Apologies for the delay in getting the birthday pictures up this week. We had shy people on the box this week…

We often feel embarrassed or even afraid of zeal and passion, recognising them as the impetus behind action and feeling wary about the combination of emotion and action. It’s not considered British to be passionate! Zeal may make us feel uncomfortable (think about Phinehas whose zeal for God led him to kill the Israelite and the Midianite woman (Num 25:10-13) or even Jesus as He overturned the tables in the temple (John 2:14-17)). We are more comfortable with the wishy-washy, but God abhors the lukewarm attitudes so many of us bring to Him (Rev 3:15-16) and longs for us to be devoted to Him whole-heartedly (see Col 3:17).

Zeal marries patience to passion, truth to trust, fervour to faithfulness. Think of Baruch who ‘zealously repaired another section [of the wall], from the angle to the entrance of the house of Eliashib the high priest.’ (Neh 3:20) The work of repairing the ruined walls of Jerusalem may not have seemed very glamorous or spiritual, but Baruch worked steadily away with zeal. We need to understand that zeal keeps us going, even in the mundane and the boring.

Developing zeal will only happen if we are filled with the Holy Spirit, for He provides all the spiritual fuel we need to live for God. We are leaky vessels; passion and zeal may once have been ours, but it’s easy to let these things slip with time. The way to keep our spiritual fervour is to keep on being filled with the Spirit (Eph 5:18); this is necessary for we are all called to serve the Lord. God calls each one of us to is a life of service (which will look very different for there are all kinds of ways of serving Him!), and that life can only be successful if fuelled by Him. Only as God’s zeal fills us will we have the perseverance and passion to serve Him with love, gratitude and humility. He wants us to be never lacking in zeal. Do we?

So often, we start out well in life, but keeping our spiritual fervour is not easy. It’s easy to be worn down by activity and to become burned out. Elijah experienced this. He had seen God do great miracles by sending fire down on Mount Carmel and sending rain after three years of drought (1 Kings 18), but far from being encouraged by this, in the next chapter, we see him worn out and longing for death. He says, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty’ (1 Kings 19:10, 14) – and he had! – but he also feels pressured by how the Israelites have rejected God’s covenant, torn down God’s altars and put God’s prophets to death with the sword. He feels he’s the only one left and can’t cope with Jezebel trying to kill him. He feels he just can’t take it anymore.

Many of us perhaps feel like this. We started the journey well. We have been zealous for God for years. But perhaps the pressures of life, the trials and hardships we have faced or the difficulties we are currently experiencing, have sapped our zeal and fervour. Maybe we feel like we just don’t see the point of going on anymore. Maybe we feel like Elijah: ‘I have had enough, Lord. Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.’ (1 Kings 19:4) Maybe we just don’t have any energy anymore and we don’t know how to carry on. Our fuel gauge is on empty.

God can come to us as he came to Elijah, sending rest, sending food, sending angels, sending us the help we need. God worked for Elijah. Elijah had been very zealous for God; he had worked hard for God. But in 1 Kings 19, we see God working now for Elijah, helping Elijah, giving him the support and help he needed. God can do the same for us when we have lost our oomph, when maybe we have lost the joy of the Lord, when we are flagging in faith. Ultimately God is the source of our zeal, and there are times when we have to be like Mary and sit at the feet of Jesus, rather than always being like Martha, being anxious about everything and never stopping. (Luke 10:38-42) Jesus said, “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” (Matt 11:28-30, The Message) If we are worn out and burned out, lacking zeal and fervour, God can fill us again by His Spirit and move that fuel gauge from empty to full.

Tonight we reached the end of the alphabet in our ‘A-Z of Christian Faith’… Z is for Zeal. Zeal is defined as ‘great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or an objective’.

Synonyms include:

Zeal is fuel for the journey. It’s the thing which will keep us going when the going gets tough. Without zeal, we can easily either burn out from exhaustion or become discouraged and disheartened and give up. Paul told the Romans, ‘Never be lacking in zeal, but always keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord.’ (Rom 12:11) Life is like a marathon,and if we are to run the race with perseverance (Heb 12:1-3) and finish well (see 2 Tim 4:7), we need to have the fuel of God’s Holy Spirit in our lives, helping us to reflect God’s image (for God is a zealous God – see Is 9:7, 2 Kings 19:21, Is 37:32).

