Finance February // Earnings // Jonny Leech

Finances can be a difficult topic for people to talk about. And it may seem like finances are an odd thing to preach about but as Pastor Johnny pointed out this Sunday, there is a place for biblical finances in our church and in fact the Bible mentions and offers guidance and principles in over 2300 verses. In fact, Jesus taught more times on finances then He did on Satan. The truth of the matter is that finances are the 4th most taught kingdom principle. Jesus taught mostly about the kingdom of God. Second was His teachings on Father God and third was his teachings on faith. The thing is, finances are not important to God but God knew how important finances would be to us and how much it would impact our lives.

Our message this Sunday was based not on rules but rather on kingdom principles, wisdom scripture that if you do follow then you can be pretty sure what the outcome will be. We must however realise though that as we think about our finances, we must do so with grace. In 2 Cor 12: 9-10 it says

“But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.; Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

This verse, although slightly out of context, the application of it is in context because we need grace in money. Some people have great finances but that can lead to pride and conceit. God wants to give us grace to come away from those feelings. On the other hand, there are other people who struggle with poverty and debt. They may be feeling burdened with feelings resulting from past mistakes or bad decisions but God wants to give us grace from that too.

So to help us wade through our loves with the added burden that finances puts on us, and in some cases even imprisons us, God has set us some kingdom principles. Not to become legalistic but rather to be set free, free from our worries about finances.

3 basic key principles that we will focus on this month are:

1. Grace: There is a special name for everyone that has made a mistake with their money. Being an adult.

All of us have made mistakes, made bad investments, unnecessary purchases etc. All of us. So have grace. Have grace on yourselves and others when looking at financial decisions and situations.

2. Stewardship: the meaning of stewardship is to look after something on behalf of someone else.

This is exactly what our finances are as they most certainly are not our own. Rather our finances belong to God and actually we have been called to steward it. If we can get our heart to understand this key principle it will significantly change our spending and investment habits. What we need to begin to understand is that it is indeed a privilege to have any money and that we will be held accountable for all of God resources, we know this because in Psalm 50, God explains that He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. That’s poetic because in reality, when God refers to cattle, He is explaining His wealth in terms that the audience would understand and the number 1000 was not a definite number but rather used to reference an infinite number. So really what this message tells us is that God has infinite resources.

3.Financial freedom: God wants us to have things but He doesn’t want things to have us. Only God should have us.

We have to ask ourselves why don’t we talk about the principles of finance with other members of our community? Is that something we should be asking the Holy Spirit to work with us in our lives so that we are not held captive by it? As Christians we do lots of weird things. We give our babies back to God in a dedication. We give declarations in front of God when we get married and yet we will not speak to God about our money! Is money becoming the biggest things in our lives?

1 Pet 4:8-10 says

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.

God has given each of us a gift. We each have some kind of blessing. But this verse tells us we need to be sharing these blessings with others because God has given them to us. What we have, we did not earn. You might be thinking, but I have job, so isn’t the money I earn, mine? The simple answer is no. The same way you did not earn your spiritual transformation, or your salvation, or your finances. We are not really self-made. God gave us those opportunities. The brains you think with; the very breath you breathe when you wake up in the mornings. The opportunity to attend those interviews. We are actually just partnering with God, using the resources He has given us to then go and be good stewards who work hard. But at the end of it all, they are still all gifts from God.I suppose when you think it’s a gift, you may think there is no reason to work hard for it, it will simply be given regardless. But this is definitely not the case. In fact we should work harder to say thank you for the opportunity to steward. This simple change of mind will release us from the bondage of finance that we many times feel. God cares immensely about stewardship.

In the Parable of Talents, the 3 servants are each given 8 talents (which equates to a large sum of many). Each of the servants do something different with their money. 2 of them returned what they got with more. The third didn’t lose any money and kept the money safe but that wasn’t enough. Just as these servants were, we are given an opportunity. But we have to steward it for us and the benefit of others.

In a noteworthy John Wesley sermon, he says “Earn all you can. Save all you can. Give all you can.” So make sure that you go out and earn every penny that you can. Take every opportunity that is available to you. Steward your brain. But it’s not for your benefit. Save doesn’t mean to put the money under your mattress. It means don’t waste so that you can give all that you can for the benefit of the kingdom.

This is only the introduction and in the coming weeks we will be looking at debt, inheritance and giving and in those sermons we will build on the principles that have been touched on in this message.

Light and Life 5th Birthday // Looking Back on our Journey

It’s time for a celebration and as a church we have so many reasons to celebrate. Not only are we celebrating the church’s 5th birthday but we are also celebrating the end of our 21 days of fasting and praying. If there is anything that we have learnt during this season, it is that when we get serious with God, God gets serious with us. If we want to see an open heaven, we need to be praying for that. If we want to know our bible,then we have to read our bible! As we have been intentional with our thoughts and actions over the past 3 weeks, we have heard of so many breakthroughs in various parts of people’slives. 

This is the story of the breakthroughs of Light and Life

It started about 7 years ago when, following the principles of John Wesley, some of the members of the Free Methodists in Garstang felt a calling to do something in Thornton. We didn’t know what it was but we knew we had to do something. And so what started as a small children’s ministry, reading story’s and playing games, had by October 2016 turned into our firstSunday meeting at the Young People’s Centre. By January 2017, we decided it was worth taking the risk and so started having regular Sunday meetings. The next 3 years would prove to be difficult in terms of numbers, mind-sets, visions and so forth and although we were not necessarily seeing the fruits of our work in terms of numbers, we were absolutelyseeing the fruits by seeing what God was doing in our hearts and lives. Our life paths were formed during that season and we grew as a team and as a church. 

In Jan 2019 we started meeting in the Thornton Little Theatre. Our average attendance was 35 and at that point there were more people in the band then in the congregation! But we knew that this was our calling and God has always provided for us so we would have no doubt. By January 2020 we had seen blessing after blessing and our average attendance went up to 100 people per meeting. This was confirmation that we were walking in line with Jesus. Then Covid hit and we went through a really tough time, trying hard to keep that momentum but struggling with the connection that worshiping online made so difficult. Again during this season of difficulty, God was stirring in our leadership, drawing more people into our team. We were reminded again that God doesn’t see the same stumbling blocks that we see and He was still drawing people closer. It was during this season that we felt that we could become our own church society and it is with joy and privilege that we can say we have this very week been accepted and given our charity status. We have come so far. Sometimes we over estimate our own abilities and what we can achieve in a year. But we under estimate what God can do and when we look at where He has brought us fromand what He has for us going forward we certainly realise that it is His will, not ours!

As a church, we have three key principles that we need to follow. And they are all based on these 5 words:

Listen, advance, yes, thank you

1. When God speaks, we listen.

We have a job to do, Gods job is to speak but it’s our job to listen. We need ears to listen and hearts to receive.  The Lord Almighty gave this message to Zechariah in 4:6

Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,'

So we need to be in tune with His spirit which essentially means we need to be listening for His spirit. Some of the bestbible heroes became heroes because they listened. Moses listened to a voice in a burning bush. In the story of Eli and Samuel, it is Eli’s realisation that Samuel was indeed hearing God speaking to him that made Samuel stop and listen. This is difficult for us because we live in a time when we are trained to be doers but in doing so we forget to listen first. If it’s been a while since you felt God speak to you then you need to read His word and listen to what He is trying to say. Right there is where you will find every principle that you need to succeed. And although God is cable of doing big things that will make everyone listen, when He speaks to us, He chooses to whisper. He whispers because He is close. And if we don’t get it right the first time, we are told not to give up. God will give us a second chance because he is the God of grace, the God of mercy, the God of second chances.

2. The Gospel message will advance.

The hard truth is that the Gospel will advance whether you are with it or not. We think that the Gospel is on retreat with attendance in most churches in England being less than 65 people a meeting.  But in fact there are 2.6 billion practicing Christians which means that Christianity is increasing and that the Gospel is advancing. But just as Esther was not the main character in her book, we are also not the main character in our book of life. That is because, just like in Esther’s story, the main character of our life should always be God. Esther is asked to step out in faith even though she feels uncomfortable doing so. The truth was that if Esther chose not to do it, there would have been someone else who could have done God’s work. But we should know that God has specially put certain people in our paths because He believes that we have the key thing that will allow them to hear the message and if we don’t want to share the Gospel message, then the biggest disappointment will not be that the message will not be passed on but rather that you won’t get the privilege to work with God in advancing that gospel, someone else will get the job that you were raised to do. And if we are able to step out in faith, it does not mean that you will be saved but it might be that you will save someone else’s, if only we are able to partner them with Gods gospel. We should at every opportunity attempt to gossip about the gospel. We should never take for granted the importance of salvation.

3. We always need to say yes and thank you

It is because of our obedience to listening to the message all those years ago that we are can celebrate our church turning 5 years old. The first time we say yes on our Christian walk is when we first invite Jesus into our hearts. But we are also, as Christians expected to say thank you. We may work very hard and receive many blessings but we should always keep in perspective where those blessings have come from. When Jesus healed the 10 lepers, He was aware that only 1 person came back to thank Him for being healed. It is important to thank God for all of our blessings, especially in the hard times when we feel like everything is stacked against us. This is why every Sunday in worship, we will sing songs of praise and know that everything we have, is thanks to him

Prov 11: 24 tells us that

When the righteous prosper, the city rejoices;
    when the wicked perish, there are shouts of joy.

