Family Church Portsmouth

This week Pastor Gina speaks about another of Family Church values – we are Bible Believing. We walk in the unchanging truth of God’s Word, resolved to never add to it nor take from it. We believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God. The 66 books are compiled by about 40 writers but all are authored by God. The Bible has one theme throughout – Redemption – God sending a saviour to save us from our sins. We believe that the people and the situations in the Bible in scripture were actual and real, both people and situations. We oppose the thought that the Bible is a myth, or that it is merely symbolic (some doctrines think this).  Both Psalms 14 and 53 relate that “The fool says in his heart, there is no God.” In many places, scripture details how the Lord our God made everything and that we have no excuse to believe otherwise for we shall stand before Him. 

Isaiah 55:8 onwards speaks about God’s thoughts not being our thoughts, rain and snow coming down to earth not returning without watering to enable the earth to flourish and his word not returning empty until it has accomplished that which it was sent for. So, in order to get to know God’s thoughts we need to read His word just as we need to hear the words from anyone else if we wish to know them. God is not mysterious, he has compiled a whole Bible of life for us to understand His nature, His thoughts and the best ways for our lives. This is why it is crucial we are Bible believing. 

The Bible sheds light on the pathway of our lives. Psalm 119:104-105 (NIV) says “I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path. Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path”. In other words ‘Lord please show me the way, I am tired of the wrong way’.    

Jeremiah 15:16 (NIV) says “When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, Lord God Almighty”.  The prophet Jeremiah profit is speaking of the words of God like delicious food, so sweet they were my heart's delight. We need food to keep our physical bodies healthy and strong, the scripture tells us that we need spiritual food to keep us spiritually healthy and strong. We're not just a physical body - we have a spirit inside of us that's going to live on. We need to grow in our salvation, not living just as babies (1 Peter 2:2). Meditating on the Word of God a little at a time is a healthy way of digesting God’s word. 

2 Timothy 3:16 explains how scripture is God breathed and useful for teaching, correction and training in righteousness. Often we get things wrong in life but God has already planned for this by providing scripture to train us, correct us and give us higher ways of thought. John 15 speaks in gardening terms about how God will prune us in order we bear more fruit, to be even more free of the dead stuff that clutters our lives sometimes. 

Romans 10:17 (NKJV) states “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God”. Our faith is increased hearing the word of God. Faith comes when we see our mind and our spirit with God's word. We do not need to feel we are people of little faith. Every time we go to the word of God, every time we mutter a little scripture under our breath…….our faith is being activated. 

The word of God is our only offensive weapon! Ephesians 6 speaks of the Whole Armour of God. Our ability to withstand the devil and be strong in the Lord is dependent on putting on the whole armour of God. The sword of the Spirit is in fact the spoken word of God. When Jesus was challenged by Satan he said ‘It is written…….’. The only time the enemy speaks is when he is lying! The sword of the Spirit doesn't become a weapon just in our hands. It becomes a weapon when we speak it out.

This Family Value for our church is foundational. Being Bible believing provides not only a backdrop to life, we understand God’s thoughts, he feeds us through His word, he corrects and trains us likewise, our faith is grown upon His word and ultimately He provides an offensive weapon for us to ward off evil!

Following the first three values of Family Church (Christ Centred, Commissioned & Discipled), Pastor Andy continues the series speaking about ‘We are Empowering’. This means we are equipping disciples to serve God’s purposes in all spheres of life (not just in church). 

Pastor Andy says he does not wish the church to be a storage unit for people, but rather a place where people are equipped and empowered then mobilised. We don't want to be a place where people come, sit and nothing changes. We want to see the power of the Holy Spirit quicken and mobilise your life. This is the primary purpose of church leadership. Ephesians 4:11-12 (NIV) states “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built”. Reading on, v13 says “until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” These gifts are known as the Ascension gifts, not the gifts of the Spirit mentioned elsewhere. Anointings or graces placed upon church leaders are there to enable everyone else to become equipped for God’s business wherever they are. A Biblical model is everyone in church finding the purpose of God for their lives, being equipped by Church leadership to be doing the things God called them to do, i.e. works of service.

