Andy Hall writes:
“Times of refreshing from the Lord?”
Acts3:19 “…repent then and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out and times of refreshing come from the Lord…”
Peter tells his Jewish hearers that they needed to repent about who Jesus was. What about us who know who Jesus is? How do we access the promised refreshing of God?
“…repent then…” we need to change direction away from sin not run towards it
“…turn to God...” we need to seek God’s face for that is where refreshment comes from.
“…that your sins may be wiped out…” the word in Greek here “Exaleipho” does not mean sins covered over (by the blood) but rather false coverings and false anointing that need to be removed so they don’t cut us off from God presence. These false anointings like the spirit of religion shroud us and cut us of from the refreshing cool relief of God’s Spirit.
The Jewish hears minds would have gone straight away to God’s promises in Isaiah 44:3
“… for I will pour out water on a dry and thirsty land…”
But no matter how good and abundant the water poured out on the land it can’t penetrate the soil, if we have hard ground in our hearts Hosea 10:12 says “…break up your fallow ground…”
Sins in our hearts must be ploughed up before we can receive refreshing from the Lord. Sin contaminates and separates it, causes us to try and dominated and control people. Sin always defends itself, trusts only itself and is totally self-absorbed! God can not refresh this, it needs to be repented of otherwise we end up as saved saints but dwelling in a parched land. Heaven bound but hungry on the journey. Connected to God but feeling like a stranger.
The good news is the “…today is the day of salvation…” today we can start to restore the soil of our hearts. We need to urgently; throw down, overturn, root out, and energetically send away from ourselves all the sin symptoms of a hardened heart.
Idols must go. Other “gods “must be expelled, the doctrines of demons must be renounced, our minds changed, our bodies sanctified to God’s service.
How does this happen? By heart searching and confession. Psalm 26:2 “…test me and try me oh Lord and see if there be any unclean way in me…” Ask the Holy Spirit to show you.
Then confess that sin based on 1John 1:9 bring stuff into the light and onto the cross where Christ blood can deal with in.
Finally, we must expect and claim the promise of Isaiah 57:15
“…I live in a high and holy place but also with those who are contrite and lowly in spirit. To revive the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the contrite…”
Andy Hall Associate Minister CCBN
Miriam Thurlow Writes:
While we were at New Wine this year God reminded me of something He taught me 2 years ago and what He has done since. 2 years ago, I felt God inviting me to press into worship, to learn how to truly ‘pour out my praise’ to Him. Since I have gone on this journey with Him and seen greater freedom in worship yes, but also in other areas of my life. It has not been about becoming a ‘better’ worshipper but about seeking God’s face. John Wimber said, “We don't seek God's power, we seek His presence. His power and everything else we need is always found in His presence.”
In reflecting on this, I was drawn to 2 Samuel 6 and the contrast between David and Michal. David brings the Arc of the Lord back to Jerusalem and he dances with all his might, holding nothing back in his worship before the Lord. He offers sacrifices, gives everyone gifts of food and blessings in God’s name. But when he returns to his own household to bless them, Michal does not rejoice, instead she despises him in her heart.
She did not see David glorifying God, all she could see was David behaving inappropriately as a king. She was embarrassed because she thought David was ruining their reputation, but for David his behaviour wasn’t unacceptable but simply an unintended consequence of his wholehearted worship. But Michal couldn’t get over social standing, respectability and her image consciousness. Our world today is similarly obsessed with image, and it can often be easier to be like Michal than like David. However, David was able to wholeheartedly worship God because his eyes were firmly fixed on God.
God is a wholehearted God who is all in for us and as His disciples we are called to be all in for Him, not so that we will be good enough but so that we might know in greater measure the God who is all in for us. What would it look like for you to be all in for Jesus? To seek His presence wholeheartedly? For some this may look like dancing! But for others this will look like intentionally laying down distractions. For some it will look like sitting in silence with God. For others it might mean starting the day listening to worship or reading a Psalm. Whatever it looks like for you, how are you seeking God’s presence wholeheartedly in your everyday life?
