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Mark led our service on 23 April. He brought us the Word from Luke 24 13:35.

Mark shared what had happened to him on his walk to faith and after he was baptised. Prior to coming to church he realised that he wasn’t living in the way that he should and he was not giving any thanks for the life he had.

It was through coming to faith that Mark received the love and family he was looking for. Afterr going through the waters of baptism Mark started his day in a very different way. He asked which way to walk and which way to be led. He admitted though that he didn’t always follow where he was led.

But when Leo was ill as a baby, it was their faith as a family that got them through some very dark times. In the worst of times it feels that you stop walking and start to sprint. But through out that dark journey they were all covered in prayer.

Mark starts his day in prayer now, He knows his walks changes from day to day. Often many people are on the same walk the same difficult journeys but we don’t know it. We often focus on what we need, We pray for the family, for our own problems. But we need to pray for others on the journey. Like many of us Mark doesn’t have the type of memory that allows him to remember Bible quotes and references at the drop of a hat, He’d like to improve that though,

Mark has a very different job now, moving around from care home to care home, filling in where he is needed. One of his colleagues shared that they couldn’t do that, as they are not very good at meeting new people.

Mark realised that one of the things he could do whilst travelling around was to ask people “How are You?” but then repeat the question again. Often a single word answer then turns into a more honest and open conversation.

Mark shared himself that currently his work situation is very difficult. The company he works for is in some difficulties and is likely to be broken up and reorganised.

But he knows God has a sdense of humour though. Mark was prompted to ask for help and his wife gave him the image that in her life journey, faith has always been the foundation . People praying for the family in dark times proved this. Mark was told Imagine Forrest Gump in the scenes where he is running.. All those people running, willing him on, willing him to succeed. You get the idea.

So how do we keep going forward? Ask for help. Identify the things holding us back. Realise that sometimes that can be our own selfishness. Ask Jesus, ask our brothers and sisters in faith. As Matty said, ask for the Holy Spirit to help and lead us.

Ian and Abbey led today and the songs included God be in my Head, Light of the World, Open The Eyes of My Heart, and Love Love, Love One Another.

Yvette brought us the word from Ephesians 4 1-16.

Paul wrote this, like a lot of his letters, from prison in Rome. Yvette shared that each of us have been called and chosen by God. We should be able to see Him in the way that we treat each other, being humble , able to admit we are sometimes wrong, and giving God the glory rather than focussing on our achievements. We need to appreciate and understand where people are coming from and that they may be different to us. Relationships at work in business in marriages are not easy and take effort to make them work. . After all people are not easy to get along with. We need to pray for them, pray for their families, pray they get to know God.

But a warning , be prepared for you to be the answer to your prayers. We are all part of the Body of Christ and prayer changes us. You need to study your Bible alongside praying to make sure you are not misled. Reading a Bible without praying is also not much use. Doing both means that your prayers have power and authority

Spiritual gifts are there to help the Body of Christ. We don’t always know what our gifts are . God doesn’t always show us what our gifts are. In fact God often doesn’t tell us the full journey and the destination, He simply tells us our next step. He won’t take us further until we do what he wants now.

Yvette then showed us Psalm 68:18. And explained that a conquering king would distribute looted wealth amongst his troops. When Jesus conquered death, he shared his gift, his new wealth with us.
In Acts 2 16-19 Yvette showed that we are living in the last days between Jesus resurrection and return. Each of us has the Holy Spirit living in us. We have gifts because of this, all different and all equal to help us grow. Paul says we need to use our gifts to step out in faith.

We need to be conscious of the fact that we don’t get to be good at something until we first are given the freedom to be bad at it.

If you want God to speak to you, you need to open your Bible. When we use our gifts to encourage each other, we will be ready to take God to West View. Unity and loving and working with all the other churches will change the spiritual landscape around us. This is what the spiritual gifts are for. It’s an ongoing process to aim for unity in faith. Thankfully it’s not about what we deserve, it’s about God’s love for us and using the gifts he gave us.

Amanda thanked Yvette for her words and reminded the church that in the induction service for Fiona and our new community ministers, Linda Donaldson had also been given a message if changing landscapes.

Promoted by James 5-13, we have introduced a prayer and praise box at church . This will allow people to share items for prayer and to request their favourite songs. They can also use it to provide feedback on their experiences at church….Of course you can also do this via our website by filling in the contact us form.