Welcome to our Sunday morning service! It’s great that you can try us out online. Why not come along to our next Sunday service in person – we love having newcomers along.
H [Applause] You H [Applause] All [Applause] L Welcome great to see everyone here this morning uh my name is John Carter I’m the vicer here at Christ Church and a big welcome to you especially if you’re here with us for the first time it’s great to have you uh this morning we have a special service because U we have
Bishop Rob with us and um I’ll interview you a little bit later to say we can get to know you and um we have our normal groups for Children and Youth happening later in our service as well well let’s stand because what we’re going to do is we’re
Going to open our service by saying the words of a Creed together a Creed is what Christians have always believed down through the centuries and wouldn’t it be great to begin our service this morning by saying these words together um I’m going to ask some questions and
You’ve got to join in with the answer and so it’ great to have all the children joining in as well um so when I ask a question please say I believe and trust in him should we practice I believe and trust in him so do you
Believe and trust in God the Father who created and rules the world I believe and trust in him do you believe and trust in God the son who took our human nature died for us and rose again I believe and trust in him do you believe
And trust TR in God the Holy Spirit who gives life to the people of God and makes Jesus known in the world I believe and trust in him this is the faith of God’s people the church this is our faith we believe and trust in one God
Father son and holy spirit amen well stay standing because we’re going to begin by singing a couple of songs together and the second one’s got some actions it’ be great if you could join in my hope is buil on Nothing and Jesus love and rightous [Applause] I can not trust the sweetest Prus My Hope Is buil On Nothing Jesus and I dare not trust the sweetest bra in Jesus Christ we may strong in the same love through the soul he Is when darkness seems to hide I rest on his unchanging praise in every heart and so again I am the hold to my I am the will of Christ The we may strong in the sa love through the St he Is Christ Al St we may strong in the same love the he is Lord Lord Shall with trumpet sound oh may I him Found dressed in his rightous alone faultless stand before the the the Lord on we made Strong love through the he is Lord of all Christ the lord all we strong in the sa love through the S he is Lord Lord Of God of Oh the master know [Applause] the the [Applause] oh thank you oh thank you all you thank you thank you you are to to King the The the to sa me once again the was good the [Applause] wask you thank you all through hisory thank you thank you that you are just the same when it to Toes to Jesus like to take away our we can get to know our again the Is thank you all thank you all to you thanful thank you all thank you you are just the same thank you all thank you allory thank you all thank you you are just when ites to when ites to when it comes to me when it to Heavenly Father we thank you that you
Are faithful to us we thank you that we can trust you and build our lives on you in Jesus name amen well please do take a seat and um I’m going to invite up um Bishop Rob morning everyone um first of all can you introduce yourself where are you from
Tell us about your family things like that uh well yeah my name’s Rob Monroe I’m um the bishop of abet but um I’m living still in mid cheser where I uh served at parish for uh well my last parish for over 20 years but 30 years in
Total in serving in parishes um I’m from the south Manchester area uh the parish I was in the last 20 years was the parish where I was converted from being a sort of Fairly convinced a at the age of 18 um but through the strange providences of God uh um came to Faith
And followed him so it was quite nice to be able to serve in the place that had been part of drawing me into into faith and fellowship also the church where I met and married my wife as well so it’s been quite a wrench to come and do this
Particular job but um I have a wife Sarah and uh three children one of whom still at home a son who’s a youth worker in Darby dasis um ad dooru a physio in Liverpool and the one at home is a personal train trainer and you can tell it hasn’t rubbed off on
Me and um so your tit your grand title is the bishop of e Fleet I’m probably missing out bits um what does that mean yeah I mean it’s interesting because becoming a bishop at the moment when the church is in the crisis means I had thought of adopting a new title because
Instead of right reverent I should go for right idiot um but the uh Bishop of absolite the reason I’m connected there is because I actually serve churches including this one 152 churches across the whole of England and so to enable me to do that I have to come under the um
Permission that the Archbishop of Canterbury has to do the whole of England so I’m technically a suffragan for him um but that means I can go anywhere basically so efleet is a small village with 12 houses and a memorial on the Kent Coast the memorial is to St
Augustine who in about 700 odd um came back from Rome to re-evangelization so um a lot of distance to travel on the way so and um what what is the role of a bishop like how do you see your role well in the Bible um uh the role uh
Bishop comes from um the same word um so episcopos Episcopal you might have heard that description is the Greek word which is used interchangeably for another word in Greek called presbiteros which is the uh job that is now translated as priest or Minister uh John’s job so my job is
To basically do what John does but he does it with you and I do it with other ministers um so my job is to do what a leader of a church should do which is to teach the faith Faithfully uh to encourage and care for the people in a
Gracious way and to uh give some sort of uh Direction and and encouragement in the way that God’s leading the churches so in three words Doctrine uh discipline and direction are the three things that’s what John does for you guys but that’s what I do for him and for
Churches under my oversight um and really it’s to do what Jesus said we need to do which is to spare each other on to love and good deeds and to stay true to his word to say gracious in the way we reach out to others with the
Gospel so that is all in the small print of when I was made a bishop the service the consecration service is called um basically says that will you uphold the faith um as youve received it will will you care for the people with the grace of Christ and and um that actually all
The words that the Church of England has for this stuff are really good the challenge is that on the ground it sometimes feels and looks very different so I’m just one of those who said well I’m going to try and do what I promis to do and uh support churches who want to
Uphold the scriptures teaching and um say faithful to that um whatever culture and whatever even the church might say so that I think is the calling of every Christian a particular calling of ministers and a bishop is basically a minister to ministers brilliant thank you one last question what what can we
