West View Baptist Church, Hartlepool

A family friendly church in the town of Hartlepool

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Can we keep a Palm Sunday attitude of welcome?

Ian led today’s service with Amanda helping with the singing and notices. Matty shared some thoughts from the men’s Bible study, He reflected on Jeremiah 13 and the linen belt or loincloth that God had instructed Jeremiah to buy and then to hide in a crevice in the rocks. When Jeremiah was eventually instructed to go and retrieve it, it was spoilt and ruined. Matty reflected that this was like God’s gifts for us and that without care they too would be ruined.

Yvette brought us the word from Phillipians 2 5:11. We may all remember that verse that says that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow.

Yvette outlined some of the background to the letter. Paul’s letter is to the Philippians, written from a prison cell (again!). It’s written to an important group  of Christians who have formed the first church on mainland Europe. Phillipi is important in Roman world as it is a city with it’s own autonomous authority.
The passage is about unity and selflessness. Paul in describing putting others first, describes perfectly what his own attitude is, modelled on Christ . The attitude we give to people is usually the attitude we get back. We are windows to Christ and what we need to do is make sure what we portray is not distorted. Jesus never turned anyone away, he always made time for people and also for his father. We reflect on this Palm Sunday with our crosses made from palms that the people who welcomed him on this day subsequently turned on him, denied him, betrayed him and turned their backs on him.

Jesus knew this was going to happen. He even asked for this terrible cup or burden to be lifted from him, He never lost sight of the fact that what needed to happen was whatever God willed and he did it,  he did God’s will. We all can appreciate and realise what it being betrayed by his friends must have felt like, it must have hurt. Jesus goes to his death, a painful death. It’s not an easy death. The details are disputed about exactly where the nails went.  Modern research now suggests that the nails in his feet might have been done sideways. Whatever the details there is no doubt that this is a truly horrible death. Crucifixion is death by suffocation. Because he loves us and loves his Father he suffers this.

The gospels show how much he loved us and loved his father.  Yvette pondered on the fact that even though he had unlimited and ultimate power, Jesus chooses the powerlessness of living as a human to save us, the feeding living being tempted , and being constrained by time. He came as a carpenter, a jobbing builder, a nobody, to a young unmarried mother. We don’t even know if Joseph is there to act as a stepdad as we don’t hear about him again in the gospels. The first 30 years of the life of Jesus reveal very little we hear nothing. He could have come in power with the heavenly army. Instead he came as a baby, grew to be a worker and a servant. The era that Jesus is born into people could actually sell themselves as slaves, they could be there voluntarily . Thankfully we were bought at a price from Satan, freed when Jesus paid the price and set us free. The more time we spend in God’s presence the more we become like he wants us to be. Jesus is irresistible. All who meet him bend the knee. We need to see nothing but him . Imagine if people could see the sun (the Son) in our eyes. Imagine the consequences. More prayer gives more power.When we obey we are rewarded. Imagine the treasures we are building up. Yvette finished by praying for the coming Holy Week and Easter.

Reflecting on what Yvette had preached on I was reminded of some of the training I had undertaken for Hartlepool Town Pastors. Part of that training focussed on avoiding conflict and being aware of how our actions affect and influence others. The Betari Box model expresses the fact that our attitudes and behaviours have a direct effect on the attitudes and behaviours of others.  We need to let the Son shine from us and be the best Bible that people get to read each day. A tall order and we will not always manage it. The good news is that God does not hold it against us. We get to keep on trying each and every day.

The men’s Bible study  on Monday continued their journey with Jeremiah and it seems apt to end with Jeremiah’s prayer and God’s answer. What false gods or worthless idols are people following today?

19 Lord, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in time of distress,
to you the nations will come from the ends of the earth and say,
“Our ancestors possessed nothing but false gods, worthless idols that did them no good.
20 Do people make their own gods? Yes, but they are not gods!”
21 “Therefore I will teach them—this time I will teach them
my power and might. Then they will know that my name is the Lord

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When God calls, pack your tent and sing your song.

Tim and Jonny led today’s worship. Tim continued with the theme of looking at the highlights of the Old Testament. The Bible is mainly rooted in the history of people. The first 11 chapters are pre history, no iPads, no history books, all oral. The main purpose is to reflect God, God is , God is the creator who remembers his people.

