Oystercatchers of the Word

Special message by Carol Walters

A message exploring God's blessing in Numbers 6:22-27 -
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying,
Thus you shall bless the Israelites: You shall say to them,
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.
So they shall put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.

Praying for Nepal (with Roger Thompson, CMS Ireland)

We are called to light the flame of trust & love for Jesus in the hearts of everyone we meet - like candle-lighters to the nations!

Our God calls us, through our prayers, to participate in His wondrous transformation of wasteland to paradise...

Because God is utterly Holy, we know He is without wrong in all His ways, and can be entirely trusted... So may we deeply know His Name, His reputation, as Holy, and trustworthy, as we come to Him in prayer.

The first in our 2025 series on the Lord's prayer, the most famous prayer ever, as we seek to be an outpost of prayer for revival together...

George Harrison called gossip 'The Devil's Radio', which given this week's passage from James 3-4 is actually quite biblical:
"Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish... Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." (James 3:15, 4:7b)
Gossip is a pervasive power of destruction throughout all societies in history. So our big vision is to become a church family that is a "gossip-free zone" - which can only be done by a miracle of God's grace. But why is gossip such an issue? This message explores this in a little more detail.

"The Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word..." (Isaiah 50:4)
Jesus is our teacher, fulfilling this prophecy, who sustains the exhausted through our feeding on the promises of God

Exploring James 2:14-17 about faith & works, and the way true faith in Jesus connects us to Him in a way which brings about abundant fruit of good works, as an effect, not a cause, of salvation.

Message from 18 August 2024 on Solomon's Prayer for wisdom, using the famous 'Serenity Prayer' as a model - a prayer made famous by the AA, but very much a prayer for everyone, no matter what we face!
#christianprayer #prayer #alcoholicsanonymous

How does the love of David for his son Absalom (who was trying to overthrow him) point us to the love Christ poured on us even while we were His enemies?

"Then Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’" (John 6:32-33) M

When we place ourselves like bread in Christ's hand, we're in the place where what looks meagre and lacking (just like the 5 loaves and 2 fish) can be used miraculously to bring hope and life to the multitudes, and reveal God's glory!
 
"Then Jesus took the loaves..." (John 6:11)

Delving into 2 Samuel 7 and Ephesians 2 together, we think about how, in God's Word, the 'House of God' is not meant to be a place or a building, but people. He has made us, as the people of God, His 'living temple'!
 
And as there is only one Christ, there is only One living temple, one 'house of God', which is all His people throughout all time and space... we are part of something so much wonderfully bigger than ourselves!

David didn't hold back - he danced before the ark of God! God loves the overflowing expression of joy in worship! He longs for it to be genuine, the overflow of the heart.
 
Also, He doesn't want us to be like Michal, looking down upon others' clothing & expressions of worship - but instead embracing the way He has created us differently, and longing to be so filled with joy in Him that we can't help but overflow!

‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’
In these words in 2 Cor. 12, our Lord invited Paul on a journey where he would come to gladly know that, far from being a hindrance to his mission, his weakness (his 'thorn in the flesh') was actually the place where the infinite power of Christ could be displayed most staggeringly. So his very weakness became a 'superpower'...
And so he joyfully proclaims, "...whenever I am weak, then I am strong"!

The wonderful, dynamic, life-flow of God's Spirit through us!

Have you ever thought about the idea that we will rejoice in Scripture forever? Unlike heaven and earth, which pass away, the Word of God will never pass away, but will be an unceasing fountain of joy for all eternity!

 Harvest service, as guest preacher at Groomsport Presbyterian, Oct 2023

The harmony of Red, Green & Blue light, and the harmony of a musical chord, as pictures of our harmony with our God as Trinity.
Sermon from our 10:30am service Sun 26th May 2024

Sermon from our 10:30am service Sun 9th June 2024, just after the 80th anniversary of D-day celebrations on the 6th... 
If D-day in WW2 was so symbolic, then what about our "Heavenly D-day" in Jesus' victory on the Cross?