Trent Vineyard, Live Stream - Sunday 17 October

[Music] [Music] well good morning good morning folks do come across bring your refreshments over to the seats and your conversations and welcome folks of you online lovely to have you with us this morning and if you're here visiting um maybe you're back for the first time i've no i've talked to a couple of people about for the first time in the building and we're just so excited to be together this morning well we have a wonderful morning um i'm debbie by the way leave the church with my husband john he'll be preaching this morning and it's going to be wonderful before we worship just want to remind you know yesterday was a beautiful day but even though it's raining i still look out over creation i just think wow lord wow and you know psalm 19 tells us that though creation doesn't seem to have a voice doesn't have a sound nevertheless it it speaks of god's ways and let me just read this little bit to you this is what it says the law of the lord is perfect refreshing to the soul the statues of the lord are trustworthy making wise the simple the precepts of the lord are right giving joy to the heart the commands of the lord are radiant giving light to the eyes the fear of the lord is pure enduring forever you know it is amazing our god not only created us not only does all creation almost like crying out without a voice but saying god is creator god's ways are perfect and they're right for us and as we follow in his ways as we seek to follow in in his ways that we see in the scriptures and the way jesus lived it you know we are we are wise when we do that and we are blessed and our eyes are bright when we look to the lord it's amazing well we're going to worship so let's stand together and let's sing songs and just want to encourage you as we sing let's put our masks on just to protect one another if you're able to put a muscle lord we're here because we glorify you our voices lord just speak of our praise and adoration and we thank you lord because you have given us a way to live you've given us a way to follow in your precepts your commands and we thank you for your word and with all of creation lord we just cry out you are good you are awesome amen [Music] [Applause] [Music] we are your church we are your sons and daughters we've gathered here to meet with you [Applause] [Music] [Applause] here for you [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] with our hands to [Music] to be [Music] fill this room [Music] [Applause] [Music] come [Music] come [Music] play [Music] [Applause] [Music] i'm when you [Music] [Music] [Music] me i'm [Music] i'm [Music] [Applause] is [Music] have [Music] burning flame [Music] [Music] there was a moment when the lights went [Music] his life [Music] for every curse [Music] we is for the earth [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] it was [Music] the king is life is [Music] forever [Music] the lord of heaven [Music] [Music] [Applause] the lord [Music] my [Music] me is [Music] [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] oh hell king jesus let's just sing that line oh hell king jesus oh hell king jesus jesus [Music] [Music] we give you the glory this morning jesus there is no one that compares to you jesus you are the name above all names you are the king of all kings this morning we lift our voice and we honor you king we say worthy is the king worthy is the king worthy is the king word is the king what is the jesus love cake you are worthy of our friends you're worthy of our watching jesus [Music] you're worthy we give you the highest praise [Music] we worship you i have been restored to the love of thought it was the end but it's just [Music] by the grace of god [Music] is [Music] [Music] my heart [Music] is [Music] i've been restored [Music] i thought it was the end but it's just [Music] [Music] for what i know [Music] let's sing this out you my jesus [Applause] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] jesus [Music] [Music] is [Music] yes [Music] [Applause] [Music] i [Music] i love you i love you [Music] [Applause] i love you i love [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] my strengths [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] you're the lover of my soul you're the lover of my [Music] you're the lover of my [Music] jesus [Music] i love you i love you [Applause] [Music] love her [Music] yeah jesus we thank you for laying your life down so that we could be in relationship with you thank you that you are our hope our purpose our future and this morning we just say that we love you thank you jesus for loving us and in return we pour our love back onto you for you are worthy jesus there's no one more deserving than you so have your way throughout this morning in jesus name amen well hello what an absolute joy it is to be here and worship to lift the name of jesus high together just amazing hate you guys online see you in the comments good to see you well my name's susie and this is ben and we're two of the pastors here we've got some super interesting announcements which you think will be really helpful for you yeah and as we share a bunch of things this morning there'll be links but don't worry about remembering them you can find them all out at trentv.org forward slash links yeah it's already been said today but if you're here you're new we're tuning in online you're visiting and you're wondering how can i get involved first you're so welcome but there's three things we'd love to recommend to you the first one is to find a small group second one to find a team to serve on and