Reverend Miriam Thurlow Curate CCBN
Mark Carey Writes:
Once again – thanks so much for the welcome back that I have received on returning from a few months of sabbatical. It was a deeply restful time. It is good to be back and to see what God is doing among us. We are a Network of Churches – the particular church that you belong to has a particular group of people, in a particular place with a particular gospel purpose. I believe in the coming time this will sharpen and focus – on Sunday evening I touched on my sense of moving from ‘building up’ to ‘spreading out’ – with reference to Isaiah 5:41-3.
Sing, O barren one who did not bear;
burst into song and shout,
you who have not been in labour!
For the children of the desolate woman will be more
than the children of her that is married, says the LORD.
Enlarge the site of your tent,
and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out;
do not hold back; lengthen your cords
and strengthen your stakes.
For you will spread out to the right and to the left,
and your descendants will possess the nations
and will settle the desolate towns.
Spreading out comes as a result of experiencing the covenant grace of God who brings the barren and desolate to the place of singing. Who brings those who experience less, limits and loss to the place of fruitfulness.
Spreading out also comes as a result of us expanding our living space – in Isaiah 54 language – “enlarge the place of your tent”. Expanding our living space is about being obedient to God about how He wants to enlarge and expand in our own lives for the purpose of spreading out around us. Internal expansion leads to external expansion. They used to expand their tents through sewing a new patch of material into it. This is hard work but necessary to enable more space – I wonder what expansion you and me are being called to? What does God want us to sew into our lives for expansion?
Isaiah warns us - DO NOT HOLD BACK!
We are heading into a time when we are likely to be called to expand our living space – get ready to spread out – we don’t know what this will look like in terms of results. If we give ourselves to this movement the impact, according to Isaiah, would be transformative and generational.
Let’s not hold back.
Reverend Canon Mark Carey Leader CCBN
Andy Hall writes:
“Zeal for your house consumes me…” John 2:17
In a dictionary zeal is defined as “earnestness and fervour in advancing a cause or rendering a service by wholehearted persistent endeavour…”
Jesus was passionate about that which his Father cared about. He cared about “your house”
The outer courts of the temple were set aside as a house of prayer for the nations (Gentiles) and yet the Jews had so set aside God’s heart that they turned it into a marketplace for convenience of the Jewish worshiper and totally overlooked the Father’s heart for the nations. Zeal always took Jesus back to God’s purpose.
“…consumes me” a fire that burns but does not destroy or burn out. Zeal does not lead to burn out instead it leads to a steady flame - like the burning bush in the wilderness. Burning fire produces effects:
Purification – single minded devotion to your love
Transformation – I am being changed into my future
Illumination – the flame of my zeal lights a path for others to follow.
There are six habits of zealous people:
Zeal leads to regular cleansing of our temple to remove competing affections.
Zeal allows for the overthrow of the established order.
Zeal is revolutionary.
Zeal results in a regular return to our first purpose and calling.
Zeal yields to a radical Jesus.
Zeal helps to keep the main thing, the main thing!
Paul writes in Romans 12:11 “never be lacking in zeal, keep your spiritual fervour serving the Lord…”
“never” is a command, always and at all times, this applies. “Be lacking” literally means don’t be a sloth, slowly ambling to practice of zeal. Be on fire and burning!
Those who are zealous for God will be at all times coming into counter cultural conflict with the norms of society. They will be labelled as unbalanced and extremist. They will have less “grey” areas than most. They will stand their ground and be marked people because of the fire on them.
The Jews lost zeal for the house and it departed from its purpose. The same for us today that our house of the lord can only stay in its purpose if zeal for its calling and purpose is in its people. A zealous church culture makes demands upon us. It demands more of our time, money, energy, passions, creativity, compassion and mercy to build His house!