This sums up our story and the hope is that it will continue to sum up our hearts and values and stories. Listen to thatwhisper. When we listen to that voice we know how we can partner with the gospel so that it will advance in every generation and we can live life to the fullest. So that we can be fulfilled.

21 Days of Prayer & Fasting // The Power of the Holy Spirit

This Sunday we had our very own Doug Burke bringing a message to us as we continue our 21 days of prayer and fasting on “The Power of the Holy Spirit”.

How great to be back home at Thornton Little Theatre, it’s like the spiritual home of Light and Life. A scripture Doug was reading this week felt appropriate for today.

Exodus 20:24b “Wherever I cause My Name to be honoured, I will come to you and bless you.”

When Pastor Jonny asked Doug to choose which week and message he would like to bring, Doug chose The Power of the Holy Spirit, he saw it as a challenge that would do him good to delve into. When he realised afterwards that maybe he’d chosen wrong and it was too late, he worried it would need to be some sort of David Copperfield, flash, bang, magic show. But is that how the Holy Spirit works? No. How does the Holy Spirit work?

Doug was asked to preach once at an old parish church, he said that he was given a subject to speak on that he was not happy about. He didn’t know what he should say. The choir (all dressed in robes) sang their songs and then it was Doug’s turn. Doug got up to speak, put his bible down and noticed a scrap bit of paper that said on it, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus”. John 12:21. Now that’s is how the Holy Spirit works. The Holy Spirit will always point you towards Jesus, in everything. Always.

When you feel like you’re struggling and you tell God, the Holy Spirit will guide you to look at the cross. Look at what Jesus has done for you. Jesus will always point up to the Father. When you see what the Father has done, sending His only Son as a rescue plan so that where He is, we can be also. All you can do is lift your hands in praise because of what He has done for us.

Jesus says in John 14:6

“I Am the Way, I Am the Truth, I am the Life. No-one comes to the Father, except through Me”

There is no other way to Father God except through Jesus Christ and understanding the cross and His resurrection.

We pray that through it all, through the power of the Holy Spirit we would see Jesus.

John 3:3-8 “Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

“How can someone be born when they are old? Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying ‘You must be born again.” The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

Doug highlighted the word wind. We often hear the word wind of God, breath of God, pneuma is the Greek word, for air or breath. Ruach is the Greek word for Spirit, because the New Testament was originally written in Greek and Aramaic.

Doug was once staying in a hotel in Darlington, Doug was watching a film while his friend who was also there picked up a Gideon’s bible. While his friend was flicking through and asking questions, Doug was half listening and half answering the questions. After about half an hour, he shut the bible and said “Let’s just call it a night” and Doug said then they heard the sound of a rushing wind, very directional, came at the right hand side window, and Doug felt something come into the room. After that Doug said something changed and life was never the same, he was the one that would now be asking questions. The power of the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit of Jesus Christ operates in so many different ways, He is a multi-faceted God, it’s like looking at a giant diamond and so we’re just going to look at some of those facets. A.W.Tozer says “you don’t become Christian by hanging around church people, or doing religious practices. You become Christian by an invasion of the Holy Spirit into your life, giving you a new birth, by becoming another person.”

Doug then began to speak about John the Baptist. John the Baptist was a wild man, a messenger, he’s in the gospels. He baptised people in the river Jordan and told people to get themselves ready because the Messiah that was foretold in the Old Testament, was coming. Why was he called John the Baptist? Because he baptised with water, his was a baptism of repentance.

Luke 3:15 - 16 “The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah. John answered them all, “I baptise you with water. But One Who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of Whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

Can you see the difference there? Two baptisms.

There’s a King up in his palace, dressed his royal robes, he sees this beautiful lady going about her business. She’s dressed in rags. So he says what shall I do? How can I win her heart? If I go see her like this, it’d be too much. She’d be overwhelmed. So he comes down dressed in rags, taking on the form of a servant and he wants to win her heart that way. Over time the lady says “Who actually are you?”

2000 years ago Jesus Christ came down, God’s Son, He took on the name Jesus of Nazareth, the carpenter, the eldest of 7 children (likely more) at the age of 30 He put His trade aside and started His ministry, teaching people about God. He was so charasmatic, He did so many miracles He drew in the crowds, and people were asking “Who actually are you?”

Jesus made scripture come true

John 15:25 “But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’

People still do today, they hate Him without reason. He was nailed to the cross. But Jesus believed He was taking on the sins of the world. Was He telling us the truth? He died on the cross and then He was buried for 3 days.

Acts 1:4 “On one occasion, while He was eating with them, He gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift My Father has promised, which you have heard Me speak about. For John baptised with water, but in a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.”

verse 8

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

It’s the same power that lifted Jesus Christ out of the grave is the same power that’s available to us. It’s not a reduced power, it’s not a lesser power, it’s the same power.

John 3:34 “For the One whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.”

As Christians really, we don’t always pray the big prayers. But do, dream big, expect to see the miracles, expect to live in that style, pray the big prayers and expect it.

Acts 2:36 “Therefor let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus Whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

Imagine someone talking to you about the fact that you have crucified Jesus the Son of God. But we all have by the things that we do.

Verse 37-38

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers what shall we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the Name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

The gift of the Holy Spirit, did you notice that? The fruit of the Holy Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control. Galatians 5:22. Think of it like fruit on a tree and it’s growing.

The gift of the Spirit is different. Like a Christmas bauble hanging on a tree that is for you. God says I want you to have this gift that comes with the baptism of the Holy Spirit. What good is a gift though if you don’t use it? If we don’t unbox it.

So what are the gifts of the Spirit? Wisdom, knowledge, faith, healings, miracles, prophecy, speaking in tongues, proclamation, discernment, interpreting tongues. Paul says ask for the gift of interpretation.

Those gifts are listed in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14. Love sits in the middle 1 Corinthians 13 which shows us that these gifts are to be used in love. They’re made to build up the church, not selfish gifts.

Also in Romans 12. Romans 12 lists them as well. It says we have different gifts according to the grace given to us.

Romans 12:4-8 “For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith, if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, the give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.”

This applies to secular life too. With gifts you work with them and they build up.

Hebrews 13 tells us to encourage daily.

We need to test it. Arthur Conan Doyle wrote the Sherlock Holmes series. He was also a practical joker. To 12 of his friends he wrote a letter “Make a run for it, all has been discovered.” 10 of them left the country. We need to test everything against God.

When God speaks to us, it cuts deep to the heart. Only God knows us in that way. Scripture is flawless, the complete works of God, does it hold up to that?

Sometimes we can go into a place and speak something that we’ve seen with our own eyes and say that it’s from God, but the person will know when that’s not from God, if they know things that we don’t. Test everything against scripture. Do they add up?

Acts 19:1-6 “While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?” “John’s baptism,” they replied. Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the One coming after Him, that is, in Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptised in the Name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands of them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.”

There was a gift that Doug wanted selfishly he says. He was determined to make it the first prayer of his day every day. He prayed it for over a year and then saw a seminar at the other end of the country about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. So he went. He was nervous to go up for prayer but he’d gone a long way, so he went to the stage. He saw people manifesting the Holy Spirit, speaking in strange tongues, laughing, he audibly heard wind going in and out of people. He fought it though and decided he wasn’t going over and he didn’t want to react that way. Nothing happened.

God is a gentleman, He won’t force Himself where He isn’t wanted. It’s why so many churches are closing all over the country. Another preacher was on the next day at the conference Doug had gone to, and Doug decided to engage, to ask for the more important gifts like Paul’s advice. When Doug made that choice and got himself in line with scripture, he then felt God do something and he knew God had given him a gift.

There were people who wanted the gift of healing, they were prayed for, then they were told to pray for the people who need healing and Doug saw people healed with his own eyes.

Doug gave an analogy of a time he had to order food because he was working late and his boss was scrutinising what they all ordered as they were to claim it back. One of Doug’s colleagues ordered more than others and he explained that you can’t run an engine without fuel.

We as Christians sometimes forget to ask the Holy Spirit to help us, to refill us, so our cup is overflowing and we’re able to move in the power of the Holy Spirit. Don’t finish reading this today and not ask the Holy Spirit to refill you. Less of us and more of Him. We need to be poured out and refilled with the Holy Spirit.

Message us on social media if you would like us to pray for you or email us at info@lightandlifefm.com

21 Days of Prayer & Fasting // Consecrated

This week we were blessed to have Pastor Dan Cronin visit us and share the message that

has been placed on his heart by God.

We are now at that awkward point of the month where we are not sure if it’s too late to wish

someone a Happy New year. It may be too late but it’s never too late to still ask one another

how you are doing? How are you actually doing as you step into 2022?

In Dan Cronin’s family, the past 8 weeks have been a whirlwind. At the start of the 8 weeks, his pregnant wife Becky needed to go to the hospital to run some tests as her blood pressure was too high and a day later had to be induced. 2 days after that, Becky and Judah tested positive for Covid, although he thankfully somehow managed to stay negative. The house that they had hoped would be completed on by September 2021, was finally completed on the 21 December and so they postponed moving in until the new year so that they could concentrate instead on the long awaited family gathering with both his and Becky’s family. This was especially important for his family as they hadn’t been together in so long, and his brother had spent the year battling cancer. He then tried to decorate at least one room of the new house before moving in but realised they would need to tear down the ceiling. What should have been completed quickly ended up taking much longer due to an ankle injury sustained at a birthday party and redecorating took a little longer than planned. Finally, they were able to move into the house on the 8th January.

