Talks

After our wonderful baptism Sunday, Claire continues with our series “The Church I see”, emphasising four further ways to describe a godly church:
1) A worshipping Church
We are designed to worship and are encouraged in the bible again and again to worship: So wether you eat or drink or whatever you do, we do it for the Glory of God!
2) A battling, but not striving Church
Our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the powers of the dark world, BUT God has not only given us an armour to equip us, but He’s also with us every step of the way!
3) A celebrating Church
We’ve only just celebrated the baptism of four people, and we are encouraged in the bible to celebrate God in many different ways.
Richard Foster says: “Celebration is central to all the Spiritual Disciplines. Without a joyful spirit of festivity, the Disciplines become dull, death-breathing tools in the hands of modern Pharisees.” What are you celebrating?
4) A life bringing and joyful Church
To live in God’s abundant kingdom means to flourish and thrive with meaning, purpose, devotion, delight, service, and accomplishment that is for the Glory of God.

Don’t we just love baptism Sundays?!

Matt briefly explains what baptism is all about – 3 things:
1) It’s a day to celebrate! Big Picture: God created a perfect world with a perfect relationship with Him, which became broken when Adam and Eve chose against God’s plan.. But God sent Jesus on a rescue mission! And because Jesus died for us on the cross, the broken relationship was restored. We can acknowledge our failures, ask for forgiveness and welcome Him as Lord and Saviour. Now there’s a personal invitation from heaven for us to respond! Baptism is part of our response.
2) It’s a symbolic day! Just as Jesus died and was buried for 3 days, we go in the water, die to ourselves and rise again to a new start and a new life in Jesus.
3) It’s a declaration day! Those being baptised acknowledge their sinful nature and make a decision to live a life not of independence but *dependence* on Jesus. They also share part of their story and make some clear statements of faith and how they want to live going forward.

After Matt set the scene for this current series last Sunday, THIS Sunday Bob brings us part 1 of “The Church I see….”
He explains that over the next 7 weeks we will look ahead to the different characteristics, qualities and attributes that we see in our church now, but long to see grow and increase in our future as a church.  He starts with 3 areas:

The Church I see is ….. a JESUS CENTRED Church
Which means that Jesus comes first and everything we do points to Him! It’s the foundation for everything else.
The Church I see is ….. a SPIRIT FILLED & PASSIONATE Church
Which means He has the Power to change lives and we have God’s Power to do all the things He wants us to do!  And we’re passionate about living for Jesus!
The Church I see is ….. a BOLD & COURAGOUS Church
Which means we’re not afraid to make a difference, not afraid to shine bright and speak out and we can be Bold in stepping out!

Looking back to the 50 year celebrations Matt explains that he sensed, that as well as being a joyful celebration of thanksgiving – it was also an “Altar Building Moment” for the Ashwood. Why?
In the Old Testament Altars were a sacred place, a religious monument – marked out as a holy place for worship to God, and often a place where God had revealed Himself in some way to His people. For us our 50 year celebration weekend was like that too.  And serves as a reminder of God’s faithfulness and kindness to the church.
We also looked forward: What should our church look like now?
Some answers are found directly from the New Testament in the Bible:
The church is a body (not a building - buildings are only facilitating the body to operate), and Jesus is the head.  (1 Corinthians 12)
The church is the bride of Christ.  (Ephesians 5 / Revelation 19)
The church is an army (Ephesians 6)
Plus some other potentially helpful images:
The church is a hospital where healing, (physical, emotional, spiritual, relational) and restoration can take place.
The church is moving from an ocean liner to a battle ship.
The church we see for the future could be described in many ways! (And you may have more descriptions too!). To close his message, Matt shared 50 expressions of “the church we see…..”  In the coming weeks we’ll hear from some of the members of our Leadership Core team, paint the picture more clearly.

Joe Gisbey (CEO Link International) shares with us, with real insight what God wanted to speak to us as we look ahead
1) The name Ashwood contains ASH and WOOD. Ash is the wood that grows in Ashfield, it is a strong and flexible wood. Joe says that it is significant that we are planted in Kirkby (Kirkby means Church). We are strong in the community but are to be flexible and stretch out over the whole area.
2) 50 years in the bible was a year of “Jubilee” which is significant for us. Isaiah 61: The Spirit is on me, he’s anointed me to proclaim the year of God’s favour! God says: I’m about to open things up that you have been praying for. Because you have honoured what has gone before, God will release something! And finally,
3) Joe talks to us about doors. Numbers are significant, last Sunday was also the 5784th new Jewish year. 4 in Hebrew means dullet (door). Joe prophesies that God will open doors for Ashwood and some will be closed, but whatever God says can’t be stopped. “So build the babyroom before the baby arrives”! Get ready, stretch our your tent!

