This week a number of ‘minor’ but essential jobs have been carried out at church, involving carpentry skills from Russell.

First of all, the new boilers we have had installed necessitated new piping and this has now been boxed in to protect the piping and make a neater finish:

Similar boxing-in work has been done in the ladies’ toilets:

Finally, to aid with the flow of hot water, the tank has been moved and boxed in:

Our thanks go to Russell for his hard work and to Dave for his organisational skills and willingness to help in so many ways when maintenance work has to be carried out in the building.

In our final Bible study on 1 John 17-29, we looked at two key factors for the confidence John expresses for his ‘dear children.’ Despite false teachers arising from within the church and the solemn warnings about the final hour and antichrists already being present in the world, he does not write with any sense of despair or fear because he knows ‘you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.’ (1 John 2:20) This anointing from the Holy Spirit – reminiscent of the priestly anointing by oil described in Leviticus 21 – was on Jesus (see Luke 4:18) and is also the Christian’s legacy, for ‘it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.’ (2 Cor 1:21-22)

Because of this, we have God within us to teach and guide us (see Ps 119:99, Jer 31:33-34), though we have to balance 1 John 2:27 with other Scriptures which remind us that God gives human teachers (see Ezra 7:6, Eph 4:11-12, 2 Tim 1:11) as well as being our personal teacher! (Job 36:22, John 3:2)

The key for our ongoing spiritual health is to abide (or remain or continue. all translations of the Greek meno) in Christ. (see John 15:4-10) This word is used 121 times in the New Testament and 24 times in John’s epistles alone! What we have heard from the beginning must remain in us (1 John 2:24) and if we continue in God, then we will be confident and unashamed at Christ’s coming. (1 John 2:28) Abiding in Christ implies an intimate relationship, a personal relationship which is far more than outward obedience or rule-keeping. If we remain in Christ, all His righteousness and right standing with the Father become ours, therefore we have nothing to fear and can approach Him freely, without fear or shame. The devil has no further claim on us, for we have died to sin and are alive in Christ! (Rom 6:1-14) No wonder John is confident that his readers will remain in Christ under the anointing which is real, not counterfeit (unlike the antichrists!)

At the Bible study on Thursday we looked at 1 John 2:28: ‘And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.’

The Greek word translated here as ‘confident‘ is ‘parrhēsia’ and can also be translated as ‘boldness’ or ‘plainly’ or ‘publicly.’ A study of various verses (Mark 8:32/ John 7:13/ John 11:14/ Acts 4:29/ Eph 3:12/ Col 2:15) show us a range of translations, with Hebrews 4:16 possibly being one of the closest links to this statement found elsewhere in the Bible. It is used elsewhere in 1 John in 1 John 3:21 and 1 John 4: 17.  As we continue or remain in Christ, we can approach God with confidence because we know our lives are hid in Christ with God and therefore He does not see us in sin but sees us covered with the spotless righteousness of Christ.

Being unashamed (Greek aischunomai) is the opposite of the pure state in which God created man when ‘Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.’ (Gen 3:25) Sin brought with it shame and fear (Gen 3:10) and the equivalent Hebrew word often has connotations to do with becoming pale or with blushing (the Message version of 1 John 2:28 talks about ‘red-faced guilt.’) Ps 34:5 reminds us that those who look to God are radiant and never put to shame (see also Rom 10:11, 1 Pet 2:6). Far from being fearful and apprehensive about false teachers or our own fallibility, John gives us here two words which radiate hope. Songwriters have long captured these two words for us and we can draw close to God with boldness and confidence and shame or fear because of all He has done for us. Sing it out, for ‘what could be better than a grace that washes all our shame away?’ (‘Sing And Shout’, Matt Redman) What can be better than the truth that at the cross ‘There’s a place where sin and shame are powerless’? (At The Cross (Love Ran Red), Chris Tomlin)

‘Boldly I Approach (The Art of Celebration)’, Rend Collective

‘Boldly I approach Your throne,

Blameless now, I’m running home.

This is the art of celebration

Knowing we’re free from condemnation.’

‘And Can It Be?’, Charles Wesley

‘Bold I approach th’eternal throne/ And claim the crown through Christ alone.’

‘Holding Nothing Back’, Tim Hughes

‘You washed my sin and shame away
The slate is clean: a brand new day,
Free now forever
Now boldly I approach your throne
To claim this crown through Christ my own
Yours now forever.’

Thirst, Phil Wickham

‘One thing I ask and I would seek
To see You there in front of me
With nothing standing in the way
Just me before You unashamed.’

