FINDING GOD – FIND GOD – FINDING GOD

Scripture 1 Peter 2:4-5

When I was growing up I had the idea that if you wanted to find God you looked for a really impressive church, one with an authentic steeple or belfry with bats and bell ringers. It had to have stained glass windows, real wooden pews, a high altar, a choir dressed in long flowing robes and of course it had to be very, very old. If inside there were engraved stones and statues of people long dead who were buried somewhere under the building all the better.

It had to be the sort of place that gave you goose bumps and sent shivers up your spine. A place that you did not want to be in all on your own especially in the dark, in case any spirits suddenly appeared. It had to have a ghostly kind of atmosphere. That was the type of building in which I imagined as a young boy I might find God.

Like many others I thought the church was a building. People went to church to meet with God. Even today many have this idea of a special building set aside for worship and prayer. It has often been blessed by a Bishop or Priest and is called the sanctuary. To get into this holy place you have to dress immaculately and be on your best behaviour. Unless you are engaged in hymn singing you must speak in a whisper. The sanctuary is so holy that you are not allowed to use it for any other purpose other than to meet with God in worship. It is certainly not the place for idle chatter and social contact. God’s presence in the place is meant to be more real than anywhere else.

The truth is we do not find God in buildings no matter how religious they appear. Since the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has chosen to dwell in the lives of those who have opened the door of their hearts to His presence. God’s temple is made up of living stones cemented together with love. Are you one of those living stones? Would you like to be?

This prayer will get you started:"Father God I believe you sent your Son Jesus to die and rise again so that I can really get to know you. I need your forgiveness in my life right now and I ask that you come into my life and make me your temple. Thank you"

John 3 v 16

Pastor Mick Reynolds

BRIDGE BUILDING

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5 : 18 - 21

James Roebling was the man who built a suspension bridge between the USA and Canada across the river just upstream from the Niagara Falls. Everyone thought it was impossible even the best engineers of the day; but on the 16 March 1855 the bridge was completed and the first train crossed over from Canada to the United States. James Roebling made the impossible become possible.

Bridge building brings three things to mind:

• Firstly, a bridge spans something that naturally would be very hard to cross. A deep river, a chasm. A busy motorway, or even the sea. The bridge makes a way where before there was no way.
• Secondly, a bridge gives access to something that otherwise we might not be able to reach. Even though the other side of the river might appear a wonderful place to visit, the strength of the current and the distance just make it impossible to get there. The bridge gives me access.
• Thirdly, building a bridge speaks of reaching out to make it possible for folk who do not usually want much to do with each other to get together and overcome their differences.

In our world today efforts are constantly being made to build bridges between the Jews and the Palestinians. Between the two communities in Northern Ireland. Between people of different ethnic groups who find it difficult to live together as one nation, or community. At times this kind of bridge building seems more impossible than building a real bridge across somewhere like the Niagara river. Often it involves real sacrifice to make it happen.

God found a way to build a bridge but it was just a price. Jesus was sent to be the bridge between Heaven and Earth. For God to make peace with us the Son of God had to die on the cross. God took the initiative to build a bridge between Himself and anyone who is at a distance.

AT IPSWICH INTERNATIONAL CHURCH WE SEEK TO HELP FOLK FIND THAT BRIDGE TO GOD. WE ALSO BELIEVE THE CHURCH IS TO BE A PLACE WHERE PEOPLE FROM EVERY TRIBE, TONGUE AND NATION FIND A BRIDGE TO UNITY AND LOVE.

Mick Reynolds

SPACE TRAVEL

Scripture: Hebrews 1 v 10-12

Like so many others I am fascinated by the whole idea of space travel. I love all the sci-fi on TV, ‘Star Trek‘; Andromeda’; ‘Dr Who’; ‘Stargate Atlantis’; ‘Deep Space Nine;’ ‘Firefly’; ‘Battleship Galactica’; to name just a few. The idea of travelling to different Galaxies and meeting all kinds of alien creatures sounds like so much fun. Unfortunately it is just a form of escapism because the reality is that we are still a million miles away from anything that resembles such adventure. What man has imagined is out there does not even come close to the truth.

