This morning’s sermon looked at Mary’s response to the angelic announcement in Luke 1:38 TNIV: “May it be to me as you have said.”, “May your word to me be fulfilled.” (Luke 1:38 TNIV), “Be it unto me according to thy word” (Luke 1:38 KJV).

Faith and trust involve agreeing with what God says. That means accepting His assessment of situations rather than our own. It means accepting His assessment of people – including ourselves – rather than our own. It means accepting His assessment of the future rather than our own. Agreeing with God as Mary did involves a radical shift away from our own independence and mindsets so that we can surrender and submit to God.

By nature, we do not agree with God. We follow the desires and thoughts of the world (see Eph 2:1-3 TNIV, Rom 8:5-9 TNIV). We have to learn to think new thoughts (Rom 12:1-2 TNIV) and agree with God’s view of life if we are to know true life and peace. God is always right, so it’s pointless to fight Him, but we need to be convinced of who God is if we are to trust Him as Mary did (see Ps 51:4 TNIV). We have to be prepared to let God set the pace and to respond to Him (see Rom 3:27-28, The Message), knowing that He is the initiator in this faith life (John 15:16 TNIV).

God is not limited to natural processes; He created the universe from nothing (Hebrews 11:2 TNIV)and is able to call things that are not as though they were (Rom 4:17 TNIV). He is able to make the impossible happen, for nothing is impossible with God (Matt 19:26 TNIV). When we agree with Him, we get to see the invisble become visible and see the impossible become possible?

In order to agree with God, we have to understand that He will fulfil every promise He has made and speak faith into those situations, even when it doesn’t look like God is working. ‘For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me and Silas and Timothy—was not “Yes” and “No,” but in him it has always been “Yes.” 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 1:19-20 TNIV)

Every promise God has made is ‘Yes’ in Christ, but we have to speak the ‘Amen’ of agreeing faith to see that happen. As Aaron Shust sings:
‘Oh, and I will trust in only You.
For You will bring the victory.
You will bring the victory.
All Your promises are true;
It doesn’t matter what I see.
It doesn’t matter what I see. ‘ (‘Deliver Me’, Aaron Shust)
‘Deliver Me’, Aaron Shust

This is not mindless fantasy, but spiritual reality based on Scripture: ‘when I am weak, then I am strong’ (2 Cor 12:10 TNIV). As we wait patiently for what we do not yet have (Rom 8:25 TNIV), we speak faith into situations and see those situations change as God works.

Secondly, there is power in unity and in prayer (see Matt 18:18-20 TNIV). God has promised always to be with us (see Matt 18:20 TNIV, Phil 4:5 TNIV, Heb 13:5 TNIV) and there is power in the agreement of two or three people in prayer:‘whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.’ (Mark 11:24 TNIV) The church has been given spiritual authority by Jesus and victories come not because of our strength, wisdom or power, but because of God, whose power is unleashed when His people learn to agree with Him and use the authority He has given them. Remember ‘five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.’ (Lev 26:8 TNIV) and ‘One of you routs a thousand, because the LORD your God fights for you, just as he promised.’ (Joshua 23:10 TNIV)

As we learn to agree with God, accepting His will for our lives as Mary did, we allow His promises to shape our lives, fuel our futures and determine our destinies.

As I looked at the tiling in the kitchen, I was reminded once again of how much I love tessellated shapes (where one or more geometric shapes, called tiles, are fitted together with no overlaps and no gap.)

I love hexagons because they fit together so well:

Lots of tiles actually use tessellated patterns on them to make them look prettier:

I suppose I like tessellation because I like order and symmetry; I like things to fit together neatly and without mess. And I’d very much like this process to extend to life as well: neat, tidy, ordered, no mess, no leftover bits!

Sadly, I haven’t found life to be always like that. Nor is the church like that, for the church is made up of people of differing ages, temperaments and giftings. The church is made up of people who ‘like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.’ (1 Pet 2:5 TNIV). If you look at old church buildings, the stones are individual and are not all the same shape or size, yet they are fitted together to make an amazing edifice that has often stood the test of time.

Some tessellated shapes are much more complicated than squares, diamonds or hexagons. I always think of the church a little like this image, more like a jigsaw puzzle of shapes that don’t apparently fit together at all!

Proverbs 27:17 TNIV says ‘As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.’ We refine each other, knocking off corners and edges so that we fit together. This process is not painless. Sometimes we don’t like the people God has placed us with, but just as we cannot choose the members of our natural families, so we cannot choose our brothers and sisters in Christ! God chooses us (John 15:16 TNIV) and builds us together like living stones. One day we will all fit together perfectly, as perfectly as any tessellated shape. Bear that in mind during the day’s sharpenings!

After the fitting of the units came the tiling:

Throughout September, we are praying for economic regeneration in our area and we are grateful that God has supplied the funds for us to be able to employ local businesses in the refurbishment work that is being done in the building. Our thanks go to those who have helped in any way with the kitchen work!

There is a lot of precision work involved in fitting a kitchen!

Can you see the join?

All of this work goes to make the finished product:

In the same way that we marvel at the precision and skill of a craftsman who is skilled in his work, we need to understand that each one of us is God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which He has prepared in advance for us to do (Eph 2:10 TNIV). God is the master craftsman who is working with great precision on our lives. Nothing that happens to us is by accident; nothing is wasted. In His omniscience, love and compassion, He works all things together for good (Rom 8:28 TNIV) so that the ‘finished product’ – which we do not yet see (1 John 3:1-2 TNIV) – may be complete and perfect, not lacking anything (James 1:3-5 TNIV).

The kitchen was re-plastered and the work has continued for the past two weeks.

The work doesn’t always look to be progressing!

Then new things appear:

Working on the sinks:

It’s starting to look more finished:

The Big Church Day Out in Sussex took place in May, a time of worship and teaching. The sessions can now be viewed on GodTV, so if you are just back from the One Event in Lincoln and need a reminder of what it’s like to worship with thousands or you just want to be able to join in with worship, click on the links below and sing along!

General link to interviews and performances:
Big Church Day Out 2013

Matt Redman live at the Big Church Day Out
Matt Redman
You might be interested to know that Matt’s new live album ‘Your Grace Finds Me‘ is released on September 24th. He talks about the new album here. I personally can’t wait!
Interview about ‘Your Grace Finds Me’

Phil Wickham live at the Big Church Day Out
Phil Wickham
You might also like to know that Phil Wickham’s new album ‘The Ascension’ is also due for release on September 24th. Two great albums, one date to remember! Some of the new songs feature in the video; I particularly liked the song ‘When My Heart Is Torn’, which speaks of the transitory nature of our suffering in comparison to the glory to come.

Brenton Brown live at the Big Church Day Out
Brenton Brown

Rend Collective Experiment at the Big Church Day Out
Rend Collective Experiment
“In the kingdom of God, it’s not about uniformity but unity… We don’t follow a God who makes churches and people like Starbucks make coffees…There are so many different backgrounds, so many different ideas…”

Hillsong at the Big Church Day Out
Hillsong