Dave spoke this morning from Luke 5:1-11. Here, we see four fishermen having ‘one of those days’, a time when nothing seemed to be going right for them. They had been fishing all night and had caught nothing, and for men who made a living from fishing, this was no small problem. Jesus was preaching and used Peter’s boat to be able to address the crowd; then, when the crowd had dispersed, He (a landlubber and carpenter by trade!) gave them advice on where and when to fish!

There must have been a sense of weariness and cynicism in the four fishermen on hearing this command. They must have thought ‘what’s the point?’ They felt frustrated and inadequate, having not caught any fish all night, and when we have failed so often, it’s really hard to risk failure one more time. Yet because he was obedient, Peter agreed to this apparently madcap scheme, only to catch such a large haul of fish that the nets began to break and the boats began to sink!

Peter’s response (‘But because you say so, I will let down the nets‘) reminds us that we need to do what Jesus tells us, however much His words seem to contradict our knowledge, wisdom and understanding. God wants to give us abundant life (John 10:10) and His abundance can come from nothing and from nowhere. We need to understand that when we obey what God says, His grace to us is not without effect. (1 Cor 15:10) If we do what He says when He says, we will see amazing things in our lives.

There are some interesting things happening in October locally, so here are some dates for the diary.

From 14th October, a local group called B:friend is hiring the community room at our church for meetings between 1.30 and 2.30 p.m. This organisation seeks to link people with those who are elderly and unable to get out and about and to tackle loneliness in our area. Come along to find out how you can be a befriender and make a difference in our community.

The Christian Institute is holding a meeting entitled ‘Living Christianity’ at Bessacarr Evangelical Church on Bessacarr Lane in Doncaster on Monday 14th October at 7.45 p.m. This meeting looks at issues that are very much in the news at present such as the family, gospel freedom and gender ideology and discusses the Christian response to government legislation.

We hold midweek meetings on Thursdays at 7.30 p.m. to study the book of Acts and to pray. There will be no Thursday meeting on 17th October, but instead there will be a prayer meeting on Friday 18th October at 11.30 a.m.

The ‘Churches Together’ prayer meeting in October will be on Wednesday 23rd October at 10.30 a.m. at GPCC. Join with us to pray with Christians from other churches.

Don’t forget our main outreach event on Wednesday 30th October at three local venues: Houghton Road Centre in Thurnscoe (9-11 a.m.), GPCC in Goldthorpe (12-2 p.m.) and St Andrew’s Parish Hall in Bolton-on-Dearne (3-5 p.m.) when we will be welcoming the Message Bus to our area and hosting a Family Fun Day in each of these venues with crafts and activities on the theme of light. Please pray for the organisation of this event and let Julie know if you can help in any way at any of these venues.

Sometimes people will say about a person ‘he’s a born leader’ or ‘she’s a born teacher’. What they mean by this phrase is that the person seems effortlessly good at doing those things so that it is as if there has never been a time when they were not doing them.

There is some truth in the phrase, since there is no doubt that we are born with certain gifts and talents over which we have no real say. My son would probably be called a ‘born musician‘; he was born with perfect pitch, something that was manifest at a very early age (long before he could talk) when he would get very upset if music was played in ‘the wrong key’ or if songs were not sung ‘properly’ to him. (I reckon my failure to sing him to sleep with lullabies was because I didn’t sing them in the same key each time and therefore he was so irritated he did not sleep as a result!) This innate skill was not always appreciated by us in those early days; I remember an exceedingly tedious journey to Willington in Derbyshire when he was about fifteen months old when our lovely Michael W. Smith CD was inadvertently the source of much fractious crying (Michael W. Smith is especially fond of modulation (changing key) mid-song, which confused and irritated my son.) I know this with hindsight, incidentally; at the time I had no explanation for his constant crying!

But even though my son had the gift of perfect pitch, he had to be trained to be a musician: he had music lessons like anyone else; he had to learn to read music, learn Italian words, practise scales and learn the basics just like anyone else. His ‘birth skill’ had to be harnessed to a lifetime of practice; skill is never any substitute for hard work!

Jeremiah was called by God to be a prophet from a young age. Like Samuel, he’s a reminder to us that you don’t have to be an adult and qualified to be called by God. We could call him a ‘born prophet’ in the sense that it is God’s calling and shaping which form his destiny. At the same time, we see Jeremiah’s faithfulness and obedience are vital ingredients in the fulfilment of that calling.

Jeremiah did not feel up to the task which God gave him. His sense of inadequacy is one of the things which endear him to me; I think that I identify with Jeremiah and Gideon more than any other Biblical characters. Jeremiah’s response to God’s calling was, ‘Alas, Sovereign Lord, I do not know how to speak; I am too young.’ (Jer 1:6) You get the picture. ‘Sorry, God, but prophets have to talk to loads of people. I’m no good at that. I’m too young.’

