King's Church Hastings

Session 1 from the Angela Kemm Weekend - Friday

It's the start of our 'Hunger Season' as a church together and in this preach Paul helps us look at gaining a biblical perspective on what it means to really hunger after God.

Aled reminds us that our salvation is not initiated by us, that we are saved by the Spirit. We are spiritually dead, spiritually cut off until the Holy Spirit reveals Jesus to us. We are now united to the Spirit and we are to keep in step with the Spirit, to fully rely on Him.

God created a perfect world with no poverty, yet after sin came in, poverty soon followed, and God has been especially concerned about the poor ever since. Do you think His followers should be too? Do you think this is for all Christians or just some of us?

The biggest problem that faces humanity is death. It’s the one thing that affects every single one of us, both physical death and the death of our hopes and dreams. Humans have tried all sorts of ways to deal with the problem of death, but only the resurrection of Jesus offers a real solution, a solution based not on wishful thinking but on a historical fact. Because Jesus has been raised from the dead, we too can be raised from the dead. But far more than that, because Jesus has been raised from the dead, we can have true life right now.

We are salt and light. It’s part of our new identity as Christians, part of our DNA. We are called to bring God’s kingdom flavour and light into everyday living, through how we live, what we say and the things we do. As we do this we make a difference, extending God’s kingdom and brining glory to his name.

God wants us to fight for the powerless, the unclean and those facing both literal and spiritual death. Jon reminds us how Jesus extends the kingdom to unexpected people and places and how we are called to do the same.

Jesus knows that he is soon going to return to be with God the Father and so he gives the disciples an important commandment about how they are to live when he has gone. Andrew teaches us how we too can live in community and be missional.

All of Christian life is meant to be an expression of worship, but we’re also called to gather as a church family and to worship together. What are these times of corporate worship for? What should corporate worship look like? And how can we all play our part in our corporate worship?

Signs and wonders are about the Kingdom breaking in. They also point to God’s Messiah and King-Jesus, who gives authority to bring his Kingdom in. If we believe the Kingdom has come and is advancing, we can have expectation of seeing more signs and wonders.

There was a barrier between God and us but He dealt with it and when we turn to Him, He gives us an extravagant welcome. He calls us to love with abandon in the way we welcome others too.

Paul writes an incredible letter to the church in Philippi in AD60, while in Rome. He loves this church and its full of rejoicing and joy, but also pain and struggles as well. (The two are not mutually exclusive.) We can learn much from Paul in this letter… as we find both comfort and encouragement to press on.

Jesus carried two attitudes which enhanced his ministry. Love for everyone and understanding everyone is  different. Growing in these two attitudes really help us talk to people about Jesus. Love for everyone comes from us all being made in God’s image. Understanding we’re all different helps us think about how to communicate well with others. Perhaps the group can consider what the true nature of love looks like when communicating with people. Is love always nice etc? What does love look like in conversation? Can the group consider ways to help understand others more? Listening/ taking time.

Only God is able to give us a new heart. When we receive that new heart we grow a new appetite for the things of God and also a new perspective on life. Trying to grow in likeness of Christ is impossible without his help. We are saved by Christ and we become more and more like him, by help with his spirit.

God’s salvation is a wonderful gift. He is the planner, initiator and provider. He sent his Son to earn salvation for us. It starts in God choosing of us (election) and is not dependant on anything good being found in us. God chose us because he loves us, as it says in Ephesians 1. The bible is also clear that each person has to make a their own choice to follow God. We’re not preprogrammed robots, but human beings with the ability and responsibility to make real decisions. Lastly, this also leads us into mission, to sharing our faith with those that don’t know Jesus. God has chosen to save many living in 1066 country – we’ve just got to find them. Not everyone will respond positively, but some will. So as step out; talking about what Jesus has done, with kind actions, praying for the sick etc we can be confident in God’s blessing.

We are called to be generous reflecting the generosity of God’s grace to us. Generosity results in glory to God and an overflow of praise to Him.

Following on from last week, we continue to go deeper into the meaning of marriage.

What is marriage? Marriage is a covenant commitment (a set of promises) between one man and one women. In marriage they promise to actively love each other until separated by death. This love is primarily an action, which then fosters feeling. Husbands express this love through servant-hearted leadership. Wives express it through joyful submission to the husband’s leadership. Why is marriage that? Because marriage is a picture of the relationship between Christ and the church. It exists to help us see something of what God is like, how he feels about us, and our future with him.

When we know how amazing Jesus is, we want to share Him with others. But some of us find this hard. Natalie Williams, Steve Barnes and Dan Glover share how they talk to people about Jesus.

Paul speaks on how important it is for Christians to pray first in all circumstances, and what a privilege it is to have access to God!