READ:

Acts 1: 3-8
After his suffering, Jesus showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

The Holy Spirit is a gift from our heavenly Father, promised to us by our saviour, Jesus.  What a gift!  It’s the same gift Jesus was given at his baptism prior to his earthly ministry (Matthew 3:16).  It was the Holy Spirit who enabled Jesus to perform the most outstanding miracles, and to endure the most vicious and unjust opposition (Luke 4:29).   Jesus was clear in his instructions to the disciples: “Wait”.  Why?  In order to receive the Holy Spirit.   That is what the early disciples did – and they prayed constantly (Acts 1: 14).  Then the most remarkable thing happened – all of them were filled and they began to speak in tongues as the Spirit enabled them (Acts 2:4).  How reassuring that no-one was left out – they all received.
What was their immediate response to being filled?  Peter stood up and addressed a crowd and witnessed about the truth of Jesus’s divinity and mission (Acts 2:36).  The result was astonishing: three thousand were added to the Church that day – not a bad day’s work for Peter and the disciples!  Witnessing to non-believers to the truth about Jesus is a Holy Spirit-empowered activity.  It’s what the Holy Spirit loves to do through us, because the Holy Spirit loves to bring glory to Jesus (John 16:14).  Jesus hasn’t changed (Hebrews 13:8) and neither has the Holy Spirit: he wants to fill all of us so we too can continue to glorify Christ through our witnessing.  He also has a plan to save many in High Wycombe, and he wants to use us all… click here to see what’s said to us.  Let’s wait and pray for the promised gift of the Spirit!

BE ENCOURAGED!
We have been praying for our corporate outreach initiatives for some years, and our prayers are being answered.
Here are a few:

• Our CAP debt centre has helped over 80 families in our town become debt free. Some have been saved by Jesus, baptised and are faithfully serving in our church and other churches in the region.  In fact, one of our CAP clients was baptised as an adult recently in a local church having come to faith through engaging with CAP.  We engage with many Muslim clients with whom we have prayed, shared about Jesus, and built strong relationships.
• Last year our first Azalea guest gave her life to Jesus! Many of the women regularly ask the team to pray for them.  We are getting a good reputation in the town.
• In Little Stars, we are seeing lots of answers to prayer – people getting jobs after prayer, and healings too! We are filling up again with many more coming.
• Learning English: the classes are filling up!
• At King’s Table, we are regularly serving around 30 guests at our Sunday evening dinner. We had three guests come regularly to this term’s Alpha course – Jesus is on the move.
• Sudan – Bible translations now available in local languages.
• Nepal – King’s Church Kathmandu has started building its new facility on the outskirts of the city.
• Middle East – the Gospel is spreading, people are being saved, and local leaders are being mentored.

WORSHIP: listen to Holy Spirit and worship Him

WAIT: ask for the Holy Spirit to fill you.  Then wait, and wait a little longer.

LISTEN: what is the Holy Spirit saying to you: about you, about Jesus, about his plans for you?

WRITE DOWN: anything you believe the Holy Spirit has said to you before you forget.

PRAY PERSONALLY:

• That you would be an increasingly powerful witness for Jesus
• For those on your BLESS list: ask God to provoke them to greater openness and interest towards Jesus*
• Ask for more opportunities to witness, to pray in-person for those on your BLESS list, and for opportunities to invite them to church: this could be a Sunday morning, a small group meeting or an outreach event, for example
• For one or more of our corporate outreach initiatives: CAP, Azalea, Little Stars, Learning English, King’s Table.** Ask for strength for those leading and serving on these initiatives.  Pray for more salvations, and an outpouring of Holy Spirit power on those we are serving.
• For our overseas missions work in Nepal, Sudan and the Middle East. Strength for the leaders there as they reach out with the Gospel, supernatural outbreaks of Jesus’ power, glory and salvation, finances for King’s Church Kathmandu as they construct  their new church building.
• For guidance on where the Holy Spirit is leading you to witness to Jesus: at home, at work, at school/college, university, and on one of corporate outreach initiatives

* a BLESS list is a list of people you know who don’t yet know Jesus.  Start a BLESS list now if you don’t have one yet. If you’d like to know more about what BLESS means, and how to get involved, watch this Sunday message.

** For more information on our social action and outreach ministries, click here.

PRAY CORPORATELY (WITH OTHERS):
At our prayer meeting tonight at the King’s Centre, Desborough Road from 1930 to 2100 for our own personal witnessing, our corporate outreach initiatives, and King’s worldwide missions work.

