Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

Romans 8v13 “If by the Spirit, you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.”  (NIV)

Have you been filled with the Holy Spirit today?

God has graciously given us his Holy Spirit. This gift is possible because of Jesus. Jesus has “justified” us – that is he has taken our sins and made us holy in God’s sight. This makes us able to receive the Holy Spirit who “sanctifies” us – that is makes us holy in practice day by day.

What is your testimony of how the Holy Spirit has changed your character to be more like Jesus?

God said through the prophet Ezekiel 580 years before Jesus, “I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” Ezekiel 36v27. This is now fulfilled.

Our expectation as believers is that we do not continue in sin. Rather, the grace of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit enables us to overcome temptation and our sinful desires. Repentance is to say I’m not going to sin anymore. True repentance is only possible by the transforming work of the Spirit.

You and I may well fail. But for us who believe, failure should not produce despondency but dependency – dependency on the grace of Jesus and the power of the Spirit.

Thank you Lord. What a wonderful God we serve. Ask God to fill you with His Spirit now.

With love and blessing,

Roland

Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

Trusting in God

Proverbs 3v5 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.”  (NIV)

The question, “How much faith have you got?” is not as important as, “What have you put your faith in?”. (see Matthew 17v20)

On Sunday, Tony highlighted how God can be trusted because he is reliable, true and able.

Therefore we should not ask, “How does my faith compare to someone else’s faith?”, but, “Do I trust God more than I trust this other thing?”.  “This other thing” could be money, possessions, relationship, ability, political system, health, hard work, way of doing things … etc. Of course, none of those things are wrong of themselves. Indeed it is right to have any and all of these, but compared to God they are all ultimately unreliable. Only God is ultimately reliable, able and true.

Tragically, for people in Ukraine, Turkey and Syria this is painfully obvious this week as so many have lost so much of the things of this life. So let’s examine ourselves, “In what area of life am I needing to put my trust in God and declare it to be so?”

I pray that we will each have our trust in God before He both “gives and takes away”. (Job 1v21)

With love and blessing,

Roland

Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

Witnessing for Jesus

Acts 1v8 “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses …”  (NIV)

This week, a release of census results showed that the average age of people identifying as Christian has risen from 45 to 51 over the last 10 years. This is no great surprise as we know that younger people are much less likely to identify as Christian. Our culture is moving away from Christian understandings. But we also qualify these statistics with the fact that many self-identify “Christian” as a cultural label rather than a testimony of God’s spiritual birth.

This backdrop means that Christ’s gospel is becoming more radical in our culture. It is pertinent that a survey published a year ago showed that while most denominations in the UK are declining, those growing are those that proclaim God’s Word, even where different to the cultural flow.

My sense is that our Hope church family actually do pretty well at witnessing to those around us. Some have shared stories on Sunday mornings, while others have quietly had opportunities in their daily lives. For some, this has meant speaking out to strangers. For others, this has meant loving their neighbours and being ready to open conversations about Jesus over a drink or to offer to pray to “the God who can”. For still others it has meant watching a Christian programme with someone or giving out gospels. May God enable us to continue in this as a family and to encourage one another in it.

So just coming back to the above verse:

• Am I a witness? Well I am, if I have experienced something! In this case, God at work, the power of Jesus to forgive and the work to the Holy Spirit to change me.
• How can I be effective? It is not about me, but the Holy Spirit working through me with his power. Remember too the words from last Sunday – Love, Listen, Learn and Lord.

May God bring much fruit in your life this year.

With love and blessing,

Roland

Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

Obeying Jesus

John 14v15 “If you love me, you will obey what I command.”  (NIV)

Tony continued our series on spiritual “GROWTH+” on Sunday. He took us to this powerful passage in John 14 where Jesus repeatedly teaches his disciples that our obedience is a mark of our love for him.

Our culture is high on seeking love and low on seeking to obey. We don’t want to be under authority, we want to live in freedom. We consider we know how freedom works and how to gain it, but we take no regard of Jesus’ statement “the truth shall set you free” (John 8v32). Further, we choose love without regarding what love really is.

Jesus calls us to love him. Because of who he is, that love is shown in our obedience. Love manifests itself in different ways depending on the relationship. A parent doesn’t love their child by obeying them, but by providing for them; the reverse is also generally true where a child loves their parent by obeying rather than providing. When it comes to Jesus, he is our Shepherd, Guide, Lord and Master. In that relationship our love is expressed in submissive service to Him.

When Jesus challenged Simon Peter after the resurrection “Simon, do you love me?”, he replied “Yes”. In response to Peter’s affirmation of love, Jesus gave a command, “Feed my sheep” (John 21v15-17). What is Jesus’ response to your affirmation of love?

Our love for Jesus is manifest in each decision we make each day.

• Q: How can I increase my obedience?   A: By loving Jesus more than anything else.
• Q: How can I increase my love for Jesus? A: “We love because he first loved us,” (1 John 4v19) and so as we receive more of his love, our capacity to love increases.

May God pour out his love in our hearts so that “what he says we will do”.

With love and blessing,

Roland

Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

GROWTH+ : Read the Bible.

Psalm 1v1-2 “Blessed is the one … whose delight is in the Torah of the Lord and who meditates on His Torah day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water.”  (NIV)

On Sunday we considered two particular ways of reading the Bible: reading as a narrative or story a reasonable section; or meditating on a small section.

The New Living Translation replaces the religious language of, “Blessed are those …” with, “Oh, the joys of those…”. Wow – this is a good place to be! Meditating on the word is not a drudgery, nor is it, “if I have to”, but it is a joy, a delight, a source of great blessing!

I have taken the liberty of replacing the word “law” in the NIV with actual Hebrew word “Torah” which is broader than our English understanding of “Law”. It more clearly points us to the whole of the first 5 books of of the Bible which was their Scripture at the time. Here is the interesting thing though: The Hebrew origin of the word “Torah” is a word which literally means “to flow as water”. That makes the imagery of “a tree planted by streams of water” so natural and has all sorts of implications – let your mind flow with that one!

Meditation is to plant ourselves in the Word of God, and so allow ourselves to grow spiritually as its nutrients pass through our spiritual and emotional system. The Message paraphrases this phrase, “chew on Scripture day and night”, which conveys a different imagery, but the same thought of getting the goodness out of the Word. Am I swallowing or chewing?

When did you last meditate on God’s Word? If not for a while, here is a verse to start with. Think on the words, “That person is like a tree planted by streams of water.” Ask questions like: What is it like to be a tree planted by streams of water? Is that my desire for my life? How does this passage tell us we can be that person? Bring your thoughts to God and receive his blessing.

With love and blessing,

Roland

Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

Go to God in Prayer.

1Peter 4v7 “The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.’” (NIV)

As Tony spoke on Sunday, the first element of spiritual “GROWTH” is going to God in prayer. And this is not just at set times or us talking, but a continual conversation and in particular listening.

In the above passage, Peter is explaining how, as followers of Christ, we can live for the will of God in an evil world (4v1-6). Let’s look at what Peter says …

“The end of all things is near”. The most important events in history are now nearly completed. The fulfilment of the Old Testament is now complete in Christ. He has come and lived an earthly life; he has died and been raised from the dead; he has ascended and sent his Holy Spirit on the church; we are now just waiting for his return.

“Be clear minded and self-controlled”. It is very easy for both personal news and global news to distract us from what God’s main plan is. It takes “self-control” and a real presence of mind to turn to God and focus on his plan in Christ.

“So that you can pray”. What has been your purpose for today? What is your purpose for tomorrow? Here is a purpose: so that you can pray. That is, remain in communion with God, keep in conversation, keep listening, keep expressing your feelings to him, keep sharing your thoughts, keep hearing his heart. You have been made for conversation with God.

Wow God! – you have made me to have conversation with you; give me a heart and mind to pursue this, your purpose for me.

With love and blessing,

Roland

Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

The ‘Magi’ come to worship.