Revelation 3:15-16 talks about a church losing God’s blessing because it has become “lukewarm”. Apathy is a common demonic stronghold in the lives of believers today. Apathy means to be without feeling or emotion. Apathy is a sort of local anaesthetic; you are awake but feel nothing. Apathy desensitizes us to God’s heart and plans, we seldom cry, feel anger, or rise up in rebellion, we acknowledge evil but seldom fight it. We become wary of the “fanatic” and the “crusading spirit”.
Zeal burns, fuels and wakes us up to God’s purpose, the way apathy goes is to start to embrace zeal!
Andy Hall Associate Minster CCBN
Miriam Thurlow writes:
Over the last couple of weeks, I have kept being drawn to Psalm 121. Yes it is an encouragement but not just a pat on the back; it is an encouragement to keep going and keep moving.
The Psalm opens with ‘I lift my eyes to the hills, for where does my help come from’ and then immediately answers this question with ‘my help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth’. The psalmist knows the hills do not hold the answers, that God is the true one who can provide. This is an amazing truth, but it also raises a challenge for us: what are the hills we are looking to for help? Can we confidently, like the psalmist, say my help comes from the Lord?
Psalm 121 continues to teach us why our help comes from the Lord by introducing God as our guardian. God promises to not let our foot slip on tricky paths. But notice it doesn’t say God keeps us from walking treacherous or narrow paths, instead He promises to protect our feet from slipping as we walk those paths. We are then reminded that God does not sleep, He doesn’t even slumber. He is also our place of refreshment and protection. He watches over our whole lives. Psalm 121 ends with a comprehensive promise that God is with us always. He watches over our coming and going, both now and forever.
So yes, this psalm is an encouragement, but not that we might stay still. It is and encouragement so we might keep moving
Because God is where our help comes from.
Because God watches over us and does not sleep nor slumber.
Because God is our place of refreshment and protection.
Because God is always with us.
Therefore, we can keep going, keep following Jesus on the way.
Reverend Miriam Thurlow – Curate CCBN
Mark Carey Writes:
It’s good to back after a few months away. It has been a fruitful and restful time that I am very thankful for. I'm especially grateful to you all, that I was released by you to be able to do this.
Penny and I have been praying in advance of our return and have sensed a couple of things. Firstly: you can go nowhere, well, without the presence of the Lord as your focus, centre and leader. God is moving and we must keep working out how to follow like the Israelites did.
"At the command of the LORD they would camp, and at the command of the LORD they would set out.” Seeking God's presence is exactly what we should do and must do - as John Wimber puts it "We don’t seek God’s power we seek His presence. His power and everything else we need is found in His presence." Moses asked for God's presence to go with him, the Israelites organised around following the cloud and fire of the Lord’s presence. So must we.
Secondly, Penny had a dream in which she saw a group of cyclists, a peloton, and a rider veering off and, alarmingly, going over a cliff.
I think this is something of a warning for us, or a reminder to us. Let's make sure we don't 'veer off' - the Israelites finally made it to the promised land because they managed to stay together, organised around the presence and the movement of God. We must continue to choose not to take offence, to stick with each other, explore where it is we are able to express our service to God's vision.
Rev. Mark Carey. Christ Church Bridlington Network.
Andy Hall writes:
In John 14 v12 Jesus said: “…I tell you the truth anyone who believes in me will do what I have been doing and greater things still will he do because I am going to the Father…”
We owe the world an encounter with the miraculous power of Jesus shown in signs wonders and miracles. Anything less is just words easily dismissed.
“I tell you the truth” literally Amen, Amen. This is a phrase Jesus used when He was making an essential truth statement , prick up your ears, pay attention and obey.
“Anyone who has faith…” Jesus addresses this to every believer not just some special group. He’s expecting all believers to engage with this.
“…has faith…” the context is believing in the miracles of Jesus. The word faith here is used 99 times in John’s gospel and means to believe, to be persuaded, to place confidence in, to really trust and commit. According to James “faith without works is dead” so according to Jesus’ faith without the supernatural works of Jesus power is equally dead!
