Further work continued on the house for the Open Day on 9th July:

To find out more, you’ll have to come along to the Open Day which will run from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. All are welcome. There will be a range of craft activities, face-painting, a pilgrim trail and the usual refreshments, with displays showing what has been happening at church over the past six years. In the evening at 6 p.m., we’ll also be having a family film night, watching ‘The Jungle Book’ and enjoying chip butties!

We’ll be setting up for the Open Day on Friday 8th July in the evening (7 p.m.), so there will be no badminton that night. Please come along and help us get ready, though!

Six years ago, Stephen spent his birthday at the official opening of the church in the Market Street building! Tonight, he was still celebrating God’s good plans for his life at church!

Mark used the plans of the church building to send us on a treasure hunt to find out a key Bible verse about plans:

The verse was Proverbs 16:9 – ‘In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.‘

Stephen then took us through the meaning of life through the illustration of flat-pack furniture:

Life comes with instructions, but so often, we feel we can disregard these and build life according to our plans. The results can be somewhat confusing:

Only when we finally follow God’s instructions do we find out what He plans to give us!

God has good plans to give us hope and a future (Jer 29:11). We need to take hold of His plans for our lives and live according to the Maker’s instructions!

Part of the problems we face in life is the gap between our plans and God’s plans. We have dreams, plans and purposes, and they can be all-consuming. We can spend a lot of time, money and energy on these dreams and plans. But it’s crucial that we recognise that the only dreams and plans which will actually last into eternity are those birthed in eternity. We have to be willing to trade our dreams for God’s dreams (‘Somewhere In The Middle’, Casting Crowns), because ultimately, God’s dreams and plans for us are so much wilder and better than anything we can dream up ourselves. Casting Crowns have written a song called ‘Dream For You’, which looks at the dreams and plans David and Mary might have had: dreams about being a big-time shepherd one day, dreams about a ‘picture perfect family.’ God speaks to both of them, though, showing them that their dreams are as nothing compared to God’s dreams: that David can be used to bring down the giant Goliath and that his ‘shepherd songs’ will be sung the world over, that Mary’s ideal family will actually include the Saviour of the world. They are both reminded:

‘So let go of your plan

Be caught by my hand,

I’ll show you what I can do

When I dream for you.

My child, if you only knew
All the plans that I have for you
Just trust me, I will follow through.
You can follow Me.’ (‘Dream For You’, Casting Crowns)

On 3rd July 2010, we celebrated the official opening of Goldthorpe Pentecostal Community Church on Market Street. That day marked the end of one era and the beginning of another. The journey to buy the former Methodist church St Mark’s started well before then, but as we were given the keys to the building in February 2010, we began to glimpse something of God’s plans for us as a church.

There was a lot of hard work between February and July 2010, with volunteers spending hours restoring the building so that it could house God’s people again. As we prepare to celebrate the anniversary of our move next Saturday (9th July) with another community open day, our family service looked at the topic of God’s good plans for us as individuals and as a church.

Jer 29:11 reminds us that God has plans to prosper us and not to harm us, plans to give us hope and a future. Making plans is an essential part of life, from the mundane (‘what are we going to have for dinner?’) to the more exotic (holiday destinations beckon at this time of year!) There’s nothing wrong with making plans, but James 4:13-17 reminds us that it’s unwise to make plans without God. James reminds us that we don’t even know what will happen tomorrow, that life is God’s gift to us, and that we need to think about Him in all the plans we make. If we don’t, then we run the risk of making plans that are futile (Ps 94:11), because ‘a person may think their own ways are right, but the Lord weighs the heart.’ (Prov 21:2) Proverbs reminds us that ‘there is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.’ (Prov 14:12, 16:25)

God’s plans for us are good, even if life sometimes seems to shatter those plans (as both Job and Joseph experienced.) When life is dark and confusing, we have to trust that the God who thwarts the plans of the crafty (Job 5:12), the God who foils the plans of the nations (Ps 33:10), will not allow His purposes to be thwarted and will bring good out of every situation (see Ps 33:11, Rom 8:28).

Our plans are based on limited knowledge and ability, but God’s plans are based on His omniscience and omnipotence. Prov 19:21 reminds us that ‘many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.’ We can be secure at all times in the good plans God has for each one of us. (Eph 2:10)

This morning, Mark looked at Gen 49:1-28, Jacob’s last words to his twelve sons. Jacob was, like Joseph, a dreamer who spoke prophetically on more than one occasion; in this chapter, even though he is close to death, he still speaks prophetic words which had influence and impact on his sons and on the generations to follow.

Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, was the oldest son who is described as ‘my might, the first sign of my strength, excelling in honour, excelling in power.’ (Gen 49:3) However, despite the expected norm that the firstborn would receive all of Jacob’s wealth and blessing, God has been working in this family situation, bringing Joseph to the position of authority, rather than Reuben. Moreover, Jacob’s final words to Reuben are far from pleasant, recalling his sin (Gen 35:21-22) and effectively saying that he will no longer excel. Reuben may have looked strong, handsome and powerful, but he was as unstable as water, proving himself to be unpredictable, having overstepped the mark by sleeping with his father’s concubine at a time when Jacob was grieving the death of Rachel.

Scripture does not tell us if Jacob ever dealt with this matter at the time or if Reuben’s other brothers knew anything at all about this sin. Here, we see, however, that the long arms of sin reach into Reuben’s life, showing us that it is much better to deal with wrongdoing immediately than allow it to fester and ruin our futures. Sin has a way of coming back to bite us if we do not deal with it.

Reuben’s tribe became shepherds, a job that was viewed as quite lowly; our families and future generations can be influenced and either damaged or blessed by our choices during life. Later on in history, we discover that Reuben’s tribe was one which did not want to enter the Promised Land, choosing to remain on the other side of the Jordan. Both Reuben and Gad (see Gen 49:19) seemed content to settle for second best. The Gadites were constantly forced to defend themselves against hostile tribes, lacking the defence of the other Israelites.

This passage teaches us 3 vital lessons:

1. No matter how old we are, God can still use us and speak through us. Jacob spoke prophetically with his dying breath; we too can serve God, even in our old age and infirmity.
2. Sins from the past and present have to be dealt with or they could potentially spoil our future in God. We cannot afford to sweep sin under the carpet and turn a blind eye to it.
3. We should not settle for second best, but need to keep pressing on with the things God calls us to do, understanding that there are crucial choices to be made which affect not only our own lives but the lives of generations to come.