1 John 3:8 (NIV) says “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work”. Jesus came to destroy Satan, so when we are busy with the business of the Kingdom, we also are destroying the devil – shutting down another kingdom which destroys people's lives. We were made for the purposes of God, for his salvation, but also to do God's business on the earth, which He prepared beforehand. Adam was the first great example of this. God made Adam for a relationship first, but then positioned him to do his business in Eden. Adam tended the garden, controlled the flocks, and had all authority over every animal, every growing thing, and every creeping thing. He was fulfilled in what he did because he was made in the image of God and carried the likeness of God. God is purpose-driven. 

As a church, we want to equip people; this is our heart, our agenda, one of our values. We want to be a church that equips people for ministry in the church, but also in the sphere of influence we all have. The best evangelism is when we all introduce Jesus to our friends and family – not just stage centric evangelism. 

We want to be a place where the Holy Spirit empowers people. We believe that we are spiritual people and we believe we shall receive power and ability when the Holy Spirit comes upon your lives (Acts 1:8). Power always has a purpose. We want to be people who are experiencing the power of God and seeing the power of God come through our lives. As we minister to others, we want to be a place where people flourish and grow.

This week Ps Sean speaks about us being Disciples. This follows on in the series of Family Values for Family Church that began a few weeks back.  The word Disciple is used many times in the Bible, whereas the word Christian is barely mentioned. Disciple means learner or pupil but also to imitate the teacher – ie Jesus. We need to be disciples of Jesus and also disciple others in their Christian walk. 

The account of Jesus with His first disciples at Lake Gennesaret in Luke 5 is fascinating as it teaches us about the character of disciples. Several key points emerge………

Jesus interrupted the daily life of these fishermen in this account – they were washing their nets. We need to be prepared to allow Jesus now to interrupt our daily lives rather than be so preoccupied and busy with life we have no time for our saviour. 

Next, we need to learn to trust Jesus. The fishermen in Luke 5 had been fishing all day and caught nothing, yet were prepared to lower their nets again at Jesus' command. Proverbs 3:5 tells us “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding”. We need to be able to live a life of faith in God rather than our designs. This is when miracles occur!

After the miracles of the catch Simon Peter falls at Jesus’ knees almost signifying he is useless. Likewise we also need to realise it is God who is the provider of all good things; our own abilities are comparatively limited. 

After the miracle of the catch the disciples left their boats and followed Jesus – what a challenge this is to us in our daily lives! We are not told exactly what happened yet but we know that the life of a disciple puts God first. We don’t need to leave our current lives and go and live in a monastery, but we do need to use our skills in the world in which we live in order to reach other people and make God at the centre of all we do.  Mark 16:15 says “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation”.

Many of us who have been saved for a while have knowledge and gifting we can use to help others. Our challenge is not to be just Sunday morning Christians but to be prepared to reach others, and disciple them  as we all grow in our walk with God.

This week Pastor Andy speaks on the second of the series on Family Values in our church. This is “We are Commissioned”. This follows from last week’s message on the first of our values – being Christ Centred. Being commissioned means we are living passionately to share the gospel, locally, nationally and globally. This is an essential value to us because it's a vitally important one to Him. If Jesus is going to be our centre, then we want what our values to be as His were.  Jesus actually said to us, for every follower…. “I want you to be busy letting other people know about a relationship with God that's available” (the Great Commission, Matthew 28:18-20). Jesus says “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”. In the first instance we need to be a people who are prepared to help people become saved…..discipling comes after this and is the subject of another value in our church.

The first step to discipleship is when a person hears about Jesus and has an opportunity to respond and come into a relationship with Jesus. Salvation is a matter of faith; a person must place their faith in Jesus Christ. To be a disciple, faithfulness will release the rewards of Heaven into lives. However, faithfulness does not release salvation.  Salvation is released into a person's life when they place faith in Jesus Christ. Once we understand this we can hardly keep it to ourselves!

