Core Convictions

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21 Apr 2024

Core Convictions

Speaker Steve Nichols

Service Morning

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New International Version - UK (NIVUK)

Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Transcript (Auto-generated)

This transcript has been automatically generated, and therefore may not be 100% accurate.

So this morning I just for a few minutes, I wanted to share with you some convictions that I have and that I think God is calling us to have here at all saints. Now, you might think, why do we need to have some convictions? We've got the Bible, we've got the creeds, those of us who are Anglicans, we've got the book of Common Prayer and the 39 articles and all those things. Why do we need more things than that? Well, I suppose I would say in response to that, what kind of church are we?

What kind of church is God calling us to be? What's our DNA at all saints? What are our priorities? How do they shape what we do and how we do it? Well, that's, I think, where our convictions come in.

And over the last year or two I've been praying and mulling these things over and have talked them over with our staff team and a recent PCC away morning we discussed these things and have been trying to shape them together and I have six convictions that I'd like to share with you. I'm going to try and spend about a minute and a half on each one, so you can time me if you like. Here we are. But it's a preacher's minute and a half, so that's all I'm saying here is my first conviction and that is that we be Christ centred as a church. Christ centred.

We gratefully focus on God's son, crucified for our sins, raised, glorified and returning. The focus is on Jesus Christ. And if I have a text, it is Luke 24 45. Let me read it to you. Then Jesus opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures.

He told them, this is what is written. The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day. And repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. That's Easter Sunday evening, Jesus on the road to Emmaus. And he says the message of the whole Bible is centred on him crucified but risen one day returning.

And a message that needs to go out so that people can hear it and turn away from their sins and turn to him and be saved. And in a church, lots of things can compete for the centre of a church. Good things. Good things like outreach and social action and music and children's ministry and all sorts of other things as well. They're all good and the church should be doing them all.

But from our reading in colossians that we've just heard, there is only one thing that can be at the centre of a church life, Paul tells us, in Christ all things hold together.

In Christ all things hold together. Christ crucified for our sins, risen alive today. We might know him and have a relationship with him. Only he is big enough to hold everything together in a church. My conviction is if he is not the conscious centre of a church's life, things will fly off into all kinds of unhelpful directions.

So what do we want all saints to be known for? What do we want our reputation to be? Uplifting music. Well, we do have that and we're very grateful to Chris for leading our music ministry in that faithful Bible teaching. Well, I hope so.

A warm welcome. Yes, I think we do have that as we come through the doors and it's encouraging to hear visitors mention all these things and lots of others as well. But really we want all saints to be known for one thing, the good news of Jesus. Do you know all saints, they really trust Jesus. They believe him, they think he's alive today and he's changing their lives and we want to find out about him.

That's what we want to be the centre of our church. That's my first conviction. Christ centred. Here's the second one. Bible rooted.

Bible rooted. We obediently submit to God's word as our supreme authority in all matters of faith and life. And here's my text again. Words of Jesus, Matthew four. Four.

Jesus said, it is written. It is written. Do you remember when he was being tempted by Satan in the wilderness? When he faced temptation with the choice of living how he wanted to live or doing what his father wanted? He said, it is written even as the son of God, he turns to the scriptures and says, it is written.

The supreme authority in his life and in his ministry was God's word. Have you ever thought of this? How did jesus understand who he was as he grew up as a human being? How did he grow in his understanding of who he was and what he had come to do? How did he grow in wisdom?

The Bible says he did that. The answer is it was from the scriptures. He had to read and learn the scriptures as a human being, just like we do. They were his authority. He didn't automatically know all these things.

Amazingly, he had to learn them just as we do and he learned them from the scriptures. It is written. And if that was true for Jesus, then it's true for us, his church as well. How do we know who God is and what his will is for us as a church fellowship? How do we know how to live in this world, with all its confusions and with all its strongly held views, how do we know who we are?

Well, the answer is it is written. It is written. We want to be rooted in the Bible, obediently submitting to God's word as our supreme authority in all matters of faith and life. So there we go. Christ centred, Bible rooted, third conviction, spirit empowered.

Spirit empowered. We humbly depend on God's spirit in his life giving power in all we do. I'm going to go old testament for this one. But it's about Jesus. It's Isaiah eleven two.

A prophecy of the spirit of the Lord will rest on him. The spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of power, the spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord. And he will delight in the fear of the Lord. How did jesus do any of his miracles? How did jesus teach with authority?

How did he know what was going on in somebody's heart? You know when you read in the gospels and he was talking to somebody and he knows exactly what's going on in their hearts and what answer to give them. How does he know all that? Isaiah eleven tells us it was by the Holy Spirit. By the Holy Spirit.

How was Jesus raised from the dead? Romans one four tells us it was through the Holy Spirit. How does jesus continue to work today? The book of acts says by his spirit poured out on his church. How do people come to know Jesus?

How can we be fruitful for Jesus today only as we're depending on his spirit, empowering us for all we do in his name. And that's why we pray. We pray because we depend on him and it's what we pray for as well. Lord, fill me with your spirit, go on being filled with the spirit. Ephesians chapter five tells us, you see we can be very busy as a church doing lots of activities and it can look as if there is a lot of life and energy being expended.

But if it is not done in the power of the spirit, it is only human effort. Only the spirit can bring the life and presence and power of God to what we do for him and we need him to do that. So that's my third conviction that we are spirit empowered, humbly depending on his spirit in his life giving power for all we do. Here's my 4th fourth of God glorifying we joyfully honour God's name, pointing to him and seeking to please him in what we do and how we do it. It's hard to pick a single text for any of these, but particularly this one.

But his words of Jesus from Matthew five, he said, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven. Harry Truman, former president of the US after the war he's supposed to have said, it's amazing what you can accomplish if you don't care who gets the credit. Other people have echoed that. We don't want to be noticed. Somebody told me recently about their father whose motto in life was, preach the gospel, die and be forgotten.

That's a great, great motto. I love that. I think he was probably borrowed that from somebody else, but I love it. It's a great ambition. John the Baptist said something similar.

Do you remember when Jesus arrived? John the Baptist said, he must increase, I must decrease. That's what I believe should be our conviction as a church and at an APCM. As we look back and we thank God for so much, there are lots of thank yous to be said in the church family, lots of people to thank. And I've tried to say them, if I have forgotten somebody, please forgive me.

But our greatest thanks of all is to him, is to the Lord. We want the arrows to be pointing to him, not to ourselves. We want people not to think, oh, what a wonderful and talented church all saints is. We don't want that. We want people to come in and say what a great God all saints has.

I want to know him too. All the glory to him. So that's number four, God glorifying number five, church growing. We generously use God's gifts to welcome all, to support, serve one another and grow as a church family. Jesus said, I will build my church.

I will build my church. And how does his church grow? Not only in numbers, which we want for him, but also in maturity, which we want for him. The answer is by the gospel. The gospel he's given us.

And Jesus said that the gospel is like a key to his kingdom. And he's given this gospel message focused on him, to his church. Believe the gospel, he says in Matthew, chapter 16. It's like a key turns in the lock and the kingdom of heaven swings open. If somebody does not believe the gospel, then it remains closed to them.

We're not the only church. We're part of God's worldwide church. And in this, as in every church, God has given everybody in this room gifts to use for the benefit of everybody else in this room in order that we can grow properly. When we use our gifts, not only do other people grow, but actually we grow as well.

When we use our gifts. That's when we start to feel that we belong in a church. It's not just their church, but it's my church. And if you served in a holiday club recently, for example, I'd be very surprised if that didn't make you feel a lot more that you belonged and you got to know people by serving together. You'll see on our sermon card.

We have a sermon card now running through to the end of. To the beginning, the of July. End of July. It's on the Bible trolley. It lists all the passages and sermons morning and evening for the next few months.

You'll see that as you pick one up as you leave today. We're starting a series next week called being a church family. And we're going to think about loving each other, offering hospitality, using our gifts, growing together. And Hugh is going to lead us, I think, in the first of those. So, church growing.

Here's my last one. We've had Christ centred, Bible rooted, spirit empowered, God glorifying, church growing, world reaching, world reaching. We confidently share God's gospel in word and deed, both locally and around the world. Unsurprisingly, Matthew, chapter 28. Jesus said, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you. John Wesley, the 18th century evangelist, most well travelled man of his age. You know, he rode the equivalent of ten times around the world on horseback. Imagine how saddle sore you would be after that. He said, the world is my parish.

Isn't that wonderful? We want to be world christians, we want to have a world vision. We've been studying Romans and we've called the series training for mission and we've read Paul's statement at the beginning of chapter one. I'm not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. Everyone needs to hear it and anyone can be saved by it.

And that's why it needs to be a core conviction of ours that we want to be world reaching. We have news that the whole world needs to hear and we want to play our part in sharing it. In a few weeks time, we're going to have world missions Sunday and we're going to be visited by Jason Lane, who works with Inavista, a christian mission that works in Ukraine and Moldova. He's going to be giving us an update and we look forward to hearing from him. Phil Hale and others are going to Kamonal Felix in Romania, the orphanage that this church has had links with for many, many years.

