It’s been a couple of weeks since the last blog. I’ve been on a short family break. I thought I’d share a couple incidents from Town Pastors last night. These reinforced that we never know when the seeds of faith we sow may bear fruit. I was stopped outside a nightclub with the truly humbling question “Do you remember me, I used to pray with you?”. A young lady who used to come to Bright Sparks, the kids club at Owton Manor Baptist Church had recognised me and wanted to share her memories of how much that time meant to her. The second encounter was with a young man who had spent an hour or so talking to me in the local McD’s after a Town Pastor shift, asking all sorts of questions about my faith and then confessing that he felt envious of those with a faith. He wanted to know if I remembered him, which I did and then sought some advice about his forthcoming marriage to a girl he clearly loves very much. He is struggling with the idea of a Catholic ceremony when he himself professes no belief in God. I could only share my own experiences with him, and encourage him to be open and honest with his wife to be about his struggle to understand a world that makes sense to a believer but baffles a seeker looking for answers.
Today’s wo
rship was led by Jonny with music provided by The Apple Tree. I was lucky enough to join them for a worship night earlier in the month and found the music and worship very uplifting. Today they brought us a mix of more established and newer worship songs, providing a louder worship experience which fitted very well with what Judith was preaching on.
Judith brought us the word from John 7.
She opened by stating that it is good to praise the Lord isn’t it. John 7 talks about rivers of living waters . It’s important to note the plural because God and water are both multifaceted, Think about water, it ranges from the brook to the tsunami. Water brings healing. We run a burn under water to cool it or a flush a wound to clean it. Or revives our bodies. Continuation of talk other week on light. Judith read from John 7 37 to 39 and prayed that were changed from inside out.
She gave a little background to the chapter. The events being referred to here occur a few months before crucifixion. Jesus is making a name for himself in his society both good and bad depending on the onlooker’s perspective. Many were dismissive, claiming he couldn’t be special or fulfil and prophecy as he was from the wrong linage, born in Nazereth, They did not realise he was born in Bethelehem. Judith emphasised that Jesus words cause division, but stressed the importance of us not diluting his message. He was speaking about people being able to receive the Holy Spirit.
The feast of tabernacles was at the end of the harvest and was to celebrate the in gathering of the harvest, Jesus was supposed to go with his brothers but he held back. This festival is also called the festival of booths as those attending lived in tents made of palms, Judith outlined 3 meanings in the festival. First it looks to the past in the travelling tents of the people of Israel. It reminds them of the time follo
wing the glory cloud of God. This them being delivered out of the hands of the Egyptians. It looks to the present and the literal sense of where they were gathering the harvest and looked to the future the coming of the messiah.
We thank god for the past the present and the future with our eyes on eternity. All of these things put a person in remembrance of God. This was a noisy festival. They drew water on the first and eighth day in golden pitchers. Gold and silver represents God in the Scriptures. We’re meant to celebrate God with a loud noise. Judith thanked The Apple Tree for doing exactly that for us today. Throughout the festival water and wine were poured out in portions. . On the last ,the eighth, the greatest day the priest would pour everything that was left on the altar walking around it seven times. Remember that in that area of the world water was scarce and valuable. Reflect on the fact that God’s spirit is poured out for you in unlimited quantity. This eight day was the start of a new beginning. Jesus stood up and shouted with a loud voice who ever believes in me rivers of living water will pour from them.
Imagine how capitivating or loud His words must have been to carry over the noise of all these young men celebrating. In the New Testament the spirit comes from within us. Jesus here was declaring himselfMessiah. Imagine that , imagine the chaos, the reaction, the priests sending the temple guards were sent to arrest him. They didn’t arrest him.., their jobs and more were on the line and yet they said his words no one spoke like Jesus, his words arrested them. The Holy Spirit makes the words of Jesus come alive in us.Get into the living waters of his Word. Get in this river, get swimming in it. If we could step into the spiritual word we would see the power of the words. Judith reminded us that we have the words of life. The words of Jesus have the power to change our world.
How hungry are you how thirsty are you for the word of god. Following Jesus will cost you. How desperate are you to get on the water. We need the right foods, bit if we don’t drink water, we dry up, the water helps us digest. We need both together. Our spirit man needs the food of the word of god and the spirit of God. Judith asked us to think about the different Greek phrasing for the word of God. Logos is the written word and rhema the spoken word. We need to mull the word over, think about it and give it careful consideration. We may not believe it at first but it becomes the water that refreshes us on the inside. We need to act on it , do it, be grounded in the word of God and water of his Spirit. You don’t bring a shopping list, you just sit with the one you love , our job is to make the invisible world of the spirit visible. Would your marriage work if you simply came with a shopping list rather that spending time with the one you love.
