Talks

Zoe applies the story of the Israelites who built a tabernacle (movable temple) for God (as the Lord commanded) beautifully to our church life in Ashwood.

The Israelites were told to bring the very best of themselves to contribute to building the tabernacle – today it’s different for us, but we can still do the same! What was the result for the Israelites after they had done “Just as the Lord commanded”? - They had His Glory live among them! Wow!  Do we want more of God’s Glory amongst us?
Zoe asks us: What are we willing to sacrifice for MORE of God’s glory? She shares her personal journey of sacrifice and gave some examples for us too.

Kenneth Copeland said: “Maybe sometimes we are not thirsty enough for God’s Glory”. How thirsty are we?

Have you ever heard the story about how the Israelites built themselves their own god (golden calf) only a few days after Moses left them to go talk to THE GOD on top of Mount Sinai? Well, even if you have, it is worth a listen to what Bob Goody has to say about it!!
Bob wasn’t just pointing fingers at the Israelites though, he challenged us to think about things in our lives which we have deliberately or often subconsciously replaced God as the most important person in our lives.
What do we need to replace?
What have we put highest?
What cloud have we put between us and God?

Zoe continues in our series “The Great Stepping Out”. Based on the story of God speaking to the Israelites from the mountain of Sinai, Zoe illustrates how we can step out both in love and in fear of God.
We have so many misconseptions of God: that he is strict, removed and a kill-joy, or that he is a genie that makes all wishes come true.
The result of shrinking God and not seeing Him as who He really is can cause anxiety. The freedom lays in the understanding that God is SO LOVING we can trust Him AND at the same time SO GREAT that we should fear Him.
We all, just like Israel who had been through very difficult times need to hear words of love. There are plenty of those in the bible, they encourage us to trust Him, not just with words, but also with actions.
Yet God is also and still is GREAT. Do we have the reverence He deserves when we come into His presence? God is not to be played with or manipulated. Like for Ananias and Saphira in the early church, that can have fatal consequences.
Because Jesus death we have the priviledge to come closer to God than even the Israelites did, but we do need to do that with respect.

In part 5 of the series “The Great Stepping Out” – Matt speaks to us about “Stepping out in Tough Times.”
You can read the whole story in Chapters 15-17 in the book of Exodus.  After crossing the red sea, the Israelites praised the Lord (with tambourines!) and then began the journey to the “promised land”. If they thought life was going to be easy, they were wrong! Immediately they faced a series of hugely challenging times: severe hunger, thirst, and enemy opposition. The Israelites responded with grumbling, moaning and complaining. Despite all they had seen God do - He was still having to teach them to trust in Him. 

2 Key themes we can learn from this message:
God always comes through!
God uses Tough Times to teach us!
When Life feels bitter - God is our Healer
When we experience lack – God is our Provider
When we feel like life is a battle – God is our Victory
When faced with tough times, how do you respond? Do you grumble, complain and moan OR like Moses “Cry out to the Lord for Help?”
Remember today - Jesus is your Healer, your Provider and your Victory – And always watch out for what God might be teaching you during tough times!

Dave Ransome covers part 4 in the series “The Great Stepping Out” – God’s people stepping out of Slavery into Freedom.

Dave speaks about the Israelites leaving Egypt, a place where they were trapped. God came through with 10 plagues that touched only the Egyptians, the Isrealites were spared. For the final plague, they had to paint their door frames with blood so that the angel bringing death would pass them over and spare them. In the same way, we can cover ourselves today with the blood of Jesus to be protected.

Finally, Pharaoh let them go, but as soon as they left Egypt, they were trapped again! The red sea was before them and the Egyptian army behind them: nowhere for them to flee!

Just like the Israelites we are somtimes in situations where we don’t see a way out. Using this story, Dave gives us three tips how to handle such situations:
1)  Use hindsight to build faith when you don’t have foresight. The Israelites had experienced God’s faithfulness in the past (plagues) which helped them to trust God for the future:. Bank the testimonies, the history of God’s faithfulness to have an assurance to fall back on in times of trouble.
2) Stand firm, however long it takes! It is ok to question what God is doing, as long as you’re in a place where you can hear the answer. Whatever it is you fear, God is greater - He’s got you covered!
3) Only YOU can step forward. God makes a way, but you have to take that step into it!

This Mothering Sunday Claire brings us part 3 in the series “The Great Stepping Out” – God’s people stepping out of Slavery into Freedom.

Claire continues the story of Moses’ and focusses on the conversation taking place between God and Moses: When God called Moses to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt, Moses felt inadequate and found all sort of excuses not to do it! He even suggested that God finds somebody else for the job. But God has an answer to every excuse: It’s not about Moses’ inadequacies, it’s about God’s adequacy!

God also speaks encouraging words into our own inadequacies: “I am more than enough for you! Your future is bigger than your failure!”

You may say: “The PROBLEM is ME”, but God answers: “The SOLUTION is ME”.

It’s such a good thing that Moses chose God’s plan over his inadequacies and by doing so changed the lives of thousands of Israelites.

Claire challenges us to do the same: For each look at yourself, take ten looks at Jesus! Step out of the limitations you put on yourself; step out of your inadequacies and wait and see what God does with that!

Bob takes part 2 in the series “The Great Stepping Out” – based on the Exodus story. God’s people stepping out of Slavery into Freedom.

He looks at the part of the story where God meets Moses in the burning bush, Bob highlights three truths about God:
Presence:
Whilst God is “omnipresent” (present everywhere at all times), sometimes He is present in a more personal and tangable way just as He was for Moses in the burning bush. This was a moment when God revealed himself to Moses with his name “I am who I am” which wasn’t known before. But even in those personal moments, God is still holy: “take off your shoes because you stand on holy ground”.
Purpose:
God hears our cries and prayers, but often He asks us to play a part in the answer. Moses wasn’t perfect, and neither are we, yet God had a purpose for him.
Promise:
God has a plan for our lives and tells us to “GO”, and even though not the whole plan is revealed, He promises to be with us, today the same as he promised Moses.

We start a brand new series called “The Great Stepping Out” – based on the Exodus story. God’s people stepping out of Slavery into Freedom.

Matt introduces the series and explains how this story fits into the context of the big narrative of the whole bible.  God’s promise to Abraham to reverse the brokenness of humanity at “fall” in the garden of Eden.  Joseph (Abraham’s great grandson) saves the people of Egypt.  His family join him and develop into a large people group. (The nation of Israel) The Egyptian people begin to fear a take over from the Israelites, so they made them slaves and even started killing their male offspring to limit their growth.  400 years on and Moses is born…. God’s plan to save his people continues….

3 points from the message:

God has a plan for your life – you are not an accident!  Even if you’ve been told by your parents that they didn’t plan you – God did!
We look at the birth of Moses and how through God’s Providence – the “unseen” hand of God was working in the background.
However God’s providence doesn’t mean we should be passive.  We can actively welcome God’s plan for our lives and STEP IN to his care and plan for our lives.

Life doesn’t always go to plan – we are all very aware that life isn’t easy.  Sometimes we try and accelerate God’s plan for us, sometimes we make mistakes or sometimes there are simply things that happen that we can’t understand or explain.
Moses has been brought up in the palace but he knows that he is a Hebrew.  At this point he isn’t aware of the long-term calling on his life to bring the Israelites out of captivity, but maybe deep down he knows.  He takes matters into his own hands, and kills an Egyptian and ends up on the run.

BUT God is still faithful!
We can trust that God has been faithful and He will continue to be Faithful.  We see that in the story and believe it in our lives too.