ECCF 2nd Anniversary Service - at Stella Maris Hall, Lowestoft,

Saturday 27th Aug. 2011

Theme John 1:1-3 -Creation Calls.

Greetings & Maligayang Bati

In the Name of the Father and of the Holy Spirit; God is One. Amen

1. God is “in the beginning - and forever - and IS eternity”

“In the beginning” At the start of this Gospel - don’t you wish it was the first one? As “In the beginning is also at the very start of the Bible in Genesis....

This “In the beginning takes us back” to even further before the Genesis “In the beginning”. It takes us back to eternity... One of the favourite introductory scriptures from and Anglican Morning Prayer Service is this:

^{Isaiah 57:15} “For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,
   who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
"I dwell in the high and holy place,
   and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly,
   and to revive the heart of the contrite.”

I began with typical Orthodox ascription - God Father Son and Holy Spirit - and it is this God who is one who IS eternity.... big bang etc.... - when they have recreated the Big Bang in Switzerland - then what? God is still the creator

^{John 1:1} In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ^2He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. - that includes - you and me (cf Psalm 139 & Eph 1:3)

God is Love we say - because He is totally united and there is total Love as these persons of the Trinity relate to each other.. creation was not some kind of let’s push this button and see what happens.. (cf. lift) But out of love

Genesis 1: ¹In the beginning, God (Elhoim-plural) created the heavens and the earth. ²The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

^{Col 1:15} He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. ¹⁶For by^{[means of]} him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

Unity of Love - leading to creativity - here’s the first challenge - how much is there love and unity in your Fellowship(s)? Are you growing and deepening in your faith? It’s nice when numbers grow - but in so many ways its no where near so important as deepening your walk with God... and as you deepen your walk with God you realise more and more how unworthy you are....

2. God’s Unity of Love brings forth re-creation

And this Unity of Father and Son and Holy Spirit, this Unity of Love that acted in creation - acted in re-creation.

cf. Philippians ^2:5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.⁸And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Obedience - 2 obediences here -also Mary (Appropriate we are in RC Stella Maris Hall)

 ^{Luke 2:26}In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, ²⁷ to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸And he came to her and said, "Greetings, O favoured one, the Lord is with you!" ²⁹But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. ³⁰And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. ³¹And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. ³²He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, ³³and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end."

 ³⁴And Mary said to the angel, "How will this be, since I am a virgin?"

 ³⁵And the angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy— the Son of God. ...

³⁸ “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

God knew that Mary would say “yes” , but though He chose here she still had to be obedient

So this is the challenge of our Creation and our re-creation - our being renewed by the spirit of God. How obedient to God’s word and ways are you being? Is your Fellowship enhanced or hampered by your obedience or lack of it. Is St. Andrew’s Roman Hill enhanced or hampered because I am in it’s congregation?

Luke 11:²⁷As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, "Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!" ²⁸But he said, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!"

3. God gives the Holy Spirit

You can be used of/useful to God. Same Spirit of God who hovered over the waters lives in you... The same Spirit who brought again Jesus from the dead resides in you - but you can ignore and disobey Him. You might have the most powerful car outside and start the engine with a great roar, but unless you engage it by means of clutch and gear shift you will go nowhere. We need to engage the Holy Spirit in our lives to serve for Him.That’s not to say you are perfect... do you think all those Biblical characters were different from you - that they had it easy?

The next time you feel like GOD can't use you, just remember:

·            Noah was a drunk

·            Abraham was too old

·            Isaac was a daydreamer

·            Jacob was a liar

·            Leah was ugly

·            Joseph was abused

·            Moses had a stuttering problem

·            Gideon was afraid

·            Samson had long hair and was a womanizer

·            Rahab was a prostitute

·            Jeremiah and Timothy were too young

·            David had an affair and was a murderer

·            Elijah was suicidal

·            Isaiah preached naked

·            Jonah ran from God

·            Naomi was a widow

·            Job went bankrupt

·            Peter denied Christ (3 times!)