If you'd like to be part of that team going out in September, have a word with Phil Hale in November. As I said, Emma Worrall from open doors will be coming back to preach in the evening on persecuted church Sunday. We need to be informed about God's work around the world. And, you know, it's exciting to pray for it and to think by our prayers and by our giving as well as by our going. We have a stake in what God is doing around the world.

And it's not just nice theory out there or philosophy, it's real life. It changes lives. God came in flesh and blood 2000 years ago and we are called to share God's good news in word and deed. And later in the year, we're going to launch the tiger vision. You'll be aware that work is beginning this summer in the tiger building to replace the heating and some windows in the extension.

But there's bigger, more expensive work to be done in the next couple of years, repairing the roof of the tiger. So what are we going to do with that building? How are we going to use it to serve Linfield and to serve Christ? Well, we've had a piece of work and Paul Wilson has been chairing a group doing some research about the needs in our local area. And how can we use this wonderful building to meet some of those needs for the Lord?

We're going to launch that vision later in the year and it's a very exciting thing. We have an opportunity and we have a gospel to share. So those are my convictions. Children are about to join us. Those are my convictions.

Christ centred, Bible rooted, spirit empowered, God, glorifying church, growing, world, reaching. Yeah, that, I believe, is what we should be as a church and in many ways what we already are. But it's just putting them down there. And over the next few weeks and months, we'll be exploring those convictions through a sermon series and in our connect groups and with the PCC and looking at different areas of church life, what we do and how we do it and running it through these convictions. But can I lead us in a prayer as the children come back?

Lord Jesus Christ, we praise you, that you were crucified for our sins, but raised to life. You're alive today and you are coming back to put all things right. And we praise you that by your spirit we may know you today, have a relationship with you, walk through life with you and you've promised never to leave us. We thank you that you are building your church. We thank you that your church isn't just here at all Saints Linfield, but it is all over the world.

And we are joining, Lord, with millions of Christians today on resurrection day as we meet together. Lord, these convictions, may you write them on our hearts, impress them on our hearts and minds, and on our life as a church. So that, Lord, as others come into this place, they might meet with you, they might be saved. They might know the joy of walking with you day by day and of growing as a church together. We ask this, Lord, for your namesake.

Amen.

Amen.

New International Version – UK (NIVUK)

Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

This transcript has been automatically generated and therefore may not be 100% accurate

So this morning I just for a few minutes, I wanted to share with you some convictions that I have and that I think God is calling us to have here at all saints. Now, you might think, why do we need to have some convictions? We’ve got the Bible, we’ve got the creeds, those of us who are Anglicans, we’ve got the book of Common Prayer and the 39 articles and all those things. Why do we need more things than that? Well, I suppose I would say in response to that, what kind of church are we?

What kind of church is God calling us to be? What’s our DNA at all saints? What are our priorities? How do they shape what we do and how we do it? Well, that’s, I think, where our convictions come in.

And over the last year or two I’ve been praying and mulling these things over and have talked them over with our staff team and a recent PCC away morning we discussed these things and have been trying to shape them together and I have six convictions that I’d like to share with you. I’m going to try and spend about a minute and a half on each one, so you can time me if you like. Here we are. But it’s a preacher’s minute and a half, so that’s all I’m saying here is my first conviction and that is that we be Christ centred as a church. Christ centred.

We gratefully focus on God’s son, crucified for our sins, raised, glorified and returning. The focus is on Jesus Christ. And if I have a text, it is Luke 24 45. Let me read it to you. Then Jesus opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures.

He told them, this is what is written. The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day. And repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. That’s Easter Sunday evening, Jesus on the road to Emmaus. And he says the message of the whole Bible is centred on him crucified but risen one day returning.

And a message that needs to go out so that people can hear it and turn away from their sins and turn to him and be saved. And in a church, lots of things can compete for the centre of a church. Good things. Good things like outreach and social action and music and children’s ministry and all sorts of other things as well. They’re all good and the church should be doing them all.

But from our reading in colossians that we’ve just heard, there is only one thing that can be at the centre of a church life, Paul tells us, in Christ all things hold together.

In Christ all things hold together. Christ crucified for our sins, risen alive today. We might know him and have a relationship with him. Only he is big enough to hold everything together in a church. My conviction is if he is not the conscious centre of a church’s life, things will fly off into all kinds of unhelpful directions.

So what do we want all saints to be known for? What do we want our reputation to be? Uplifting music. Well, we do have that and we’re very grateful to Chris for leading our music ministry in that faithful Bible teaching. Well, I hope so.

