Mark spoke from Psalm 16:11 last night (“You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”)

Being in God’s presence (literally, ‘face’) brings many advantages and blessings. There is nowhere we can go to flee from God’s presence (Ps 139:7-10). God is omnipresent and His presence is everywhere. His presence gives us direction (showing us the path of life), brings us not only joy, but overflowing joy and introduces us to pleasures that will last forever.

The pleasures and joy that we can know come from Jesus (who sits at God’s right hand.) God’s presence brings us into a right relationship with Him (Ps 17:2-7). He is our defender, able to protect us from the attacks of the enemy.

Ps 21:1-7 lists several other benefits of being in God’s presence:
* strength and salvation
* fulfilment of dreams
* eternal blessings
* life
* unfailing love
* mercy

Being in God’s presence brings us protection and shelter (Ps 31:20). We can hide in His presence and rest, leaving Him to work out the situations which are beyond us. Ps 51:10-12 shows us that when we are close to God, there is joy and the Holy Spirit works within us to grant us a willing spirit and to renew and restore and uphold.

We were designed to live in God’s presence (Ps 139:1-16) and yet so often we fail to perceive God’s presence. We may be with Him, but don’t give Him our full attention or allow circumstances to cloud our vision. May we learn to dwell in His presence and enjoy all the benefits this brings!

Stephen spoke this morning on vision, looking at Genesis 15:1 (“After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: ‘Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield, your very great reward.'”)

Years ago, Stephen had a TV with no pre-set stations where you had to turn the dial to get a picture, or everything was all fuzzy:

Our earthly vision can be taken for granted, but we need spiritual vision too. God communicated personally to Abram (visions can be general or individual); we all need to hear directly from Him.

In this vision, God tells Abram not to be afraid, reassuring him that however overwhelming the revelation of God may be, He is looking after us and is with us to direct and guide us. He spoke to Abram personally by name, assuring him that he was known by God. He talked of being his shield, a picture which speaks to us of safety and protection, and said He was his very great reward. God is both the one who rewards and is Himself our reward. Having refused rewards in Genesis 14, God assures Abram that he will not be unrewarded.

We have an opportunity to move the dial on our vision and tune in to God’s plans and purposes. We needn’t be afraid of a God-experience and can share the visions He gives us (as Abram ultimately did.) God wants us to see with spiritual eyes, not just natural ones.

Some time ago I wrote about God’s mathematics (God’s Mathematics) and my views on how He works things out numerically haven’t really changed! Every week Dave and I count the weekly offering and we are amazed at how God multiplies the congregation’s giving: when we look at the number of people present and then count the monies given, we’re not quite sure what goes on between the giving and the counting, because there seems an awful lot more than there ‘ought’ to be! God is able to multiply our giving and can do so much more with what we give than you would expect would be possible.

This same principle of divine multiplication seems to be in operation with regards to the food boxes we are collecting to donate to needy families in Goldthorpe. The original vision God gave to one of our members was to have one box of tinned food per month to give for at least a year. We started with a cardboard box and quickly filled that, so we progressed to a larger box. That soon was filled to overflowing.

Now, just three months into the scheme (officially two since we started, but we’ve definitely collected more than enough for two months!), we have two large boxes and that doesn’t seem to be enough!

I cannot possibly explain this and feel rather like David did when he viewed all the gifts given so generously for the building of the temple: “But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.” (1 Chron 29:14) We can only acknowledge God’s provision and blessing on our own lives and thankfully return all we can to help others out of the abundance He has given to us.

I am about to take a school trip to Normandy on a residential trip and as you can imagine, the paperwork that has to be completed with such a trip makes the idea of a ‘paperless office’ quite laughable.

One of the things I have had to do is organise a ‘collective passport’ for the pupils so that they do not all have to take individual passports. That involves pupils and parents giving identity details to the Passport Office so that identity cards can be issued. Date and place of birth must be given, along with any passport details they already possess; there are additional questions to be answered if the child was born outside the U.K.

The question of identity always interests me, especially since, as Christians, we are citizens of two kingdoms: the kingdom of earth and the kingdom of heaven. I have a note at work which reminds me “We are children of God. Our identity must always be rooted in who we are, not in what we do.” It’s so easy to find our sense of identity in our jobs, in our functions, in what we do rather than in who we are. Value and worth are so often tied up with activity, not being.

The pupils on my trip have their U.K. identity stamped on these identity cards which allow them to travel freely in the European Union. It’s much harder at times to find and accept our God-given identity, but we need to do so if we are to live as God wants us to.

“I’ve been looking from the outside, outside
I’ve been walking on a straight line, straight line
Scared to let the world see my failures, who I am, or who I’ve been.

I want to see the world change, see the system cave in
You pull our hearts from the ashes
The cry of the captive is rising.” (Kutless, ‘Identity’)
Kutless, ‘Identity’

Whilst we were away this weekend, the message was on Daniel’s response to Nebuchadnezzar’s demand for an interpretation of his dream (told in Daniel 2). There were two aspects to this child-friendly sermon (children dressed up as Nebuchadnezzar, naming characteristics of his personality which were then stuck on him, and as God, also given ‘character labels’, suggested by the children) which particularly struck me.

One was the point that Daniel’s response to the threat he and his friends faced if they could not come up with an interpretation (a very unpleasant death!) was to pray. Prayer is one of the greatest resources we possess and yet is often neglected. Lynn, giving the sermon, mentioned a quote from John Piper on the subject of prayer which really resonated with me:

“Life is war. That’s not all it is. But it is always that. Our weakness in prayer is owing largely to our neglect of this truth. Prayer is primarily a wartime walkie-talkie for the mission of the church as it advances against the powers of darkness and unbelief. It is not surprising that prayer malfunctions when we try to make it a domestic intercom to call upstairs for more comforts in the den. God has given us prayer as a wartime walkie-talkie so that we can call headquarters for everything we need as the kingdom of Christ advances in the world. Prayer gives us the significance of front-line forces, and gives God the glory of a limitless Provider. The one who gives the power gets the glory. Thus prayer safeguards the supremacy of God in missions while linking us with endless grace for every need.” (John Piper)

The second image which has stuck with me was a Venn diagram, ably illustrated with hoops, to show us how we live in the world but also belong to God’s Kingdom and how we, essentially, live in the overlap part:

Jesus prayed about His disciples “They are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.” (John 17:15-19)

For many of us, we feel the struggle of being ‘in the world’ but ‘not of it’ very much. Let’s take heart, though, for Jesus also said: ‘In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” ‘ (John 16:33)

The anniversary weekend to celebrate two years of being on Market Street is fast coming up!

As the banner says, the weekend to Saturday 7th & Sunday 8th July. We are hosting events from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. on the Saturday with children’s craft activities, competitions and quizzes (not to mention the usual coffee morning!) In the evening at 6 p.m., we will be holding a family film night again, with free supper after the film.

On the Sunday, meetings will be at the usual time of 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m., with lots of interactive fun.

We’ll be looking at the theme ‘He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands’, so if you’re interested in seeing what God is doing in Goldthorpe and beyond, put the dates in your diary and be determined to get along!