We were thrilled to hear from Fredrick and Reeba in Bangalore recently and to see the photos they sent of the recent baptismal service in their new building. We supplied some money towards the building of the baptismal tank, so it was a special privilege to see the completion of this project and to know that Hindus who have converted to Christianity were baptised in this service.

Garry spoke tonight from Gal 3:1-6, a challenging passage which reminds us that we can start the journey of faith well, but can easily fail to grow and develop as we should. Ultimately, we need to understand that our birth into the new life means accessing a spiritual realm, and this demands our whole attention. Only when we are born again can we understand the mind of God (1 Cor 2:12-3:4), but the challenge throughout life is whether we will choose to live in the physical realm only or whether we will choose to access the spiritual life God has for us. This life is available for us, but we have to access it!

Our natural state is ‘unspiritual’ (Rom 7:14) and Eph 2:1-6 clearly tells us what we were like prior to coming to faith. Now, however, we live not in the realm of the flesh but in the realm of the Spirit (Rom 8:9). Just as a baby has to learn to control its body (learning to master head control, roll over, sit up and eventually stand and walk and learn to talk), we have to learn to live in the spiritual realm. This happens, Peter says, as we get rid of our old nature (‘rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind‘ 1 Pet 2:1) and crave (yearn with longing) pure spiritual milk (1 Pet 2:2) so that we can grow up in faith. We need the word of God for this (Matt 4:4) and the easiest way for us to tell if we are making true spiritual progress is to judge how quickly we turn to God in prayer.

The spiritual life requires more than cosmetic change (such as adding spotlights or ‘go faster’ stripes to a car!) It requires the kind of change which makes a real difference (in car terms, putting in a bigger engine, for example!) This can only happen as we put to death the old nature. An old Cherokee proverb talks about life being a fight between two wolves, and who wins the fight comes down to which wolf we feed. Will we feed the old nature, slipping back into familiar ways and well-worn reactions, or will we learn to allow God to renew our minds and transform our thinking?

It can be hard to measure spiritual progress, because it’s often invisible, but actually, the easiest way to tell which wolf we are feeding is how willing and quick we are to pray. We can look spiritual to others and can even persuade ourselves we are, but Rev 3:17 reminds us that God’s evaluation is often very different to ours. What matters is that we develop our prayer life, for it’s there that we learn what pleases God and make the choices that are necessary for spiritual growth. God’s challenge is for us to be spiritual and see what God can do with that.

The conclusion from our series on ‘Battles and Blessings’ reminds us of the following truths:

Life will always have battles as well as blessings. We’d prefer a life of blessing and no battles, but the two things run together like the parallel tracks of a railway. If we learn to accept this, we will save ourselves a lot of heartache and time asking the questions ‘Why me? Why this? Why now?’

God is a God who loves to bless His people. His natural inclination is to bless; He loves to bless (see Ps 67, Eph 1:3, Ps 84:11). We need to grasp the goodness of God and trust in God’s character, no matter whether we’re in a time of battle or a time of blessing. Remember, ‘what’s true in the light is still true in the dark.’ (‘Weep With Me’, Rend Collective) God does not change and is good all the time. God’s blessings are there for us at all times. The Voice version of Ps 67 says, ‘The land has supplied a bountiful harvest, and the True God, our God, has poured out His blessings to us all. God is the source of our blessings; may every corner of the earth respect and revere Him.’ 

Our part is to seek God first, instead of chasing after blessings. Thomas Jefferson spoke about the pursuit of happiness as an inalienable right of humanity, but I’m not sure I totally agree with him. I believe the pursuit of God is the only true pathway to happiness and that happiness is actually a by-product of a life well-lived, as Eleanor Roosevelt said. It’s when we seek God first, when we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, that we can live in that life of blessing because God’s generosity and provision then become the bedrock of our lives and we have a solid foundation on which to build.

