It was great to welcome The Message Bus to our area yesterday. First of all, we visited Houghton Road Centre in Thurnscoe.

Inside, younger children could play with toys or do jigsaws and craft activities:

Our Big Local Thurnscoe and St Helen’s volunteers cooked us bacon sandwiches to keep us going!

We then moved on to Goldthorpe, where the bus parked in the Market Street car park and activities were on offer at GPCC.

Salvation Army volunteers made us hot dogs for lunch; here are our capable helpers (including Sue who helped with the lighthouse painting) enjoying their own lunch at the end.

Then it was on to Bolton-on-Dearne where we had more fun!

Even the lads joined in the nail painting fun!

Our thanks to all the churches who supported the fun day, to all the helpers who worked so hard to feed us and give us fun things to do and to all the community who came along!

Casting Crowns (a Christian music group) have a God-given ability to bring piercing prophetic picture messages through song. Their songs tackle specific issues we face in life and remind us of the weapons we have through prayer, praise and the Word of God to defeat every enemy that comes against us.

One of these haunting songs is ‘Waiting For The Night To Fall’, a song which warns us we have an enemy (described as ‘an old man living in the back of your woods’) and that he seeks to rob us blind of the many blessings God has for us. The imagery of darkness and night in contrast to the daytime and light is one used repeatedly in Scripture to show us the contrast between the devil and God (see John 1:4-5, John 8:12, John 12:35).

In the song, we have the piercing lyric:

“He knows you have the answers, but Truth lies dusty on your shelf/ And the sword that you could slay him with has become an ornament and nothing else.”

God’s word is given to us to be a sword that cuts through lies and slays the enemy and the ‘old man’ (our old nature). God has given us all the weapons we need to defeat this old man, to defeat our old nature, to live in the victory Christ has purchased for us, but unless we pick up that sword and use it, we remain vulnerable, with tied hands and numbed minds, living in the world’s mould as functioning atheists (because if we are not living by faith, we are effectively living as those with no hope.) Without the sword of the Spirit, we are people who do not experience life in all its fulness; we are ensnared in the enemy’s traps, trapped in ditches that are too deep for us to climb out of, just like the rest of the world.

We need to pick up our swords, wipe the dust off them, sharpen the blades by our faith to believe and then use them. When we do this, we will see mountains moved, walls crumble and darkness dissipated. Use your sword today and see what happens!

Lego have brought out cookie cutters, one of which enables children to make cookies in the shape of a Lego person. The only problem is these all tend to look the same because there is (in our set, anyway) only one mould for a Lego person. The world too has a mould which tends to want to churn out the same people, regardless of individuality. This mould may have different ‘flavours’ (some people are materialistic atheists, who do not believe in anything other than the physical world; some are ‘secular’, not being connected to religious views, and others are ‘spiritual’, which usually means an acknowledgement of something other than the material world but which is often a mish-mash of beliefs and ideas, not all of which are religious.)

This mould is how we all once used to live (see Eph 2:2-3), but Rom 12:2 urges us not to let the world around us squeeze us into its mould. The Message version translates this as ‘Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking.’ We’re not required to be chameleons, adapting to our culture to the extent that we live our lives effectively as functioning atheists. We can become all things to all men (as Paul put it) without fitting into the world’s mould. By letting Christ be Lord in every area of our lives, we show people a different mould altogether.

In God, the ordinary can become extraordinary and the natural can become supernatural. He can take our mundane, everyday lives and accomplish more with them than we can imagine. What He longs for is for us to be naturally supernatural. This means being unafraid of the truth (since Jesus is full of truth and described Himself as the Truth) and living lives that break the mould. We can live righteous lives, showing others the right way to live; we can show compassion to others (Col 3:12). We are meant to be Christ’s ambassadors who reveal His character to the world, living out the Beatitudes (being peacemakers, being meek, mourning over sin and so on), effectively ‘being’ God among the people.

Faith and trust are key elements in a life of faith, and if we want to become mature in Christ, we can’t ever let go of these things. The key to staying connected to Christ, to remaining in Christ, is to believe the promises of God. Paul says, ‘For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.’ (2 Cor 1:20) In Christ, it’s always ‘yes’ and ‘amen’, but we have a part to play too. Our part is to speak the ‘Amen’ to the glory of God. Our part is to agree with God, no matter what the visible signs around us say.

We only grow spiritually if we remain in Christ and keep on believing what He says over and above what we can see with our natural eyes or what our feelings tell us. We need to learn to speak out what God says over and above what we feel or think. It’s so easy to talk ourselves into defeat because we only talk about the negative. Instead, we have to speak out God’s word.

The voice of pragmatism is always there, urging us to follow alternative paths. Abraham listened to it and allowed himself to sleep with Hagar. David listened to it and stayed at home instead of going to war, following the lust of selfish longing and listening to the rationale offering excuses for normal human needs until he’d not only committed adultery but committed murder as well. We all listen to it to some extent. Pragmatism sounds so utterly convincing and reasonable and so much more sensible than climbing out of a boat and walking on water or taking one child’s packed lunch and feeding thousands of people with it. Faith requires us to ignore the temptation to play it safe and stay in our comfort zones and follow Christ wherever He goes. And He tends to go to places we’d rather He didn’t!

