1st August 2010

They are looking fot the baby chick to come out of the broken egg- the faith of children!

Psalm 139
1 O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.
5 You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

God is in it all! Today lets all just trust him!

25th July 2010

“I am the Lord your God, who bought you out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.” Exodus 20:1-2

God is King of the entire universe and all that is in it. He created it and made human behind because he wanted our friendship. It breaks his heart when we turn away, and seek satisfaction for our needs elsewhere. Yet his love still pursues us, and sets us free from the snares and the selfishness that enslave us.

*Does God really have first place in our lives? What other ‘gods’ might be taking up more space in our hearts than they should?

*What might be our ‘Egypt’ today – holding us in slavery, instead of letting us live in the freedom that has been won for us?

*What things or when have filled us with awe and wonder, and a totally fulfilling sense of God’s glory in the past year?

Matthew 22:37-39
37Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.'

19th July 2010

God's creation - the river Thames as you can only see it from a boat!

Creation - Care
The Bible tells us that in creation God has established three fundamental relationships:
First to himself.
Then to each other.
Finally to the earth and all the creatures in it.
All relationships were messed up by the fall – we live in a fallen world.
Therefore logically God’s plan of restoration includes our reconciliation to God and to each other but also to creation.
2 Peter 3:13 “But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.”
Revelation 21:1 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.”
Psalm 24:1 “The earth is the Lord’s.”
Psalm 115:16 “The earth he has given to the human race.”
Think about this statement:
“For the earth belongs to God by creation and to us by delegation.”
We are to preserve and develop the earth on his behalf.
We respect nature because of its creator; we do not worship the creation only the creator. We must be responsible stewards and be in cooperation with God.
We find our identity in God whom we are to worship as the creator of this amazing world.
What a mess man has made!
World population growth.
Depletion of earth’s resources.
Waste disposal.
Climate change.
A challenge to us who follow Jesus.
Chooses sustainable forms of energy if possible. Switch off unused appliances. But food, goods and services from ethically sound environmental companies. Avoid over consumption and unnecessary waste and recycle as much as possible.
God intends our care of the creation to reflect our love f the creator.
Deuteronomy 10:14, “To the Lord your God belongs the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it.”
Questions:
1. How are we going to live in light of the above?
2. What do we need to pray about?
3. What one thing can we do today that begins to reflect the way of live we should have?

Sunday 10th July

What is God’s purpose for his people?

God wants his people to become like Christ, for Christlikeness is the will of God for the people of God.

Romans 8:28-29 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son…”

1 John 3:2 “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”

“Follow me” “Imitate me” . That is his call to us today.

1 John 2:6 “Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.”

If we claim to be Christian, we must be like Christ.
We must have the same attitude of mind that Jesus had:

2 Philippians: 5-8
“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!”

Jesus washed his disciples feet in John 13.

Ephesians 5:2 “live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

The challenge:

Jesus said, “As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world; and in commissioning, he said, As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”

As Jesus entered our world, so we are to enter other people’s world’s. Authentically with the love of Calvary.

Questions
1. How do we show authentic love?
2. How do we enter into someone else’s world without compromise?
3. Who’s or which world do we need to enter and share Jesus?

Sunday 4th July 2010

The church we belong to is just amazing - diverse, local, real, exciting and totally dependant on God to build it - we can say this because he just keeps on building it - and so today we just want to say THANK YOU JESUS!

Psalm 107
1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. 2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say this—those he redeemed from the hand of the foe, 3 those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south. 4 Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle. 5 They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away. 6 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress .7 He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle. 8 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men, 9 for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.

"For he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things."