Talks

In the second part of Brave & Bold & Breakthrough, Bob talks to us about another example in the bible: Joshua, Moses’ assistant.
Joshua took over from Moses after 40 years of wandering in the desert, led by Moses. In Joshua 1:9 we read Be strong! Don’t be afraid, don’t be discouraged!
Definition of “Strong”:
likely to succeed because of sound reasoning or convincing evidence.
Definition of “Courage”:
Courage is putting our confidence in God and stepping out in faith, despite the fears and challenges of life.
Bob illustrats this with some points taken from the story of the falling of Jericho.
God gave exact instructions on what to do with that city with closed walls: “Walk around it once for 6 days and seven times on the seventh day, followed by loud horn blasts and shouting”.
We know how it ends, Joshua didn’t. He had to trust, be strong and courageous. Joshua 6:8 tells us: And it happened. Joshua spoke, and the people moved. God delivered Jericho just as He had promised.
What does that mean for us? How can we be strong and courageous?
We need to be prepared for what lies ahead. We don’t necessarily face a big wall but we have our own difficult situations. For example in Ashwood Church, God has told us to have a new building: We need to be prepared, be bold and be brave!
We need to know whose we are: God is for us, not against us! He is with us and gives us all we need to get through stuff.
We need to trust Him and expect miracles. Bob gives the example of his own life story: he moved from being an alcoholic, drug addict and Satanist to being a fully healed Christian: a miracle! God does miracles in little and in big things. We can only sit with, pray for and love people, but God is the one who will perform the miracle!
We need to know that we are not on our own. We call each other “family”, we’re together. We are not called to do life on our own.
Joshua followed God’s command to be bold and courageous and the people of Israel thrived. Will we?

Matt starts the first part in a new series - “Brave & Bold & Breakthrough”. He sais that he believes God wants us to experience more of these things in 2024.  How Brave are you?

In the first part, Matt looks at the character of Caleb, and when Moses sent 12 spies (including Caleb and Joshua) to investigate the Promised Land.  When they reported back 10 said “We can’t take this land” and only 2 said “We can do it!”
What can we learn from this story?
Brave and Bold comes after Safe and Sound: We can only have a brave confidence if we know that we are safe. It is important to know “WHO WE ARE”, but even more important to know “WHOSE WE ARE”. Jesus’ followers are sons and daughters of God – that’s our identity! Built on the firm foundation that we are known and loved by God.
Being a “2” in a world of “10’s”. All 12 spies saw the same thing, yet Joshua and Caleb had a different perspective than the other 10. Courage is a choice. Joshua and Caleb didn’t deny the facts, but faced them, and responded with courage. They didn’t want to go back to the bad old days. Caleb stood up and closed the door to fear: “If the Lord is pleased with us, HE will give it to us.”
We are Bold and Courageous because God is with us. Courage is not the absence of fear, but the knowledge that God is with us: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8) Where do you need to be courageous at the moment? Be baptised? Talk to a friend about Jesus? Pray again for healing? Look for a different job? Caleb said: “If it is the Lord’s plan and He is with us, we can do this!” Matt encourages us to say: “Even when it hurts, when I’m broken, when it feels that God is silent, I will put my confidence in Him”?
Remaining Courageous for the long haul. Sadly, the people didn’t listen to Caleb, but instead, they went back into the desert and spent years there before going into the promised land. Caleb could have become bitter: 45 years later he’s at the same place where he was before for no fault of his own. But Caleb remained courageous and was still ready to conquer the land! Just as vigorous now as he was back then.
Are we choosing to have courage and put our confidence in God today? “Lord, keep my heart soft through the disappointments of life!”

The wonderful Jo Hargreaves gave the words HOME, SAFE & SOUND a whole new dimension in our amazing Ashwood 2024 Mini-Conference!! On Saturday, we had already heard a lot about how fearfully and wonderfully we are made, especially about the wonders of the brain. We often think of ourselves as poorly when our bodies have health issues, but we are a tripartite being: Body/Soul/Spirit (1 Thess. 5:23). Even when the body is poorly, the soul and spirit can still be healthy and we can call ourselves an overall healthy person.
On Sunday, the mum of three, psychotherapist, writer and co-leader of Alive Church in Lincoln shares with us “a nervous system case study” about The Prodigal Son coming home, feeling safe and sound.