In Mark 16:15 Jesus tells his disciples “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation”. Jesus wasn't just speaking to those who would become the first church leaders of the early church. He was also speaking to every believer - it is every believer’s responsibility to be telling others. 

God wants us to be a church leading people to Christ ‘in the building’ but also leading people to Christ in our everyday life (our friends, family, co-workers…). If we moved evangelism from something that happened once a week on a Sunday morning or in a special event where we bring in a guest speaker to something happening every day it would be momentous for the Kingdom of Heaven! We have a responsibility to let others know that Jesus saves. If they choose to reject this so be it….but we have an obligation to make sure that they have the ability to make that choice. The ramification of this is that soul winning gets into the lifestyle of everyone.

How do we start? Acts 1:7 (NIV) says “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” God will provide the power we need once we get up and get going! The two key words in the great commission are ‘Go’ and ‘Preach’. Preaching needs to be translated as ‘communicate’ or ‘chat’ or ‘discuss’, then it becomes a more everyday activity. Our ‘Jerusalem’ is our local environment – friends, family and so on. These are the people we need to pray for and ask for the opportunity to sit and talk with to share the essence of the good news.  God will give us the ability when we get going. He will not equip us before we go! As a people of Faith, He promised, He will give us the ability of the Holy Spirit, but we need to go and position ourselves and have an intention to tell others.

Pastor Andy wants us to be a people who do not see soul winning as an event that we bring other people to. We need to carry Christ into the world of others as part of our normal life. God doesn't want us to win a conversation or win an argument; he wants us to win a person.

This week Pastor Andy speaks about the first in a new series concerning the Values of Family Church. The first Value is that we are Christ Centred.  We are committed to keeping Jesus and his Kingdom at the centre of our lives and His church. This is our passion. Some values in a church are more cultural, but this value is first in importance with our prayer being that everything that we are to be found in Him and everything as a community of faith is built upon Him.

Christ-centred or Christocentric (the formal description) is a life focused upon a commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord at the core of every human decision. Some people are motivated by the quest for pleasure or money, their job, their families. The things which we spend our lives on can become the gods of our life. The result is that the thing we centre our lives on becomes our Lord. Our human heart was designed for worship. If it does not worship God, it will worship something else. If we are not Christ centred, we will be centred on something else. Worship is measured by the amount of time, money, and emotional energy expended and can be defined or identified by the level of passion and commitment evoked by us. After a while we begin to resemble what we worship.

Pastor Andy wishes to continue leading the church into what God has for it next.  His prayer (as the song says) is “Jesus at the centre of it all……..” Let it be ours too!

Pastor Andy gives an introduction to the forthcoming series of messages concerning Family Values. Family Church has its own flavour which distinguishes it from other churches possibly, but as you will see, these values are fundamental to living a Christ centred life. In following weeks, the messages will concentrate on the values for Family Church which are:

• Christ Centred - Committed to keeping Jesus and His Kingdom at the centre of our lives and church
• Commissioned - Living passionately to share the gospel locally, nationally and globally
• Disciples - Growing into all that God has called us to be, continually transformed by His Word and Spirit
• Empowering - Equipping disciples to serve God in all spheres of life
• Bible Believing - Walking in the unchanging truth of God’s Word, resolved to never add to it nor take from it
• Spiritual - Acknowledging the ministry of the Holy Spirit; being filled, empowered and led daily
• Worshippers - Passionately praising, intimate in worship, hungry for God’s presence
• Family - Celebrating our diversity in culture and age, committed to developing healthy relationships
• Servant Hearted - Serving one another and the purpose of God in our generation
• Community Minded - Being the hands and feet of Jesus in our local communities
• Responsive - Constantly responsive and active, never apathetic and passive, to God and His call
• Honourable - Giving honour where God says it is due

This is week four of the series on Matters of the Heart. Ps Sean speaks about a heart on fire for Jesus. One of his principle scriptures is Luke 24; 30-32 where the Disciple’s eyes were opened in His presence. Reading from verse 30 (NKJV) “Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”

So, the disciples are hanging out with this person, not knowing who he was. Having a conversation with Him as He opened the scriptures, the word of God, the most powerful thing, the revelation of Jesus set their hearts on fire inwardly in a spiritual way. 