the third one is we would love to invite you to dinner to come along to a newcomers dinner next one is coming up saturday the 30th of october a couple of weeks that's right and if you're here in the room if you want to find out about any of that stuff or get involved just head over to the connect area there's a team through there who would love to meet you and say hi and give you some information you can take away or just head to the online link if you want to see that online yeah now some of you today will just be here and you're perhaps actually exploring faith like you've someone's invited you you've got questions about jesus and we've got some resources which we think will be really helpful for you you can grab them on the exits on the way out or on the link that's going to come up one of them this red one's called why jesus the second one is called changing lives yeah and another brilliant way to explore faith is to go to the alpha course now our alpha course started on tuesday with a hog roast it was amazing and it's not too late too late to sign up for that if you've got questions of faith and would like to go on that journey over a number of weeks just head to the alpha link and sign up there now and step forward right is one of our trained compassion ministries which is sort of meets out of the building just behind us our compassion center and they've got some exciting news to share with us so there's a video that's coming from them so listen up [Music] step forward housing is part of the trent compassion ministries and is working in partnership with hope into action a christian housing association who provides housing for homeless people and works with them to provide permanent homes my name's kathy and i'm a support worker with hope into action people find themselves without a home for a whole variety of reasons but they all need somewhere safe and secure where they can rebuild their lives until they're ready to move on to more permanent accommodation i first met alicia about two years ago and here's some of her story when i first arrived at swan house it was a lot nicer than i expected um we also got a nice humper when i went up to my bedroom there was like a card saying welcome in from all the people at the church and there was all the things that you would need toothpaste toothbrush everything like that and then there was loads of things that you wouldn't need it was just nice to have chocolates and bear in mind i was still pregnant at the time so there was things like teething rings and just things i wasn't expecting to find it was just really kind i just felt comfortable it did feel like my own home i was given a support worker through the process and she was lovely um she helps me with all sorts of things paperwork money troubles general emotional support if i have had a problem she was the first person i could call um we met other people through the church we've been to play groups and things about other mums parents and then we met people from the church we'd go to the park and they just would socialize and just make you felt really comfortable now i've got a little house with my daughter it's got a really big garden so i'm doing my own veg and we're getting on with it well we're really enjoying it and we're doing really well now and i don't think i'd be where i was now if it wasn't for the whole the process through the church but mainly the support worker was she was brilliant we have three houses for which we're providing friendship and support groups one is for young mums and babies one for a family and one for guys leaving the carpenter's arms we're also about to embark on a fourth house to support ex-business i've been doing this for two years now and i've thoroughly enjoyed meeting and becoming friends with all the people we're supporting as well as getting to know more people in our family here at trent i've been so blessed by being involved i've seen god's provision in action time after time when i thought that we wouldn't have enough volunteers to support the latest house god not only raised people up for this but brought the right people with all the right skills and credibility to support the tenants i feel like i belong for years i wondered what god's plan was for me when i retired from social work i wasn't sure what i would be doing but here i am and i'm loving it there's so much need out there and we can and do make a difference people can get involved in mentoring befriending and providing family and community for people living in the houses if you would like to be involved with step forward housing in any way we would love to talk to you [Music] wow such amazing work that those guys are doing and if you want to find out more about stepford housing if you're here in the room head over to the connect area there's a couple of guys there that would love to chat to you or of course online you can head to the link yeah now we've got a couple of fun things we want to tell you about that coming up over the next couple of weeks firstly tranq kids are hosting a shine party which is going to be on friday something the 29th yeah friday 29th of october that's for school years one to six it's a great one for your children to invite friends along to it's going to be inflatables crafts loads of fun and white bird our coffee shop will be open as well for any parents and carers so tickets are limited do get those books on that link as soon as you can yeah and also a super fun event our firework extravaganza on earth that's my best impression right away so it's friday for the 5th of november in the car park think