What did the Prodigal Son’s journey feel like in body, soul and spirit? Going off, he made a bad decision. These are made in our back brains.
Caroline Spring says: You have to change your stance before you change your story. We need to change our thinking from the back brain to the front brain (where good choices are made)! What things help us to change our stance (shift our thinking and emotions from the back brain to the front brain)? Love, worship, be in awe, repent, and meet our basic needs (rest, food, drink etc). It is so important to meditate on God’s everlasting love to be able to shift our thinking to the front brain. God wired us like that.
When things don’t go well for the Prodigal Son “he comes to his senses”, he starts to make good decisions (in his front brain). How did the shift happen? He remembered his father’s love! If you struggle with self-condemnation, use self-compassion.

When the prodigal decides to go back to the father and repent, he is thinking in his front brain. He is met with compassion from his father, which soothes his nervous system. The father throws his arms around him and kisses him: Oxytosin is released, the love hormone that makes us feel secure and safe. Oxytocin gets rid of cortisol, the stress hormone - just like the bible says: “Perfect love casts out fear!”
When the father dresses him and puts a ring on his finger, serotonin, the feel-good hormone kicks in. When they party and he starts to enjoy himself, dopamine, the reward hormone, appears. God wants to change our story! Let’s change our stance so that the celebration can begin!
The same invitation is extended to us today: come home! When we have been reckless with our thoughts and actions, we can turn to God who will boost our oxytocin, serotonin and dopamine.
You can start that process now by speaking a “Breath Prayer”: Inhale slowly through your nose while reminding yourself: “I am safe”. Then exhale through your mouth even slower and say to yourself: “I am loved”. The word Ruach means both breath and spirit. In Genesis, we read how God creates order out of chaos with His Ruach. He can do the same today for each of us.

This Sunday, Bob talks to us about dealing with conflict in relationships.
Bob shares some of his personal family situation growing up, and how in his family home conflict was often not handled well.  After he became a Christian, he reached out to his family in a different way.

Conflicts can arise in every context.  With our friends, with family and with colleagues.  Jesus said ‘Let your light shine!’  How do we do that? Here are Bob’s points to help us:
Start with love - “Above all, love each other deeply, love covers a multitude of sins” 1 Peter 4vs8
Make sure you look after your own emotions - so you are functioning well and able to handle yourself well. (Ephesians 4 v26-27) Sometimes we need to step back in conflict situation to give space to deal with the situation and then step back in. BUT DO DEAL WITH IT!
Think before you speak. What will build people up, and benefit them? (Ephesians 4 v29)
Listen (James 1 vs 19) … quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry.
Forgive! Ask God for help, he’s with us in it. Ask God to come into the conflict.  (Mark 11 vs 24-25)
Prayer can help with this… speak the name of Jesus into these situations.
To see the full talk, go to https://fb.watch/uJgKWdtmXW/

The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 18
Easter is all about the message of the cross, but what exactly is that message:
Matt picks 6 messages that can be taken from the cross:
1. The message of the cross is SUFFERING
Jesus didn’t just suffer the most horrific physical pain on the cross, but knowing what was coming, He was in turmoil and asked if at all possible, God would find an alternative. Jesus also felt the pain of feeling abandoned by His Father God in His most terrible hour.
2. The message of the cross is SURRENDER
Even though Jesus cried out for an alternative, He still submitted to God’s will. Incredible!
3. The message of the cross is SACRIFICE
Before Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice, the Jews were used to sacrificing perfect lambs to atone for their sins. In His death, Jesus, the “Lamb of God” paid that price once and for all, He “applied” His blood to pay our debt, like we apply a voucher code on Amazon to pay for our goods.
4. The message of the cross is VICTORY
Jesus disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.
Colossians 2 verse 15, This means that today, we don’t fight for victory, but we fight from a position of victory!
5. The message of the cross is LOVE
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3 verse 16
6. The message of the cross is WELCOME HOME
With “Arms wide open!” Jesus sent a message to the world: “Welcome HOME!” Even in his dying moment, He invited a criminal on the cross next to Him to eternal Hope and an eternal future. Is today an opportunity for you to accept the invitation too?

