God Works For Good

Jan 14, 2024

Dave spoke tonight from Romans 8:26-29. We may well feel 2024 starts in a perilous state with wars, financial problems and many other threats, but as the older generation are often quick to point out, this has often been the case, with the Cold War and severe winters (e.g. 1947) just two of the problems in the past. At uncertain times, we feel very insecure, but Paul reminds us in these verses that our security is ultimately in God, and nothing can surprise Him. He is in control of the world and we know that our future is in His hands.
Bad things happen in life – and to Christians too. Paul is not ignoring reality when he tells us that God works for good in all circumstances. He is pointing to a reality that we may not always see with natural eyes (or in this lifetime), but which is nonetheless true. We only have limited vision now, but by faith we declare that God works for good in all things and therefore can live with confidence and hope.

Living According To God’s Ways

Jan 14, 2024

This morning we started a new series ‘According to…‘, looking at how to live according to God’s ways in order to know His blessings on our lives. ‘According to’ means to live in agreement with; when we are in accord with someone, there is harmony and unity. God wants there to be no division between our attitudes and our actions, between our beliefs and our behaviour. It’s therefore important for us to have understanding ‘according to Your word’ as Ps 119;169 says.

 

God places no premium on ignorance. In the Bible, we find out how to live to please Him (see Eph 5:8-10); His word teaches us what is right and wrong, what pleases God and what hurts Him. Ps 119:97-104 outlines that a right understanding of God’s ways comes as we meditate on the Scriptures and put into practice what we learn there. As Jesus made plain in Matthew 7:24-27, there has to be a seamless unity between believing and do; it’s not enough to hear His words, but we also have to put them into practice if we are to withstand the storms and difficulties of life.

What does this look like in everyday life?
• It looks like forgiveness when we are wronged.
• It looks like showing mercy when we want to snap and retaliate.
• It looks like giving someone something they need rather than holding on to it ourselves, being generous with our time, our possessions and our whole lives.
• It looks like listening to someone and being patient with them, even though they have perhaps told us this story countless times before.
• It looks like respecting someone even when you may not personally agree with them, striving to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. (Eph 4:3)
• It looks like sticking with someone through thick and thin because you know God’s love is never-ending, showing what loyalty and faithfulness look like in the everyday.
• It looks like believing in someone even when they have let you down, giving them a second chance, not giving up on them.
• It looks like being kind.

 

What’s On This Week

Jan 14, 2024

What’s happening this week?
Services on Sundays are at 10.30 a.m. and 6.00 p.m. On Thursday (18 January) at 7.30 p.m., it will be the first Bible study of 2024, when we will continue looking at the life of David.
On Wednesday and Friday mornings (17 & 19 January) we will have our Parent & Toddler group between 9 and 11 a.m. £1 per family, including drinks and toast.
In addition, on Monday 15 January it will be the ‘Churches Together’ ‘Mindful Moments’ session between 6 and 8 p.m. when adults come together for an evening of creativity. Come along to paint, colour, draw and craft as a way of taking time out and enjoying a child-free zone for a couple of hours. Free to attend; drinks and biscuits available.
On Wednesday 17 January we will host the ‘Churches Together’ prayer meeting at 1.45 p.m. at GPCC. Come along to pray for our churches and community.
On Saturday 20 January at different venues we will be taking part in the Dearne Community Arts’ Festival ‘Picture Perfect? The Dearne Community Story Trail’ launch. This is an opportunity to take photos with various photo boards associated with community groups and key locations in the area and to take part in different craft activities. The main event will be at Goldthorpe Library between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. with face-painting, crafts, Lego building and a tombola stall. You can have bacon butties and drinks at the Scout/ Guide hut on Lockwood Road between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. and can visit the beautiful Railway Embankment to make photo frames out of natural things found there between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Photo boards can also be found at Dearne Playhouse (10 a.m. -12 p.m.) and in Thurnscoe at Thurnscoe Library (10 a.m. – 12 p.m.) and Thurnscoe Flower Park and Station House. A great way to get out and about and discover more of the local community!

