At last night’s prayer meeting, we focussed on Acts 12:1-5 TNIV and in particular looked at the phrase ‘and the church was earnestly praying to God for him.’ It was a time of persecution for the church; James, the brother of John, had been killed by Herod and Herod was all set to do the same to Peter. The church prayed not in any half-hearted way, but earnestly – the word here (ektenes) is translated ‘without ceasing’ in some versions and is the root of our English word ‘extended’ or ‘extensive’, showing us that the church was fully stretched in praying. This was no light-hearted hobby, but a call placed upon them by God to which they responded with unstinting prayer.

Motorcycle champion Guy Martin has recently featured in a series of programmes called ‘Speed’ on Channel 4, looking at what is required to break several speed records. Olympic cyclist Laura Trott spoke of her gruelling training regime on this, how she pushes herself to the limit every day in training, to the point where she can do nothing after training except rest because she has pushed her body hard. We need to pray with the same fervour and dedication!

I have been musing on the variety of comments written in the visitors’ book at church from last weekend and also in cards sent to us. Many people have commented on the ‘great atmosphere’ and ‘friendly church’, quoting Psalm 133:1 TNIV which is always a blessing because as a church we are well aware of the need for unity and are blessed by the good relationships we share.

Ps 92:12-15 TNIV was also quoted: ‘The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, “The Lord is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”’ (with a disclaimer that this was not meant to imply anyone at church is getting old!) We certainly want to flourish and grow and bear fruit, so this was a very encouraging word to receive.

In a card, however, the word given to us as a church was ‘Synergy’, defined as‘the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.’ The full definition is ‘the interaction or cooperation of two or more organisations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.’ This is very much a word I identify with, for over the past few months, I have felt that God’s word to the church is that it will ‘punch above its weight.’ I have no idea how this will happen or what God will do to achieve this, but it is worth meditating on. The card goes on to say ‘You obviously have that relationally but also spiritually and its impact is potentially great. One shall chase a thousand but two will chase ten thousand – not just addition, but multiplication.’ (a reference to Deut 32:30 TNIV, with similar views expressed in Lev 26:28 TNIV and in a blog post dating from June 2010.)

We look forward to seeing how God will fulfil these words to us!

Some of you may be noticing a whole raft of changes around here at the moment. First of all, the new notice board at church… then new leaders appointed… now a new website and new look blog to deal with. You may well be feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all. (I certainly am!)

Dave was at pains to remind us on Saturday that the changes we are experiencing do not actually mean we are ‘under new management‘, since God remains in control of His church in Goldthorpe and God never changes. (Mal 3:6 TNIV) In that respect, the French proverb ‘Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose’ is perhaps applicable here! (‘The more things change, the more they stay the same…‘) Nonetheless, change is all around us and we can either embrace it and allow it to shape growth within us or we can resist it and draw back. My prayer is that we learn to do the former, for, as Eugene Peterson says, ‘change can be a catalyst for growth. It can stimulate developing, deepening, lengthening, enlarging – our lives becoming more, not less.’ (‘Leap Over A Wall’, P 135)

The context for that quote is David becoming king over Israel many years after he was initially anointed by Samuel. At the age of thirty, he is finally anointed king and he makes Jerusalem the capital city, thereafter forever known as the ‘City of David.’ In the Message version, 2 Sam 5:10 reads ‘David proceeded with a longer stride, a larger embrace since the God-of-the-Angel-Armies was with him.’

The change reflects all God had done in David’s life. He had not become embittered by the long hostility of Saul, nor had he become paranoid about the Philistines or terrified for his own safety during all those years in exile and on the run. ‘All the conflict and hostility, all those blessings and wonders, all that hate and love metabolised into a holy life, a life robust in God and prayer and obedience. He lengthened his stride; he enlarged his embrace.’ (ibid.)

We hope you like the new look of the church website and are grateful to Gary Burgin and Mark Wood for their hard work in updating both the style and the content of this. We are now working more with WordPress, for those of you who may be interested in such things and we hope to keep this much more up-to-date in future. It’s still a work in progress, with new content being added on a daily basis, and please let us know what you like about it and what you find difficult (font colours, styles etc.) We are hoping to have audio sermons on the website in the near future so you can listen to sermons as well as reading summaries here on the blog. But these things, whilst vital and useful to any church in the 21st century, can only be catalysts for growth. We are praying that every change facilitates growth and acts as a spur to growth, for we know that God’s word to us at the start of 2014 is ‘Grow up!’ We want to be ‘transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.’ (2 Cor 3:18 TNIV) so that we reflect the beauty of the Lord and can be used to draw many more people into His family.

