Prayer Meeting 13th December

1 John 3 1-3

1How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears,^[a]we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.

Last week we learned how much God loved us by the cross. This week, still in 1 John, we learned how much God loves us because we have been made His children. It's a wonderful privalige to be a child of God.

We were once rebellious and not wanting to know Him at all, but He has come to us and set us free, and by His grace made us His children. The gospel of John says in John 1v12 "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—" We have been adopted into His family.

Christmas Celebration

We had a good time on Friday at the Christmas celebration. We had some readings and some carols; 34 came along.

Mayor Ann Jackson took the first reading after the Reverend Alan Wynn- Rector of All Saints -started proceedings.

Steve gave a talk. Here is the transcript of it.

What is Christmas all about? Look over on the back of your sheet. Is it about a jolly fat man that comes once a year? Who has difficulty getting into a house, either by chimney, or whatever means, because he has had too many mince pies.

It’s all very well but the trouble with this man is he doesn’t stick around. We see him, (or maybe we don’t), once a year when he has left something under the tree. But after that special morning he disappears, not to be seen again for a whole eleven months until some impostors show up in department stores to encourage you to spend your hard earned money on things, you secretly admit, you don’t really need.

Not so the one we are celebrating today. He was promised from a long time ago. Mayor Ann Jackson read one of those promises; a promise of something big, something significant.

He chose not a major city, nor a big media event, but a backwater town, where it’s only claim to fame was it had the promise of God on it, or had a young shepherd boy called David live there.

This child, this Son, was going to stick around. He was going to be Immanuel, God with us. That is a promise too, from Isaiah 7, which the gospel writer Matthew quoted.

“The increase of His government and peace will know no end” we heard in the first reading. This speaks of continuation and permanence. Jesus was going to bring something about that was going to grow and stay.

How would this happen? Could a baby really do this?

Well, we know the rest of the story, don’t we? This baby grew up! And, after He was baptized, went around doing good and preaching the Good News of the kingdom; the Bible says.

He said seemingly audacious things like “God is my Father”, and “I and the Father are one”. Or things like “I will never leave you or forsake you.” Jesus wanted us to know He was going to stick around and had the authority and ability to do so; even death did not stop Him from keeping His promise because He was raised from the dead.

Some accepted; some did not. Those that did accept Him and his message where changed; changed from being fishermen, to being fishers of men. From being a penny pinching, thieving, tax collector, in the pocket of the Roman authority; to a writer of a book in the Bible. There are some here who can say that they have been changed too. They changed when Jesus met them at their darkest hour. And that’s the key: change.

Change comes from believing; from accepting who He is and what He had to say. That His Father could be your Father.

Christ kingdom grows by changing me, by changing you. Changing us on the inside, as Jesus said, like yeast in a lump of dough.

So as the last verse of that carol says:

"O holy Child of Bethlehem!
Descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin and enter in,
Be born in us to-day.
We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us,
Our Lord Emmanuel!"

Ask Jesus for change and know His presence with you.

Prayer Meeting 6th December- Do we know how much God loves us?

Angela read from 1 John 4v10 "In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation (atoning sacrifice) for our sins."

Steve asked the question if we realised how much God loved us.

God shows He loves us by The Cross of Christ (Romans 5 v8 "but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.") We are powerless, we were sinful; yet God has loved us and sent Jesus to pay the price. That shows amazing love!

God does not stop loving us. He is not disappointed with us. We are His children and can never turn His back on us.

This should lift our heads so we can walk with Him in confidence.

We prayed for different situations.

• We thanked God for His amazing love.
• We prayed for Steve who is talking at the Carol celebration.
• We prayed for Lena who's family is not well at the moment
• We prayed "Tony" Pauline's friend.
• We prayed for Gloria who had been doing accountancy exams and Eden doing "Mocks" in January.
• Jessica gave testimony for her daughter who had gained a job after we prayed for her.
• We prayed for local churches that God would us them to be a witness for Him.
• Ola got us praying for the council after he heard the vicar of All Saints saying how the council used to be regularly involved at All Saints.