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.

In case anyone has been wondering, Igor (the official church mascot) was pleased to be at church yesterday:

Thanks to the church for the beautiful flowers:

We had some lovely family shots throughout the evening:

And then we just had lots of other great photos to enjoy!

One of the things our church does exceptionally well is provide food for buffets! Our thanks to all who provided so generously for the refreshments afterwards.

Thanks to Ruth for making flower arrangements for the community hall:

Thanks to all who helped on car park duty, as greeters, as tea and coffee makers and as stalwart washer-uppers! Your willingness to help with all the practical details was much appreciated. Thanks to Mark, Debbie, Lorraine, Karen, Jade, Alan, Janet and Gillian in particular for their unstinting help.

Thanks to Mark Wapples for standing in as bassist again (Stephen is highly frustrated that he can’t play bass and piano at the same time, so thanks, Mark, for helping out!)

Thanks to Stephen for all his help with the music for the evening, and most especially for standing in for me, but even more for his encouragement and support over many, many months last year during the waiting and the difficult times. I am privileged to have you as a son and cannot thank God enough for you.

Thanks to the rest of the music team at Goldthorpe, who make worshipping God so much easier not only because of their skill but because of their servant hearts and love for God. Thanks also to Gemma who sang at the end of the service when I virtually had no voice left to sing!

Thanks to Dave for his unstinting attention to detail and his willingness to go the extra mile in making this service so special. Many people at the service found it strange to think that two former pastors (in Dave and Mark) are still on the leadership team at church and that there is no sense of awkwardness in working alongside each other. We can only say that God has blessed us enormously in this respect in giving us good relationships, much accumulated wisdom and deep friendships. We believe this comes from God’s grace and people’s humility. Dave and Joan have been a great support and blessing to Garry and myself over the years and we are grateful for their support in ways that make the words ‘thank you’ seem utterly inadequate!

Thanks to Stephen for his willingness to ‘do the boring bits’, as he put it in introducing the meeting and for Karen for making presentations:

Thanks to Stacey for her stalwart work as photographer and videographer. She would like to be a wedding photographer one day, and I have to say, last night felt rather like the photography sessions at a wedding as one by one, people were lined up against ‘the white wall’ (for a good background) and photographed! Since she has to contend with one who apparently blinks or talks every time a photo is taken, her patience and skill are to be commended! At one point during the week we had no tripods for the recording and ended up with four, so thanks also to all who generously loaned theirs for our use!

Thanks to Mark and Diane for their support, encouragement, commitment and faithfulness to God. It’s difficult to find the words to express just how much they contribute to the life of the church, but I’m sure we are all committed to continuing to pray for them to know God’s leading and anointing in everything they do.

Thanks also to everyone at Goldthorpe Pentecostal Community Church who make it possible to ‘enjoy the call of God’, as Dave put it, through their faith, love, encouragement and support. I have never known a group of people so committed to God and to each other and count it a privilege to serve alongside you. Thanks to all who took time out of their busy schedules to support the church last night, especially those from the Salvation Army in Goldthorpe, Wombwell Pentecostal Church, Grimethorpe Pentecostal Church and Hope House Church, Barnsley. We are part not only of a local church but a global church and we are grateful that God gives us each a part to play in His wonderful salvation story.

The biggest thanks have to be saved for our amazing God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.