Everyday Heroes

Jan 8, 2024

Today is the start of the new school year in 2024 in our area, a return to everyday routines after the Christmas break for schoolchildren and their families. Many retail and other workers were back at the grindstone last week, but here we are with ‘normal service’ resumed for most families.
For many, this is a daunting and sobering thought, with more than two full months of winter ahead and no excitement of Christmas to allay the cold and darkness of this season. Depression can easily set in as spring still seems so far away and the sparkle of Christmas with its lights, fun and glitz already a distant memory.
I received a gift at Christmas from my German friend: a key ring crafted into the word ‘Alltagsheldin’. Everyday heroine. I like that.
I’m well aware that we like glamour and sparkle more than the everyday and the mundane. But life is mainly lived in the everyday and the mundane, in the ‘Alltags’ of life, the ‘every day’, the days filled with routine, repetition and monotony. The days when we have to deal with washing. drying amd folding laundry, shopping, cooking and cleaning, doing the school run, organising the household, and all that before we even get on to the topic of work! Life in its ordinary routines can seem overwhelming, a relentless ‘to do’ list that simply repeats the next day until we are worn out. There feels little that is heroic about ironing school uniform yet again or realising the fridge is once more empty and breakfast must be a scratch meal again.
I gaze at my shiny new keyring and smile. My friend thinks I’m an everyday heroine. We all like the excitement and glamour of superhero films with characters flying around to save the world. We fail to see the heroic nature of everyday service: the faithfulness, perseverance and love which form the foundation of most people’s lives.
So today, I salute all the ‘Alltagshelden’ out there – heroes faithfully chivvying children to school, heroes doggedly going to work to provide for their families, heroes serving in shops or tackling yet another basketful of laundry. Don’t forget the Christmas message in the bleak months of winter. Jesus is here with us, God with us, ‘Immanuel’, in our everyday lives. Heroes are born and live and work in the reality of ordinariness, but God with us transforms the mundane into the miraculous. He is there even in our everyday.

New Attitudes for a New Year

Jan 7, 2024

This evening at our ‘Little Big Church’, we looked at ‘new attitudes for the new year.’ Instead of simply making New Year’s resolutions we can’t keep, what is important for Christians is to put off the old self and put on the new (see Eph 4:22-24) and to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. (Rom 12:2) Then our right attitudes can lead to good actions and we can allow the Holy Spirit to grow His fruit in our lives Isee Gal 5:22-23).
The children had fun with our honeycomb, looking at ten wrong attitudes (hatred, jealousy, unforgiveness, impurity, idolatry, selfish ambition, gluttony and drunkenness, quarrelling and unkindness), attitudes which arise from the sin within us all, and at ten right attitudes (love, goodness, forgiveness, holiness or purity, putting God first, thoughtfulness and consideration, self-control, peace and kindness. These attitudes reflect God’s character, but can only grow within us as we believe Him and receive the help He gives by His Holy Spirit. Change is possible (see 2 Cor 5:17), but we need God to change!

The Prayers of Paul

Jan 7, 2024

This morning Garry started a new series on the prayers of Paul. Prayer is a staple part of the Christian life, though sometimes we complicate it and think that it’s impossible (how can we possibly pray continually, as Paul urges us to do in 1 Thess 5:17?!) In Romans 1:8-10, Paul prays that ‘now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you.’

Praying really involves surrendering to God’s will. Paul had tried many times to go to Rome previously, but God had prevented him from doing so (see Rom 1:13). God sometimes does put obstacles in our way (see also Acts 16:6-10), but Paul was confident that He would lead him always. He had his own plans for evangelisation (based on common sense and his calling to be an apostle to the Gentiles, to go where the gospel had not previously been preached, see Rom 15:20), but he was well aware of the need to be led by God.

This is always the Christian’s experience. Even Jesus was led by the Spirit (see Luke 4:1), and all of us are sealed with the Holy Spirit (Eph 1:13) who can lead us into the paths God wants us to take. Rom 8:14 reminds us that those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

God leads us in different ways, sometimes through visions (see Acts 16:9-10), sometimes through discernment (see Acts 14:8-9) and sometimes through the voice of encouragement (see Is 30:19-21). There is nothing magical about being led by God, but there is something supernatural about this. We need sensitivity to hear God’s voice and the ability to surrender to even His prevention. Prayer is a conversation; we need not only to talk to God but also to listen to Him.