There are a couple of special events coming up in this next week. The first is on Thursday 27th March, when there is a ‘Come and Meet Your Community’ event from 12 noon until 3 p.m. at the Salvation Army on Straight Lane.  There has been a good response from local service providers and various community groups within the Dearne Neighbourhood Network for this event, so this should be a good opportunity to pick up information about what support there is available to community groups from the local council and also to find out more about local groups working within our area. Come along if you have any time spare on that day; we will be representing the church at the event and looking to tell others about the community work we do in Goldthorpe.

Then on Saturday 29th March at 6 p.m. we are hosting the ‘Churches Together’ meeting. This is a time for fellowship, fun, worship and prayer, so do come along to that event if you are able.

I have spent the past couple of days in Beverley, largely admiring the beautiful church buildings there and in Howden. Both Beverley and Howden have minsters as their parish churches, a minster being a church that was built originally in connection with a monastery.

Beverley Minster

Howden Minster

We also visited St Mary’s Church in Beverley:

This church is famous, among other things, for inspiring Lewis Carroll through this rabbit statue (which became the ‘White Rabbit’ in his ‘Alice in Wonderland’ novel):

What I found so interesting about these inspiring buildings, however, is not just the history or the amazing stories that are attached to them (St John of Beverley, for example, clearly had a healing ministry which is told through some marvellous embroidery by modern art students), but how worship has been going on in these places for hundreds of years. The continuity of the gospel is steadfast and reassuring to me. These buildings remind me not only of God’s splendour and magnificence but how Christians throughout the ages have chosen to worship God, no matter what is going on all around them, and how He remains constant and unchanging. We too can choose to worship like that.

‘When days are gold and life is good,
When the plans we make go as they should,
Or when the sky turns dark and heartache falls,
And a lonely painful season calls.

We will worship with all of our hearts,
We will worship all that You are,
Through the best, through the worst,
Jesus we choose, we will worship You.

The only constant here is change,
But You forever stay the same,
No matter what this life holds in store,
The truth remains, You are Lord.

You are high and lifted up, good in all Your ways,
Glorious and worthy of all praise,
You are high and lifted up, to You our voices raise,
You’re worthy of our praise.’ (‘We Will Worship’, Kutless)

March is clearly a good month for birthdays! We had three to celebrate on Sunday.

Garry continued his series on ‘Looking For Heroes’ last night, studying Matt 5:10 which talks about being blessed when we face persecution. Once more, we saw again how Jesus’s teaching turns the world’s thinking upside down, for usually we shy away from persecution and can see no positive benefits in this.

The fact that persecution will be part of our Christian walk is inescapable (Matt 24:9, Luke 11:49, John 5:16, John 15:20, John 16:1-2, 1 Thess 3:4). It is not a question of ‘if we are persecuted’, but ‘when.’ This persecution is not because of our obnoxiousness or personality flaws, however; there is no merit in being punished for doing wrong! 1 Pet 2:18-23 makes it clear, though, that we need to submit not only to good masters but to those who behave wrongly so that we demonstrate to the world that God is our master and that we are dancing to a different tune.

Why are Christians persecuted?

In our Bible studies on 1 John 2:15-17, we looked at the fact that there are only two systems in place: the world’s or God’s and these are diametrically opposed to each other. Because we are part of the kingdom of light and are seeking to live in the light, there will be a clash with the kingdom of darkness. (John 3:19-21) We need to be sure of what we believe (Michael Card called this ‘bullet theology’, as in ‘What will you take a bullet for?‘) Not all beliefs are core and fundamental, but we need to be prepared to lay down our lives for Christ and for our brothers and sisters in Christ, even as Christ laid down His life for us. This world is developing many anti-Christian laws and we need to guard against the slow slide away from God’s truth.

What are the promises of persecution?

In many countries (such as North Korea, China and the Arab countries) there has been great persecution of Christians over the years and we need to understand the cost of following Christ, which can lead to martyrdom. Our faith needs to have strong roots so that it does not wither when persecution comes. (Matt 13:21) It needs to be an integral part of our lives, not an added clip-on extra that can be detached when the going gets tough.

