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Sonya Forbes shared a message titled, 'The Transformational Peace of Jesus' John 14:27 "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” Philippians 4:4-9 GNT 'May you always be joyful in your union with the Lord. I say it again: rejoice! Show a gentle attitude toward everyone. The Lord is coming soon. Don't worry about anything, but in all your prayers ask God for what you need, always asking him with a thankful heart. And God's peace, which is far beyond human understanding, will keep your hearts and minds safe in union with Christ Jesus. In conclusion, my friends, fill your minds with those things that are good and that deserve praise: things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and honourable. Put into practice what you learned and received from me, both from my words and from my actions. And the God who gives us peace will be with you.' Paul shares some pointers and action steps on how we can lesson worry and increase peace. We can pray, asking God for what we need. We can also practice gratitude. It's hard to be angry when you're grateful! The Word declares that Yahweh’s peace which is far beyond human understanding will keep our hearts and minds safe in union with Christ Jesus. This is transformational! If our hearts and minds are healthy, it impacts everything about our lives. We can do some practical things to access peace - fill our minds with good things and put into practice what we've been taught. It is still God who GIVES us peace as a gift. We can imagine intrusive thoughts as being like birds flying overhead. We can let them fly past, or we can allow them to build a nest. 2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV ‘For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.’ From 1 Corinthians Chapter 2 NLT 'God revealed these things by his Spirit.... and we have received God’s Spirit... we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.' The health of our hearts, minds and bodies are all inter-connected and Christ is in it all. Kurt Lewin's model of Control, Influence & Concerns. This encourages us to focus on that which we have control over and the opportunity to influence, but still be aware of those things which are of concern. We recognise that there are places of unrest in our world, and in the the lives of our friends and family. Jesus said: John 16:33 NIV ‘I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.’ Will we be Christians who rant and rave about all the places there ISN’T peace in our world? Or will be the kind of Jesus-followers who carry peace to the places we see need it? And could that possibly start with handling our very own hearts and minds? Some tools to swing wide the door for God's peace to blow our minds and transform our hearts are: - Having a gentle attitude toward ours - Joy in our union with Christ - Asking God for the things we need - Gratitude - Filling our minds with good things - Putting into practice what Holy Spirit teaches us Poem - RIP 'Rest in peace… Settle into the ease The pain is done True freedom has come Victory is won The body can’t limit your spirit Anymore The door to the throne room swung wide Now in perfect love, you abide Rest in peace Oh, troubled heart Oh, weary mind Oh, broken body Come to Jesus and find The comfort you crave It’s available because He didn’t say lain in the grave When Jesus defeated death It’s as though He said You won’t have the final say You don’t get to steal life away This means that every day We can lay claim To hope We have reason to praise, Gratitude can flow We can know Peace Beyond comprehension We can have His Presence In every situation' © Sonya Cossey Creative --- You can watch the full message below:
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Philippa Kirby shared a message titled, 'Go With' Ruth 1:14-19 NLT"And again they wept together, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye. But Ruth clung tightly to Naomi. 15 “Look,” Naomi said to her, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. You should do the same.16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. 17 Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!” 18 When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said nothing more. 19 So the two of them continued on their journey." Ruth clung tightly to Naomi and was committed to the journey with her. In the physical we don't always have someone with us in the journey, but we always have God with us! Exodus 33:12-17 NLT "One day Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Take these people up to the Promised Land.’ But you haven’t told me whom you will send with me. You have told me, ‘I know you by name, and I look favorably on you.’ 13 If it is true that you look favorably on me, let me know your ways so I may understand you more fully and continue to enjoy your favor. And remember that this nation is your very own people. 14 The Lord replied, “I will personally go with you, Moses, and I will give you rest—everything will be fine for you.” 15 Then Moses said, “If you don’t personally go with us, don’t make us leave this place. 