Church in the Peak Podcast

7th March 2010 - Neal Garratt - The Prodigal Son and Peter Walking On Water

[Unfortunately, Neal’s preach this morning did not record. ]

Neal looked at two passages today: Luke 15 vs 11-32 – The Prodigal Son, and Matthew 14 vs 25-32 -Peter walking on water

These two passages were looked at against a background of God speaking to us very clearly at CITP both as a Church and individually – calling us to be ready, to prepare ourselves and to follow God hard wherever he takes us – this takes faith and trust in God. Firstly we looked at the story of the prodigal son with particular reference to the reactions of both brothers in understanding their fathers heart towards them both.

We looked at how we have to be careful with our own reactions and how we respond to father God. We need to understand the father heart of God and that he loves us unconditionally and that we can return to God at any point if we have been far away from him.

We talked of the difference between our POSITION in Christ and our PERFORMANCE and how our position is not changed by our performance. We are sons and daughters no matter how we fail or even if we go off and do our own thing.

Understanding the heart of God is vital if we are to follow God and step out of the boat as this is an act of FAITH – To do this we have to totally rely on God – we cannot walk on water in our own strength!

We looked at the fact it is easier to sit in the boat than get out, its comfortable and safe and has no risk! However Jesus is not in the boat – so if we want to be with him we have to get out of the boat! It takes FAITH to get out of the boat and trust in God.

What keep us in the boat? FEAR – Fear of failure, fear of risk, fear of change, fear of getting out of our comfort zone and yet we also noted that perfect love cast out fear – and this is what the father has shown us in our lives ever since we became Christians.

God is calling us to expand our borders – to take risks and to have faith and trust him – in small things and big things – the principal is the same!

Jabez prayer is

” Oh that you would bless me indeed, and enlarge my border, and that thy hand might be with me and that you would keep me from harm, that it may not pain me”

This prayer needs to be on our lips every day as God calls us on with him – lets go!

Be brave, have faith, trust in God and lets see where he takes us! Remember Peter walked on water with Jesus – how amazing must that have been!!

Questions:

1. In the story of the prodigal son how do the reactions of the older son and the prodigal son compare – what do they show us of their understanding of their fathers heart.

2. In vs 24 we see what the fathers heart was towards his son – ring any bells?- What do we need to learn about God`s heart for us?

3. We spoke of the difference between our POSITION and PERFORMANCE – Discuss those issues and do we fully understand them and believe them?

4. The father did not condemn the son – and yet we condemn ourselves so often – the enemy also seeks to whisper in our ear and condemn us – what should our reaction to this be?

5. Are you a staying in the boat person or a get out and walk on the water person – how does that sit with the fact that we are new a new creation in Christ?

6. What makes us stay in the boat? Fear? If so fear of what? Is it like being on the rollercoaster at Alton Towers?

7. What do you think we are missing out by staying in the boat?

8. What is God calling you to step out into? What is your response and how do you feel about taking RISK Having FAITH and TRUSTING God?

9. The prayer of Jabez is the prayer of a man who wants to walk with Jesus – Why not pray it everyday and see what God can do?

“Oh that you would bless me indeed, and enlarge my border, and that thy hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from harm, that it may not pain me”

28th February 2010 - Dave Harper - Preaching into the "Breaking Camp" vision

Dave preached into David Palmer’s vision about Breaking Camp (See 17th Feb 2010 – link below). Dave started looking at 1 Thessalonians 5:19-21 and explained that we must not quench the Spirit.

Prophecy:
1. Will be consistent with Scripture;
2. Must ring true;
3. Must be weighed;
4. Is a character issue: good fruit comes from good trees; a bad tree cannot produce good fruit – We need to assess the tree as well as the fruit.

We need to have an active faith for the things that God is promising at this time. From the vision that David P had, it is clear that stragglers are in danger of being left behind.

David P’s vision talks about cans being “single use only” and bags that are only for “use while good”. Some things that have served us well in the past, will not be appropriate in the coming harvest.

The Prodigal Son lost his way but came back to his senses and journeyed back to his father. We can too but we need to acknowledge that we’ve done wrong.

“The past can teach us but must not bind us. The gaze must be ever forward for what God will do.”

We have been getting ready for God to act suddenly. We need to pick up what we’ve put down; move to the place God wants us; sort out marriages; sort out un-resolved hurts and baggage; finish work on houses etc; and be available to serve God in whatever way He asks us.

Listen now! (0:50min / 13MB)

21st February 2010 - No meeting today

Today’s meeting had to be cancelled due to the sudden snowfall.

Don’t forget the Church Family Meeting on Tuesday 23rd February 2010 at 7:30pm at the Riverside, Matlock.

17th February 2010 - Ian Clague & David Palmer - Travelling With God & Breaking Camp

During the prayer time following Dave Holden’s preach on revival (see previous Podcast item):

1] Ian shared a vision that he had about the need to pack in the same way as a marathon runner, knowing that the organisers would provide for their every need, not as a person undertaking a trek, where they have to carry everything.

2] Last week, David woke up early one morning with a vision from God relating to travelling with Him and how we need to break camp, leaving behind old things, even if they have been good/ useful previously.

To read the text of the vision that David had, please click on the link below.

Listen now! (0:07min / 2MB)

17th February 2010 - Dave Holden - Revival!

Dave Holden was due to speak on Spirit lead meetings but, following the prompting of the Spirit, he felt called to speak on revival instead!

Dave noted that while revival was not a biblical word, the theme of revival can be seen throughout the bible. Dave explained that revival was not when meetings were more lively than normal and not simply when Christians became awakened.

Based on biblical and historic accounts, revivals have three key characteristics:

1. An overwhelming experience of the presence of God – God’s presence is tangible, you can feel it. Others in the community, not just the Christians, can feel it too.

2. A conviction of sin – both (i) within the Christian community – who feel compelled to get things right with God and (ii) amongst unbelievers who are swept into the Kingdom of God. It is quite possible for huge sections of communities and nations to become Christians.

3. A massive impact on the social climate of the country. This is more than just new laws but whole strata of society being effected.

Our country needs a revival! God is the only answer to the problems this country faces. Alpha is a great way of reaching out and telling people about Jesus and has had a massive impact but that is nothing compared to what will happen during a revival.

Positive points about revival:

1. It’s already happening in almost all other parts of the world, apart from Europe.

2. The UK has already had a number of revivals, whereas some nations in Europe have not had any. We have “revival seeds” all around us.

Problems with past revivals:

1. People have wanted to keep hold of past things and not look to the future. The Spirit is creative and won’t necessarily do the same things in the same way as He did them before. We mustn’t be caught looking the wrong way for revival and find that it’s happened somewhere else in a different way to the way we were expecting.

2. The church has often had a lack of vision and hasn’t been ready or prepared to deal with the new Christians. God has been getting us ready over the past few decades.

Isaiah 66:7-9 speaks of God not dangling the carrot of revival and then pulling it away at the last minute. That’s not the way He does things.

Isaiah 60:22 speaks of God transforming the least of us into thousands and doing it swiftly.

Isaiah 48:3 speaks of God acting on what he has foretold and acting suddenly.

Whether we are ready for revival or not, it will be sudden. God can and does act suddenly. Biblical accounts and revival history demonstrate this. The word “suddenly” appears in Acts more than any other book of the bible. We are still living in the same age of the Spirit, so we should still expect the “suddenly”’s.

Obviously, we can’t make a “suddenly” from God happen ourselves. However, we can work to remove any hindrances such as passivity, prayerlessness and disobedience.
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For information and resouces on past revivals, please see the link below to the Revival Library website.

Listen now! (0:50min / 17MB)

14th February 2010 - Andy Sewell - The Role Of Serving In The Church

Andy talks about the role of serving in the church.

John 13:15 – Jesus came to serve as an example for us, so we should serve too. But we should be serving for the right reasons. We are not saved by serving, but saved to serve.

By serving, we impact our community. We all have a serving role to play in the life of the church, whatever our age, race, position within the church etc. If we feel that we are not able to serve for any reason, that’s the devil talking to us. God sees us as perfect in Jesus and he loves us.

Listen now! (0:30min / 10MB)

13th February 2010 - Dave Holden - Worship and the Presence of God (Keynote speech from the "School Of Worship" Conference)

This is Dave Holden’s keynote speech from the 2010 “School Of Worship”. Dave spoke on “Worship and the Presence of God.” This talk doesn’t just encourage and motivate it also imparts a fresh heart for worship.
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The “School of Worship” Conference took place on Saturday 13th February with David Holden as the keynote speaker. It was open to worship leaders and musicians, and also any leaders (including small group leaders). David also ran a leaders track through the day with the theme ‘Preparing for the presence of God’.

