We had an amazing time with children, young people and parents with the fun-packed week, which included singing, stories, craft and games.    

 The children were told stories from the gospels to tie in with the memory verse for the whole week

 God says, “I know what I’m doing. I have plans to take care of you, not to hurt you. Plans to give you a hope and a good future. When you call on me, I’ll listen. And when you search for me with all your heart, you will find me!” Jer 29: v. 11-14

 Please continue to pray that what was heard and sown into so many hearts and lives will, in due course, reap fruit. God promises this in  Is 55:11 ‘my word that goes out from my mouth will not return to me empty but will accomplish what I desire.’

The story on Thursday was taken from Mark 4v35ff .

The disciples had been asked to get into the boat and to go to the other side of the lake with Jesus. They were ok until a storm blew up and they thought they were going to drown.

They woke Jesus up and asked ‘ don’t you care if we drown?’ 

How often are we in that position? We have been asked to do something or go somewhere by God and midway we forget what He has told us and begin to be more concerned about ourselves than anybody else. In fact we feel at times we have to wake God up to get His attention!

What has he spoken into your heart that because of a storm in your life you now doubt?

 Like the disciples we forget too soon what God has said – Jesus said ‘ let us go to the other side.’ If that’s what He said that’s what he meant!

 Someone has rightly said ‘Never doubt in the darkness what you know to be true in the light.’

 God says, “I know what I’m doing. I have plans to take care of you, not to hurt you. Plans to give you a hope and a good future.

We are only a few days away from our Holiday Club. We are so excited if not overwhelmed with the fact that over 150 children and young people have signed up for the two centres.

 Landlubbers at the Baptist Church for school years 1 – 4;

              Castaways at the Community Church for school years 5 – 8;

 My blog is really a request to you to pray for the whole event. We have no doubt that God has given us an amazing opportunity to come alongside these children, young people and their families.

I have been caught up with the passage in Luke 24 where the two were walking away from Jerualem, away from what could have been – the ‘if only’ of life! Then Jesus came and walked alongside, opened the scriptures, shared supper with them  and then their eyes were opened.

What would it mean for these children to have someone come alongside them, share the truth of God’s word and have their eyes/hearts opened?

 Please pray that we will know God’s blessing.

 At that moment, open-eyed, wide-eyed, they recognised Him.

                                                             Luke 24:31  The Message

As a church we need to make similar steps and in doing so prepare our hearts for discovery. I wonder as we launch out into the deep we’ll discover not only new ways, but a new me!

When we understand how awesome God is, we will not hesitate to believe God for great things. Walking with Jesus includes a faith to believe that ‘I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength’ (Philippians 4:13).

 In these changing days choose to believe God!

 In Valladolid, Spain, where Christopher Columbus died, there stands a monument commemorating the great discoverer. Perhaps the most interesting feature of the memorial is a statue of a lion destroying one of the Latin words that had been part of Spain’s motto for centuries. Before Columbus made his voyages, the Spaniards thought they had reached the limits of the world. Their motto was “Ne Plus Ultra,” which means “No More Beyond.” The word being torn away by the lion is “ne” or “no,” making it read “Plus Ultra.” Columbus had proved that there was indeed “more beyond.”  Even after reading  his diary about life that sometimes seemed very repetitive. Page after page, day after day it simply read, ‘This day we sailed on!’ He believed there was ‘more beyond’!

 Words from the Song ‘Be the Centre’ by  Michael Frye help

 Jesus, be the centre
Be my hope, be my song
Jesus
Be the fire in my heart
Be the wind in these sails
Be the reason that I live
Jesus, Jesus

We must keep our eyes fixed on Jesus believing ‘there is more beyond this point’ and we will ‘sail on!’

In this passage we find Paul is before the Sanhedrin  vs 1-11. This is not the first time the Sanhedrin had heard the Gospel and rejected it.  