16 How will anyone know that you look favorably on me—on me and on your people—if you don’t go with us? For your presence among us sets your people and me apart from all other people on the earth. 17 The Lord replied to Moses, “I will indeed do what you have asked, for I look favorably on you, and I know you by name.” God reminded Moses of what He'd already said. He was so patient with Moses. God's Presence sets us apart. The Holy Spirit is in us. Acts 1:4 NLT "Once when he was eating with them, he commanded them, “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the Gift he promised, as I told you before." Like Ruth, Moses, and Jesus' disciples... Don't go, don't move, until you've got the Spirit. GO WITH GOD. Sometimes we have scary moments, but with Him, we have what we need for each next turn in the journey. 'Jesus, I don't want to go, unless I have you' Go is an action! Intention without action is just a whole lot of procrastination. "I need Your unction to function, Lord." How can we include Jesus in our over-stimulated lives? "...his greatest business did not divert him from God." - Brother Lawrence We choose to practice presence. Whatever we are doing is communion when we are joined to the life-giving vine. "Having the reality of God's presence is not dependent on our being in a particular circumstance or place, but is only dependent on our determination to keep the Lord before us continually." - Oswald Chambers Spiritual determination is surrender, it's saying God I need you. What does Jesus going with you into all of life's situations look or feel like for you? What are our memorial stones or prayer tassels (things that remind us of God's faithfulness)? What practices/rituals/rhythms/routines have we built? What reminders could we build into our everyday that might help us live from a place of constant dependence? What reminds us that we're GOING WITH GOD? He's ALWAYS going with US! "...all your striving to maintain that relationship by some particular method is completely unnecessary. All that is required is to live a natural life of absolute dependence on Jesus Christ." - Oswald Chambers --- You can watch the full message below: Dr Chris Fawcett shared a message titled, 'The Revolutionary & Subversive Message of Jesus' Tom Holland is a historian and expert in Persian and Greek history - he wrote a book called Dominion and that book brings perspective to just how revolutionary the message of Jesus was in His day and in ours! It begs the question, who was Jesus, and who are we? The culture of ancient Persia and Greece was very different. The gods were at the top of the pyramid and they were perceived as demanding and very cruel. Next was the King who was considered to be Divine Then the priests and nobles Rich merchants Slaves - about 70% of the population who lived very short and brutal lives The King was required to do whatever it took to protect the integrity of the gods which was often very brutal and cruel. Gods were strongly associated with the nations of the time. When nations were defeated often the religion was stamped out too. The people at the bottom were slaves and were treated as animals with no legal rights. The mind blowing thing is that Jesus came at the bottom of the pyramid and He said "I am God and I am with you." Holy places could only be entered by priests at certain times but Jesus came and said that through Him anyone can enter any time! And not just enter a Temple to worship God, but they themselves ARE the Temple that God resides in! Everyone was trying to get up the pyramid, but Jesus was saying no no come down here, I’ll meet you at this level. Jesus showed God as a servant and said we are to serve one another. He had totally open arms for everyone and put no limits on knowing God through Him. Jesus’ message was revolutionary! People couldn’t get their head around the fact that this could be the nature of God. We can become so familiar with the message that we forget its subversive and revolutionary nature. Sometimes we’re guilty of wanting a Zeus-like god… but that is not who Jesus showed us! This can also challenge our view of ourselves. If people are treated as less than humans for long enough they’ll start to believe it, but once we see that God dwells in all of humanity we value them and indeed value all of creation. We can have the God who created all things living with us - Emmanuel! People at the bottom had no hope of getting close to God… but Jesus came and said that those people can have God living WITHIN them! They themselves can be the Temple! This gives us confidence but it also makes us aware of who we are and what we are doing. Jesus said we’d have the spirit of sonship - we are friends and sons of God. This is the level of relationship he desires with us 1 Corinthians 1:27-29 "But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him." If people have God living in them, even if you call them slaves, they won’t believe it, they’ll still do what God has called them to. Ecclesiastes 3:11 "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end." We carry God Himself within us. Whatever imperfection we find in ourselves we can know we still hold eternity in our hearts - God is in us and this is mind blowing! If we see other people as being Temples of God