Asking someone their name is probably the first thing we do on meeting a person. We use names to identify and separate from others. It’s always a magical moment when a child learns to speak a name for the first time, signifying a growing understanding and the beginning of two-way relationships.

Dr Kate Granger, a 31 year old doctor suffering from terminal stomach cancer, became aware through her own illness of what it was like to be a patient, rather than a doctor. She started a campaign called ‘Hello, my name is…’ whereby she urged doctors to introduce themselves properly to patients, because she believed a confident introduction is the first step to providing compassionate care and is often all it takes to put patients at ease and make them feel relaxed at potentially distressing and difficult times. We cope much better with individual people and not nameless, faceless bureaucracy.

In the Bible, names are extremely significant. Abram became Abraham; Sarai became Sarah; Jacob became Israel. It is vital that we know who we are in God and are secure in the identity He gives us. Matthew West’s song ‘Hello, my name is…‘ reminds us of the names we may well be more familiar with: regret, lies, deceit, worthless. Now, however, we have been given a new identity in God and our name has been changed.

‘I am no longer defined
By all the wreckage behind:
The one who makes all things new
Has proven it’s true.
Just take a look at my life.

Hello, my name is child of the one true King.
I’ve been saved, I’ve been changed, I have been set free.
“Amazing Grace” is the song I sing.
Hello, my name is child of the one true King.’ (‘Hello, My Name is…’, Matthew West)

Rev 2:17 has the amazing promise ‘To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.‘ God knows us personally and has a new name for each one of us. In the meantime, let’s only allow the names He gives us to be our names. No other identity must define us; instead, we must learn to pray ‘Let me see myself through who You are’ (‘Restore Me’, Kutless)

Stephen continued looking at how we can become more like Christ tonight, focussing on dealing with anxiety. Anxiety – that nagging feeling of uncertainty which is not the same as a specific fear – is like a crippling burden on many people, robbing them of peace and rest. Phil 4:4-7 offers us a pathway away from anxiety, reminding us that we need to rejoice in God and bring our requests to Him. Matt 11:28-30 also shows us how to deal with anxiety, telling us that God offers us rest if we lay down our burdens and accept Christ’s yoke.

The command God gives us is not to be anxious about anything, which may seem a tall order to most of us. We may feel that anxiety is simply part of our personalities or that it is an inevitable part of life. However, though Jesus clearly experienced great sorrow in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matt 26:38-39), He showed us how to deal with anxiety by talking to God about His feelings and praying ‘yet not my will, but Yours be done.’

Prayer and rejoicing are the best ways we deal with anxiety. Jesus gave examples from the world of farming, telling us that His yoke is light and easy. A normal yoke weighed about 70 pounds and was placed on the shoulders of oxen to help them with ploughing. Many of us carry that kind of anxiety around on a daily basis. Imagine having 35 bags of sugar weighing on your shoulders and you can picture the pressure that anxiety brings into people’s lives. We are asked to sow seeds and reap harvests, which we can do only in Christ’s power. As we rejoice, take our troubles to God in prayer and exchange our burdens for Christ’s yoke, He promises us peace which transcends all understanding and rest for our weary souls.

We also had a birthday to celebrate:

As well as looking to develop the actual building in which we meet (an ongoing work which will include roof insulation of the worship room, scheduled to take place at the end of May), we are also well aware that the work the church does is spiritual and involves prayer, worship and witness. At the service tonight, Garry outlined his vision for ongoing prayer for the ministries run by the church: the coffee morning on Saturdays, the Parent ‘n’ Toddler group, the youth work, Sunday School,  the food distribution work,  the badminton outreach, worship and the ministry of the Word.

Prayer coordinators for each of these outreaches and ministries will liaise with those working in these areas and feed back to the church on a regular basis to help inform our prayer for each ministry. These prayer coordinators are:

• Dave Wood – Coffee Morning
• Diane Burgin – Parent ‘n’ Toddler Group
• Mark Burgin – Youth work
• Stacey Chapman – Sunday School
• Mark & Debbie McKeown – Food Distribution work
• Tony & Gillian Burgin – Badminton outreach
• Garry Turner – worship
• Julie Turner  – ministry of the Word

It is easy for activities to continue in isolation, but each of these ministries is part of an integrated whole; every ministry in which church members are involved is vital and important to the overall health of the church. Jesus reminded His disciples ‘remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.’ (John 15:4-5) Not only do we need to remain in Christ in order to be fruitful, we need to know what is happening in these ministries if we are to pray intelligently and with understanding. Every activity and ministry needs to be fuelled by prayer; human effort is not enough to guarantee spiritual fruit. Let’s get behind each one of the ministries of the church through prayer and pray that God will inspire, lead, direct and bring fruit from everything that is done!