ENCOURAGE OTHERS:

• How has God spoken to you or encouraged you? Please let us know below…

READ:

Romans 15:13
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Hope: it’s a precious quality.  One definition of hope puts it this way: ‘to expect with confidence’.  God is full of hope, the Holy Spirit is telling us here.  In fact, He is the ‘God of hope’, which means He is its very originator, its creator, its giver, its sustainer.  Hope radiates out of God’s very being.  Hope is a rightful response to Jesus: He was born, died and then rose again – victorious over sin, sickness and death.  And He is coming again, of that we can be certain.  Why?  Because He’s told us and we can trust Him totally.

The remarkable and influential South African Bishop Desmond Tutu, who died on Boxing Day in 2021, said: ‘Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.’

We live in uncertain times: wars, earthquakes, and even rapidly-changing Prime Ministers.  Yet, of one thing we can be certain: God is a God of hope.  It was Paul’s prayer for the church to be filled with hope.  It can be ours too, confident that when we ask, we will receive. Before you pray, thank God that He is full of hope and loves to give it to those who follow Him.

BE ENCOURAGED!

One of our prophetic team members had a picture of someone standing alone when suddenly, from behind, a tidal wave of cold water came over them. They hadn’t seen it coming, so it was a shock! But as the water receded, they realised that they really needed that burst of cold refreshing water.

Later that week, one of the other prophetic team members was sitting on a train looking out of the window.  All of a sudden, by surprise, God’s peace and joy overwhelmed him  – so much so, he could barely stand up.  God reminded him that he was eternally and wonderfully loved.  It was a joyous moment that happened without warning.  It brought hope and peace at a time that was very painful and pressurised.

God can show up in unexpected places and at unexpected times.  And he can bring hope and peace to fill us and sustain us.

WORSHIP: listen to Blessed Assurance and worship Him

WAIT: ask for the Holy Spirit to fill you with his hope.  Then wait, and then wait a little longer.

LISTEN: what is the Holy Spirit saying to you: about you, about Jesus, about his plans for you?

WRITE DOWN: anything you believe the Holy Spirit has said to you before you forget.

PRAY PERSONALLY:

• You will be filled with eternal hope: not just your own, but God’s own hope delivered to you from the Throne Room of Heaven
• Where you have become despondent or despairing, pray that God will displace such thoughts with truthful hope
• You would see light in any areas of darkness in your life: the light of God’s activity and kindness towards you
• We, the Church, God’s people, would overflow and radiate God’s hope to an anxious and uncertain world. In fact, we would be known as people filled with hope that is more infectious than any virus,  sickness or uncertainty
• Those on your BLESS list would notice God’s hope in you and ask you about it
• Our nation or your birth nation to be refreshed by the Gospel and a renewed and steadfast hope in Jesus.

ENCOURAGE OTHERS:

• • How has God spoken to you or encouraged you? Please let us know in the form below…

READ:

1 Corinthians 12:4-11
There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.  There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.
Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.  To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom,  to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith  by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing  by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers,  to another prophecy,  to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.  All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.

The Holy Spirit is amazing.  But he is also profoundly generous.  He loves to give gifts, gifts that bring wisdom, knowledge, discernment, freedom and healing to ordinary believers – like those in Corinth (to whom Paul wrote this letter around two thousand years ago) and those in High Wycombe (for whom this letter is also an on-going encouragement for today).  He also gives us gifts that enable us to pray – like the gift of tongues.  We can also ask to interpret these tongues.  It is reassuring to know that the Holy Spirit generously gives to those who follow Jesus.  Our mission statement sums this up succinctly – we are ‘ordinary people changed by Jesus to change the world.’  To be changed by Jesus means we are extraordinary because we can join in the supernatural and extraordinary activity of Jesus through the Holy Spirit.  He has gifts to give us – gifts that can change the world and the people around us.

Two chapters later, Paul encourages the Corinthian believers to desire gifts like the ones above earnestly (1 Corinthians 14:1).  That means we can ask the Holy Spirit to give us supernatural gifts which glorify Jesus.  Which gifts do you earnestly desire to receive and use?

BE ENCOURAGED!
On Christmas Day, during our Christmas morning meeting at the King’s Centre, one of our dads came into the foyer for a drink of water: he was holding his two-year-old daughter.  She had hurt her ankle earlier that week, and it had been X-rayed in hospital.  The X-ray showed that the ankle was fractured, and it hurt a lot!  The daughter was unable to put weight on her foot because of the pain.  Someone prayed for her to be healed there and then in the foyer.  The dad then went back into the auditorium, and straightway the daughter started running around – free from all pain.  It was a remarkable transformation.  The Holy Spirit still gives gifts of healing today to set people free.

