As often happens at this time of year, some have been away enjoying annual holidays while others were visiting family and friends. For the rest of us back in Chertsey it was my first Sunday ministering as the new pastor of Jubilee.I spoke on the importance of having our hearts set on Pilgrimage from Psalm 84.5. A pilgrim is one who commits himself to going on a journey. Abraham’s first call in Gen 12.1 was to journey to a land God would show him. He did not begin knowing where he would end up. Clarity came as he took his first steps of faith.
According to Psalm 84.5 the person who does this has their strength in God and is blessed. I believe this word carries a prophetic significance for us as a church. I have spent much time seeking the Lord about the way forward and have a clear sense of the subjects and teaching that will enable us to move ahead together.
Please endeavour to listen to this message and others you may miss, (it is available to download from the website as an MP3 here. Soon we hope to have them as podcasts). It will ensure that we are all tuning in to present truth that the Holy Spirit is guiding us into. Let me also invite you to approach my messages as the Bereans did with Paul’s ministry in Acts 17.11 – they received the word with all readiness and searched the scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.
An attitude of readiness and a commitment to constantly go back to scripture to test everything you hear and prove it for yourself is one of the highest compliment you can pay me. As God’s pilgrim people there is something for us to see, be assured of, embrace and confess, Heb 11.13. They are the promises of God. To embrace God’s promises is to embrace God’s reality. Every promise that is fulfilled now is a token of a greater promise yet to be fulfilled in the future.
Healing now points the greater healing that comes through the resurrection, owning property now points to the greater reality that one day we will inherit the earth. So let’s receive every blessing with thanksgiving, but hold it lightly so that we can move forward together in the purpose of God, as pilgrims. Our hearts are not set on temporal realities but on words that will outlive creation, Matt 24.35
I look forward to this faith venture with you.
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