Although this season was filled with many blessings for him and his family, Dan found it

difficult to stay rooted in the season with so many things going on. His relationship with God

during this season was neither where he wanted it to be nor where it should be. Yet during

those busy times, God impressed on him this verse:

Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing

things among you.

(Joshua 3:5)

What does consecrate mean?

Put into context, this verse talks about a time when the people of Israel were on the verge of

entering the promised land. God asked them to dedicate their lives afresh to Him before

stepping over the threshold and claiming what had been promised to them. He was asking

them to consecrate themselves for Him.

Is our church on the verge of something new and are we being asked to consecrate

ourselves afresh before stepping into our new season? Are we dedicating our whole lives to

God so that we can experience the amazing things He has planned for us?

God promises to do amazing things through us, for us and with us that will amaze not only

you but all those around you. But we need to be wholly available to Him, not just offer Him a

couple of hours on a Sunday, or 2 hours at a life group every other week. We need to offer

Him our whole life. We are being asked to set ourselves apart with a new level of purity and

holiness for His Kingdom and purpose.

Great things happen not when we try harder, or do more, or get busier but rather when we are

obedient to God, when we consecrate ourselves to God and make ourselves available for

His work to be done through us.

Consecration is more than just going to church, following the 10 commandments,

worshiping, tithing etc. Although all these things are pleasing to God, consecration is

different. Consecration means shifting your dedication to God to another level. We need to

dethrone ourselves and enthrone Jesus as Lord and King and the master of our lives. It is

the simple recognition that as a Christian, it Is not all about us but rather that it is all about

Him.

It’s surrendering our whole life, seeking His purity, His holiness, choosing to be fully and

wholly surrendered to Him. Every second of your time, every ounce of your energy and

every penny of your money is a gift from God, for God.

Just like a good spring cleaning in your house helps you to declutter it so that you can use it

as it was intended to be used, so is the process of consecration. The amazing thing about

consecration is it allows us to come to God and give Him our hang ups, our hurts, our

regrets, our guilt over our sins and our mistakes. In doing so, we open ourselves up to

finding out what God really wants from us.

• Which habits He wants us to have,

• which areas He wants us to focus on,

• which relationships He wants us to concentrate on

so that we can begin living a life that He is calling us to live. A life where we are set apart and are wholly and solely available to Him, not just in one section of our lives but in all the parts of our lives.

So as we step into 2022 we may not know what it holds for us but we can ask God to purify

and refine us so that we can be filled with a new freedom, a new purpose, a consecration

that will deepen our relationship with God so that whatever we are called to do, we do WITH

God at the centre of it all. Reject any apathy, any luke warmness that you may experience

so that you can wholeheartedly embrace whatever God has in store for you. Pray that the

distance between doing what He asks us to do and our obedience in doing it is shorter

and shorter.

And as we begin our journey into this new year, make that decision to consecrate yourself.

Invite the Holy Spirit afresh to speak to you so that God can show you what to let go of. Let

God claim your spirit. Let God set you free from the chains holding you and let God have his

rightful place as King in your life. Surrender to His way as His way is HIGHER and

GREATER and the BEST.

Let God set you apart.

21 Days of Prayer & Fasting // Faith over Fear

This Sunday, we had Pastor Dan Belshaw from Light Church, Kirkham speaking to us on Faith over Fear and kicking off our “21 Days of Prayer & Fasting”.

As we start a new year, we want to step into more of the truest version of ourselves. While we journey through life, make a commitment to be the person God has called you to be

At the start of a new year, we can all wrestle with fear. Fear is one of the biggest obstacles that we face when it comes to being who God created us to be.

As we kick off 21 days of prayer and fasting, let’s step into the true person we are meant to be and get rid of fear.

Travelling to Australia is difficult, such a long journey. You feel incredibly tired, yet everyone else at 6am is buzzing in the airport. So Dan and his family went to the humble Greggs, exhausted and not speaking, and Dan spotted a pigeon.

Dan didn’t believe he was seeing what he was seeing. But yes, there was definitely a pigeon in the airport, with people ducking as it flew at them.

There is nothing more unnerving than looking into the eyes of an animal that doesn’t know what it’s doing. As we all know, it’s hard enough for humans to get into an airport, so how did a pigeon get in. Immediately after processing this, Dan realised there were suddenly 2 pigeons! People began to wonder what to do as pigeons started to terrorise everyone, and as the security guards tried their best to get rid of the birds, it turned out that a child was feeding them.

As stupid as it sounds, this is what fear can look like in our lives. These pigeons were hanging around because they were being fed. We make friends with fear sometimes; what starts out as a little problem can make a big mess

Fear will always have a grip on our lives when we’re feeding it. In the midst of this global pandemic, there’s also a pandemic of fear. What will happen in the future? Will we end up locked down again? Will we only be able to see our friends by going on walks? 

We have all experienced the grip of fear, the fear of fitting in, the fear of standing out, the fear of being laughed at, the fear of not being enough, the fear of pain, the fear of death, etc. There are so many ways that fear manifests itself in our lives.

If we want to be the people God wants us to be, we need to talk about fear.

Why did fear happen? Where does fear come from?

The Hebrew word for “peace” is “shalom”. This means order, balance and perfect harmony. Initially, creation was exactly how it was supposed to be. Everything was in balance and order, without tension between Creator and created.

Then there came the tree, the fruit and the snake. Humanity turned its back on God and severed the relationship. As a result of this fall of mankind, humanity is now flooded with fear.

Fear is a hyper-focus on oneself, while faith is a hyper-focus on God. There was perfect faith in the Garden of Eden.

Fear will look at our lack, while faith will look at God’s abundance.

When we face certain situations, fear pops its head up because often the thing that we are facing is focusing on ourselves. We say things like “I’m not enough, I’m not good enough, I’m not clever enough” etc.

Fear is a hyper-focus on oneself, whereas faith gets us to lift our eyes and focus on God, 

That’s where fear came from. Fear is born in the severance from God, fear was bred in the void between humanity and God, Creator and created.

Fear grows when you feed it

Fear grows when we feed it, when we give it our attention, our emotions and energy.

When we give fear our ability to dream, we can end up facing the future in fear.

Fear grows when we feed it; it doesn’t just grow big, it multiplies exponentially.

When we give in to fear, we can turn around and it’s an infestation. our life is riddled and we become the person we never wanted to be.

Fear causes us to lose our shape

Fear makes us not be the person that we actually are.

Fear takes our eyes off the thing that’s important.

Spend more time with your maker and you’ll know why you were made.

If we want to know who we are and why we are on this earth, we’re not going to find it on Instagram, horoscopes, crystals, vibes or anything.

We will only going to find out why it is we were made when we are in relationship with the One who made us.

Fear causes us to lose our shape because it pulls us away from focusing on Jesus and pulls our eyes onto the thing we are facing. 

Fear is one of the primary forces of destruction that people will face. It’s one of the primary things that blocks and is used against humanity to separate us from God and each other.

Fear’s purpose is chaos and anarchy. As said in the Dark Knight movie, “some people just want to watch the world burn.”

Fear’s mission is to separate us from God.

Fear is not something that we want to get comfortable with or let live in our life.

We need to learn to live free from the grip or hold of fear, so let’s strive to live 2022 free from the hold of fear in our lives.

What does the Bible have to say about fear?

6Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

(Philippians 4:6-7)

If we can get this into us at the start of this year, we can face it free from the grip of fear.

Paul starts by saying “DO NOT be anxious about anything.” This is a really plain command which implies choice and action.

If Paul is saying do not be anxious, then it means we have an opportunity to live free from fear.

If fear is something we just had to put up with, then this verse wouldn’t be there.

“Do not be anxious about ANYTHING.”

The Bible is clear: in anything that we face we don’t have to be anxious.

Fear will cause us to look at things and believe we are not enough, but faith will lift our eyes.

“In EVERYTHING by prayer, and supplication in thanksgiving make your requests known to God.”

We will only combat fear in your life in a posture on our knees before God. The battleground where we will do most of our work dealing with fear is on our knees, praying and fasting before God.

How great it is that we can start the year praying and fasting!

God wants to hear about our fears. Some people like talking about their problems and start to find their identity in those problems.

This is not the dynamic that God is setting up: we shouldn’t just talk to God about our problems, we should talk to God focusing on Him, worshiping Him, rather than just talking to God about our fears.

Fear isn’t a little campfire that you and God are going to stand around. Fear is something that you are going to give to God. You’re going to lift your eyes and give it over to God.

With thanksgiving make your requests known to God.

So how do we combat fear? With prayer and thanksgiving!

“And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

This isn’t peace as society sees it. It’s not an inner peace from us. It’s a peace from outside us, a peace from above.

This peace comes from God Himself.

This isn’t peace from self-help, good vibes, or the universe. This is the beauty of the transcendent peace of God.

What a brilliant place to start this year: on our knees, encountering the transcendent peace of God.

Peace is both a deliverer from fear and a defender from fear.

So how can we fight fear? The answer is to simply pray and be a people in constant communication with Jesus. We need to give fear to Him and trade our anxieties for His peace.

The church is far too significant to be led or governed by fear, so we shouldn’t give fear the satisfaction of governing our decisions.

So what do I shift my focus on to?

Paul finishes the passage with this:

8And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

(Philippians 4:8)

Focus on the things of God in your life. There is nothing in this world we can go and chase that is better than Him. Lift your eyes and place them on Jesus.

Maybe you feel you have never encountered Jesus before. If not, we encourage you to ask more about Him.

