PCC 2024

Happy New Year ! We begin a new year at PCC, our 25th in fact. Next year will be mark our Silver Anniversary Birthday since February 6th 2000.  

Paul suggested we should have a Memory verse each week. We’ll invite someone next week to say it, so be ready ! This week it’s from Hebrews 10:23-25.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

Apart from our confession of hope, PCC holds fast to our core values and core purposes.

CORE VALUE

what’s most important to us

1. We emphasise the “Body of Christ” Ministry and Mission with Jesus Christ as the Head…..

1 Corinthians 12; Romans 12:4-8; Ephesians 4:11-16

2. …..each member exercising individual spiritual gift/s for the building of the Body and the Communication of the Gospel

Matthew 22:36-40

Matthew 28:18-20

CORE PURPOSES

what we want to achieve

1. every member exercising their gift/s within the church and in the mission field

2. every member encouraged and affirmed to utilise their gifts

3. every ministry / mission led by a called leader/s

4. every ministry / mission fulfilling our Core Value (or part of it)

I want to take a few minutes to tell you of our travels to UK/Europe over the holiday period.

 We spent the first 3 weeks in France, in Vannes in Brittany in Western France. Vannes has a cathedral in the centre of the city on a hill. Every day about 8am the bells ring out, then later in the morning, calls to Church and in the evening as well. The church bells have an influence over the city and bring an order and noticeable calm each day. We then travelled to the UK to a market town called Solihull near Birmingham, close to where my company has their main UK office. After that we went to London to visit Sean but also to see my cousins. We saw Sean’s workplace in Mayfair as on the Monopoly board, his church at St Helens in  the Financial Square Mile near Tower Bridge and his flat in East London, where he can bike to the centre in 20 minutes. London for all its glamour is tough and dangerous. They have about one knifing murder a day. All the big cities we saw, Paris, Birmingham, London, Melbourne have trouble, many homeless are sleeping on the streets. It is very confronting. Even in the beautiful town of Vannes, we saw homelessness. These things are not new but they seem worse since Covid. With the troubles in the Ukraine and in the Middle East, is war coming? Ex Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently called for conscription to a Citizen Army. This news has shaken people in the UK. Is it a time for war as mentioned in Ecclesiastes. In the Old Testament, God would allow war to come to turn Israel from wickedness.

Judges 3:1-4

Now these are the nations which the Lord left, that He might test Israel by them, that is, all who had not known any of the wars in Canaan (this was only so that the generations of the children of Israel might be taught to know war, at least those who had not formerly known it), namely, five lords of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who dwelt in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal Hermon to the entrance of Hamath. And they were left, that He might test Israel by them, to know whether they would obey the commandments of the Lord, which He had commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.

Do these nations look familiar to you? They should for they comprise Gaza, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and the Palestinian territories! There is nothing new under the Sun said Solomon.

The time of war is relatively short compared to the time of peace but there would be war because Israel had turned away from the Lord. When war comes, it is a time to be ruthless with the enemy and with sin. It is time to get rid of false gods not to embrace them. It is time to become fit and lose the weight of our sins.

Finally we travelled home and stopped in Melbourne. Melbourne is a great city, built around the Yarra river, with an impressive CBD and a mix of cultural influences from Europe, Britain, China even the Americas. Even so, there are many homeless, disconnected people we saw in the centre of Melbourne. 

It’s good just to be an observer for a while. What is the role of the Church in a city, especially in dark times? Why do some cities do better than others ?

Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount gives a clear instruction on how a Christian and the Church can stand out in any age but particularly in dark times. Only by the help of the Holy Spirit can you understand the truth of what Jesus taught because it is the opposite of worldly wisdom.

Matthew 5:1-16

And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

This does not mean lacking in the Holy Spirit but having a humility that realises we are utterly dependent on God for everything in our life, including what we achieve. A person who sees themselves as self-made, I did it my way type is the opposite of poor in spirit. 

Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted. 

It is true that you will have peace when a Christian dies because you know where they are going. And on a deeper level, Jesus is referring to someone who mourns over their sin, who realises they are a broken human being without God.

2 Corinthians 7:10

For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.

Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth. 

Isn’t this just the opposite of what the World teaches us !

Jesus taught that neither brute strength, nor clever conniving; assertiveness, eloquence, prideful achievements or works based religion will bring salvation, human flourishing, and a final state of victory over death.  One must come low to go high. We must become like children. What a shock some prominent people of today will get when they see who the Lord will appoint to rule in the world to come !

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled. 

The Bible teaches that our righteousness is as filthy rags. We are not the good people we like to think we are. Man is not basically good. Everyone falls far short. The righteousness we should thirst for is Jesus.

John 7:37-38

On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”

Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy. 

This is easy to understand but harder to do. Even the World understands this and it is their expectation of a Christian and the Church.

Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God. 

The children’s song goes;

O be careful little eyes what you see

O be careful little eyes what you see

For the Father up above

Is looking down in love

So, be careful little eyes what you see

We need to take care what we do with of our eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hands, feet, mind. It is harder to see God, to see him at work when our minds have been polluted by this World. Create in me a Clean Heart O God ! 

Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God. 

Peacemaking is not the same as peacekeeping. It demands that Christians and the Church step into conflict. Peacemakers in the Bible would step between two warring parties. The peacemaker initiates reconciliation when others have wronged them. The peacemaker is quick to repent when they have wronged others. A peacemaker doesn’t stand on the bylines avoiding trouble when conflict emerges !

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. 

An alive church, faithful to Jesus and his Word will be a persecuted church as we are seeing more and more in this World today. A church that wants to be like the World to win the World will not be persecuted by the World !

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

We definitely saw light in the darkness. Brave street preachers bringing the Gospel message of hope to the crowds, even if few were listening. Many churches are actively reaching out to their communities, helping the poor, supporting the schools in their area. Being salt and light in their towns and cities.

We went to Sean’s church which is quite traditional but alive and active in the very heart of London running lunchtime teaching sessions for the city workers twice a week and seeing the church full at lunchtime mid week is amazing. There was another Pentecostal church we visited in Solihull called the Jubilee Church, different in style but also very much alive and active in the community, running a 2nd hand clothes shop as one of its ministries. We made a good connection with them and will stay in touch, there were several things we can learn from them.

The decline in UK society is no doubt linked to a general decline of the Church of England, much as we see with the Church in New Zealand. The average size church is around 25, the same as PCC. The Church of England is a diluted mess. It is not acting as salt and light, it is trying to be like the World to win the World and this cannot work. That is not true of us at PCC, we are faithful and believe the truth of the whole Bible. However, can PCC bring more salt and light to our community as we saw the alive churches doing ? That is a discussion we will be having in the Leadership Team this year:

We have had many years of blessings in New Zealand but have we entered a time of unrest and trouble here in our country ?

We are have division over the Treaty of Waitangi. Sometimes the Lord uses tough measures to change the direction of a nation. That season seems to be upon us. It is the job of the Church to be salt and light especially in dark times. What can PCC do this year to bring praise to our Father in Heaven?

The Church alone has a message of hope to a dying World. World War is now on the table sadly and perhaps the Lord is going to turn the Church around and bring the World to repentance.

When we look around the Free World today we do not see strong leadership either in the Governments of the World nor in the Big Denominational Churches.

Our next series will be on Daniel & Revelation. If you think back a couple of years you will remember Bob’s message of preparing for the fiery furnace that will test our faith in these days. Plenty of Christians are already going through it. Sean told us of a teacher named Joshua Sutcliffe who Christian Concern are defending because he lost his job for not calling a transgender student by their named identity. Bob told the story in Judges of the leadership of Israel at that time being weak but the Lord raised Deborah to turn the tide. Barak said to Deborah he would go to battle only if she would go with him. But in Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were prepared to go into the fire even if God would not rescue them. That’s the kind of faith we need in dark times. An even if faith. Because of Deborah’s courage it says, a second woman Jael found the courage to hammer a spike into the King of Moab’s head while he slept, and so thanks to these 2 women, Israel was saved. Deborah sang a new song that day;

Judges 5:2

“When leaders lead in Israel, When the people willingly offer themselves, Bless the Lord!

Judges 5:7-9

Village life ceased, it ceased in Israel, Until I, Deborah, arose, Arose a mother in Israel. They chose new gods; Then there was war in the gates; Not a shield or spear was seen among forty thousand in Israel. My heart is with the rulers of Israel Who offered themselves willingly with the people. Bless the Lord!

May The Lord give us strength to be the true Church, salt and light here in little old Papatoetoe. Amen.