Paul was in trouble. He knew it, but he seemed to forget that God knew it as well. So, he responded the way we often do, first with his heart, then with his head. I sense he was finding things a little difficult! But in such turmoil we read in  v11 the Lord stood near Paul and said “ take courage!”

I wonder if that’s you? You’re struggling with life and things aren’t fitting together as they should. May be in your own prison of difficult circumstances—a physical illness, a financial crisis, the heartache of a loved one who has no place for God in their life— you feel that no one knows what you’re going through. Whatever your circumstances, and even if no one else knows, Jesus knows and He cares for you.

 The Lord is with us  -   Jesus said, “Surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age” Matt. 28:20 or as Heb 13:5-6 declares, “God has said, ‘ never will I leave you, never will I ever forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “ The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me ?”

At the end of his life, one of Paul’s reflections was  this 2 Tim 4:16-17,  ‘At my first defence, no one came to my support, everyone deserted me. ………But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength.’

May you know this experience!

I do hope as you’re reading this that all is well.

We are preparing for the visit of Tony Campolo this coming Friday. If you live in the town or are close to Dorchester this coming Friday come along @ 7.30pm. I’m sure we’ll be challenged and encouraged.

 It was Tony Campolo that once said: “We are caught up in a particular point in our life in which we are not only terribly materialistic, but worse than that; we’re becoming emotionally dead as a people. We don’t sing, we don’t dance and we don’t even sin with much enthusiasm. There is deadness everywhere. High schools are apathetic. Colleges are apathetic. Worst of all– churches are apathetic. If WE are no longer alive– what hope is there for the world?”

 I know there are times in each of our lives when we just feel completely down and out – lifeless, joyless. But God has never intended the Christian life or the journey to be constantly like this!

 I’m reminded of what it states in Ephesians   - look at Eph 2: 4-5;

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, MADE US ALIVE with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

May we know again this life in all its fullness so we can continue to make the difference  that God wants us to make.

See you on Friday!

 Dr Martin Lloyd-Jones in his book Joy Unspeakable describes the difference between ordinary Christian living and what happens when the Holy Spirit “clothes” a person with power or “comes upon” a person with this special blessing.

He says it is like a child walking along holding his father’s hand. All is well. The child is happy. He feels secure. He believes that his father loves him but there is no unusual urge to talk about this or sing about it.

Then suddenly the father startles the child by reaching down and sweeping him up into his arms and hugging him tightly and kissing him on the neck and whispering, “I love you so much!” And then holding the stunned child back so that he can look into his face and saying with all his heart, “I am so glad you are mine.” Then hugging him once more with unspeakable warmth and affection. Then he puts the child down and they continue their walk.

Martin Lloyd-Jones says this is what happens when a person is baptised with the Holy Spirit. A  life with God is swept up into an unspeakable new level of joy and love and assurance and reality of Jesus.

Any wonder we should sing  O breath of God come sweeping thru us revive thy church with life/power  or Breath on me breath of God

 May you know  ’Joy Unspeakable’ in your life with Jesus.

‘Journeys’ is for anyone who would like to explore what it means to have faith today. It is a non-threatening, informal time watching a DVD having a cup of tea or coffee and then asking questions and discussing the topic together.

The course covers issues like :-

Is there a spiritual side to me?

If God and heaven exist, what are they like?

Does this faith thing work in real life?

 Have you ever questioned where you are on life’s  journey?

Jesus said so much about our life’s journey. He tells us that we aren’t heading in the right direction and only with him as Saviour & Lord we will make it! This is what He said :-

‘I am the way the truth and the life , no one comes to the Father except through me’ John 14:6

‘ I have come that you may have life and have it to the full.’ John 10:10

 Why not come along and find out more. We start Wednesday 19^th May @ 7.30pm at the centre.

We look forward to seeing you.

Tell them if they go to Galilee I’ll be there. V 16 says, “Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go.” 

 When was the last time you kept a rendezvous with the risen Lord?