Be praying for you in your role um well at a practical level pray for safety and travel because I do about 30 odd thousand miles a year um and so it would be really helpful not to crash and do things like that but um but in this
Particular crisis um for courage to stay faithful but but also for influence which I think you know for those of you I met a couple of you who are involved in parts of the Church of England um we’re in an age where people find it very easy to
Ignore issues and ignore people and within the conversations I have in the Bishops and with the synods um it’s easy for people to say oh well that’s just them or I won’t listen to what you said our our job isn’t to stand up for what we believe we’d stand up for what Jesus
Has revealed and and so to some extent pray that the word of God would be heard by the people of God and that when I speak it I would speak it Faithfully as I should and that in some ways God will open the door because we’re actually praying I hope you’re praying and
Certainly encourage you to pray for this for God to revive the church and he’ll revive the church by greater faithfulness to him a greater passion for people who are not followers of Jesus yet um to help them hear that message so pray that the words would be
Heard and followed within the church and Beyond I think one last PS it does bother me partly because as I said I was an atheist 18 that actually still 98% of low stof are not worshiping Jesus today and that’s what Jesus has called us to be here for because it’s you know
It’s nice to come into a building and sit on pews so I mean there are more comfortable places to be but we’re on a mission we’re on a mission because the good news of Jesus is changing lives forever and and that possibility and probability when people turn to him is
Is what we’re here for and so to some extent pray for those 98% and you know as you pray for me think about the people you know who don’t know the Lord Jesus and as you pray for me to be faithful in that context you know think about your friends and family think
About the people of this community because our culture is the church may be messed up but so is our culture at the moment a third of our young people have mental health problems in referrals we’re not making a great success of our world and that’s because
We’ve turned away from the one who rules it so pray for that and when you pray for me pray you know reflect that back for yourself as well and pray for those who are not here this morning pray for those who God has called us to bring
Good news to good news of great joy for all people let’s do a lot more of that great thank you brilliant um thank you so much for coming and um we’re going to be praying for you later in our service maybe after the service you’d like to
Come and ask Bishop Rob some questions so I’m sure he’ll love to do that well a few things um to mention before the Children and Youth he out their groups um first of all um we have today we have Cafe Church happening 4:30 brilliant place to invite friends and family along
To um and um we’re going to be looking at a story in Mark’s gospel about how to grow in your faith I’m going to be speaking in that so why not come or all service with a buffet meal afterwards love to see you there um and then uh
Coming up this week we have growth groups um restarting after our Christmas break um we’re going to be um starting a new Ser soon on um the book of Isaiah in um in our growth group so there’s a little um study guide which a lot of the
Leaders have now picked up and um this is chance to go through the book of Isaiah we’ve been going through it in sermons but it’s a good chance to go through it in small groups in that booklet there there’s a kind of daily reading plan so it can also um be what
You use in your morning Bible reading readings you could read through the whole of Isaiah um over the coming months and um really get into that book and understand what God’s saying through it if you’re not yet in a growth group this is a brilliant time to jump in we
Encourage everyone to be part of a midweek Bible study group it’s how we organize kind of pastoral care here and um we if you would like to be in a group do come and chat with me and um I can link you up with one um next up um is uh
Our Discover course happening um on uh Wednesday night this week and um this is we we’re on week two and it’s not too late to jum jump in this is chance to go over the basics of Christianity want to invite friends and family along to do
That um and um this week we’re going to be thinking about that question there where is God’s New World Jesus Promised it’s been 2,000 years Jesus came promising so much where is it all why is there a delay we’re going to be thinking about that on Tuesday night and then
Also coming up um later uh we got Saturday we’ve got winter har chance to come and hang out bring along friends and family playing games and um sharing a cup of tea and coffee um next up we’ve got our messy Church happening um in uh
This is on a week um Thursday and um we’re going to be looking at the story of Elisha again next up big house looking at the um the question of am I how much am I really worth Eddie speaking end of January for that invites at the back and
Then the last thing coming up is a sports quiz um happening beginning of February again DC Eddie about that if you would like to we’ll mention more about it in the coming weeks so loads of opportunities coming up to invite friends and family along to have a think
About what could be good for your friends and family um be praying grab some invites and we love to make the most of these things well now time for our children and youth to head over to their group so let me pray for them as
They do that father we want to pray for our children and youth that this morning they might learn more about Jesus and they might come to love him more in his precious name amen well as they head over why not turn to someone you haven’t talked to before and say
Hello this isn’t working a bit bit frustrating I think it might be the uh the USB down there was working up it’s should be okay for you if not I’ll try and tag along with you yeah that’s yeah yeah it doesn’t seem to be sudden what spe e
Great well please do um Carry on those conversations after the service finishes over tea and coffee what we’re going to be doing now is um Bishop Rob’s going to be preaching to us today from one Kings chapter 19 a great story about Elijah um
And you can find that on page 360 360 in the church Bibles and it’ll also be up on the screens so Richard is going to come and read that to us so uh as John said one Kings chapter 19 Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had
Done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword then Jezebel sent a message to Elijah saying so may the gods do so me and more also if if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time
Tomorrow then he was afraid and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beba which belongs to Judah and left his servant there but he himself went a Day’s Journey Into the Wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree and he asked how and he asked that he might