He died on a cross to draw us back into perfect relationship with Him. He beat death at it’s very own game so we could have hope. 

Be encouraged make the decision not to live in fear anymore. Be who God made you to be. Lift your eyes and focus on the beautiful, on the true.

Message us if you want to speak to someone about anything you’ve read either on social media or email info@lightandlifefm.com.

New Horizons

A new year brings new opportunities. We are thankful that we have a future in Christ and we are grateful for His blessings over the past year.

We see a new year as an opportunity to dream big dreams, set goals and see it as a fresh start. You might have goals for the new year, such as fitness, travel, finance or Scripture reading. Every day with Jesus is a new opportunity and the Bible tells us that in Christ, the old is gone and the new is coming.

When we become Christians, this is what happens. We get a new beginning with Jesus at the moment we are born again, but we sin each day and His mercies are new each morning.

So this week, be praying to God and ask yourself what God is calling you to this year and what you need to leave behind in 2021.

18“But forget all that—

it is nothing compared to what I am going to do.

19For I am about to do something new.

See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?

I will make a pathway through the wilderness.

I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.

(Isaiah 43:18-19)

God is always doing a new thing in our lives. It’s His job to be doing a new thing, and it’s our job to perceive it.

There’s something novel about something new. The same thing every day is boring. We don’t say Happy Same Year from 2nd January-31st December because we don’t need to talk about it. But with new things, we need to make a big deal, we need to over communicate, we need to let people in more. New things take more time and new things bring about change.

Sometimes we can be resistant to change, but people generally like new things. A new pen is easier to write with, new trainers make us run faster and a new bin bag always makes the kitchen smell fresher.

If we have certain things set up nicely for us, we don’t like change. We might have a forever home, and our marriage is something that definitely shouldn’t be changed. We go into marriage for life!

New things require change. Everyone likes new cars and new haircuts, but people only want change when it makes their life better.

Change for the sake of change is bad, however. We would say stay rooted in the blessings of God, but let’s not cling onto anything God is calling us to change.

High-level changes we need to make.

1) Change our perception

Change the way we are seeing the situation in front of us

2) Change our perspective

Change angle/lighting/timing (attitude)

3) Change our surroundings

Might need to move on to something new in life if God is calling that way.

In the Isaiah passage, some translations say “do you not perceive”. Perceive means “become aware of” or “become conscious of” things. We need to be aware that God is always doing a new thing.

There is so much potential ministry fruit around us. We need to change our perception.

We need to be praying to God to open our eyes to the things unseen. God is at work all the time, His presence is before us and behind us all the time. Spiritual opportunities are opening up all the time, and we need to pray that we can perceive it.

God is already doing a new thing, we just need to perceive it.

Once we perceive what God is doing, we then need to change our perspective about what’s in front of us.

We all have different perspectives. We are all different, and that’s a good thing. We should never forget that we’re created differently and we have different economic backgrounds and academic abilities. We all react to things differently and learn things differently. We should learn to love that.

If we change our own perspective, we can have more empathy, be more efficient as leaders and be more loving to communities around us by changing perspective.

Changing perspective is different to changing perception.

Perception is when we start to see what God is doing in our situation. Perspective is changing the way we look at our situation. It’s looking at things from different angles, looking at things for different lengths of time, and maybe a change in attitude too.

Maybe we change our perception and our perspective and things still aren’t right. Maybe we are called to change our surroundings. For example, we might have to get out of a toxic relationship, maybe we need to break bad spending habits and addictions.

The truth is, having a new life with Jesus is so worth giving up sins and changing our surroundings.

This year, Light and Life is setting up as its own society. Some things will change and some things will stay the same.

Perception. We have always sought God’s will to bring light and life to a dark and dying world. We will change our perception on how we can better serve the local community.

Perspective. We have great leaders in this church and we aren;t changing them. We will change teams and utilise leaders differently though.

Surroundings. We are clear on who we are called to be here at Light & Life and who God has called us to surround ourselves with. We will change who we surround others with, setting up a new missions budget, seeking out new needs in the community. There’s an urgency with the Gospel message and we want to seek out how we can spread this better, faster and reach more people.

So be praying what Jesus is calling you to in 2022.

Happy New Year!

Come See Jesus // Love

This week, Pastor Jonny brought us a Boxing Day message from his house. We hope you have had a lovely Christmas Day this weekend.

But what’s the point of doing Christmas Day? The point of doing anything is the product at the end.

For example, we do sport to stay physically active and make friends.

We do exams so that we can learn, grow, test and measure our abilities.

So why do we do Christmas Day? Well we have amazing memories, great food, great gifts given and received. We see our family members’ faces as they have a time of happiness and joy.

So what was the point of the first Christmas? Why did the angels come? Why did the shepherds leave their flocks? Why did the wise men bring gifts? The purpose of it all was to demonstrate the love of God.

Jesus came as a baby that first Christmas, and He grew up to be our Saviour. He lived a perfect sinless life and died a sinners death, so that we could be forgiven for our sins instead of being punished for them. None of us can keep the perfect law of God, so Jesus came and did it in our place.

16“For this is how God loved the world: He gaveg his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

18“There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. 19And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. 20All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. 21But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.h”

(John 3:16-21)

Over the last few weeks, we’ve been journeying through Advent. We’ve been challenged about peace, where we looked at how peace is not found in the absence of problems, but in the presence of God.

We looked at joy, and found that it’s not found in happiness, but in hope.

This week, our key point is this:

Love is not found in creation, love is found in Jesus.

What does this mean?

Love is not found in relationships with people, love is found in relationship with God.

Love is not found in possessions, love is found in the provider of all the things we possess.

Love is not found in justice, love is found in the freedom that God brings through His justice.

Love is not found in gifts we receive, love is found in the giver of the gifts.

Love is not found in the created realm, love is found in the creator.

For couples who get into relationships, love comes at different times. Usually one person says they love the other person first. The Bible is clear that God said “I love you” first to us. God first loved us before we loved Him, and the Bible being God’s Word, 100% truth, gives us the confidence to say that. God loved His creation from the start. All He created in Genesis He described as “good”, with His special creation, man, was described as “very good”.

God sent His son Jesus into this world with the purposes of creating a relationship between Him and us. He paid the penalty that we could never pay ourselves. He made the way to God that we could never make for ourselves. We can never do enough good works to come into peaceful right relationship with God. Only the blood of Jesus can cancel out our sins so that we can be declared innocent and be granted eternal life in Heaven with Him.

At Christmas, we celebrate the baby coming; the baby who would grow into the man who would die for us:

8But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

(Romans 5:8)

9God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

(1 John 4:9-10)

Before coming to Christ, we all have a gap in our life that can only be fulfilled by God. We are all in a moral mess, unable to live up to the standards of our own moral compass, let alone the perfect sinless standards of God’s law.

We weren’t created to do life without God. Instead we were created to live a life of worship and relationship with our Creator. When we come to Christ, He radically transforms us through the power of His Holy Spirit and we begin an eternal journey of abundant life.

This abundance gives us the ability to bless others. In the abundance of God’s mercy poured out to us, we can be merciful to others. In the abundance of God’s love for us, we can love others. In the abundance of God’s forgiveness, we can forgive others.

When we receive a gift, we then let other people know. It’s the same with our salvation. When we receive God’s love, we can’t help but express it to others. God wrapped His gift up in flesh as a baby, who would grow up to be our Saviour and die on a cross where we receive being bought at a price, we receive forgiveness, grace and mercy.

If you haven’t received Jesus, we would urge you to believe Him to be who He says He is. You will be transformed and you will overflow in love.

In life, we often feel so worn out because we still try and show love and grace because we don’t have an overflow in our own life. As God pours into us, we can pour into others. To receive this overflow, you can only find it in Jesus.

Love is not found in creation, love is found in Jesus.

If you want love, you need to find Jesus. Watch the video of our service below and consider praying with Jonny at the end for the first time and stepping into a life of abundance with Jesus.

Come See Jesus // Nativity

8That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, 10but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”

13Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,

14“Glory to God in highest heaven,

and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”

(Luke 2:8-14)

This week was our church nativity, brought to us by our childrens’ ministry.

Is the nativity story true? Is it good? If so, what does it mean for me? Is it a positive thing for humanity? Is it good for children? Or is the message of Jesus and His birth dangerous?

The angels came to announce that the birth of Jesus is good news that would bring great joy. As Christians, we have joy that comes from being at peace with God, being in right relationship with Him, through the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.

In a world divided ethnically at the time, this was good news for everyone regardless of tribe. The Jews and the Gentiles were separate in almost every aspect of life, yet the Gospel message united those of different tribes who came to Jesus in the early church, and it still has the power to do that today. People are unified in Christ from all ethnic backgrounds. Whether it be past wars fought, enslavement of one ethnicity by another, or an invasion and takeover of land (like when the Roman Empire took over much of Israel), those of any ethnicity that come to Jesus are one in Christ, new creations, where differences based upon ethnicity are forgiven and people come to communion together as Christians, not as Jews, Gentiles, black, white or any other colour, but Christians who are going to spend eternity with one another in the presence of God. Everything else pales into significance when an eternal perspective is gained.

The Gospel was and is good news. So why was (and is) there so much resistance to accepting the good news of Jesus?

As humans, we seek hope and positivity, but we are often jaded by our experiences as well as our sinful rebellious nature. When we hear good news, we do want it to be true, but we focus on the doubts instead. We also don’t want our freedom threatened. Many people see Jesus’ Lordship as a set of rules and restrictions that limit life, whereas life with Jesus is the most exciting life that can be lived!

