Today we had a fantastic meeting with lots of our Hope Central church family. We have recently been seeing a few new faces returning and every week and we are feeling very encouraged as they connect in a little further and form friendships and connections, it is so beautiful to see. 

We spent some time reflecting on a devotional passage before opening up to sharing our tests and testimonies across the room. As a community we are finding that everyone is so willing to be real with each other, sharing in life’s ups and downs and giving the glory to God in it. Our testimony time is regularly getting longer and longer as we are seeing new levels of vulnerability and trust in each other and God to meet us in it. 

This week we were joined by Mark Petitt from St Michael’s in Loughton and he led us beautifully in worship. During this time everyone was meeting with an praising God in their own way and a word was shared about being able to accept and understand what it means to be and to call ourselves children of God. 

This week we dug into the story of Abraham and Isaac as we continue to study some of the core bible stories. We first looked at Genesis 21 v 1-7 and looked at how God had fulfilled the promise he had made to Sarah at exactly the time he said he would. We spoke about how Sarah’s initial reaction (laughter and disbelief at the idea of falling pregnant) didn’t have any impact on the fulfilment of God’s promise but only changed how Sarah was in the waiting – her longing for a child and disbelief that God would follow through meant that she was robbed of her peace in the waiting. We then dug into Genesis 22 v 1-19 and looked at 4 points:

1)      Sometimes we have to go through the refiner’s fire.

God tested Abraham not because he wanted to watch him fall but because he wanted to develop his character and capacity for obedience. Sometimes we need to be tested or to have opportunities for grow to happen before we can be given the next big thing. Fire makes things malleable – there is a risk that it can perish or melt away but God does not let this happen. He stands with us in the fire and testing and allows us to be made malleable so that we can be shaped for what is next. 

2)      We have choices about how we can respond in the fire

We can complain about how unfair it is and how we can’t take any more or we can watch, wait and observe what is happening – how God is stretching us and how he is meeting us in it. It can seem like a clear cut choice of how we want to react but it isn’t always that easy. Life is tough at times and God accepts all our thoughts and feelings towards him, Psalm 46 says that he will rescue us and sustain us. He meets us in our pain but if we can find a way to make the second choice we can hold onto our peace as we trust in God to move over our situation in his timing. 

3)      God calls us to lay our lives down to him

God is calling us to a radical obedience. He won’t force us to follow him – he is not interested in prisoners. He wants to know that we are all in of our own accord. What in our lives are we tempted to idolise above him? It isn’t always easy to make this choice of radical obedience – we may have to give up things that we really want. We have to lay them down not knowing if they are going to be given back to us. But if it wasn’t costly it wouldn’t be obedience. We weren’t promised an easy life – we were actually promised the opposite but knowing that God would be with us in it. 

4)      God provides all that we need

God provided an alternative for Isaac just as he provided an alternative for us. When we take ourselves out of the centre and put Jesus there, we find we are given immeasurably more. God is not a means to an end but an end in himself – he is the ultimate prize. 

We finished by listening to the song ‘Names’ by Elevation Worship and Maverick City. We listened to the things that Jesus is for us:

God is our medicine 

He is the only one that knows what is going on within 

He is the truest friend 

He never leaves us 

He is faithful to us – no matter on the way we go.  

He is the prince of peace 

He is god with us.  

He is everything we need and everything we ever will need. 

And thought about how none of us are perfect and we weren’t meant to be – if we were, we wouldn’thave needed Jesus. God shows us so much grace so we never need to feel that we can’t do it or we can’t measure up. The only task is to fix our eyes on Jesus and let him do the rest.

To close our time together we felt that God was calling out a group of people who wanted to declare that they were all in to follow Jesus. To lay down their lives, their desires and heart cries to follow the call of Jesus on their lives. To do life not on their own but with Jesus. Our speaker encouraged anyone who felt this call on to stand and almost everyone that was there stood. We prayed a prayer that we would like to ask you to join us in praying over them each week – that Jesus would bring them close and lead thm in the way of life. That they would continually lay down their lives – their  weeks, days, relationships, desires and dreams to let Jesus have his way in and through them. Amen!

Thank you for all of your love, support and prayer. Without your prayers championing us we would not be seeing God moving in this way – you are such an encouragement and blessing to us. Praise God!

A Scripture from a member of Taste & See

Joshua 1:9

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Can you hear those dry bones RATTLING….