Well it’s good to be with you this morning I’m I’m feeling particularly old this morning I was parking my car in the multi-story car park in the center of town and um uh you need to get a ticket okay if you park at a certain time and I
Went over to the machine and it said enter full registration number as it normally does and uh and I caught myself a reflection on myself in in the glass doing this I thought Russ why are you doing that you don’t need to pull that face
And I checked myself I don’t I can see perfectly well I’ve got very focal I can see but I CAU myself doing this and I thought that’s kind of that’s like a 60-year-old expression that just happens naturally I mean I don’t know whether other people have noticed that
But it’s seems to be built into our genetic makeup you reach a certain age and things you do change I remember 5 years ago when I hit 55 telling you you about when I noticed I was just bending down for something and absolutely no need for it but 55 year olds and above
Make noises like that you think what is the need for that there’s no need for the noise doesn’t help at all makes no difference you sat on the sa and your wife says can you just get up and milk the cow or something and uh it’s like it’s like so
That’s tickle shle I don’t know what okay good what is that it doesn’t help at all and then you notice yourself doing it when you pick a kettle up or something it’s it’s just an age thing isn’t it so I was pondering over these things and I walked into church this
Morning and I needed to make my way across behind the sound desk to get something I had to clamber over something and Rob Riddler said to me he said to me you’re particularly spritely this morning now some of you are thinking some of you ancient people are thinking well that’s a compliment I
Think there’s only one time in life you use the word spritely and that’s towards an old person you say bolt ran the 100 meters in 9.53 seconds no one said to him spritely you say they didn’t say that to him you but you reach a certain age and people go oh
That’s Sprite so I’m feeling particularly old this morning just one of those things anyway it’s all history now or is it we will get there let me show you some press clippings from 1935 before the skunthorp telegraph was a thing the skunthorp star was the big
News if you wanted to know anything it was the skunthorp star 1935 here we go let’s for a a press clipping terrible boy the headline was and there’s the Press clipping from the uh left I went to the library I read it in full myself here’s a little uh
Here’s a little extract um his mother said he was a terrible boy and uncontrollable at home a 10-year-old boy was offered to have four strokes of the Birch Rod he is a terrible boy said his mother and we can’t do anything with him that ter don’t you feel sorry for that
Little boy I mean he’s now in print in the archives in skunthorp library with his mother there proudly saying he’s a Terri able Bo 1935 and people say the good old days I don’t know here we go let’s have a look here’s another one no coughing allowed
What about this one it was revealed at a conference that a head teacher of a girl school would not allow pupils to cough in school one cough and the offender is packed off home my this is 1935 in this town ladies and gentlemen I some of these articles
Were quite quite comical I I could take all morning just talking about some of these articles and then here’s another one what about this one Pentecostal Hall this is the church notices on the left here 1935 Pentecostal Hall meetings Winterton Road 11: a.m. 300 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. that’s you that is
1935 little Mission hall 1935 Pentecostals you were you were like this embryonic Bunch not allowed in any other church cuz you spoke in tongues and stuff like that you weren’t allowed in other churches but you found your own little place there was another Pentecostal Church you’ll see just no if
You go back go back there we go just above it it says four square Gospel Mission um Ferry Road anyone know what that church was called it was the elim Pentecostal Church it became known as and that was much bigger than uh what this was the
Pentecostal Hall um but there we are you had three meetings every Sunday what do you think about that crammed into this little room and of course the Pentecostal Mission has gone through many changes in many different site locations over the years till we eventually uh built this place and moved in in
1981 one of the significant events right back in 1935 in the notices section of skun up star is this one now we can move on thank you George can you see right at the top the picture of the fell who looks like Harry Houdini I think um but
It says 5 days only special visit of principal George Jeff to the tent on Doncaster Road Revival and healing meetings Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday come see here the days of Miracles are not passed and there we are I’ve put the summary on the right and this gentleman called George Jeff he
Arrived in t town on two occasions that was an advert for for his first visit set up a a a tent on a field down Doncaster Road um called Bradley’s field and uh and ran a full weeks of Revival meetings and it was the The Four Square
