Talks

In the second part of our series “home” Bob Goody speaks about three things based on Ephesians 3:14-21:

1) Finding our Place: “For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may make his home in your hearts through faith.”  Our place (and posture) is to be humble on our knees, so that Jesus can make His home in us.
2) Finding our Purpose: “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
Rooted: Tree roots have the purpose to water the tree and to hold it steady in the weather. If we are rooted in God, we are nourished and receive strength from God.
3) Finding our Praise: “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen”
It is His power that is at work, not ours. It is Him who changes hearts and minds! So many reasons to praise!

Matt shares with us part 1 of our Vision Series on HOME.
 
We look at one of the verses that is key to our Vision for 2024.  John 14 verse 23: Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them.”
The incredible reality that Jesus was explaining to his disciples is that Father God and Jesus want to come and live and dwell and reside or make their HOME in their hearts of every follower of Jesus!  That includes me and you!  If you want to know the address of God our Father and Jesus – (if this verse is true) it is located in me and you!  Wow! 
 
Matt had 3 things he wants us to take away with us:

1) Father’s Home John 14 vs 2 – is often thought to refer to Heaven – Jesus says “There is more than enough room in my Father’s home.” But many bible scholars, believe that Jesus was actually saying that God has a place for everyone!  Room enough in the heart of God for every single person.
2) “In the Father” – Throughout John Chapter 14 Jesus constantly refers to the intimate relationship and connection that He and the Father enjoy.  He says:  If you’ve seen me you’ve seen the father.  We are one!  I am in Him and He is in me!  But then the incredible part is that He adds a 3rd dimension and says that His Disciples are also “in Him” and therefore can experience the same intimate relationship that Jesus has with His Father.  Our goal is to remain / abide and make our HOME in Jesus!  We can do this everyday – by bringing God to the forefront of our thoughts.  How can we allow Jesus to take even more residence in us, as we remain in Him in 2024?
3) A Gift from Jesus – In the final part of Chapter 14 – Jesus tells his disciples He has a gift for them.  He knows that they will need it!  His gift is peace.  This offer is still available to us today!  Amidst the mental and physical struggles we might face – how can we receive the gift of God’s peace (or wellbeing and wholeness) today?
 
Why not read the whole of John Chapter 14 again (and Chapter 15 too – if you have extra time!) and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you again?
Please refer to our facebook page to find the preach of 11th Feb. 2024
To see the full talk, go to: https://fb.watch/uJhxKC8kYV/

After three very honest freedom stories, Gill reminds to us why we believe baptism is an important part of our journey as a follower of Jesus.

The word “baptism” means “immersion”. It is not just the physical act of being immersed in water but we are also immersed in God, and God immersed in us as well.
The act of being immersed in water represents what has taken place in the cleansing of our old sinful life and the declaration that we are “all in” with God.  In baptism we’re saying that we’re yielding to God, that we’re letting go of everything that could hold us back from God’s best for us.

However God also immerses us: He heals and He seals. As the water surrounds physically, so God surrounds us. Baptism doesn’t mean that we are perfect from that moment onwards, we still make mistakes and sin, but we’re declaring our intention to live the way that God intended.  We will always still need all the Love and Grace He gives out freely. It is not adult baptism, but “believers baptism”: Which means that we believe the criteria for being baptised is less about age, but more about when we’re able to understand the steps we’re taking.

Harrison’s shares his story, with great vulnerability, before making his public declaration of faith.

This is “Vision Sunday!” Matt shares the heart of our vision or theme for 2024. It’s always exciting to hear what we will be focusing on in the year to come.
Every year’s new vision is embedded in our overall vision to be “A spiritually healthy and growing church for all ages” and our overall Mission to “Help people find and follow Jesus”.
Matt introduces the vision for 2024 with the quote: “At the core of every human heart there is an aching and a longing for …….  HOME”. Whatever our experience of home has been, our longing for home is always the same: a place of shelter, safety, refuge, welcome, belonging, restoration and the freedom to be.
5 important scriptures that help us think about the Vision of Home:
John 14:23 - My Father will love them, and we will come and make our HOME with each of them.
Ephesians 3: 14-17 - Then Christ will make his HOME in your hearts as you trust in him.
Luke 15:20 - The father welcomes the prodigal HOME: But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
Isaiah 54:2 - Enlarge your house, build an addition, spread out your HOME, spare no expense. We believe God wants our church family to grow, but also to grow our own capacity for compassion and kindness towards people.
Revelation 21:1-4 - Ultimately we are all looking forward to a NEW HOME with God.  “Look, God’s HOME is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.”
Matt’s message is like this was the “trailer” and the movie will follow in 2024! But Matt highlights the importance, especially in regards to enlarging our ASHWOOD HOME physically: The leadership team are encouraging everyone who considers themselves to be part of the Ashwood Church family to commit to praying for new home for Ashwood on a regular basis. Inviting people to join us in different ways. (See Ashwood News) Monthly prayer meetings on site, pray and fast on a Thursdays and set our alarm on 20:24 each night praying a declaration prayer:
God our Father, we give you thanks and praise for all that you’ve done in our past and thank you for your faithfulness to us over many years. We believe that you’ve called us to be a healthy growing church for all ages. We believe that you have good plans and purposes for our future.
We believe you have said “Enlarge the place of your dwelling” and it’s time to Plan for Growth. We pray that you will make it possible for us to acquire the land next door, to help with our growing church family. Thank you in advance for providing all the provision we need! Lord increase our faith for this project – we believe you can do it!
Will you join in and believe for a breakthrough in 2024?