It’s great to know that the risen Lord can become real to us in other places. That place may be a home ; a work place; college; school; it may be a broken relationship; a frightening experience – it may be with your private battles with Christian life; church life; it may be sickness; depression;

The place of familiarity becomes a place that is transformed by the resurrection power of Jesus.

To stay in our Galilee would not be right either , Jesus said GO!  Are we people that go with the gospel of Christ to others, to friends, to neighbours?

Leonhardt Dorfbrunner  was an imperial knight and he came into a living relationship with Jesus. A few months later he was ordained as an evangelist. In 4 months from the September 1527 to January  1528 when he was burned at the stake he had led 3000 people to Christ and baptised them.

Being a gospel people means we have been met by the risen Lord in our Galilee and commissioned to go to others in theirs

There’s got to be something after Galilee.

Failure is never final as far as God is concerned. The eleven disciples went to Galilee.

Well, it wasn’t a fading dream any more for the disciples. They are on the threshold of a new chapter in their lives – it could be that for you too. There’s a roller coaster behind them . . . and a bold new chapter ahead of them. But first, “Back to Galilee. I’ll meet you there.”  You come to the  place of Reconciliation and I’ll be there.

 Why Galilee? It’s  a 90 mile walk! Why not the Mount of Olives or an upper room in Jerusalem? Why back to Galilee? Because that’s WHERE JESUS IS AND IT’S THE PLACE WHERE IT ALL BEGAN. 

We are in the midst of the final preparations for a family wedding and I’ve had times with the bride and groom to be.  I began listening to those original vows that launched my lifetime relationship with Alice – a lot of things come back into focus when I remember what was once  so clear  . . . what can be so easily forgotten by all the experiences since.

I sense this is where the disciples are and where we are in our relationship with Jesus, a lot has happened since you first met Jesus – great victories, discouraging defeats, very high mountains, very deep valleys. And a lot of baggage has accumulated. That’s why Jesus is calling you back to Galilee – where you first heard Him say those life-changing words – “Follow Me.” It was all so clear then. Your life was ultimately about only two people – you and Jesus.

But what about now? Maybe the simplicity of that first calling has been compromised, complicated – pushed to the edge.  You have so many other people and pressures calling, “Follow ME!”

So  it’s time to go back to where it all began – only this time with all you’ve accumulated since then. It’s time to bring all that to the feet of Jesus – and surrender again so it can be the place of Reconciliation.

 Where’s your Galilee?

It was a real  joy for family and friends to be together.

Alice & I were thrilled that so many accepted the invitation.

 I was reminded about the invitation that Jesus made in Matthew 28 v 10  Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee ; there they will see me.  

 Go to Galilee; place of memories, place of regrets, place of comfort and of the familiar, place of wonderful events in their lives.

 If the Lord wanted to meet you today where would he ask you to go?

 Place of refuge/retreat

The first time Galilee is mentioned in the bible – cities of refuge Jos 20:7; outsiders can become insiders and be safe. It was the place to hide.

Going back to our family gathering we remember playing hide and seek with the children or we would watch them making their dens; play houses;  These places became whatever they required them to be!

 We have still got the idea even as grown ups to hide to retreat to get away when we’re not coping with life. Familiar places; friendly places, places to forget. God longs to be that safe place. He doesn’t want us to run from life and end up existing he wants us to run to life. 

Galilee is the place where he called the disciples; follow me. Acts 10:37 identifies it as the place where the word began.  But that is not the end of the story there is the victory of Galilee and subsequent Galilee’s. If my first Galilee was one of escape/retreat. the following ones are those of recovery  of rejoicing and receiving the commission and re-commission.  

It’s Jesus’ invitation.  He gives the two Mary’s a message for His disciples -   Matthew 28:10. “Go and tell My brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see Me.”    What an invitation to us today.

 If the Lord wanted to meet you today where would he ask you to go?

 Jesus said -  COME and I’ll be there.