West View Baptist Church, Hartlepool

A family friendly church in the town of Hartlepool

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Stinky Lazarus

Ian was a one man band and led the service and brought the word. He spoke on John 11 1-45.

He reminded us that God is never too late, God’s timing is alwayds perfect. He is always on time.

Hopefully we see who we should be in God with the things we do done for God’s glory and not for our glory or personal power,

“Lord, the One you love is sick.” We’re all hopefully aware of and remember the Mary and Martha story. They and their brother Lazarus were friends of Jesus, They were a family that He stayed with, who made Him welcome. They lived in Bethany, about two miles away from Jerusalem in an area known for alms houses, This is the only Gospel where Lazarus makes an appearance. Lazarus means one who God has helped.

The disciples are puzzled that Jesus isn’t rushing to see his good friend, then they are puzzled that Jesus says Lazurus is sleeping, Only when He tells them plainly that Lazarus is dead do they get some idea as to what He refers to, But they still don’t get what Jesus is doing.

“Let us all go along with the Teacher so that we may die with him”. Thomas doesn’t know it but he is being prophetic here. Martha and Mary both come out to meet Jesus. Martha tells Him that if He had been there, Lazarus would not have died, Martha is practical but also more of a theologian that we might have realised. She knows that her brother will rise again in God’s kingdom but didn’t get who Jesus was . Jesus need to remind her that He has power over death, Mary also says something similar…”If You had been here….”

But we already know that Jesus did not have to be there to heal. Remember the story of the centurion. Jesus healed without being in the same place. Do we think about what Jesus can do for us? Do we make the same mistake? I want Jesus to do what I want Jesus to do!!! Rather than “Here I am Lord, I am your servant, What do you want me to do.”

This is the last miracle in John’s gospel before the death and resurrection. The place where we see Jesus both fully human and fully divine, Jewish mourning for the first few days is very emotional, crying, wailing, tearing clothes and pouring ashes over their heads, Talmudic beliefs seemto suggest the spirit would not leave the body for three days.

Jesus was only a day away. Jesus waited deliberately. He wanted people to expect decay, death smells and corruption of Lazarus’s body. He needed his disciples to witness his power over death, Returning to Judea was not safe, the Jews wanted to kill Jesus, The disciples wanted to be safe. They still did not get the power that Jesus had, He had to say plainly he was the resurrection and the life. When Thomas said what he had, he was fully expecting that they were all going to die there and then. He did not know that Jesus knew most of them would die eventually for believing in him.

Jesus time is perfect, Martha warned there would be a bad odour after 72 hours in the tomb.

Do you realise that Jesus was that powerful he had to name Lazarus specifically. “Lazarus come out!” If he’d simply said come out, Lazarus would not have been the only one obeying! .When Mary came will all the Jewish people they had their questions answered, He healed the blind man for the glory of God, the same applied to the raising of Lazarus. Not everyone sees and believes though. Some only saw that if Jesus continued they would all be in danger, Caiaphas utters prophetic words here “You do not realise that it is better for one man to die than the whole nation perish.

So much is going on in this passage it is difficult to do it justice in one Sunday message, We see God glorified, we see the compassion of Jesus , fully human ” Jesus wept” . He knows Lazarus will be coming out of the grave. Jesus not only conquers death, He is in control of it. His Name is Power!

He creates new life for those who trust in Him. We forget sometimes what He has done for us. He is there in the lows and the highs. He is the Cornerstone, life over death, bringing life to the poor. Do you believe? Are you who you should be in Christ this morning?

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I am a Fool (A revival story)

The River of Life

We had a prayer and worship event praying and singing, praying for revival. So why the odd title for this post, Well the answer is easy, and God woke me up early on Saturday morning with some blunt messages and then prompted me again to get up and write down the thoughts that form the basis of the following few lines. So here goes,

I am a fool. Sometimes I can’t see the obvious. It’s there in front of me but I don’t see it. I’ve written the notes for this post in a notebook I bought for the express purpose of writing down other people’s talks and sermons and the first one I write down is one of my own. My intention was to leave this on the sound desk at church until I needed it but God had other ideas.

I don’t what I expected when we held a prayer and praise event at our church, praying for revival. Hordes of people to arrive, buses to pull up outside attracted by the singing and the fact the lights were shining into the darkness. Did I Mention I am a fool?

It was a long tiring mostly enjoyable night. and we did not actually get away from the church until nearly midnight. We’d had good company, with old friends putting in an appearance from New Life Church, Owton Manor Baptist Church, friends from the West View estate, friends from St Josephs and from Town Pastors, All good and a great way to spend the evening. But where was the revival? I think I may have mentioned “I AM A FOOL!”

God woke me on Saturday morning to remind me of this. Revival, start actually thinking about it. Did you not have your eyes open? Are you not listening? God gifted me a song a few weeks ago. An old song, written in 1977 and rewritten slightly by various people. The version I was listening to was sung by the Northumbria Community. “Brother, Sister Let me Serve you” aka the Servant Song. I’d been focussed on the servant part of the song as the lyrics seemed to describe what I and the other volunteers do for town pastors. But the Brother, Sister message is just as important. It turns out that God can mean many things when he puts a word out as a vision.

Revival was a word given to various people in several churches that led to the praise and worship event. I was a fool, I made the classic mistake of trying to measure success by bums on seats.

What I witnessed though was the revival of people, the miracle of healing and recovery, the way in which God moves in the margins doing things in ways we can’t anticipate. I witnessed a broken person trying to find their place again in the world, struggling to find a new role in their church. I witnessed this person taking their first faltering steps on their healing journey, testing out their ideas for a role they can play in their new church. Testing out what they were capable of in their old church, amongst old friends.