“Greater things…” Not only are we expected to do what Jesus modelled in His life but greater than this both in quantity, quality and scale can be expected around believers in Jesus. The Gospels and Acts were just a starting point not an end point of Jesus ministry.
“…because I am going to the Father…” The glorification of Jesus allows the amplification of His works! The cross deals with sin, the resurrection deals with death, the ascension deals with all the authority of Satan and all his work.
My job as a believer is to articulate heaven’s heart towards the lost that they may become the found. Everywhere we go we must preach Christ and if necessary, use words. Signs, wonders and miracles are an eloquent preaching of the reality of Jesus for all who receive them from us.
We must be aware of the realities of heaven if we are to touch earth. The depth of the foot print I leave on the earth is proportional to the weight of God’s Glory that I carry!
Andy Hall Associate Minister CCBN
Ray Yates writes:
The parable of the prodigal son!
Luke 15
The parable from Luke 15 is about two sons not one. It can be argued that that the older brother is the focus of the parable, pointing a finger Pharisees.
The parable clearly demonstrates that both sons were lost, one found his way home to father, but did the older brother join the party?
I believe a key question of the parable is would the Pharisees & teachers of the law catch God’s love for the lost? Or would they look on disapprovingly?
The younger son came to ‘himself’, but would the older son come to see that he too was lost.
I believe the older brother, not just the younger one, was lost. The older brother was lost in plain sight of the father, rather than lost by moving away. We too can be lost in plain sight of God.
In what sense was older brother lost?
Before I try to answer this question, this talk is a warning to those for whom duty or the church as an organisation becomes more important than the embrace of the Father.
This isn’t a decision we make, but a drifting, over a period of time, but we do need to make a decision to seek the Father’s embrace.
1. The older brother had lost touch with the father.
Geographically, the older son was close to the father, but relationally he was miles away. Not once does the older brother use the word father. The older brother spent time close to his father but never acquired the father’s heart!
We need to ask ourselves: Am I drifting away from the Father’s embrace?
Do I need to return home?
2. The brother was a son, but he was living as a slave:
‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders.
It is so easy for us to become like the older brother, where it becomes about duty rather than relationship to the Father. When it becomes about what we do, and not what God does in us… On the surface we can seem to be very busy for God but lost…
Paul says we are sons not slaves:
Romans 8.15:
The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”
3. The older son didn’t take hold of his inheritance…
It is worth looking at v12:
The younger son said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
It wasn’t just the younger son who got his share of the estate but the older brother got his share of the estate but was living as if he hadn’t received his inheritance!
Hear what the older son says:
‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.
Here the father’s response:
‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours’.
Are you living as though you have no inheritance in Christ?
Paul writes
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people (Eph 1.18)
The Pharisees & the scribes had access to the riches of God’s truth but never enjoyed it or saw the blessings (Rom 9.4-5).
For all this they were lost!
· Do you hunger for the Father’s embrace?
· Are you living in God’s grace-or are you a son living like a slave?
· Do you need to take hold of your inheritance in Christ?
Revd Ray Yates
Miriam writes:
We loved welcoming Andy Baker and the worship team from The Belfrey, York who were with us for our New Wine Celebration on Sunday.
Andy invited us to rediscover our sense of wonder at God, to adopt a posture of wonder before God in our daily lives. So that we might be like David in 1 Chronicles 16.
We looked at 5 things Spurgeon suggested to help us to not lose our sense of wonder:
Keep a written record of what God has done (our testimonies of what God has done are to encourage us, but they are also to be given away and shared).
1. Praise God thoroughly at the time you receive God’s goodness (worship is at times an overflow of our love and gratitude for God, but at other times it is an act of obedience).
2. Meditate on the good things God has done (Phillipians 4:8 - ‘whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things).
3. Talk to others about His mercy often (testimonies have power).
4. Use everything around you as reminders of God’s goodness (making Jesus a part of our whole lives).
Hearing testimony of what God is doing increases our faith and encourages us. Do you have a testimony of what God has done in your life recently? We would love to hear them; send them in to office@ccbn.org.uk or chat to one of the team.