There was probably a man called Noah. There definitely was a flood. The early writers were interested in getting us to follow God. These chapters lead us to Abram. The call of Abram is found in Chapter 12. Some 9 generations after Noah a man named Terah is born. This guy is loaded he has a big estate , father of a great family estate , lots of land, and has 3 sons, Abram, Nahor and Haran.

Tim tried to compare this to the Dallas series of the 1980s but not sure anyone was a fan! Haran has a couple of kids . Nahor marries Milkah, Haran’s daughter after he died in Ur. Abram marries Sarai and they take in Haran’s son, Lot. Abram is due to inherit a large part of the estate. Terah dies and the sons take over . But the family line is set to end because  Sarai is barren and carries that pain. Then God tells Abram to leave.

This family has a theme of barrenness , Rebekah, Rachel, Hannah all go through this pain. This family of the whole earth begins life in this situation of barrenness.

Let’s be honest if we wanted to write this story we’d have started from a better place. But God had other ideas . This is a speech of God. In the New Testament we will find God’s word is a person, Jesus! Not a chapter in a book.

Easter is fast approaching, here in two weeks. It’s  a celebration of resurrection, giving life to the dead and calling into existence things that don’t yet exist. People formed by Gods world. A world bringing order from chaos. God calls those who are barren and without hope into hope.

This whole story is about this contradiction that to stay in safety is to remain barren. The call to Abram is to go blindly into the future. Abram doesn’t know where he is going but God will show him. Today’s society is too focussed on self. The summons is an incredible promise . Who ever loses his life., This Sunday’s Word for , Acts 3:1 is a call for the faithful to move in life. There is an incredible promise wrapped in this call to Abram . God says “I will make…”,  “I will bless…”, “I will curse..” These are the gifts of god , in the self presentation of God. Compare these with what God gave Adam and Eve in Genesis 3.

They are simply given here as a gift of God. They do however depend upon Abram receiving the gifts. The Promise concluded with a commissioning. This text hints at purpose of the church. In Galatians 3:8 Paul traces that call of the church back to Abram. The good news is God wills life and hope for all people. For all people with no qualifier, and no criteria to meet. Nothing happens if there is no verse 4, no “So Abram went.” He believed the promise of God and went! He travelled the northern shrines . The geography is not really the point though. It’s about pilgrimage and journey. Abram trusts the promise. Would we, we like to be settled and secure. No one likes change. God is a God of movement,  of journeys, of stepping out in faith when called. There are numerous examples of this. God is a tent dweller he moves. Look at his Tabernacle. in Hebrews Jesus too has nowhere to lay his head . By faith Abram made his home in a foreign land, from this one man comes numerous decedents . All this from a man who because of his great age could be considered as good as dead. God calls us to be tent dwellers and it’s not one generation, not just the here and now. God’s promise assumes we pass it on to future generations. Abram enters the land, finds it full of Canaanites, he doesn’t fight them. The promise of God is hard, not easy, to believe and practice . Has to be done in the midst of others who don’t believe. Abram’s is an interesting relationship with no evidence of conflict. The Canaanites may even be a temptation. There is no evidence he tried to covert them. His task was simply to live amongst them , and he leaves altars as he moves around. Tim posed the question, “Where’s your place to connect to God, or is it maybe a simple wooden cross in your hand.” God was about to do something amazing for Abram. Abram simply responded . That’s all God wants us to do. Take the first step, let God bless others through you. Take the step even when you don’t know where the journey take you help us is to trust.

Tim then highlighted some of the inspiration behind the rewrite of the words to the hymn Jesus shall reign that we sang today. The inspiration behind this was Eric Liddell, of Chariots of Fire reputation. He was sitting in a railway station being mocked and questioned about his beliefs. His answer was simply to sing the words of the song to his mockers. Eric Liddell just sang the words to his mockers as a simple way of demonstrating that he was indeed a man not afraid to follow when God calls.

This Sunday was also the time when a small band of us went to Sheraton Court to share worship and songs with the residents.  Tim, Terry, Stella, Esther, Matty and Brenda went to share some time and sing some songs. It is both humbling and a privilege. Even though we had slightly less residents in attendance this time they truly made up for it with their enthusiasm in joining in with the songs. I’ve included an extract of some of the songs,  slightly croaky as some of us are still  getting over colds.

