Barnabas Ministries UK

Rev. E. Anderson
THE GREATEST SPIRITUAL MINISTRY

S.D. Gordon

The greatest thing any one can do for God and for man is to pray. It is not the only thing. But it is the chief thing. A correct balancing of the possible powers one may exert puts it first. For if a man is to pray right, he must first be right in his motives and life. And if a man be right, and put the practice of praying in its right place, then his serving and giving and speaking will be fairly fragrant with the presence of God.

The great people of the earth to-day are the people who pray. I do not mean those who talk about prayer; nor those who say they believe in prayer; nor yet those who can explain about prayer; but I mean these people who take time and pray. They have not time. It must be taken from something else. This something else is important. Very important, and pressing than prayer. There are people that put prayer first, and group the other items in life’s schedule around and after prayer.

These are the people to-day who are doing the most for God; in winning souls; in solving problems; in awakening churches; in supplying both men and money for mission posts; in keeping fresh and strong these lives far off in sacrificial service on the foreign field where the thickest fighting is going on; in keeping the old earth sweet awhile longer.

It is wholly a secret service. We do not know who these people are, though sometimes shrewd guesses may be made. I often think that sometimes we pass some plain-looking woman quietly slipping out of church; gown been turned two or three times; bonnet fixed over more than once; hands that have not known much of the softening of gloves; and we hardly giver her a passing thought, and do not know, nor guess, that perhaps she is the one who is doing far more for her church, and for the world, and for God than a hundred who would claim more attention and thought, because she prays; truly prays as the Spirit of God inspires and guides.

Let me put it this way: God will do as a result of the praying of the humblest one here what otherwise He would not do. Yes, I can make it stronger than that, and I must make it stronger, for the Book does. Listen: God will do in answer to the prayer of the weakest one here what otherwise he could not do. “Oh!” someone thinks, “you are getting that too strong now.” Well, you listen to Jesus’ own words in that last long quiet talk He had with the eleven men between the upper room and the olive-green. John preserves much of that talk for us. Listen: “Ye did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that ye should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide: that”—listen, a part of the purpose why we have been chosen—”that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My name, He may give it you.”1 Mark that word “may”; not “shall” this time but may. “Shall” throws the matter over on God—His purpose. “May” throws it over upon us—our cooperation. That is to say our praying makes it possible for God to do what otherwise He could not do.

And if you think into it a bit, this fits in with the true conception of prayer. In its simplest analysis prayer—all prayer—has, must have, two parts. First, a God to give. “Yes,” you say, “certainly, a God wealthy, willing, all of that.” And, just as certainly, there must be a second factor, a man to receive. Man’s willingness is God’s channel to the earth. God never crowds nor coerces. Everything God does for man and through man He does with man’s consent, always. With due reverence, but very plainly, let it be said that God can do nothing for the man with shut hand and shut life. There must be an open hand and heart and life through which God can give what He longs to. An open life, an open hand, open upward, is the pipe line of communication between the heart of God and this poor be-fooled old world. Our prayer is God’s opportunity to get into the world that would shut Him out.

Rev. E. Anderson

THE RICH VARIETY OF PEOPLE

Some people are like wheels—they don’! work unless they’re pushed
Some people are like a trailer —they have to be pulled!
Some people are like a kite:—always up in the air, and if you don’t keep a string on them, they are away.
Some people are like a canoe —they have to be paddled.
Some people are like a football—you never know which way they are going to bounce next! Some people are like balloon—alway5 puffed up, and you never know when they are going to blow up.’
Some people are like flat tyre—they have to be jacked up.
Some people are like good watches-pure gold, open faced, always on time, dependable, quietly busy and just full of good works!

Rev Rick Warren
SEEK OUT THE LOST
Jon Walker

“Be friendly with everyone. Don’t be proud and feel that you are smarter than others. Make friends with ordinary people.” (Romans 12:16 CEV)

In The Message paraphrase, 2 Corinthians 5:20b is rendered: “Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you.” That’s the message we’re to take to the world, yet often we limit our influence by seeking and maintaining friendships exclusively among other believers.
Jesus, on the other hand, sought out the lost, deliberately becoming friends with those who needed a friend in God.

The Bible says that when the Pharisees saw Jesus keeping company with the community’s great unwashed, “they had a fit, and lit into Jesus’ followers. ‘What kind of example is this from your teacher, acting cosy with crooks and riffraff?’ Jesus, overhearing, shot back, ‘Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? Go figure out what this Scripture means: “I’m after mercy, not religion.” I’m here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders’” (Matthew 9:10-13 MSG).
Jesus knew who he was, according to God’s design; Jesus knew whose he was, according to God’s truth; and Jesus knew his purpose for being here on Earth. All this allowed him to relax and ignore what others thought or said about him.

It meant Jesus wasn’t worried when others accused him of being a friend of sinners (Luke 19:7) because he was doing exactly what the Father sent him to do: persuade men and women to make peace with God (2 Corinthians 5:20).

Likewise, we’re to represent Jesus, speaking on his behalf to those still on the “outside.” Yet some of us are so isolated and disconnected from unbelievers that we rarely have any meaningful conversations with them. The tendency is that the longer we’re believers, the more insulated we become from unbelievers and perhaps the more uncomfortable we become with them.

The result: We no longer have friends who are non-believers.

Jesus’ actions suggest that our witness to a non-believer starts with friendship: We earn the right to share the Gospel through relationship. The old cliché is a cliché because it’s true: “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Those who have yet to become friends with God are just like you and me, looking for deep, true, supportive friendships, sometimes especially during the Christmas season.

