Just recently, a pupil asked me to give him some examples of French phrases which are used in everyday English, phrases that have crossed the language boundaries, so to speak, and become an accepted part of another language. English is full of these words and phrases: café, for example (the French word means coffee and by association came to mean also the place in which the beverage is drunk), not to mention words from other languages such as sombrero from Spanish, banana from African origin and my personal favourite Schadenfreude, ‘pleasure at another’s misfortune’, even if the meaning is obviously not as pleasant as the sound of the word!

I suggested to the pupil that in order to answer him, we would have to have a tête-à-tête after the lesson (literally head-to-head, this phrase has come to mean a private conversation between two people.) But the phrase which his conversation and recent events triggered in me is actually fait accompli.

Literally, this phrase means an accomplished fact. It’s defined in the English dictionary as ‘something already done and beyond alteration.’ A done deal. Fixed in stone, as it were. Something that has already happened, even if we might not always realise it.

“May it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38) reminds me vividly of this phrase. In a recent sermon Agreeing with God, I talked about how God speaks to us of His sovereign plans and we agree with Him, speaking the ‘Amen’ to His ‘Yes’ and thereby seeing the promise by faith before we can actually see it in this visible world.

Isaiah 25:1 TNIV says “O Lord, You are my God; I will exalt You and praise Your name, for in perfect faithfulness You have done marvellous things, things planned long ago.” God, who dwells outside of time, has plans to prosper us and give us hope and a future (Jer 29:11 TNIV) and works all situations together to make these plans come to pass (Rom 8:28 TNIV). As we agree with God, we come to see that, in ways that don’t negate our free will, we are actually mysteriously participating in a fait accompli – accomplished by God, realised through faith, and definitely worth praising Him for when we actually get to ‘possess by faith what we could not earn’ (Graham Kendrick).

One of the favourite hymns of our church is the old classic ‘I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene.’ Somehow the wonder it conveys never fails to capture us and we love singing this.

Today, I can’t find any other words to express how I feel. I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene. When we actually see answers to prayer, it leaves us astounded and amazed, shaking our heads in wonder. Perhaps we shouldn’t feel so surprised, but there is just something so awe-inspiring about seeing God work personally in ways that are beyond our comprehension and absolutely and definitely beyond our ability!

This has been a year of upheaval and change for many people. We started the year with a month of prayer and fasting, prayer-walking the streets of Goldthorpe. I had no idea how that month would change my life. It just seemed like a good idea at the time!

God’s word to me on 13th January (‘The Journey’) set me on a journey, just like Abraham. It was a word which caused me to re-evaluate my whole life and consider leaving the security and joy of a job I’d treasured for fourteen years, to set off, like the disciples and like Abraham before him, on a journey whose destination was pretty much unknown. That didn’t seem a very sensible or logical thing to do, but I couldn’t shake off the feeling that this was a God-idea, not one of mine. I don’t do radical or change. I’m the kind of person that has to be shaken loose from positions. I was about to discover that God is very capable of shaking!

In April, Mark preached on the ‘Dream Cross Code’ , a sermon that gave new heart to me, for after taking the radical step to resign from my job (and being vastly encouraged by a whole army of friends who didn’t seem to doubt my sanity anywhere near as much as I did!), no one had applied for my job and I was full of questions and doubt. In that sermon, apart from forcibly reminding me that God didn’t need my help to sort out the situation (which was a good thing since I didn’t know anyone else who could do the job!), Mark said that God ‘moves heaven and earth to make His plans for us come to pass.’

I sat and pondered that for a long time. It seemed an almost presumptuous statement to me. I realised that I believed in God’s sovereignty in an academic and totally theoretical way, but wasn’t at all convinced that that applied to me. Did God really care for me enough to move all the pieces of the jigsaw to allow me to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this was His idea, not mine? Did I really think that God cared enough to not only provide for me but for the school as well? I always used to love balancing chemical equations at school and I desperately wanted to see God do this in this situation. I hate loose ends; I didn’t feel I could just walk away from the job unless I could rest easy knowing that someone else was doing the stuff that had always been so important to me.

The weeks went by and all other advertised posts were filled. There was no sign of even one applicant for my job. That was a time of great soul-searching and, at times, great doubt for me. I needed every scrap of encouragement from God’s word that I could find. My walls are covered with every one I found: 2 Chron 20:17 TNIV, 2 Cor 1:20 TNIV, Hab 2:3 TNIV. Quotes, song lyrics and Bible verses adorn the walls of my house as daily reminders of God’s faithfulness, but the waiting period still seemed interminable.

