and follow Him, to go and make disciples of all nations and to live a life of daily repentance and faith. Then we can approach God humbly, like children, with pure hearts. We don’t need to be dressed in our ‘Sunday best’ to come to God. As we prepare ourselves through personal and corporate prayer, forgive others, repent and are filled with the Spirit, we can live a life of freedom from shame.

Our first ‘Take Back The Streets’ prayer meeting took place yesterday, with a good number of people coming to pray either in church or on the streets:

Two groups went out to pray on the main road through Goldthorpe, praying for our local shops, primary school, local library and Cherry Tree Court, among other things:

We gave thanks for the regeneration that has already taken place on the Goldthorpe Railway Cuttings site, which was an eyesore for many years as the former mining railway line was a place for fly-tipping. Now, thanks to volunteers from the community, it is a beautiful green space (we’ll be holding our next Family Fun Day there on 15th April).

However, there are still many areas where fly-tipping and litter are spoiling our community, and we pray that we will be able to make Goldthorpe physically beautiful as well as praying for spiritual growth and revival. The gas canisters abandoned at the bottom of Beever Street indicate the needs people have and the wrong solutions they employ to meet those needs.

Our thanks to all who have taken the call to prayer to heart; our next meeting will be on Saturday 4th April.