WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.219 You probably haven't heard about Jock Kinnear and Margaret Colvert. 00:00:06.179 --> 00:00:14.800 They aren't mentioned in the everyday, but they are significant to everything that we do when we're out and about. 00:00:15.240 --> 00:00:21.800 Their work is impacted each and every one of us, whether we walk, whether we drive or whether we cycle. 00:00:21.800 --> 00:00:38.400 It was in 1961 that a man called Herbert Spencer, he was driving from Heathrow, from London, and on his way he took pictures of every road sign that he passed. 00:00:38.740 --> 00:00:46.380 He realised how confusing those signs were at the time. Each one had different typefaces, symbols and colours. 00:00:46.380 --> 00:00:57.960 And with the increasing numbers of cars on the road, it was obvious that Britain needed an understandable and easy way to read road signs. 00:00:58.800 --> 00:01:10.320 The government gave him a huge project and he undertook that project and gathered together designers Jock Kinnear and assistant Margaret Colvert, 00:01:10.319 --> 00:01:16.500 who had just finished creating those iconic signs that we still see on our motorway system today. 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:27.759 By carefully coordinating lettering, colours, shapes and symbols, the pair created a system of signs that inspired us 00:01:27.759 --> 00:01:32.679 and inspired most modern road signs, not here, but around the world too. 00:01:32.680 --> 00:01:37.920 Pictures instead of words that were based on many signs. 00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:45.900 And the girl in the children's crossing sign is actually based on an image of Margaret Colvert herself as a child. 00:01:46.020 --> 00:01:47.320 I thought that was really cool. 00:01:49.400 --> 00:01:55.719 Signs inform, signs communicate, signs direct and signs warn. 00:01:55.719 --> 00:02:04.260 They convey a consistent message and above all, they prevent chaos unless you're at that multiple roundabout in Swindon. 00:02:04.620 --> 00:02:08.079 And my goodness, well done if you can negotiate that well. 00:02:09.240 --> 00:02:11.020 How does that relate to us? 00:02:11.819 --> 00:02:19.240 How does this thing of signs relate to us as a church of being a sign of God's presence to those around us? 00:02:19.240 --> 00:02:31.180 In many areas, I think we need to go back to the drawing board, back to God to show us how we are called to convey a consistent message 00:02:31.180 --> 00:02:40.620 that informs, directs, encourages and most of all directs people to the message that his church is about love and grace. 00:02:41.280 --> 00:02:46.260 Is that the sign that people are reading through us, his everyday disciples? 00:02:46.259 --> 00:02:55.239 The signs of the Christian life is often summed up quite clearly in Fruits of the Spirit, as Paul lists them in Galatians 5. 00:02:56.340 --> 00:03:10.180 The Holy Spirit is at work in us and through us as we show love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. 00:03:10.180 --> 00:03:11.399 It's a good test. 00:03:11.919 --> 00:03:15.459 It's good for us to test out the signs that we're displaying. 00:03:16.259 --> 00:03:25.179 People notice if you're directing them one way and yet the character of your life contradicts the message that we're conveying. 00:03:26.519 --> 00:03:32.939 Especially maybe self-control, you know, waiting online for your service provider for 15 minutes 00:03:32.939 --> 00:03:36.739 or trying to get through to somebody and you've waited for ages. 00:03:36.859 --> 00:03:38.479 Your call is important to us. 00:03:38.739 --> 00:03:41.599 It's a great sign of your character when they actually answer. 00:03:41.599 --> 00:03:52.699 In our reading this morning, Paul and Barnabas, the great encourager, have shown God's love in amazing signs and wonders. 00:03:53.479 --> 00:03:56.379 Yet not everyone recognised that sign of God's grace. 