WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:12.599 Hi, it's the 27th of March, Friday 2020 and this is the second of our pastoral update 00:00:12.599 --> 00:00:19.359 videos for you to have a quick look at and to get some information from. 00:00:19.359 --> 00:00:23.800 You may notice I've changed location, I'm no longer in my office downstairs, I'm in 00:00:23.800 --> 00:00:29.160 the church itself and to be honest sitting in this chair I feel a little bit like the 00:00:29.160 --> 00:00:32.159 Reverend I am, Jolly. 00:00:32.159 --> 00:00:35.799 Anyway, I'll not go into that. 00:00:35.799 --> 00:00:40.719 There's a few changes, one or two changes this week because of the restrictions. 00:00:40.719 --> 00:00:47.200 We can't have a team coming in to do the service, prepare the service live on Sunday. 00:00:47.200 --> 00:00:54.519 So it's going to be recorded today but it'll go out live, as live on Sunday at 11am and 00:00:54.519 --> 00:00:57.200 5.30pm. 00:00:57.200 --> 00:01:02.560 So there's only me and one other person, Ali, in the building and Ali's miles away 00:01:02.560 --> 00:01:07.680 from me so I trust that we are abiding by all the advice and the restrictions that we 00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:08.680 have. 00:01:08.680 --> 00:01:16.640 But please pray for Sunday and pray that God will use it greatly. 00:01:16.640 --> 00:01:21.560 Wednesday email again, it will give you all the details that you need to know, all the 00:01:21.560 --> 00:01:25.200 links that are interesting for you to look up. 00:01:25.200 --> 00:01:28.799 If you don't get that or if you can't find it, please let us know. 00:01:28.799 --> 00:01:32.320 Please get in touch with us, either phone the church number that you'll get on the website 00:01:32.320 --> 00:01:33.320 and leave a message. 00:01:33.320 --> 00:01:34.320 We'll get back to you. 00:01:34.320 --> 00:01:41.680 Or email help at sinceseasfc.org. 00:01:41.680 --> 00:01:48.159 Now on that email there's a link to our resources page that we've put up which gives you lots 00:01:48.159 --> 00:01:53.200 of great ideas and lots of resources to look at and it will be updated all the time. 00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:59.600 The discipleship team we've put on some really helpful suggestions this week about how to 00:01:59.600 --> 00:02:04.200 disciple one another and help one another, great to see people pulling together. 00:02:04.200 --> 00:02:09.840 They've made suggestions about maybe rekindling prayer triplets or starting a prayer huddle 00:02:09.840 --> 00:02:13.400 online, great idea. 00:02:13.400 --> 00:02:18.319 And connecting again over a number of years, as you know we've been praying for our friends 00:02:18.319 --> 00:02:20.599 that are not Christians. 00:02:20.599 --> 00:02:24.879 Maybe this would be a great time to connect with them, invite them, get them to click 00:02:24.879 --> 00:02:29.439 on the link and they can watch the service from their homes and pray for them that it 00:02:29.439 --> 00:02:34.560 will be a time when they come to consider Jesus and His message. 00:02:34.560 --> 00:02:40.400 And also they encourage us to keep trusting and finding our rest and our peace in Jesus. 00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:45.799 These are great encouragements from the discipleship team. 00:02:45.800 --> 00:02:51.600 praying on Sunday can encourage you to meet online and whenever, in whatever way you can 00:02:51.600 --> 00:02:56.640 after the service, virtual replacement for coffee time when we're usually milling around 00:02:56.640 --> 00:03:01.480 the church for ages and hopefully it'll give you some time to reflect on the word. 00:03:01.480 --> 00:03:08.720 Parents, can I just say that we've sent out kids' church material to you this week for 00:03:08.720 --> 00:03:10.920 you to use at your leisure. 00:03:10.920 --> 00:03:14.800 We are praying for you, we know there's a lot of stress in teaching the kids at home 00:03:14.800 --> 00:03:20.600 all week and then maybe asking you to do more on a Sunday but we hope it'll be fun and you 00:03:20.600 --> 00:03:24.920 can tailor it to whenever and however you want to do that. 00:03:24.920 --> 00:03:29.439 I'll mention something about that at the service on Sunday. 00:03:29.439 --> 00:03:33.880 Again this coming next week rather on Wednesday, city groups will meet. 00:03:33.880 --> 00:03:38.800 The questions are going to go out as normal, feel free to use them or not and if you haven't 00:03:38.800 --> 00:03:43.120 joined up to a city group then again please get in touch, let us know and we can set you 00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:45.840 up for that. 00:03:45.840 --> 00:03:50.879 The Wednesday last week the engine room, we had over 50 people linking in, there was 00:03:50.879 --> 00:03:58.200 a few gremlins but we hope to sort these out, please be patient with us and pray that it 00:03:58.200 --> 00:04:03.960 will be a blessing and remember we're constantly aiming as a community in our terms of our 00:04:03.960 --> 00:04:09.759 provision to do sustainability, simplicity and stability. 00:04:09.759 --> 00:04:14.879 I just want to finish this little pastor update with a couple of verses from the book of Acts 00:04:14.879 --> 00:04:17.920 in my big preacher's Bible. 00:04:17.920 --> 00:04:22.279 Someone's encouraged me with these verses this week. 00:04:22.279 --> 00:04:28.399 It's just after the church was persecuted because Stephen was martyred. 00:04:28.399 --> 00:04:33.639 On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem and all except the 00:04:33.639 --> 00:04:36.519 apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 00:04:36.519 --> 00:04:41.479 Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him but Saul began to destroy the church 00:04:41.479 --> 00:04:43.079 going from house to house. 00:04:43.079 --> 00:04:46.439 He dragged off men and women and put them in prison. 00:04:46.439 --> 00:04:51.079 Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. 00:04:51.079 --> 00:04:56.240 So this was really the darkest time probably in the early New Testament church, time of 00:04:56.240 --> 00:04:57.879 great persecution. 00:04:57.879 --> 00:05:02.120 Saul was breathing out violence against them, it was a fragile young church. 00:05:02.120 --> 00:05:05.519 Their lives were turned upside down and they were all scattered and they must have thought 00:05:05.519 --> 00:05:10.159 on earth, how on earth can this young church flourish, how can it grow? 00:05:10.159 --> 00:05:13.639 And yet we're told there that when they were all scattered and they couldn't be together 00:05:13.639 --> 00:05:17.719 and they couldn't worship as church, that those who had been scattered preached the 00:05:17.719 --> 00:05:19.599 word wherever they went. 00:05:19.599 --> 00:05:22.519 And the word just was like seed that was sown on the ground. 00:05:22.519 --> 00:05:29.039 It went throughout the whole known world and the gospel grew and the church grew exponentially 00:05:29.039 --> 00:05:32.039 because of that persecution and difficulty. 00:05:32.040 --> 00:05:35.640 Saul was converted and became the great apostle Paul. 00:05:35.640 --> 00:05:39.920 Now it's different today, it's not persecution that's scattering us in a sense but we are 00:05:39.920 --> 00:05:46.800 in dark times, we are in difficult times and often in these darkest times when death seems 00:05:46.800 --> 00:05:53.920 closest and our norm and our closeness has been broken apart physically. 00:05:53.920 --> 00:05:58.000 It's when the light of Jesus Christ shines most brightly and we believe that he will 00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:03.279 do today for the gospel in the kingdom what he did in the early church. 00:06:03.279 --> 00:06:11.000 So be encouraged that he is gathering, not scattering, even though we might feel that 00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:13.079 we are being scattered. 00:06:13.079 --> 00:06:29.120 Thanks.