Matt’s final prayer is this:  If you pray it for the first time now – please get in touch with us – we’d love to help you on your journey of faith.
Lord Jesus – thank you that you died for me on the cross. Thank you for your suffering and your sacrifice – it made a way for me to be free and forgiven. Today – I accept your offer of salvation and welcome you into my life. Thank you for saving me, and welcoming me home today, and for my eternal future. Help me to follow you Jesus – my saviour and my Lord. Amen
To watch the full talk go to: https://fb.watch/uJgumSldjo/

Message Title this week is: “There’s no place like home!” – the famous quote from Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.  Matt talks about why “Home” is so important from a broader perspective.
Psalm 84 says:“How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of Heaven’s Armies.” and: “A single day in your courts is better than a thousand anywhere else!” The writer is clear that God’s presence is something he longs for, and uses a picture of a sparrow that makes its nest in God’s presence – and what a privilege that is!
Matt shares 3 progressive thoughts:
Home is where God dwells: Psalm 84 paints this picture so beautifully.  In the Old Testament, this was the Temple – but Jesus described the Temple as the Father’s House, so therefore…..
Home is the Father’s house: Where is the Father’s house today? We find the answer in 1 Cor. 3;16-17: “Don’t you realise that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?” God’s church is the Father’s house. And therefore:
Church is Home. What does that look like?  We had 3 great descriptions from Michelle, Alyson and Gisela!

Church is made out of people, and we’re all broken and imperfect, so it follows that “church” won’t be perfect either.  But, we describe how Church should represent “HOME” for all of us and for those who have yet to find Jesus.  Psalm 68 says: “God sets the solitary in HOME.” (ESV) 
PRAYER: Lord Jesus – we pray that our church will continue to be HOME for those who need to find your presence and know the Father’s Love for them.  Amen!

This Sunday – it is great to have a guest speak with us.  Mark Hopkins from Kings Church Arnold (a Ground Level Network Church) speaks to us about “Salvation”.  Which simply means to be “saved” – a term we often use within church environments to describe how God saves us.  Mark highlights to us that in its broadest terms “Salvation” means much more!
He uses the words from Psalm 103, originally written by King David, to describe the wider benefits from God that we can now experience.  He points out that sometimes we can “feel” the benefits and sometimes it’s more about the position of truth. For example, God Forgives us – whether we “feel” it or not.  It’s based on what is true – not how we feel.

“Who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.”.

He ussd the analogy of a theme park at Disney! It looks incredible from the outside, but inside it is even far more amazing!  His question for us:
Are we still on the outside deciding whether we want to benefit from God’s salvation?
Are we enjoying everything that God has for us inside the theme park?  OR
Have we got stuck at the ticket office unaware that there’s so much more for us?

In the fifth part of our HOME series, Gill speaks about the older brother in the story of the prodigal son from Luke chapter 15.

God wants to make His home in our hearts, but sometimes our heart is not the best dwelling place.

One of the stories that Jesus tells the Pharisees in response to their anger that Jesus welcomes “sinners” at his table is usually titled “The Prodigal Son”, sometimes “The Loving Father”, but it could just as well be called “The Two Sons”.
The focus of the story is often on the son who walks away and is welcomed back again, just like the “sinners” Jesus shares a meal with. But Jesus is also talking about the older son (the Pharisees) who has been in the father’s presence all along, yet couldn’t see the father’s love for him and couldn’t grasp the riches available to him at his father’s home.
This is where Jesus’ story ends. Just like the Pharisees, we are left to imagine how the relationship between the father and the older son continues.
All of us could be either one of these sons or at different times in life even both. Are we lost and need to return? Or have we been in the house of God all the while and are pointing fingers at the “sinners”?