00:03:57.180 --> 00:03:59.319 It didn't fit with their own way of thinking. 00:03:59.459 --> 00:04:00.879 It didn't fit with their culture. 00:04:00.879 --> 00:04:13.180 We read this morning of Paul and Barnabas in Lystra where a sign of God's power unleashed gave them the power to heal a man who was lame from birth. 00:04:13.799 --> 00:04:15.319 And that man is healed. 00:04:16.680 --> 00:04:24.079 A very clear sign that these two men are moving in the power of the Spirit and have something very different about them. 00:04:24.079 --> 00:04:30.379 The interesting thing is that the people didn't recognise that the sign was from God. 00:04:31.000 --> 00:04:38.459 They were used to worshipping gods with a small g and therefore people attributed that sign to anything other than the one true God. 00:04:39.039 --> 00:04:42.000 They believed it was something to do with their Greek gods. 00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:54.839 And the story almost turns to farce as they start bringing offerings to Paul and Barnabas, believing that they are Greek gods personified and brought to them in human form. 00:04:55.800 --> 00:05:00.480 You know, Paul and Barnabas are saying to them, no, no, you've got it all wrong. 00:05:01.060 --> 00:05:04.500 You have seen the sign, but you have misunderstood. 00:05:04.500 --> 00:05:14.300 The wider church hasn't always got its signage correct with its schisms, feuds, divisions. 00:05:14.620 --> 00:05:18.459 It's hardly been a unifying sign to the world. 00:05:19.339 --> 00:05:21.040 Yet we can change that. 00:05:22.139 --> 00:05:24.660 You and I can change that today. 00:05:25.519 --> 00:05:31.860 The church unleashed through the power of the Holy Spirit, through you and me, is a powerful sign. 00:05:31.860 --> 00:05:35.199 We signpost people to the Bible quite rightly. 00:05:35.660 --> 00:05:40.060 Yet our responsibility is to be living signs of that good news. 00:05:40.199 --> 00:05:50.819 People will hopefully recognise and experience that, what they have read, if it's shown through you and I that we are living it out. 00:05:51.759 --> 00:05:58.759 Grace, forgiveness, generosity, sharing, caring, sacrificial giving, hope, encouragement, 00:05:58.759 --> 00:06:07.959 prayer that seeks and enables the spirit to move and perform signs and wonders that make people sit up and ask, 00:06:08.360 --> 00:06:09.899 who is this Jesus? 00:06:10.839 --> 00:06:12.219 How do I receive this? 00:06:12.339 --> 00:06:13.139 Tell me more. 00:06:13.699 --> 00:06:14.300 Show me more. 00:06:14.379 --> 00:06:15.279 I want to know. 00:06:15.420 --> 00:06:17.099 What is there about you? 00:06:17.339 --> 00:06:18.819 I want something of that. 00:06:21.019 --> 00:06:27.939 Witnessing to the good news of Jesus can either commence with or be accompanied by a sign or wonder, 00:06:27.939 --> 00:06:29.959 just like our Bible story today. 00:06:30.360 --> 00:06:32.420 Maybe you've experienced that yourself. 00:06:33.019 --> 00:06:43.379 Maybe you've stepped in and pointed out to someone that God is making himself clear and known in a way that is very personal to them, 00:06:43.860 --> 00:06:48.939 either through a word, a situation, a moment, whatever that sign may have looked like. 00:06:48.939 --> 00:06:57.639 I recall some time ago I visited somebody in Southmead Hospital. 00:06:58.100 --> 00:07:03.839 I was on my way out and I was walking down the corridor when I was aware of somebody running after me. 00:07:03.920 --> 00:07:04.699 It was a nurse. 00:07:04.699 --> 00:07:06.319 I was on my way out and she said, 00:07:06.319 --> 00:07:07.920 this is amazing. 00:07:08.060 --> 00:07:16.279 I've been trying to get hold of a chaplain and they're not responding to their bleep and I desperately, 00:07:16.800 --> 00:07:18.860 we need a priest at the moment. 00:07:18.980 --> 00:07:24.419 There's a lady who is dying and her daughter is with her and asking for a priest. 