But what was actually happening was they were walking with Jesus, and in that moment, everything inside of them - faults, passions, desires,  appetites, affections, purpose and endeavours were set on fire. Right there, in that moment, set alight for the kingdom of God.

Are we not in a similar situation – gathered in His presence? Are our hearts being set ablaze for Him as we move around, igniting passion in our world? To see miracles, to see the power of God working in people’s lives, to see people delivered from sickness….we all need to be set on fire. Fire in the Bible usually depicts God's presence. Moses at the burning bush in Exodus 3 asks why the bush does not burn. In Exodus 19, Moses brings the people out of the camp at Mount Sinai to meet with God,  the Lord manifests in a thick cloud of fire and smoke in order that the people might see, hear and believe.

Look in the New Testament to see what God has done in His actual name. “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem in all Judea Samaria to the ends of the Earth” (Acts 1:8). This is incredible. What God is saying is that you shall receive the fire of God in you, what does Paul say in Romans 12:1? (KJV) “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service”. We call down the fire to hit our sacrifice inside of us. We are the Living Sacrifice that we can call upon the name of the Lord and watch the fire. 

Peter denied Jesus three times but later, when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:1-4, NKJV). But later in verse 14, Peter delivers a message telling them to “heed his words”. This was a new Peter – who had the fire of God in his heart. 

The thoughts, passions, desires, appetites, affections and purpose changed - the power of God took him over and that was in his life would never be the same again. Then Peter said in verse 38 “repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ”. He speaks into a great big crowd for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for the promise, is to you and to your children and to all who are far off for.  This call is for us now as well. We all need the fire of God in our hearts.

Ps Carla talks about a heart of forgiveness in this third week of messages concerning matters of the heart.

Her principle scripture is the parable of the unforgiving debtor from Matthew 18:21-35 (NLT) "Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?” “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven! "Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered that he be sold—along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned—to pay the debt. But the man fell down before his master and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’ Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt. “But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment. “His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it,’ he pleaded. But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full. “When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt. “That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.”

The lesson here is that we must forgive others their sin against us if we want our sins against God to be forgiven.

She also references Ephesians 4:31-32 which tells us to forgive others and not be filled with bitterness. In 1 John 1:8-9, we learn that God is faithful Father willing to forgive our sins if we confess to Him and do not fool ourselves believing we are without sin!

Luke 6:37 tells us not to judge others, else we shall be judged, nor condemn others, and finally to forgive others that we may also be forgiven.

A forgiving heart is essential to freedom in Christ!

This week Ps Steu speaks on Part 2 of the 4 week series ‘Matters of the Heart’. The title this week is ‘A Heart That’s Guarded’. Ps Steu is not talking about the physical heart that pumps blood around our bodies; but essentially speaking of our souls, at the very core of our being, where our emotions flow from.

Ps Paula’s subject last week was ‘A Heart of Love’ and she spoke about how we, as God’s people, are called to unity and this can only be achieved when we truly love one another with hearts softened to God’s love. Loving one another in a way that brings unity to the body of Christ can only come from a true, experiential knowledge of God’s love.

We must understand that a guarded heart is not a hard or a closed heart. We must be careful what we let into our hearts. In fact, it’s when we allow the ‘wrong stuff’ into our hearts that we start to close them up even to the ‘right stuff’ and we become hard-hearted. Crucially, we must operate the gate to our hearts correctly, letting the correct things in and keeping other things out. The Bible talks about this in Proverbs 4:23…(NLT) “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life”, or (NIV) “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it”.

The condition of our hearts determines the course of our lives. If we want our lives to go in a healthy direction we have to keep our hearts healthy. 3 John 1:2 (NKJV) states “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul (heart) prospers”. The key to a prosperous or healthy heart is guarding it well. Operate the gate!