And then, during the sixth week of the school holidays, when I was resigned to continuing and wondering when God would ever deliver me (you can see why that song ‘Deliver Me’ became my staple diet during July and August), a lady walked into the building who today has just been appointed to do my job. And I am awed. She is a native French speaker. She is part of the leadership of a local Elim church. She is about my age. She and her husband got married on exactly the same day in the same year that I did.

That last part has just completely blown me away. When God answers prayer, He doesn’t do it by halves! He doesn’t do the kind of ‘bodge job’ I often end up having to do because something comes up that I hadn’t anticipated. He is always totally and utterly prepared, always ready, able to move people all over the world (from Congo to Belgium to Cambridge to London to Barnsley!) to make things work. The God who enabled Sarah and Abraham to have a son after years of infertility, the God who rescued Joseph from prison so that he could work to save the nations from famine, the God who worked in a heathen king, Cyrus, to allow His people back to their own land after exile… that God is working in our lives too. Mark was right. God is still moving the puzzle pieces of our lives around to make His plans come to pass. And when we catch just a glimpse of His answers, we are awed, because not only does He supply, but He puts the icing on the cake, the cherry on top of the bun, the extra bits that maybe weren’t strictly necessary, but boy! do they make it taste good!

I stand amazed. There just aren’t the words to express how I feel. But if He can do this for me, He can surely do it for you. Because, believe me, I’m no one special. But believe me, I really am special as far as God is concerned. And so are you.

‘I Stand Amazed’

Anyone interested in joining the Goldthorpe Community Gospel Choir is invited to attend an open rehearsal on Monday 16th September at 7 p.m. at the Salvation Army Church on Straight Lane.

The prayer meeting this week (Thursday 19th September) will take the form of a prayer walk. We will be praying for local businesses, continuing with the month’s prayer theme of regeneration. We will meet at the church at 7.30 p.m. Don’t forget warm clothes!

Mark had an important announcement to make, which he gave in the form of a letter:
“Hi, everyone,

Pastor Mark Burgin.”

Such decisions are never easy to make and obviously have an impact on Mark and his family and on the church family. Please pray for Mark, Diane and their family; for the church leadership as they meet to pray and discuss this matter; for the church as a whole. God has good plans for us, plans to give us hope and a future, plans that will prosper us and not harm us (Jer 29:11 TNIV). Change can be difficult to embrace, for we often feel threatened by it. This year has been a year of change for the church and God is clearly moving in many ways. Let’s hold on to Him and be confident that He is able to complete every work He has started (see Phil 1:6 TNIV).

Dave spoke tonight from John 6:1-13 TNIV. All four gospels record the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand, which happened in spring, just before Passover. Prior to this, Jesus had been involved in healing a paralysed man and He took His disciples away from Jerusalem across the Sea of Galilee. There was no escape from the crowds, however! Jesus could see the crowd gathering and He resolved to feed them, reflecting His previous words that He only ever did what He saw the Father doing.

This moment became a mid-term examination for the disciples! Jesus asked Philip, ‘Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?’, and Philip could see no solution; this was a predicament which had no human solution. We are often like Philip in our responses – looking at things from a logistical point of view or only seeing the lack of money, rather than seeing God’s resources. Then Andrew appeared with a solution that did not seem to be very feasible – he’d found a boy with 5 loaves and 2 fishes, but could not imagine how that would solve the problem. Andrew brought what he found, not thinking it was enough, but actually, all Jesus wanted was what was available. We have to begin with what we do have, rather than worrying about what we don’t have.

When we considered moving to St Mark’s, it seemed an impossible dream, for we only had just over £7,000. We were challenged by God to give all we had (to the last penny) and we did… and found that His provision was sufficient not only to purchase the building but to run it! Jesus was able not only to feed the thousands present but to feed the disciples afterwards! The miracle of multiplication was such that there was a continual supply from Jesus until all were full. In all honesty, we can testify that this is still the case today. This year, we have refurbished the kitchen and toilets, had rewiring work done and have had a new boiler installed – building work totalling about £11,000. Yet as we approach the end of the financial year, we have £1,000 more than when we started the year, despite that expenditure! God is truly lavish in His provision!

