God is Nice and He Likes You

So, another Christmas approaches and as Christians we celebrate Jesus – God in a human body – coming into our world both in order to save us – but also to show us what God is like. And that is what I’d like to talk about today.

I’ve entitled my talk God is Nice and He Likes You.

This phrase was used by Christian author Adrian Plass, in his book The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass Aged 37 ¾. He writes; ‘This seemingly insubstantial fact revolutionised my life. I became a Christian when I was sixteen years old, but it wasn’t until I was thirty-seven that I absorbed an essential truth. God is nice and he likes me.’

As Nicky Gumbel points out, “sadly, deep down many people think that God is not that nice, that he does not like us very much and he spends most of his time being cross with us. But this could not be further from the truth.”

You see many many people including many of us like Adrian Plass who have been Christians for years, have distorted views of God.

We can view him as a strict and disapproving Victorian parent who is anxious to point out our shortcomings but rarely gives his approval.

Or we can view him as distant and uncaring, and much too busy to bother himself with our trivial problems and concerns.

It can be particularly difficult for many people to relate to God as a loving Father when their own experience of Fatherhood is less than ideal.

I really struggled to relate to God as a loving Father when I first became a Christian. My own father was a long-haul airline pilot and when I was a small child he’d be at home for a few days and then disappear for a week or so. I didn’t realise it at the time, but this made me feel subconsciously insecure.

And then when I became a Christian, I projected this insecurity onto God and was fearful that he might leave me.

By the grace of God I have now learned that he won’t leave me. In fact once we have invited him into our lives, Jesus promises - “I will always be with you. I will never leave nor forsake you.”

The problem is that our distorted views of God really affect how we relate to him. So, this morning I’d like to look at what God is really like and how ideally he wants us to relate to him.

So, what is God really like? – well to find out we need to see what the bible says and I want to start with our Old Testament reading, Psalm 103 and verse 8 which tells us;

“The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”

God is full of love and compassion and he longs to be gracious to us. He overflows with mercy and forgiveness towards us.

And we read in verses 13 and 14; “As a father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him. For he knows how we were made; he remembers that we are dust.”

He understands that as humans we are weak and flawed. He knows we get stuff wrong. And his heart isn’t to condemn us for it but as we confess it, to forgive us and help us do better next time.

Do you realise that God is never surprised by our sin? He sees the future and knows exactly what we’re going to do even before we do it.

And when he accepts us as his children he does so with the benefit of hindsight. Nothing we do is a surprise to him.

The bible tells us that as his children, God loves us with an everlasting love, a love that will not be withdrawn. And thankfully his love for us is not dependant on our performance as Christians but on the completed work of Jesus on the cross for us.

So, as Christians we have security with God – but this security isn’t a licence to sin. The bible tells us God cannot be mocked and we reap what we sow. We will reap what we sow in other people’s lives.

As a wise parent, God also disciplines us. As the writer to the Hebrews tells us, God disciplines us for our good in order that we may share in his holiness.

But again, he only does this if its really necessary. He’d much rather we walked through life with him in such a way that he wouldn’t need to discipline us.

We see God’s love for us most clearly of course in the life and death and resurrection of Jesus. As Jesus tells us in verse 9 of today’s gospel reading; “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”

So, as we look at and read about Jesus, we see God. And we see him healing people and forgiving people and inviting people to join and follow him. We see him befriending outcasts and having compassion on those who cross his path.

He doesn’t meet people with a disapproving frown but with open arms.

Supremely of course he opened his arms out widely on the cross and took upon himself our sin and our guilt so we could be entirely forgiven and free from fear of condemnation.

If you’re a parent you will know that when your children are sick or ill you would gladly take that sickness or illness from them and suffer it yourself.

Well that is how God feels about us. He sees our sin and the pain and hurt it causes us - and he wants to take it and bear it for us – which is of course what he did for us on the cross, because he loves us.

Now as I’ve said, it is important that our view of God is based on how he reveals himself in the bible and if you read the bible – especially the Old Testament – you cannot fail to see that God hates sin and that he judges sin.

But what we need to realise is that the reason God hates sin is because he loves people passionately and sin wrecks and spoils people’s lives.

Sin grieves him because he cares for us so much.

I know a lady with a son who was a heroin addict. And she loved her son dearly – but she hated drugs and what they did to him.

God loves each person that he has created – but he hates what sin does to us – because it breaks his heart.

And because he is perfectly just, as we remind ourselves in this season of Advent, he will one day – when Jesus returns - hold people to account for their part in harming and hurting themselves and others.

However, he would much rather forgive us than condemn us. As Jesus said; “For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.”

But this can only happen as we repent – as we acknowledge our part in causing pain and hurt and then seeking with his help to turn from it.

Another common misconception that people have about God is that he is somehow removed and distant from our suffering. But did you know that God feels our suffering acutely?

I remember several years ago when our neighbour and his wife’s marriage was breaking up. This couple’s teenage daughter used to come round to our house to escape the arguments and tensions in her house, and Mary my wife was brilliant with her.

Mary told me one evening that she could really feel God’s love for this girl and her family. I said something like – “that must be nice.”

But Mary said “actually it isn’t.” I said “what do you mean?” And she said – “Well mixed with the love that I feel, I can also feel something of the pain in God’s heart at the break up of this family.”

Although this family weren’t Christians, God still loved them very much and the marriage break-up was grieving him because it wasn’t what he wanted for them. Can you imagine the pain in God’s heart at all the suffering in the world?

At a Christian camp Mary and I went to several years ago, an Argentine pastor from Buenos Aires shared seeing the city through God’s eyes in a vision that God gave him. After a while he had to ask God to stop showing him the city – because he couldn’t bear the pain in God’s heart at what he was seeing.

Psalm 34 tells us; “The Lord is close to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

So, God isn’t detatched from our suffering. Far from it – he is close to us in it, and longs with our invitation through prayer to help us through it.

FFald-y-Brenin is a Christian retreat in Pembrokeshire in Wales where God has been doing amazing healing miracles, but according to Roy Godwin who runs it – the greatest healing they see occurs as people come to know God as he really is – as a perfect, loving, gracious and compassionate Father.

In his book the Way of Blessing, Roy shares how as he went to bed one night, God told him; “I want my people to be people who come for hugs and I want them to call me father from their heart.

I want to be able to speak to them by name and tell them how much I love them, how much I delight in them. I want to grow that relationship.”

You see God really, really loves people. He really, really loves you. He created each one of us for a relationship with Him. And because of Jesus’s sacrifice of himself on the cross – we can come into his presence and enjoy that relationship without fear.

Yes, we will sin, but God’s righteous anger at our sin has already been borne by Jesus on the cross. He is like a lightning conductor if you will. He has deflected it onto himself on the cross.

So, we can approach God with confidence and without fear. And we can be completely open and honest with him. We can call him Abba, daddy, and share our deepest hopes and fears and the prayers on our heart.

Lord I’m really struggling at the moment with great Aunt Doris. I find her so annoying. Please help me to be patient with her.

Or Lord I feel so weak in my Christian life and I keep doing things I know I shouldn’t. Please help me to be stronger.

We don’t need to put on masks for fear that if he knew what we were really like he’d reject us.

He does know what we’re really like and that is the person he loves. He loves us as we are, with all our flaws and weaknesses although of course he wants to help us change into kinder more loving people – who reflect the character of Jesus.

Yes, we need to acknowledge our failures and shortcomings and confess them to him – but as we confess them with a heart that is willing to change, he forgives us.

Whoever you are sitting here this morning God knows you inside out. He knows everything about you – even what you’re thinking as I’m speaking - and he wants a relationship with you.

And if you haven’t already done so you can start that relationship now.

You can come to him exactly as you are although you will need to say sorry for pain and hurt you’ve caused to him and others. And then simply invite him to come by his Holy Spirit - the spirit of Jesus -to live in your heart and life.

And as you do this you won’t be met with a frown – but with compassion and understanding and big strong loving arms to welcome and help you.

I’d like to close with a time of prayer. I’m just going to read a few words I’ve written which I believe reflect what God wants to say to you this morning. So, close your eyes and listen to these words and then in a few moments of quiet - draw close to your loving heavenly father and share whatever is on your heart with him.

‘My dear, dear child. I love you so much – which is why I died for you. I see all your struggles and all your fears and I hear your prayers.

I am not angry or disappointed with you. Far from it. What I really want is for you to come close to me and to be completely honest about your life.

So, come and share your heart with me now in these few moments of quiet. Come close to me and allow me to love and help the real you.’

John 17;13 to 26

The title I’ve been given for my talk today is the Gospel and the Church. So, this morning I’d like to try and answer 3 questions. Firstly, what is the church? Secondly what is the gospel? And thirdly how can we share it effectively?

So, what is the church? Some of you might be tempted to think that the worldwide church is basically all those people who go to church regularly thoughout the world.

However. If we look at what the bible teaches us, we’ll find that God views the Church slightly differently.

The Church is as Jesus says in verse 26 of today’s gospel reading, made up of those individuals in whom Jesus himself lives by his spirit. 

The worldwide Church includes every human being – who has genuinely repented and in whom the spirit of Jesus has come to take up residence, regardless of their denomination or lack of denomination.

In the Old Testament God’s presence lived in the temple in Jerusalem – but Jesus came to introduce a new covenant – and now God’s presence lives in each individual born again Christian. 

So, when as Christians we assemble, the presence of God is always in and among us. This is why Jesus said; “where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

The Church is described in the bible as a building made of people, founded and built on Jesus who is the chief cornerstone. The whole building rests on him and it is made of living stones – in other words all believers – you and me.

And God now lives in this living building made of Christians.

Many of the Church of England’s problems and disagreements occur, because there are a lot of people in positions of influence and authority in it, who are not born again, who don’t have the spirit of Jesus living in them – and who therefore have their own worldly agendas and ideas.
The same is true for other denominations, and such people generally don’t accept or submit to the authority of scripture, of the bible. 

You see it is not for us to sit in judgement on the bible and choose which bits we accept or agree with. All scripture is God breathed and as Christians we should submit to and uphold its teaching, even when its not popular or politically correct.

So, to answer my first question the real Church – God’s church - crosses all denominations and continents and includes every born-again believer - everyone in whom the spirit of Jesus is living. 
And because Jesus lives in us, we are his physical body in the world, and he works through us. He speaks through our mouths. He shows people his love using our hands and arms and eyes. He shows people his character through our lives and words and actions.

And we are charged by him to share his gospel and to make him known to the world. The church is called by Jesus to witness to and proclaim the gospel to everyone.

Famously in Matthews gospel he gives us the great Co-mission.

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

It is a great Co-mission, as it is Jesus himself working in us and through us to make himself known and to extend his kingdom – his rule and reign in people’s hearts and lives.

Our central message to the world is of course the gospel. As Paul puts it in his second letter to the Corinthians – “that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”

So, to answer my second question, what is the gospel? - the core of the gospel message is that Jesus loves every person he has created and has died for every person he has created on the cross in order that we can be reconciled to God and forgiven. And he was raised from death so that we can share in his resurrection.

But sharing the gospel also involves sharing God’s love in whatever way is appropriate – showing people that God is good and that he cares for them.

Most people don’t respond to the gospel message straight away. They need to experience something of the love of God. They need to taste and see that the Lord is good and then they will be far more likely to respond to the gospel.

So, what does this mean for us in practice? Well it means that as individual Christians and as a Church, people will likely need to see or experience something of the love of God in us, before they are ready to respond to the gospel. 

For instance, it’s no good going up to a homeless person who is cold and hungry and telling them that Jesus loves them and patting them on the head and walking off.

However, if we were to take them for something to eat and buy them a warm coat, then perhaps they will be more open to hearing that there is a God and he loves them.

I keep in touch on Facebook with an old friend who is vicar of a lively Anglican church in Gloucestershire. And sometimes I listen to his talks.

In one of them he recounted how he took his bicycle to the local shop to get it repaired. And the young lad in the bike shop was limping because he’d hurt his knee.

My friend asked him if he’d mind if he prayed for him.