Church the elim church that arranged all that but it was you that benefited most for it because your numbers increased as people came to find Jesus and encountered Miracles and had their lives changed it’s handy looking back isn’t it the where things started because so many
Of you here you’ve joined this church in the last two three four five years and you would know nothing about that in fact most people here probably don’t know about that but it’s helpful to know that you have a long geneology of people coming to Faith one thing that’s interesting when you you
Read those old articles and some of us have have been blessed enough to read the old archive documents from this Church there are a few things that stand out one we’ve always been quite a working class Church really uh two on ashamedly Jesus is at the center of
Everything another thing is that it’s always been a missional church always wanted to get hands dirty and do stuff in the community or overseas and one thing that is interesting when you go through week after week after week of the skunthorp star from 1931 to 1939 you
See that on most of those weeks women were preaching isn’t that interesting amen says Al absolutely right and that’s just worth noting because it’s helpful to know where you came from uh but we don’t know a lot about those days and this church and the
Reason we don’t know a lot about it is because it’s history and it’s not just the past past now if you pardon me for a few minutes I’m going to bang on about history and how different it is from the past will you allow me to do that for a
Few minutes because it’s it’s going to be helpful for us see there is a a a puzzle uh and the puzzle is this that history Finds Its Source in the past but it is never just the past history Finds Its Source in the past but it isn’t just the past Hillary
Mantel who many of you know well she’s died now prolific author and historian and she wrote historic fiction as well and had a great deal of success about that she said this history is not the past it is the method we have contrived to organize our ignorance of the past I love
That she also said this history is no more the past than a birth certificate is a birth or a map a journey or a script a Broadway show are you understanding what she’s getting at here you see when we when we say we’ve studied history or if you go to study
History at University you are studying records of bits of the past or you’re studying objects the rare one or twos that have been dug up from the thousands that were made in that particular area you’re grasping at a little bit of what has been the past and
Finding the bits of that that have been deemed worthy to be written down or archived or saved or cherished and we study that and and that’s what we call history whereas the truth is this 99.9% of all all living is unrecorded think about that 99.9% or more I probably could keep
Going with the nines of all living is unrecorded it is unknown to history but it is the past and unless you’re a very special VIP or you write blogs of Vlog and you keep these things not just in a electronic digital domain but you archive them somehow and you’re going to
Bury them deep in the ground 99.9% of your living will not be history but it will be your past just a little aside aren’t you glad that God notices everything and he’s not just a historian picking away at the little bits that humans think are important but
He sees everything sees you at your most vulnerable moments those moments when you’re you’re walking in the shadows those moments when you’re you’re feeling terrible and you wouldn’t you wouldn’t want to write down anywhere how terrible you’re feeling but God is there because he’s not a God who is just interested in
History he’s a God who is interested in living and in life but we humans were different I remember singing a song it was very popular when I was a youth pastor and I used to lead this song all the time and it was a great song it was called
History maker it was a b by band called Delirious I want to be a history maker in this world or whatever like that and and you’re sing it and everyone’s going but the truth of course is well unless you’re going to get an army Advance another Nation you probably won’t be you
Ain’t going to make history but you’re going to make a past and that’s very very important now despite this difference between history and and the past it’s interesting that the Bible encourages to take note of our past and the the we’re going to look at
Maybe a reason or two why that might be the case and it occurs to me just thinking about uh someone recently who’s really important to us as a a a church that you know leaving a legacy is never as important as how you lift people up along the
Way so so much of society now is focused on when I’m gone what Legacy will I leave behind and sometimes that’s a monetary Legacy sometimes it’s a a building you’ve put up some sometimes it’s an effect you’ve had on on people and you just want to
Shore up that Legacy to make sure people know and one thing I understand from this difference between history and the past is that’s never as important and sometimes it can be a distraction to how we live our lives every day and whether we lift people up how we lift people
