Last week, Dave challenged us to pray for revival. Let’s make that the focus of our prayers throughout October (and beyond!) Revival means a renewal of life, a return to halth and strength. Only God can revive us and bring repentance and salvation, but every revival throughout history has begun in the prayer room. We need to take seriously God’s call to pray for revival, both individually and corporately.

Pray for:

• God to revive His church in Goldthorpe and the surrounding area, bringing new life, zeal, authority and power to His people
• God’s people to hunger and thirst for God, seeking Him in prayer both individually and corporately
• a spirit of repentance and obedience to be evident in our lives
• revival to touch those who do not yet believe, that we may see many people brought into the kingdom of God.

Charles Finney once said, ‘Revival is a renewed conviction of sin and repentance, followed by an intense desire to live in obedience to God. It is giving up one’s will to God in deep humility.’  Nothing other than the presence and power of God can satisfy us. We need God to move in reviving power, changing us from the inside out.

Mark challenged us to make paper doves tonight!

This resulted in some very different doves!

Jeannette reminded us at the end of the service that the Holy Spirit is also gentle and does not come into our lives unless invited. We are privileged people, invited to know the fulness of the Godhead (Father, Son and Spirit), invited to have access to God Himself. All we have to do is accept His invitation and receive His Spirit by faith.

Tonight’s family service looked at the theme of ‘the dove’, one of the names of the Holy Spirit. Stephen spoke from Matt 3:13-17, when the Spirit of God alighted on Jesus at His baptism in the form of a dove and God the Father spoke, saying ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.’

John the Baptist had been baptising many in the River Jordan and recognised Jesus, knowing that He had no need of baptism because He had not sinned. Nonetheless, Jesus identified with sinners through His baptism (though He Himself was not sinful) and showed us the way to approach God through repentance. We see that His earthly ministry did not begin until after the Holy Spirit had come upon Him, modelling for us the way to ministry through dependence on God’s Spirit.

The dove is a symbol of innocence, perfection and peace, but His appearance at the baptism of Jesus must have been a ‘wow!’ moment for the crowds being baptised and watching the baptisms. His presence always brings illumination and guidance to us, as the hymn says:

‘Open my eyes, that I may see
glimpses of truth thou hast for me.
Place in my hands the wonderful key
that shall unclasp and set me free.
Silently now I wait for thee,
ready, my God, thy will to see.
Open my eyes; illumine me,
Spirit divine!’ (Clara Scott)

Dave spoke this morning from Phil 4:6-8, looking at Paul’s injunction not to be anxious about anything and how we can rest in God’s care and plan for our lives.

Prayer is the bedrock of our lives, our communication lifeline to God. Matt 6 reminds us that Jesus expected us to pray (‘when you pray’, not if!) and that prayer needs to be sincere (not arising from a desire to show off in front of others, not relying on endless words to get our way.) God honours the prayers of sincere hearts. Some ask why we need to pray since God already knows everything, but we pray in obedient response to God and to focus our minds and hearts on God. Communication is essential to all relationships.

Prayer also involves bringing our petitions (supplications) to God. We can approach God with confidence (Heb 4:16), casting our burdens on Him and relying on Him to sustain us. (Ps 55:25) So often, we keep hold of our burdens, but ‘casting’ means ‘to hurl away’. James reminds us that so often we don’t have because we don’t ask God or we ask with wrong motives. When we bring all our needs to God and seek to obey Him, we can be sure of receiving answers (1 Jn 3:22). Petitioning involves praying for others – for healing, salvation, guidance, for those in leadership and government, asking God to move in revival. There is so much we can ask for!

Thanksgiving is also essential. 1 Tim 6:6 reminds us that godliness with contentment is great gain; it is good to give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thess 5:18), so that we can acknowledge God in all situations. Sometimes our thanksgiving is a real sacrifice of praise, but when we worry, we see only the problems. When we are thankful, we see God moving in all situations and can trust Him to work things together for good.