Nonetheless, Jesus’s teaching is that those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake are blessed. We need to realise that the opposition, although filtered through people, is actually from a spiritual source, as Ephesians 6:12). God has given us many promises in our persecution: that nothing can separate us from His love (Rom 8:35), that we may be persecuted but will never be abandoned by God (2 Cor 4:9) and that there are rewards ahead. (Mark 10:28-30)

What is the point of persecution?

Christians in countries which have suffered much persecution have often grown stronger in faith and offer these insights into the benefits of persecution. They say that persecution ignites revival and helps the church to be strengthened and to grow. The church is purified through persecution and fruitfulness grows in what seem to us to be very unlikely conditions. When missionaries were forced to leave China, they feared for the spiritual health of the church there, but on their return many years later, they found that the church had grown numerically and believers were stronger in faith because they had learned to rely on God rather than on missionaries. Many Christians in these countries say that the church in the west is persecuted for our prosperity for this makes us weak. We need to understand that God is over all and uses all things to strengthen and to purify. We should not fear persecution but realise our God is so much greater than any opposition!

This morning’s sermon looked at Ezekiel 47:1-12, the famous passage where Ezekiel sees – and experiences – the river of God. As we pray this month for the Holy Spirit to work in and through us, we saw how the river symbolised the different stages of progression in the Christian life and how God wants us to go ever further and deeper into the heart of God.

Water is a frequent symbol in the Bible. Jesus is the One who gives us living water (John 4:10) and said ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’ (John 7:37-38) Water is essential to growth, and we need both the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-24) and the gifts of the Spirit (1 Cor 12:7-11) in our lives for us to grow in a balanced way.

Ezekiel, like many prophets, saw visions (Ezek 1:1, Is 6:1, Amos 1:1, Rev 1:13-16). A vision of God is necessary for us all.  As we gaze on God, as we set our hearts and minds on Christ above (Col 3:1-2), as we fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith (Heb 12:2), as we see God as all-powerful, as all loving, as all-wise, we will inevitably be changed. We cannot remain in God’s presence and gaze on His beauty, holiness and splendour and remain the same.

Ezekiel sees water flowing from the temple and the vision then goes on to show him ever-deepening water. First of all it is ankle-deep (Ezek 47:3), then it is knee-deep (Ezek 47:4), then it is ‘up to the waist’ (Ezek 47:4) and then it is ‘so deep that I could not cross… deep enough to swim in.’ (Ezek 47:5) The challenge comes for us to progress to water that is too deep for us to wade through so that swimming becomes a requirement. Swimming involves surrender: we have to learn to trust the water and work with it, rather than fighting against it. In the same way, we have to learn to surrender to God, but that brings with it feelings of helplessness and loss of control which go against our natural tendencies. Unless we learn to die to self, however, we will never learn how to grow in God: ‘I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.’ (Gal 2:20)

Ezek 47:6-12 shows us the fruitfulness that comes from the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. In the natural world, this meant trees, fruit, leaves of healing: ‘Where the river flows everything will live.’ (Ezek 47:9), looking ahead to that perfect world being prepared by God. (Rev 22:1-2) Without the living water God brings to our lives, there is only barrenness and desert (see Ps 63:1-2), but as we are filled with His Spirit, we will overflow with the life God brings and others will be blessed. (‘Overflow’, Chris Tomlin)

We recently received news from the Davies family in Mozambique. Steve & Katuska went out to Maputo Bay to work in the OMS seminary there and have now been asked to lead the seminary. Prayer is needed as they adjust to this new role (which includes switching to semesters and organising a full review of the curriculum taught there and working with the various churches which use the seminary) and especially for Katuska as she juggles acting as treasurer with teaching and with looking after their three children.

More practical news includes updates about their home: ‘as for life here on the compound, we finished our house extension after weeks of rubble and dust. This was closely followed by a tree-felling spree, as it was decided to get rid of several eucalyptus trees that were stopping anything else from growing… We probably don’t need to tell you about the temperatures; it’s just hot, day and night, indoors and out…’

Recent health scares included Joseph’s ‘Christmas Eve and New Year specials, with suspected appendicitis and then a bout of malaria’ and Samuel’s sprained foot. But overall, the family is well and convinced that ‘I can do all this through Him who gives me strength.’ (Phil 4:13)