We can, alas, be fuelled by the wrong kind of zeal (‘ignorant zeal is worthless’. Prov 19:12 tells us). Paul is a prime example of this, for before his conversion, he was the most zealous of Pharisees, persecuting the church (Phil 3:20). It was only as he encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus that his zeal was redirected in the right direction. Zeal has to be married to truth; it has to be aligned with the whole counsel of God. The wrong kind of zeal can be extremely harmful; ignorant zeal, zeal that is not based on the solid foundation of Christ and His teachings, will not lead us into fruitful service. Jesus urged us to look at the fruit to determine the state of the tree: ‘every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognise them.’ (Matt 7:17-20)The Galatian church were almost led astray by false teachings that were being given to them by very zealous people. (Gal 4:17) We need to be careful to pursue God’s zeal, not the world’s.

This morning at Cherry Tree Court Pat reminded us that despite the challenges and difficulties life brings us, God’s love remains constant and unchanging. In Job 42:1-6, we see how Job moves from head knowledge to a personal relationship with God as he finally encounters God through all the trials he has faced. At the beginning of Job, we see a picture of piety and prosperity, how Job’s faith pleased God, but God nonetheless allowed trials and loss to come to him. Job lost his family, his wife and his possessions and his friends were little help to him, but ultimately God revealed Himself to Job and gave him a new start. Life often brings trauma to us and there are many blockages which can make us feel as though God is far away, but ultimately He works by His Spirit to clear the blockages and allow us to hear Him afresh.

In the New Testament (Mark 10:46-52) Bartimaeus receives healing and restoration from Jesus. He was determined to speak to the healer, determined to meet with Jesus and that determination led to his transformation. We need determination and persistence in our pursuit of God, a focus on Him and an obedience to all He says. The outcome of those things is a renewed relationship with God.

Ultimately, God’s message to us is one of unfailing love, as Joe King’s song ‘I Will Always Love You’ indicates.

The school holidays are approaching and for families with children, it can be hard sometimes to know what to do that is both fun and inexpensive. There are a range of community events happening over the six weeks’ holiday, including a Beach Party organised by Big Local Thurnscoe at Thurnscoe Flower Park on Saturday 4th August and a ‘Bounce Into Summer’ event organised by the Goldthorpe Development Group at the Welfare fields in Goldthorpe on Wednesday 22nd August.

Dearne Churches Together is working with the Dearne Area Team, FareShare, Berneslai Homes and other community groups to host family fun days throughout the school holidays. These will run from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. on each Wednesday (except on 21st August when the event is on Tuesday to avoid clashing with the ‘Bounce Into Summer’ event; please note the last event ends at 2 p.m.) at different local churches and will provide free activities and lunch for families in our area. See below for dates and venues. These fun days will have a wide range of craft activities, games (including table tennis at most venues and other sports/ games at different venues) and will be a great day out for all the family.

Wednesday 25th July @ Salvation Army with an international flavour to the day!

Wednesday 1st August @ Houghton Road Centre, Thurnscoe, with a sports theme:

Wednesday 8th August @ Furlong Road Methodist Church, Bolton-on-Dearne, with a board games theme:

Wednesday 15th August at Goldthorpe Pentecostal Community Church, on all things Yorkshire! Please bring in buttons and glass jars for use in the activities here (Map making and glass painting).

Tuesday 21st August at St Helen’s Church Hall, Thurnscoe, with a Superheroes theme! (Dressing up highly recommended!)

Wednesday 29th August at Goldthorpe Parish Church, with a Teddy Bears’ Picnic theme! (Bring your own teddy bear…)

And last but not least, right at the end of the summer holidays we have the Dearne Community Arts’ Festival which is on Friday 31st August and Saturday 1st September from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. at Dearne ALC. This free event brings together exhibitions, perforamnces, demonstrations and workshops under one roof and will provide fun and entertainment for all the family. Come and browse the wide range of arts and crafts on show, watch a 3D printer or virtual reality cinema, take part in learning how to play the ukelele or walk on stilts, dig for fossils outside, learn how to made a model aircraft or how to sew, get involved in paper crafts or sand art, hone your writing skills with Jeannette Ayton (children) or Ian McMillan (adults) and much more…! Face painting and body art available; refreshments on sale. Don’t miss it!