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)

Tonight’s Bible study looked at 1 John 2:15-17, verses which talk about not loving the world. Clearly, here we are not talking about the world simply as God’s creation or as the people whom God loves (John 3:16), but as the world under the evil one’s control. All of us have followed the ways of the world before we knew Christ (Eph 2:1-3) and there is stark contrast between the Light that Jesus brings into the world and the general reaction of the world to that light. (see John 1:6-10; John 3:19, Eph 2:11-13)

When Jesus died on the cross, judgment was spoken on the devil (see John 12:31). His authority and rule in the world, causing mankind to follow patterns or routines which are not of God, has been destroyed by Jesus; we now no longer have to live under the devil’s authority and influence. The world lives in a way that is anti-Christ (see 1 John 4:1-3), but those in whom God’s Spirit lives have overcome all that is against God. (1 John 4:4) The whole world is under the control (or sway) of the evil one (1 John 5:19), but we are children of God in whom God’s word dwells and so we can live according to a different pattern, being transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom 12:2) so that we no longer love the world (with ‘the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life‘) but have love for God as our priority and overarching motivator. This is not to say that Christians should never have nice possessions, but we recognise that life does not consist in the abundance of our possessions (Luke 12:15) and keep ourselves from anything which comes before God. To do otherwise is to allow idols into our lives, which John warns against in 1 John 5:21, the Amplified version reminding us that an idol is ‘anything and everything that would occupy the place in your heart due to God, from any sort of substitute for Him that would take first place in your life.’ The challenge before us is to seek God above everything else and allow love for Him to squeeze out love for anything else that would distract us from the pure worship He deserves.

Hope House School in Barnsley (situated on Blucher Street, near the Post Office) is hosting a fund-raising event on Tuesday 1st April from 7 p.m. until 9.30 p.m. to raise funds towards the refurbishment of an outdoor play area. This is a ‘Pamper Evening,’ so if anyone likes the idea of a little luxury time, having their nails painted or a hand, feet or back massage by professionals or wants to buy beauty products from the Body Shop or homemade jewellery or candles from Party Lite, this is the event to go to!

Tickets are available from Julie at a cost of £3 (which includes refreshments), with items then being individually priced. Nail painting, hand & feet massages will all cost £3.50 and a back massage will cost £7.50. There is opportunity to purchase items beforehand, even if you cannot attend the event itself. Only the massages need to be pre-booked.

So if you want to relax and treat yourself or other people, this is an event to consider!

The Women’s World Day of Prayer was held last Friday, the local service being at Furlong Road Methodist Church in Bolton-on-Dearne. The meeting was attended by a good number of people from a variety of local churches.

The service was written by Christian women from Egypt, with the theme ‘Streams in the Desert.’ One portion looked at the exchange between Jesus and the woman at the well (John 4):

Ladies representing different people in Egypt (a student, a Muslim, an Orthodox Christian and so on) spoke about the situation in Egypt and about God’s promises to that nation:

Our thanks to all who took part and attended and to the Methodist Church for hosting the event and the lovely refreshments after the service. An offering of £120 was given to Women’s World Day of Prayer, which is then distributed to a variety of Christian organisations and charities.

This evening, Stephen spoke from Matthew 6:9-15. The Lord’s prayer is a template for us to follow in how to pray (communicating with God verbally and spiritually), but this also forms a pattern for living. It starts by setting the King in glory in our lives (‘our Father in heaven, hallowed by Your name’), for knowing the difference our heavenly Father makes and accepting the difference that this makes is crucial to our wellbeing.

Often, we have recited the Lord’s prayer collectively, but this prayer is important in answering key questions in life to do with our purpose and identity.  As we pray ‘Your kingdom, Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven’, we come to understand that our purpose is to honour God and advance His kingdom through who we are and in everything that we do through our cooperation with God’s Spirit who is at work in each and every one of us. We grow to the point where what we want is aligned with what God wants so that we think, speak, act and relate to people in a Christ-like way. We are inwardly connected to Jesus (see John 15:1-8) and can then live our lives pursuing the interests of God’s kingdom.

Often, we want to know our specific, individual purpose with certainty, wanting to know our unique purpose in life . Sometimes, perhaps, our search for the specific is misguided and our need for certainty may reflect our addiction to control. God wants to teach us to trust Him, rather like when we learn to abseil and have to lean back and lean out and ultimately let go! Focussing on God will centre us squarely in God’s plan for our lives.

We also had two birthdays to celebrate: