Family Church Portsmouth

Pastor Andy speaks about making room for Jesus Christ our Lord during Christmas. How easy it is to be caught in the commercialism of Christmas, leave Jesus out and then feel depressed, empty and lacking because we forgot that Jesus is the reason for the season!

Let us embrace what Christmas is really about! God is with us. He stepped into this world and dwelt among us - God incarnate. God Himself in the man, Jesus. In fact, through faith in Christ, He has stepped into our lives and lives within us. We were once separated from Him. Now, by His grace, He lives in us. In that sense, God is incarnate in our lives (John 14:16-17).

Incarnate means embodied in human form (especially of deity or spirit). So, the risen Christ, by His Spirit, has come to live in us! We need to be “Christ inside” minded. Greater is He that is in me that he that is in the world. (Gal 2:20).

Christ in me is all I need! He is everything. My all in all. More than enough. Our lives are now to be influenced by the One who lives in us. Ephesians 5:15-21 spells out the detail of this for us.

We are not to be drunk, intoxicated or under the influence of anything opening the door to evil in our lives. Rather, being under the influence of the Holy Spirit. If Christ lives in us we do not wish to live under the influence of things that people in this world live under. This includes fear, anger, hatred etc. God has given us a sound mind – 2 Timothy 1:7.

As we approach Christmas, let’s be conscious of Emmanuel (God with us) rather than being self-conscious. Let us lift our eyes up to Jesus and look to Him for all we need (2 Cor 4:7). Let us discover afresh that God is resident in our lives!

Today, PS Andy speaks about the principle of sowing and reaping, but not quite as we may expect it…..more later! Sowing seed isn’t a man-made issue, it’s a Godly thing. It’s also not just a money thing, time, energy, effort is just as important. Sowing seed is a life issue and when done correctly it (1) benefits us, (2) helps others and also (3) it brings glory to God. 

God told Noah (Genesis 8:22, NKJV) “While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.” Sowing and reaping, seedtime and harvest are Godly principles….and work both positively and negatively…we can sow a grumpy attitude, or we can encourage people…. 

What we do with our time, our energy, our money ….all of those things are opportunities to cause a harvest in our world. However, so often we focus on the return we may get when sowing. But this is a way of living that’s benefits and meets needs of others on God’s behalf. 2 Corinthians 9:6 speaks of the one who sews from a generous spirit reaping an abundant harvest (not from a sense of religious duty).

The principle of sowing and reaping doesn't just involve us on a ‘harvest follows after sowing’ principle. When we sow in others people’s lives we do not look for glory or thanks to return to us but for new opportunities for discipleship and thanksgiving to God from those receiving from us – as God’s Kingdom reaches more lives.

This week Ps Steu speaks about the church corporate, how Jesus is incredibly passionate about the church and how scripture describes Christ’s love for the church. Matthew 16:13-19 describes how peter declares Jesus as the Messiah and how Jesus builds His church upon the rock. The word church here comes from Greek ‘Ekklēsia’ meaning a particular body of faithful people, or the whole body of faithful people. This passage reveals the church belongs to Jesus and also that it is described as a bride. Jesus is in charge of the ‘building’, however, we are all involved in the process as long as we remain submitted to Him. We may have excellence in many areas, but as we gather, it is crucial that we have the presence of God. Everything else fades into insignificance. 

What a wonderful picture it is that we are living stones, parts of the Temple of God, made of people whose lives have been redeemed by Jesus with every one of us having a place in this living temple of God. The whole purpose of us, the church is that God can fill the church with His presence in order to bring His Kingdom into this world. 

Hebrews 10:25 (NLT) states ‘And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near’. Let us come together as living stones and enjoy the presence of God together both collectively as well as in our own time, in our own walk with God. The opportunity for worship, praise, and teaching provides unity of faith and unity of mission within an environment where we can do the greater words that Jesus spoke of.  The later verses of Acts 2 extol the virtues of regular gathering of the faithful believers. Friendships are formed, spiritual growth is enabled, the scriptures unfold as our lives grow in our walk with The Lord.