Die saying it is enough now oh Lord take my life for I am no better than my fathers and he lay down and slept under the broom tree and behold an angel touched him and said to him arise and eat and he looked and behold there was
At his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water and he ate and drank and lay down again and the angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said arise and eat for the journey is too great for
You and he arose and ate and drank and went in the strength of the of that food 40 days and 40 nights to Horeb the Mount of God there he came to a cave and lodged in it and behold the word of the Lord
Came to him and he said to him what are you doing here Elijah he said I’ve been very jealous for the Lord the god of hosts for the people of Israel have forsaken your Covenant thrown down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword and
I even I only am left and they seek my life to take it away and he said go out and stand on the mount before the Lord and behold the Lord passed by and a great strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the Rocks before the Lord but the Lord
Was not in the wind and after the wind an earthquake but the Lord was not in the earthquake and after the earthquake a fire but the Lord was not in the fire and after the fire the sound of a low whisper and when Elijah heard it he
Wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave and behold there came a voice to him and said what are you doing here Elijah he said I been very jealous for the Lord the god of hosts for the people of Israel forsaken your Covenant thrown
Down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword and I even I only am left and they seek my life to take it away and the the Lord said to him go return on your way to the Wilderness of Damascus and when you arrive you shall anoint hazil to be king
Over Syria and jahu the son of nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel and Elisha the son of shapat of Abel mahaloa you shall anoint to be a prophet in your place and the one who escapes from The Sword of haziel shall juu put
To death and the one who escapes from The Sword of jahu shall elishah put to death yet I will leave 7,000 in Israel all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him this is the word of the lord well before uh Bishop Rob comes to
Preach to us um let’s stand to sing by faith we see the hand of God We in the light of creation DES in the light all those who prove his faithful by BR the Father the Earth the in the holy city bu my God a place where peace and we will stand as children of the We till the is finished and the is done my theet when the for messiah would [Applause] be to break the CH of sin and death and Triant the by faith the church was called to in the power of spirit to the to deliver captives and to preach good news in every on the
Earth we will stand as children of the prise we will F our on all till the race is finished and the is by faith And and the power of the Gospel shall prevail we know in Christ all things are POS call we will Children of the pro we will fix our eyes on him till the race is fin the We will stand as children of the we Will finish the work is done So God our Father as we have just sung it is by faith and not by sight that we live in this world knowing that you are our King Our Savior our Lord and by Grace you have called us to know you so now by your spirit speak your word into
Our hearts and lives for the glory of Our Savior Jesus Jesus amen do take a seat one Kings 19 you one of the great things about being a Christian is that God knows us better than we know ourselves um and that he actually sees some of the things that our culture
Hides and that actually get to the heart of the matter and this uh particular passage from 1 Kings 19 is particularly relevant because it dresses one of the Great curses of our culture and pressures of our day and see being human is both awesome and awful at the same
Time we’re made in the image of God we’re made for the glory of his presence knowing him for the Perfection of eternal life to be holy like him but we’re also now struggling in this Fallen broken world with all sorts of pressures and pains that are upon us and at times
We all find it hard to cope and so this real issue is about actually the anxiety and stress of living in God’s world and it is it is a big issue in the statistic survey of a couple of years ago 38% of adults state that they feel anxiety
36% say they feel stressed over 6 million have said that they have felt that way for more than a year 27% of them feel close to Breaking Point four in 10 say that it’s affecting their health negatively this is one of those signs of the broken world that we were
Thinking about before and at the moment of our young people um it’s even worse nearly half of our young people report stress issues that impact their well-being in some way a third of them have had at least at an informal level referrals for mental health issues presses stress within the schools or the
Medical context text and that probably means that this morning um there’s a good proportion of us that are actually feeling this way even if you know we don’t talk about it on a Sunday that actually the circumstances of our life or the pressures of it you know and I’m
One of those I mean trust me being a bishop in the Church of England at the moment is not without its stresses but I want you to just pause for a moment and think oh we’ll just come to that about what anxiety and stress do when was the last time you felt that
Way in your mind what is it that triggered it and how it made you feel sometimes you know we hide it and pretend but if you are in the middle of it now or if you’ve been in it recently what are the things that put us under
Pressure because God wants us to know and understand ourselves in His image and how we Face these pressures so that we can serve him in his world by pointing people to Jesus and if you you can think of those moments now we’re just looking this is
Just a thing from um uh an American Medical stuff that says this is why it matters because this is what anxiety and stress does to us stress is a part of life and it’s not always a bad part of life most of us enjoy good stress in small doses like
Roller coasters watching sports or even a scary movie that’s the kind of stress that keeps us young and on our toes then there’s bad stress or Worse chronic stress negative stress isn’t just in your head it can affect us both mentally and physically stress hormones in the body
For extended periods of time can physically age our cells so when you’re stressed at work or home your cells look and act older making you look older and even impacting your immune system not only does it add years to your appearance it can also affect your memory making brain cells
Shrink permanently even short-term stress can make it hard for you to remember simple things the good news is you can manage stress now to prevent more damage to your body and mind tomorrow so if you’re experiencing shrinking brain and you forgotten where your car is you might be
Stressed but but here’s what you need to hear this morning from God his word firstly you haven’t failed as a Christian if you are overstressed I mean Pop Quiz who said my soul is overwhelmed to sorrow to the point of death Jesus yeah it’s always Jesus when
