Redemption

God is a God of redemption, a God who redeems. To redeem means to regain possession of something, something that you originally had and lost possession of. There’s usually a payment involved in that redemption, so redeeming also has the idea of ‘buying back.’ Redemption is one of the great Christian words, featuring in the Old Testament (see Ex 6:6, Lev 25:29, Ruth 3-4, Job 19:25, Ps 19:14, Is 41:14, Ps 103:4, Ps 130:8) and the New Testament (Col 1:14, Eph 1:7), showing us that Jesus is our Redeemer. Because of sin, our relationship with God has been fractured and so through Christ’s sacrifice, we have been bought back (Gal 3:13, 1 Pet 1:18-19) and that relationship has been restored.

Reclaim

All the privileges of being sons and daughters of the living God which were lost when Adam sinned can be regained; as Aaron Shust puts it, ‘All that’s lost can be regained.’ (‘You Redeem’) Redemption and restoration enable us to receive forgiveness and wholeness. Instead of being banished from the Garden of Eden, cast out from God’s presence, we can know intimacy and fellowship with God.

David’s recapture of all that was stolen from him at Ziklag (1 Sam 30) gives us a picture of what Jesus has done for us. David was able to recover everything the Amalekites had taken. He was able to reclaim all that had been stolen from him. Nothing was missing; David brought everything back. Despite the heartache, despite the distress they had all known, David was able to recover everything. This is a picture of what Jesus has done for us. The enemy is a thief and a liar. (Jn 8:44, Jn 10:10) He seeks only to destroy, to steal from us all that God has made freely available to us in Jesus Christ. As God’s children, we now have access to all the riches and inheritance that God has given to His beloved Son. (Eph 1:18, Heb 9:15, Gal 5:1)

Release

As we let go of everything that hinders us and the sin that so easily entangles us, we can enter into the freedom of blessing and the wholeness which a relationship with Jesus can bring. God promises peace which passes all understanding to guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:7) He promises provision for all our needs: ‘my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.’ (Phil 4:19) He promises us unquenchable joy – joy that is complete and which cannot be taken away from us. (John 15:11, John 16:22) In order for us to access these promises, however, we have to release all that is not of God and cast our cares on Him (1 Pet 5:7). We also have to accept the divine exchange God offers us. (Is 61:1-3)

Rebuild

Rebuilding can be a long process (as we discovered when we moved into Market Street), but the Bible is full of building projects: Moses supervising the building of the Tabernacle; Solomon supervising the building of the temple; Nehemiah supervising the rebuilding of the city walls following exile; Haggai prophesying about the rebuilding of the temple after that time. Jesus spoke about the wise and foolish builders (Matt 7:24-27) and Paul reminded the Corinthians of the need to build on good foundations (1 Cor 3:10-15). God ultimately rebuilds our lives through the words that He speaks (see Heb 1:3, Deut 32:47, John 6:63, 68).

Renew

The work of renewing is ongoing and is for everyone. It’s for the newest Christian; it’s for the oldest; it’s for everyone in between. Isaiah tells us that those who wait on the Lord, who hope in the Lord, will renew their strength. (Is 40:31) The book of Ruth promises us, ‘He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age.’ (Ruth 4:5) David prayed for God to renew a steadfast spirit within him. (Ps 51:10) Paul urged us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. (Rom 12:2) and told us to put on the new self which is daily being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. (Col 3:10) Holy Spirit renewal is available to each one of us (Titus 3:5), even when we feel as though we are weak and fading: ‘Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.’ (2 Cor 4:16)

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the flourish by which God announces to us that all things can be made new and that He is doing a new thing which will reverse all the curses of the Fall.

In our series ‘The A-Z of Christian Faith’, looking at essential ingredients in a life of faith, we have reached the letter R. The 3Rs of the Bible – reality, relationships and rules – were considered, but the theme of tonight’s sermon was ‘R is for Restore’.

Restoration projects make for good TV shows, whether it’s the restoration of houses or makeovers of people! There are signs of restoration in progress all around us, and we need to understand that this urge within us to restore is actually a reflection of God’s heart. God loves to restore. He is the ultimate Creator, and He never wastes anything He has created, but works on it time and time again to restore it to its original beauty and goodness, re-shaping our lives as the potter re-works the clay (Jer 18:2-3). God wanted Jeremiah, and Israel, to realise not only that He is the Sovereign God who can shape and form our lives as He wants, but that He is a God who is able to re-create, re-form and restore. Aaron Shust says,

‘You restore our lives even though we don’t deserve it

And you’ve given us a love that’s not our own

You assemble all our broken, shattered pieces:

More beautiful than I had ever known.’ (‘Long Live The King’, Aaron Shust)

God is able to restore all that is broken in our lives, making a beautiful mosaic or tapestry from our mistakes and sin. Joseph’s words to his brothers (Gen 50:20) remind us that God is able to work all things together for good (Rom 8:28). He is able to repay us for the years the locusts have eaten (Joel 2:25-26) – nothing needs to be wasted in God’s economy!

At the end of Toy Story 3, there is an emotional scene where Andy gives away his box of toys to a little girl.

It’s a heart-tugging scene as we contemplate growing up and leaving our childish ways behind, moving on and letting go. Clearly, maturity is an important and crucial part of our Christian journey (Eph 4:11-13) and 1 Cor 13:11 makes it plain that we are to grow up. The problem comes, however, when we equate growing up with independence and assume that leaving behind our childish ways includes becoming independent of God.