Every day of Our Lives is far more important than worrying about the Legacy you leave anyway the Bible encourages us to take note of the past Isaiah 51 if you have a Bible please turn to it it’s uh verses 1 and two of Isaiah 51 but it’s coming on
The screen we encourage you to bring your Bibles get used to turning to things it helps you learn where things are in the Bible and helps you get to know the plot line and that kind of thing but here we are Isaiah chapter 51 the prophet comes to the leaders and the
Influentials of the people of Israel and he says this consider the Rock from which you were cut the Quarry from which you were mined consider the Rock from which you were cut and consider the Quarry from which you were mind and then he reminds the people of Abraham and Sarah and Isaac
And Jacob and he reminds them and he really he’s he saying this don’t forget don’t forget where you came from don’t forget your past and it’s an interesting chapter to you you for you to read and you can see how the prophet reminds Israel of that
Uh here’s another verse way over in the New Testament now uh from the book of Philippians chapter 4 very famous chapter and quite early on verse 8 the writer of Philippians we I believe it was the Apostle Paul he he said this think about what is true honorable pure lovely and
Admirable think on things that are worthy of Praise there’s a message for us all I mean we could just read that and go that’s going to be my lesson for the day and and go home because this world is full of stuff that is the antithesis of
All those kind of things and it floods our attention all the time but here’s something interesting about that verse and how we tend to read it we tend to read it this way hey oh yeah I’m going to look out for things that are good and honorable and admirable and all those
Kind of I’m going to look out for those things but but the people he was talking to were the people who who loved to look at their past and recite their past and and learn from their past and and see where God was in their past and and in
Their context they would also see it as this when I think about my life when I think about my past I’m going to look for the things that are good I’m going to look for the things that are true and honorable and pure and lovely
Etc now some of you who know your Bible may be thinking but doesn’t the Bible doesn’t Paul St Paul tell it’s not good to look back doesn’t he say something like oh well I I forget what is behind and I press on and take all and you’re
Absolutely right he says that and on a couple of other occasions he says something like that but Paul also has no problem reciting his own past to people and you can read about it you go you go on a Paul hunt where he recites his past sometimes in in aspects of of
His ministry where he’s needing to convince someone of how good Jesus is and why Jesus matters because Jesus has mattered to him he will share his story with them and he will dig into the past and it’s not always a good past Paul if
You were to ask Paul hey tell us tell us about your past which rock will you cut from Paul which Quarry will you mind from he would probably sit you down you say I sat at the feet of the pH philosopher gel he’ll take you right back I was
Trained to be a zealot I was taught by zealous people and it’s all there in the book of Acts you you can read this and so Paul was a reflector like people were in those days of his culture of his past and of his life Journey so yes Paul does
Say leave things behind and press on but he’s talking about a particular thing of taking hold of Jesus Christ there are things that you don’t need to dwell on so in other words as a summary Paul would say this don’t get stuck when you think about your life and your past don’t get
Stuck but do consider be thankful and learn now we don’t want this to turn into a therapy session okay and many of us have had therapy and if you’re in a position where you need therapy it’s a good thing let me tell you it’s a very very good thing um but
This is what the Paul the Apostle would say to us he would say look when you look back at your life not things that are maybe recorded in history they don’t matter to anyone else but they’ve mattered to you and some of them may have screwed you up and and some of some
Of them may be full of joy when you look look back try and look back at the things that are true that are honorable that are worthy that are admirable the things that lift you up don’t get stuck but consider be thankful and learn um listen let’s face it for all of
Us our past may be littered with sin and shame anyone else or just me our past may be littered with guilt and pain or maybe just you know a range of things from embarrassing gaffs and shortcomings through to career and Life Choices that don’t make sense anymore
You look back and you think why did I choose that why did I decide that why did I do that yet get this I want you to get this despite all that and how you feel about it now God was there I want you to get it God was
There you know that mess up you made that big one where it really hurt you on the inside and it hurt other people too and you look back on it now and you get the little tingle and it’s that tingle of shame or guilt I want you to tell you though you