You ask a Vic or something isn’t it you no it is of course it was Jesus in the Gethsemane he prayed um indeed Luke tells us even sweat blood under the stress of what he knew was coming when he went to the Cross you know we see a
Savior who understands what it is to be into the most severe fear and the peak peak of stress yet his resolve was to keep listening to God not my will but yours be done he prayed and that in the heart of it is how God would speak to us
Under the pressures that we have listening to the god who’s in control when we’re feeling our lives are out of control to look to God and not ourselves and if Jesus the son of God our perfect Savior and Lord had to endure such stress in that way then there’s hope for
Us if we understand how he persevered and how we should but more than that there’s also help for us because he’s not the only person in the Bible to have experienced this stress related burnout and Elijah as we had in our reading is one of the most significant prophets of
Israel who completely burned out as you probably picked up from the reading and scripture helps us because this particular chapter fleshes out the exper experience and helps us understand God’s heart for it and his way through it see Elijah you may know the story had been part of one of the most
Extraordinary Revival events in Bible History Israel at the time had all but abandoned the worship of God um and Elijah was the last remaining prophet and and on his own probably out of Despair he challenged 450 prop of Baal to a showdown to prove whose God
Was real and in the story and he said simple test we’ll pray and whoever brings down fire from heaven will prove that he’s really God and the Baal prophets got to go first and they prayed all day beat themselves and whipped themselves and shouted all through the heat of the day
To no effect at all and then in the late afternoon Elijah said okay my turn and and first on this particular sacrifice he poured gallons of water all over it so that there was no doubt that it might have just happened because it was heated up during the day and then he
Prayed and in the extraordinary grace of God fire fell from heaven burned up the whole thing the altar stones and everything and in that moment in an extraordinary amazing proof that the Lord is the true God he is the god of Miracles the god can raise the Dead who
Can bring fire from heaven in Vindication of Elijah’s faith is evidence of the sovereignty of God and the truth of his Prophet that amazing victory for God was the peak Mountaintop of Elijah’s life and yet when the news of it went out to the queen Jezebel instead of sparking Revival
She threatened Elijah’s life said look I’m going to do to you what you did to the prophets I should have said the 450 prophets on the back of that proof the 450 of them were put to death by the Israelis um uh people and and so instead of sparking
Revival Elijah came under pressure from the authorities who didn’t like the fact that the Lord was the only God they wanted a God that fitted their culture like Bales would they wanted to do something that was more acceptable to the people who had power um because the
Bales they didn’t do demand very much they were much more a self-indulgent sort of religion and and you know the Echoes of where we are are not um are still to be seen so Elijah having seen a great Victory suddenly found his life under threat he felt the isolation the anxiety
The depression the burnout he was there and it’s all there you might say how is it that Christian at the Pinnacle of the Mountaintop can fall into such deep anxiety and depression how on Earth can Christians burn out if they know Jesus well the passage tells us what to
Watch out for to warn ourselves and to look out for in others what are the causes of anxiety burnout or spiritual depression what made him run away well the first was shock one of the great triggers for that turning point in our lives is when something a bad surprise things
Don’t go the way we expect and suddenly we look away from what God might be doing in our lives and look at the fact that we just suddenly out of control be warned Temptations will strike you when you least expect Elijah had expected Ahab and Jezebel the king
The queen to repent and call everybody back to faith in God and you couldn’t get more clear proof than fire falling down on heaven to prove who was God but instead of Ahab pouring out his heart to God when he got home he poured it out to Jezebel he blamed Elijah for
All of the disruption and Jezebel said right well I’m going to send the hit squad out for him along with my prophets and just as Elijah was expecting Revival he gets a death threat you wouldn’t have expected that and it wasn’t very subtle Jezebel didn’t want a dead martyr she wanted a discredited
Prophet somebody whose newborn reputation was demolished like Jesus Jesus at the last supper at a glorious New Covenant meal yet in that moment Judas his trusted Apostle goes to betray him everything fell apart everything fell apart for the apostles they went to Gethsemane and there suddenly having expected the kingdom to come through
Jesus in a different way as the soldiers came to arrest them they all fled be warned if in your life you see great spiritual blessings great successes or breakthroughs that’s the point that we’re most at risk and what happens is we take it for granted to ourselves and
Don’t look to the God who gave it shock can trigger it fear can trigger it fear of danger Elijah simply was afraid for His Life Run Away don’t contend for the faith go and form your own faith what was Elijah thinking he was thinking he was vulnerable he just
Simply assumed well this revival is only me and God’s shown that he’s th there’s only one Prophet left and if the if Jezebel kills me that’s it the Revival’s over it’s all on me now isn’t it that’s how he felt what if he failed he hadn’t been Afraid on Mount Carmel because his
Eyes were on God he had nothing to lose he was going to get put to death anyway so he might as well call down God’s evidence of his power but now Elijah felt fear because he felt he was key he started to think it’s only me that can do
This you know actually Revival can’t come can it unless I’m part of it in fact do you see in jesus’ life why Gethsemane was so important in some ways that battle to win our Salvation was one on Jesus knees in the Garden of Gethsemane because that was the moment with most pressure where
He could have turned away and gone a different way he faced his fear his anxiety with his gaze upon God but more quickly there are others In this passage aren’t there in verse three notice um that when Elijah is on the Run he isolated himself he left behind his only
Companion at BBA in Judah and then headed off into Pagan territory if you are going through depression maybe today or breakdown you’ll know what I mean in saying the last thing you want to do is have a load of people around it it may be good for
You but you just don’t want to face them without his servant Elijah could let self-pity take over his questions turn inwardly because there was nobody there to help him get perspective you know that is why God has made us to need Fellowship that is what church is for to