Revd Miriam Thurlow - Curate CCBN
Andy Hall writes
“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me…”
The third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit possess and displays all the same attributes and powers as the Father and the Son. What God the Father is, so is the Spirit. What Jesus is, so is the Spirit.
Jesus perfectly modelled the ministry of the Holy Spirit in and upon human flesh. What Jesus modelled is an invitation to us to copy in the power of the Holy Spirit today. Our lives as believers, we are told, are “hidden with Christ with God” so if we are in Christ we are in His anointings too.
In Isaiah 61 we see the Spirit upon Jesus to: preach good news, bind up the broken hearted, release to captives, opening of blind eyes and comfort to those who mourn.
In Isaiah 11 we see Jesus as carrying the Spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge and might.
The old phrase W.W.J.D (What Would Jesus Do) invites us to copy Him in the power of the Spirit not by our own strength and effort. It is an invitation to actively lean into the Holy Spirit’s help to carry the same anointing as Jesus, to handle the situations we face in church, family, and work. We are called today not to lean on our own understanding but to see the world through the eyes of Jesus’ Spirit and to lean on Him for everything we need.
Andy Hall
Associate Minister CCBN.
Andy Hall Writes
‘Hosting the Spirit of Revival’ By Andy Hall
Zechariah 4:6 says “…not by might nor by power but by my Spirt says the Lord…”
These words were addressed to Zerubbabel a Governor in Jerusalem for the Persian Emperor Darius. Having started his job of rebuilding Jerusalem well, it had got bogged down and needed a kick start. The prophet tells him it’s not human power or position or authority but only by the moving of God’s Spirit that this project could go on to completion. It was the Spirit’s power he needed, the Spirit’s power and ability is constant always available and not dependent upon circumstances.
In Ezekiel 47 God speaks about the river of God flowing out from His temple this is a picture of God desire for us to have an ever-deepening experience of Holy Spirit. In our experience the river of good can seem to go underground but it does not go away, we can actively access it today. God’s will is not up and down, His desire is for us to have a continuous increasing experience of the Spirit as we go from one degree of Glory to another!
Revival history is very varied. It’s not just speaking in tongues (like at Azusa Street), not just falling, and laughing (ala Toronto), not just societal transformation (as with the Salvation Army), not just mass conversion (as in the Welsh revival) nor is it just signs and wonders as currently being experienced in Bethel. It’s all the above and more, we can’t pick and mix our manifestations. Each past revival advances now part of my inheritance as I welcome the Spirit of revival. Previous generations ceilings are now our floors or starting points! We can ask for more!
How can I keep the flow of the revival Spirit in my life and church?
· Do not change the subject.
· Do not go back to Old Testament theology, of the Spirit only being for special people for special tasks.
· Do not back slide into a non-supernatural faith of your own power and might.
· Keep raising the bar of your expectations.
· Keep living in a permanent expectation of Holy Spirit turning up until our environment changes.
The Spirit of Revival is not stop-start, so let us connect, bore down, open ourselves up to Him in expectation of increasing waves a deeper river a more fire filled environment.
Why not here? Why not us? Why not now? Come Holy Spirit!
Miriam Thurlow Writes:
A life with Jesus is a life with the expectation of transformation.
Luke 5:1-11 is the calling and commissioning story of Simon Peter. Jesus was being followed by a crowd eager to hear His teaching and so He asked Simon and the other fishermen to use their boat so He could teach the crowd. But, even though they weren’t initially the hungry ones, it was the fishermen whose lives were transformed.
They had had a fruitless night of fishing and were weary, but when Jesus asked Simon to put out the nets one more time, Simon recognised something in Jesus and decided to do as He asked. And a miracle happened! The two fishing boats were overflowing with fish. Simon has a revelation of who Jesus truly is and falls before Him in repentance and sinner. He moves from calling Jesus master to recognising Him as Lord.