In order to have a healthy physical heart, we have to guard it well. It can be severely damaged by continually eating the wrong foods, not doing enough exercise, and by challenging circumstances that can lead to worry, anxiety, fear, shock, grief, loneliness, stress, disappointment and unforgiveness. However, by eating the right foods, doing exercise, and dealing with challenging circumstances our hearts will be kept healthy. In the midst of challenging circumstances, being deliberate about trusting God, walking by faith, speaking positively, spending time with good people, taking time to rest and relax, and being quick to forgive… all these things can be hugely beneficial to the health of your physical heart.

In the same way, when it comes to guarding our hearts (speaking of our souls), there are three main areas that we need to consider:

• How we eat. Matthew 4:4 (NKJV) “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” When we let God’s Word in we are eating the bread of life. This is really good for the heart. However, we are often so unguarded about what we feed on. We fill our minds with the voices of this world that contradict what God says - through friendships, social media, music, what we listen to, what we watch, what we read! We forget to operate the gate of our heart and end up letting in so much junk that our hearts get clogged up!
• How we exercise. 1 Timothy 4:8 (NKJV) “For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.” When we live God’s way (godliness, holiness) it’s like physical exercise, in that our hearts become stronger. Living a godly life effectively positions the gate of our hearts ready to close when the wrong stuff tries to come in. However, when we continually live like the world the gate of our heart is left wide open and anything can come in!
• How we respond to challenging circumstances. Psalm 27:14 (NKJV) “Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord!” In Psalm 27, David lists a whole load of challenges that he is facing in that moment - opportunities for fear, people against him, lies said about him, violent threats, relationship breakdown. Yet David was positioned at the gate of his heart (he lived a godly life) and he kept it firmly guarded… in this Psalm David declared that his heart would not fear, that he would worship God, that he would seek God’s face, that he would have good courage, trusting God and waiting on Him.

Waiting on God is about taking time to find out how God would have us respond, rather than immediately reacting or rushing in, or just trying to handle things in our own strength, or doing things the world’s way. When we face challenging circumstances, one of the best things we can do is ‘wait on the Lord’ and commit to respond to our circumstances in God’s way. This ‘waiting on the Lord’ will strengthen our hearts. 

Let us determine the condition of your heart. If our heart has been damaged because we haven’t guarded it properly, we’ll be able to tell by the way we speak. Luke 6:45 (NKJV) “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks”. 

Critically, this isn’t about other people right now, just ourselves. Listen to our thoughts and think about how we speak. What does this tell us about the condition of our hearts?.....Perhaps we have been consuming the wrong stuff which clogged our hearts up, perhaps we did not exercise godly living and hence did not guard our heart? Perhaps challenging circumstances have damaged, broken, or even crushed our hearts? Perhaps it’s become heavy because of secrets, shame, or guilt.

The good news is that God wants to heal our hearts! Psalm 147:3 (NKJV) states “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds”. Luke 4:18  (NKJV) “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.”

Let us come to Jesus today, laying our hearts before Him, acknowledging that we have let the wrong stuff in and let God take it out. 1 John 1:9 (NKJV) says “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”. Romans 12:2 (NKJV) “And do not be conformed to this world (man shall not live by bread alone), but be transformed by the renewing of your mind (but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God), that you may prove (live out, demonstrate) what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God (living according to God’s ways/godliness)”.

Commit to guarding your heart!

Ps Paula starts a new four part series on "Matter of the Heart". A healthy heart spiritually is as important as a healthy heart physically. A bad heart can fill us with envy, jealousy, insecurity and all manner of spiritual harms. God sent Jesus, that he might create in us a healthy heart, a heart that is full of hope, a heart, and spirit of forgiveness and a heart that's full of love. He heals our issues with his love. He heals our broken hearts, He can heal our angry hearts, our bitter hearts....wherever our heart is at God wants to heal it. God will never stop loving us.

Maybe we need to trade our anger for his love this morning. Maybe we need to change or exchange bitterness for His love this morning and let our hearts be free, let our hearts be healthy. If someone has heart failure, it usually means this is it - it's the end of their life. Heart failure usually means death but today we need to know God so deeply that we exchange our bad hearts for His love, changing our hearts for ever!