Family Church Portsmouth

Following from previous weeks where we have been hearing about the character of our Lord, Ps Andy this week speaks about how we can put our trust in God.People may let us down, but God never does. Nearly 200 times, the Bible teaches us about the trusting nature of God. One of the key things that makes God trustworthy is that He cannot lie. God is love. God cannot lie. The devil is the father of Lies. God is the father of truth and righteousness, honestly and integrity. Numbers 23:19 tells us (NIV) "God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?" When He promises, he's going to do something, He will always do it because His name and His person are on the line so to speak. We can have confidence in God because He cannot lie. Because of this confidence we can also put our trust in Him. Trust is where we turn our belief into action. Faith and trust go hand in hand.The ultimate example of trust in God was Jesus upon the cross. Ps Andy delivers an exciting message punctuated with real life stories and scriptures to explain how we can put our trust in God.

Following the last few weeks where Ps Andy and Gina have spoken about the character of God, Paula continues today speaking about the Goodness of God. God's love for every single one of us is unconditional, his love isn't based on the things we do. It's based on the fact that He made us and He loves us full stop. We need to throw away thoughts telling us there's a chance that maybe God does not love us! The Bible lets us know that we can trust His goodness to meet us in every situation we face knowing that God is good. This is foundational in our relationship with him because it affects how we see and respond to difficulties in life.Ps Paula details how God is Good all the time, irrelevant of our performance, backed with scriptures and at the end of the message with two young guys doing a run round the church illustrating how God's goodness is always following us (Ps 23 - Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life......).

Ps Andy continues from where Ps Gina left off last week by speaking about the Love of God. God is Love, His love is unconditional. Romans 8:38 tells us...  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.Ps Andy delivers an awe inspiring message that ends quoting the hymn:-The steadfast love of the Lord never ceasesHis mercies never have come to an endThey are new every morningNew every morningGreat is Thy faithfulness, O LordGreat is Thy faithfulness God's love is steadfast, unchanging and is new every day for us!

Ps Gina speaks about the importance of knowing the character of God. She begins by re-telling how important it is to know the character and trustworthiness of people who act as child minders and then relates this to our lives today. She goes on to explain how in we are bombarded by untruths about the nature of God from just about every angle in modern life and how in fact this is identical to the way in which the serpent beguiled Eve in the Garden of Eden. Many institutions, media, even religions will mock Jesus and tell lies about our God in these days.How do we refute all this? We need to know the word of God. The Word of God describes the character and true nature of God from Genesis through to Revelation. We don't need to know chapter and verse necessarily, but we do need to know the Word of God then our mind is filled with The Truth, we can refute any lies coming into our minds and live a free life honouring God.

On this Remembrance Sunday, Ps Andy speaks about a theme of Extreme Generosity. Many people laid down their loves for the sake of others, for the freedom of generations they would never see or know. The world of the generous gets larger and larger, but the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller. God our Father was generous to the extreme in laying down the life of His son for our salvation. PS Andy goes on to speak about the nature of the heart of a generous person and how generosity is not purely related to finances, but time, attitude, many facets of our lives. Its also about how we use our words, how we serve, how we forgive. Do we do these things begrudgingly or with a joyful heart.Listen to this inspiring message linking the them of Remembrance Sunday to the sacrifice of Jesus for our souls to the ways of our hearts.

Following from the previous two weeks where Ps Andy has spoken about Jesus being both the Author and Finisher of our faith, Ps Sean this week looks at what happens when we are in the middle of the journey from the start towards the finish. These are the times when doubts, uncertainties, problems, troubles, sin and all manner of issues crop up to distract our life away from being God centered. Using the stories told in Mark 4, v 35 onward, Ps Sean describes the situation where Jesus' followers have been listening to parables, watching miracles and now Jesus is asleep in a boat after saying "let us to go the other side" (of the water). The waves kick up, the disciples wake Jesus from his sleep as they are full of worry about being drowned. But, Jesus had told them they were going across the water, and go they would, come a storm or no storm. Jesus' promises are always kept. He never lets us down, even when we are mid journey and begin to worry over something. Ps Sean speaks further about us leaning into the character of God and leaning not unto our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5). He also speaks about how we can acquire greater faith in God. The Bible gives us this instruction in Romans 10:17.Listen to this challenging message about how we must lean upon the one true God by having faith in His character through His word!