inflatables rodeo balls assault courses hot dogs i might be overselling this but it's going to be amazing popcorn fire pits game stores fun for the family and of course amazing fireworks and i think tickets are limited for that one and you can book on using the link it is going to be absolutely stupendous you are not you're not over selling it it's going to be fantastic well and the last thing to say is there's a what's on page on our website and lots of things going on babe babel bible basics course is coming up there is a yeah anyway um shape course coming up and um and anything else is going to be on there as well now the final thing we'd love to mention is giving of course all of our giving happens online at the moment and if you'd like to find out a little bit more about how to give or more importantly why we give then just head to the giving link but as our minds turn to generosity let's just spend a moment praying together about that yeah father we thank you so much for all the ways that you've blessed us and we just pray for all the the financial gifts that come into this church today through the week and we pray god that you give us wisdom to use them really wisely so that your name would be lifted high here in nottingham and to the ends of the earth amen amen we're going to take a little cheeky break now and on the screen there's going to be some things if you want to get involved there's some links on there for that or is a great opportunity to chat to someone you've never met before and john will be speaking in just a few moments [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] great if i could invite you just to come back together in the oh good morning marcus nice to see you guys and great to see you online as well today we're continuing our series entitled every nation every tribe every people looking at god's vision for diversity the serious titles based on words from revelation chapter 7 which describe the apostle john's vision last week said the apostle paul did you notice that accidentally his vision of heaven where there's a great multitude from every nation every tribe people and language and it's a beautiful picture of unity and colorful diversity and yet we're very aware aren't we that this unity in diversity is not the world we live in as we know statistics never paint the full story but here are a few that give a sense of our current context in the uk a black person is four times more likely to be detained under the mental health act than a white person a black person is nine times more likely to be stopped and searched than a white person asian and mixed heritage people are stopped and searched more than twice as frequently as white people 17 of asian and 15 of black households are on what is known as persistent low incomes compared to just nine percent of white households around a third of both the pakistani and bangladeshi populations live in the most deprived neighborhoods in england black people make up 14 of the population in the united kingdom but just eight percent of the workforce and 28 of the homeless population these are not just numbers behind these statistics like individuals and families who are disadvantaged their race being a key factor some of you here today may well be able to relate to these examples i don't know how you feel when you hear them but this grieves me and it leaves me asking the question why is the world this way and what can we do about it and these are questions that i want to explore today so last week i said that all of us whether we are black white brown if we're part of god's church we are part of the solution to help us think about what we might how we might do that i just want to spend some time framing where we are now 2021 within the big storyline depicted in the bible i'm going to use some language that my friend pete hughes uses to describe the the narrative really of the whole bible it begins with creation decreation and recreation so in this timeline god creates something beautiful something perfect think adam and eve in the garden of eden and then it becomes broken it becomes distorted or decreated by human sin and rebellion and indeed satan's influence and but god intervenes in the person of jesus he doesn't simply rewind back to the beginning he works with the broken pieces and he reconciles he heals he restores and makes a re-creation like the picture we just see in revelation 7 where god's people of every nation tribe people and language will dwell in unity with him forever so where might we put 2021 on this diagram well i'll show you in a minute but in my own journey of growing in awareness of uh racial injustice i find myself repeatedly hearing a common reflection that there are days when it feels like things are improving we're on the way up but then there are days when it feels like despite all the media attention and the gestures and the inquiries and the committees and the reports and policies real progress remains out of reach and these reflections might be characterized in an expression that dan used in the conversation we showed on a sunday in june last year the feeling is underlying frustration with tentative hope we exist at a particular point in the story where although we have yet to see the promise of diversity and unity described in revelation 7 we live after the turning point in history that red point indicating 2021 is somewhere on the right hand side of the diagram we don't know how far right it is because we don't know the timing of the lord's return the kingdom of god is broken in through the ministry of jesus and god is at work