The challenge for each one of us is to believe God’s word over and above anything or anyone else. This is a hugely important spiritual battle, one that’s largely invisible to other people but which truly determines how we grow up in Christ. As Lauren Daigle sings, it involves fighting voices in our minds that say we’re not enough, that we will never measure up and means choosing to believe what God says about us rather than anything else, choosing to find our worth and identity in God, rather than in anything else. (‘You Say’) We practise every day believing God or believing the lies more times than perhaps we realise. If we are to grow in our connection to Jesus, then we must learn to believe His promises and rely on them. Absolutely nothing else will win the victory. Only as we speak the ‘Amen’ to the glory of God can we claim every promise God has made and live in the spiritual realm Christ died for us to enter.

Knowing who we are in Christ takes a lifetime to explore. Here are just a few of the things the Bible tells us we are in Christ:

• We are complete in Christ. (Col 2:10) We don’t need anything else; all the fulness of God dwells in Christ and Christ dwells in us. When we begin to grasp this truth, it helps us to let go of the manipulation and control we feel we need to practise to get by in life. We don’t need to always be scheming, plotting and planning so that people do what we want, so that we can get our own way and everything we want. We are complete in Christ. He’s enough for us. He’s sufficient to get us through life. We don’t need ‘Christ and…’ He’s enough.

• We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Eph 2:10) God has purpose for our lives, things for us to do which can please Him and glorify Him. Instead of feeling aimless and that life has no point, we can tackle everything with joy, because we know it’s God’s will to do these good works He has prepared in advance for us to do.

• We are chosen and clean people, holy and set apart for God. Eph 1:4 says, ‘For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.’ This gives us a whole new sense of identity and hope. Life’s about more than despair and trouble. It’s about being chosen and loved! It’s about living life without guilt and shame, without fear and condemnation.

• We are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (Rom 8:37) No situation has the power to defeat us if we learn to abide in Christ. If the power of God could raise Christ from the dead, then nothing can crush us totally. We’re on the winning side! No matter how big your mountain is today, we have a God who can move mountains. No matter how tall the walls, we have a God who can tear down walls. As Rend Co. Kids sing, ‘Your mighty name will ever be the soundtrack of our victory… Our God, You will tear down the walls. Our God, You are invincible. The strongholds crumble like castles of sand, as we shout loud our Jericho song.’ (‘Jericho Song’)

• We are God’s children and He will provide for us: ‘my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.’ (Phil 4:19) When we are connected to the Maker of Heaven and Earth, we don’t have to worry about provision, about where the next mouthful will come from. Jesus urged us to live lives free from worry because God knows our needs and will provide for us. We can trust God to meet all our needs. He’s rich enough!

• We can live in peace and freedom. Paul tells the Philippians that ‘the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.’ (Phil 4:19) I believe that being in Christ helps us with so many things which would seek to destroy us. There are so many mental health issues these days, but as we allow God’s peace to come into our lives, our hearts (our emotions, our feelings) and our minds (our thoughts) will be guarded in Christ Jesus. We can claim this promise, along with so many others, if we are remaining in Christ. We can live secure, guarded lives, no matter what traumas and tragedies life throws at us.

In our latest sermon from our ‘Connections‘ series, we looked at our connection to God the Son, often described by Paul as being ‘in Christ’, with Christ also living in us (see 1 Cor 1:2, Eph 1:1, Phil 1:1,1 Thess 1:1, Col 1:27). Being in Christ is Paul’s recipe for successful living. Those who are in Christ Jesus are free from condemnation. (Rom 8:1) He knows that nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom 8:39) Grace is given to us in Christ Jesus. (1 Cor 1:4) God has called us into fellowship with His Son, Christ Jesus (1 Cor 1:9); we are now safe and secure ‘in Christ Jesus’ (1 Cor 1:30). For Paul, it’s this connection with the living Christ that makes all the difference to us.

Our connection to Christ begins when we are born again and is maintained as we remain in the vine (see John 15:1-8). It’s a connection based on grace and faith (see Eph 2:8-9), and we have to continue in this same vein if we are to flourish spiritually (see Gal 3:1-6).

We can be reassured that the connection we have with Christ is not something flimsy or superficial. All the fulness of the Godhead bodily dwells in Christ (see Col 2:9-10) and we have been given fulness in Him. Just as Jesus was in the Father and the Father in Him, so we too can rest secure in Christ (see John 14:10-11, John 17:21). Nothing whatsoever can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:37-39); we are safe and secure in God’s bear hug! (God’s love is stronger than any Gorilla Glue, even!)

In Christ we have redemption and forgiveness (see Eph 1:6-7). We are people who have been given a fresh start. We don’t have to live life with the baggage of yesterday, weighed down by our sins. We are people who can enjoy life, who can enjoy our connection to God because we know that Jesus has taken all our sins and our sorrows and made them His very own precisely so that we don’t have to carry them anymore. Moreover, this fresh start – we’re new creations in Christ Jesus, remember! (2 Cor 5:17) – carries on day after day.  It doesn’t just last for a short time and then fade away, like jewellery that can get tarnished if it’s not constantly polished. Instead, ‘the Lord’s compassions never fail; they are new every morning.’ (Lam 3:23)