If this is good news and you want to believe that things that are good are true, then why aren’t you believing and leaning in? This is a story that has lasted 2000 years!

If it is good news and if it’s true, then what’s holding you back this Christmas? Ask the questions, get in touch with us and we’re happy to discuss it.

God’s people in the Old Testament are called Israelites, “people who wrestle with God”. We don’t expect anyone to have perfect theology, but instead, we seek our answers from the Bible and wrestle with God ourselves to seek the truth. This Christmas, we urge you to seek the truth and wrestle with God, because we are confident you will find Jesus to be who He says He is in Scripture.

We wish you a Merry Christmas here at Light and Life.

Come See Jesus // Joy

This week, the third week of Advent, Pastor Jonny came and spoke to us about joy.

Christmas is a season of expectations. If you lack expectation from Jesus, press into Him and expect more from Him.

8One day Zechariah was serving God in the Temple, for his order was on duty that week. 9As was the custom of the priests, he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and burn incense. 10While the incense was being burned, a great crowd stood outside, praying.

11While Zechariah was in the sanctuary, an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the incense altar. 12Zechariah was shaken and overwhelmed with fear when he saw him. 13But the angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah! God has heard your prayer. Your wife, Elizabeth, will give you a son, and you are to name him John. 14You will have great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth,

(Luke 2:8-14)

Joy comes from a Saviour. Joy is not found in happiness, it’s found in hope. We can have a seemingly-perfect life, but it can lack joy. If we have nothing to look forward to, no sustaining hope, we will not have joy within us, burning like a candle through both good and bad times. Peace is not found in the absence of problems but the presence of God

When the angels surrounded the shepherds on the night of Christ’s birth, they told the men, “Do not be afraid”. They didn’t say that to comfort the shepherds, but to make sure they were in their right minds. Shock and fear are high emotions, and when we are high in emotion, we are low in intelligence.

The angels didn’t want the shepherds to miss the point. "Jesus is here, joy is here, a Saviour is born!"

Jesus came to put us in right community with God and each other. We are relational beings. COVID-19 lockdowns attempt to take the community interaction out of life, which depresses us, because God did not design humans to live in lockdown or isolation. Society is not very happy at the moment.

But joy is not happiness.

Seeking happiness makes us strive for happiness, which means anything that makes us happy is right and anything unhappy is wrong. This leads to a mindset where we seek comfort and material blessings and stop believing that God will ever give us trials. God does not want us to pursue happiness, He wants us to pursue Him.

Joy either refers to the Lord or it refers to salvation which is found in the Lord.

We have a hope of salvation and a hope of being loved, accepted and finding community in Christ. A hope of eternity in glory.

If you search for joy, you need to search for hope. If you search for hope you need to search for Jesus. Jesus then lived a holy life, not necessarily a happy life. We always train our children up to be healthy and happy, but perhaps we should strive to teach holiness instead. We are called to die to our old way of living and die to ourselves. Jesus wasn’t “living his best life”, but someone who was a “man of sorrows” living holy and purposeful.

If it isn’t happiness we are called to chase, then we are called to pursue hope in our Saviour!

Joy is an attitude we can choose because we can choose to follow Jesus and Jesus brings joy.

Paul suffered a lot and was even in prison when he said he was going to pursue joy. He wouldn’t have been very happy or healthy when in prison, but was certainly joyful. He writes in Philippians that he has the joy in the Lord.

Joy becomes the reasonable response even in the darkest of circumstances. Not bubbly happiness, but an inner joy that is sustaining and deep.

Let your joy be found in Jesus this Christmas.

Come See Jesus // Peace

This second Sunday of Advent, Pastor Jonny came with a message all about Peace.

6For a child is born to us,

a son is given to us.

The government will rest on his shoulders.

And he will be called:

Wonderful Counselor,d Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7His government and its peace

will never end.

He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David

for all eternity.

The passionate commitment of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies

will make this happen!

(Isaiah 9:6-7)

3You will keep in perfect peace

all who trust in you,

all whose thoughts are fixed on you!

(Isaiah 26:3)

As we looked at last week, Isaiah is a major prophet sent from God with a specific message for a specific time and a specific people. These people were Israel, and God was telling them that the Messiah was coming, and they needed to be ready for Him. 

Of course, the Israelites misunderstood this and they believed the Messiah was going to come as a conquering warrior, leading Israel into battle against enemies. By the time Jesus did come, they believed the Messiah would lead them into battle against the Romans. Due to Jesus’ ministry being one of teaching and peace, they didn’t associate Him with the Messiah they had come to imagine.

But Jesus is the Prince of Peace. Peace is His. He owns it, and it’s His to give.

When you read the gospels, you’ll notice that it’s very common for Jesus to greet people with “peace be with you” and say farewell to them with “go in peace”. He brings peace that only God can bring, not peace that the world can offer.

By forgiving the sins of everyone who comes to Him in faith and repentance, He enables them to be in right relationship with their Creator. He grants us peace with God. He reigns over peace, and so true peace can only come from Jesus.

The Gospel is all about peace. Without God, we will spend eternity in a place called Hell, where there is a lack of peace. In eternity with God (Heaven), there is no more crying or pain or suffering or death.

On one occasion, Jesus was asleep in a boat in a raging storm. The disciples panicked and Jesus woke and commanded “peace, be still”, speaking peace into the waters around them. In doing that, Jesus declared His deity; the Romans saw the ability to command nature as the quality that only a god could possess.

In life, there are weather storms, and two other types of storm: storms in our circumstances and storms in our hearts.

In all types of storm, this is a truth we need to bear in mind:

Peace isn’t found in the absence of problems, it’s found in the presence of God.

In the Bible, we are told that we can have a peace that surpasses understanding. That’s because Jesus is God, and the introduction of the Prince of Peace is the gift that was given to us in the first Christmas.

6Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

8And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. 9Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.

(Philippians 4:6-9)

So many areas in our lives can have storms and trouble, but we can find peace in all circumstances with Jesus.

You might have marriage issues, health issues, or addictions, and while these can be overcome by the power of the Holy Spirit, who is living within you, you can still experience God’s peace that passes understanding by coming to God in prayer.

In addition to prayer, studying the Bible and memorising applicable verses is incredibly helpful too. This means that if you’re in a storm, you can call the Scripture to mind when you don’t have a Bible to hand. Remembering God’s promises and reminding yourself of them is incredibly powerful, especially when going through stormy seasons.

We all need to fix our thoughts on Jesus. Not just on a Sunday morning, but all throughout the week.

Remember, peace is not found in the absence of problems, the presence of God.

We pray that you will come to know Jesus and His Peace this Christmas.

35Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36(As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”o) 37No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

38And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,p neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

(Romans 8:35-39)

Come See Jesus // Hope

This weekend, Doug came and spoke to us about hope, the theme of the first Sunday of Advent.

1This is the Good News about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.a It began 2just as the prophet Isaiah had written:

“Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,

and he will prepare your way.b

3He is a voice shouting in the wilderness,

‘Prepare the way for the LORD’s coming!

Clear the road for him!’c”

7John announced: “Someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not even worthy to stoop down like a slave and untie the straps of his sandals. 8I baptize you withd water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit!”

(Mark 1:1-3, 7-8)

Advent comes from the Latin word “adventus”, which means “coming”. The Jews had someone coming for them, and He came for us too.

Advent is the period of time leading up to the birth of Jesus Christ.

We will be looking at 4 themes in our series on Advent, plus an additional one for the Nativity.

• Hope

• Joy

• Peace

• Love

Jesus is hope. You can’t extinguish hope. The Apostle John calls Jesus a light.

5The light shines in the darkness,

and the darkness can never extinguish it.b

(John 1:5)

Doug also brought us a walk through Isaiah 42, also illustrating how Jesus is our hope.

Isaiah was the most famous of the major prophets, probably *the* most famous. He was certainly the most quoted prophet in the New Testament, that’s for sure.

His book can be split into three parts, with an overlap between parts two and three.

• Chapters 1-39: these chapters are very hard hitting. The Jews had fallen short of God’s standard. God commanded them to repent, or else judgement would befall them.

• Chapters 40-55: God calls out comfort to His people.

• Chapter 40-66: No human is good enough to meet God’s standards, so God would come for His people Himself.

1“Look at my servant, whom I strengthen.

He is my chosen one, who pleases me.

I have put my Spirit upon him.

He will bring justice to the nations.

2He will not shout

or raise his voice in public.

3He will not crush the weakest reed

or put out a flickering candle.

He will bring justice to all who have been wronged.

4He will not falter or lose heart

until justice prevails throughout the earth.

Even distant lands beyond the sea will wait for his instruction.a”

5God, the LORD, created the heavens and stretched them out.

He created the earth and everything in it.

He gives breath to everyone,

life to everyone who walks the earth.

And it is he who says,

6“I, the LORD, have called you to demonstrate my righteousness.

I will take you by the hand and guard you,

and I will give you to my people, Israel,

as a symbol of my covenant with them.

And you will be a light to guide the nations.

7You will open the eyes of the blind.

You will free the captives from prison,

releasing those who sit in dark dungeons.

8“I am the LORD; that is my name!

I will not give my glory to anyone else,

nor share my praise with carved idols.

9Everything I prophesied has come true,

and now I will prophesy again.

I will tell you the future before it happens.”

A Song of Praise to the LORD

10Sing a new song to the LORD!