it changes how we see and treat them. How we treat one another is our religion. If Jesus didn’t make divisions, who are we to do so? Galatians 3:28 "There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Everyone carries the image of God and therefore everyone deserves respect. We live in a world where we make pyramids... But wherever you are, Jesus is present at the bottom and that’s where the Kingdom of God is established. Where are we putting ourselves at the top of pyramids? James 1:27 "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." The hope for the Church is the breaking down of boundaries through seeing God in all people and all of creation. What pyramids am I building in my life? --- You can watch the full message below: Lawrence Kirby shared a message titled, 'The Restoration of All Things' Acts 1 is about Jesus having resurrected from the dead and spending time teaching the disciples about the Kingdom of God and he says don't go anywhere until the Holy Spirit comes upon you. It goes on to talk about the early Church gathering to pray while they wait. In Acts 2 during the Festival of Pentecost (about 50 days after Jesus' resurrection), the Holy Spirit indeed came and touched them! A large number of people committed themselves to following Jesus at this time... This brings us to Acts Chapter 3. We see the disciples going to the Temple and they encounter a lame beggar. Peter says he has no money to give, but commands him to get up and walk in the name of Jesus, and he is healed! The man makes a big deal about his healing and celebrates it loudly! Peter & John are confronted by the priests and addresses them in this way: Acts 3:12-26 Peter saw his opportunity and addressed the crowd. “People of Israel,” he said, “what is so surprising about this? And why stare at us as though we had made this man walk by our own power or godliness? 13 For it is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—the God of all our ancestors—who has brought glory to his servant Jesus by doing this. This is the same Jesus whom you handed over and rejected before Pilate, despite Pilate’s decision to release him. 14 You rejected this holy, righteous one and instead demanded the release of a murderer. 15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. And we are witnesses of this fact. 16 “Through faith in the name of Jesus, this man was healed—and you know how crippled he was before. Faith in Jesus’ name has healed him before your very eyes.17 “Friends, I realise that what you and your leaders did to Jesus was done in ignorance. 18 But God was fulfilling what all the prophets had foretold about the Messiah—that he must suffer these things. 19 Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away. 20 Then times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord, and he will again send you Jesus, your appointed Messiah. 21 For he must remain in heaven until the time for the final restoration of all things, as God promised long ago through his holy prophets. 22 Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among your own people. Listen carefully to everything he tells you.’ 23 Then Moses said, ‘Anyone who will not listen to that Prophet will be completely cut off from God’s people.’ 24 “Starting with Samuel, every prophet spoke about what is happening today. 25 You are the children of those prophets, and you are included in the covenant God promised to your ancestors. For God said to Abraham, ‘Through your descendants all the families on earth will be blessed.’ 26 When God raised up his servant, Jesus, he sent him first to you people of Israel, to bless you by turning each of you back from your sinful ways.” Peter knows his audience in this speech. He's talking to Jews who knew the ancestral history and understood the call of God on them as His People. A zoom in on verses 19 - 21 shows us that transformation has it's ultimate end in the restoration of all things. This is when Jesus as the Messiah will return. Peter had a revelation that the Messiah was not all about a person coming to overtake and rule the world, it was about a better thing which was the restoration of all things. Our personal transformation is part of the journey towards the restoration of all things! God wants to start with you and I! Romans 8:21 "But with eager hope, 21 the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay." Romans 8:28 "And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them." Tikkum olam is a Hebrew saying meaning 'repairing of the world'. Human wisdom is not going to solve all the issues of this world. Restoration of all things requires the wisdom and presence of God, manifest through us, His People. Jesus wants us to represent Him well in the environment that we are in. - Repent (change your mind to align with the way God thinks). - Treasure, cultivate and understand that the Presence of God is vital for us in the process of transformation. In the presence of God there is refreshing and strength to allow you to journey through life. - Be people who live aware of the fact that we are on a journey toward the restoration of all things! --- You can watch the full message below: |
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