Creation

Posted on Sep 6, 2014 by Laird

“In the beginning, God created … and God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good” Genesis 1

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” Psalm 19
This morning we looked at creation and what it means to us personally today. Everyone had a different reaction to what the Bible has to say about how creative God is. Are we creative because we are made in His image..?
This week we have a challenge – if the only “Bible” we had was the one aspect of creation that fascinates us most, what would that tell us about God?
Want to find out more, join in the discussion – then come next week..!

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Proverbs 3:5

Posted on Aug 17, 2014 by M Emlyn Humphries

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
The discussion in Refresh this evening was wide ranging. We finished with this reflection inspired by hearing something Brian McClaren had said; how often do we lean on our understanding of God not on God himself? A simple observation.
In our discussions previous to this we refected on how we should proceed as a group. Inspiration was found in reading from 1Timothy 1 and we dwelt on the verses,
The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.
I personally felt reassured by this because as we gather it gives us confidence to be who we are in all sincerity. We can be confident that we don’t need to get it all right because Jesus goes before us and we are made clean by him.
Dwelling in him and walking in obedience to him will testify to our authenticity, not our clever words.

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Who do you say I am?

Posted on Jun 8, 2014 by M Emlyn Humphries

Mark 8:22-31

…he asked his disciples,“Who do people say that I am?” 28 …“But who do you say that I am?”

And Peter confesses Jesus as Christ! What did he mean by this? Jesus had already warned about thinking like the authorities and the Pharisees; strict religionists. Jesus had healed a blind man who gradually saw. Were the disciples being renewed? Were they gradually seeing?

Well no. Despite his confession, Peter could not conceive of a suffering servant! This wasn’t the Christ he expected. He rebuked Jesus for his assertions and Jesus rebukes him in turn, “..you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

Jesus asks us each in turn, Who do you say that I am? He listens. He wants to hear. Each of us has an answer.

Being the Church is knowing the voice of Jesus asking us this question and having our eyes opened. As we set our mind on the things of God things become clearer. So together we become the church as each one of us diligently seeks God in Jesus who says of himself will “…suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.”

This is the Way, the Truth and the Life we profess in Refresh that even in his suffering as the perfect man in a world marred by futility, the rejection of his message of peace and his death at the hands of humanity, Jesus has victory. His rising from the dead is the foundation of the life Jesus calls us to. His life is our life.

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Loser

Posted on May 11, 2014 by M Emlyn Humphries


Refresh continued to go from strength to strength.

Please feel free to drop in. Each Sunday at 6:30pm top 7:30pm we get together and have coffee and a chat about the important things in life.

This week we listened to a song on video called Jesus is for Losers (http://music.calamateur.com/track/jesus-is-for-losers) and we discussed the words of the song and the effect of it on us. We also looked at the play on the word “for” and read the following from the Bible,

Matthew 5:3(NKJV)

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,     For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

or

Felizes os que reconhecem que precisam de Deus, pois o reino do céu é deles.

as Refresh continues to welcome our Portuguese friends.

Come to Refresh and be a Loser.

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Utterly Astounded

Posted on Apr 7, 2014 by M Emlyn Humphries

Mark 6:12–56

In this next section we see the urgency and danger of the disciples’ mission. Jesus had been warning the that they would face times where his teachings would threaten their lives and that the depth to which they had pursued his truth would yield its reward, defining them as true disciples and protecting them from falling away. We hear of the terrible death of John the Baptist and the frightening interest of King Herod in the work of Jesus. The name Elijah comes up who, with his successor Elisha, is renowned for calling down judgement on evil Kings and multiplying meagre provisions.

In the story that follows, of the multiplying of the loaves and fishes, Jesus echoes the miracle of Elisha in multiplying bread (2 Kings 4:42-44), even down to directing his disciples to feed the multitude and in the gathering of what’s left. Some may say Jesus is the reincarnation of John, Elijah come back or the Prophet, but in Jesus’ act of feeding the great crowd on the green grass of the wilderness, Jesus shows himself to be greater than these.

This is confirmed by his walking on the water. Echoing Job 9, Jesus tramples on the waves of chaos, walking across the water. In a demonstration of his deity he means to pass them by, an act which signifies the presence of God. But just as he had compassion on the people who needed feeding, he has compassion on the disciples, calming their terror at seeing him, and he enters the boat. And they were, “…utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves but their hearts were hardened.” The writer, reflecting on this with Jesus, is well acquainted with the feelings of those on the boat and adds the authentic retrospective detail that they were utterly astounded and their hearts were hardened to the truth of God’s revelation of himself.

The miracles now seem to redouble and the touching of Jesus’ garment by the crowd builds the tension. This act of faith, first shown by the woman in chapter  5 shows the crowd’s growing conviction that this is the Messiah!

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