Even though Simon tells Jesus to go away because he is not worthy, Jesus draws close and says to Simon ‘from now on you will be catching people’. This phrase ‘from now on’ really struck me. It reminded me of the song from the Greatest Showman when the lead character reaches a crisis moment and makes the decision to live differently from now on. The lyric of the song is: ‘And let this promise in me start, like an anthem in my heart, from now on’.
There are echoes of Simon’s story in these words. He has a revelation of who Jesus is and responded in repentance. From this place Jesus calls and commissions him to join His kingdom work. There is a new anthem in Simon’s heart, it is the anthem God is singing over him, and therefore ‘from now on’ his life is transformed.
Coming to Jesus means choosing from now on the walk in the promises of God, to allow His anthem to be the anthem in our hearts. We all get things wrong, but ‘from now on’ means something has changed. No longer is the world centred around me or no longer is my identity dictated by a criteria the world decides. From now on my identity is found in Jesus. Simon went from a worthless fisherman in the world’s eyes, to a valued fisher of men in Jesus’ eyes.
Sometimes we get stuck or forget that transformation isn’t just a part of the beginning of our testimony. Life as a disciple is a lifelong journey of learning and transformation.
The fishermen left everything (including the huge catch of fish) behind to follow Jesus and become those who catch people for the Kingdom. Will we also lean in? Will we also allow the Holy Spirit to transform us? Because a life with Jesus is a life with the expectation of transformation.
Revd Miriam Thurlow, Curate CCBN
Miriam Thurlow Writes
We enjoyed welcoming Vicky Earll and some of the community from The Ascension and St Thomas (AST) Church in Derringham Bank, Hull at our New Wine celebration on Sunday.
Vicky explored Matthew 3:16-4:11 with us, looking at how the place of testing is the place of training for God’s purposes. Before Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit, He was equipped with all He needed for the place of testing that was ahead of Him. He received the infilling of the Holy Spirit and had His identity affirmed by the Father. The 40 days of prayer and fasting, at the start of His time in the wilderness, were also training for the testing.
Jesus was in a place of vulnerability when the devil came to test Him, but because He had been fully equipped, He was ready. The devil first questioned His identity and tempted Him to prove His identity and use His power as a gimmick. But that is not the purpose of Jesus’ power. We too sometimes are tempted to prove ourselves worthy or prove our identity as a follower of Jesus, and we may also have some blind spots where we don’t realise that is what we have been doing.
The devil then questions God’s promises to Jesus and tempts Him to prove the promise there and then rather than rest in the promise. The devil offers Jesus what He will get, but Jesus turns down this seemingly easier shortcut. Instead, He chose the costly way of the cross.
We too are tempted at times to prove our identity or to try and make God’s promises come true rather than trusting Him. But we see in Jesus’ time in the wilderness, as well as equipping and training, there is a way forward, so we don’t fall into these traps. We can ask the Holy Spirit to fill and lead us as He did with Jesus. We can seek daily encounter with Him. We can dwell in God’s word, the Bible, so that as with Jesus it is what comes to mind when we are tested too. We can also become more aware of our own places of vulnerability. All these help us to know and live into our identity as beloved children of God.
Ray Yates writes:
Mark 5.1-20 Legion
First of all to state the obvious, this is a shocking story, we can fail to allow the Bible to shock us! What a terrible picture this story presents of this poor demonised man:
This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. 4 For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.
It would seem that all this man’s humanity was lost to all but Jesus.
When Jesus asks: “What is your name?”
“My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.” His human name is lost! This poor man!
This passage points to an amazing truth - no one is too far gone for Jesus’ help. Jesus can see our real potential, beyond all the mess and sin in our lives… We shouldn’t write any one off….
What a transformation we see in Legion, Jesus breaking the grip of evil: sitting there, dressed and in his right mind, a man at peace after torment! Jesus can do that! Jesus wants to do that, Jesus does that. Many people are tormented by their own demons… Jesus can bring us peace…
We come now to the best part of the passage for me:
As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” So the man went away and began to tell those in his home towns how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.