Gill finishes our mini-series this week, explaining that we should never travel on the Great Adventure alone.  Jesus always intended it to be a “together” journey!  And we agree!
Gill reminds us of Jesus’ “Great adventure” – which ultimately took him to the cross. The ultimate example of sacrificial living for His Disciples to follow.
Jesus is our greatest role model – he often talked about His “togetherness” with the Father - John 17:21 says “I pray that they will be one just as you and I are one….they will be in us, so world will believe God has sent them”
In the same way, we desire the same togetherness with the Father, but also with one another.  It will even be a sign, that God has sent us!  Amazing!

Another word for “together” is unity.  Gill encourages us that she believes as a church we have a strong sense of unity - but we need to keep pressing into it more and more. Then she introduces us to her new word: ‘Oneanothering’!
The new testament uses the phrase ‘one another’ over 100 times - Gill refers to many of them! She encourages us to be deliberate in putting one another first, thinking of others before ourselves and serving one another sacrificially.

Ashwood LifeGroups are the perfect place for ‘oneanothering’, as well as Café 22, The Gathering, Women’s Gathering and Men’s Gathering too.

Gill finishes by reading to us from 1 Corinthians 12. A reminder of Paul’s image of the church as a body.  Every part different, but every part vital – the same with all of us.  Every part is dependent on the others.
Because we were made for relationships, when they go wrong, sadly, churches can be a place of offence, hurt and upset She also encourages anyone who has previously been hurt through a church to receive prayer. When we hurt together, we can heal together!

Matt follows on from last week’s talk, introducing the idea that “Following Jesus” is the greatest adventure of all! How can we experience it?
By being with Jesus! - Matt remembers a teaching series “Covered in the Dust” where we explored what it means to be as close to Jesus as a student was to their Rabbi. Matt encourages us to check out many online apps that help us follow a rhythm to spend time with Jesus in prayer and in the bible each day.
By becoming like Jesus! - Gentle - Humble - Compassionate - Kind - Focused - Present - Surrendered: what a challenge!
By behaving like Jesus! - Pete Greig says: I’m less interested in adding to my resume than in becoming a bit more like Jesus. Increasingly I’m drawn to those who are more committed to kindness than correctness, gentleness than power, humility instead of all those other, more obvious kinds of success.
Jesus is inviting us to go on this adventurous journey together with Him:
Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me - watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” – Jesus Matthew 11 Message Paraphrase

In “The Purpose Driven Life” - Rich Warren says that life is:
... a test
... a trust (makes more sense if you read the book!) and
... a temporary assignment
Matt welcomes us into the new year with the added bonus that life is also a “Great adventure!”
Adventure is defined as: an unusual, exciting, or possibly dangerous experience, journey, or series of events.
Looking at the bible, we can interpret that adventure could also be described as:
Something new or different to see or experience! - Isaiah 43:18
An element of wonder and mystery! - 1 Cor 2: 7-10
Exploration! - John 1 (Come and see!)
It’s not boring! - John 10:10
We can live this full life only by the grace of God: Grace is the free undeserved goodness and favour of God to mankind!
Even though we are and will be facing many hardships in our lives, Matt emphasises the importance to always remember that God’s grace is enough: Grace is God-given power to live differently and there is never a moment in your entire life when God’s Grace is not sufficient for you!  During the next 2 weeks Matt encourages us to pray: Heavenly Father, what do you want to show me this year? I embrace the great adventure (again) for my life today. Help me to put my trust in you each step along the way. I chose to receive the grace I need to follow you today. Amen

Due to copyright reasons, this page can’t display the video of our Sunday service. Please find it on https://fb.watch/uJhRzb4gJv/

Gill tells us the true story of Pete, a homeless man who was overjoyed when somebody gave him £20.00 some Christmas. But he didnt’ buy anything for himself: His biggest joy was to give it all away to good causes. That is just like Jesus who held nothing back, but gave himself! He lived among us and died for all of us! That’s the best Christmas gift ever!

Bob retells us of the story of the shepherds based on Luke 2:8-20. They were not the people we would expect to hear the great news of Jesus’ birth first, news that would change the world! They had a difficult job, defending their sheep from wolves and thieves, instead they were met by a host of angels!

We enjoy singing carols accompanied by our special “worship choir”, we listen to well-known readings of the Christmas story and a great message about an unsung hero of this story: Joseph.
Gill explains the turmoil Joseph must have gone through, finding out that his fiancée Mary was pregnant. Not only did he have to deal with the thought that she was unfaithful, but according to the rule of the law of the day (Old Testament) she should have been stoned. Joseph chose a different route, we read that he planned to divorce her quietly, and therefore not bring the kind of justice of the day.  Joseph chose Love and Grace, it probably meant he would have to endure ridicule for the rest of his life.
God knew exactly who He wanted to be the stepfather of His son Jesus. We might forget that Joseph will have been a role model for Jesus.  Teaching him the family trade (carpentry) and allowing him to observe his behaviour.  Who knows - without Joseph’s compassion, love and obedience, the Christmas story could have been very different!