Spur one another on to love and Good Deeds why because we’re not supposed to be alone like Embers in a fire if you take the Embers out they cool and go dark but if you stay together you can encourage and warm each other actually we need each
Other and you’re most at danger when you isolate yourself and you might think in the church Cong ation today who’s not here today are they not here because they’re just feeling a bit overwhelmed by life and pressures because actually God’s called us to be together for them alongside in isolation though in
Verse four is his exhaustion his tiredness his lack of sleep he just settled down under the broom tree and wanted to die he ran 18 miles from Jezreel to where he ended up so it’s not surprising who was exhausted both physically spiritually and emotionally we are as the New Testament
Puts it Jars of Clay fragile easy to break which is hard just physical tiredness can trigger depression when you’re feeling a bit down isn’t that when you stay watching TV into the late night on rubbish until it’s too late you done that and that tiredness makes it harder
To do the thing you know you need to do harder to get the sleep that you know you need exhaustion and and and finally failure he just simply says oh Lord I am no better than my fathers and he’s talking about the generation where the faith had
Drifted away you know the Gen My Generation in this country you know when I was first converted it was still something like 12% of the country would call themselves Christian now it’s 2% so that’s on my watch this is my fault it’s not just me but um I wouldn’t
Want you to think that but actually you see what you see what he’s thinking say I’m no better than anybody else they were all bad and I’m no good no better and despite the mount carel experience Ahab hadn’t repented Jezebel was still in power and Elijah was as weak as ever
One small failure in a busy life can trigger a spiral of depression and despair I have known remarkably successful people lose it all over a small failure in their life or they lose a job and then suddenly they can’t cope with being a father and a husband and they can’t
Cope with the church anymore and they can’t cope because that one thing triggers it all and their whole life seems like it’s failed and the point is these things sh fear isolation tiredness and failure they’re not wrong in themselves they’re normal parts of living in a fallen World
In fact they’re inevitable in a fallen world what goes wrong is when the testing of them all comes at once and we take our eyes off God’s ability to cope and look at our inability to cope and we are not made to be able to cope with all
These things we’re made to be continually dependent on The God Who Made Us and loves us I wonder if some of the these things haven’t been triggers for you at the moment so what is good news is the passage tells us what God does with battered suicidal Saints or with us
Even if those are the causes here’s God’s therapy for anxiety or burn burnout and sometimes to break the cycle of anxiety and depression we need to work at some very tangible physical things so here’s what you don’t often hear um ministers telling you actually first thing you need to do sleep and
Food Elijah was exhausted he effectively as we see in passage from verses 5 to9 he slept for three days he just absolutely did nothing sat under a broom tree wanted to die and God had compassion he fed him and he did even better than the hospital God wasn’t like
A sadistic nurse who puts the food on a table where you’ve got to get up and reach out for it the foods by his head do you know that I always love the details of the Bible he’s just there he just okay he didn’t even have to sit up God fed
Him Martin Lloyd Jones who’s a famous preacher um from a previous generation was famous in counseling people with spiritual depression he was a medical doctor as well and he would simply say with people came to him feeling spiritually down his first said well what I want you to do is go away and
Sleep for a week and then come back and talk to me again that was his way of dealing with often just dealing with physical needs will transform our perspective on spiritual needs if you are in that space take a break and to be more specific not just sleep in food he goes on
Holiday go hiking now I mean this sounds desperate to you because you you read it as he arose vers ate ate and drank and went in the strength of that food 40 days and 40 nights to harb the Mountain of God that’s awesome he’s gone for
Miles well okay it was over a period of time he traveled 200 miles in 40 days five miles a day you manage five miles a day this is holiday it’s not really hiking God doesn’t overstretch him when he’s coming out of weakness he gives him
Space he gives him the space to take him back to the heart of where things happen Mount horb was the mountain where the Ten Commandments revealed and God spoke to Moses so he’s gone in the sense on a pilgrimage he’s gone to the place where God’s word was first given to the people
Of God he’s gone back to his roots here is part of God’s therapy when we’re so overwhelmed and we feel down and depressed go back to that the heart of Who You Are Who God’s made you to be the gifts that he’s given you you know when
Work overwhelms you remember why you did it in the first place what made you good at it when your family is too much to cope with remember the love that you have for them go back to the heart of it and in so far God hasn’t actually answered Elijah directly some of those
Symptoms were met by food and break in a holiday his burnout and exhaustion and fear may be gone but what was left was still the heart of the problem and I think I just want to say to you you should know if you’re in this in a
Moment it’s because God knows our hearts that he knows how to deal with our hearts he doesn’t throw everything at us he doesn’t show us all of our sin all at once because it would be overwhelm us you know even Paul when he wrestled with his weakness the Apostle I mean I love
The fact in one Corinthians he says I am the least of the Apostles he’d learned humility by the time you wrote Ephesians he said you know I am the least of all God’s people so not just least in Apostles now he’s put himself right down at the bottom of all the Christians by
The time he writes Timothy what do he say I am the worst of all Sinners as he goes on he appreciates how little of him he needs God doesn’t throw it all at us at once he just gives us the next step the next step is what we need to
Take in faith in fact I I love sorry this is a a sort of a side but just as we say in the Creed right at the beginning of service you know you all said I believe and trust in him and sometimes you don’t always realize the difference between
Belief and trust and my favorite picture of it is a few years ago I went to Peterburg to the National parachute Center you all believe in parachutes don’t you but trusting one’s very different than believing and what’s the difference it’s one step at a plane in the doorway at 5,000
Ft trust is the minute you step outside and they teach you to go 1,000 2,000 3,000 check canopy cuz otherwise you got 35 seconds to live focuses the mind but it’s one step that takes belief into faith that takes belief into trust so God doesn’t confront him with
