2-way Communication

[Transcript of “A 5 minute cuppa” published by Horley Baptist Church on YouTube[1], March 2021]
Sandy

Hi everyone, welcome to ‘a five minute cuppa’. This is the place that you can come any time of day, just for five minutes, to relax, put your feet up, have a cuppa and listen to a few words to help you grow in your relationship with God.

In the last five minute cuppa we were thinking about the importance of having a secret place to go to to be alone with God, a place to find sustenance and wisdom so that we are prepared for whatever lays before us in the coming week. Today we’re going to think a bit about how we make that secret place, somewhere we want to be, a place that we want to run to, a place that we would miss desperately if we hadn’t found the time to go there.

We know from the records of Jesus’s life that he withdrew from people frequently to be alone with his heavenly Father. We have little recorded about what actually went on during this time though I wonder how he spoke with his Father, how he had two-way communication. I doubt very much if it was like some of the prayers that we hear when we go into a typical church service. We could forgive anyone popping into church on the odd occasion, or even our own children that grow up in some of our churches, thinking that you have to develop a prayer voice, a particular way of talking that’s different from the sound you use with everyone else; a monologue rather than a conversation, a place to reel off a list of ‘thank you’s and ‘pleases’.

I’m pretty sure that when Jesus went to the secret place his conversation was one of intimacy with his Father; communication where he spoke honestly and openly and heard his Father speak back to him. You can see the fruit of this close relationship in his daily actions with others. He was so used to hearing his Father’s voice in the secret place that he could hear it everywhere he went. How else did he know what people were saying behind his back and how to respond to this with such wisdom? How did he know accurate details of people’s lives he had never met and what was on their hearts?

When Jesus was teaching his disciples how to pray he he talked about asking for God’s will to be done on earth as it was in heaven. Here lies our question and our dilemma: how do we know the Father’s will? How can we know the mind of the father so that we are talking to him about the things on his heart and then seeing those things that are important to him happening in our own lives and in our communities?

Maybe it’s time to stop modelling our prayers on what we have typically seen and instead practice that two-way communication that the Father and Jesus obviously enjoyed, but how do we do that practically? What does it look like?
I don’t think it’s as hard as you might think.

Start by asking Him a question – “What’s on your mind, Lord? What shall we talk about? What are you doing?” then most importantly leave a space for him to speak back. Don’t try too hard, you don’t have to work yourself into a frenzy to hear His voice. I’ve found that after I ask a question a thought will pop into my mind or a person or a situation. Before launching into a monologue prayer I will ask another question: “What’s going on for that person or situation? What do you want to do?” Often I’ll get something that adds to what He has said, sometimes an image or a reminder of a similar situation I have known, often alongside some words or a story from the Bible that helps me to pray into the situation with understanding.

I love it when I begin to recognize His still small voice in my everyday life, when I’m prompted to speak to a particular person or ask a question that opens up a conversation about something that’s troubling them or when I’m woken in the middle of the night with an image of a person on my mind that is on the Father’s heart, and I can there and then ask Him what’s going on and agree with Him about what he wants to do in that person’s life.

If pausing and asking questions and listening to responses isn’t something you’re used to why not give it a go? I think you’ll find once you become familiar with this two-way communication with the Father you’ll want to run to your secret place. Who wouldn’t want to have a relationship with the all-knowing, all-powerful sustainer of the universe who also calls us His friends?

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[1] YouTube link: What’s on your mind, Lord?
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Bible quotations: Unless otherwise specified, quotations are taken from the resources of Bible Gateway or Bible Hub, in accordance with the licencing conditions outlined on our Site Policies page.

Bible dates: Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
and are subject to the constraints defined on the corresponding webpage.

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Do I Need a Child-like Faith?

[Transcript of a midweek message published by Horley Baptist Church on YouTube[1], March 2021]

Are you the kind of person that believes in anything, or are you sceptical and full of questions?
How should we be with faith in God – naive or questioning?

Hi guys, you find me in the chicken run again. It’s horrible out there, it’s raining, it’s wet and miserable. Yes, I am a fair weather film-maker but I promise you the dogs will get a walk later but thank you for joining me in the chicken run with the chickens and we’re going to carry on our series looking at encounters meeting with Jesus.

[00:35] A few years ago now I had the great privilege of attending Bible College and that may not seem amazing to some of you but for me it was a dream come true. It gave me three years to spend time studying the Bible, learning about God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit and all that sort of stuff, and I’m so thankful to all those that enabled me to do that. I got married in my first year and I used to come back from having my lectures – the lectures were very much there, particularly the first year, to unpack what we believed and to dismantle it, to take it down brick by brick so we can then rebuild our faith, and have a real solid understanding standing about what we believe.