A warm welcome. Yes, I think we do have that as we come through the doors and it’s encouraging to hear visitors mention all these things and lots of others as well. But really we want all saints to be known for one thing, the good news of Jesus. Do you know all saints, they really trust Jesus. They believe him, they think he’s alive today and he’s changing their lives and we want to find out about him.

That’s what we want to be the centre of our church. That’s my first conviction. Christ centred. Here’s the second one. Bible rooted.

Bible rooted. We obediently submit to God’s word as our supreme authority in all matters of faith and life. And here’s my text again. Words of Jesus, Matthew four. Four.

Jesus said, it is written. It is written. Do you remember when he was being tempted by Satan in the wilderness? When he faced temptation with the choice of living how he wanted to live or doing what his father wanted? He said, it is written even as the son of God, he turns to the scriptures and says, it is written.

The supreme authority in his life and in his ministry was God’s word. Have you ever thought of this? How did jesus understand who he was as he grew up as a human being? How did he grow in his understanding of who he was and what he had come to do? How did he grow in wisdom?

The Bible says he did that. The answer is it was from the scriptures. He had to read and learn the scriptures as a human being, just like we do. They were his authority. He didn’t automatically know all these things.

Amazingly, he had to learn them just as we do and he learned them from the scriptures. It is written. And if that was true for Jesus, then it’s true for us, his church as well. How do we know who God is and what his will is for us as a church fellowship? How do we know how to live in this world, with all its confusions and with all its strongly held views, how do we know who we are?

Well, the answer is it is written. It is written. We want to be rooted in the Bible, obediently submitting to God’s word as our supreme authority in all matters of faith and life. So there we go. Christ centred, Bible rooted, third conviction, spirit empowered.

Spirit empowered. We humbly depend on God’s spirit in his life giving power in all we do. I’m going to go old testament for this one. But it’s about Jesus. It’s Isaiah eleven two.

A prophecy of the spirit of the Lord will rest on him. The spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of power, the spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord. And he will delight in the fear of the Lord. How did jesus do any of his miracles? How did jesus teach with authority?

How did he know what was going on in somebody’s heart? You know when you read in the gospels and he was talking to somebody and he knows exactly what’s going on in their hearts and what answer to give them. How does he know all that? Isaiah eleven tells us it was by the Holy Spirit. By the Holy Spirit.

How was Jesus raised from the dead? Romans one four tells us it was through the Holy Spirit. How does jesus continue to work today? The book of acts says by his spirit poured out on his church. How do people come to know Jesus?

How can we be fruitful for Jesus today only as we’re depending on his spirit, empowering us for all we do in his name. And that’s why we pray. We pray because we depend on him and it’s what we pray for as well. Lord, fill me with your spirit, go on being filled with the spirit. Ephesians chapter five tells us, you see we can be very busy as a church doing lots of activities and it can look as if there is a lot of life and energy being expended.

But if it is not done in the power of the spirit, it is only human effort. Only the spirit can bring the life and presence and power of God to what we do for him and we need him to do that. So that’s my third conviction that we are spirit empowered, humbly depending on his spirit in his life giving power for all we do. Here’s my 4th fourth of God glorifying we joyfully honour God’s name, pointing to him and seeking to please him in what we do and how we do it. It’s hard to pick a single text for any of these, but particularly this one.

But his words of Jesus from Matthew five, he said, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven. Harry Truman, former president of the US after the war he’s supposed to have said, it’s amazing what you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit. Other people have echoed that. We don’t want to be noticed. Somebody told me recently about their father whose motto in life was, preach the gospel, die and be forgotten.

That’s a great, great motto. I love that. I think he was probably borrowed that from somebody else, but I love it. It’s a great ambition. John the Baptist said something similar.

Do you remember when Jesus arrived? John the Baptist said, he must increase, I must decrease. That’s what I believe should be our conviction as a church and at an APCM. As we look back and we thank God for so much, there are lots of thank yous to be said in the church family, lots of people to thank. And I’ve tried to say them, if I have forgotten somebody, please forgive me.

But our greatest thanks of all is to him, is to the Lord. We want the arrows to be pointing to him, not to ourselves. We want people not to think, oh, what a wonderful and talented church all saints is. We don’t want that. We want people to come in and say what a great God all saints has.

I want to know him too. All the glory to him. So that’s number four, God glorifying number five, church growing. We generously use God’s gifts to welcome all, to support, serve one another and grow as a church family. Jesus said, I will build my church.

I will build my church. And how does his church grow? Not only in numbers, which we want for him, but also in maturity, which we want for him. The answer is by the gospel. The gospel he’s given us.