Pastor Andy continues from last week speaking about Faith. However, we can have faith in people, all sorts of things, but the faith Ps Andy speaks about is Faith in God. It is through God's sacrifice of his only Son that we have salvation, it is faith in our Lord's promises not just as the Author but moreover the Finisher that Ps Andy shows us is the key ingredient here. God is wanting us to put trust in him, why?, because He is trustworthy. We trust Him as the creator of the universe, but also his promises - when He gives us a word, He puts his own name on that word to fulfill it. When Jesus said to the people in the boat, we're going to the other side, a storm came but it wasn't really the issue because Jesus had given the word as the author - ie He had given a promise and it would be fulfilled (storm or no storm). The reaction needs to be to thank Him, even when it looks impossible, we don't know or cant see how it can be fulfilled. We move from standing with the author seeing things that haven't happened yet to standing with the finisher. Faith in God positions us at the finish line even when we are still in the race!Ps Andy further expands on this by speaking about the faith journey that Abraham had, and ends suggesting 4 key lessons....Faith is usually a journey, which rarely ends the next dayIf God needed our help He would ask!Faith is never reasonable, we may need to wait for it to make senseFaith is always real before we see it

Pastor Andy begins a few messages speaking about Faith. He wants to encourage in in our journey of life as we live in times where our faith may be challenged by everyday events. The Bible recognizes Jesus as the author and the finisher of our faith. In the book of Revelation 22:13, scripture speaks of Jesus being the alpha, and the omega, the beginning and the end. Jesus causes us to be able to believe in God and see things happen where we're left saying "thank you God, that was you, not me"!Andy spends time explaining how Jesus is not just the author of promises about our lives, but is also the finisher of the same promises also. We need to live our lives from the standpoint of the finisher, not just the author of the promises for our lives. Looking at Hebrews 11, we gain insight into many hers of scripture who lived by faith in God. Later, Andy will focus more on Hebrews 12 where the focus is turned more toward ourselves and how we live our lives.

Today, Family Church celebrates the diverse nations and cultures both at home and in our overseas missions and outreaches that through Jesus make us one big, global family. Ps Sean speaks about the Theme of being United. He refers to Acts 2:1-12 (NIV) " When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”"Ps Sean's message focuses on the fact that everyone was United in one place, the Holy Spirit filled every person who was then enabled to speak in languages they did not know, and this in turn brought the people from outside the room to wonder what was happening (as they recognized their own tongues).For our city this is a prophetic message of how we can be a transforming force with the Spirit's intervention such that those outside our immediate circle can become convicted and saved. This can all happen because we are a UNITED house of the Lord!

Pastor Andy finishes the current series on Pneumatology (the study of the Holy Spirit) by this week looking at the Fruit and the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. Fruit is grown, the Gift of the Spirit are given as gifts for our use. Fruit is the result of a life being yielded to the nature and character of God in our lives.  The fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.The gifts of the Holy Spirit all come from one God, one Holy Spirit. God brings these gifts into the lives of his family, in order that we can live a power-field victorious life, blessing others. Ps Andy describes these in detail and how they work in our lives. He speaks about how the New Testament church operated in the gifts of the Spirit. He explains how spiritual gifts are given to a person as the Holy Spirit wills, for navigating our lives and also ministering to others. The anointing flows at its best when we are meeting the needs of others. He also speaks for a while about the gift of Tongues – for personal use and also when given in a church setting followed by interpretation. This is a fascinating and challenging message!

Following the series on 'Jesus Empowers', this week Ps Andy speaks about the Empowerment of The Holy Spirit. Ps Andy speaks about the Holy Spirit coming into the life of a Believer to provide the power and ability to do a number of things. In this message, he looks at three areasThe ability for us to walk in freedom and wholenessThe ability to minister to the needs of others - not to be selfish on our Christian walkThe provision of moral power, and excellence of soul - ability to say no to thingsAfter describing these at length, he speaks about seven areas where the power of the Holy Spirit works in our livesTransforming us from inside out into the image and the likeness of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18)Providing the boldness to do things such as sharing our faithProviding supernatural ability (Mark 16: 17). Jesus tells His disciples to lay hands on the sick and they will recover, speak in tongues, raise them...this applies to us now The Holy Spirit consecrates us, giving us the ability to live a life that doesn't sin To live the life God's called us to. The Bible gives us no excuse not to forgive even when we are hurtHe calls us to do the same things that Jesus did when he walked the Earth. Why? Because the Spirit of the Lord that lived upon Him is now the same Spirit upon us. He is anointing us to preach the gospel, set people free. This is not just a Pastors job! Providing the ability to walk in obedience to the things He asks us to doThe Holy spirit in us gives us everything we need. This is why we are called to be Spirit-filled, Spirit-led and Spirit empowered. This brings glory to God each day, because of the way we choose to live....