The Apostle Paul encourages us to find common ground with non-believers: “I do this to get the Gospel to them and also for the blessing I myself receive when I see them come to Christ” (1 Corinthians 9:22-23 LB). Finding common ground is an act of friendship; it guides us to look for the positive instead of the negative in those outside the faith.

When Jesus met the woman at the well, he pointed to what they had in common rather than the things he could condemn (John 4). As a result, she not only became friends with God; she also brought her friends and family into the presence of Jesus.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

• Do you know who you are? This is critical for you to become friends with non-believers. Otherwise, you may overly worry about what others believers think of you, or you may drift into sinful behaviours because you become concerned about what non-believers think about you. Jesus knew who he was and whose he was, and Jesus knew God’s purpose for his life. This allowed him to relax and ignore what others thought or said about him.

• Love people, not their values. God loves people (John 3:16), but that doesn’t mean he loves the values of the world. The Apostle John warns us not to “love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father” (1 John 2:15 MSG).

• Building friendships requires:
 Courtesy: “Always talk pleasantly and with a flavor of wit but be sensitive to the kind of answer each one requires.” (Colossians 4:6 NJB)
 Frequency: You have to spend time with non-believers in order to become friends with them.
 Authenticity: “Love from the centre of who you are; don’t fake it.” (Romans 12:9a MSG)

• Be friendly with everyone: “Don’t be proud and feel that you are smarter than others. Make friends with ordinary people.” (Romans 12:16 CEV)’

John Piper
TEACH BELIEVERS WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM IN CONVERSION

Everyone who is converted to Christ is converted through partial knowledge. Real knowledge, to be sure — otherwise there would be no true conversion — put partial, nevertheless.

This is not surprising, of course, since that’s the only kind of knowledge we have as finite creatures. “Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12).
THE OBVIOUS WORTH SPEAKING

But speaking the obvious is very useful. For example, it may be obvious that the blue sky is glorious today, but it is not pointless to say to your friend, “Isn’t the deep blue sky beautiful today!” Till that moment he may have been blind to the obvious. And suddenly you woke him up to joy — by saying the obvious.

My point here is that when a person is saved, they do not know all the glorious things which, in that moment, happened to them — like a person who wakes up from surgery and does not know that the cancer has been completely removed. He must be told.

So it is the task of parents and Sunday school teachers and small group leaders and pastors to teach people what happened to them. Never assume that people understand how God saved them. All of us have only partial knowledge of this. And most of the New Testament is designed to increase our knowledge of how God saved us (in history and in our souls), and what is true of him and us now in this new relationship.

Let me illustrate what I mean.

1. Thousands of people are truly converted who have never even heard about “new birth” or “regeneration.” The witness they heard to Jesus’ death and resurrection and forgiveness did not include that truth. Now they are believing. They have been “born again” and they do not know that. So we must teach them.

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. . . . Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. (1 John 5:1; John 3:3, 8; 1 Peter 1:3, 23; James 1:18)

2. All Christians have been “called” by God. But thousands do not know the language of divine calling. They’ve never heard that language. So we must teach them.
Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. (1 Corinthians 1:22–24, 9; 7:15, 17; Romans 8:28; Galatians 1:5; 5:8; Ephesians 4:1, 4; 2 Timothy 1:9).

3. All Christians have been chosen by God before the foundation of the world. But thousands do not know that God chose them from eternity. They need to be taught this truth.
He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. (Ephesians 1:4; 1 Corinthians 1:26-29; Romans 9:11; 11:5-7; James 2:5).

4. All Christians have died with Christ. But thousands have never taken note of that way of thinking about their conversion. Even if the words were spoken over them at their baptism (not to mention how many true believers have no memory of an infant sprinkling) the words did not register. They need to be taught that they are dead.
You have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3; 2:12; Romans 6:4–6; Galatians 2:20)

5. All Christians are justified by faith alone apart from works of the law. But many came to Christ without the word “justification” ever being used. At some point along the way they need to be taught that this glorious thing has happened to the.

We hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. (Romans 3:28; 5:1; 8:1, 30; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 2:16; 3:11)

6. All Christians have been transferred out of the dominion of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of Christ. But many have never heard that they were under the dominion of darkness, or what that is, let alone that they have been transferred to another kingdom. The must be taught.

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son. (Colossians 1:13)

7. All Christians have been set free from the decisive control of the devil. But many Christians did even know they were in the control of the devil, let alone that they are freed from him. They need to be taught.

He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. (Colossians 2:15; Hebrews 2:14–15)

8. All Christians have been sealed by the Spirit for the day of redemption. But thousands are not aware that there is such a sealing or what it means. They must be taught.

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:30; 1:13)

9. All Christians have been legally adopted into God’s family and are children of God. But many have never heard this truth about adoption. Thy must be taught.

You did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”, . . . and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (Romans 8:15–17; Ephesians 1:5; Galatians 4:4-5).

10. All Christians are indwelt by the living Christ. But not all know this. They must be taught.
To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27; Romans 8:10).

Rev. Steve Hyde
THRIVING, RELEVANT AND ABOUNDING IN JOY

Scripture for 2014 is Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a

There are some things that define our church and we know are our DNA as we serve God here in Sedgley, they are:-

Firstly we are a house of prayer, we are seeking to grow the prayer life of our church and its members. Intercession is at the heart of all we do.

We are a church committed to body ministry; no super stars every believer playing their part in the life and service of the church.

We are a group that encourages; we want to spur each other on to greater things in God.

We are radically committed to preaching and expounding the bible, with a focus on discipleship as seen in the gospels and church life as explained in the Epistles.

We aspire to be a family embracing all ages worshiping together and living out our faith as a community.

We have set our mission to be a “beacon of hope” taking the gospel into our community.

This church is not perfect but we do have a vision to be effective we welcome all to our services we are ordinary believers with a extraordinary God.