Might not like the memory God was there because God’s not just interested in history in archives he’s interested in how you live and he was in that moment and above all people the people that should be able to look back and consider and be thankful and learn our
Us cuz you were never alone in that moment God was there and he didn’t come and intervene and mess things up because you’re too precious to him with Free Will and all that kind of things but get this God has laughed with you through your life he has cheered you on through your
Life and he’s wept with you through your life the spirit of God no hiding from the spirit of God you you can go to the depths of hell and and you are there said the ssist the presence of God with you through your highest highs and your
Lowest lows and if there are any people on this Earth who should be able to look back at our past and be able to to learn from it and consider it it’s us it’s us Believers in Jesus so the question is have you looked for him here’s a tendency for Christians
What we tend to do and because sometimes we taught this right from the beginning you come to Jesus and I’m going to use some metaphors now that some of you will relate to and you take off your baggage right and you you leave it at the foot of the
Cross all right some of us also leave our sense of humor at the foot of the cross don’t you need to go back and get it you left too much okay take your of your baggage and and you left you left it there for and then you move on
Through your life and what we say what we say there is is that none of what went before really matters anymore and I think that does a disservice to God what’s God God interested in you from the moment you were conceived yes watchful over you you have his
Breath in you and you look back and you may say but it was all it was all chaos it it was all you dust and dirt well the Bible starts with a great story that God can make beautiful things out of dust right it’s his business and we look back
And we think well all that kind of thing it doesn’t matter and I want to tell you it does matter and the number of people I’ve talked through through life and and me and Sarah we were sort of taught to do this by mentors ourselves is understand this throughout your whole
Life whole life even before you said yes to Jesus God gives you clues about who you should be through your upbringing I didn’t know Jesus when I was brought up I know but God was there there I was an atheist when I was in my late te I know but God was
There and throughout our whole life God gives us clues about who he is calling us to be how we can be a better o better for him and sometimes as Christians we can dismiss all that and just say none of that matters we’ll just move on and
We we can take to do that because the good is mixed up with the bad and we don’t want to remember the bad but uh I think there is a a lesson here that we can look for God in our past you know the ancient Israelites they were great at this in
Fact they would write songs about it you can read some of the songs the songs that Jews today called the song of Miriam or the first song of Moses and they’ll sing them and we read the lyrics and we think well that’s rubbish oh I wouldn’t be proud of writing that song
But the reason we think it’s rubbish is because it’s not our past it’s their past and what they’re saying is hey look how God was in this here’s a line from one of their most famous songs the the horse and its Rider you have hurled into
The sea oh well think of a Melody to go with that one right good luck get the tambourine out Mariam and see how that I would have Lov to learn now that one was sung okay why is that an important lyric I’ll tell you why CU it wasn’t just an
Event an incident that happened it was an event that happened and God was in it and God was there and I urge you folk because in a gathering like this on a range of screwed upness there are people from zero to 100 and it’s in your past and right now
You’re in this meeting and you’re on a journey to disc discovering more about Jesus wherever you are on that Jesus but I want to tell you this by his Spirit he’s always been there being with you close watching you just like he’s been with the history of this church since
1935 he he he’s been hovering that’s what he does the spirit of God hovers over chaos and waits for opportunities to create Beauty and Order and we’re all on that Journey so I I urge you this is a series called past present and future and today’s talk is about past and next week
I get to talk about the now present and then my final sermon here we’ll be talking about future in a couple of weeks time but I urge you right now we can decide that our story becomes part of the story of redemption that God is telling when we read the Bible and if
You follow the plot of the Bible you see there is a wonderful story of redemption one day all things all things will be redeemed says it in different ways where the writer of Revelation says and all things will be made new and when the AP the Apostle writes he talks about
Creation itself even now is groaning waiting for us to get ourselves in order so then when we get ourselves in order wow God God can recapture and redeem all things and you have a past and only you know stuff that’s gone on in your past