The healed man wants to go with Jesus but he is sent to his own people. This is a tough call. Our mission field is often in front of us: family, friends, local area, and this is often the toughest mission field.
That’s where Jesus sent Legion…That’s where Jesus often sends us…
It couldn’t have been easy to go back, with all that had gone on.
It seems his enthusiasm knew no limits, rather than stay at home he went to the ten towns (Decapolis).
Jesus sends this man to those who asked Him to leave, not only that, these towns were known to be a bit rough!
What qualification did this man have to be one of the first Christian missionaries? In one sense he didn’t know much about Jesus, but in another sense he knew so much about Jesus. The healed man had this in abundance. He had a life changing Jesus Encounter.
The man could do more than talk about freedom (or quote Bible verses about it), he’d found it in Jesus. It is not just learning we should desire but Encounter. Encounter with Jesus should always make us want to learn more about Him..
And all the people were amazed! I am constantly amazed at what Jesus can do!
Reverend Ray Yates
Miriam writes:
In Mark 5:25-34 we hear the story of a woman who reached for Jesus with faith and encountered His presence in a way that completely transformed her life. She had been suffering with bleeding for 12 years and had spent all the money she had trying to get well but she was only getting worse. According to the Old Testament purity laws her bleeding caused her to be considered unclean by her community. As a consequence, she had spent 12 years socially isolated because people would have been afraid to come close in case they brushed up against her and became unclean too.
So, it is even more amazing that having heard about Jesus she had the faith (and courage) to risk everything and enter the crowd just so she might touch Jesus’ cloak. And when she did reach out, she received immediate healing. However, rather than her uncleanness transferring to Jesus, His holiness transferred to her - contagious uncleanness becomes contagious holiness in Jesus. Not only that, but Jesus called her out in front of the whole crowd so that she might be fully restored and no longer live in isolation.
Last week at the New Wine Leadership Conference Bishop Ruth spoke on this passage and how she accidentally typed ‘she re-ached for Jesus’ instead of ‘she reached’. But this mistake reveals something of the woman’s heart. She had tried everything else, and now she had faith that Jesus could heal her. Her heart ached for Him.
Do our hearts ache for Jesus? And not just once in a while, but do we re-ache for Jesus daily?
The other week at Family Breakfast we were thinking about what it means to grow as disciples and we did an experiment to grow salt crystals. Salt crystals only grow when string is immersed in salty water and left for the water to evaporate and the salt to cling to the string. This process happens slowly, but bit by bit crystals start to form.
This is a bit like what living as a disciple looks like, it means choosing again and again to reach out for Jesus with faith, with a heart that is daily re-aching for Jesus. Slowly the Holy Spirit transforms us and enables us to grow in our relationship with Jesus.
Are we day by day choosing to listen to His voice and obediently follow where He leads? Are we those who want to be with Jesus, become like Jesus and do the things Jesus did? Because Jesus is the one who heals, the one who rescues, the one who saves. And the one who calls out to us: come follow me - how are you going to respond? Are you reaching for Jesus? Is your heart re-aching for him?
Revd Miriam Thurlow Curate CCBN
Miriam Thurlow writes
Last week as we worshipped we were led into a beautiful extended silence and as we sat in God’s presence I felt God ask me: why are you bringing your haste with you into my presence?
My life is often full of haste but I had this strong conviction I didn’t want to bring that into the presence of God with me. Because if I did I would bring my own vision of God and his kingdom, my own vision of the right timings, rather than coming to him and letting him reveal himself and his will to me.
As I reflected on this, I realised God has been speaking to me about slowing down with him in various ways - about not rushing time with him. And I found myself reflecting on Moses’ encounter with God at the burning bush (Exodus 3).
This encounter happens whilst Moses is going about his daily life as a shepherd. He is tending his flock when an angel of the Lord appeared and made God’s presence visible to Moses in a tree that was on fire but not burning up. The fire catches Moses’ attention and he begins to draw near to it. As he does he hears God calling him by name. But before he can draw any closer God tells Moses to take off his sandals for he is on holy ground.