[01:19] I used to go back home after a day at college and discuss with my new wife, Jen, all the things that we’ve been learning about, all the difficult questions and the difficult issues that we were coming across and having to grapple with that really challenged our faith, and I remember Jen saying these words to me which really annoyed me. She said “You need to have a childlike faith”. When I came to all these difficult issues and questions that I needed answers to, she said, “You need to have a childlike faith”.

[01:52] So, what does that mean? What is a child like faith and is it even possible because there are so many difficulties when it comes to our Christian faith, when it comes to believing in God, so many contradictions, so many historical issues. Surely a childlike faith is to put your hands over your ears and ignore all the difficult questions; maybe it’s to be naive, maybe it’s to be ignorant. Maybe those who have a child like faith are those who are unable to grapple with the hard truths of life. Perhaps childlike faith is a bit like the fact that my kids believe in the tooth fairy and father Christmas. Is it childlike faith like that – it ignores the evidence and just believes in anything.

[03:04] Maybe that’s not what it means. Maybe having a childlike faith is coming to the realization that we do not have all the answers. Maybe it’s getting to the stage in your faith journey that you’re willing to believe in God and commit yourself to Jesus even though you don’t have all the answers. Despite all the difficulties, despite all the contradictions, having a childlike faith is about saying yes to God, to take his hand and to journey with Him despite any reservations that you might have. Maybe having a child like faith is being comfortable with the mystery of life and God, not needing to have all those answers.

[03:55] Perhaps most of all what having a child like faith is is realizing that what is most important is knowing that firstly God is in control, secondly God has a plan, thirdly God loves you and fourthly He is welcoming you with open arms. So don’t miss out on the love that God has for you because you are so caught up in the difficulties and the mystery that you can’t see beyond that, and to find yourself sitting on the lap of your heavenly father feeling, experiencing and knowing the love that he has for you.

Hey guys thank you so much for tuning in to me and the chickens and thank you. Do subscribe to our Youtube channel, do please like this video because that will draw other watchers to the video. Do remember that this midweek message is a kind of a forerunner to the sermon that will be shown on our Sunday service at 10:30 this coming Sunday, where we continue our teaching series ‘encounters: meeting with Jesus’. So do join us for our Sunday service, or you can find the sermon separately on our YouTube channel. Thank you so much for joining us, do subscribe and do like. Cheers ’bye

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[1] YouTube link: Do I Need a Child-like Faith?
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Bible quotations: Unless otherwise specified, quotations are taken from the resources of Bible Gateway or Bible Hub, in accordance with the licencing conditions outlined on our Site Policies page.