And I was I would urge you this decide today that your past whatever it looks like can be part of God’s story of redemption even the bits that you don’t like to recall there’s a word that a little phrase that is way misused now totally misused it’s the phrase born
Again um in some translations you only find it once in the Bible in other translation you find it a couple of times but Jesus coined the phrase so it’s worth paying attention to isn’t it and Nicodemus came to Jesus by night and they had an encounter and a
Conversation and Nicodemus was a a Pharisee he was in other words he was someone whose genealogy mattered to him very very much he was who he was today because his dad who he was who he was and his grandfather was that’s how it worked for Nicodemus right and so Nicodemus encounters Jesus
And that’s a very honest candid conversation in the middle of it Jesus looks at him in the eye and says but Nicodemus you must be born again in other words all that is true Nicodemus and it has got you to where you are today and I guess if Jesus
Wanted to say at that time he would have said and I saw it all and I was there and I was with your father when he fell off his bike wouldn’t have had a bag donkey okay and and Jesus could have explained all that right but he didn’t
Jesus just said Nicodemus that that all matters but get this you must be born again as well as your pastor that you know about I’m giving you a new pastor where I’m dead I’m I’m dad you belong to me I’m your father you’re born again why that thought is helpful
For us because is this again in a gathering like this some of us looked to our parents and we had amazing parents and we had amazing grandparents but certainly in this day and age for most people that is not the case some people have six parents multitude of grandparents
Some of them have been caused damaged by all that and Jesus comes and he says I know I know and you must be born again I know but here’s something new in other words Paul the Apostle says when we come to Christ we become a some you getting it we become a new
Creation they could have said it this way they could have picked Isaiah’s words and said when you come to Christ with your past where God was in it and through it and giving you clues about your life when you come to him with all that God through Jesus
Says now I’m going to carve you from a new quarry and I’m going to cook you from a new rock and the rock is called Jesus and life can change and be different is that amazing God will never come and say dismiss your past doesn’t matter why because he walked it with
You we don’t waste God’s time like like that and yet he still comes and says but here’s a new rock here’s a new rock it’s called Jesus I’m going to cut you from this Rock I’m going to have his DNA I’m going to carve you from a new quarry I’m
Going to help you think like a new person I’m going to help your spirit be encouraged by new kinds of things I’m going to help you be disgusted by things that you should be disgusted by I’m going to help you walk on a right and narrow path when it seems like the rest
Of the world is going the opposite way on a broad path I’m going to help you do all that because I’m going to cook you from a new quarry and that’s what we’re called to and that’s what we look for in our past I just want to take two minutes right
Now um I’m going to carry on I ain’t quite finished yet but let’s Close Our Eyes two minutes there are people here this morning a and you’re maybe here out of habit or you here because you’ve been dragged here by your family member or you’re here just because you’re intrigued and
In any crowd like this there’s a range of people from the committed through to the just plain curious and we’re all here this morning and we’ve been hearing songs song about Jesus and bible passages read about the spirit of God and love and and then you’re hearing someone like me tell you
How God through the spirit has been with you throughout your whole life giving you Clues and trying to steer where he where he can Moment Like This and and now he says however good or awful your pastor is it is part of what you are but today today you can be
Carved from a new new rock his name is Jesus you can be dug from a a quarry that you knew nothing of before what does it need from us needs some humility scripture tells us God gives grace to the humble but he resists the proud so we come and we come humbly and
Maybe we want to say a prayer like this and it’s my one of my habits just to say a prayer and have people repeat it and maybe you would all do this but there’ll be just a few people and they will really mean this prayer this morning if
That’s you say it from the depths of your soul let’s try it dear Lord Jesus thank you for your presence thank you for being present with me through my entire entire life I don’t understand it all but I know you love me so I’m sorry for how I’ve harmed
Myself how I’ve harmed other people and harmed my relationship with God forgive me wash me clean carve me from a new rock I invite you into my life and I give my life to you amen you can look up if you prayed that prayer and you meant it maybe you’ve