00:07:24.539 --> 00:07:25.459 Could you come? 00:07:25.459 --> 00:07:29.599 I went into the room and spoke with the daughter. 00:07:29.819 --> 00:07:34.039 She was holding her mum's hand and I prayed with them both. 00:07:35.599 --> 00:07:37.479 The daughter paused and she said, 00:07:37.579 --> 00:07:38.740 do you believe in angels? 00:07:39.659 --> 00:07:41.199 I told her that I did. 00:07:42.079 --> 00:07:44.599 And she told me that her mum is a Christian 00:07:44.599 --> 00:07:48.459 and she said that her mum had always talked to her about angels. 00:07:50.299 --> 00:07:51.359 And then she said, 00:07:51.459 --> 00:07:53.159 but I don't believe in God. 00:07:53.160 --> 00:07:55.100 But I wish I did. 00:07:55.740 --> 00:08:01.020 I would love to have a sign that my mum's angel is actually here. 00:08:02.540 --> 00:08:05.120 As you know, in those situations, 00:08:05.120 --> 00:08:10.680 it's not the time to actually deal with theology and go deep. 00:08:10.800 --> 00:08:14.740 It's just time to pray and ask for the Holy Spirit to come. 00:08:15.740 --> 00:08:18.600 We sat for a few minutes and we prayed 00:08:18.600 --> 00:08:24.260 and her mum passed quietly and peacefully into eternity with the Lord. 00:08:25.420 --> 00:08:31.040 We were in a room where the window behind us was very firmly closed 00:08:31.040 --> 00:08:34.120 and there was louvre blinds in front of it. 00:08:35.080 --> 00:08:39.800 Whereupon the louvre blinds suddenly started to flutter, 00:08:40.379 --> 00:08:41.800 really flutter. 00:08:41.799 --> 00:08:48.759 She gasped and put her hands to her face and threw her tears, 00:08:49.319 --> 00:08:50.679 fell back into her chair. 00:08:51.559 --> 00:08:52.219 And she said, 00:08:52.319 --> 00:08:55.219 I've just felt feathers on my face 00:08:55.219 --> 00:08:58.579 and I feel the most deep sense of peace 00:08:58.579 --> 00:09:01.299 that I've never experienced before. 00:09:01.299 --> 00:09:08.939 She paused and she saw that I was smiling. 00:09:09.519 --> 00:09:10.479 And I said, 00:09:10.959 --> 00:09:13.039 what did you ask for? 00:09:13.459 --> 00:09:15.620 What did you ask for while we were praying? 00:09:15.620 --> 00:09:17.560 And she said, 00:09:17.779 --> 00:09:20.980 I asked that God would give me a sign. 00:09:22.659 --> 00:09:23.620 And then she said, 00:09:23.700 --> 00:09:24.379 thank you, Jesus. 00:09:25.379 --> 00:09:26.700 Thank you for that sign. 00:09:27.480 --> 00:09:28.620 I believe in you. 00:09:30.279 --> 00:09:33.659 That's probably a prayer that her mum had prayed day in 00:09:33.659 --> 00:09:35.460 and day out for her, 00:09:35.560 --> 00:09:37.299 as we may have done for our children. 00:09:38.779 --> 00:09:41.000 God has got an amazing sense of timing 00:09:41.000 --> 00:09:43.220 in the signs that he gives us. 00:09:43.220 --> 00:09:46.360 Like Paul and Barnabas, 00:09:46.480 --> 00:09:49.300 we need to communicate those things 00:09:49.300 --> 00:09:50.800 that are a God incidence, 00:09:51.360 --> 00:09:52.940 not a coincidence. 00:09:54.820 --> 00:09:58.500 Signs that direct others to his love, 00:09:59.100 --> 00:10:01.700 presence, power and purposes 00:10:01.700 --> 00:10:04.139 to live like the kingdom is near. 00:10:05.320 --> 00:10:08.240 Maybe when you see somebody wearing a cross, 00:10:08.320 --> 00:10:10.759 a sign of the cost that Jesus paid 00:10:10.759 --> 00:10:13.000 for to free us from death 00:10:13.000 --> 00:10:15.639 and give us new life in him. 00:10:15.720 --> 00:10:17.980 Will you talk to them about that sign? 00:10:19.080 --> 00:10:20.639 Will you share with them the freedom 00:10:20.639 --> 00:10:21.759 that it's brought you, 00:10:22.279 --> 00:10:24.779 your hope and your new life in Christ? 00:10:26.860 --> 00:10:30.799 I pray that none of us miss the signs 00:10:30.799 --> 00:10:32.439 that he's showing us 00:10:32.440 --> 00:10:36.100 because they're given for a purpose. 00:10:37.400 --> 00:10:38.280 His purpose. 00:10:38.280 --> 00:10:38.440 His purpose.