·            The Disciples fell asleep while praying

·            Martha worried about everything

·            Mary Magdalene was promiscuous

·            The Samaritan woman was divorced, more than once

·            Zaccheus was too small

·            Paul was too religious

·            Timothy had an ulcer

·            AND, Lazarus was dead!

·             

But time to be serious (Covenant service etc....Adapted from the Church of South India liturgy in use in the CSI congregation in Detroit, Great Lakes, Michigan USA, originally an annual New Year service of the Methodist Church)

We sang earlier a song that encapsulated the sentiment of the Covenant service. Please stand and follow this commitment with me.

·            THE COVENANT

All stand, and the minister says:

And now, beloved, let us with all our heart renew our part in the covenant that God has made with His People, and take the yoke of Christ upon us.

This taking of His yoke means that we are heartily content that He should appoint us our place and work, and that He alone should be our reward.

Christ has many services to be done; some are easy, others are difficult; some bring honour, others bring reproach; some are suitable to our natural inclinations and temporal interests, others are contrary to both. In some we may please Christ and please ourselves, in others we cannot please Christ except by denying ourselves. Yet the power to do all these things is assuredly given us in Christ, who strengthens us.

Therefore let us make the covenant of God our own. Let us engage our heart to the Lord, and resolve in His strength never to go back.

Being thus prepared, let us now, in sincere dependence on His grace and trusting in His promises, yield ourselves anew to Him, meekly sitting before Him.

The minister says in the name of all.

O LORD God, Holy Father, who has called us through Christ to be partakers in this gracious covenant, we take upon ourselves with joy the yoke of obedience, and engage ourselves, for love of you, to seek and to do your perfect will. We are no longer our own, but yours.

Here all the people join.

I am no longer my own, but yours. Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will; put me to doing, put me to suffering; let me be employed for you or laid aside for you, exalted for you or brought low for you; let me be full, let me be empty; let me have all things, let me have nothing; I freely and heartily yield all things to your pleasure and disposal.

And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, you are mine, and I am yours. So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.

·            Silence after the Covenant.

May you be forever blessed,

In the Name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God is One. Amen

Open Heavens Devotional- AFRAID LIKE JOB?

Open Heavens Devotional- AFRAID LIKE JOB? 

By Pastor E.A. Adeboye

MEMORIZE: "For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me." (Job 3:25).

READ: Job 3 :24-26

"To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:" (Col. 1:27). There is hardly anyone on earth without one expectation or another. It is either you anticipate a good outcome or negative one. What is your hope or expectation? Some people expect trouble or the attack of their enemies. When such negative expectations are not adequately curtailed by the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, they become fear. When such a concern moves from the level of minor anxieties into fear, it assumes a higher dimension that appears real or visible even when it is not. Proverbs 10 :24 says, "The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him: but the desire of the righteous shall be granted". Here we see that both the righteous and the unrighteous have different expectations and God says 'Amen' to both.

While the righteous has his good desires met, the wicked sees a manifestation of his worst fears. May God say 'Amen' to the fears of your enemies this season! However, believers must be careful about what they desire, hope for or fear. When a believer comes under fear, it could also manifest, like in the case of Job. It was what he had feared that simply manifested (Job 3 :25). Whenever you are in a state of fear, you move from faith to unbelief. At such a point, you spiritually relocate from the congregation of the blessed to the congregation of the unfortunate. What you fear will sometimes manifest. If you fear God alone, you will have definite uncommon experience of Him. If you fear a sickness, it may attack you. The enemy you fear may soon take you into captivity. Job was so obsessed with the thoughts of losing all his wealth that he was hardly at peace. He had no rest of mind. He was disturbed and troubled. He could not enjoy God's blessing on his life, and with time his fear manifested. What are you worried about? Cast your cares upon Jesus. Worrying and being anxious is not the portion of believers. Why worry when God is there to do the worrying for you? God did not give you your mind and intellect for worrying but for constructive and productive planning, strategic thinking, and for the generation of good ideas.

ACTION POINT: Thoughts progress from worries to fears. Do not allow the evil progression of worry to fear in your life.