Phil 4:8 reminds us that what we choose to think about is crucial. We must focus on what is true (according to God’s Word), noble, right, pure, lovely, pleasing and admirable, rather than focussing on things that upset us or are harmful. Where the mind leads, the heart will follow; joy comes from adjusting our lives to God’s ways and then living without anxiety or fear.

It seems incredible to think that we are in October already! Don’t forget the coffee morning this morning and men’s DVD/ takeaway night at 6 p.m. tonight – both give us opportunity to get together in a social context and enjoy fellowship. Men are asked to bring a favourite DVD and a choice will be made on the night what to watch!

Looking ahead, we have the family service tomorrow evening at 6 p.m. – a chance to learn from God’s word, games and songs. Later in the month (16th October) we have guest speaker Yan Hadley with us at 6 p.m. as well as our usual services, including Cherry Tree Court on 9th October at 10.30 a.m.

Volunteers are needed to help with preparing goody bags for the Christmas Market onWednesday 23rd November (9 a.m. onwards) and with the Christmas Market itself (Friday 9th December, 4-8 p.m.) Please sign up for a timeslot to help serve refreshments, run stalls or help in other ways. The community carol service will be held on that date at 6 p.m., so come along to sing at that too!

Tickets will have to be booked soon for the pantomime at the Dearne Playhouse on 17th December, so please sign up if you want to come to that (tickets cost £8).

We are pleased to say that flights have now been booked for the mission trip to India next April! Eight people will be going to Bangalore via London Heathrow and New Delhi to help with the work of Fredrick and Reeba. Their latest newsletter tells us of people being saved and healed in a variety of locations, with many Hindus coming to faith and being baptised. A new project to support is supplying ‘talking bibles’ to people (using solar power, with 1 hour of charging allowing up to 10 hours of use.) They are praying for 500 of these bibles (costing £10 each) to be used in their outreach. They also ask for prayer for Fredrick’s mother (whose health is not very good) and for a young boy called Charen who needs an operation in November to help with kidney problems.

Please pray for the work that is going on in India and also for preparations for the trip, leaving the UK on 9th April 2017. There are visas to be obtained, injections to be endured, finance to be raised… and most of all, faith to be grown in our hearts along with a growing dependence on God and expectation that He will do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine (Eph 3:20). As Dave reminded us last week, we cannot expect revival if we do not pray for revival, and we need God’s fire in God’s people. All of us are involved in this trip, not just the people who are physically travelling to India. Our prayers, our giving, our faith, our going make a huge difference. Fredrick is hoping to visit us in November, so that will be an opportunity to learn more and make further plans. Please pray for him and Reeba, for their 3 children (Philemon, aged 9; Felshiya, aged 8 and Zia, aged 4), and for Fredrick’s mother, Philomena.

In 1940, during the Second World War, Coventry Cathedral was destroyed during air attacks. The Cathedral’s Provost, Howard, made a commitment not to revenge, but to forgiveness and reconciliation with those responsible. Using a national radio broadcast from the cathedral ruins on Christmas Day 1940 he declared that when the war was over he would work with those who had been enemies “to build a kinder, more Christ-child-like world.”

The ruins of the cathedral can still be seen, but in those ruins there is a ‘litany of reconciliation’:

There is also the prophetic reminder from Haggai:

A new cathedral was opened in 1962, reflecting contemporary art and vision, but committed above all to the Christian message of unity, forgiveness and reconciliation.

A major part of the ministry of reconciliation was the establishment of the Community of the Cross of Nails, which today is an international network of over 200 active partners in more than 40 countries committed to a shared ministry of reconciliation. So much of the artwork in the cathedral reflects the international scope of this ministry, with God’s Word being on tablets of stone all around the walls of the cathedral. Even in the ruins, the phrase ‘hallowed be Thy name’ is used in prayer for different spheres of life:

The cathedral is a vivid tribute to the difference Christ makes and to how God is able to bring good even from the ruin of our lives. May we all learn to live in forgiveness and reconciliation, for in Christ, we are now reconciled to God and given the ministry of reconciliation (see 2 Cor 5:17-21).