Bible dates: Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
and are subject to the constraints defined on the corresponding webpage.

~~~~~~~~~
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Close Encounters

[This is one in a series of devotional reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during March 2021]

This week we have started a new Sunday sermon series on the theme of ‘encounters’, during which we are looking at various people who had encounters with Jesus during his life on earth. The Bible rarely uses the term ‘encounter’ and when it does it usually refers to a military engagement, but this is not an appropriate description of those occasions when Jesus demonstrates his loving interaction with those he meets.

In the 1945 film “Brief Encounter”, set in middle-class Britain before the second world war, we see another type of encounter. Two people meet by chance on a number of occasions and start to develop an increasingly close friendship. Their mutual desire for a more intense relationship is frustrated by their personal circumstances and in due course they go their separate ways. The film leads the viewer to ponder ‘what might have been’.

It is likely that many of us can think back to ‘what might have been’. What happened to the one who got away? Does the memory represent a life-long disappointment or a lucky escape?

It is not only in the realm of romance that we can wonder ‘what if?’; it can apply to all sorts of situations in life. What if I had been more diligent in my studies? What if I had followed a different career? What if I had thought about that decision a bit more, or acted sooner? What if I had declined that invitation, or accepted it? What if I had chosen a different route?

Are these speculations healthy or should they be suppressed, dismissed as water under the bridge? It depends upon how we handle them. They can become negative experiences, morphing into ‘if only’ and we look for someone else to blame: if only the weather …, if only my parents …, if only the boss …, if only that driver …, if only God ….

Alternatively, we can remember that ‘if only’ has a counterpart – ‘but yet’. The high priest Eli was a failure as a father but yet God used him to raise a God-fearing Samuel. In the matter of Uriah and his wife king David paid a high price for his abuse of the position that God had given him but yet God forgave him and used the circumstances to further His own plans. Saul of Tarsus was an enemy of God’s people but yet God used him to bring many more to Himself.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. [Psalm 23 v4 NIVUK]

We may have passed through a dark valley but yet God has provided for us. We may have made decisions of a less than optimal nature but yet God has worked through them. We are all sinners, but yet God still loves us and, though Jesus, provided a way for us to have a lasting relationship with Him.

How about your encounter with Jesus? Was it a confrontational one leaving matters unresolved, a brief one now only memories, or is it one of a third kind, promising enduring friendship and an eternal future?

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Bible quotations: Unless otherwise specified, quotations are taken from the resources of Bible Gateway or Bible Hub, in accordance with the licencing conditions outlined on our Site Policies page.

Bible dates: Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
and are subject to the constraints defined on the corresponding webpage.

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Home is Where …

[This is one in a series of devotional reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during March 2021]

In 1893 the Czech composer, Antonín Dvořák was commissioned to write what became his Symphony No. 9, entitled ‘From the New World’. Dvořák was a prolific composer of works inspired by traditional music styles, primarily from his native Czechoslovakia but also by his experiences in America. The motif from this symphony became very popular and, on hearing it, British tv viewers will no doubt think of brown bread and a bicycle. For a wider audience the tune will invoke the words of a song, written by one of Dvořák’s students and entitled “Going Home”.

At the end of some translations of John chapter 7 we have what appears to be a curious verse: “Then they all went home” It sounds like the conclusion of a story by the brothers Grimm, but it lacks the “and they all lived happily ever after” bit. So, what’s the back-story?

The Jewish religious leaders had heard that Jesus had returned from Galilee and had started teaching again in Jerusalem. There were rumours that people were being attracted to what he was saying. They sent the temple guards to arrest Jesus but they came back empty-handed.

Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who asked them, ‘Why didn’t you bring him in?’ ‘No one ever spoke the way this man does,’ the guards replied. ‘You mean he has deceived you also?’ the Pharisees retorted. ‘Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law – there is a curse on them.’ [John 7 v45-49 NIVUK]

The leaders argued that no prophet could come from Galilee and that meant the matter was closed, so they all went home. The verse may have finished but if we read on into the next chapter we see that the sentence did not end there. “Then they all went home but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.” We see from other passages that Jesus often went to the Mount of Olives. Luke tells us that it was his regular practice:

Each day Jesus was teaching at the temple, and each evening he went out to spend the night on the hill called the Mount of Olives. [Luke 21 v37-38 NIVUK]

It was a place of prayer, a place of respite and refreshment – surely some of the characteristics that we want for our own homes. But the Mount of Olives had also been a place of despair and distress:

But David continued up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went; his head was covered and he was barefoot. All the people with him covered their heads too and were weeping as they went up. [2 Samuel 15 v30 NIVUK]

In his later years, David’s household had become a place of disappointment and uncomfortable relationships. His attempts at reconciliation were rebuffed and in due course he was driven out of his home by the treachery of his own family.

If Jesus came to your home what would he find?

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Bible quotations: Unless otherwise specified, quotations are taken from the resources of Bible Gateway or Bible Hub, in accordance with the licencing conditions outlined on our Site Policies page.

Bible dates: Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
and are subject to the constraints defined on the corresponding webpage.

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Did Jesus love the Pharisees?

[This reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 07/Mar/2021]

The short answer to the above question is yes, Jesus loved everyone, but the gospels suggest he didn’t like them very much. In Matthew chapter 23 he keeps saying “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees” and calls them hypocrites, snakes and blind guides. He repeatedly warned his disciples against them and several of his parables were aimed at them, exposing their hypocrisy.

In the past I worried that Jesus didn’t like me because I have a lot in common with the Pharisees. Having been brought up in a Christian home, I have always been to church, prayed and read my Bible and had high moral standards. As well as sharing the virtues of the Pharisees, I have all too often shared their critical and judgemental attitudes, their pride and jealousy. Knowing how much Jesus hates these attitudes, it has been hard to accept that he can love me, yet I know Jesus also hated greed and dishonesty, but still loved Zacchaeus.

