Words during Worship + Sermon Notes

Peter T_: "Isn’t it a beautiful morning! As we were driving here, we were praising God for such a beautiful day!" Peter brought a reading from Acts 1:1 – 8 : In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 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 promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit." So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 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."

After we had sung ‘We will wait upon the Lord’, Peter W_ asked: “Have you ever noticed how, when we do that, when we wait upon the Lord, something amazing happens – when we wait for the Lord to speak, when we wait to hear from God, things happen. Let’s do that now!

Yvette: Psalm 146:
Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD, O my soul.
I will praise the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save.
When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing.
Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God,
the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them— the LORD, who remains faithful forever.
He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free,
the LORD gives sight to the blind, the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down, the LORD loves the righteous.
The LORD watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
The LORD reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the LORD.

Julie S_ felt the Lord wanted to say to us: “Is that what you’re feeling? Are you feeling bowed down? Burdened? Come to me – I will give you rest; do you feel hopeless? Come to me – I will give you hope; do you feel you’ve reached the end of your resources? Come to me and I will resource you; do you feel you’ve run out of strength? Come to me and I will lift you up on wings like eagles. Come to me.

Paul: Wonderful thing to hear God’s people singing – reminded him of something: if you’ve had a curry or something and left the dirty dishes on the side for a while, when you try to wash it off, it may not come clean straight away but if you leave it to soak, then when you come back to it, the same effort now cleans it off beautifully. Feels the Lord is saying to us through this image: “Come to church, enjoy my presence if you want to see things happen – draw strength from me and you will see things happen”.

Janet B_: “When were you last totally surrendered to me? When you’re totally abandoned to me, that is when I can lean down from Heaven – I will pick you up, stand you on the solid rock – abandon yourself to me!”

Peter W_ : God has been speaking to us this morning – let your burdens go – come before God today.

Mark spoke from Colossians 3:15 – 17

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.
We hear a lot about stress & anxiety and depression these days. Recently he read a book, ‘Affluenza’, a study of depression across the world. In the Western world, the ‘developed’ world, incidence of depression/anxiety higher than in ‘developing’ world. 80% to 100% people in Western World likely to suffer depression at some point. Why?
Sources of anxiety/stress include: exams; jobs/job security; health; ageing; imaginary things – 80% of things we worry about can’t be controlled anyway.

May not be able to identify source of anxiety, BUT ‘Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts’. This kind of peace is not just the absence of war, but the kind the dispenser/Prince of Peace gives = knowing you are right with God; knowing you are forgiven. In the midst of difficult/challenging circumstances, you can still know the peace of Christ in your heart. (Mark gave some examples of couples in the church family who are facing severely trying circumstances and who are displaying the peace of Christ in the midst of their troubles). When it comes to important decisions, let the peace of Christ be your umpire – let that peace guide your decisions – if you feel at peace about a decision, it is a good indicator that the decision is one you have made with God.

Philippians 4:4-7 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Peace is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. It is a benefit of being filled with the Holy Spirit. We can know the peace of Christ whatever our circumstances/challenges. Can know his peace in our hearts.

Isaiah 43:1 – 5
But now, this is what the LORD says—
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
"Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
For I am the LORD, your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I give Egypt for your ransom,
Cush and Seba in your stead.
Since you are precious and honored in my sight,
and because I love you,
I will give men in exchange for you,
and people in exchange for your life.
Do not be afraid, for I am with you;
I will bring your children from the east
and gather you from the west.

Note the scripture doesn’t say you will be taken out of the difficult circumstances, but that He will be with you!

Colossians 3: Called to peace
Do you reflect peace to others? Does your life reflect peace? Or do you exhibit the symptoms of OCD – is your life full of frenetic activity? Do you exhibit ‘hurry sickness’?
Jesus said: John 20: 19 – 22 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit.

In the news this week was the story of a man who had been a nurse for 30+ years who referred to US/UK research which showed regular churchgoers are less prone to stress/anxiety, and suggested at an NHS workshop that it might be good to go to church as a means for alleviating stress. He was sacked for making those observations. It’s now going to tribunal.

‘And be thankful’. When we adopt an attitude of gratitude, we are able to defeat the power of anxiety/stress and some symptoms of depression. Thanksgiving lifts us and lifts our spirits. The Israelites lost their way in the desert when they began grumbling about what they had left behind (onions!?!).

Devote yourselves to prayer – be watchful and thankful.

Let the word of God dwell in you richly (give yourself time with the Word of God each day).

Teach and admonish one another with all wisdom – Mark spoke about Simon Cowell’s honesty with aspiring artists on Britain’s Got Talent. Don’t let your politeness rob you of honesty.

Sing Psalms, hymns, songs.
Mark spoke about how often when he wakes in the morning, his thoughts turn to his day and he begins his agenda with God with prayer. He felt gently rebuked/admonished by the Holy Spirit: “Stop and enjoy me!”

Larry Crabb – after 50 years in the counselling ministry: ‘Most problems in the counselling room are due to the fact that we don’t know how to worship God’.

Whatever you do, do it as unto the Lord – do it with all your heart.

(Scripture quoted from New International Version)

Words during Worship

Simon B_ drew our attention to the fact we had just sung about making a joyful noise to the Lord and the rain sounded louder on the roof of the hall - Simon gave thanks that even the rain was making a noise to praise the Lord.

We gave thanks for an answer to a 5 year old boy's prayer: his sister had hurt herself on a trampoline and couldn't walk on one leg - whilst mum was wondering whether to take her to the hospital, her son laid his hands on his sister's leg and prayed for her - she was healed!

Antonia sang a spontaneous song of praise about how love rises in our hearts, bringing freedom through the Holy Spirit and inviting the King of Heaven to come down and meet His people in this place.

We heard that God is saying it breaks His heart that some of us have rooms in our heart which are locked - rooms of unforgiveness, anger, judgment - He wants you to open those rooms, open those closed doors so He can give you the forgiveness you need to forgive others.

Another word was about a picture of a sheep trying to run away from the flock, away from the shepherd - the Lord wants to say to that person who is contemplating leaving the church: 'come back to the flock; stay close to the shepherd'.

The Lord would also say to us today: It is worth pursuing me - worth opening yourself up to the Holy Spirit - there is an eternal reward in Heaven, riches in Christ - and it was worth it for God to send His son into the world for our sake - it was worth dying on the cross - worth it to redeem that broken relationship between God and His people.