Jesus just wants to just sit with us sometimes and hold our hand and say it will be alright, it builds us up when we connect to God. If you swim in a river for a day can you say you’ve experienced the whole river? Think about all the explorers who map a river from its source to it’s estuary. Sometimes we need to go to the source, Ezekiel says our job is to get in and swim. If you take water away from the flow it becomes stagnant. You can react in a good way in the workplace, thank god that we can do our best to shine for him where we are. We know when we don’t make time for him. Come back to him he’ll give you rivers in a dry desert. Judith shared that she’s never content, never assumes she knows. Are you divinely dissatisfied? The Holy Spirit gives power to disciples to be witnesses. You might believe you know the letter of law but without water of the spirit becomes difficult to swallow. How to stay in river? Pray, ask for more of God. Need to honestly ask “Have you got all of me, God?” We need to obey prompting, and keep our sin account short. Ask God “Let me know” and then obey. We either progress or we regress. We don’t stand still. Keep your roots in the streams of living water. Psalm 1 reminds us of the need to be a tree planted by a stream of water.
Judith gave example of her learning new work, finding it daunting and a challenge but praying and reminding herself she has the mind of Christ.
Judith moved on to the faith of the woman with issue of blood who’d been a pariah all her adult life. She wanted to reach out and be healed. She should have been at home, a pariah… yet she ignored society , she knew she just wanted to touch the tassels of Jesus’s tallit or prayer shawl. She pushed through the crowd with desperation to touch in faith, to risk stoning, so hungry and thirsty for a touch of god. Jesus always responds to the touch of the hungry heart. Isaiah 41:17 states that the poor and needy search for water . Judith urged us all to get into the river, get into the presence of God, don’t get stagnant, don’t block the river with boulders. Time to step up and step out.
Judith shared we need to seek Him more. God is in the restoration business. He will create a clean heart and a refired spirit. Don’t be afraid and don’t hang back. Step into the waters of his world and his presence.
Amanda and Yvette joined Judith to pray for her as she leaves West View to follow where God has called her to go. It’s entirely apt that we entered church today in bright sunshine and left in a downpour of water.
God doesn’t do subtle hints.
at that meant for folks from other faiths, and where we would all end up. Our newest recruit to town pastors gave him some honest answers and I tried to share my own faith journey with him. We’re never sure what takes root in such conversations but we left him hopefully with some thoughts to mull over. The team eventually clocked off at 3:40 am. A couple of hours later I’m then up and on my way to a cold blustery sunrise service on the headland. Sadly I’ve not much in the way of photos from this as I forgot to put the memory card in my camera and my phone ran out of power. Clive Hall led this short service and did a great job competing against the awesome noise of the sea hitting the breakwater and sea wall. As always the atmosphere of the sunrise service is something special. A few dozen Christians remembering the dawn of the resurrection really sets the proper tone for Easter reflections. The bonus as always is the 3Bs… Bacon Butties at the Baptists. Headland Baptist church as
always getting up early to serve hospitality to the rest of the Christian community who gathered to greet the new dawn of the greatest day in history. After a short time of fellowship I was on my way home. I managed to grab a quick hour of sleep before heading off to West View for the morning service. Tim led the service supported by Amanda and Jonny with Jonny’s cousin called in to serve as our drummer. The song choices were fantastic this morning, and Tim involved a lot of the young people in the service. Eleanor was also pressed into service to provide the artwork for our “family” tree where everyone at church was asked to add their names
. With a little artistic licence we ended up with the resurrection story told by Lizzie as Mary Magdalene, the boys as Peter, the other disciple and the other, other disciple. They did a lot of running about. They were greeted by the girls as 
angels with red cowboy hats. All of our young people served to illustrate John’s version of events in Chapter 20, verses 1 to 18. It got across the real core of what Jesus expects from us. What we do for the least of his people we do for him. We focused on how Mary Magdalene recognised Jesus. It was when he said her name in only the way he could. In telling Mary to go and tell the others he was creating the first apostle, the first missionary. He was also summoning his church together, sharing and serving together as a family, calling God their father. And my short term plan… to borrow a phrase from a well known “blogger” , “and so to bed”
om 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.
y, 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.
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.
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.
eved 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.
way 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.
Judith urged us to celebrate our Present remembering that by Grace we are Saved, Raised and Recreated into a Masterpiece
ow 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.