Matthew 2v2 “We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.’” (NIV)

This Friday (tomorrow) is celebrated by much of the global church as “Epiphany”. It is the last of the 12 days of Christmas celebration. In everyday language, an epiphany is a moment of sudden realisation or revelation, a “eureka-moment” when something suddenly makes sense. ‘Epiphany’ is the name given to the day which recalls the visit of the “Magi”, “wise men” or “kings” to see Jesus.

While in Matthew most translations simply keep the Greek word ‘Magi’, elsewhere, the Greek word ‘magi’ is translated ‘magician’ or ‘sorcerer’ (e.g. Acts 8v9, 13v6). This is quite a revelation: the people who came were foreigners (not Jews), of a different religion (almost certainly Zoroastrian), of a different culture and language (Persian – probably from Babylon area); but, God had spoken to them by a star and their hearts’ desire was to worship Jesus.

These Magi persisted in their determination: they probably spent best part of two years in their journey (based on Matthew 2v16), and their search required the help of others – even those hostile to Jesus!

All in all, this is an extraordinary Epiphany moment in the Bible story. God is bringing into his worshipping community those who were by nature far away.

Are there people around you seem so far away from God? Maybe people who are searching, but in completely the wrong direction? If God can bring such as the Magi to worship him, he can bring those around you in too.

Never give up hope in the God who sent Jesus to be the Saviour of all kinds of people.

With love and blessing,

Roland

Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

Mary willingly submits.

Luke 1v38 “I am the Lord’s servant,’ Mary answered. ‘May your word to me be fulfilled.’” (NIV)

There is little doubt that Luke spent some time with Mary the mother of Jesus to research his gospel account. Mary doubtless had much to excitedly report!

As Mary grew up, I wonder what Mary expected her life to be like? By the time the gospels start, she is engaged to a man named Joseph. She was probably busy preparing for a Jewish wedding with strong expectations for a delightful celebration and settling down to a family life. We can assume she sought to be upright and holy, conforming to the norms of her society.

But one day, the angel Gabriel appeared to her and announced that she was going to conceive by the Holy Spirit the Son of God. Suddenly her hopes, preparations, expectations and conformances were irrelevant. She was now faced with the socially awkward position of being pregnant before her wedding.

But she responds with a recognition of her identity, “I am the Lord’s servant”. This is unlikely to be just a spur of the moment attitude, but to be the general tenor of her life. Do we see ourselves as servants of the Lord or as servants of ourselves? Whatever her desires and expectations, Mary was willing to lay these down for God’s call on her life.

What is God’s call on your life? What has he said about you in his general Word in the Bible, and what has he said in his specific word in prophecy? Do I come to his word with a willingness not just to hear but to obey regardless of the cost?

With love and blessing,

Roland

Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

John prepares the Way.

Luke 1v17 “[John will] make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (NIV)

Continuing our advent theme, this week we consider John the Baptist.

All four Gospels tell us that Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit for ministry as John the Baptist baptised him. It is fascinating that John, a mere man, should be so instrumental in the empowerment of Jesus’ ministry. He was instrumental because he was “filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth” and was  obedient to God’s calling on his life.

Yet it is only Luke gives the story of John’s birth and God’s calling on him from before he was born (see Luke 1v5-25, 39-45, and 57-80).

John acted in obedience to the prophecies about him: prophecies which were handed to him second hand by his parents. In his ministry, John had no precedent to follow, but was tracking a new path. His message was blunt and his instructions were practical. He faced significant opposition. His message was also forward looking – even prophetic – as he announced about Jesus, “But one more powerful than I will come … He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”

Did John ever have doubts? I am sure he did (e.g. Luke 7v18-20), but he kept returning to the truth and carried on.

In what ways is God calling you to be like John the Baptist? A call to track new trails? A need to hold onto God’s prophetic promises whether in the Bible or spoken specifically over us? Sharing a simple but confrontational message and face opposition? Preparing the way for Jesus in people’s lives?

May God enable us to be “John the Baptists” to people this Christmas season – filled with the Holy Spirit and obediently preparing a people for the Lord.

With love and blessing,

Roland