An active church serving the
Five Towns area of West Yorkshire, U.K.

Last Sunday: 20 July 2008

Speaker 20 July: John Pettifors
Subject: Comforted So We Can Comfort
Bible passage: 2 Corinthians 1:3-5

God is the “Father of compassion” (v3). He is passionate about you. But how open are we to God’s comfort? Are there areas of our lives we have not allowed him to touch?  As our Father, God may do this directly or through our brothers and sisters. Indeed, part of our role as Christians is to comfort others. We can use our experiences to empathise with others in a similar situation. We are blessed so that we in turn can be a blessing to those around us. We need to ask ourselves what has God blessed us with? This is not necessarily just money but other resources, a particular talent or simply our time. Romans 12 tells us to offer ourselves as “living sacrifices”, that our worship is our daily service. In order to do this we have to  put aside our selfishness (Phil 2:21) every day - once a week is not enough!

God provides an umbrella of mercy and love over us so we can live freely as ourselves. God is love - an expression of his being rather than his doing (1 John 4:8). There will be issues in our lives that we won’t understand, but we know that God’s love is unconditional in all our situations. This includes times of hardship and suffering. Jesus himself went through times of suffering (1 John 3:16). Just as we are light and a sweet aroma to others in Christ, we are a stench to those in darkness.  Yet Jesus reached out to sinners, for example, by talking to the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4). By doing this he was worshipping God by loving her as He did. We too need to try to love and value the same things that God does - ourselves and  all of creation, including those who are not so easy to love. But we don’t have to give everything away to show love, rather, share what we have. God calls us to be Christ-like, so as we have received we too can give to others.
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Report by Hannah Groves; photo by Tony Hall

Below are the previous few Sundays.

6 July

Speaker 6 July: Phil Jones
Subject: Transformation
Bible passage: Colossians 1:21 - 2:7

Looking at Colossians 1:21 - 2:7 we can sum up what we have learnt from the weeks we have spent in this passage. We see how the author Paul has changed by what he has written. He has become:

• willing to accept suffering
• an enthusiast for God’s grace
• someone with the attitude of a servant
• willing to confront people in the interests of their own spiritual war
• a hard worker
• extremely passionate
• genuinely concerned that Christians could lose it

He cares about what happens when Christ comes into someone’s life. He got excited when Christians became more mature, standing firm in their faith. Paul became a servant and changed completely. Just like in Paul’s life, Christ has the capacity to change us beyond all recognition. It’s a process of change - Sanctification.

There is an initial sanctification, where our Christian life begins; a final sanctification where we will forever dwell with Christ and there is progressive sanctification and this is what Paul is dealing with. With Christ in you, you can change and importantly this change should keep on happening and progressing. Paul knows he has not done changing.

We too can do something about the ‘here and now‘! What are you hoping that Christ will do in you next?

 

Report by Ben Groves; photo by Tony Hall

15 June

Speaker 15 June: David Wilson
Subject: Our Own Personal Life With God
Bible passage: Various

Having a relationship with God involves responsibilities. We, as Christians, need to have a real hunger for God and place him centre of our lives. God is ready if we are.

Psalm 91 shows us that God is almighty, and most high. God has the power and authority above everything else. God also has a secret place that can be ours too. There we can be ourselves and be at peace. Jesus opened up the way into God’s presence.

There are several things that make this place so special:

1.The place provides security (Psalm 91:1) – God provides a shadow for us and he has promised that we won’t be tempted more than we can handle. It can be a place of refuge. We need to declare that he is our God.

2.It is a place of fellowship (Psalm 27:4) – We are privileged to have a relationship with God and it is available for everyone. When we became a Christian we were re-born and this enabled us to live in the place of God.

3.It is a place of revelation (Psalm 73) – God will show us mighty things in this place and in the presence of God we will see things differently. There will be times when God wants to speak to us and we should be prepared to stop what we are doing and respond to him.

4.It is also a place of worship – This involves our heart coming into God’s presence. We cross the line of the natural and our faith reaches out beyond the confinements. In the place we should be willing to break through the barrier into another world.  

We should be aware of our responsibilities to other followers and also other people outside of the church.

Are we dwelling in the secret place of the Lord?
 

Report by Roxy Sutton; photo by Tony Hall

25 May

Speaker 25 May: Brian Weathers
Subject: Valuing & Protecting Our Church
Bible passage: Matthew 21:43, Hebrews 10

As Christians, we are here to value the church. If we do things with quality and excellence then others will notice. We have a responsibility to produce fruit (Matt 21:43). As the church (people), we can take the Kingdom of God out to others. This week our church has helped change the lives of some of our EDMF guests, and therefore helped change another nation.

The church has eternal value. Along the way we learn and grow together, and accept each other for both our strengths and weaknesses just as Jesus accepts us wholly and sacrificed himself for us (Hebrews 10). In our relationships with others, love and forgiveness are important (Matt 6:14-15). This can be challenging. Some relationships are awkward and need working at - meeting with people face to face and talking through issues. However, if we live by God’s word together, the Kingdom of God will be among us. When relationships are tested the church becomes stronger.

Along our journey it is important to keep a clean heart and not collect ‘excess baggage’ (Proverbs 4:23). If we live by God’s word we need not worry what our legacy will be - it will be seen in our children.

It is also our job to protect the church. Unity is the soul of fellowship, and we should strive to keep this (Ephesians 4:3). Though we are not perfect, we are called to be people of integrity. Negativity and criticism will damage and destroy the church. Also ego - those who seek to draw others to themselves. However, the church is bigger than any one of us. It has eternal value, and as such we must strive to value and protect it.
 

Report by Hannah Groves; photo by Tony Hall

18 May

Speaker 18 May: Gabriel Alonso
Subject: Speaking in a Language People Understand
Bible passage: John 4

Christians need to live a life and speak a language that is understandable to non-Christians.  We do not want to be distant from the world, we need to be living as examples in it.  Likewise, we do not want to speak a jargon-filled church language to those who do not understand it. 

Even before your conversion God saw you, you weren’t hidden from God.  Our lives had a sense, a direction in God even before we were saved.  God is a God of eternity and not just the present or future, and as such God is the redeemer of all of your life, even your past life before you knew God.  The problem is some Christians, when saved, try and change their personality and their language.  God made you and many of your characteristics are because God made you that way, you should carry them into your Christian life and not try and change them.  For example, when Gaby at 26 years of age became a Christian, a leader told him that he would now have to give up his music, which was nonsense, Gaby’ music is now a massive part of is ministry & witness.

God has set eternity in the hearts of men, all men, Christians and non-Christians, and as such we should be ‘real’ and try and get deep into peoples lives.  In John 4 we see Jesus speaking to a Samaritan woman who had a heavy past and was frowned upon by the people around her at the time.  Now Jesus did start speaking to this woman with ‘religious jargon’ (a language that only his followers / Christians would understand).  But his language starts to change as he gets deeper into her life and starts to speak at her level in ways that she would understand.  Jesus’ gets right to her language and her thoughts of God, and went deeper and deeper and deeper until she understood. 

We don’t need to change the way we speak when we’re Christians, we are called to go and make disciples.  Therefore it’s our responsibility to make sure the message is clear and understandable, without changing or watering down the message.
 

Report by Craig Weathers; photo by Tony Hall