in the midst of racial and ethnic division bringing about recreation with its reconciliation and restoration and he is inviting his church to partner with him in that i share this because in order for us as a church to pursue god's vision for diversity it's helpful for us to understand where we fit in at this point in history from there we can look back along this timeline and understand why things are the way they are but also look forward to see what we are called to and longing for last week i began to talk about some of the historical context of racial injustice and inequality which helps us understand the origins of some of the issues that we experience today but they don't explain why racial tension and prejudice are persistent global and historical issues what caused the downward slide from creation to decreation at the start of the bible in genesis we see a number of pictures of the unity of humanity genesis 1 verse 27 it says this that god created human beings in his own image in the image of god he created them move on to chapter 10 in genesis and we find that what is described as the table of nations it's essentially a list of all the descendants of noah his family intended to be a portrayal of the entire then known world in that chapter there are 70 names the number used to represent complete totality emphasizing that every tribe and nation with their own cultures their own lands their own languages and in many cases their own idols and gods were actually part of one humanity created by god the point kate coleman puts it this way the bible only speaks of one humanity it starts not with our difference but with our oneness as being made in the image of god and then the following chapter in genesis 11 starts by describing a united and undivided people so this is verse 1 of chapter 11. now the whole world had one language and a common speech however the story that follows the story of the tower of babel depicts the humanity this humanity becoming fractured with ethnic division the people decide to build a tower that reaches to the heavens and this displeased is god he's displeased by this and he intervenes in verse seven it says come let us go down and confuse their language so that they will not understand each other so the lord scattered them from there over all the earth and they stopped building this city why did god disapprove of this project well the answer lies in the motives of the people so here in verse four come let us build ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens so that we may make a name for ourselves here we catch a glimpse of the mindset that's prevalent in our culture today make a name for yourself find define and build your identity and then express it to the world it sounds progressive but in order to make a name for themselves in order to to define and establish their identity they were effectively discarding the identity that god had first given them and it continues there so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth they were attempting to in this language reach the heavens and become invulnerable to become invincible like god but independent from god but it backfires and rather than uniting humanity the people become divided and scattered and there's a breakdown of relational unity as they can no longer understand one another to us this is an unusual story but as with other genesis stories it's an example of an ancient genre of writing and with a bit of effort to contextualize it we can begin to see the meaning that and the truth that god has woven into it it's an ancient story about a timeless heart condition individualism pride and self-preservation if the adam and eve story shows us the disastrous consequences when these things fill the heart of a couple of humans then here we begin to see the havoc it can wreak when it exists throughout a whole people group this is part of this downward start spiral from creation to decreation whenever people in history have bought into this idea that they as a people group tribe race or nation are somehow superior to others they've actually bought into an evil lie often with terrible consequences it led to the genocide of millions of jews by the nazis in the holocaust it led to slave traders dehumanizing african people in the transatlantic slave trade the horrific selling and raping and branding and lynching of people because they were black it led to a prideful and abusive sense of superiority that characterized colonial britain a book celebrating the prosperity of the british empire published in 1901 presented an image of a schoolhouse for aboriginal children in australia you probably can't make it out but the caption there is the lowest step on the ladder of knowledge it describes the aboriginal people as of low intellectual capacity before asserting but the british school master has come to rescue with his abc the key which unlocks the treasury of knowledge now today we balk at that rather patronizing that superior language we live in a world where modern science has helped to reinforce the biblical truth that there is no hierarchy between people of different races but it is still evident that some races are advantaged over others for instance a friend of mine who leads a church in london with many members of many races actually but many of african heritage described to me how people in this church have reported that if they have an obviously african name and they're seeking to find work that their friends say good luck good luck getting a job with that good luck getting a job sadly over the last several decades uk studies