As he prayed, the young man felt heat and warmth on his knee and my friend explained that this was God healing him. The young man couldn’t believe that Jesus was alive and still healed people today so my friend invited him to come on an Alpha course and find out more.

Do you see that this young man probably wasn’t ready to understand the gospel but after he’d tasted and seen that the Lord was good he was much more open to finding out more.

Of course it’s not just charitable acts or healing that draws people to Christ. Its also our lives and our witness as individuals and as a church.

I remember an elderly cousin of mine who was also a lay reader explaining to me how he and his wife had become Christians after they’d lost a baby.

He said that this Christian couple had come along side them in their grief and had loved them into God’s kingdom. They had befriended and comforted them.

My cousin said they’d built a bridge of friendship and that Jesus had walked over that bridge into their lives.

Now these are great stories but how in practice can we in our weakness replicate these stories of love and healing? How like my friend for instance, can we find the confidence and faith to offer to pray for someone’s healing and see results?

So, to try and answer my third question, how can we share the gospel effectively?

Well the answer I think, is quite simply through growing and maintaining a close relationship with God.

There is no other way and there are no short cuts. We need to develop habits of spending time alone with God like Jesus did. We need to read our bible’s regularly and ask God to speak to us and build our faith.

Each day we need to ask God to fill us afresh with his Holy Spirit – with his life and his love.

And then we need to walk with God day by day through our lives offering ourselves to him as living sacrifices.

In other words surrendering ourselves to God and inviting him to reach out to people and work through us in whatever way he chooses.

Its not easy to do this and the world is constantly trying to distract us – but this is how Jesus calls us to live.

And of course we need to learn to listen for and discern God’s voice in our lives.

Jesus said; “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”

In other words, if you are a Christian and the spirit of Jesus is living in you – he speaks to you. 
In fact he probably speaks to us much more than we realise but a lot of the time we perhaps miss what he’s saying because we aren’t attuned to his voice or the ways he speaks to us.
Again – there are no short cuts, we each need to learn over time how God is speaking to us. Sometimes its through other people, sometimes it’s a gentle prompting, sometimes its through a bible verse which really stands out.

Sometimes for me its through little pictures in my mind’s eye.

I think the reason my friend was able to pray with confidence for this young lad’s knee was that he recognised the prompting of God. He recognised that this was a good work which God had prepared in advance for him to do – and so he knew that God would be with him as he prayed.

You see Christianity is about living in a love relationship with our creator – that is knowing his love for us and then seeking to share it.

Its not about religion. Religion is about us trying to impress God by doing religious stuff. But the gospel frees us from religion and trying to impress God – because through the gospel we are set free from having to try and impress God.

Jesus lived a perfect life for us. He measured up whereas we – however religious we are – will always fall short. And when we put our faith in Jesus, God no longer sees us in the light of our sin and failure but in the light of Jesus’ perfect life.

And God accepts us because we have done the work he required of us which is simply to believe in Jesus.

As Jesus said; “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent."

As members of God’s Church we are charged by God to share the good news of his saving love and to make this love known, but not in order to be saved – but rather as a response of love, because we are saved.

God lives in every believer and he longs to be expressed in every believer’s life. He longs to reach out through us in order to make himself and the good news of his son’s sacrifice and resurrection known. 

And we are to offer ourselves to him in service as living sacrifices and to be co-workers with him in this great Co-mission.

I’d like to close with a time of prayer where we can each reflect on how we are offering ourselves in service to God and how we are expressing and sharing the good news of God’s love with those around us.

So, in a few moments of quiet share anything my talk may have raised with your loving creator.

QUIET TIME

If any of you would like to experience more of God’s life and love, do come and see me after the service and I’ll be very happy to pray for you.

Matthew 5; 1- 12

In today’s gospel reading from Matthew we come across what are known as the Beatitudes, which are eight declarations of blessedness spoken by Jesus at the beginning of his sermon on the mount.

The reason there are eight Beatitudes is because verses 10 to 12 are generally counted as one Beatitude by bible commentators.

The Beatitudes – or what we could call Beautiful Attitudes - are the attitudes of the true disciple, the one who has accepted and adopted the demands of God’s kingdom, and they are very much in contrast with worldly attitudes.