Everything he says have a rest have a break and then he says have a heart to heart with me verse 13 what are you doing here Elijah well God knew but what God is asking for is Elijah’s heart what was he looking at that he should end up
Hundreds of miles away from the people that God had called him to serve and then it comes out in a flood as it often does I am and there in in um verse 13 uh 14 rather I’ve been very jealous for the Lord the god of hosts for the
People of Israel forsaken your Covenant thrown down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword and I even I only am left and they seek my life to take it from me soor you can hear him just here’s the heart of the problem he’s saying everybody else is doing better
Than me what was the point of being faithful what’s the point belong to a church when only 2% of the population worship Jesus what’s the point why not give into the culture why don’t we just do the stuff the culture wants to do and keep
Our heads down which is sort of what the Church of England keeps debating at the moment why why be different why take a costly Road why Proclaim something different and what happens is like happened to Elijah suddenly he became the center of his Universe it’s all
About me it’s all about me God and and it’s it’s all gone wrong and and I’m not get anything out of this anymore I’m the Heart of My Universe the center of my thoughts and in Elijah’s mind everything had depended upon him his failure it meant God’s work had
Failed here’s how typical it is in depression you see he he distorted the truth when we’re on our own he said well all the prophets have gone you’ve destroyed the altars and all of the prophets but there was still one altar at least standing on Mount Carmel which
Is where the fire had fell that was still there and there were you know the 450 false prophets have been killed you know if you’re very self- obsess you forget that bigger picture you know you forget that oh the Church of England is a complete mess what’s the point of
Doing all of that well look around you you know God is doing something amazing in LOF he is growing his church here through faithful Ministry don’t be in despair of something that isn’t to do with you look at what God is doing and thank him for it but not only dis
Sorting the truth he actually exaggerates the opposition it makes it sound that all Israel was against him in fact it was just Jezebel that threatened his life you might say well the whole church of England’s gone to pot well no it’s just a few a majority of the House of
Bishops who are doing something St stupid don’t let the threat be exaggerated God is on the throne the gospel is still true whatever people inside or outside the church said and don’t feel that God owes you because what Grieves Elijah most it seems is that his Zeal hadn’t seemingly been
Rewarded he felt into the Trap of saying well God’s done one thing in me but you got to keep doing it God you know as though one blessing demands that God keeps blessing me no the whole thing is by Grace He Loves Us despite who we are not because of who we
Are he felt he deserve better and in all these things he’s misses this point and this is where we miss it in the midst of our depression God doesn’t want our success or our service to be the main thing of our Christian Life he wants our heart
Simply God is working in us to prepare us for an eternity of love with him he wants us to love the one who is infinitely lovely and desire his presence more than we desire anything here see danger of successes we begin to think we’ve arrived you know danger of coming to
This churches you think this is heaven this is as good as Christianity is going to ever be this is awesome but this isn’t Heaven friends I mean it’s great you know I’m I’m sure you’re very close to heaven but actually this is far from the little least foraste of the
Future and and Elijah’s had to be reminded that actually we need to desire God more than the things of God we need to desire his presence more than doing things for him it’s a real danger for ministers that they love the work that they do for God more than the God for
Whom they do the work it’s a danger for us as Christians as we serve that the the things that we do become more important to us than the one for whom we do them and church splits and fallouts happen over trivia sometimes I was sharing yesterday with the leaders
Group you know I I had in my first turnaround Church it wasn’t Evangelical Church um a a a group of people fell out with me because I’d allowed young people to put a flower display on a window sill that a particular lady had done for 20 years and she didn’t take communion with
Me for a month and thinking why because we make us our thing not the one for whom we do it the big thing and actually God is saying this morning to you however committed or weak or you feel do I have your heart do you love
Me more than these which is what Peter was ch B with you remember in his depression at his failure do you love me more than these so where does God take him God’s challenge for us is this and this is the verse 9-18 what God does with Elijah is three
Things that should be a help for us if we’re feeling stressed today he first says I I need to remind you that I’m still in charge remember my sovereign power and that famous Story the wind and the earthquake and the fire were all powerful reminders of how God is in
Charge it um exactly what God does in confronting job’s depression you remember in the Book of Job in the Bible God doesn’t give him answers he gives him an experience of how powerful he is in a massive storm and the point is that our weakness does not limit God’s work in US
Two Corinthians puts it for God who said let the light shine out of Darkness made his light shine in our hearts to give us the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ but we have this treasure in Jars of Clay to show that this all
Surpassing power from is from God and not from us and we’re hard pressed on every side but not crushed perplexed but not in despair persecuted but not abandoned struck down but not destroyed and we always carry around in our body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus
Might be revealed in our bodies that’s 2 Corinthians 4: 6 to10 2 Corinthians 4 our weakness doesn’t limit what God can do with us I was reading the story of the lowest off Revival which I didn’t know anything about it wasn’t super powerful people that God used used to trigger the last
Revival here in this town it was some weak faithful people who wanted to pray and ask God to do his thing so remember God’s power in the middle of all of this he is not out of control he is still on the throne and then remember the depth of God’s love
His loving presence in our lives that gentle whisper the still Small Voice it’s not making some point about how silence in prayer is more Godly than noise it’s about intimacy the point to that voice it’s about what you listen for the thing about quiet people is you have to listen
Hard don’t you and you don’t listen hard to people you bothered about a small voice are you really listening to what God wants to your life because there’s all sorts of things you can make your life about but are you listening out for him or is the pressure