Sing his praises from the ends of the earth!

Sing, all you who sail the seas,

all you who live in distant coastlands.

11Join in the chorus, you desert towns;

let the villages of Kedar rejoice!

Let the people of Sela sing for joy;

shout praises from the mountaintops!

12Let the whole world glorify the LORD;

let it sing his praise.

13The LORD will march forth like a mighty hero;

he will come out like a warrior, full of fury.

He will shout his battle cry

and crush all his enemies.

14He will say, “I have long been silent;

yes, I have restrained myself.

But now, like a woman in labor,

I will cry and groan and pant.

15I will level the mountains and hills

and blight all their greenery.

I will turn the rivers into dry land

and will dry up all the pools.

(Isaiah 42:1-16)

In verse 1, the word “servant” is used. Moses, Abraham and David are servants, and we, as followers of Christ, are called to be servants too. We will always serve one master. Jesus said that nobody can serve two, and He tells people that before they become born again, they are slaves to sin. He frees is from serving our sin, so that we can instead serve Him.

There was once a famous preacher called Charles Spurgeon. At 17 years old, he was out in the snow and he was reminded of some Scripture, that his sins are crimson and yet could be white as snow. He was born again, followed the call to ministry, and started a church called the Metropolitan Tabernacle. It very quickly grew from 12-400 people, and Spurgeon followed the call of God, preaching to thousands of people in his lifetime. He became known as the Prince of Preachers.

Oh to live like that and live with the hope of Jesus. He came to provide eternal life for us. If we turn to Him, we can experience the hope of eternal life, a future on a new earth, with no more sin or suffering. This hope protects us against the most difficult aspects of life in this age. Come to Jesus and experience hope like you never have before!

Thanksgiving

This week, as Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, Pastor Jonny brought a topical message for this season.

As Christians we should be the most thankful people in the world

We know what we’ve been saved from and we know that we have been gifted with the greatest gift of all: eternal life.

We have been forgiven of our sins, we have an incredible relationship with God now and an eternity in His presence.

The Israelites are God’s chosen people. God saved them multiple times. He saved them from slavery in Egypt and God reminded them of it. Unfortunately, they were ungrateful when they should have been praising Him. God continued providing for them after their escape from slavery in the form of manna as food, and His presence as a pillar of fire as a guide.

In the Christian life, we have so much to be thankful for. Much of our gratitude can be for the past, the present and the future.

We should be grateful for the moment that we were saved. We should be grateful for the fact that we are currently being saved every time we sin. We should be grateful that we will be saved in the future, in eternity.

The same sort of gratitude applies when we consider how we are/were forgiven, accepted, loved and rescued.

We ought to be thankful for our salvation and our redemption. Salvation is the theological form of saying that we are saved. We are saved from our sin and its punishment (the wrath of God and Hell), from ourselves and our own poor decision making.

Sometimes the lure of our sinful past can seem more appealing than being a Christian living a good life now. We need to remember the bad that God has saved and redeemed us from and be grateful to be part of the family of God, the Church. We were bought at a cost and we shouldn’t take it for granted.

We also need to be thankful for what God has saved us from since our salvation. In the parable of the Ten Lepers, only one went back to say thank you. We need to be the one leper who understands what we’ve been saved from and what we’ve been saved for. God deserves our hands and our heart.

11Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God.

(2 Corinthians 9:11)

In the above verse, Paul was writing about a collection from the Corinthian church to bless the Jerusalem church. The Jerusalem church would give thanks to God for the generosity of the Corinthians. Today we can apply that passage knowing the same principle applies: our generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

And just like the Jerusalem church, when we are on the receiving end of somebody’s generosity, say thank you when they give you gifts and bless you in life

God’s provision is an ongoing process, meeting our needs and empowering us from the inside through the power of the Holy Spirit

The Christian life should be a journey and we should always be moving in the right direction, towards looking more like Jesus. He gives us new mercies every morning.

Part of the fall is that we gained the concept of “tomorrow” because there was only “today” being in God’s presence. With “tomorrow” comes anxiety, planning, and trying to store up and provide for ourselves.

1Praise the LORD!

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good!

His faithful love endures forever.

(Psalm 106:1)

Praise is the answer, as you can see from the Psalm above!

Finally, we need to be thankful for our future, for eternity.

We know our life is going to end at some point, and we need to plan for it. If you were to die tonight, where are you going? If you’re a Christian, you can confidently say Heaven, an eternity spent worshiping in the presence of God.

God is giving us a gift of new life and new hope in the future. The best is yet to come.

So how do we show we are thankful?

28Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe.

(Hebrews 12:28)

We ought to worship God acceptably with reverence and awe. Reverence is synonymous with fear. We understand that God is King and we are not. We need to come with humility, because He is king and we are His created beings.

Ultimately, remember what He called you out from and look forward to what He has called you to.

Remember

This weekend was Remembrance, and we remembered our fallen soldiers who died to fight for our freedom in WW1, WW2 and the recent conflicts in the Middle East.

Pastor Jonny brought a message all about remembering.

We remember bad things more than good. When we receive feedback, we remember the criticism more than the praise, up to 5x more. This is why as a leader or manager, criticism should be constructive, and plenty of positive feedback should be given.

We remember bad things more because that’s how God designed our brains to work. It helps us avoid danger and protects us, and it helped our ancestors avoid poisonous plants and deadly animals.

In society today, however, our problems are more relational.

It’s still helpful to take negative feedback on board though. If we only ever focused on the positive feedback, we would end up narcissistic, thinking that we are perfect. Negative feedback can be helpful if we action it, because we will become a better version of ourselves.

God gives us positives in His Word, but He is not shy to call us sinners, and the Holy Spirit brings conviction. Instead of quenching the Spirit, embrace that conviction and become more Christ-like as you follow His leading.

8And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

(Philippians 4:8-9)

Another thing to bear in mind is that we remember how someone made us feel more than what they said. We need to remember that when delivering the truth to people, we ought to do it in love, with gentleness and respect. Make people feel significant in your interactions with them.

We see in the life of Jesus that when He encountered people, He made them feel amazed and in awe.

We need to remember the Gospel, remember what happened to Jesus. Remember your sin and remember that you need a Saviour.

Remember that Jesus was persecuted and crucified. When persecution comes to us as Christians today, we need to remember why they persecuted Jesus and remember that He promised that His followers would be persecuted.

This weekend was Remembrance Sunday. Remember what Jesus has done for us as a church and as individuals. Remember how He forgave us and called us into the family of God. Remember how it makes us feel when we think of Jesus on the cross. Jesus had to go to the cross for us, so we shouldn’t take our salvation lightly because we were bought at a price.

6Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.

(John 14:6)

3Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly. Repent and turn to me again. If you don’t wake up, I will come to you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief.

(Revelation 3:3)

Let’s never lose that wonder that comes when we remember. So let’s remember the people who went before us as soldiers to buy our freedom, but let’s also remember Jesus who went before us to take God’s wrath for our sins.

Flames

1On the day of Pentecosta all the believers were meeting together in one place. 2Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. 3Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. 4And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages,b as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.

(Acts 2:1-4)

Fire is powerful. In life, when things aren’t working out in a job or a relationship, we have a tendancy to ‘burn’ our bridges to move on. At the same time, when we’re excited about a new thing, we can have a ‘burning’ desire for it, whether it be a new job or relationship, or when we come to Christ for the first time.

As well as being incredibly destructive and powerful, fire can be cleansing too. In medical science, flames are used to cauterise wounds to cleanse them and remove bacteria. When we want to protect ourselves from identity fraud, we burn old paperwork. In previous societies, criminals were also burned, and this included suspected witches, and sadly Christians too.

Flames can also be a positively good thing! Ancient Israel used to burn items as offerings to the Lord, and in society today, if someone is going through a positive phase, they can be described as being ‘on fire’. In social media, the flames emoji is even used to react to inspiring posts and stories.

There are 3 things about fire that Pastor Jonny taught us this weekend:

Real fire

The flames of Hell are real and you don’t want to go there. The only way to avoid Hell and spend eternity in Heaven is by trusting in Jesus as perfect saviour.Only Jesus leads to Heaven.

In the Christian life, we can sometimes talk about people with pastoral concern, however, like fire, this can quickly get out of control and become gossip.

As Christians, we also need to be careful with our money. We ought to invest in our future and our church and avoid debt. Consumer debt is a propagator of poverty and can get out of control very quickly, overwhelming families and destroying relationships.

In the book of Daniel, we see Shadrach Meshach and Abednego, who were forced to ensure time in a giant furnace due to their refusal to worship a false god instead of the Lord. When they were in the furnace, God protected them, and when they escaped, they didn’t even smell of smoke because Jesus was in the fire with them!

Consuming fire

God is just and wants to bring justice to His people. He appeared to Moses as a burning bush in Exodus 3, then in Exodus 13 He appeared as a pillar of fire to lead His people through the wilderness.

One book later, in Deuteronomy, God describes Himself as an all-consuming fire. He wants you to have nice things, but He doesn’t want things to have you. God’s love will come together with His justice and things will be consumed in His judgement one day.

We also see in Malachi 3 of God’s fire being refining. For the Christian, the fire of God is not punishment, but discipline, reconciling us in fellowship to Him and crafting us to be more like Christ.

Holy fire

This is the passion for the Gospel. As Christians following the Great Commission, we have a passion to see God’s kingdom grow.

The disciples were on fire for God, passionate to spread the Gospel across the Middle East and the Mediterranean, and we should be too.