Christian maturity is not the same as independence. Whilst as parents we prepare our children for independence, we are never meant to live life independent of God. Heb 1:3 reminds us that the whole universe is sustained by God’s powerful word and Ps 104 and Ps 2 both remind us of God’s sovereignty and command of all His creation. John 15:1-8 makes it plain that we are to abide or remain in God. The word in Greek means to stay, to settle down, to come in and make ourselves at home. Our dependence on God is such that we can only thrive and be fruitful as we abide in Christ.

Luke 15 tells us parables about the lost sheep, the independent sheep who went his own way from the flock and needed to be rescued, and about the lost son, who wanted to be independent and take his own destiny into his own hands. Both these parables show us we not only need to remain in God, we need other people too. 1 Cor 12 reminds us that we are a body; we need each other. No matter how strong we are, we need other people, even those we might look down on and dismiss as being unimportant. The truth is we are dependent on each other and as we grow, develop and mature, we actually need to become more dependent. After all, this is not Toy Story, but we are part of His Story. And in His Story, our need for God and for each other doesn’t diminish with age or maturity.

There are still quite a lot of community events going on in August, of special interest if you have children.

Tuesday 22nd August will see the second of the ‘Churches Together’ family fun days at Houghton Road Centre in Thurnscoe, from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. There will be the opportunity to play crazy golf, do craft activities, and there will be toddler toys available for under 5s. Lunch is provided, free of charge.

Wednesday 23rd August is the ‘Bounce Into Summer’ event, organised by Goldthorpe Development Group, on the land in front of the Dearne Playhouse. This event runs from 12 noon until 4 p.m., and a £2 entrance charge gives you access to all the rides, bouncy castles and stalls available. Face painting, trampolines, helter skelters and much more!

On Thursday 24th August, there is the ‘Performing Arts’ workshop at the Dearne Playhouse from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Suitable for young people aged between 10 and 18, this is the opportunity to take part in drama, song and dance, leading to a performance at the Dearne Community Arts’ Festival on Friday 1st September. Contact us for more details or to book a place at the workshop.

The Dearne Community Arts’ Festival, so long in the planning, is almost upon us! This community-wide event to champion creativity and celebrate community will take place at the Dearne Playhouse (formerly known as the Welfare Hall) in Goldthorpe on Friday 1st and Saturday 2nd September from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. Come along to see a range of exhibitions (paintings, photographs, crafts, model aircraft) and performances on stage (featuring music, dance, Thurnscoe Harmonic Male Voice Choir and a fashion show from the local sewing class) as well as demonstrations (floristry, hand massages, 3D printing, spinning). Competition winners (including Stacey, Gemma and Grace from GPCC) will be given their prizes at 12 noon on Saturday 2nd September! Entry is free and there will be something for everyone to enjoy! Places are still available at the Creative Writing Workshop run by the Barnsley Bard, Ian McMillan, on Friday 1st September at 2 p.m.

Looking further ahead, we have just had confirmation from the Goldthorpe Development Group of the date for this year’s Christmas market, which will be earlier than usual, on Friday 24th November from 4-8 p.m. We hope to be involved in this again to raise funds for the Salvation Army Christmas appeal and to be able to connect again with our local community!

A long time ago (2000), Lottery funding was granted to Houghton Road Centre for the creation of a minigolf course in the land next to the building, which had formerly been used for football. The original idea for the project came from Berneslai Homes worker Sylvia Cox, and the committee of the Centre worked hard on developing both the building and the grounds. As is usually the case with funded projects, it took a long time from the initial granting of this funding to seeing the project finished on the ground. Anne Corder, a landscape architect working with Landcare, worked with children from local schools to design the mosaics, and the project hit a number of problems, including the need for additional funding (from WREN) and maintenance issues. It was finally opened in March 2003, but has never been used to its full potential because of the need for volunteers to supervise the facility.

Photos from the opening in 2003 Today, ‘Churches Together’ launched its first family fun day at Houghton Road Centre. The minigolf was opened up to the general public and a number of young people enjoyed playing golf.

Inside, craft activities for toddlers were available:

In addition, Thurnscoe Pentecostal Church put on great refreshments and altogether about 40 people attended in total. We are very grateful to Pastor Kevin for all his help and to Alison Sykes for her commitment to using our local facilities to benefit the community. Come along on the next 2 Tuesdays (22 & 29 August) between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. for more family fun!

Today we have another ‘Churches Together’ prayer meeting at Houghton Road Centre in Thurnscoe at 9.30 a.m., where we will be praying especially for the family fun days scheduled for today, 22 & 29 August from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. These are an opportunity for people to come along to the centre for craft activities, play crazy golf, enjoy chat and snacks, and we pray God will use these days to reach out to people in our community who may not come to church services but whom we can befriend in His name. Please pray for these fun days, even if you can’t attend.

Tomorrow (Wednesday 16th August), there is another craft session connected to the Dearne Community Arts’ Festival. This is at the Salvation Army from 10 a.m. until 12 noon, and Dearne hOurbank will also be running a mask making session there for young people aged 10-20. Apart from being an opportunity to learn new skills, it’s another great opportunity to connect with people from our community.

Many thanks also for your support of the Salvation Army food bank. Alison came yesterday to collect all the items, and she wanted to pass on her grateful thanks to everyone for the continuing support which helps to feed needy families in our area. It’s good to be able to work together with all the local churches to support and help our community.

Please pray also for Karen Beecham as she moves on from Furlong Road Methodist Church to work in churches in Rotherham, and pray for Wayne Ashton, who will be looking after Furlong Road Methodist Church in future.