Yes as a sign of respect and reverence but for 2 other reasons too. Firstly, Moses is told to take off his sandals because they are dirty. He is a shepherd and so they would have been covered in all kinds of dirt on them. But the dirt of the world does not belong in this holy space. Moses turned away from his business as usual, including taking off his dirty sandals, leaving the signs of the world outside so that he can come into the holy place. He takes off his sandals so that God can do His transformation.
But I wonder also whether God told him to remove his shoes so would not go anywhere. So he wouldn’t rush off, but stay in this holy place, stay in this place of encounter.
It is a holy place because God’s presence is there. God is inviting Moses into this holy place but he has a choice to make in order to draw near, to take off his sandals.
We too are invited to draw close, to be in God’s presence and be transformed, but we have to make a choice - to take off our sandals and trust God’s wisdom and command rather than our own strength and own way.
Why do we seek God’s presence? In part the answer is simple: we desire to be in God’s presence because that is where God is - and we want to be with Him.
Are we hearing the Holy Spirit inviting us to draw close to God? Hear the Father calling our name? But what are we bringing with us? What is stuck on the bottom of our sandals? Distraction? Haste and hurry? Our own agenda? Resentment? Unforgiveness? Pride? We long to come into the presence of God and be transformed - but that is a purifying place - what do we need to leave behind so that we can fully enter in?
We seek God’s presence for He is there and in His presence we are transformed. In His presence we hear Him calling our name and listen as He reveals who He is. Our cry in this holy place is: teach me your ways Lord, show me the way You love, make my heart grow more and more in love with you. As we do this we discover and learn to walk in God’s way, at His pace - to not let the haste of the world lead us, but instead be led by the Holy Spirit, to dwell in God’s presence and be obedient to where He calls us.
Revd Miriam Thurlow Curate
David Phillips writes:
The spiritual world is all around us because God is all around us, this is fundamental in Christianity. We are spiritual children living in a material world.
The Bible says that we are aliens here on earth and that our home is in heaven. So we are urged to grow in spiritual things, in gifts of the Spirit such as prophecy, visions, healings, tongues, kindness, faithfulness, love, self-control. And lots of other things, because we cannot have a lasting effect for the Gospel if we are not aware of and do not grow in the spiritual dimension.
When we become Christians we think that we have arrived, and if we have truly given our lives to Jesus we have arrived, but there is so much more to learn, so much more to grow into, because all the things that Jesus displayed and taught and show us in His life are ours too, all the blessings and gifts of heaven are ours in Christ. And if we are willing and brave, we will never stop learning this side of heaven.
We are growing into the image of Jesus and when we finally get to heaven and we see the Lord, the bible tells us that we will be like Him for we will see Him as He is. Obviously, not physically but spiritually, and like all living things we have to grow, or die, you never just exist.
So how do we grow? Of course, the Bible tells us firstly to crave that growth.
1Peter 2:2-3 says: “Like newborn babies crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good”.
You can’t stay as a baby, you have to grow, if you eat or drink it happens, in the material and in the spiritual.
Spiritual truths found in scripture, and Christian books will feed you, sermons feed you, prophetic words feed you.
2Peter 3:18 says: “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”
It’s a command to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus.
To grow in His grace is to accept His undying, unmerited forgiveness then give it away to others. We give ourselves for the sake of other people, just as Jesus did. “Have you truly accepted His forgiveness of you and because of it have you been able to forgive others who have wronged you?” Have you grown in grace and knowledge of Jesus?
It’s hard but it’s how we grow and all of us have some growing to do.
2Cor 10:15 “Our hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, our area of activity among you will greatly expand.”
As your faith grows all sorts of spiritual ministries grow as well and the area of spiritual activity in a town or area grows as well.
You have to exercise your faith, practise it, test it, step out in faith and cause it to grow.
Reverend David Phillips CCBN