When the scientists explain the expanse of space in terms of millions of miles and light years it’s head scratching stuff. Grasping that our Sun is approximately 83 million miles away from earth just about comes within my comprehension. With the help of a simple drawing I can even understand how our planet and other celestial bodies orbit around the sun and each other in a vast universe that stretches unbelievable distances in all directions. But then to be told the yellow ball in the sky is only one of all uncountable number of similar phenomenon and to be told that many of the stars we see blinking at night are many times larger than our Sun makes my mind boggle.

To realise our universe is only part , indeed, a small part of a much more incredible expanse that can be described like a bucket of water in the middle of a lake and our little earth is a drop in the bucket makes me feel very small. Yet as I think of these things I begin to realise how fantastic is the God I worship.

The Psalmist writes, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have ordained.” The vastness of space is hard to comprehend, but my Bible says God cannot be contained in the heavens so great is He. But what is even more wonderful is that this God loves each one of us human beings and has an incredible plan for our lives.

Mick Reynolds

THE ENTRANCE TICKET

Scripture: John 10 v 1-10

I remember as a small boy walking past the football ground where the city team played. It seemed such an awesome place to me with its eight foot high metal fences with sharp edging so that you could not jump, grab hold and pull yourself up to see over the top.

We tried as kids to look through the gaps in the fence to watch the game but to our frustration there were always bodies standing in the way. We could hear supporters shouting inside but a ticket to get in was outside our price range. Then one day a grown up took me to my first professional football match and paid the price for the ticket to get me in. It was amazing. I was inside. I could see everything.

Religion is like that small boy trying to catch a glimpse of God. No matter how hard we try we cannot seem to find a way in to see God for ourselves. It is not until we realise that God has already brought the ticket;

When God sent His Son into the world, He paid the price on the cross for the ticket for us to enter God’s presence. He came to remove the barrier that stops us experiencing God’s love.

When we believe and receive Jesus into our lives we can walk straight in without having to do anything ourselves. It then becomes amazing because we can see everything clearly that before was so obscure.

That is the unique thing about Christianity – we cannot reach God but He has reached down to us and lifted us up into his presence. As a child I knew the only way into the football ground was through the turnstile where you had to pay for an entrance ticket.

The only way any individual can come to God is through the one who declared. “I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved.” John 10 : 9

Mick Reynolds

BREAKING THE MOULD

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 4 : 7-12

When I think of a mould I remember the ‘Jelly’ moulds that my mum used so that jelly came out in the shape of a rabbit or other animal. A Mould is a hollow container into which a substance is poured or pressed to allow it to harden into a certain shape. Moulds are used in everything from cooking to fashioning precious metals. When we speak of ‘breaking the mould’ it is usually to do with a human breaking free of their limitations. Life has a way of pressing us into a set of circumstances that leave us feeling trapped. We want to break out.

Len was the first drug addict I ever met. A painful upbringing was responsible for him being moulded into someone who had totally rebelled against authority. By his mid-twenties Len had reached rock bottom. Living alone in a rented room, addicted to drugs with nothing to live for, he was desperate and suicidal. As he went over in his mind the best way to end it all he noticed on the bedside table a Gideon’s Bible. He opened it and started to read from Genesis chapter one. As Len read, the words seemed to come alive and he began to experience a presence in the room. He couldn’t put the bible down but continued to read right through Genesis and into Exodus.

It was at this point Len told me he experienced such a sense of God that he fell on his knees and called out for God to help him. In response the presence of God that filled the room seemed to embrace him and fill him with love. Something broke in Len at that moment as tears filled his eyes; The mould was being broken and Len began to experience a new freedom. Len went on to be a songwriter, Gospel singer and preacher before emigrating to Australia where he is still a minister.

Len is living proof that it is possible to ‘break the mould’ with a little help from above.

Mick Reynolds