Lent, the time of preparation for Easter is a good time to prepare our hearts to be a good home for God our Father to live in and to allow Him to do some sorting and cleaning. God doesn’t want us to receive this in a condemning way, but an opportunity to change from one degree of glory to the next. In that sense, Gill challenges us to ask ourselves: “Have I wasted God’s riches?” -  “Am I blinded to see his riches in my life?”

God our Father was wastefully extravagant (“prodigal” according to the dictionary) when He gave EVERYTHING to us (including His own beloved Son) so we could find a way home.

In the fourth part of our HOME series, Paul speaks about Isaiah 54:1-10. God wants to lead us from a place of shame into a place of freedom, from a place of disappointment to a place of fulfillment, from a place of lack to a place of abundance, from a place of grief to a place of joy. Paul lists examples in the bible where God turns situations around to underline that it could only have been HIM. It puts us in a place of humility as it is clear that it wasn’t our doing, we are dependent on our Father God. He gets the glory and as it says in Romans 8:22-25: the waiting enlarges us!
Paul shares some of his family’s current personal story with fostering.  They are about to move to a bigger HOME to welcome more foster children, and as a church, we are preparing for a New HOME for Ashwood for our growing church family. Paul explains that as well as moving to a bigger physical HOME – He heard God saying that He also wanted to enlarge his emotional capacity too - to have a greater capacity to care for people.  We probably all need that too!
We believe that God has invited us to think big. Without the invitation, it would be madness to attempt something we are not equipped to do, it’s a step of faith that precedes the miracle. It is an opportunity for us to partner with God! “Stretch the cords wide and drive the tent pegs deep”. We need to be anchored deeply in God. That’s where strength comes from! We prayed that God would expand our capacity for compassion, kindness and love.  Please do it, Lord! Amen!

Matt also shares an update on the New Home for Ashwood Project and reminds us of the ways we can support this:
PRAYER
1. Monthly Onsite Pray Gathering (see under “prayer” in weekly emails for dates) 
2. “Fasting Thursdays” 
3. Daily Prayer Prompt: @20:24 (Leviticus 20:24) and
4. Praying our Declaration Prayer.
ACTION
An invitation for anyone on Sunday 17th March to come after the meeting to share your thoughts about the new building.
If you feel you have any relevant experience / skills that could be useful during the project Email nhfa@ashwoodchurch.org.uk. (To create a directory of potential. We may not need to take up every offer of help)
Join with those people who give regularly.

In the third part of our HOME series Helen speaks about the prodigals coming home. Based on the famous story that Jesus told – about the Prodigal Son in Luke Chapter 15.

The dictionary defines prodigal as “wastefully extravagant”. In that sense we are probably all prodigals in a certain degree. We live in a “very wasteful” culture.
Traditionally as Christians we often understand the word “prodigal” as somebody who has known God and walked away. Both of these descriptions are true for the prodigal son described in the gospel of Luke.

Helen highlights 3 points:
1) We need to let go of false guilt if we feel we are responsible for causing a prodigal to “walk away”. Some prodigals might be our own children.  As parents we can only do our best, but everybody has to take responsibility for making their own decisions themselves. 
2) We need to share each other’s burdens. God comes alongside us and puts others alongside us in our pain. (That is part of the “oneanothering” Gill was talking about a few weeks back.) Sometimes as we go through a difficult time we are better able to empathise with people who are in a similar situation.
3) We need to get our home ready for the return of the prodigals. This could be true for both our family home and our church home. Rob Parsons talks about always “leaving the light on” – a symbol of letting the prodigals know they will always be welcome.  When the father’s house is filled with the father’s love, the prodigals CAN come home. This involves everybody in the church.

Let’s continue to pray for the prodigals.
To see the full talk, go to: https://fb.watch/uJhp8-tExR/