“You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
I will be found by you, declares the LORD” – Jeremiah 29:13-14a (NIV)

The other day I played ‘hide and seek’ with a two year old, it was really fun. I hid behind a curtain and was calling her name to come and find me. When she eventually did she was so excited she jumped up and down screaming, and so did I. It was an exciting game. God asks us to seek him; the Scripture is full of encouragements to do so. (Deut 4:29; 1Chronicles 22:19; Psalms 105:4; Hosea 10:12; Zephaniah 2:3)

Just like me playing that game with a two year old, God is as excited as we are when we seek Him and find Him. God doesn’t want to hide His face from us. He longs for an intimate relationship with each of us. In the Old Testament God hid His face from people when they were full of rebellion and sin, but revealed Himself to the righteous. God hid His face from Jesus on the cross so that he doesn’t have to hide His face from us.

Through the death & resurrection of Jesus Christ a way has been made for us to have clean hands and pure hearts (Psalms 24:3-4). He has made a way for us to come into His presence, to look upon His face. The curtain has been torn in two from top to bottom, the barrier has been removed. In my game of ‘hide and seek’ I hid behind the curtain for as long as I could, but now God stands in the open calling our name allowing us to find him.

If we seek the Lord with all our hearts we will find him, it is a promise. If my two year old friend hadn’t of put her whole heart into playing ‘hide and seek’ it wouldn’t have been as exciting. The aim of the game wasn’t to stop her from finding me; the aim was to see her excitement when she did. Let’s determine to be a people who continue to seek the Lord with all our hearts, checking our dedication, and enjoy the excitement of when we find Him. God calls us, and we come running wholeheartedly to find Him standing before us.

“Let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice!” (Psalms 34:10b)

Nathan Whillans

At the end of last month, 17 mums from King’s Church and New Life Salford went along to a Care for the Family event called “Motherhood – a rollercoaster ride”. This event was run by Care for the Family, which is a great organisation that seeks to promote strong family life.

In a society that often under-values the importance of motherhood, it was great to go along and be encouraged that being a mum is a high and important calling. We received some helpful ‘top tips’ and were reminded to keep focused on the important things, like giving our time and attention to our kids, rather than trying to maintain a ‘perfect’ house. This event was also a very entertaining evening, with some lighthearted and comedy takes on the day to day challenges that we can face as mums. It was great fun to laugh together, realising that we’re not alone in our experiences.

To find out more about the wide range of courses that Care for the Family run and the resources that they produce, check out www.careforthefamily.org.uk.

Mother’s at King’s Church really value the support and encouragement of one another. If you are a Mum and don’t currently feel connected to other Mums in the body, you could speak to Lisa Beattie, Emma Champion or Jane Barrow to find out about day-time fellowship with mums, toddlers and babies during the week. Come along, have fun, be encouraged and eat cake!

Deuteronomy 14:22-27 (NIV):

Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year. Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the LORD your God always. But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the LORD your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the LORD will choose to put his Name is so far away) then exchange your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the LORD your God will choose. Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice

When we tithe it is for the benefit of ourselves. In the Old Testament times the people were required to tithe of their crops and their herds. As you can see here in this passage they were actually required to eat it before the Lord as a sacrifice and to show that they feared the Lord. This is the same for us today except we do not earn our wages in animals or crops so we bring money a tenth of that what we earn before the Lord, however it is still so that we would be fed. Have you noticed that it says this in Malachi 3:10:

“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it”

We bring our tithe so that there is spiritual food in the house, so that we are fed from the word. We know from the financial report Gavin brought to us not long ago that some of the elders are supported from the tithe to do the job that they do. The elders are there to shepherd us and to lead us so that we would grow as a people numerically and spiritually, this comes from being fed by them. If there is no food/tithe in God’s house then how can we as a people expect to grow? Let us be a people who do what is required, & even commanded of us to do in order that we would grow.

Deuteronomy 15:4-6

“However, there should be no poor among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you, if only you fully obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today. For the LORD your God will bless you as he has promised, and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. You will rule over many nations but none will rule over you.”

This is a great promise from the Lord that if we do what he commands us to do then we will be richly blessed and we will lend to nations and borrow from none. I believe that for us in this time we really need to get a hold of the word and run with God’s promises. In terms of growing as King’s Church to be thousands of people we need God’s miraculous provision for a new building and I know that God will richly bless us in this if we obey his commands.

Kelly Shennan

The early Christian church was a community of people who were involved in creating new relationships among themselves and in the outside world. They saw their Lord as no private or individual Lord but always as Lord of the church and Lord of the world. They loved the church and they loved the world. The Church was never a closed world to itself.

Paul for example, was aware of the literature of the cultures he moved around in. He could quote Greek poets as well as the Old Testament scriptures (Acts 17:28).

He was the consummate cross-cultural messenger. He did not preach to anonymous faces at evangelistic crusade meetings but was willing to, and entered into other people’s lives. Although he was free he still entered into other people’s worlds.

1 Corinthians 9:19-23 (ESV): For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

There was in this form of incarnational mission identification without loss of identity. The Church was active in its culture and part of it. But where the culture clashed with the Lordship of Christ they were very public in proclaiming what they saw as the fact of God’s reign, even to the point of death.