Of family and work and all of those other things so those are the voices that are too loud so that you don’t listen so listen to him because your weakness does not diminish God’s love for you the God who can work great Miracles is not a God just to do good
Miracles he’s the god whose love will hold you secure forever and when everything else is taken away nothing can separate us from the love of God that’s in Christ Jesus he will hold you the gospel is still true and even if in the Providence of God he takes you down a path where
You really don’t want to be like being made a bishop in the Church of England or you know or a health issue that you’ve you know you have a stroke and you find you can’t do that one of the great Heroes of my faith was a woman
Called Gertie Duncan who after a stroke was in a nursing home she could do no more she couldn’t feed herself she could had a brilliant smile but she had a beautiful faith and her prayers triggered a mini Revival eight of the staff and half a dozen of the the residents came to Faith
In a 2-year period because of Gertie who couldn’t even feed herself and she could barely talk God’s love is bigger than our ability to do things and when Elijah catches that fresh vision of God go that God’s work didn’t depend on him then we become part of what he’s
Doing then we begin have with our eyes on him we can be part of that bigger picture then you can play your part in lowest stff to be part of what he wants to do because it doesn’t need to be a big thing you don’t need to be the
Upfront person to make this happen you need to be the faithful person in the thing God wants you to do you might be the one who’s praying you might be the one who’s practically helping serving coffee at the end you may do a little thing that God can use to build a bigger
Thing but you’ll only do it if your eyes are on him remember the depth of his love and finally remember his purpose gloriously God never gives up on us even if we give give up on ourselves Elijah had despaired that the king and the queen Ahab and Jezebel hadn’t repented in the
Light of what had happened on Carmel but God says you’re the one who’s going to anoint the next king I’m going to make you Archbishop of Canterbury well that would have been a shock ahab’s Godless Reign was going to come to an end and Elijah’s faithful
Witness was going to be used to do it he thought he’d failed but God said no this is part of the plan you’re not alone you can appoint my the successor to the king and there are still 7,000 faithful in Israel you’re not alone in this your weakness does not frustrate God’s
Purpose for you the question is just this will you be faithful now in the darkness will you trust the light in your weakness will you trust my strength to carry you in your confusion will you trust my word to direct you cuz you don’t need to be strong you don’t need
To have the light you don’t need to have the words I’ve given them to you will you trust me and when you do your life will find its purpose one of the great depressions of the Bible God uses to be one of the great glories but it’s in that moment when we
Take our eyes off ourselves and the limitations of our weakness and fix the unto God’s sovereignty and his intimacy think about Peter in the middle of a storm seeing Jesus walking across the lake and his her eyes are on Jesus what do you want me to do Jesus come over
Here what on the lake and as his eyes are on Jesus he steps out and then he looks down and say what am I doing I can’t do this and he begins to sink and Jesus grabs him by the hand takes him safe back into the
Boat it was only ever him in your Christian Life under the pressures you face it is only ever him this side of Eternity and Glory whatever you face he will never leave you or forsake you your purpose will be fully and finally realized not because of how strong you
Are not because of how great your job is or what brilliant Faith you have or an awesome prayer you are your life will find its purpose because he loves you and will never let you go and in the depth of your darkest moments remember this time remember Elijah in a cave 200 miles
Away from where he ought to be discovers that God is on the throne that God still loves him and God’s power is still going to use him to do his work and here’s the challenge for us because you know we are not at a time where most of the church feels strong
Feels happy feels that we’re making progress but this is God’s message to us it never was about us it’s only ever been about him so let’s take our eyes off how weak we are and open our eyes to how glorious he is let’s look beyond the limitations
Of our own inability and let’s look to the one who has the power to raise the Dead the one who is bringing in a whole new Earth and creation the one who says you are are mine and no one will take you out of my hands and when we look to
Him we will find our future our purpose and the presence of God always so if today you’re in the darkness look up to the light and if today you feel your weakness look around at the strength of what God has for you here and in when you feel completely
Useless hold on to that little thing you do with him and for him which is part of a bigger thing and who knows2 years after the last Revival in England maybe he’ll do it again here let’s pray Lord Jesus thank you that as you look at us
This morning morning you know those of us who are really in that dark place you know those of us who are feeling our weakness who feel failures the ones who are struggling with understanding what’s going on the ones who feel that we’ve neglected things that are really important thank you just that Elijah
Shows us that when our eyes are on you we’re never out of your gaze and your grace so I pray this morning particularly for those in the darkest place that your light will shine aresh that your purpose will be revealed aresh and that in the fellowship that we enjoy
As being your church you’ll help us to see that it’s not about us it’s about you that what you want to do is far beyond what we can do but you are the one who is on the throne and your love is sufficient for us and you have
Conquered death so by your spirit fill us use us equip us to be your people that you may be our God for the glory of Our Savior Jesus amen well as we come to our time of prayer we’re going to um sing a song about the faithfulness of our God I your of GRA in your presence and fullness of joy we worship and wonder behold your face seeing God what a faithful God what a Greatful faithful God faithful in Lord of Mery you have my C through the St your my in in the shelter of your my heart s
God for the faithful God what a fful God what a fiful godi in Oh let those who suffer you I tell break for as long as I Singing for the faithful God what a great what a faithful God in every way for the fful God what a Greatful God what a faithful God Everywh well please be seated as Don Jeremy and Rachel come to lead us in our prayers our gracious Father in heaven we thank you that you appointed robbers the bishop of abset Father we thank you that you’ve raised him up for a time like this but father we we thank you for the
Clear evidence of your grace and your Providence in his life and the way that he’s helped and supported us as a church family we we pray for Bishop Rob and his wife Sarah and his three children James Charlotte and Sam that you bless him in their family life particularly in the