The Greek word for blessed means happy or fortunate – someone whose place in life is an enviable one. And this blessedness is a state of spiritual wellbeing and prosperity.

The blessed have a share in salvation and in the kingdom of God – and they will experience a foretaste of heaven.

Moreover, they will also be blessed in the future when God’s kingdom is finally established and its subjects enter their inheritance.

In others words – Jesus is saying that when we adopt these beautiful attitudes and seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, our efforts and our pains are not in vain. They will be rewarded.

As he says in verse 12 – Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven.

So, let’s have a look at these Beautiful attitudes in turn and try and unravel how we can be blessed – what heart attitudes we need to adopt in order to experience God’s favour and approval.

The poor in spirit are those who recognise their spiritual poverty before God. They recognise that they are helpless and lost without God.

The poor in spirit recognise their need for God’s mercy and forgiveness and that there is nothing that they can do to make themselves righteous.

We can see an example of someone who is poor in spirit in the story of the Tax Collector and the Pharisee which Jesus tells in Luke chapter 18.

In the Pharisee we see an example of someone is definitely not poor in spirit – someone with a self-righteous attitude who believes in their own goodness.

Jesus tells us; “The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

Jesus says; “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

So being poor in spirit is having an attitude of spiritual humility and recognising our absolute need for God’s grace and mercy and forgiveness.

And like the tax collector, those who do this will find the kingdom of God.

In a similar vein, those who mourn are those who grieve over their own sin and lack of love – who recognise their own shortcomings and are truly sorry for them.

Those who mourn experience true repentance and find comfort.

There’s a great video on the HTB Church web site of a violent prisoner called Shane Taylor sharing his testimony of how he found God on a prison Alpha course.

Shane shares how he cried out to God to change him because he hated the person he had become - and then he experienced God changing his heart and filling him with love rather than hate.

Those who mourn are also I think those who are deeply saddened by poverty and suffering and godlessness. Those who share something of God’s heart and concern for these things and grieve in their spirits and pray and care for the hurting and the lost.

Such people will be comforted by God’s Holy Spirit - the Comforter.

The original meaning of the Greek word for meek has the sense of bridling a horse or taming a wild animal. It means power under control.

It doesn’t mean weak or feeble. The meek exhibit self-control and are gentle in spirit. They don’t throw their weight about but submit their lives to God.

When Jesus submitted to being crucified he said to his disciples – ‘Don't you realize that I could ask my Father for 12 legions of angels to protect us, and he would send them immediately?’

Jesus had unlimited power at his disposal but meekly submitted himself to His Father’s will.

Those who bring their lives under God’s control in this way will find that God gives them the high place of honour that they would not seize for themselves.

Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are those who are sincere in their determination to live a godly life – a life that is pleasing to God. Those who are serious about their discipleship and take pains to walk in obedience and uprightness before God.

Such people will find that God will satisfy these desires and help them to live godly lives.

Mercy is exhibiting a loving disposition towards those who suffer distress or are in need. It is not just an emotional response but a practical response to need.

The merciful feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, and comfort those in prison. The merciful forgive others their debts and pray for their enemies.

The merciful share and exhibit the heart and character of God. And in turn they too will be shown mercy by God. As they give out mercy so they will receive mercy into their own lives. With the measure they use it will be measured back to them.

The Greek word for pure means to be clean and blameless and unstained by guilt. And it also means not being diluted or watered down.

The heart is where our thoughts and desires and will and character reside.

So, the pure in heart are those who love God with all their hearts – whose hearts are not divided in their loyalty to God.

The pure in heart are marked by an uncompromising desire to please God in all things. Its not just an external purity of behaviour but rather an internal purity of the soul - of desire and motive.

Such people will see God one day in heaven – but also in this life will experience God’s presence with them and will enjoy a close relationship with him.  

James says in his letter - Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

The more we align ourselves with God and submit ourselves to him – the more we will experience his presence with us – and the more clearly we see the world through his eyes.

Peacemakers not only live peaceful lives themselves but also try to bring peace to others and encourage and preserve peace between people.

