Talks

In the next part in our series on Spiritual Practices, Dave speaks to us about Silence and Solitude.
In our busy, noisy, technology obsessed world, to be silent and quiet with God is a stark contrast! The noise of the world can often drown out the most important sound we need: The voice of God!
We look at examples in the bible: Daniel prayed 3 times a day, Jesus withdrew to quiet places on a regular basis and Elijah learned to hear God’s voice in the sound of sheer silence.
Sometimes just being silent helps us resist the draw of activity and sound.
Dave gives us some practical steps to help us to take some action:  What could you do?
1. Raise our expectation that God wants to speak to us in the silence
2. Start to establish new rhythms that are going to work for you
3. Re-style existing rhythms you are already doing, but bring God into them
4. Start off small and build it up

Our friend and special guest Joe Gisbey (Links CEO) talks about “Giving it all to the Giver of all!”
Joe uses the story of Abraham and Isaac to challenge us to think about giving everything to God. Joe says:
Sometimes we are tempted to make a detour (Ishmael) on our way to the fulfilment of the promise, but even then, God sees that we are working towards the fulfilment, His promise is still true.
Sometimes God asks us to do something without giving us all the details (e.g. “go into the region of Moriah”); He asks us just to go the next step and to trust him for the one after that.  
Sometimes it’s down to just us and God  (“the boy and I will go alone”) not to be distracted or discouraged from what God is asking us to do. 
It is when we totally surrender, come into a place of worship (not only singing but prioritising and putting God first in everything) and sacrifice that God provides. We are not waiting for the ram: the ram is waiting for us to arrive at that right place. Sometimes we don’t access the promise because we don’t get into the deep place of worship.  
 
He also prophesies some things to us as church.  Why not listen in? It’s time to fly, Ashwood!

Queen Elisabeth has served us, our country, the commonwealth and the world for 70 years!. Molly Bell does a fantastic job telling us about her own memories of the coronation and reminding us of so many aspects of the queens’ life.
One thing that stands out in the queen’s service is her faith in Jesus. Her majesty, just like us, has a desire for His Kingdom to come. So, it is very fitting for Ann Bramwell to tell us the Pentecost story, for Esther to help us understand what Pentecost means for us today and for Matt to encourage us to invite the Holy Spirit to come into our lives!

Zoe introduces us to our new Series: Spiritual Practices and give us advise how to implement them into our daily lives and encourages us to see the different spiritual practices as gifts from God rather than a to do list. But they are key to discipleship and require some discipline. 
Zoe compares this journey beautifully to climbing a mountain. For both we need a target, preparation, the right outfit, people to do it with and the awareness that we’re going to hit resistance. 
But don’t we all agree that reaching the summit is worth all the effort?

Luke 5:1-11 tells us the story of Jesus getting into Simon’s boat to teach and then to go on asking Simon to throw the nets out again after a night of fishing without success.
Helen King from Riverside church suggests that Jesus wants to get into our “boats” too!  And when he does, he changes our plans, our future, our life! After this encounter with Jesus, Simon (now Peter) was ALL IN! He leaves everything behind to follow Jesus and to “fish for men”. Helen encourages us to be “all in” just like Peter, to use our gifts, to know that if we miss the mark, Jesus always forgives and spurs us on to keep going. As part of the message she says “your church needs you!”.

Zoe reminds us why we believe baptism is important:

Jesus himself got baptised (Matthew 3:13-17)
Jesus tells us to baptise people from all nations in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28.18-19)
Baptism is a sign of transformation. (Galatians 3.26-27)
Zoe gives us a lovely analogy of a school in Kirkby that went from wearing non-uniform to wearing a uniform and how it has transformed some of the students not just outwardly but also on the inside. In the same way, we are clothed “in Christ” with all the benefits that comes with.

In the last session of the series “The Bible” Matt speaks about hope and the deep longing we have for a safe home. The hope we can have is not just a hope for better weather next week, but a hope that is certain, like the ice cream we’re going to get when we reach the café at the top of the hill. It is a hope that keeps us going in the NOW because we know the future is going to be great. Matt explains how the book of Revelations gives us a glimpse of that future, the best that is yet to come. Revelation tells us not only what the future holds but also who holds the future. Jesus is already there and spurs us on to follow. So much to be excited about.

Did you know that the human eye only picks up 0.0035% of the electromagnetic spectrum? Perrianne encourages us to go into God’s presence and let Him show us the big picture, things the human eye can’t see, His realm. 
Paul focuses on climbing higher and tells us the story of an airplane that has rodents chew at the cables, which disables vital functions for landing. One solution to kill the rodents is to fly higher and deprive them of oxygen. Song of Salomon says (2:15) “Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes  that ruin the vineyards”. There are “little foxes” in our lives that we can get rid of by going higher with God.

After the Spirit of God came on the people of God at Pentecost, they developed a strong desire to be together, worship God and to serve each other. That’s how God designed us: to be with each other and to be with Him. We need to be part of a community.  Of course that’s not always easy - Dave says “If you’re having a hard time, go and serve somebody; it changes your perspective”. What a challenge!
Do we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit either for the first time or again? Do we need to evaluate our relationships and make any changes?

In the fifth part of the Bible Series, Matt explains the meaning of the word “Love”.
As the title of the talk “The Messiah - Love” already intimates, true love cannot be found without Jesus.
To understand the difference between the different types of love “Eros”, “Philia” and “Agape”, listen to Matt’s talk below. You will learn more about Jesus, the Messiah who is the good king, the crucified king and the risen king.
Matt challenges us to listen to Jesus calling our name today, to receive his forgiveness, acceptance and love.