Here at Light and Life, we are praying that you receive the fire of the Holy Spirit and come to Jesus for eternal, abundant life, which begins today!

From Dark To Light

This week, Pastor Jonny spoke to us about Halloween and the Christian approach to it.

There are many different opinions in the global church today about how Christians should approach Halloween. Some believe it’s best to stay away from anything resembling darkness, while others believe it’s a bit of fun where children can get sweets.

Amongst the diversity of opinion, it’s helpful to remember that Halloween is not a staple element of Christian doctrine, such as the Trinity or salvation. Unity in the church is more important than bickering about Halloween.

The first thing to bear in mind is that as Christians, we are people of the Light. If ever we are presented with a choice between a dark/sinful path and a light/righteous path, we should choose the light.

We don’t participate in witchcraft, horoscopes, tarot cards or anything else from the occult. Instead, we choose to walk in the light of the Word, Jesus.

1In the beginning the Word already existed.

The Word was with God,

and the Word was God.

2He existed in the beginning with God.

3God created everything through him,

and nothing was created except through him.

4The Word gave life to everything that was created,a

and his life brought light to everyone.

5The light shines in the darkness,

and the darkness can never extinguish it.b

(John 1:1-5 )

In verse 1, “Word” has a capital “W” and is referring to the name of Jesus. Jesus was with God and Jesus was God. The Trinity was there at the beginning. John starts his book in parallel with the start of Genesis 1, where the Trinity alone existed and created everything from nothing. Jesus is the Light and Jesus is the Life, and when we’re in dark places, we need a light, we need Jesus.

Fear is often nothing more than fear of the unknown. You might be scared of public speaking or teaching, but soon it becomes completely normal to stand in front of people. Some people are scared of Halloween, because they don’t fully know what its about or how it came to be.

2000 years ago, a Celtic festival began called Samhain, which ran (and still runs today) from 31st October to 1st November. Today, Halloween is what it is because of this festival.

Also around 2000 years ago, Jesus stepped into this world and introduced Christianity “at the fullness of time”. The Romans weren’t too selective about religion. They had their own gods, but as they conquered places, they absorbed their gods into the Roman god collection. They weren’t happy with the Christians, however, because Christians preached that Jesus alone is God, He is exclusive and no other god must be worshiped.

The early Christians got martyred for their faith in awful ways, from being burned in oil, being fed to lions, or being crucified like Jesus.

But the persecution couldn’t stop God building His church and the Romans had to buckle and accept that if they wanted to retain political power, they needed to abandon their religion and switch to Christianity, so that’s exactly what they did.

Fast-forward to May 13th 609AD. Rome was now a Christian empire and they had a Pope. Pope Boniface 4th dedicated the Pantheon (their temple to all the old gods) as a Christian church to the martyrs of old. The 13th May became All Martyrs Day.

Pope Gregory 3rd then changed this festival to All Saints Day and moved the date to 1st November.

In the mid-1800s, Americans took hold of All Saints Day and introduced sweets, darkness (due to the date also being the date of Samhain, a dark Pagan Celtic festival) and commercialism, then in the mid-1900s it became about dressing up. The name Halloween comes from All Hallow’s Eve, the day before All Holy Day, hence “Halloween”. It’s a festival that was already taken from darkness to light.

If you’re a Christian, you have the Holy Spirit and can never be given over to darkness because you have God living within you.

There’s no need to hide on Halloween, no need to be scared. As Christians we don’t celebrate darkness. Instead, we’re called to be in the world but not of it.

If you need to make a decision about Halloween, do it because it’s the right thing to do between you and Jesus. Read the Bible and pray about it.

Here is a biblical framework for dealing with darkness and light:

4So, what about eating meat that has been offered to idols? Well, we all know that an idol is not really a god and that there is only one God. 5There may be so-called gods both in heaven and on earth, and some people actually worship many gods and many lords. 6But for us,

There is one God, the Father,

by whom all things were created,

and for whom we live.

And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ,

through whom all things were created,

and through whom we live.

(1 Cor 8:4-6)

This uses similar terminology to John 1. Paul here is writing to explain the problem to the Corinthian Christians. The issue was all about whether to eat food that had been dedicated to other gods. Here’s the key: as a Christian, there is nothing dark where Jesus is, and if you believe something is clean, then it’s clean.

Jesus redeems the darkest places for light, and we should have that aim. So maybe instead of a Halloween party, celebrate with a light party!

We live in a world stained by sin, and Jesus came to save and redeem sinners. We as Christians are being redeemed, and we should seek to redeem environments around us, whether it be our household, our workplace, our local area (via litter picks etc).

Christians have been known as culture-creators for hundreds of years. We took over the Pagan winter festival and declared it as Christmas. We took over the Pagan spring festival and declared it as Easter.

Every day we can make small decisions for darkness or for light. It’s worth assessing yourself for darkness and taking that part of you back for the Light. Repent of what needs to be repented of and give it over to Jesus. We as Christians are here for a dark and dying world!

Peace

Doug came and spoke to us this weekend all about peace. Peace is something that we should seek in life. Peter wrote the following, quoting virtually word-for-word from Psalm 34:14:

11Turn away from evil and do good.

Search for peace, and work to maintain it.

(1 Peter 3:11)

If you seek peace, it means that you haven’t got it. People seek for peace in different ways, from chilling on a beach or going on long walks.

The dictionary definition of peace is being free from mental anxiety. We need to pursue peace with the same tenacity that a police car chases a thief.

In the book of Jonah, he set off to the wrong place, ignoring God, seeking his own pleasure, and he jumped on a ship. Once the captain’s peace was disturbed, he was thrown off.

There’s a purpose in this story. In Scripture, lukewarm believers don’t usually have positive outcomes. God likes passion.

We also see Job in Scripture. Job had everything taken from him: his home, children, grandchildren and health. Job was wise and he submitted to God and was at peace, despite his circumstances.

We need to not just seek peace, but seek peace with God.

In life you chase after peace because if you find peace then happiness follows closely behind

19So then, let us aim for harmony in the church and try to build each other up.

(Romans 14:19)

As Christians, we ought to seek peace and harmony with one another, but moreso peace with God. Here is how God creates peace with us via Jesus:

14For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. 15He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. 16Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.

17He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. 18Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.

(Ephesians 2:14-18)

In the early church, there was a Jewish community, citizens of national Israel, and there were Gentiles, those who were not Israelites, but instead were Greeks and Romans. Both groups of people were radically different in the way that they lived, and historically, they didn’t always get on. The Jews wanted to bring their national feasts and dietary laws into the church, which caused issues that Paul addresses in several of his letters.

Jesus is the Peace Who makes the two groups one. He fulfilled all the commandments and died on a cross to create in Himself one new humanity, a unified body of believers in Him, in Christ, making peace by His death on the cross. People who belong to Him have access to Him and the Father by the Holy Spirit.

Jews who tried to keep the Moasic law did so in vain. None of them were good enough to keep the law in totality, because it required perfection, which no human can produce.

But by His death, Jesus has now taken our sins away.

12He has removed our sins as far from us

as the east is from the west.

(Psalm 103:12)

8But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

(Romans 5:8)

38k“Brothers, listen! We are here to proclaim that through this man Jesus there is forgiveness for your sins.

(Acts 13:38)

So Jesus died for us and we have peace with God through faith…so does that mean we ignore the law?

We shouldn’t try to earn our salvation through obedience to the law, but the law is God’s standard of justice, and He calls us to be holy people, set apart from worldliness, different from non-Christians, therefore we should strive to live in obedience to His commands for us to be a morally upright people.

In terms of the ceremonial laws, such as not eating shellfish, there are definitive verses in the New Testament that states they are now done away with. They were a picture of holiness, of otherworldliness, purely to separate national Israel from the Pagan tribes around them. As Christians, we have liberty in Christ to eat and drink what we want (providing we don’t be gluttons or get drunk), but we should strive to obey the Ten Commandments and any other Old Testament rule that is repeated in the New Testament as a commandment for Christians to keep.

With Jesus, we can not only live in obedience, but we can have a peace like no other. We can be on a battlefield and have peace.

Only through Jesus can we have the missing peace from our lives.

Dedication Sunday: Luke

This weekend another baby in our church was dedicated to God and Pastor Jonny brought a short message from the gospel of Luke.

Luke is a synoptic gospel. If you read the New Testament, you’ll notice that Matthew, Mark and Luke tell the story of Jesus in very similar ways, but each with their own unique style.

So who is Luke? He was a companion of Paul, the man who wrote much of the New Testament. Luke wrote one gospel (the gospel of Luke) and the book of Acts. Luke’s gospel speaks of Jesus coming onto the scene and the book of Acts follows on as the Gospel of Christ spread across Europe and Asia Minor. In a sense, we are still living out the book of Acts today as the church continues to grow.

Luke was a doctor-, a physician-turned-evangelist. He was an intelligent man and wouldn’t have been easily conned. He wouldn’t have written about Jesus unless he was absolutely sure that Jesus was who He claimed to be.

His gospel has 24 chapters. As a church, we read a chapter a day through Advent back in 2019!

1Many people have set out to write accounts about the events that have been fulfilled among us. 2They used the eyewitness reports circulating among us from the early disciples.a 3Having carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I also have decided to write an accurate account for you, most honorable Theophilus, 4so you can be certain of the truth of everything you were taught.

(Luke 1:1-4)

In verse 2, Luke clearly states that he was using eyewitnesses, the people who saw the miracles, as his source. These were people who had nothing to gain but everything to lose for sharing their stories in the persecuted early church.