conducted around employment and university applications have repeatedly revealed ethnic bias in the processing of these applications although we're no longer seeing the atrocities associated with the transatlantic slave trade we still see the evil of racism in subtle and less subtle ways it's there when a person is taken less seriously at work because they have an accent it's there when a black senior nurse is assumed to be the cleaner it's there on a building site when the eastern european plumber is blamed for the delay it was there when three black football players having helped england reach their first major final in decades missed penalties and received a tirade of racial abuse i spoke to some black friends that week who said as soon as the penalties didn't go in we knew there would be a backlash of racial abuse stories like these are saddening and they remind us that it's no good saying racism isn't really a thing anymore we are not yet at the end of the timeline we have a long way to go it can be hard to see how we can really bring any meaningful change part of the challenge is that the world is trying to solve the problem solely hue through human solutions through political strategy racial integration schemes inclusion policies campaigns and laws but many of these things you know they're good they're helpful but history testifies to the reality that human division cannot be fully resolved peace and unity will not be fully realized apart from god the change that's needed is a change of heart and this ultimately cannot be achieved by laws or policies the bible story gives us the one and only solution to the relational breakdown between us and god and between us and one another caused by human sin caused by rebellion and that solution is found in the person of jesus christ when all hope was lost at the pit of the decreation curve the only one capable of bringing about re-creation jesus intervened in ephesians 2 verse 13 why is the verse not where it was earlier today i know why because i've just pulled the wrong ribbon this is acts 2 so i'll go to the other one which will take me to ephesians 2. okay but now in christ jesus you who are once far away have been brought near by the blood of christ for he himself is our peace who has made the 2-1 and has destroyed the barrier the dividing wall of hostil of hostility his purpose was to create in himself one humanity out of the two thus making peace the two referred to here as i mentioned last week are the two significant ethnic categories of jews and non-jews gentiles who had been divided but were now united in christ within the church the life of jesus and his victory on the cross represents the turning point in history when the ancient cyclical pattern of interracial tension and injustice was broken when the walls that separate not just us from him but also us from each other were broken down by the most powerful thing in the universe the blood of christ in a world of interracial strife and tension it says of jesus he himself is our peace i heard katya adams recently talking about this passage in ephesians she said in the same way the cross paid the penalty for sin it paved the way for beautiful unity and diversity i think in the church there's an error in our thinking that we need to come up with a theological solution to the problem of racial division that hasn't been seen before it has been seen before it's been seen on the cross with the death of jesus the power of division was broken with the resurrection of jesus recreation begins and we see it start to spread throughout the whole world on the day of pentecost when the holy spirit came on jesus's disciples so now let's go to acts chapter 2 and verse 4 all of them were filled with the holy spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the spirit enabled them now they were staying in jerusalem god fearing jews from every nation under heaven when they heard this sound a crowd came together in bewilderment because each one heard their own language being spoken amazed and perplexed they asked one another what does this mean here we see the work the beginning of the work of recreation there's uh a wonderful and many bible scholars believe intentional symmetry between the story of babel when human pride and self-centeredness brought about division and then the day of pentecost when god intervened to unite every tribe and nation together after babel people were separated by their ethnic and linguistic differences after pentecost people were united despite their ethnic and linguistic differences unity in diversity there on day one of church history at the start of the day of pentecost we have a small group of jewish jesus followers by the end of that day there are over 3 000 believers and crucially they were visiting and then they returned to all the then known parts of the world it was an explosion into every nation every tribe every people and every language god has a plan to heal the fractures and divisions between peoples around the world and what is he going to use to accomplish this great work of recreation that's right us the church in acts 13 we see a description of one of the first churches in antioch in turkey the leadership team was made up of greek and hebrew jews gentiles from cyprus and turkey and north and sub-saharan africa josh k will mention more about the diversity of the new testament church in two weeks time this was revolutionary revolutionary if you want evidence that the new testament church changed the world if you want proof that this was god then we're it you know here we are two thousand years