Garry preached at the family service, talking about new and old. Sometimes it’s really good to get new things (think of Christmas presents, new technology and the smell of a new car) and most people enjoy getting new gadgets, but some people hate change and find it difficult to adapt to new things. The marketing industry constantly promotes new things, but it is interesting to note that people’s reactions to the same events can be very different: in Ezra 3:10-13 TNIV we see how the people’s reaction to the rebuilding of the foundations of the temple differed greatly (some shouted for joy, whilst others wept.) Nonetheless, sometimes just because something is new or has changed does not make it automatically superior: the Israelites in Egypt found it hard when the new king no longer remembered Joseph (Ex 1:1-8 TNIV) because their new circumstances were much worse than their old ones! Sometimes, however, these adverse circumstances are necessary before we can experience His good plans.

As we look at our society, we see many changes. The overall standard of living has risen and what were once considered luxuries are now commonplace (cars, holidays abroad etc.), with many deadly illnesses such as scarlet fever or diptheria now less serious. In other areas, such as morality or crime, we may feel things are decaying and getting worse. What matters, however, is that we understand that God is always doing new things and wants to give us all a fresh start. This happens when we become Christians (2 Cor 5:17 TNIV) and God gives us a new heart (Ezek 36:26 TNIV), but we need to see this as the start of the new work God begins in us. Eph 4:11-15 TNIV reminds us of God’s goal for our lives, namely to grow into the full measure of the fulness of Chirst.

Change will mean leaving some things behind, for we outgrow some things and challenges continue to abound. We need to be ready for the new things that God wants to do. Each time we overcome one challenge, God has another challenge for us which is slightly harder! Garry used the analogy of a toddler who finds our birthday box quite hard to climb over initially, but who will master this as he grows. (Ironically, Garry then tripped over the box at the end of the sermon, somewhat ruining his point that we progress to greater challenges!) God has new challenges for us all, some of which may well launch us into the unknown and be frightening. Nonetheless, the only unchanging thing in life is God Himself; He is always doing a new thing. We need to be prepared to exchange the comfort of the old for the challenge of the new and enter the New Year confident in the new things that God has planned for us.

Tonight was the first family service of 2014, looking at the theme of old and new. Tony organised a Bible quiz on (fairly obscure) facts from the Old and New Testament!

With willing helpers to decide whose hand went up first, we tackled twenty questions:

To give a flavour of the questions:
1. How old was Abraham when his first son was born?
2. What unusual judgment did Elisha bring down on the youths who insulted him?
3. Whose name means ‘child of the right hand’?
4. Who died after falling from a chair?

Answers:
1. 86
2. Bears came and mauled the 42 youths who had called him bald
3. Benjamin
4. Eli

Much to his utter delight, Garry won the quiz on a tie-breaker (perhaps a necessary victory since he is now the pastor!):

We also had a birthday to celebrate:

Dave spoke this morning from John 1:43-51 TNIV about how Jesus called Philip and Nathanael to follow Him. The call of God has been much on our minds recently with the changes in church leadership, but the call of God actually comes to every believer. Sometimes, however, we fail to hear God, perhaps because we are unaware of how He speaks or because we tend to ignore His voice. Samuel is a good example of one who had to learn to recognise God’s voice. He was a special gift of God to the barren Hannah who was brought up in the very presence of God and yet when God first spoke to him, he thought it was the priest, Eli, calling. It took Eli’s insight to recognise that this was God’s voice and Samuel needed to hear God for himself, as we all do.

Often we are confused about whether God is speaking or not, perhaps believing it is ‘just us’ or a dream caused by eating too much cheese at night! God often seems to speak subtly and quietly and it takes practice in listening to hear His voice. Sometimes our preconceptions and prejudices prevent us from recognising God’s voice (Nathanael clearly didn’t expect anything good to come from Nazareth!) But as we listen to God – through reading His word, through the meetings at church, through prayer which allows time for God to speak, through other Christians – we will learn to hear His call, for He has a personal plan for each one of us and is seeking us out and calling us by name. As we practise listening to God, so we will hear His voice more clearly and then the challenge is for us to respond to that call. When we hear God, we have the promise that we will see heaven open: revelation comes and the invisible world is revealed to us. We are called to respond, however, for a failure to respond will lead to us missing out on so much that God has planned for us.