The Dearne Community Choir starts rehearsing this Thursday (6th October) at 7 p.m. at the Salvation Army:

The Dearne Cinema at the Dearne ALC school is also showing films this weekend:

I’m sure most of you are familiar with the poem by Clement Clarke known as ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas. There is always a special magic about Christmas Eve (especially for me, as it’s also my father’s birthday!) Well, we are not quite there yet, but rather frighteningly, it is now 66 days to the Goldthorpe Christmas Market, which will be on Friday 9th December from 4-8 p.m.

We, along with the other local churches, are hugely excited about this event. All the market stalls have been booked (one by Turner New Leaf, selling homemade chutneys and apple sauce, and well worth a visit!) and inside the GPCC building, we’ll be serving refreshments, selling Christmas decorations and crafts, sampling home baking and offering a Christmas present wrapping service (just bring your presents and we’ll wrap them for 50p per present!) All proceeds raised by ‘Churches Together’ will go towards the Salvation Army Christmas Appeal, helping local families. Last year we raised almost £500, which is an amazing amount, all thanks to people’s generosity and kindness.

A huge amount of behind-the-scenes work has to go on before then, however, to make this event happen! We are aiming to give out goody bags to every family who come into the building (based on last year’s numbers, that’s about 300 goody bags!) These will contain a glow stick (to provide light during the community carol service at 6 p.m. in the church car park), sweets and Christmas literature, along with news about carol services and church events throughout the Christmas period. As you can imagine, getting those bags ready will take some time – so if you have an hour or two to spare on Wednesday 23rd November (9-11 a.m.), please do come along and help with that!

We also need an army of willing volunteers on the day to help with the event. If you would like to make decorations/ craft things to sell, please let us know. Home baking is always popular and we also will need lots of people ready to serve refreshments (deluxe hot chocolates were especially popular last year!) Please see your church leader if you’d like to be involved in this in any way or contact me by email (contact@gpcchurch.co.uk).

Inside the building, we hope to have:

• refreshments
• home baking
• craft items
• craft activities
• activities & competitions for children
• Christmas present wrapping service

But to make all that happen, we need YOU!

Last week, Dave challenged us to pray for revival. Let’s make that the focus of our prayers throughout October (and beyond!) Revival means a renewal of life, a return to halth and strength. Only God can revive us and bring repentance and salvation, but every revival throughout history has begun in the prayer room. We need to take seriously God’s call to pray for revival, both individually and corporately.

Pray for:

• God to revive His church in Goldthorpe and the surrounding area, bringing new life, zeal, authority and power to His people
• God’s people to hunger and thirst for God, seeking Him in prayer both individually and corporately
• a spirit of repentance and obedience to be evident in our lives
• revival to touch those who do not yet believe, that we may see many people brought into the kingdom of God.

Charles Finney once said, ‘Revival is a renewed conviction of sin and repentance, followed by an intense desire to live in obedience to God. It is giving up one’s will to God in deep humility.’  Nothing other than the presence and power of God can satisfy us. We need God to move in reviving power, changing us from the inside out.

Mark challenged us to make paper doves tonight!

This resulted in some very different doves!

Jeannette reminded us at the end of the service that the Holy Spirit is also gentle and does not come into our lives unless invited. We are privileged people, invited to know the fulness of the Godhead (Father, Son and Spirit), invited to have access to God Himself. All we have to do is accept His invitation and receive His Spirit by faith.

Tonight’s family service looked at the theme of ‘the dove’, one of the names of the Holy Spirit. Stephen spoke from Matt 3:13-17, when the Spirit of God alighted on Jesus at His baptism in the form of a dove and God the Father spoke, saying ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.’

John the Baptist had been baptising many in the River Jordan and recognised Jesus, knowing that He had no need of baptism because He had not sinned. Nonetheless, Jesus identified with sinners through His baptism (though He Himself was not sinful) and showed us the way to approach God through repentance. We see that His earthly ministry did not begin until after the Holy Spirit had come upon Him, modelling for us the way to ministry through dependence on God’s Spirit.

The dove is a symbol of innocence, perfection and peace, but His appearance at the baptism of Jesus must have been a ‘wow!’ moment for the crowds being baptised and watching the baptisms. His presence always brings illumination and guidance to us, as the hymn says:

‘Open my eyes, that I may see
glimpses of truth thou hast for me.
Place in my hands the wonderful key
that shall unclasp and set me free.
Silently now I wait for thee,
ready, my God, thy will to see.
Open my eyes; illumine me,
Spirit divine!’ (Clara Scott)

Dave spoke this morning from Phil 4:6-8, looking at Paul’s injunction not to be anxious about anything and how we can rest in God’s care and plan for our lives.

Prayer is the bedrock of our lives, our communication lifeline to God. Matt 6 reminds us that Jesus expected us to pray (‘when you pray’, not if!) and that prayer needs to be sincere (not arising from a desire to show off in front of others, not relying on endless words to get our way.) God honours the prayers of sincere hearts. Some ask why we need to pray since God already knows everything, but we pray in obedient response to God and to focus our minds and hearts on God. Communication is essential to all relationships.

Prayer also involves bringing our petitions (supplications) to God. We can approach God with confidence (Heb 4:16), casting our burdens on Him and relying on Him to sustain us. (Ps 55:25) So often, we keep hold of our burdens, but ‘casting’ means ‘to hurl away’. James reminds us that so often we don’t have because we don’t ask God or we ask with wrong motives. When we bring all our needs to God and seek to obey Him, we can be sure of receiving answers (1 Jn 3:22). Petitioning involves praying for others – for healing, salvation, guidance, for those in leadership and government, asking God to move in revival. There is so much we can ask for!

Thanksgiving is also essential. 1 Tim 6:6 reminds us that godliness with contentment is great gain; it is good to give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thess 5:18), so that we can acknowledge God in all situations. Sometimes our thanksgiving is a real sacrifice of praise, but when we worry, we see only the problems. When we are thankful, we see God moving in all situations and can trust Him to work things together for good.

Phil 4:8 reminds us that what we choose to think about is crucial. We must focus on what is true (according to God’s Word), noble, right, pure, lovely, pleasing and admirable, rather than focussing on things that upset us or are harmful. Where the mind leads, the heart will follow; joy comes from adjusting our lives to God’s ways and then living without anxiety or fear.