 

 

 

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It’s all about Grace, God’s plan and a man called Jesus

As promised I said I would try to add  the message that Judith was sharing last week. I’ve done this from other people’s notes so let me know if this is not a fair summary, Judith reflected on the message we heard last week from Tim on God’s amazing love, on the fact that despite man’s failings, and his continuing inability to do good, God still loves us and has made a way for us to be connected to Him.

Judith drew on the following scriptures for her message on Sunday.

2 Cor. 5:17 1 Peter 2 : 9 & 10 Ephesians 2:1-10 Ephesians 4:18 2 Cor. 4:3-4 Romans 7 : 14 – 25 Psalm 145:8 Ephesians 1:7 Colossians 2:12 Jeremiah 29 : 11 – 13

She highlighted three key elements to this. Consider your Past. Celebrate your Present. Rejoice in your Future.

In considering our past we need to reflect on the fact we were dead, separated from God, unrighteous and objects of wrath. We were born under the curse of sin and death, as part of the fallen Adamic Nature; Adam had been God-conscious but after he had disobeyed God he became Self-conscious. He’d lost his connection to the supernatural presence of God. This meant we all were alienated from God. The good news is that through accepting Jesus Christ as our saviour we step from one kingdom into the other, from an old management to a new management.

Under the old nature, courtesy of Adam we did not have hope, Now through Jesus we have hope, a future and a reconnection to the supernatural. Judith urged us not to be afraid of the spiritual life, reminding us that after all that is exactly where God lives

Helen Keller
Helen Keller

Many people are good kind and helpful – but is that enough? Can we earn our salvation; can we do enough good deeds to get us back into God’s good books? We were born into a sinful nature, because of Adam, because of this “Adamic Nature”. We could have been stuck there but God had a better plan. And the name of the plan is Jesus. God knew we couldn’t do it on our own. Without the Iife of Christ and the love of God we are just doing empty works – they don’t earn us a relationship with God!

Our good works, our love of the Word and putting it into practise, stem from a loving relationship with our Father God. Judith also reminded us that although children are born with the Adamic nature they are innocent in the eyes of God, the Bible talks about the age of accountability. Children go to Heaven. At a certain point we choose to go on our own path or choose God’ s path, and God knows what our level of understanding is. Inside everyone is a hunger to know our creator, and we can answer that call or not.

Judith reflected on Helen Keller’s statement. She was a blind and deaf lady, who was taught sign language and was eventually taught about God and Jesus. Her amazing reply was that “I always knew He was there, I just didn’t know His Name”. His name is Jesus.

We have to learn to become God-conscious again. Live your life from the inside out. Put Jesus the Living Word in first place and we’ll become more sensitive to the Holy Spirit, as we renew our minds and put these things into practise, He helps us & prompts us to communicate the love of God to others through different ways.
Judith urged us to celebrate our Present remembering that by Grace we are Saved, Raised and Recreated into a Masterpiece

God had a Plan! Thankfully God is rich in both mercy and grace, The humbling and amazing thing is that you’ve never gone too far or done too much for His love not to wash you clean. God is the initiator, the designer, the creator, the Lover of the plan of Salvation. When we step into God’s Kingdom we receive a new management.

We cannot earn our salvation. Paul makes it clear that it is from God, and from God alone. We have been given an everlasting gift. For that reason, we are to celebrate the present. We do not need to live under the power of sin! Yes of course we still miss the mark but we can choose to put things right again and carry on. We don’t need to keep making excuses like “well it’s just my nature, part of my character..”

Is it part of the Old Man, or Nature – or part of the New Man, or Nature?
We all have Christ’s Nature on the inside of us. It’s down to us we always have a choice!!

Paul tells us to put off the old Man – (Thankfully Judith wasn’t saying divorce your husbands….) – and put on the New Man. Remember that in order for us to put something on we have to take something off.
So that’s where we are now, on this journey of ups and downs, choosing to renew our minds and our nature with the Word and character of God, through Jesus, with the help of the Holy Spirit
God not only saved us, He has raised us up from death in sin to Life, and seated us with Christ. It’s worth noting that some translations refer to being enthroned with Christ.
So we are seated With Christ in Heavenly Places – we are enthroned with Him

Physically we are still here and face the challenges of life on Earth, through good times, hard times, and challenges. Always remember He didn’t leave us by ourselves, we have a Comforter. One who comes alongside and Helps us in our weakness.

