Faith and Love working together as one church in Rammy.
On the 27th April the Campaign Celebration Service was held at the Community Church (Pentecostal) Pastor Steve, Rev Claire and Rev Paul gave thanks for the all those who took part: those who put the gift items together every week, those who produced the written material, posters, fliers etc and the churches who provided venues for the events especially St Paul’s where the street team where based. We heard testimonies of people’s response on the street, six people including myself gave testimonies: I mentioned the ladies who I had a conversations with during the Chocolate Festival Weekend{ (without going into detail) one lady in particular I prayed with her for healing, she had been healed. Also the two ladies who came up to me and asked if Jesus was God? My response, “Yes, Jesus is the word of God clothed in the flesh.” I asked her why she had asked me this, she said that she had watched the film, ‘the Shack’ I had watched the film two weeks before so I could converse with her about it.
I didn’t attend all the events, but the event I most enjoyed was the “The Sound Portrait,” were a person sat in the chair surrounded by three violins, a cello, flute and keyboard. Lead by the Holy Spirit they played and sang moving around the person. It was so moving the harmony was heavenly, afterwards the leader of the orchestra spoke to the person describing their portrait in words. Every person received the ‘Sound Portrait’ on a CD. One of the blessings from this campaign is were Christians grow through experiencing the movement of the Holy Spirit.
The hope is now that in due course we will see the difference it’s made to the churches.
Tim Dearborn – Alpha website, ‘The Church of God does not have a mission in the world’ . . . it is more accurate to say that ‘The God of mission has a church in the world’.
The Saturday morning outreach continues, under the banner of Churches Together, and last weekend the town held a World War 2 event.
Over the year Ramsbottom holds a number of organised events to entertain the steam train visitors who pay a visit the town stopping off at Ramsbottom Station on their journey to the end of the line at Rawtenstall. (East Lancs Railway).
Many people dressed in uniforms and the fashion of the era. In the background we heard Vera Lynn songs: ‘The White Cliffs of Dover’ ‘Keep the Home Fires Burning’ etc The steam trains brought hundreds of visitors to the event, old cars were on display and the army land rovers all playing their part. A mock battle was acted out around the station in the afternoon.
We had a stand outside St Paul’s Church on the right-hand side of the entrance. The Churches Together flag and on the table a display board, and several things to give out to people.
In preparation for the event we bore in mind the conversation that might come from the articles and pictures on the display board:
WW2 news item ‘ King George V1 calls for the nation to pray’. Visitors from abroad hear the story of answered prayer:” The German army had driven back the British army to the Dunkirk beaches, the soldiers were stranded there. So the evacuation was crucial the prayers were answered:300,000 soldiers were taken off the Dunkirk beaches by a flotilla of small boats and Royal Navy frigates.
Also, on the display board testimonies of German and British soldiers of the WW1 battle at Mons soldiers seeing the multitude of angels.
One of our team witnessed the true story passed down from her relative, he was a stretcher bearer at Mons,and he saw the angels. One angel in particular he described as being 24 feet tall. She said, ‘It’s thought the angels were there to carry the dead to heaven.” Jesus in his parable about ‘the Rich man and Lazarus’ said that the poor man Lazarus died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. Luke 16: 22. This word spoke to someone present and was comforted by the thought of angels carrying Christians on both sides to heaven.
“Whose side was God on?
I had prepared for one question that might have been asked: “There were Christians on both sides, so“Whose side was God on?
The answer I believe is that God doesn’t take sides, he upholds the truth and right from wrong in His eyes.
The proof is in the Bible: after the death of Joshua, Israel turned to the Canaanites gods and disregarded the God of Israel. This resulted in God leaving them to their own devices. We read in Judges that they were beaten in battle their assets were seized and they became their victor’s slaves. God didn’t bless their apostasy, because the truth wasn’t in their hearts. The last judge Samuel was a Godly man who upheld the Jewish Law, but his sons didn’t. Judges 2:11-23. 1 Samuel 8: 1-5.
In the New Testament we read that Jesus was gathering the lost sheep of the house of Israel, so when a Gentile lady came to Jesus and asked for her daughter to be healed, The conversation that followed Jesus said, “Let the children first be fed, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” But she answered him, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” Jesus said, “For this saying you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.” Matthew 10: 6. Mark 7: 24-30.
In our reading Jesus was doing right by God’s will when he acknowledged that he came to gather the lost Jewish people into the fold. Matthew 10: 6.
The element of truth; the Gentiles would be brought into the kingdom was acknowledged by Jesus by blessing her with the healing of her daughter.
Going out in two’s
Two of the team stayed by the stand and the rest of us went out in pairs to witness on the street.
We witnessed to several people but one man that stood out:
We had a long conversation with him, he said “There’s nothing after death, your dead and that’s it.”
He also told us that he had recently had a heart attack. The look in his eyes I knew he was searching, he listened intently to every word, especially about God’s love, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
This verse led to talking about God’s love where Jesus became the final offering for sin and it’s causes. The person brought their offering to the temple saying a prayer transferring their sin to it, it was slain and its blood sprinkled onto the altar for forgiveness of sin and this was repeated when they had sinned for forgiveness. The cross means- Jesus is our sacrifice for our sin, he takes our sin and died as a result, God raised Jesus from the dead into eternal life. So by God’s love Jesus takes our sin upon himself on the cross and we receive a free pardon for all that stood against us, and in God’s love for us, we receive eternal life in the Spirit of God’s love. After saying this, he said that his wife was a Jewess, so I thought that these words he perhaps would relate to Leviticus 1 where it’s recorded about this procedure of bringing the sacrifice for forgiveness of sin.
I’ve prayed for the church to have a great love for the lost, and the Lord has answered my prayer.
During our prayer time a young man began to sing the Lord’s My Shepherd we all joined in, it was so moving and blessed.