Peace-makers do not stir up bad will and envy and rivalry. Rather they seek to placate and heal and restore relationships. They encourage forgiveness and pour oil on troubled waters with soothing words.

I think also that peace-makers seek to help those around them to make peace with their maker. They help and encourage others to find forgiveness and a relationship with God.

God desires peace on the earth. Peace between nations and individuals and Jesus of course came to establish peace and reconciliation between mankind and God through the cross.

Those who work for peace exhibit that they are children of God.

As I said earlier in my talk most bible commentators view verses 10 to 12 as one beatitude. So, in this final beatitude, Jesus says that we are blessed when we are persecuted and reviled for righteousness sake - because we are making a stand for him.

We pray regularly in this church for persecuted Christians – people who are harassed, imprisoned, tortured and murdered simply because they love Jesus – and want to share their faith.

And even in this country, as society’s values increasingly move away from traditional Christian values and morality – and as the liberal left become increasingly intolerant of those who dare to question their politically correct views - many Christians today are finding that it can be costly to make a stand for their faith.

As Jesus points out, it has always been this way. The Old Testament prophets were persecuted and the early church was persecuted. The apostles Peter and Paul suffered imprisonment and floggings and beatings – and Peter was eventually crucified in Rome – some say upside down - following persecution by Nero in AD 64.

However, the good news is that as we make a stand for him – God will be with us. As Jesus said – “When you are brought before the synagogues, rulers, and authorities, do not worry about how to defend yourselves or what to say. For at that time the Holy Spirit will teach you what you should say.”

And although life in this world may be extremely tough for many Christians – our reward in heaven will be great.

So, to tie up what I want to say this morning, the Beatitudes are essentially a call by Jesus to whole-hearted Christian discipleship. To throw off worldly attitudes and behaviour and to adopt Godly attitudes and behaviour.

As I reflected on these Beatitudes I felt a bit daunted by them. I thought Lord how can we possibly live like this? And then I recalled a bible verse from the book of Zechariah in the Old Testament – which says; “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty.”

I felt that God was saying to me – that in order to live like this we need to adopt the first beatitude and admit our own inability to live like this and then submit to and be reliant on the Holy Spirit to help us.

And I had a picture of the Holy Spirit as a ball of love and power – who comes to live inside us. And every born-again Christian has this ball of love and power within them.

And as he lives within us, he longs to be expressed in our lives – for us to allow him to guide us and change us and reach out through us.

If we will allow him to, he will express himself through our mouths and our eyes and our hands and our actions. He will flow out of our lives.

The trouble is that we live such busy and worldly lives that we keep him contained and even forget that he is with us.

But as we acknowledge our own spiritual poverty and submit ourselves to God’s purposes and co-operate with Him and allow the love and power that is within us to guide us and change us we will start to see these beatitudes fulfilled in our lives.

We will mourn over our own sin and lack of love. We will start to live under the control and direction of God’s Holy spirit.

We will start to hunger for righteousness. We will start to express and release the mercy that lives in us. We will increasingly let go of the world and live more for God and we will seek to be peace makers.

And we will be prepared to risk upsetting and offending others when we know that Jesus himself is reaching out through us.

Let’s close with a time of quiet prayer where you can reflect on and talk in your hearts to your loving creator about anything I’ve said this morning which resonates with you.

The Gifts of the Spirit

Here at Brenchley we quite often talk about the fruit of the Holy Spirit – God developing his loving character in us – but we don’t talk so often about the gifts of the Holy Spirit – and that is what I’d like to look at today.

These gifts – some of which are mentioned in our reading from 1 Corinthians - are a manifestation of the God’s spirit working in our lives. They are God working in us and through us to bless and encourage and guide us.

And these gifts are for service – ‘for the common good’ as the bible puts it. They are not to glorify us – they are to glorify God and to make him known.

They are to help create a healthier and more effective 'body of Christ' - to strengthen and equip us so that we can be more effective in making Jesus known to a lost world.

In order to manifest these gifts, we need to be clothed with power from on high as Luke puts it. We need to be open to God filling us with his Holy Spirit and empowering us.

This can occur as someone lays hands on us and prays for us – or sometimes God will pour out his Holy Spirit on a group of assembled Christians.

And once we have been filled with the Holy Spirit we need to go on being filled with the Holy Spirit – with God’s life and his love - as we walk through life.

We need to be walking in the spirit and lead by the spirit - with our hearts and minds focused on serving God and seeking to love and bless and encourage other people.

And of course we need to be prepared to step out in faith when we feel God is prompting us to share our faith or to encourage or pray for someone.

God’s spirit is very gentle and unobtrusive and it’s easy to miss what he may be asking us to do.

So, what are the gifts? – well Paul covers some of them in our reading from 1 Corinthians chapter 12. As I’ve said this isn’t an exhaustive list but it covers some of the main areas of gifting.

Paul lists the Utterance or Message of Wisdom – which is God imparting wisdom for the way ahead when a decision needs to be made. Or God giving us wisdom as to what to do or say in a particular situation.

The Utterance or – Word of Knowledge is the Holy Spirit revealing knowledge to us about something that we would otherwise not be able to know.

I remember at a house group I went to, someone talking about how desperately worried they’d been when their little daughter was born very prematurely.

But God gave them a vision of their daughter as a teenager with a cup of tea in her hand – and they knew in their heart that everything was going to be OK.

Faith is the next gift that Paul lists. The bible defines faith as “being sure and certain” that God will do something.

So, the gift of faith is to know for certain that God will do something either in the present or in the future. And this gift enables us to receive something from God by faith either for ourselves or for others.

Years ago at the previous church I went to, I did a Christian basics course with a young couple who wanted their baby baptised.

The wife was much more interested than the husband – and one morning just after the course had finished, while I was at home waiting for the kettle to boil, I suddenly knew in my spirit beyond doubt that this woman was going to become a Christian at some point in the future.

I didn’t know when or how, but I knew for certain that she would be saved and come to know God.

Gifts of healing can be given either to an individual to heal others in Jesus name or to an individual to receive healing from God.

I’ve mentioned before a local lady called Jennifer Rees-Larcombe – who received a gift of complete healing at a church in Pembury, after spending several years in a wheelchair.

Her healing was so complete that even her leg muscles which had wasted away, were completely restored.

And a couple of months ago Anne Wilkinson shared here how her knee had been healed when she went forward for prayer at out 4^th Sunday service.

The working of miracles is the ability to work miracles that bring glory to God. If you read Christian books you’ll come across lots of miracles and broadly they are the same type of miracles that Jesus did.

There are lots of modern day accounts of feeding miracles – where food doesn’t run out and also weather miracles.

I read about a Christian evangelist who was preaching outdoors in Africa when a large dark storm cloud formed and came towards his meeting.

He rebuked the storm in the name of Jesus and the cloud split in two and passed either side of the meeting much to the amazement of his audience.

Sometimes you hear of mechanical miracles – where for instance cars that shouldn’t, keep running, and occasionally the dead are raised.

Just a couple of weeks ago on the Christian TBN channel, I heard a man sharing an account of how Jesus had bought him back to life in the back of an ambulance – after he’d been dead for 45 minutes – much to the amazement of the ambulance crew.

Prophecy is simply the ability to communicate a message from God. This can be a message of encouragement for a church or individuals, and it won’t necessarily relate to the future.

Prophecies can be spoken out or written down and shared later. They are sometimes just simple words of encouragement from God.

For instance, I remember talking to someone in church here and I really felt that God wanted me to tell this person “it’s not your fault” – so I did. And this was something they needed to hear at that time in their life.

My wife Mary received a really lovely and encouraging prophecy for our previous church when we were away at a Christian event.

What was particularly interesting for me, was that as she received the prophecy she saw in her mind’s eye lots of little pictures of life at the church – people and events – and as these passed through her mind she felt God’s great love for the church.

Prophecies should be tested to check they are in line with God’s word and his loving character. And they should be shared in a spirit of humility.

In today’s gospel reading we see Jesus exercising a gift of prophecy as he foretells his death and resurrection and then he demonstrates another spiritual gift – probably a word of knowledge, as he tells Peter to go and catch the fish with the coin in its mouth.

Distinguishing between spirits is the ability to discern the presence or work of evil spirits which is another gift my wife has experienced on a few occasions.

Once we went to a church service where a lady with a persistent alcohol problem was prayed for. The pastor sensed her problem had a demonic element to it and commanded the evil spirit that was driving this lady to drink, to leave her.

As he did this, Mary said she could sense this spirit go up the aisle, past where we were sitting, and then out through the doors and leave the building.

Speaking in various kinds of tongues is the ability to speak in an unlearned human or angelic language.

The gift of tongues is under the control of the person with the gift and we can choose when and where and how often we exercise it.

It’s similar to being able to speak a foreign language - although of course we don’t understand the meaning of the words we’re saying.

Tongues when used personally is particularly helpful if you’re not quite sure how to pray for a particular person or situation. I find that if you pray in tongues first, you’ll often get an insight into how to pray.

God can also use the gift of tongues to encourage or direct people. I heard the story of an English guy who went to a church meeting in India.

During the meeting a man stood up and delivered an encouraging message from God in very good, clear English.

The English guy went up to this man at the end of the meeting to thank him for his encouraging words – but he found that this man clearly didn’t speak English and he realised he had been speaking in tongues.

Interpretation of tongues is the ability to interpret a message given in tongues during a church meeting.

Someone will stand up and deliver a message in tongues. Then immediately afterwards someone else will stand up and give the interpretation of what’s been said.

Now this isn’t an exhaustive list of gifts. God gives all sorts of other gifts as well, for example intercession – the ability to pray for specific things for extended periods.

I found after I was filled with the Holy Spirit that God would occasionally give me little pictures in my mind’s eye to help or encourage people, particularly if I was praying with them.

I remember for instance at a Christian event a few years ago sitting next to a lady who I didn’t know – and seeing a picture of her in my mind’s eye with lots of empty cardboard boxes tied to her back with string.

I then saw a pair of scissors come and cut the string and all the boxes fell off her back.

I gently shared the picture with her and asked if it meant anything. She promptly burst into tears and thanked me profusely, because this picture represented an answer to her prayers.

As well as imparting spiritual gifts to us - the Holy Spirit can also take our natural talents and abilities and enhance them to bless and touch people’s lives. For instance musical talents, or a gift for hospitality.

God of course knows exactly which gifts to impart to us – which gifts will be most useful to us as we seek to serve Him. And any gifts we do receive are always to be exercised lovingly and considerately. I can’t emphasise this too much.

If you read onto 1 Corinthians chapter 13 you’ll see that Paul says that if we try and exercise spiritual gifts without love being our motivation, it is worthless and we gain nothing.

But more than this, the unloving use of spiritual gifts or pride in spiritual gifting can be really harmful to both individuals and churches.

However, when exercised lovingly and humbly and gently, it’s immensely encouraging – and faith building when God works through you in some way to help or encourage or heal others.

I’d like to end my talk by giving those of you who would like to, the opportunity to receive more of God’s spirit – more of his life and love and power in your lives.

Perhaps there are some of you here who feel a bit spiritually dry – and you’d like a top-up - you’d like God to pour out his spirit on you to refresh and revive you – a bit like rain falling on dry ground. If that’s you, we’ll pray in a moment.

But also, perhaps there are some of you here who haven’t yet been filled with the Holy Spirit, who are spiritually thirsty and you’d prefer a glass of clear refreshing water as it were.

You’d like Jesus to fill you with his life-giving spirit, to empower you and impart spiritual gifts to you.

If that’s you, come and see me after the service and we’ll be pleased to pray for you.

So, let’s close with a time of quiet prayer and if you’re comfortable with the idea – as I pray, invite God to refresh and revive you with his life-giving spirit. You might find it helpful to open your arms out slightly in an attitude of receiving. Let’s pray.

Lord Jesus thank you for your great love for us. Thank you that you want to fill us with your love and your life so that we can share it more effectively.

Lord we invite you to come now by your spirit and fall on us like rain. Come Lord Jesus and refresh and revive us…….Amen.