The Seven Bowls of God’s Wrath

May 25, 2023

Tonight in our Bible study we looked at Revelation 16, the ‘seven bowls of God’s wrath’. It’s in this chapter that we find reference to the ‘final battle’, ‘Armageddon’, and realise that God’s justice and judgment are finally going to be seen. There are many parallels with the seven trumpet judgments earlier in the book of Revelation, but these were partial, whereas now we see total destruction. We also see clear parallels with the plagues of Egypt, and are reminded once again of what pushes God to this point, namely man’s refusal to repent. Pharaoh hardened his heart and the result was the destruction of Egypt and the deliverance of God’s people. In this chapter, we see people cursing God as the source of the plagues, but still refusing to repent and turn to Him. Heb 3:7-19 reminds us of the dangers of hardening our hearts, and Rev 16:15 urges God’s people to remain alert, awake and fully clothed.
Jesus is coming again and we need to be ready for this day!

Spillage

May 25, 2023

Normally, we think of spillage in negative terms. When we spill something, we have to clean up afterwards! Spillage is usually messy. I have young grandchildren who manage to spill something every time they eat or drink, knocking glasses of drink over as they gesture excitedly with their hands, heedless of anything in proximity to them, spilling food on the mysteriously long journey between the plate and their mouths. Each meal time is a time of spillage and I grumble under my breath as I wipe the plastic tablecloth and mats after each meal.

In grander terms, oil spillage from tankers can be another problem that can affect the environment for years; it’s not so easy to deal with that kind of spillage. Contamination can easily come and clear-ups on this scale are major operations.

But the spillage that comes to mind today is a very positive one, more of an overflow than an obstacle. Jesus said, ‘Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured (or spill) into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.’ (Luke 6:38)

God’s blessing is meant to overflow. It’s meant to spill over into other people’s lives. God blesses us to bless others.We’re not meant to hoard blessing; it’s meant to spill over. (Gen 12:3, Psalm 67) Just as I can easily spill a drink into a saucer if I overfill the cup, so God’s blessings are liberal. He is not stingy, but is a generous God. And because of that, we are told to be generous too (see 2 Cor 8-9). God loves a cheerful, generous giver, because then we mirror His heart and reflect His nature.

This kind of spillage may be messy, but it doesn’t need cleaning up afterwards! God’s blessings overflow and needs are met.

Our Legacy

May 23, 2023

A legacy is not only an amount of money or property left to someone in a will. It’s that long-lasting impact of particular events or actions which influence people and places long after these things have happened.

I want to leave a legacy of love and beauty. I want my actions to testify to the goodness of God and His love for the world. It’s this desire to leave ‘beauty for ashes‘ which is at the heart of the community art projects which I lead through Dearne Community Arts’ Festival.

Many will say that art is ephemeral and community art doesn’t last. They cite vandalism and natural decay as reasons not to bother with something so expensive and personal. But the cultural history of England shows us that art and architecture have had, and continue to have, an enormous influence on our country to this very day.

So I press on, making mosaics and quilts and murals – and now selfie boards! – because I want to leave a legacy of beauty for the Dearne Valley. I want colour and vibrancy and positivity and individuality to be beacons of light and hope and faith in a community that’s often seen – by its own residents as well as outsiders – as hopeless, a lost cause, good for nothing.

I refuse to believe the negativity of hopelessness and despair, because I serve a God of all hope, who turned even the disaster of crucifixion into glorious resurrection victory. God had the first word in regeneration, and I believe He is able to regenerate Goldthorpe, Thurnscoe and Bolton-on-Dearne and beyond in every sense of the word. He is a God who makes all things new, and I believe community art is one way that this can be seen, in our generation and in the generations to come.

Come and be a legacy-maker today at our community art workshop between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. at GPCC.

The Test of Faith

May 21, 2023

Tonight Garry spoke about the ‘test of faith.’ It’s often said that God will never give us more than we can handle, but the acid test is whether we intend to handle life on our own or not. In Numbers 13:1-14:9, we see the spies sent out by Moses to find out about the promised land. They had seen that God had done mighty things for them through the plagues and then God’s deliverance from Egypt. They had seen God’s miraculous provision of manna in the wilderness. But they still saw the opposition as more powerful than God and did not trust Him to deliver the land into their hands.
God’s response was fierce, effectively accusing the Israelites of spiritual adultery. He was faithful, but they were faithless; they refused to believe. Because of this, they were not allowed to go into the Promised Land. Their refusal to trust God led them to believe they were not able to tackle the giants of Canaan, but they were never supposed to do that by themselves.
We need to understand that God does give us more than we can handle on our own, but the whole point of a life of faith is that we are not expected or supposed to tackle it on our own. God told Moses to go in the strength he had and reminded him that He would be with him. When God speaks to us, we may well feel unequal to the task, but He has promised to be with us (see Is 43:1-3, Rom 8:31) God never gives us more than we can handle with Him. Life is meant to be an adventure with God; we are not meant to go it alone.

Standing Up To God

May 21, 2023

This morning we looked at how testing and trials are sometimes necessary to prove our faith and saw how the persistence and audacious faith of one foreign woman led to a great miracle, the deliverance of her demon-possessed daughter. This miracle (told to us in Matt 15:21-28 and Mark 7:24-30) often seems one of the most puzzlling passages in the New Testament, for instead of Jesus being compassionate and kind, He seems almost cruel to a woman in need, first of all not answering her at all, then declaring His ministry was only to the lost sheep of Israel and even saying, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”
It would be easy to condemn Jesus as racist or misogynistic, but since we have seen Him talking with a Samaritan woman, healing a woman with a bleeding problem and healing the servant of a Roman centurion, these charges do not hold much weight. There would be no point saying God is racist since He is the maker of all peoples and the Bible is explicit in showing us He chose Abram so that he could be a blessing to all nations (Gen 12:3) as well as showing us that He will save people from every tribe and nation (Rev 5:10, Rev 7:9). We have to dig deeper to answer why Jesus seems so hostile to this woman.
It seems that Jesus sees the faith within and does all that He can to provoke that faith. The woman is bold in contradicting Him, giving reasons why He should still help her. (‘“Yes, it is, Lord,” she said.
“Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”’ (Matt 15:27) Far from being shocked or put off by her response, Jesus commends her faith and heals her daughter. It seems that testing and trials actually are necessary to prove our faith (see James 1:3-5). Times of testing are designed not to break us but to re-make us, as both Abraham and Job found. Jesus is thrilled when we respond to Him in faith; faith is the key that opens the door to the miraculous.

Community Art Workshops

May 19, 2023

Part of our church’s desire is to see our local community transformed into a place of beauty (since God promised to bestow on His people a crown of beauty instead of ashes, Is 61:3), and as such, we are involved in the Dearne Community Arts’ Festival’s community art project this year, which is to create 16 selfie board celebrating local places and groups which serve our community. On Thursday, Julie was involved with storyteller Rebecca Dye and artist Lydia Caprani in leaidng 4 workshops in Thurnscoe, looking to design the selfie boards for Thurnscoe Flower Park, Thurnscoe Library, Thurnscoe Plaza and Station House.

It was great to work with school children, volunteers, residents and staff on designs for the selfie boards and to hear about the centrality of these locations and the purpose of each group to serve the local community.

At Thurnscoe Flower Park

At Thurnscoe Library & meeting with Big Local Thurnscoe about Thurnscoe Plaza

At Station House

Further consultations and design workshops will be held at GPCC on Tuesday 23 May between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. when we will be looking at the selfie boards for Goldthorpe Town Square, Dearne Churches Together, Dearne Community Arts’ Festival and the Dearne Area Team.