Talks

In the third part of our “Covered in the Dust” series, Bob Goody talks about “Following Jesus to the Well” the story of Jesus in John Chapter 4.

Jesus breaks the rules
Jews hated Samaritans!  And yet Jesus did not walk the traditional route from Judea to Galilee that avoided Samaria, but went straight through the area Jews would normally avoid.
Then, He speaks to a Samaritan woman which was unheard of in the culture of the day.  A) because she was a Samaritan and B) a woman!  And yet Jesus breaks the norms of the day – a personal message to the woman but also to everyone else watching!

Jesus speaks truth into a situation
He speaks truth into this particular women’s life and she accepts His offer of hope. Bob challenged us to contemplate what truth Jesus would speak into our lives if it was us meeting Jesus at the well today?
Jesus also speaks truth about worship: it’s not about a building or a place. God is for ALL people.

Jesus brings conviction (not condemnation)
Jesus only points out the things I DO wrong - He’s NOT saying there’s something wrong with me!
Just like the Samaritan women who went to tell the whole village about Jesus, we are invited to tell others. But first, just like her, we are invited to come to the well and let Jesus speak His truth and hope into our hearts.

In the second part of our new series “Covered in the Dust”, Zoe first makes us aware that Jesus is still a bigger influencer and has more followers than any record holder on social media before she unpacks Luke 9.57-62 for us.
In this passage, Jesus talks to people who either are asking or are asked to follow Jesus. Jesus points out 3 truths in his responses:

Following Jesus is not an easy path - choices and sacrifices have to be made
Don’t miss your time of training - don’t hang on to your comfort - put Jesus above culture and tradition
To plough a straight line, you have to look forward - looking back is loosing focus
The choice to follow Jesus is offered to every single one of us today! There are great rewards promised if we do. Zoe encourages us to count the cost, find out for ourselves that it is worth it and then go for it:
It’s not listening to a message that changes us - it’s putting it into practice that does!

In our first Sunday in our new series “Covered in the Dust” (a series about “Following Jesus”), we look at 4 examples on Mark’s gospel where Jesus invited his disciples to “follow him.”  In order to understand this correctly Matt explains that we havw to understand the Jewish context first.

The invitation to “Follow” was what Rabbi’s would offer in very exceptional cases for the best of the best young boys of the day.

When Jesus said “Follow me” to those young men, they would have understood that he was offering to be their Rabbi (or teacher) and they would become his “Talmidim” Hebrew for disciple or better translation would be “apprentice”.

The goal of each apprentice was essentially:

To Be with their Rabbi
To Become like their Rabbi and eventually
To Behave like their Rabbi
There was a lovely Jewish Blessing that simply said: “May you be covered in the dust of your Rabbi” or in other words “May you follow him around so closely that his dust (in the desert land of Israel) would become your dust because you’ve been so close to him.”

Jesus still offers us the opportunity to “follow him” today – to become his “Talmidim” or apprentice and to learn to be with Him, (by His Spirit) to become like him and ultimately to behave like him too!

How can we do that today?  Well, that’s basically the purpose of this series!

Linking directly to our Vision for 2022 – Climbing Higher – Seeing Beyond, Stuart speaks about Jesus’ message famously described as the Sermon on the Mount – (Matthew 5) and how the 8 beatitudes can be seen as like climbing a mountain (4 attitudes of ascent) and coming back down (4 attitudes of descent)
Going up the mountain (CLIMB) “Good on ya” when you recognise that you:
1) Are poor in Spirit: less about material poverty but recognising that we have nothing without God.
2) Mourn: Grieving over my lostness
3) Are Meek: to have controlled strength, like a horse that has been broken in
4) Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness (the top of the mountain: Wanting God more than anything else)
Coming down the mountain (SHINE) The way to bring flourishing to the world around us is:
5) Merciful: to have empathy and also to put it into action
6) Pure in heart: not “perfect” motives, but becoming whole and mature, a heart with “right” motives
7) Peacemakers: to bring peace in a divided society, to mediate and negotiate
8) Persecuted because of Righteousness

We remember the life of the Queen, an incredible servant of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth for over 70 years and pray for the new King.

Then, Matt re-focusses us towards our Ashwood Vision for 2022: “Climbing Higher, Seeing Beyond.”
He boldly declares “We haven’t stopped climbing!”