later on the other side of the world inviting the same holy spirit to come and fill us in a language that didn't even exist back then we're the product of an initially tiny jewish sect that went global and turned the world upside down crossing seas boundaries and cultures uniting the world around the person of jesus christ the one who paid the ultimate price on the cross to tear down any walls between us and now it's arter in his parting words to his disciples in the preceding chapter there we see this in acts chapter 1 verse 8 you will receive power when the holy spirit comes upon you and you'll be my witnesses in jerusalem and in all judea and samaria and to the ends of the earth this wasn't just an instruction to take the gospel to the known world and i hadn't realized this until the last week or so it was an instruction to cross racial and cultural boundaries as part of this endeavor so interestingly jesus specifically mentions samaria the jews hated the samaritans they didn't mix with them they didn't even talk with them samaria was between jerusalem and then the sea of galilee and nazareth and so on up the top but most jews would actually cross the jordan go right the way around the longer route so that they wouldn't have to even touch the land of samaria and certainly have any contact whatsoever with samaritans they were divided from each other the jews and the samaritans in every way you may recall the shocking story recorded in john chapter four jesus had personally crossed the divide dividing bri uh across the divide breaking racial ethnic religious and social barriers to speak to the woman the samaritan woman at the well and now he's instructing his disciples to do likewise jesus says you will be my witnesses sharing the gospel with people you are absolutely currently divided from in samaria in his book crossing the divide owen hilton writes this if jesus can command his first disciples to take the gospel across hostile divides he can command us to reach across the divide where there are harmful divisions we're to build bridges we the church are called to be a place where the world sees unity and diversity lived out in a way that is inspiring attractive and transformational pete hughes often asks the question what story are you choosing to live in because the story you live in is the story you live out every nation every tribe every people is the story we're part of and it's the vision that we are called to live out but as you know it's not finished yet there's a work to be done in in this church in the city and of course way beyond so how do we do this well it's important to stress it's not a quick journey we are here we don't live in the full reality of the future promise and yet we live at a point in the story where through the person of jesus something has changed the work of recreation has begun but it's yet to arrive in its fullness to put this in the language from our kingdom of god series we did in the summer we live in the now and the not yet of the kingdom we live in a world where we experience sin in all its forms including racial and ethnic prejudice and injustice both in the world around us and even in our own lives and it will therefore be a costly journey jesus made a sacrifice to cross the divide and we also need to embrace the cost that may be necessary for us to do the same this journey may involve dealing with some of the heart problems that cause division such as individualism pride and preservation acknowledging that our hearts need to change and may be resistant to that it may require us to search ourselves for why we're resistant for unconscious bias or wounds that need to be healed unforgiveness we need to let go of reconciliation we need to seek and this will require time and grace and conscious effort cooperation with each other and above all reliance on god as i did last week i encourage all of us to approach this subject with with openness and with grace to be mindful that in this room there will be very different experiences and views but remember that we're on this journey together as a church family in terms of practical steps as i finished i would suggest watching last week's talk if you haven't if you missed that's very important this one has been building on it and make sure that you hear josh k's talk in two weeks time engage in the conversations like the small group small groups will be having next month as they go through some material and check out the personal reflection resources which you can access at trenvy.org forward slash every nation and as i said before take the initiative to reach out to someone who isn't from the same background as you perhaps invite someone to have a coffee or invite someone for a meal and before i close i just like to share some thoughts on this this relational step of reaching across racial ethnic and cultural boundaries with just advice i've gleaned from various conversations and and sources the subject can feel overwhelming it can be sometimes difficult to know where to start prayer is always a good place ask god to guide you towards opportunities to develop relationships with people who don't share your racial or ethnic heritage as you invite someone for coffee or dinner remember this this is not a project this is not about white people doing something to people from other backgrounds nor vice versa it's about developing relationships enjoying the richness of different cultures let's value people take a genuine interest in others lives and with many of the people you connect with it may just be a sim a single occasion but there may be some people