Ps Sean uses personal testimony to share about waiting on God. Throughout times of uncertainty we need to wait upon the Lord. Isaiah 40:31 (NKJV) states ‘But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint’. So, if we feel weary or weak in the Lord, we need to wait upon Him. For in the waiting our strength shall be renewed. We need to learn to wait on God. Psalm 27:14 confirms this – our hearts get strengthened too. Proverbs 19:21 tells us that we can make many plans, but the Lord's purpose will prevail. If we try to force God in our plans we will fail and have no peace, better to submit, trust and wait on Him. In Luke 24:49, Jesus appears before the disciples and tells them to wait where they are until they are empowered by the Holy Spirit. Waiting is where God strengthens us. It may seem we are in a wasteland but these are the places where God brings forth rivers and begins new things in our lives (Isaiah 43:19). God was with the children of Israel on their journey, but he didn't take them from deliverance to destination. He took them through the wilderness, to test their character and to bring things out with them. Let us not be frustrated or upset in testing times or seeming places of wilderness in our lives. Let us learn to trust God, wait upon Him, keep His word in our hearts so we recognise His voice when he calls us and moves us on in our lives.

Ps Sean gives a powerful message about how we have been acquitted of all sins by the blood of Jesus. He focuses on how important it is for us to remember the way God sees us as opposed to our own thoughts and feelings. Romans 5:16 (TPT) states ‘And this free-flowing gift imparts to us much more than what was given to us through the one who sinned. For because of one transgression, we are all facing a death sentence with a verdict of “Guilty!” But this gracious gift leaves us free from our many failures[r] and brings us into the perfect righteousness of God—acquitted with the words “Not guilty!”’.

Because we are all born of the seed of Adam, we are born with nature of guilt, cover up and blame. Humanity itself is born into bondage and separated from God just as Adam and Eve became in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3). From this time onwards the world has slowly been falling apart to the point where today we have a broken society. But the plan of God was for Jesus His son to lay down His life so that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life (John 3:16). What are we being saved from? – Hell and eternal separation from God. Colossian 1:13 tells us we have been save from the dominion of darkness. We are redeemed and made righteous before God!

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV) states ‘Now, if anyone is enfolded into Christ, he has become an entirely new person. All that is related to the old order has vanished. Behold, everything is fresh and new’. We may wake up feeling old but we are in fact a new creation in Christ. This is something we must trust by faith. We may feel condemned, guilty even at times, heavy with bad feelings over something we said or did. But God is a righteous judge even where Satan abounds - his agenda to cause us to live less than we have been given and promised, bringing condemnation. Scripture contains truth, Roman 8:1 (NKJV) says ‘There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who[a] do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit’. Jesus did not condemn the woman caught in adultery nor does he condemn us. Because of what we have put our faith in (Jesus), we are saved, made righteous, redeemed, healed and also Acquitted. Jesus’ blood sets us free. 

Psalm 103:11-12 (NKJV) states ‘For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us’. Let’s not allow the enemy to get a foothold over our lives. Speak Jesus over our lives every morning!

Today, Pastor Andy presents the last of his series on being ‘Tuned In’ to hear God’s voice. Previously, Andy spoke about how God is always speaking but we often are not listening or are not correctly tuned in to His voice by tuning out the noise of the world. Additionally, we probably need to be non-conformist by world standards in order to conform to His ways! (Romans 12:2). 

If God is speaking, do we believe this? If not, we shall never hear Him. We may say “yes God, you are speaking”, we may say “yes, I’m going to remove other voices from my head”, but after we have done this can we recognize His voice amongst similar voices? The voice of religion can be confused with the voice of God. But religion brings us into captivity, God brings us freedom (Romans 8:1). We need to be able to recognize the tone of God’s voice.  His voice has the tone of the best ever loving Father (Matthew 6:9), the voice of a shepherd (John 10:27), and that of a friend. In John 15:15, Jesus speaks of us as friends. 