Verse 3 states that this is an orderly account. Luke wasn’t writing because he thought it was a nice interesting topic to write about, but because he wanted to write an orderly account.

We also see here that he is writing to someone called Theophilus. While partially a mystery, we suspect that Theophilus was a patron of Luke, helping him financially as an itinerant evangelist. Interestingly, Acts is also dedicated to Theophilus.

It’s always interesting to look at the meaning behind names. Names today are picked based on family names or what is currently popular. In Bible times, however, names almost always had meaning. Theophilus means “beloved of God”. He was a real person, but at the same time, we (the church) are also the beloved of God, and the Holy Spirit inspired Scripture for us, so it’s interesting how it ties together for us.

14Then Jesus returned to Galilee, filled with the Holy Spirit’s power. Reports about him spread quickly through the whole region. 15He taught regularly in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.

16When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. 17The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written:

18“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,

that the blind will see,

that the oppressed will be set free,

19and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.f”

20He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. 21Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”

22Everyone spoke well of him and was amazed by the gracious words that came from his lips. “How can this be?” they asked. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”

(Luke 4:14-22)

Jesus quotes Isaiah more than any other prophet! In this passage, in verse 21, Jesus confirmed that He was there as the Messiah, the One sent to set people free.

Jesus came for a purpose, to save and set prisoners free. We are prisoners, “slaves to sin” as Jesus calls us, yet trusting in Him for eternal life sets us free from the power and penalty of sin, and we are gifted instead with eternal life. This was all prophecied hundreds of years before Jesus walked this earth. He has gifted us all with a calling, a purpose, in this life.

If you don’t know Jesus and you’d like to discover your God-given purpose, please read the gospel of Luke and consider the claims of Christ. We pray that you will discover your purpose in Him.

No Time To Die

This week, we met at the Vue Cinema in Cleveleys for a James Bond themed service and then watched the new movie, No Time To Die. Jonny brought a Bond-themed message for us.

James Bond is cool, with his cars and his gadgets. Ian Fleming wrote a masterpiece with his collection of James Bond books, and they’ve been given a new lease of life with the movies that have been released over the past 60 years. Bond really is an example of great storytelling.

But James Bond isn’t the best story ever written. Your life probably has some twists and turns in it that are more interesting than a Bond movie. If you’re not a Christian, trust us when we say that following Jesus will provide you with the best possible life story that could begin today. Despite the twists and turns, having Jesus at the centre of your life allows you to rest in Him, enjoy the fun parts, endure the tough parts, and find joy in everything in life.

3 similarities between the Christian life and a James Bond Story.

1. It’s personal. James Bond is not just a generic agent, he is the 007. Whether you are for him or against him, he wants people to know who he is. Luke 12:7 says that God knows every hair on your head. He knows you personally, and He wants you to know Him personally. He wants you to find the hope and promises that are written in His Scriptures.

2. James Bond is always on a mission and nothing comes in the way of that mission. He is either getting more information or he is gaining influence to advance in his mission. Christians are on a mission to share the Good News of Jesus, and that mission of the Great Commission. Nothing comes in the way of it; God is always on the move.

3. Bond never dies. He gets into tough situations and almost dies, but he never dies. There is a scene in Goldfinger where he is almost about to be killed and he says “do you expect me to talk”. Goldfinger replies saying that he expects Bond to die. Christians have an enemy who wants us dead, falling into sin. Jesus died on the cross to set people free from the power of sin and its penalty, eternal death and punishment. Christians will have eternal life and spend it with Jesus. The gospel message will never die, and neither will a Christian.

James Bond has communication with his boss, M; the provider of his gadgets, Q, and his trusty car for his mission. It’s tempting to compare these 3 things to the Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). The difference is that for James Bond, those 3 things assist him on his mission, whereas Christians are assisting the Trinitarian God of the Bible on His mission.

So we hope you enjoy a trip to the cinema in this season and enjoy the new Bond movie, but please also consider the message of Jesus, that He calls everyone to Himself. Trust in His perfect sinless life that you can never live, trust in His death on the cross that He died to pay for your sin, and repent and bow to Him as the Lord of your life for a life more exciting and joyful than you could possibly imagine!

Dedication Sunday. Psalm 139

1O LORD, you have examined my heart

and know everything about me.

2You know when I sit down or stand up.

You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.

3You see me when I travel

and when I rest at home.

You know everything I do.

4You know what I am going to say

even before I say it, LORD.

5You go before me and follow me.

You place your hand of blessing on my head.

6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

too great for me to understand!

7I can never escape from your Spirit!

I can never get away from your presence!

8If I go up to heaven, you are there;

if I go down to the grave,a you are there.

9If I ride the wings of the morning,

if I dwell by the farthest oceans,

10even there your hand will guide me,

and your strength will support me.

11I could ask the darkness to hide me

and the light around me to become night—

12but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.

To you the night shines as bright as day.

Darkness and light are the same to you.

13You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body

and knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!

Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.

15You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,

as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.

16You saw me before I was born.

Every day of my life was recorded in your book.

Every moment was laid out

before a single day had passed.

17How precious are your thoughts about me,b O God.

They cannot be numbered!

18I can’t even count them;

they outnumber the grains of sand!

And when I wake up,

you are still with me!

19O God, if only you would destroy the wicked!

Get out of my life, you murderers!

20They blaspheme you;

your enemies misuse your name.

21O LORD, shouldn’t I hate those who hate you?

Shouldn’t I despise those who oppose you?

22Yes, I hate them with total hatred,

for your enemies are my enemies.

23Search me, O God, and know my heart;

test me and know my anxious thoughts.

24Point out anything in me that offends you,

and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

(Psalm 139)

This week was a special service where a family in our church dedicated their baby to God.

So what is a dedication? The main difference between a dedication and a more commonly known Christening is baptism. In the Bible, especially the book of Acts, we see believers being baptised, but we don’t see infants being baptised. Baptism is the first step of obedience in the conscious life-changing decision to follow Christ.

So we as Free Methodists dedicate babies to God. It shows the heart of the parents to dedicate the baby back to the One who blessed them with the child to start with. Parents want their babies to know that the good times are so much sweeter with God, and the bad times are so much more bearable with Jesus.
Why dedicate a baby back to God? The difference between a christening and a dedication is baptism. We believe we baptise believers and we dedicate babies. Shows the heart of a parent to dedicate baby to the One who gave them. Parents want baby to know the good times are so much sweeter and the bad times are comforted.

So how can Psalm 139 apply to our lives today?

V1-4 - God knows you as an individual

God knows you even better than you know yourself! Take heart knowing that fact.

V5-6 - God is close

How does He know you? Because He is always close by. He hems you in before and behind. God goes before you, He knows where you are going to go and He also knows what you have been through.

V7-8 - God is everywhere

You cannot outrun God. You might have had a time in your life when you didn’t want to know God, but He is always there for you.

V9-12 - God loves you

This is the reason why He is everywhere, because He wants to hem you in and hold you close. Jesus loves you and God is a good Father.

V13-16 - God created you

He created you and He knit you together as the giver of life and He placed you in your family. Even if your biological family isn’t great, your spiritual family (the church) if you become a Christian will be such a blessing to you.

V17-22 - You are precious to God

You are precious to God and He wants to be precious to you too. He wants to have a relationship with you so you can know what it really means to live and to love with Him at the centre

V23-24 - God is everlasting

All things point back to Him and will be reconciled to Him one day.

As Christians, we get a taste of Heaven in this life now. The Christian life is the best life that can be lived before eternity.

You might be struggling in life, you might not be sure whether anyone cares, but God is loving, faithful and everlasting. He wants what’s best for you and there is nothing you can do to escape His love.

We have all fallen short of God’s standard. Maybe today is the day to turn to Jesus and ask for forgiveness.

Hidden In My Heart

11I have hidden your word in my heart,

that I might not sin against you.

(Psalm 119:11)

This week, Pastor Jonny went through this verse word by word.

I

We as individuals have to do something. We cannot live off the faith off our parents or our pastor. No, we have to have our own personal faith in Jesus Christ.

Have

This is the past tense, meaning “I” have done something. It is descriptive of the Christian life. A Christian isn’t just someone who mentally ascends to certain theological facts, but is someone who does things as an outworking of faith.

Hidden

We usually hide things in safety deposit boxes because they have value. The Word of God is very precious to us and has immense value, so we need to treasure it.

Your

These are God’s words we are hiding. These words are of ultimate value because He is our creator. Don’t hold onto the negative words that people say to you. Instead, focus on God’s Word.

Word

This could be a whole sermon! A word is a declaration. The Bible is God’s Word, full of God’s promises. Sometimes we never rattle off His promises when we need them most.

Additionally, quite often the Word refers to Jesus. So in addition to hiding Scripture in your heart, hide Jesus in your heart too.

In My Heart

Our heart doesn’t just beat in our chest, but our heart is who we are as a person. The heart is the mind, will and emotions. We need to hide Jesus in there, in our innermost being.

So That I Might Not Sin Against You

The Greek for sin is an archery term, which means “miss the mark”. If God’s law, His standard of living, is the bullseye, then we have all severely missed that. The Bible tells us that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The Good News is that Jesus came and purchased us on the cross by His blood, paying for our sin, past, present and future. If you want an eternity with Jesus, believe in Him today as your perfect Saviour and He will transform you. In this life, we will never be sinless, but we will certainly “sin less” with Jesus by our side!