Some people rationalise this miracle, arguing that the people simply all shared their food or that they were so inspired by Jesus’s teaching that they did not feel hungry. God is able to do far more than we can imagine, however. When we reach the end of ourselves, God is able to do so much more than we realise. He provides and keeps on providing. We just have to start with what we’ve got and let God do the rest.

We also had a birthday to celebrate:

Kevin spoke this morning from Luke 17:11-19 TNIV, the story which tells us of Jesus healing ten lepers. Lev 13:45-46 TNIV gives us a glimpse into the devastating effects of the disease leprosy (which remained uncurable until modern times); the leper was forced to live outside the town and proclaim himself ‘unclean!’ To be a leper was to be an outcast, excluded from normal society and family relationships; it was a disease that could affect any age or rank.

These ten lepers were desperate and the only antidote to their situation was Jesus. They cried out to Him in a loud voice, asking Him to have pity on them (Luke 17:13 TNIV). We often find ourselves in desperate situations too and need to learn to cry out in desperation to God (whether audibly or with inner groans). God hears our cries. Now is the right time; here is the right place for us to make our cries known to God, for God is able to meet our every need.

If we have been the recipient of God’s grace, mercy and love (as these ten lepers were), our response needs to be to give praise to God. Only one of the ten lepers returned to Jesus to give praise. The other nine are not heard of again. We have a choice: which way will we go? Will we return to God with gratitude and thanksgiving, as the Samaritan man did, or will be like the other nine who took their healing for granted, it seems? The Samaritan came back and praised God in a loud voice (Luke 17:15 TNIV). He had cried out in desperation in a loud voice; he returned with exuberant praise in a loud voice! He also threw himself at the feet of Jesus and thanked Him. (Luke 17:16 TNIV).

If we, as individuals, have known the hand of God on our lives, then there is an obligation on us to praise God! We should give our praise to God loudly and audibly. It’s so easy to remain silent. We live in a society where ingratitude is rife, but those who know God should never be ungrateful.

We can give lots of things to God, including our time, our talents, our money, our belongings. But God wants our whole hearts. He wants us to give our praise to Him. Now is the right time and the right place to do so. As we cry out to God and He meets our needs, we need to return in thankfulness and extravagant praise.

GIVE
PRAISE
TO
GOD!

Last night’s Bible study looked at the question ‘Can We Know God?’ In short, the answer is ‘yes, but only in part.’ God is obviously keen for us to know Him and has given us many glimpses of His presence, character and nature, but it is impossible for humans to fully know the whole of the majesty and splendour of God. He is so vast and unsearchable that we cannot ever hope to know Him fully on this earth, and yet there is so much more to discover of who He is!

Acts 17:23 TNIV looks at the Athenian statue ‘to an unknown God’. Paul went on to preach to them of the God who had made Himself known in Christ (see John 1:18 TNIV). Paul certainly had confidence in his knowledge of God (‘I know whom I have believed’ 2 Timothy 1:12 TNIV) and so we see that faith is more than knowing what to believe but is linked to knowing whom we believe.

Why can’t we search out God in the same way we study natural phenomena?
We can’t actually see God with our natural eyes, nor could we ever hope to find Him unless He chose to reveal Himself to us (John 5:37 TNIV). We are unable to comprehend all that God is with our finite minds (Is 55:8-9 TNIV reminds us that God’s thoughts and ways are far higher than ours!) We cannot see God and live (Ex 33:19-20 TNIV), yet He chooses to make His goodness known to us and reveals Himself to us (Prov 1:23 TNIV).

How does God reveal Himself to us?
1. Through His works of creation (Rom 1:20 TNIV)
2. Through inspired people (Heb 1:1 TNIV)
3. Through Jesus, the perfect representation of the Father (1 John 5:20 TNIV)
4. Through the word (Ps 119:105 TNIV, 2 Tim 3:16-17 TNIV)
5. The His Holy Spirit (1 Cor 2:9-14 TNIV) and the gifts and fruit of the Spirit

What conditions do we have to fulfil to attain spiritual knowledge of God?
1. We have to desire and yearn for God, to earnestly seek Him (Prov 2:3-5 TNIV)
2. Seeking is more than casually looking for God. It means putting Him first in everything (Matt 6:33 TNIV)
3. We need faith in order to please God and to see the invisible (Heb 11:1-6 TNIV)
4. Obedience is the final step required of us. Acts 5:29 TNIV reminds us that ‘we must obey God rather than men!’ Without faith it is impossible to please God, but we then need to take that ‘step of faith’ and actually do what He says.