WORSHIP: listen to Lion and the Lamb and worship Him

WAIT: ask for the Holy Spirit to fill you.  Then wait, and wait a little longer.

LISTEN: what is the Holy Spirit saying to you: about you, about Jesus, about his plans for you?

WRITE DOWN: anything you believe the Holy Spirit has said to you before you forget.

PRAY PERSONALLY:

• For the Holy Spirit to give you new gifts (or renewed gifts) that glorify Jesus – like those in the today’s passage. Be specific – name the gifts you feel strongly about
• For earnestness to persist in asking the Holy Spirit to give you good gifts
• That as a church, we would receive all the wonderful spiritual gifts that the Holy Spirit has for us
• That we would see signs and wonders when we meet corporately – on Sundays, and in our small groups, and in our outreach initiatives
• For courage, boldness and sensitivity to use the gifts God gives us
• For healings that can only be explained by the supernatural power and kindness of the Holy Spirit
• To receive the gift of tongues if you have never received this, or for a greater love of the gift if you already have
• For gifts of wisdom for all of us, and for those in leadership positions at King’s

PRAY CORPORATELY (WITH OTHERS):
We have two corporate prayer meetings today at the King’s Centre, Desborough Road.  The first is from 1000-1130, and the second from 1930 to 2100: which one could you join?  We are going to pray for the Holy Spirit to give us good gifts – like those in today’s passage.

ENCOURAGE OTHERS:

• How has God spoken to you or encouraged you? Please let us know in the form below…

READ:

2 Corinthians 1:3-5
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.

The apostle Paul, who wrote this letter, knew all about hardship and persecution.  Later on in this letter, he outlines the painful experiences he has endured.  These include floggings, beatings, stonings, being shipwrecked, hunger, nakedness and sleeplessness: that’s quite a list!  In fact, it’s enough to make the strongest of people give up.  But he didn’t.  He persevered and learnt how to be content in every situation – whether under stress or not (Philippians 4:12).  How did Paul keep going?  He had the same resources as Jesus, which included the infilling of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as Counsellor and Comforter (John 14:16, 26, 16).  These titles of the Holy Spirit come from the Greek word parakletos which means “one called to the side of another”.  The Holy Spirit is therefore alongside us, guiding and comforting us.  Comfort is important.  It means “poured in strength”.  If, like Paul, you’ve been beaten, abandoned and abused, fresh strength from God is just what you need.  How about you?  What has hurt or crushed or disappointed you?

BE ENCOURAGED!
A few years ago, I was speaking with a loyal member of the church who had recently lost her husband to cancer.  She had also lost a young child some years before that and she really understood loss and grief.  She told me that she was totally confident in God and his goodness, and that God would look after her as she absorbed her loss.  She explained why: ‘God always shows up and always shows his goodness if you just learn to look for it.’  She knew how to be comforted by the Holy Spirit, and how to experience God’s goodness.  Her experiences of God had taught her to be content in the most trying of circumstances.  God always shows up if we ask him to (Matthew 7:7-8).

WORSHIP: listen to The Blessing and worship Him

WAIT: ask for the Holy Spirit to fill you.  Then wait, and wait a little longer.

LISTEN: what is the Holy Spirit saying to you: about you, about Jesus, about his plans for you?

WRITE DOWN: anything you believe the Holy Spirit has said to you before you forget.

PRAY PERSONALLY:

• For the Holy Spirit to comfort you and pour in fresh strength
• For healing from hurts, disappointments, mistakes, adversity, abandonment, betrayal
• That you would receive fresh joy in your present struggles
• For those inside and outside the church who are experiencing adversity: that they would be strengthened by the Holy Spirit in the depths of their being
• For those in Turkey, Syria, Ukraine, Russia, Afghanistan, Yemen who have been bereaved by war and conflict, that Jesus would send the Holy Spirit to save, restore and comfort them
• That you, like Paul, would learn contentment in every situation and circumstance of life (Philippians 4:12)
• For opportunities to strengthen and comfort others

ENCOURAGE OTHERS:

• How has God spoken to you or encouraged you? Please let us know…

READ:

Romans 8:15-17
For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs *—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Paul is writing to a divided church – the Jewish and Gentile believers were struggling with all sorts of issues which drove them apart.  They had different cultural views on permitted foods and circumcision, for instance.  It’s easy to fall out, and much harder to stick together, particularly when there are divergent views based on cherished cultural traditions.  Paul was adamant – he wanted a united church where Jew and Gentile could live harmoniously together, not in separate ‘cliques’ (Colossians 3:11).  Paul explains how and why this is possible in today’s passage.  Whatever our background, culture, history, nationality or race, we are all God’s adopted children, and we can all cry ‘Abba, Father’ through the one and the same Holy Spirit.  Our heavenly Father loves all his sons and daughters equally.  We are treated with equal honour and respect because we are all co-heirs with Christ.  What a privilege – we all inherit Jesus, and we all inherit what Jesus earned!  This means we should treat one another as God’s children with equal dignity and respect.
In Revelation 7:9 there is a great multitude which was too large to count before the throne of God.  Who was there?  People from every nation, tribe, people group and language.  And what were they doing?  They were all standing together, and all worshipping God together in unity.  It’s a picture of our eternal future, but it’s one we can model right now.  We are in a diverse church which gathers people from over 45 nations (the last time we counted in 2014).   We can stand together and worship together as co-heirs of God and as dearly loved sons and daughters.  To do so, we need to nurture, cherish and pursue unity.  After all, we have eternity to spend together.

BE ENCOURAGED!
In 2018 we ran the Invited Series where we encouraged one another to invite to our homes those from a different cultural background.  As part of the series, we filmed different people’s experiences of diversity.  One of the most powerful testimonies was from a South African-born member of the church who had grown up there during the apartheid era.  In her own country she was classified as ‘coloured’: a mixture of white and black.  This meant segregation from the white population.  She recounted her experience:
“In South Africa, people lived in segregated areas primarily based on the colour of their skin …  When I was in High School we started to question these inequalities, and there was a lot of unrest – riot police were sent to control our schools.  They had dogs, tear gas, guns and batons.   They put barbed wire around our schools to control the movement of students, to prevent us from meeting up with other so-called ‘coloured’ schools attempting to march in solidarity with the black schools. We took part in protest marches and some of our friends were imprisoned  – even being placed in solitary confinement and detained indefinitely without access to lawyers.  … I’ve had to forgive the authorities of the time for those forced apartheid years we endured.  One thing I’ve learned is that God is love. Irrespective of colour, race or creed, we are all God’s colourful creation.  He is a God of reconciliation and restoration so much so that we have a number of friends in the church who are white South Africans.  Seeing all the different nations represented at King’s is wonderful …   I pray that people will always be welcomed and included irrespective of culture, colour, background or anything else.”

How restorative that she had nurtured friendships with white South Africans in the church: how typical of the unifying power and love of the Holy Spirit.  God loves to bring different people together – even those who were once on completely different sides of a brutally-enforced divide.

WORSHIP: listen to This I Believe (The Creed) and worship Him

WAIT: ask for the Holy Spirit to fill you.  Then wait, and wait a little longer.

LISTEN: what is the Holy Spirit saying to you: about you, about Jesus, about his plans for you?

WRITE DOWN: anything you believe the Holy Spirit has said to you before you forget.

PRAY PERSONALLY:

• Thank Jesus for the broad diversity we enjoy at King’s: age, colour, race, ethnicity, experience, background
• That we would be a welcoming church, ‘irrespective of culture, colour, background or anything else.’
• For the power of the Holy Spirit in our church, uniting each other, enabling us to thrive on the richness of living with others with very different backgrounds and experiences
• That the Church (including King’s) would be a beacon to our world of the power of the Holy Spirit to unite very different people
• For you to invite someone to your home from a background very different from yours
• For God to give you deep and enduring friendships across all divides: cultural, social, economic, generations, ethnic and racial
• For increasing diversity in the church in our leadership: worship, small groups, ministries, staff, eldership
• For our nation (or your birth nation): harmony and appreciation across all and every form of division

PRAY CORPORATELY (WITH OTHERS):

Tonight’s Half Night of Prayer at the King’s Centre, Desborough Road, High Wycombe.  It starts at 2000 and finishes at midnight.  You can come for as long as you like: ten minutes, half an hour, an hour or for the whole four hours.  We would love to see you there and pray together for a powerful move of God’s love, power, salvation and healing.

ENCOURAGE OTHERS:

• How has God spoken to you or encouraged you? Please let us know in the form below…