Our sense of inadequacy is never the full story about us. Our identity ultimately is shaped by what God says about us – not what we think about ourselves or what others say about us. God’s assessment was that He had set Jeremiah apart for the work of a prophet through the most confused and chaotic decades of Israel’s history (as Eugene Peterson puts it) and because Jeremiah responded to God with obedience and faithfulness, this is what he became. A born prophet? Definitely. But a prophet by his participation in God’s assessment, rather than living by his own assessment and feelings.

Who we are is determined by God. Who we become is our gift to Him, as we respond in faith to the calling He gives us.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-14 is probably the most well known Biblical passage about time, reminding us that there is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven. Time is something created by God (who dwells in eternity… a timeless existence we find difficult to comprehend!) and tonight Stephen explored the theme of time, informing us that in a common year there are 31,536,000 seconds and asking how we order or control our lives, how we use these seconds wisely for God.

Nowadays we have many ways of keeping time, from wind-up watches to digital ones needing batteries to smartwatches which need to be charged on a daily basis. All of these need a power source, however, to keep time, but God, the creator of time, does not need any external power source. All power and life are found in Him and thus it makes sense for us to allow Him to be in control of our time. Sadly, so often we try to take charge of time ourselves and don’t make the most of every opportunity as God wants us to (see Eph 5:16); we waste time and think we’re in control of time.

Christians need to understand that our times are in God’s hands (Ps 31:15) and He is in charge of all time, including ours. In every situation of our lives, He can make a difference. We live in time, but He has set eternity in our hearts (Eccl 3:11) and we live best when we live in the present but live for eternity (see Matt 6:19-21).

In the second of our series ‘Connections‘, we looked at drawing near to God and how to maintain our connection to God – and found that in doing this, we’ll also maintain our connections with other people too! Often, we may feel this task is too difficult for us, but as Moses reminded the people of Israel, ‘what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.’ (Deut 30:11) God has promised that if we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us (James 4:8) and we are urged to work out our salvation with fear and trembling whilst acknowledging that it’s God who’s working in us! (Phil 2:12-13)

To maintain that clean, sin-free connection with God, we need to devote ourselves, as the early church did, to fellowship, prayer, the apostles’ teaching and the breaking of bread. (Acts 2:42-47)

Fellowship

Our connection to God is both personal and corporate. We can’t do without each other (see Heb 10:24-25) and need to love each as evidence of our love for God (see Matt 22:27-30, 1 Pet 4:8) Other people sharpen us (Prov 27:17) and we need the variety and diversity of others to help us understand God correctly. Often, we want to run away from God and run away from each other (especially when we hurt and wound each other), but God wants us to stick at it!

Prayer

Prayer too has a personal and corporate element, with private prayer encouraged (Matt 6:6) and corporate prayer a necessary part of the Christian life (Col 4:2). Prayer is the most effective way of keeping those communication channels with God open, and the more we pray, the less likely are we to feel disconnected from God. There is great power in praying together – join with us to pray this Thursday at 7.30 p.m. if you can.

The Apostles’ Teaching

We need to be rooted in God’s word if we are to remain connected to Him – and to know how to relate to Him and to people. The ‘Holy Scriptures… are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.’ (2 Tim 3:15) Reading the Bible needs to be regular and personal, but it is not always easy; there is much in it we will struggle to understand. That’s partly why we also need corporate reading and Bible study, so that those with the gift of teaching and preaching can open up God’s word to us. The psalmist tells us that ‘the unfolding of Your words gives light.’ (Ps 119:130) The Message version translates this verse this way: ‘Break open your words, let the light shine out, let ordinary people see the meaning.’ The Bible is a bit like a concertina book: it keeps expanding to give us daily insight into how to live; it’s a living word. (Heb 4:12)

The Breaking of Bread

The simple act of receiving the bread and wine in remembrance of Christ’s death for us anchors us to the centrality of the gospel in a way nothing else can. (1 Cor 11:23-26) To maintain that clean, uncorroded connection to God, we have to align ourselves with life as God sees it. This means a constant re-alignment for each one of us. We start life believing we’re the centre of the universe. When we are saved, we realise that God is the centre of the universe. Col 1:17 says Jesus ‘is before all things, and in him all things hold together.’ Yet day by day, there is the creeping tendency to push Jesus off His throne and put ourselves back on it. The breaking of bread prevents this from happening. It keeps us tethered to the truth; it keeps us mindful of what is really important in life, how ‘the cross stands above it all.’ (‘The Cross Stands’, Ben Cantelon & Tim Hughes)

If we keep these four elements central to our lives, we will draw near to God and maintain a healthy connection to Him and to others.

The Dearne Community Arts’ Festival exists to champion creativity in all its wonderful guises and to celebrate community. Our thanks to all the wonderful people who volunteer at the festival and make it happen. Thanks also this year to XPO Logistics for sending some great staff to help us out and to Astrea Academy Dearne for letting us use the school and helping to make the festival such a great success.