with whom you want to take the friendship a little further this can take time it's amazing how much you can click over one meal but particularly where there are language or significant cultural differences or whether subject can be painful or difficult it may take time to build trust and to build that deeper connection let's be willing to be real to talk about the struggles that we experience not just in this conversation but in our wider lives i'd encourage you to be willing to offer and receive help and hospitality from one another as part of the openness part of the openness means that you'll need to learn to relax we all need to learn to relax as a white man i'm often wary about using the wrong language in conversations about race even in preparing this sermon i've been worried about the phrases i use i've attempted to find the appropriate language but discover that you know there isn't a definitive guide some of my black friends use phrases that some of my other black friends absolutely don't like the key is to to ask to be gracious when people use the wrong language i've been significantly helped in conversations with people who have lovingly corrected me when i've got it wrong when we're asking a question about someone's culture or their history we need to be careful here's a little thing for example if you're opening questions you meet somebody's where are you from okay a white person with a black person let's say where are you from it could be interpreted as you seeing that person in some ways not from here that's the implication as in some way foreign and without meaning to you are perhaps pushing them away from this being their home they may have a different skin color and cultural heritage to you but their family may have indeed lived in nottingham for multiple generations so just be careful about where are you from coming too early in a conversation a conversation around race may be much more painful also for the person that you are speaking to than it is for you so we need to be sensitive and we'll all need to have grace for one another i was reminded just preparing this as we journey together paul's letter to the colossians a lovely little text in here he says this i'm just going to begin it in verse 12 clothe yourselves with compassion kindness humility gentleness and patience bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone forgive as the lord forgave you and over all these virtues put on love which binds them all together in perfect unity so what i'm really asking you to do is bear with each other as we go on this journey we will make mistakes i know i have we may say the wrong thing we might use words or phrases that aren't ideal we're trying to get it right and when we get it wrong let's have a heart posture of forgiveness we'll need to be patient with each other as we learn together and this whole journey is about loving one another in all the richness of our difference we are bound together through in love through jesus jesus said they'll know your christians by what by your love one for another and that love is what allows us to venture into these sometimes difficult and sensitive conversations it is the oil that lubricates the moving parts reducing friction and makes really this journey together possible that love is what binds us together it is what unites us as christ's beautiful and diverse church should we stand let's just um wait for a few moments and uh just reflect on what john's been speaking to us about this morning holy spirit we welcome you maj do you want to start off yeah i think as john was just sharing there just reminded me what a crazy week we have lived through this week with the death of an mp david ms and um just how much we all really need god's help in this time really just to be one you know one people and um i think let's just take a few minutes just to to remember him but also just to ask god to come and help each and every one of us in this time we're all wrestling and i think we need god's help with all of the struggles that we face so let's just take a moment just to reflect on that hmm lord jesus i'm reminded of the psalm um psalm 121 i lift my eyes to the hills where does my help come from and at this time lord i help and every time our help comes from you but we ask lord for you to come now come lord reveal yourself in this place thank you father thank you father you know some of you um you know you'll be very much aware that you're carrying hurt and pain could be related to what john has been talking about um related to just how fragile the world seems you know with so much violence there's so much just um craziness around but just hurt from broken relationships division um you know it could be um that you've been at the brunt end of racial abuse um but it also could be that you are divided from family members at this time divided because of different political views divided because somebody has broken relationship with someone else someone's hurt a loved one in your family there are so many reasons that we can become divided and i just sense this morning the lord just um inviting us to respond both for for healing for restoration but also if we need the lord's help in helping us um forgive someone that's hurt us um or giving us wisdom and how to reach across that broken relational divide um there'll be others of you with with physical conditions um you know uh this morning i prayed with somebody who who's got you know swollen fingers and her joints uh uh are beginning to twist and i just became concerned as i was praying that there would be other people in the room