I’d picked this person up from their home and on the way over they told me some of the new changes, their new church was going through, and shared their thoughts on playing an active part in the church. “I can’t be a deacon” the person stated, “I can’t be a leader”. They didn’t feel they could preach or lead a study but they did think of something. “I’d like to do some singing” was said quietly.

Have I mentioned I am a fool. I missed this. I was too busy worrying about how their new church was trying to organise, and getting distracted by issues that were not even any of my business.

When we got to church this person put out the food they prepared. They chatted to old friends and we joined in the prayers and the singing. Over the course of the night, Ian, Mark, Amanda and Viv took turns bringing us music and prayer. But then our friend joined them at the front. Hesitatingly, bowed down, quietly into the lectern microphone, this person began to sing. Slowly they began to stand straighter, to gain in confidence, their voice grew in strength as they began to relax and to explore the fact that they’d “like to do some singing!” Imagine a seedling sprouting and getting taller and straighter, then you will see what I saw.

As the evening went on people came and went, the singing continued into the night. When we drew to a close our friend walked into the kitchen and started washing up, finding comfort in a role and a safe familiar place, healing through routine. Revival in unexpected ways. I was watching healing, revival restoration, doing routine tasks that a few short weeks ago they would not have been capable of. Even this person was amazed that they could just walk into the kitchen and throw themselves into things again. Doing life again without stressing or having to be pushed and steered into something.

But others also brought messages of revival to the church. This fool was of course slow to catch on. Revival can also mean lifting tired spirits, welcoming people into our church family, and even simply feeding the hungry.

One person shared that our church is so welcoming, We function like a big family, with everyone getting stuck into helping each other with lots of different tasks, but always with a welcome for adults and children and a listening ear for problems, Another friend also shared that as a single person, they don’t get to normally have someone else make them food and teas and coffees.

As a final thought can I mention I am a fool again. As we start to tidy up, I’m looking at all the food that is left, wondering what to do with it. In wanders an old friend from our Filling Station days attracted by the music and the fact the lights are shining out into the church grounds. I ask him if he wants a brew, and he settles down for a chat.

By the time he leaves, he’s been fed and watered, we’ve filled a carrier bag full of food for him and his friend, enough to carry them through to benefits day. Revival again through food and hospitality. Amazingly this old friend comes back on Sunday for our services, takes part in our communion and leaves with one of our free bibles and more food. Amazingly the Bible he chose had only been added to our free giveaway Bible collection 90 minutes earlier by someone asking if I knew someone who could use it.

To our friend starting their recovery, you may never be a deacon. You are already a beacon to light up the life of this fool and to remind me that God’s revival is of people, involving hope and healing and small steps in ordinary things.

Brother Sister let me serve you song lyrics – YouTube

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Matty’s Message: Raise Children to follow Jesus and they will be like well aimed arrows.

Matty shared his reflections from earlier in the week. Children are like arrows and need to be aimed in the right direction. Wrongly aimed, they are broken arrows engaging in all sorts of harmful behaviours.

Matty stressed the message that Church is not a club for the well heeled, more a hospital for those who need to be healed. Compassion is the mother of miracles, and only when you are moved by someone’s pain can you bring healing to them.

He highlighted that the disciples when they thought they would die in the storm, they didn’t challenge Jesus’s power, they challenged his compassion. “Don’t you care that we might die?” (Mark 4:38) .

Matty shared that we have witnessed today being helped and led by good leaders. He said that we need to ensure that we help and parent and grandparent those young people in our familes. We should not duck or avoid that responsibility or delegate to others, like schools, teachers or even our church.

Matty shared that his mentor had also helped provide perspective on this. Children are a gift from God, they are not an inconvenience or a liability. There’s an opportunity to learn from their questions and teach them to follow the right path and share the Lord’s example.

Take a chance to show compassion, think on the storms we all face in life. Raise children to follow Jesus and they will be well aimed arrows.

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The Challenges of Temptation and the Gift that is forgiveness

Mark ked worship today and brought us the Word from Matthew 4 1-11. Songs included Do Not Fear, Blessed Be Your Name, My Lighthouse, This I Know (Ungizungezile).

Mark opened up by considering the idea of Jesus fasting for 40 days and 40 nights. Mark works as a chef through the day and he reflected on the fact that unlike a lot of people, food is not a big temptation or weakness for him. He can happily go right through the day without being tempted by food.

Mark reflected that some of the temptations around us can be really extreme. Mark’s temptations are much more mundane. His weakness is electronics, gadgets, computers and games like FIFA 25 even on his phone. Just to prove God has a sense of humour, someone’s phone started ringing at this point!

We are surrounded by influences through our electronic gadgetry and social media. We can use it for good, sharing what happens at church (or even recruiting town pastors) . But then there is also the temptations of buying stuff we don’t need from Ebay or Facebook Marketplace. Even worse is the temptation to post unkind comments or put people down over social media.

Mark shared that he is going to cut back on his gaming throughout Lent. He encouraged us to resist the temptations in our life and set aside that time for prayer and reflections. Spend more time with God. Mark challenged us to think about how we want to deal with temptations, how do we choose to deal with temptations, who we might want to discuss temptations with.

Mark reflected that often his temptation to buy more electronics is nipped in the bud after a simple conversation with his wife! For bigger, more difficult stuff, often God is the only one you can take the temptation and choice to. Mark reflected on the fact that the world doesn’t seem to have a focus anymore on fighting for and keeping right relationships. In his own family, his grandparents seem to be the only ones who had a lifetime relationship. The key to their success seemed to be that they talked about everything. Often that was just his grandmother putting his grandad right.

In discussing temptations, think seriously about whether or not it takes you away from God. Also don’t be afraid to ask for forgiveness if temptation sometimes wins and you make wrong choices.