In the same way that God invited Moses to come up the mountain to meet with Him, we believe that God extends the same invitation to us.
Mountains in the bible were places of worship, sometimes sacrifice and encounter – we don’t have to climb a mountain to experience God. BUT we do have to make a choice to come into His presence actively.
The 4 pictures on our banners represent 4 different elements:

Picture 1) When we climb a mountain our natural perspective changes.  So, too our spiritual perspective when we move towards God.
Picture 2) This year we’ve explored some “Spiritual Practices”.  Jesus often “withdraw” to a quiet place we need to as well.  (See previous series) and also our focus to “Make Space” in September.
Picture 3) Don’t climb alone! God is more concerned with our Character Development than our comfort! When we walk/climb alongside others, we develop character and become more like Christ. God wants us to be planted and to grow! And his vehicle is …. Alongside other people! = Church!

Matt talks about 5 Culture Goals we’re always working towards:
We pray first
We welcome everybody
We speak well of one another
We grow and learn together
We welcome feedback (in the context of loving, kind and growing relationships)
Picture 4) There’s a new confidence for us! “He (God) makes me sure footed like a deer, enabling me to stand on mountain hights” - Psalm 18.33.

Steve Wendels talks to us about the five-fold ministry on the day we honour Dave and Esther Ransome after years of service in Ashwood Church.
His message is based on Ephesians 4:11-13 and to help us understand it better, Steve answers three questions about this text:
WHO?
- People (defined under WHAT), appointed by Christ himself. Now, these people are appointed by the church, as directed by Jesus’ Holy Spirit
WHAT?
- The Apostle who is a pioneer, sent to lay strong, Christlike foundations within the church
- The Prophet, to speak truth whether past, present or past and to encourage the gift of prophesy in the church. He speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort
- The Evangelist, called to create an evangelical spirit within the church.
- The Pastor who is called to lead the flock and
- The Teacher who is called to uncompromisingly teach biblical truth
WHY?
- To equip God’s people for works of service
- To encourage all to reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God
- To become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ

Joshua Beighton and Esther Bell talk about “Unstoppable Team” and “Unstoppable Prayer” in part 5 of our “Unstoppable” Series!
Joshua reminds us that Paul not only encourages us to appreciate those who work for us, but also those who “admonish” us (warn, reprimand us or make us aware of something that is to be avoided).
The main goal of a team in church is to serve others, just like when (in Exodus) Joshua fought the Amalekites: Joshua and his army did the fighting, Moses served the army by lifting his arms to God in prayer and when Moses’s arms grew tired, Aaron and Hur served Moses by holding his hands up.
Our team leader (God) is unstoppable, and if we work together as a team following this leader, we will be unstoppable too!

Esther continues with the follow on verses in 1 Thessalonians 5 where Paul tells us to rejoice always, pray continually and give thanks in all circumstances.
We keep praying because then things change, even though we don’t always see the exact answer we are looking for!
Esther encourages us to be an unstoppable team in prayer and to keep doing it until we see the answers. This will raise our faith and bring breakthroughs!

Molly Bell brings us part 4 in our “Unstoppable” Series!
Inspired by Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians Molly doesn’t just speak about “Unstoppable Domestos” (watch the video to understand!) but about “Unstoppable HOPE!”:
Specifically “We do not grieve like people who have no hope!”
This is not the type of hope that simply wishes for good weather, but the type of hope for something that we know will definitely happen, a certain and solid hope that cannot be destroyed by anything!
Molly says for those who are Christians: “We don’t “lose” our loved ones, we know where they will be: They are in heaven!”

Lots of people wonder about what heaven will be like.  There is much that we don’t know but these things we DO know:
•        God is in heaven
•        God reigns from his throne in heaven
•        There are no more tears or sickness in heaven
•        There is no sin in heaven
But we can’t earn the right to enter heaven; no one is good enough, only by accepting Jesus’ forgiveness can we have this unstoppable hope!
A hope that is grief changing, life changing and death changing!
If you know you don’t have this hope today – please speak to someone – and accept the gift of eternal hope and eternal life with Jesus!

Gill speaks from 1 Thessalonians 3 on Unstoppable Love.  Paul wasn’t sure what he would find when he returned to the church in Thessalonica - what would the church look like.  He was delighted to find a group of believers solid in their faith and being full of LOVE for one another, and for their neighbour. Unstoppable Love. A great quote Gill shared….“Every time you show love, you show off the signature of the artist who designed you.”

Rich takes us through the second part of our Unstoppable Series from 1 Thessalonians, Chapter 2 on Unstoppable Truth.