Paul was a Pharisee, but he experienced the love of God in a very powerful way. I love that verse in Acts 26 when Paul describes what happened to him on the way to Damascus:

We all fell to the ground and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” [Acts 26 v14 NIVUK]

Jesus wasn’t just concerned about the harm Saul/Paul was doing to the church. He saw the harm Saul was doing to himself and wanted to rescue him. It is like when our children do things which we know will harm them. We still love them as much as ever, but we grieve to see the damage they are doing to themselves and others. Having children has also helped me to see that the warnings Jesus gave to the Pharisees were like the warnings we give our children about what might happen if they run into the road or go off with a stranger, not because we enjoy frightening them, but because we love them and don’t want them to come to harm.

It is good to know that whether we are struggling with fleshly sins like immorality or gluttony, or spiritual sins like pride and criticism, Jesus loves us equally and welcomes us with open arms when we turn to him in repentance.

Jesus said “I will never turn away anyone who comes to me” [John 6 v 37 GNT]

Bible quotations: Unless otherwise specified, quotations are taken from the resources of Bible Gateway or Bible Hub, in accordance with the licencing conditions outlined on our Site Policies page.

Bible dates: Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
and are subject to the constraints defined on the corresponding webpage.

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What Will Church Look Like?

[Transcript of a midweek message published by Horley Baptist Church on YouTube[1], March 2021]

As churches we are now planning to go back into our buildings. There are so many things we could be doing, but what will make our churches truly successful, and what will keep people coming back for more?

I know there’s been COVID but this past year has been quite exciting from a church leadership point of view because it’s really forced us to look outside the box. It forced us to reimagine what church would look like, to really move into that digital space with our church services, learning how to engage with people, learning how to connect with people rather than just increase our viewing count. It’s something that we’re trying to grow in and it’s been a real challenge but it’s been a good challenge.

But now we’re starting to think about how we move into physical church again and we’ve got that opportunity, we’ve got a rare opportunity that possibly will never come around again, to really rethink about how we do our church services, how we do church, full stop, not just confined to a Sunday morning. Really we’ve got an opportunity not only to reopen but to relaunch ourselves, so what is church going to look like?

I’m kind of spending a bit of time thinking about what Sunday services will look like and it’s so easy to compare and contrast ourselves to the churches that I see on YouTube; the churches where they’ve got the perfect lighting, they’ve got the perfect cameras, they’ve got the perfect teeth. You know, everything is right; they’ve got the budget, they’ve got the money and it’s so easy to try and emulate that in some way in what we’re going to do in our church services and what we’re going to try and do online.

It’s easy to try and also compete with the world and what the world offers but the reality is we just can’t, we just haven’t got that talent, we haven’t got that budget, we haven’t got that time, so what should we be emphasizing when it comes to attracting people into our church premises or into our church community? And also, how do we get people to stay, how do we get our teenagers, our kids as they’re growing up to not move away from church as so many are in the habit of doing? Is it about better lighting, is it about more entertainment, what is it?

Well this Sunday we’re starting a new sermon series called ‘Encounters’ and we’re looking at encounters that people had with Jesus in the run-up to his death on the cross and his resurrection which we celebrate at Easter. Each week we’re going to look at a different group. This Sunday we’re going to be looking at when Jesus healed a bunch of lepers, but what I really want to draw out of this is the reality that Jesus isn’t just some sort of historical figure, someone that lived in the Middle East 2,000 years ago nor is Jesus just some character from a fairy tale. What I want us to come to is the realisation that Jesus is just as alive now as he was those 2,000 years ago when he walked on this earth and that Jesus can have a massive influence on our lives and can bring transformation to our lives. He can bring healing both physically and mentally, he can fix those things in our lives that are broken, he can bring peace. And when I say peace I don’t just mean the absence of conflict, I mean it in a holistic sense where those things that are broken in our lives become fixed; the relationships, our financial situation. You see what people really need now in the 21st century is an encounter with Jesus.

See, I’m reminded of an account in Acts chapter 19 where the apostle Paul meets a bunch of guys who were disciples of John the Baptist. John the Baptist was a contemporary of Jesus and he went around baptising people in preparation for the coming of the Messiah. They were being baptised with the baptism of repentance and Paul asked these disciples of John “Have you have you received the Holy Spirit?” and they didn’t really know who what that was. Paul explains to them that their baptism was a baptism of repentance but they needed to be baptised in the name of Jesus and that’s exactly what Paul did. He baptised them and they received the gift of the Holy Spirit. They were transformed, they spoke in tongues, they prophesied, they had an encounter with Jesus despite the fact that Jesus had died some years previous because Jesus is alive and he is working in our midst by his Holy Spirit.

You too can meet with him and I’m sure that our communities and our churches are full of spiritual religious people, disciples but people who have not met the risen Lord Jesus Christ, who haven’t been baptised by his Holy Spirit. Maybe that is you. You see if you want to know what it means to be successful as a church, if you want to know how to grow a church, if you want to know how to draw people in, if you want to know how to keep your teenagers so that when they hit a certain age they don’t leave the church then they need to meet Jesus. You cannot ignore an encounter with our risen Lord; you can ignore flashy lights or great sermons but you can’t ignore Jesus.

Hi guys thank you so much for tuning in. Do remember that this Sunday we’re going to be starting our new sermon series ‘Encounters’ looking at encounters people had with Jesus and that’s our run-up to Easter Sunday. Thanks for watching, do remember to like and share this video. Please subscribe to our channel, hit those buttons, subscribe, hit that thumbs up. That would make a massive difference to us so thank you so much
… ’bye

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[1] YouTube link: What Will Church Look Like?
Bible references: ~
 

Bible quotations: Unless otherwise specified, quotations are taken from the resources of Bible Gateway or Bible Hub, in accordance with the licencing conditions outlined on our Site Policies page.

Bible dates: Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
and are subject to the constraints defined on the corresponding webpage.

~~~~~~~~~
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