Sometimes we misunderstand God’s voice believing it to be ‘intuition’ or ‘common-sense’. We hear God more often that perhaps we think. A word of knowledge, a word of wisdom does not come from nowhere…… But God also speaks through His word and also from His Spirit too.  His Spirit now lives in us, for every born-again believer. Sometimes we hear a voice deep inside ourselves - Romans 8:14 NKJV “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God”.  Sometimes we see a person and they just need help. We hear a prompting inside. Or we suddenly think about telephoning someone. That's often the Holy Spirit saying “I need someone on earth to take care of something for me… Can anyone hear me?” We need to be sensitive to His Spirit within us. God wants his voice to be the constant voice of the Shepherd in our daily lives. We also need to be able to test what we are hearing. This is not unbelief; it's a wise thing to do. The Bible says that all prophecy shouldn't be despised, but it should be tested.

The word of God is a good test of all situations and is the blueprint for life. Wise counsel, the seeking of wisdom and being humble enough to ask other spirit filled Christians is also a good test (Psalm 1:1). Asking more than one person is also biblical – Proverbs 11:14 NKJV “Where there is no counsel, the people fall; But in the multitude of counsellors there is safety”. God is not against us seeking confirmation and will do something through natural things or natural people to affirm if we pray and ask.  

When God speaks and wants to do something in our lives it may cost time, energy or money because he does what he needs to do on earth through our lives. There is no better life than this! Equally there is no condemnation for us in testing what we perceive we hear as indeed this is biblical wisdom. Let us constantly be seeking His voice. 

Pastor Andy continues his series on being Tuned In to God.  God is always speaking but we often are not listening or not listening correctly. We need to read His word and Pray in order to hear Him and be challenged. It's not good enough to say God, I want to hear you, if we are not ready to be challenged when he speaks! We've got to be prepared, to be living in the word, because it's the word of God that causes Our Lives to be transformed.

All of our thoughts are incredibly powerful. Consciously or unconsciously we move in the direction of our dominant thoughts – they determine the direction of our lives. Thoughts lead to actions which result in positive or negative outcomes – Godly or ungodly. Proverbs 23:7 (NKJV) states “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he”. We need to be careful when it comes to thoughts and allow God's thoughts to become our thoughts. God's thoughts can determine the destination of our health, our marriage, our finances, and success of who we are. We need to have minds that say ‘now Lord, let your thoughts be my thoughts’. We cannot halt every thought entering our heads, but we can begin to control which thoughts are allowed to land in the fertile soil of our thinking - because thoughts have the ability to lead a person to total victory, but also to total destruction.  The renewing of our minds with God's thoughts isn't an optional extra it's daily necessity. Taking wrong thoughts captive and bringing them into abeyance to what God says isn't difficult, its a choice. 

Hebrews 4:12 (NKJV) states “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart”. So, we need to be living in the Word of God in order to know His thoughts, discern His ways, hear His voice and conduct ourselves well. Proverbs 3:5 (NKJV) states “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding”. 

Pastor Andy continues his series on being ‘Tuned-In’ to the Word of God. In John 10:10 scripture says “His sheep know his voice”. God is not speaking with a voice of condemnation or judgement but as a shepherd or Father.  So far we have looked at the need to ‘Tune-Out’ of other sounds in order for our hearts to hear God, His will and ways for our lives. When the ways of this world are influenced by the ‘gods’ of this age, and disagree with how God says that we should live our lives, we need to purpose to be non-conformist. 

Romans 12:1-2 (NIV) says “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will”. When we begin to say “Yes, God, I want to hear your voice…. I want to tune out from other noise to hear you the voice of my Shepard, the voice of my friend”, our lives begin to be renewed. When we allow God's word to challenge our thinking, the Holy Spirit to teach us God's word, we experience a supernatural change that happens from the inside….a transformation, a metamorphosis. But this also needs to be a constant renewal through His word, not a once only action. 

When we are committed to being transformed, we experience a divine ‘brain-scrub’ through the Holy Spirit. The only result in our minds, if we use the Word of God, is freedom….because we shall know the truth...and the truth shall set us free! 

Pastor Andy begins a new series today entitled 'Tuned In'. We need to be tuned in to God on order to hear His voice. Does God speak, Ps Andy asks us? God speaks all the time but our ears are maybe not tuned in to His frequencies to hear His voice above the clutter of the world view, the media, the constant interruptions from elsewhere. We need to understand God's will for our lives and to have a desire for Him above all else. However, Ps Andy explains that we need to be tuned out of the world view, of the worlds supposed wisdom in order that our ears and senses may hear and respond to God.