This week Ps Sean continues our series 'Jesus Empowers', speaking on the ‘Fellowship of the Holy Spirit’. He begins by quoting 2 Corinthians 13:14 (NIV) "May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all". Note the use of the word all, not some! he explains how fellowship is really a lot more than just an acquaintance, its deeper than this. Often we are bad at doing fellowship with each other so understanding fellowship with the Holy Spirit is then nearly impossible for us. PS Sean introduces two key words of importance here - Intimacy and Hosting.  Intimacy relates to a relaxed atmosphere but also privacy. For example between two people in a marriage, there's intimacy. Breakdown occurs without this as others things get in the way with two people walking in different directions. God wants to call us back to intimacy with the Holy Spirit today in a fresh way without distraction from the world. When we host someone we ensure our house is on order, we want to welcome them to feel at home in our house. This requires effort and heart commitment. With countless scripture references, Ps Sean provides insight into how the Holy Spirit is resident within us, is in fact our teacher, our guide, our helper, our comforter. Above all, the Holy Spirit is there to provide the correct comfort we need in our lives, as opposed to worldly comforts and distractions which may satisfy earthly desires but move us away from intimacy with God. John 15 refers (The Vine & The Branches). This is a challenging message!

Following from the introduction last week, Ps Andy begins the new series on Pneumatology (the study of the person and works of the Holy Spirit) today. Ps Andy begins by looking at who the Holy Spirit is, with a scripture laden whistle stop tour of the bible illustrating how the Holy Spirit is ever present wherever God the Father spoke. From creation in Genesis, God spoke and His intentions were taken from concept and made actual by the Holy Spirit. So it is today. Nowhere in the bible do we find the actions on the day of Pentecost being reversed. In this action packed message Ps Andy explains how in fact there can be no such thing as Christian who is not Spirit filled. Ps Andy fills this message with scripture references stating how the Holy Spirit has been poured out on us all.  If we are saved and have received Christ into our hearts, we have received the Spirit of God. Amen!!

Ps Andy speaks across all Family Church congregations about the next phase of our discipleship journey.  At the start of the year we concentrated on two sets of teachings. The first one was called Jesus is - Christology. We looked at the person of Jesus, who the Bible reveals Him to be in the Old and the New Testaments. Following this, we moved on to a second series called Soteriology, the doctrine of salvation. We took a few weeks to study, how incredible our Salvation is, how wonderfully the Lord has saved us, what He achieved in the finished work of the Cross with Jesus. Ps Andy then speaks about how we are to move to a third part of our discipleship series, which we are calling 'Jesus Empowers'. This is Pneumatology and it's the Doctrine or the study of the person and works of the Holy Spirit.Ps Andy continues with an introduction to this series which again is fundamental to our understanding of our Christian walk.

Family Church in Portsmouth is expanding. Soon we shall have another congregation in Southsea as well. This is to make room, to 'enlarge our tent' in order that more people in our city can hear the word of God and be saved. To make this happen, everyone who calls Family Church Portsmouth their home needs to become not just an attendee or spectator but also a servant building the house of God in order that His plan be outworked in our city. Ps Andy delivers a punchy message about everyone becoming involved in the journey of the church by being servant hearted and being prepared to give of our time, talents and finances.

Today, the Trailblazers took over the whole service in Family Church Portsmouth congregation. After a week at their summer camp, the church youth returned fully energized and filled with God's Holy Spirit. After the worship, Nathan introduces two of his peers to give their testimony and message to the congregation following their week away. Listen and be amazed!!

In Luke 15 there are three consecutive parables describing God's attitude to the importance of finding and recovering the lost - The Parable of the Lost  Sheep, The Parable of the Lost Coin and The Parable of the Lost Son. Ps Sean uses each of these to describe how important it is for us to Turn up, Turn on and then Turn around to meet lost souls in our quest to reach others.

After a somewhat different morning service, Ps Sean rounds off the morning with a heartfelt message about the importance of Unity in the church and how this will bring peace to our troubled land.  Our hearts should be bound together with the Holy Spirit. The church should be a picture to the world of what Unity should look like. Only then will the world look to us for answers....

Ps Andy concludes his three part series on God's anointing upon our lives. We believe that the anointing is the presence of power and the ability of a supernatural Creator - God. But it's not just in heaven, but also now on Earth for the good of man. In previous weeks we've been looking at the purpose of the anointing and how we, as God's people can see an increase of the anointing God's anointing in our lives. Not just when we're in church on Sunday but in the workplace and everywhere we go. God is raising a very anointed Church to turn the world upside down. The news may be darker but actually this is the moment where God causes his church to be the salt and the light he's called us to be. This is not by our own ability, but by His anointing within and upon our lives. We are God's contact points on the earth that he wants to do things through. Listen as Ps Andy further unwraps this subject with biblical examples challenging us to move away from our comfort zones and respond to God's calling. God does not call the equipped. moreover, he equips the called....with His anointing!

This is part 2 of the series on increasing the anointing in our lives. The anointing means the presence and power and ability of an unstoppable God being present (in us). Pastor Andy continues to unwrap this exciting subject, revealing how the Holy Spirit is present in order to do things in us and through us. We are all people in position to do God's works. We must also realize we are also temples of the Holy Spirit.Ps Andy continues to speak about what happens for us and also for others as God's anointing flows in our lives.