We had the priviledge to hear some of Sam Walker’s personal story on Sunday (including some “embarrassing” and “honouring” pictures!). He reminded us that his and our story links in with the family story, the church story and ultimately into God’s big picture of building His Kingdom. Just as God is one (Ehhad), we are called to be one.
Based on Ecclesiastes 4, verses 7-12, Sam encouraged us with four benefits of being “ONE”:
1) Productivity and Purpose:
“Lovers are normally face to face, absorbed in each other; friends, side by side, absorbed in some common interest” - C.S. Lewis
2) Help and Healing:
“Shared joy is a double joy, shared sorrow is half a sorrow” - Swedish Proverb
3) Comfort and Companionship:
“A home is not where you live, a home is where you belong” - Somalian Proverb
4) Solidarity and Strength:
“While they fight in detached parties, they sacrifice the general cause” - Rome of Britannia

But we need to remember not to just be linked with each other, but also with our God:
“A threefold cord is not quickly broken!” - Ecclesiastees 4.12

Having spent last week speaking about Vision – this week Matt speaks about Culture.  If we want anything to grow the environment has to be right.  It’s true in nature and true in our lives.  How do we develop and maintain a healthy environment?
If you consider yourself part of our Church Family – Matt encourages us all to be Guardians of our Culture! 
Matt reminds us that every people group has a culture. Whether it’s a school, a business, a football club or even our family units – they all have their own culture based around the things people value most.  Culture can be formed by design or by default.  If the culture we operate in isn’t healthy, it might be time to get out – but if that’s not possible (or if we feel called to make a difference) with God’s help we can be a positive impact on the culture.  (Shining Bright!)

What do we value and therefore want to Guard in OUR Culture?  We have 6 building blocks: Welcome, Growing, Relational, Jesus-centred, Outward looking and Spirit and the Word. How can you help to Guard our Culture?

To understand in more detail what these values mean to us, you can read our “Vision and Values” booklet and listen to Matt’s talk.

Do you remember our vision “Stepping Out” for 2023? Can you say that you have stepped out in the first 8 months of the year? What stepping out is God calling you to do now?

Matt helps us to take a good look the Ashwood Church landscape from a birds eye:
What is our overall vision? To be a spiritually healthy and growing church for all ages!
How do we do that? What does this look like for us? Below are just a few examples:
- Apprentices to Jesus
- Healthy LifeGroups
- Healthy Sunday Gatherings
- Healthy Earthshakers
- Healthy Elevate Youth
- Transformed Worship
- Touching Heaven
- Freedom in Christ Course
- Marriage Course
- and so much more!
For 2023 we have a more specific vision that links in with the overall vision
“Stepping out in faith in the power of the spirit!!”
We do that in four ways:
- Stepping out in the Spirit: “Walk by the Spirit” (Gal 5:16) and “Keep in step with the Spirit” like a ballroom dancer (Gal 5:25).
- Stepping out together: All tuned to Jesus like an orchestra is tuned to a tuning fork.
- Stepping out in faith: “We live by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7)
- Stepping out, shining bright: Don’t put your light under a basket, but on a stand! (Mtth5;15-16)
Matt challenges us to Step out, Stretch out and to Spread out!

Esther and Helen finish our series on Heroes of faith!
Esther talks about King David.
David gave himself fully to God.  How did he do that?  Two ways: In
Worship - He wasn’t bothered about looking undignified before the people and
Lament - He believed that God was the only one who could do something about his difficult situations and didn’t hold back sharing his heart with God.
Esther encourages us not to hold back either.
Helen speaks about Joseph.  She explainsthat he had very high highs and also very low lows to walk through, yet he came out at the end with his faith not only intact but grown and matured. How can we do that too following his example?
Remember that all things work for good because God has a plan
Keep your thankful heart and be full of gratitude for the good times
Step out in faith!

Today we have the great opportunity of meeting 3 current day “Heroes of Faith” from Malawi: Pastors Francis and Annie with their daughter Tama.

Annie and Tama talk to us about all the great projects Hope Mission is running in Malawi. It seems never ending! God surely is doing some marvellous things through them in a most wonderful holistic way.  It is particularly wonderful to hear about how our giving and investment has made such a difference over the last 10 years!  Praise God!
Francis put the heroes of faith we have been hearing about from Hebrews 11 into context: The writer intended to encourage the readers to keep their eyes fixed on Jesus in chapters 1-10. We are so easily distracted by our surroundings and it is important to centre our hearts, minds and spirits on Jesus again and again. Jesus is the ultimate hero of faith, but we are also encouraged by others who have walked through trials on this earth before us in Hebrews 11.
Chapter 12 centres our attention on running this race (our life on earth), being equipped with the encouragement given in the previous chapters.