Prayed it prayer before but you meant it today particularly really sincerely then uh while everyone else is mixing and mingling chatting at the end of the service and just please don’t make your way out of the room maybe grab a coffee or some juice or something and head to
This Banner here it says need to talk and um head head there there’ll be someone just want to spend a few minutes with you I want to give you a a gift and pray with you and just help you on the next step of your journey but it’s
Exciting if you prayed that prayer and mend it I want to say welcome to a new family and it’s not just this family it’s Jesus family okay we read two passages of scripture early I’ve talked a little bit about Isaiah 511 and what that meant but I just want to mention
Philippians chapter 4 uh quickly but just something for us to note um the psychology profession understands this that we humans are far more prone to recalling negative experiences than we are to recalling positive ones every single person in this room unless you’re weirdly special finds it easier to recall
Negative experiences then you do positive ones we tend to recall the sting rather than the soothing that came after the sting we tend to recall the hurt rather than the happiness that’s just the way we are and no one is immune and I mean one thing that does mean for
Us on a matter of fact basis is that all of us need to work harder at thinking positively right because the bias in our lives is towards thinking negatively so all of us just need to put a little more effort into thinking positively but here Paul the Apostle in that passage in
Philippians he tells us the kind of things to think about think about that list of positiv things things that are lovely and true and beautiful and praiseworthy and admirable and I wonder how many of us actually do that in our own life when we start looking back and it’s important we do
It because we find out who we truly are when we look for God in our journey right and you can always know when you look for God in your journey you also know whether you’re walking with him in the present because you know where you were and you know where you
Are now and you say Jesus I’m a I’m a better bigger person because I’ve been walking with you here’s something was worth saying it’s important to do this now while you’re around and living and have breath you know once you die Hillary mantel and other the historians have
Said this kind of thing in different ways once you die you enter into a kind of fiction where you can no longer interpret yourself but other people begin interpreting you have you thought about that once you die other people interpret you because you can no longer speak for yourself
And that’s interesting to know because that’s how history is formed we often I I’m wouldn’t be surprised if we look back and we find Jesus one day and we we tell him some of the history we’ve learned and he goes it wasn’t like that at all because it’s just being
Interpreted that way right and we can be interpreted in a certain way and while we have life and breath in us now let’s make sure that when we look at our past and our lives we look at the things that are praiseworthy and true and admirable I’ve done way too many
Funerals for my liking and I’ve buried beautiful lovely people and have bu buried random Rogues and a funeral service comes and someone like me we meet with a family and we chat with them and we gather stories and anecdotes and we throw away all the nasty ones and we say the lovely
Stuff why because in that moment at that time that’s all that really matters so what are you doing rolling in all the other stuff right now look for God look for the good he’s being with you he’s walking with you with you roll in it Revel it
Remind yourself you’re a son of the child of God you’re a daughter of Jesus Christ he smiles upon you he rejoices with you Revel in it roll in it do yourself good now it was a little boy 1935 don’t know his name don’t know what it was called the article doesn’t say
But his mother went to caught and allowed to be put in print that this boy is terrible and she can’t do anything with him unfortunately that is history because it was put in print and there’s an archive and you can all read it don’t you feel bad for the
Boy I hope someone introduced him to Jesus because Jesus wouldn’t tell him he was terrible he would say hey boy I’m going to cut you from a different Quarry cut you from a different Rock let’s write a story from now let’s Close Our Eyes father God thank
You we are never ever out of your sight never out of your mind I don’t know how you do it but you do it because you are God and Lord we wish sometimes we we hope sometimes and we pray sometimes that you would just intervene in situations yet because of
Your love for us and how you created us you you just call us on and yet we look back and sometimes the good and the god get squeezed out because of the hurt and the pain and all that that kind of stuff and Lord we just come to you now we say
As your children help us think on things that are good and lovely and pure and kind let us be like beacons of light in the shadowy world shape us Lord take us help us enrich our soul and encourage our Spirits with healthy thoughts healthy memories we ask it in the name of Jesus
Amen