And Jesus said that the gospel is like a key to his kingdom. And he’s given this gospel message focused on him, to his church. Believe the gospel, he says in Matthew, chapter 16. It’s like a key turns in the lock and the kingdom of heaven swings open. If somebody does not believe the gospel, then it remains closed to them.

We’re not the only church. We’re part of God’s worldwide church. And in this, as in every church, God has given everybody in this room gifts to use for the benefit of everybody else in this room in order that we can grow properly. When we use our gifts, not only do other people grow, but actually we grow as well.

When we use our gifts. That’s when we start to feel that we belong in a church. It’s not just their church, but it’s my church. And if you served in a holiday club recently, for example, I’d be very surprised if that didn’t make you feel a lot more that you belonged and you got to know people by serving together. You’ll see on our sermon card.

We have a sermon card now running through to the end of. To the beginning, the of July. End of July. It’s on the Bible trolley. It lists all the passages and sermons morning and evening for the next few months.

You’ll see that as you pick one up as you leave today. We’re starting a series next week called being a church family. And we’re going to think about loving each other, offering hospitality, using our gifts, growing together. And Hugh is going to lead us, I think, in the first of those. So, church growing.

Here’s my last one. We’ve had Christ centred, Bible rooted, spirit empowered, God glorifying, church growing, world reaching, world reaching. We confidently share God’s gospel in word and deed, both locally and around the world. Unsurprisingly, Matthew, chapter 28. Jesus said, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I’ve commanded you. John Wesley, the 18th century evangelist, most well travelled man of his age. You know, he rode the equivalent of ten times around the world on horseback. Imagine how saddle sore you would be after that. He said, the world is my parish.

Isn’t that wonderful? We want to be world christians, we want to have a world vision. We’ve been studying Romans and we’ve called the series training for mission and we’ve read Paul’s statement at the beginning of chapter one. I’m not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. Everyone needs to hear it and anyone can be saved by it.

And that’s why it needs to be a core conviction of ours that we want to be world reaching. We have news that the whole world needs to hear and we want to play our part in sharing it. In a few weeks time, we’re going to have world missions Sunday and we’re going to be visited by Jason Lane, who works with Inavista, a christian mission that works in Ukraine and Moldova. He’s going to be giving us an update and we look forward to hearing from him. Phil Hale and others are going to Kamonal Felix in Romania, the orphanage that this church has had links with for many, many years.

If you’d like to be part of that team going out in September, have a word with Phil Hale in November. As I said, Emma Worrall from open doors will be coming back to preach in the evening on persecuted church Sunday. We need to be informed about God’s work around the world. And, you know, it’s exciting to pray for it and to think by our prayers and by our giving as well as by our going. We have a stake in what God is doing around the world.

And it’s not just nice theory out there or philosophy, it’s real life. It changes lives. God came in flesh and blood 2000 years ago and we are called to share God’s good news in word and deed. And later in the year, we’re going to launch the tiger vision. You’ll be aware that work is beginning this summer in the tiger building to replace the heating and some windows in the extension.

But there’s bigger, more expensive work to be done in the next couple of years, repairing the roof of the tiger. So what are we going to do with that building? How are we going to use it to serve Linfield and to serve Christ? Well, we’ve had a piece of work and Paul Wilson has been chairing a group doing some research about the needs in our local area. And how can we use this wonderful building to meet some of those needs for the Lord?

We’re going to launch that vision later in the year and it’s a very exciting thing. We have an opportunity and we have a gospel to share. So those are my convictions. Children are about to join us. Those are my convictions.

Christ centred, Bible rooted, spirit empowered, God, glorifying church, growing, world, reaching. Yeah, that, I believe, is what we should be as a church and in many ways what we already are. But it’s just putting them down there. And over the next few weeks and months, we’ll be exploring those convictions through a sermon series and in our connect groups and with the PCC and looking at different areas of church life, what we do and how we do it and running it through these convictions. But can I lead us in a prayer as the children come back?

Lord Jesus Christ, we praise you, that you were crucified for our sins, but raised to life. You’re alive today and you are coming back to put all things right. And we praise you that by your spirit we may know you today, have a relationship with you, walk through life with you and you’ve promised never to leave us. We thank you that you are building your church. We thank you that your church isn’t just here at all Saints Linfield, but it is all over the world.

And we are joining, Lord, with millions of Christians today on resurrection day as we meet together. Lord, these convictions, may you write them on our hearts, impress them on our hearts and minds, and on our life as a church. So that, Lord, as others come into this place, they might meet with you, they might be saved. They might know the joy of walking with you day by day and of growing as a church together. We ask this, Lord, for your namesake.

Amen.

Amen.

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