There were also tracks too for worship leaders and musicians run by the same guys as the last school, such as Andy Smith of Worship Central.

The school took place at Hyde Town Hall, Manchester and was hosted by Christ Church Manchester.
http://www.ccm.org.uk/ccm/

Listen now! (0:54min / 17MB)

7th February 2010 - Tim Davies - Let Us Love One Another

1 John 4:7-12
‘Dear friends let’s love one another’

Here is a very simple passage to understand but profound in it’s theological basis and implications. The story is told that John would preach only this message (let’s love one another) as an old man. Having been with Jesus (see 1 John 1:1) John realised that this was the greatest commandment Jesus had given.

John encourages us to love one another by giving us a profound theological truth (God is love v8), a deeply moving example (God sent his only son v 8) and a motivating outcome (the world sees something of God as we love one another v 12).

“Most people are bothered by those passages in the Bible that they do not understand, but the passages that bother me are the ones I do understand.” Mark Twain

Questions …

1 ‘God is Love’ – this is a very profound statement though it looks very simple! How is it different to saying ‘God is loving’ or ‘God is loveable’?

2 Does the fact that God is community (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) – always dwelling in perfect unity in himself – affect how we see the statement ‘God is Love’?

3 Why should the example of God’s love for us in giving Jesus motivate us to love one another? Does it? How can we make sure it does?

4 How does our loving one another help the world see God?

5 Are there ways that we as a group could love and support one another more? Is there anyone not here because of difficulties that we could help in some way or let them know of our love?

6 How do we stop our love becoming just words and not being in truth and action as John insists (1 John 3 v 18)?

Listen now! (0:38min / 10MB)

31st January 2010 - Dave Harper - The Father's Heart

The audio starts with a prophetic word from Julia about God’s desire to pour out his Spirit on us all for the benefit of the church as a whole and its works.

Dave continues our study of Ephesians looking at chapter 4:31-5:2, with the focus being was the father heart of God, in response to the prophetic picture of Julia’s in which we sought to cap God’s fountain with our own hands! This spoke of a fear of things getting out of control and indicated we do not fully know the Father heart of God.

Jesus reveals the Father. All that Jesus did was a revelation of the father’s heart since he only did what he saw the Father doing (John 5:19). Healing is an outpouring of his love and compassion. It is not to display his power but his love. God is love and when he acts in power it reveals his love,. And when we see his love it inspires faith. Jesus could say if you have seen me you have seen the Father.

The story of the prodigal son in Luke 15 graphically illustrates how we can be children of the Father but still not really know him. The younger son spent his inheritance looking for love and acceptance in the wrong places and as soon as he repented, God was moved by compassion and love and received him back. He seems to have a capacity to receive grace and love from the Father and joined in the celebrations. The older brother is almost more worrying because he was always with his father and was dutifully obedient but did not know Him. He was a classic religious man with outward conformity but lacked power inwardly. To know the Father’s love is by revelation not familiarity and he seems to have been ruled by fear not faith, never asking God the Father for anything and not enjoying His love and grace. I looked at how rejection breeds fear and that can be expressed in a very controlled way as in the older brother or an excessive life style that crosses boundaries in the pursuit of gratification and acceptance. Perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18) and fear has to do with punishment. To be receivers of the Father’s love requires repentance from these positions and beliefs and we can ask for a fresh revelation of the Father’s love – he only gives good gifts to those who ask. Pursue the Father’s love

Questions

What revelation do you think the younger son had of the Father in the story of the prodigal son? (Luke 15).

And what was the older brother’s revelation of the Father?

What did they have to repent of to come into a fuller revelation of the Father’s love?

Where would you place yourself in the story?

Listen now! (0:45min / 12MB)

31st January 2010 - Julia Garratt - Prophetic Word - God's Desire To Pour Out His Spirit On Us

Julia Garratt deliveres a prophetic word about God’s desire to pour out his Spirit on us (like a huge fountain) all for the benefit of the church as a whole and its works.

Listen now! (0:04min / 1.5MB)