The reason Jesus tells us we don’t have to worry and fret is because we have a heavenly Father who knows all our needs and who provides for us. (Matt 6:25-34) So often, we don’t believe that God cares enough to look after our earthly needs, but Jesus reminds us that our God cares for the birds and the flowers and we are more valuable in His sight! Instead of fretting, trying to sort out impossible situations in our own strength or wondering how God will step in, we need to seek first His kingdom and righteousness. We need to seek the Giver more than we seek the gift.

God’s provision can come in a myriad different ways: in the wilderness, He provided manna and quail for His people to eat (sending a double portion of manna on the day before the Sabbath so that the people did not have to work on that day!) He also ensured that their clothes and sandals did not wear out! (Deut 29:5) Other examples of wild and wonderful means of provision include:

• a raven bringing food and drink to Elijah each morning and evening (1 Kings 17:2-6),

• a jug of oil and small amount of flour which made bread each day during a time of famine (1 Kings 17:16)

• a boy’s picnic lunch of 5 loaves and 2 fish being able to feed five thousand men (not counting the women and children) and still having 12 baskets of leftovers! (John 6:1-15)

We have seen God’s provision for us as a church (when buying this building, we only had just over £7,500 in the bank, but as we gave all we had, we saw God provide over £170,000 through grants and loans and were able to repay all loans before the sale of our old building went through) and as individuals, but faith means trusting God rather than looking to what we can see and work out with our own eyes. Only as we seek God and spend time with Him, learning His generous heart and practising generosity ourselves, can we live in the blessing of God (see 2 Cor 9:6-12). God’s generosity is poured out on us not so that we can become rich hoarders, counting our money like the farmer who wanted to build bigger barns. Instead, He gives us something so we can then give away, so we can bless others. God blesses us so that all the ends of the earth will fear Him. (Ps 67:6-7) He blesses us so we can bless others. Jesus told us it is more blessed to give than to receive. (Acts 20:35) May we learn to live carefree before God because He is most careful with us. (1 Pet 5:7, The Message)

In the last of our series ‘Battles & Blessings’, we looked again at the fact that God is a God who loves to bless His people (see Ps 67, 2 Cor 9:8, Eph 1:3, John 1:16, James 1:17), but so often we find this difficult to hold onto in times of trial. We are easily disorientated by battles, it’s like being in the Vortex Tunnel at Edinburgh’s Camera Obscura, where the walkway is surrounded by flashing lights, making it hard to walk along the walkway because it feels like it’s moving.

We need to live by faith and not by sight (2 Cor 5:7), trusting that God not only exists but that He ‘cares enough to respond to those who seek him.’ (Heb 11:1, The Message) Ultimately, however, we need to seek God first, rather than only looking for His blessings; His provision and providence flow out of our relationship with Him.

In Matt 6:25-34, Jesus dealt with our human tendency to worry and fret, reminding us that God provides for the birds of the air and the flowers on the ground and loves us dearly. We can trust in His provision; the Message version of these verses says, ‘People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.‘ When we live this way, seeking first God’s kingdom and His righteousness, we will find ourselves in a place of blessing because we know that God is with us in all situations at all times.

Throughout August, Thurnscoe Big Local have organised a ‘Go Wild In Thurnscoe’ sculpture trail where children have to find 9 animal sculptures in key locations.

As part of this community event and as part of Dearne Community Arts’ Festival’s aim of ‘championing creativity and celebrating community’, a number of people were involved in the decoupage decoration of a sun bear sculpture (named Vincent, after we drew suggested names from a box, in passing homage to the artist Van Gogh, whose ‘Sunflowers’ provided an apt decoration since a sun bear’s chest is yellow-coloured!)

The other sculptures have been painted, but we decided to use decoupage (sticking random bits of paper onto the bear seemed to be within our capabilities!) and in order to celebrate the arts, we used famous paintings, sheet music and other colourful paper to decorate the bear. He even ended up with a Union Jack neckerchief!

We started outdoors at the ‘Love Your Park’ event in Thurnscoe, but heavy rain meant we had to carry on indoors after the event was called off because of the weather.

Vincent still needs his eyes and mouth finishing off and varnishing, but he will then be ready to join the other animals in the sculpture trail and will be on display at the Dearne Community Arts’ Festival on 28th September at Astrea Academy Dearne.