At yesterday’s Parent & Toddler group, we had a visit from former members of the church who have moved away from the area:

It’s always good to catch up on news, see how children have grown and to realise that members of God’s family belong to each other even when separated by distance.

Most of us have heard of the children’s TV character Bob the Builder:

Garry spoke last night, however, on God the builder:

As we celebrate 50 years of this church having its own building and have looked at how the church has grown, developed and changed over the years, we are reminded of Hebrews 11:8-10, and the fact that there is a constant need for growth in building. Abraham lived in tents and was always journeying on in faith, looking forward to the city with foundations whose architect and builder was God.

God builds with individuals, for Jesus said He would build His church (Matt 16:18) and He does this with people: His legacy was the disciples He left behind, not a marvellous architectural construction! We are the living stones who are being built into a spiritual house (1 Pet 2:4-5) and we are all broken stones initially. Sin has marred us all in some way, but God does not simply patch us up; He transforms us into reconstructed stones. However. we also have a corporate responsibility for each other. Rom 15:1-7 reminds us of the need to bear with each other, to accept each other and to endure with each other. We are urged to be eager for spiritual gifts which will build up the church (1 Cor 14:12) and 1 Cor 12:7-11 reminds us that these gifts are for the common good of the church collective, not for personal glorification.

Eph 4:16 (a key verse in our studies this year) reminds us that the whole body grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work. All are needed and vital, placed in this church by God to serve His purposes in our generation. God’s desire is for growth and for fruitfulness; there is always more to possess. God uses other people to promote growth, for people are God’s building. (1 Cor 3:9) God has done much with our church already and is still at work with us. As long as Jesus remains the cornerstone (Matt 21:42), we can be sure that the building which is grown by Him will be sound, for in Him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple to the Lord. (Eph 2:21) Just as we have seen how God has worked in and through the church over the past fifty years, we can be sure that He will be faithful to help us to continue to grow, with God the Builder at the centre.

We also had two birthdays to celebrate:

Frank from Ward Green Baptist Church, visiting us for the birthday celebrations, got his own birthday celebration!

At last night’s evening celebration, we had a quiz about the names of God which we had to guess from pictures.

The answers?

1. Yahweh (Genesis 2:4)
2. Bread of Life (John 6:35)
3. King of Kings (1 Timothy 6:15)
4. El Shaddai     (God Almighty) (Genesis 17:1)
5. Immanuel (God with us) (Matthew 1:23)
6. Spring of Living Water (Jeremiah 2:13)
7. God our Provider  (Genesis 22:13-14)
8. The Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25)
9. Alpha & Omega (Revelation 22:13)
10. Healer (Exodus 15:16)
11. Everlasting/ Eternal Father (Isaiah 9:6)
12. Son of Man (Matt 8:20)
13. Root of David (Rev 22:16)
14. Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6)
15. Holy One (Acts 2:27)

The photo competition winner was drawn during the evening celebration, but Mick was not present at that meeting. He comes regularly to the coffee mornings and kindly gave us two photos for the display, so he was keen to take part in the competition. All throughout the day, he kept telling us that he would be the winner, but since the winner would be drawn at random from all who had got all the answers right, we did not really believe him! This morning, he was so confident that he would win that he came in to church to collect his prize!

Dave spoke from Proverbs 11:30 this morning: ‘The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life and those who win souls is wise.’ Those who are saved are made righteous through the sacrifice of Christ; we are not righteous in ourselves, but are given His perfect, spotless righteousness in an exchange that is amazing for us to receive! The potential in each one of us is then great, though, to participate in sharing this news with others.

Gardening involves vision: not only seeing the garden as it currently is but as it can become through care and nurture. Similarly, God sees us not simply as we are but sees also what we can become. The righteous are expected to bear fruit, but this is only possible as we abide in Christ. (John 15:4) Righteousness is the working of God’s nature in us; it is not something we put on or take off like clothes. True righteousness is outworked in us by God’s Spirit and will be seen in every situation: in the home, at work, in the supermarket and so on. God’s righteousness shines through us so that we are aglow with God’s fire, like the burning bush Moses encountered.

This fruit is described as a tree of life, because we can become the means to life for others. We can impart life to those who are dying spiritually around us. The world stinks of death and destruction, the legacy of the devil’s works, but we can bring the clean, fresh air of God to people. We don’t have to have any special qualifications or personality type to win souls; we simply offer to the thirsty the water of life we ourselves have received.

The enemy tells us we cannot do this job, listing a whole host of reasons which disqualify us from sharing our faith. These are all lies. Whilst some may have the special gift for evangelism, all can testify to what God has done. We obtain wisdom to do this by asking God, and by His Spirit He guides us and leads us to those in whom He is already working. We were all doomed to destruction at one point, but people prayed for us and witnessed to us. Our responsibility now is to go and do likewise!

That doesn’t mean being insensitive and ‘blasting’ people with the gospel. It does mean committing ourselves to prayer and to being willing to be used by God. Dave challenged us to pray every day for a year for one particular person to be saved, asking God to lead us and direct us in this. We are wise, after all, when we rely on the Holy Spirit to help us and understand that He is the One who will call, convict and bring people to salvation. We are simply messengers.