A bit like a good Mother, God’s character is one of comfort, nurture, and love.

It is through God’s Grace that we are saved and raised – not our works –We are therefore not called to please ourselves anymore but just like a relationship with someone you love, we live to please Him by our obedience to His Word (cleaning our mind) and acts of service – out of a Love relationship
Paul writes that “we are his workmanship,” literally we are his making. We have been created. We have been formed. This is not in the general sense, but in the sense of a new creation.
Paul says we have been re-created “for good works.” The emphasis here is on holy living, the exact opposite of how we lived in the past. We are God’s special treasure – valuable, and His Masterpiece. Our salvation is something only God can do, when we say yes to Him.
He loves us regardless – He loved us before He even made the earth – and He longs for a relationship with His children! He loves everyone the same, so don’t dismiss yourselves as not worthy – or else you will be saying God is a terrible artist & His masterpiece is rubbish!

Rejoice in your Future : God has given you a hope and a future, now and in eternity
Vs 10: For we are God’s handiwork (Masterpiece), created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Yet again the message from Jeremiah 29 : 11 – 13 is heard. I’ve reflected elsewhere on this message and Judith yet again draws it out: For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call on Me and you will come and pray to Me, and I will hear [your voice] and I will listen to you. 13 Then [with a deep longing] you will seek Me and require Me [as a vital necessity] and [you will] find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

There is nothing in all creation that has the power to change us on the inside – our best efforts or good works cannot pay for our salvation. It’s only God’s grace which is a gift that we need to accept. Jesus gives us that way to become re connected to God through the born again experience of our spirit

We were dead but now we are alive on the inside because of God’s great love – there’s nothing we can do to make Him love us more or make Him love us less – we are recreated on the inside into a masterpiece, and are seated with Him as part of His Bride

We now exist for God’s glory. He doesn’t exist for our glory. We don’t glorify him when we hold back! Just like the Heavens – we declare his glory by showing God in a physical way when we obey him.

Let’s learn to be still before Him, to draw near to Him and ask for more of His Supernatural Presence; Let’s be willing to let go of things that we value higher than Him – whether that’s a person, a thing, or something hidden – like an unforgiveness or grudge.

And finally Judith reminds us all to rejoice in the Love of God that gives us a Hope and a future

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Service interrupted.

Ian led today’s service, ably supported by Jonny, who turned up at the wheel, getting a quick lesson off time. We had some fun worship songs today including one of our current favourites, My Lighthouse. Judith brought us the word today but sadly I missed it as I was called out to assist Mark in dealing with the fact that someone had tried to set our gent’s toilets alight.

Fortunately the cardboard and lighter used hadn’t set anything else alight and there was no  damage to church and no injuries. Incidents like this do highlight the need for us to all be vigilant. Hopefully I’ll be able to gather some thoughts from others from Judith’s sermon from today. Meanwhile I thought it might help to share some thoughts around today’s incident. Attempted arson is no laughing matter and we did report what happened to the police. We will be fitting some internal CCTV cameras to try to prevent any repeat of this.

It did however lead me to ponder on the reasons behind it. I’m currently reading Mend the Gap by Jason Gardener which looks at the practical difficulties of bridging the proverbial generation gap.  Church by it’s very nature is committed to family values and trying to build and keep a sense of unity amongst diverse congregations.

Mend the Gap poses the question “Why do young people commit crime?” and one young person replied “Kids commit crime because there’s no sense of community any more!” The challenge for the church is of course how we deal with this.  We now live in a time where old community traditions and values appear to have been eroded without anything to put in its place. I agreed with Jason Gardener that churches should not be backward looking. What they should be doing is acting as a community in their own right with their own traditions and values. Ministering to young people is fraught with problems. Look at the New Testament and seek out the youth ministry received by Jesus. You’ll find it in Luke’s evidence driven gospel. It states Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favour with God and Man. That’s a tall order for anyone involved in trying to bridge the generation gap.

It’s even more challenging at the point in time we find ourselves at. Communities are established through their shared stories and generationally our stories are now coming from very difference sources.  Word of mouth and written records are replaced by social media channels. How many of us know what the latest Youtuber is saying, who’s got the most popular vlog? Young people now,  more than ever,  are relying on peer advice derived from these social media channels.  Church I think needs to be part of a young person’s idea of family. Mend the Gap leads to the conclusion that church needs to be intergenerational, young and old together with sons and daughters prophesying,  young seeing visons and old dreaming dreams.