Sacrificial giving of of Rob’s time in providing extended care and oversight to over 150 different parishes spread across England as well as serving as a corupted member of the Church of England Evangelical Council we ask you would give Bishop Rob energy and safety as he travels and he
Ministers courage and wisdom and power and authority in addressing the issues which are dividing the Church of England particularly following the debates and the decisions in November and December of last year we pray for the ongoing discussions with the bishop of Norwich that these May yet lead to a true Unity
Based on the teaching of the Bible that the word of God would be heard by the people of God we also pray for Rob’s staff including his pastoral advisor as they minister to different parishes we ask that you would give them set their Vision on the Lord Jesus and you would
Fill their hearts to overflowing by your spirit we thank you for his ministry at the leaders and helpers day yesterday from the book of one Thessalonians an encouragement to contend for the gospel in the challenging times we Face father May Faith In Our God love for others and the hope and the
Future be evident in all that we do inside and outside Christ Church forgive us father where we have personally stepped back from trusting and obeying the Lord Jesus help us father to serve sacrificially and sincerely fill us with your spirit that we may walk a path of Truth and
Godliness father May the promise Return of the Lord Jesus be at the Forefront of our minds as we plan and we live each day knowing that everyone needs Jesus including that 98% in lowest sta we ask this in his precious name amen amen gracious father we want to thank you
That you want to use each one of us to help bring restoration to your people and creation thank you for how you’ve answered our prayers adid the challenges of the past year Heavenly Father we step into the future accepting your call to help Advance your kingdom and asking to be
Emboldened with the power of your Holy Spirit Spirit father thank you that you’re growing your kingdom through Cafe and Messi Church please continue to build and develop good relationships with all those who come along equip and Inspire those that plan and Lead those Services May gospel seeds be sewn that
Take root and grow in people’s lives Heavenly Father we want to pray too for the Discover meetings that are taking place for each person there we ask that their eyes and their hearts will be open to fully understand your Plan of Salvation as they look into the Bible
Together please reveal the height and depth of Christ’s love for them we pray discover will be a place that nurtures and grows everyone’s faith and helps them to know Jesus better and father we want to commit to you too the planning and prep preparation for the Big House service coming up
Soon please use the gifts and abilities of each person taking part give them wisdom and humility and courage to depend holy on you may Christ be at the very heart of the evening May everything point to Jesus and to your praise and glory and lastly father we want to pray for
Ourselves May Our Lives prayers and actions be Whispers of the world to come as we commit to being instruments of your righteousness grant us a willing spirit let us feel the joy of our salvation and guide us in using our lives to transform our church and our
Community All For Your Glory we ask all these things in the name of Jesus amen amen dear Lord we continue to pray for your kingdom to come in the light of the current situation in Israel which has led to the deaths of many Israelis and Palestinians we pray for Benjamin
Netanyahu’s government and for the Palestine Palestinian hamus leadership that they will be able to meet and resolve as far as they can some of the differences between them that have existed for so many decades and we pray for efforts made by politicians in our country the United
States and elsewhere to try and bring the violence to an End we also pray for the efforts made by our government and others to persuade Iran to urge its proxies in the Middle East such as Yemen’s hooes to cease its attacks on shipping in the Red Sea which have been taking place since November allegedly in response to Israel’s attacks on
Gaza we continue Lord to pray for your kingdom to come in the light of the ongoing war in Ukraine and that the two countries concern can somehow be reconciled to avoid further Bloodshed we continue to pray for those that have had to flee from the country particularly those who have come to the
UK and for other countries such as Poland who have taken in large numbers of refugees we pray that the churches in all these countries can be involved with po politicians the military and others in coming to an agreement on the way forward that will bring this war to an
End we finally pray once again for our own country and for our government as it continues to Grapple with all kinds of difficulties such as our National Health Service which has record numbers of people waiting for operations and a large number of crumbling Hospital buildings many of
Which are in this part of the country we pray also that efforts will be made to resolve the issues which have prompted long running strikes amongst some groups of workers we pray that the so-called cost of living issues that have affected so many people over the last few months can
Also be eliminated sooner rather than later we pray all these things in Jesus’s name amen and we close our time of prayer with the words of the uh set prayer for this week Almighty and everlasting God ruler of all things in heaven and on Earth in Mercy hear the prayers of your people
And grant us your peace throughout our lives through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen well let’s stand to sing our closing hym Build Your Kingdom Here set to rule and in our heart increase in us we pray un a very Holy Spirit Come us we are your church we need Your we s your king thirst we hunger and we thirst refuse to waste our lives for your our joy and PR to see the heart releas the the sing the at we down our Liv to Heaven are your church we pray Des your king here let the darkness show your Mighty hand he Street and take your church of with this nation CH the atmosphere build your king here we Praying the and of H St your beauty changing heart you made us for much for the AWA the kingom see us fill us with the strength and love [Applause] Of all the Earth build your king let the darkness show your Mighty hand in the street and take your chch of with this na back change the build your kingom here we pray build your king here let the dark show your Mighty hand in the street and set your church of with this
Nation change the build your kingom here we PR father we go ahead now into this week um there may be Things We Fear there may be Darkness around us but we go in the great confidence that Jesus is with us he is on the throne and he lives in our
Hearts by the spirit amen well please be seated do stay for tea and coffee afterwards if you’d like someone to pray with about a personal matter there’ll be some prayer team in the office and we love to see you at Cafe church Later Oh