who you've developed things um over the last couple of months that have sort of alarmed you really things in your body that have just concerned you and we want to pray with you we want to ask for the kingdom of god to come into this moment by the power of his holy spirit and so if any of those relate to you did you have anything else nice yeah i just got as you were speaking there devi i think there's a number of people here with some liver complaints it could be a variety of things but um but yeah just really love to if that is you'd love to pray for you guys yeah anything john no so if any of those words apply to you if you've got a physical condition that you'd like us to pray for especially liver complaints um anything sort of arthritic stuff or if you want to come up in response to hurt and pain that you're carrying or your desire to to forgive somebody reach out across a divide do come on up we'll make sure that people in small groups come and pray for you and online and online yes just to say um we're going to release you now there's a couple of um live uh pastors who are going to be taking you into ministry now so yeah we're goodbye to you guys hi guys uh ben here just come up from doing the announcements and i'm joined with toby and it's just been a precious time together uh this morning and we just want to make a little bit more space for you guys wherever you are across the city and beyond just to engage with what god is doing um in your life right now so yeah if there are distractions around you we'd love to encourage you to tune back in and maybe adopt a bit of a posture of receiving so maybe let's close our eyes open our hands out and let's just allow god to continue all that he wants to do in us today so yeah holy spirit would you come yeah and we just thank you lord for what you're doing as we wait on you now come holy spirit and it might be you're just feeling a tangible sense of god's presence with you and we bless what you're doing lord thank you for that just a few specific things me and toby will just share as well to add to what's already been said in the ministry time just had a sense that it might be someone or a number of people just literally weeping at the moment as they've heard john's message because you've experienced something of that division and and and you know you've experienced some of that pain or are experiencing it right now and so we just pray for your for god's blessing and comfort in your life right now yeah and we've got a picture of a butterfly um so maybe there's someone that this week has maybe failed in trying to become the person they believe jesus needs them to become or wants them to become to live in that freedom and that truth and you're frustrated with it that you're really just sick and tired so we just we just pray that the holy spirit would come and empower you again to restore you to give you the energy that you need and yeah we just encourage you to rest in him to keep going with the holy spirit yeah and it might be that you feel from today it's been a challenging talk that that you perhaps need to do something um speak to someone that you know is hurting around these issues of race or it might be that you feel like you need to even apologize to someone and and do that and you need courage and wisdom with all of that so if any of these things you know relate to you or anything else that's been said or just something going on in your life that you'd value someone to come alongside you and pray for you then there's a team online that would love to do that you can do that in a couple of ways if you head to trentv.org forge stream and click prayer there's a team waiting to pray for you with the online chat or there's a team that would love to pray for you over the phone um just a short prayer um and a conversation over the phone and if you'd value someone doing that then just head to trentv.org forward slash phone prayer and for the rest of us still waiting in god's presence um we want to bless what he's doing so i'm just going to pray for us yeah holy spirit thank you for today thank you for all that you have shared through john's talk this morning thank you for the challenge and for the hard stuff that he's shared and and sort of called us out as a church to address so we just pray for whatever response that's uh triggered in us that yeah we would give that to you and your son we'd lay it down at the cross we thank you for the freedom and the truth that jesus has brought into this world we just ask for more of it lord help us go on this journey together all glory be to your name father amen amen amen now we've loved um hanging out today we've loved that you've joined us and we'd love you to get more connected here so if you'd like to find out how to do that the best place to go is our website trentv.org or head to the links page where all the links are trentv.org forward slash links and guys we're back in person uh you will probably have to be living under a rock not to hear that by now so please come along trent kids trent youth is open for business so let's get back let's join in with the family and come and we'd love to see you so see you then god bless bye for now bye [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] so [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: Trent Vineyard

Views: 1,310

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: trent vineyard, nottingham, church, nottschurches, online church, church online, ForJesus, Sunday Online

Id: pSk_66151Q4

Length: 73min 38sec (4418 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 17 2021