Young people buy into the myth of rebelling against adult society. Hopefully today’s incident was just that. We will continue here at West View Baptist Church to build our caring worshipping community reaching out through Filling Station and our other missional work. All of us have to be church youth workers and try and offer friendship, family and new traditions.

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An Ark, a lament, a promise and a new beginning

Tim, Roy and Jonny provided the music on Sunday 4 March, Jonny led worship and Tim brought us the message.

Our new song for this week,  Weep with Me, courtesy of the Rend Collective is a lament. We’ve been looking at the highlights of the Old Testament,  and it is surprising how many are actually in the very first book, Genesis. Focussing in on Genesis 6 we hear the story of Noah and his family. It is a long story so Tim only selected some snippets to illustrate but he encouraged us all to go home and read it in full. It’s clear that Noah did everything he was commanded to do. 150  days of flood occurred before the waters started to recede. Noah used birds to try to find dry land and signs of life. The raven explored but found nothing, the first dove explored but found nothing, the second returned with an olive sprig.  Not a bad present for Noah’s 601st birthday.

God’s new covenant serves to remind him and us of his promise. Never again would water be used to wipe out all life. The rainbow is the sign of that promise.

We teach the story of the Ark to our children,  at home and in our Sunday Schools or Young Churches. But as we get older there is a dawning realisation, “Seriously, we’re teaching this to our children,  a tale of the destruction of humankind!”

It doesn’t sit very well with the carved wooden animals, the cuddly ark playset, the jovial bearded Noah character or the cartoon picture that seems to appear on every children’s Bible.

Too often we focus upon the behaviour of humankind,  and the judgement of a wrathful, vengeful  God. What we miss and what we really need to hear, realise and reflect upon is the pain at the heart of God in this situation. This is a God who weeps here.

The story of Noah “borrows” from other earlier stories. The Great Flood from the Epic of Gilgamesh has a flood hero Utnapishtim who is rewarded with immortality.  Many scholars believe that it is clear that the first 11 chapters of Genesis draw upon many older stories drawn from elsewhere. The story is told because the Jewish  writers wanted to tell us more about the relationship between humans and God. The focus here is and should be on the change in the character of God.

It is about covenant and promise. It is about God’s creation not living up  to God’s intent.  We’re invited to penetrate to the heart of God. God is grieved, not angered, as he sees the state of humankind. Can God abandon the world he made so joyously? The turnaround begins and is done through God’s pain and anguish. He feels the pain of his broken world .

In the midst of the story is this one man, Noah, and his family who offer the world hope. They show that faithfulness is possible even in a violent unbelieving world. Resolution of this whole story comes by the change in God’s heart, God speaks from his heart, in the full realisation that even after the flood humankind will not be changed forever. They will repeat the same mistakes. They will be just the same. Rain and flood will not change them forever.  Hope depends upon God’s heart. God promises to stay with man. This marks an irreversible change in God. Such a commitment is costly for God.  A grieved God is set against a resistant and resisting world.  The self abandoning god of Philippians 2. We finish with Chapter 9 of Genesis with God restating the purpose of humankind and his role.

God restates the original Genesis promises.  The rainbow is established as a covenant, a promise, but who is it a reminder for? It is the equivalent of a Post It note for God. “God remembered…” 

This is what gives hope through the Old Testament. The flood story tells us we cannot be forgotten by God. God remembers. Tim urged us to read it again if you have difficulty believing. God’s purpose and plan for creation will not be thwarted by humankind’s inability to live up to the hype.  The reality of chaos is all around us and we are invited to live a life of hope.

God is committed to the world he made. He sent his Son into the world as part of that commitment.

Tim also read the story of Noah by Frederick Buechner. Be thankful God is not forgetful or easily distracted!!

“In one way, then, it gave Noah a nice warm feeling to see the rainbow up there, but in another way it gave him an uneasy twinge. If God needed the rainbow as a reminder, he thought, that could mean that, if someday God didn’t happen to look in the right direction or had something else on his mind, he might forget his promise and the heavy drops would start pattering down on the roof a second time.”