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Listen to our new Liberty Church Podcast! Newsletter and Notes 28th Febuary 2009 Free Debt Advice and Support. Working with professional debt advisors. There will be no Liberty service on the first Sunday of each month as the Methodist congregation here will hold a monthly service at 6.30pm. We have been invited to join in with the Methodist congregation Jim and Nina will be attending these joint meeting. Summary Of Jim’s Preaching On Feb 21st ‘Saul spared again’ An Extract from Romans 8: We know that ALL THINGS work together for good for those who love God, and who are called according to His purpose.
For those He foreknew, He also predestined and made in the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.In addition. those He chose, these He also called; those He called He also justified; and those He justified, He also glorified.
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not in Him also freely give us all things?
Who shall bring a charge against God’s chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and is risen, who is now at the right hand of God making intercession for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, Nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Hello, David here again. I was still on the run from King Saul. I was travelling with a small army of 300 men. We followed our hearts and minds policy – always helping the locals in whatever region we were passing through. We needed their goodwill and needed their gifts of food and provisions.
Even though my life was in danger I managed to fall in love again. This time with Abigail, the beautiful wife of Nabal, a rich landowner who had insulted me. When Nabal heard that I, along with 300 men armed to the teeth were coming to pay him a visit, he had a heart attack and died. I lost no time in marrying Abigail, this made her my 3rd wife.
We were now hiding out in a mountain region of Hachilah – a bit like the Lake district….without the lakes. When I had spared Saul’s life the first time he had promised not to come after me again. But his mood changed when he became deeply depressed, as I knew it would.
The day came when my lookouts sounded the alarm. Saul and his men were in the valley below searching for me. It was dusk and I knew they would stop and camp for the night and come up the mountain in the morning.
I decided to sneak into Saul’s camp. My nephew Abishai volunteered to go with me. After years on the run our guerrilla tactics were pretty good and we got past the lookouts and stole into Saul’s camp. We found Saul asleep in the middle of the camp – his spear and water skin beside him.
Abishai wanted to kill him there and then but I stopped him, ‘You cannot kill the Lord’s anointed’ I told him. Instead I took Saul’s spear and his water skin withdrew to a safe distance up the mountain and waited for dawn.
Saul was horrified when he saw me stood on the mountainside with his spear and water skin in my hand. He came out to speak with me. I’d proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that I would never harm him. Again he apologised shame faced and said he would not pursue me any more. I knew better than to believe him.
Why didn’t I just get it over with and kill Saul? Ever since Samuel said the Lord had chosen me and anointed me as King, I had a confidence in the Lord that I hadn’t known before. From then I knew that I knew that I knew the Lord himself would make me King. This underlying knowing enabled me to trust the Lord for all things. My spirit was strong even though there were many times when my soul, that is my mind and emotions, were weak.
In this strength from my spirit, I’d defeated Goliath and become a leader of men, valiant in battle. It was my confidence in the Lord’s promise to make me King that stopped me killing Saul. I didn’t want to seize the throne myself. I wanted to wait for the Lord to give it to me. I totally trusted God’s timing and wanted to stay in step with Him.
Every time I faced a foe my natural fearful emotions said one thing but my spirit, that deep part of me that communicated with the Lord, said another. My biggest battle was the overcoming of my soul, my natural thoughts and feelings. I myself was my greatest enemy.
It was like living on two levels. The top where all my anxiety and fears were but underneath, a peace in my inner self, no matter what was going on. Often I had to stop myself worrying and panicking and dip down into that underlying layer to experience the Lord’s peace. Each time I saw the Lord care for me and see me though a crisis, my trust in Him grew even stronger.
As I trusted in His love and care for me so each one of you can take confidence in knowing the Lord loves you with an everlasting, unconditional, unfailing love. Whatever the situation you find yourself in, rejoice in His love for you and trust He will bring you through. Always remember that no matter what’s going on around you. To be continued….
As a young child Karen experienced the Lord. Home life was often distressing due to emotional and physical abuse and, at night, Karen would talk to Jesus, pour out her worries and sadness to Him, and she felt He was there and He cared. It felt like there were no barriers between her and Jesus. Her family did not have a Christian faith and she went to church with Girl Guides and later as a leader in Boy’s Brigade. At some point while growing up she absorbed the message that the Lord requires a standard of behaviour and, because she could not live up to this, a sense of unworthiness crept in and she stopped praying.
For many years as an adult, she had no contact with church. She married and the marriage didn’t work out and ended in divorce. That increased her sense of unworthiness towards the Lord as church taught that married people should not split up. She eventually recognised and came to terms with her sexuality as a gay woman. She had been with her partner, Sam, for 10 years when they moved to a village near Chorley and she felt drawn to go to church again. Through Christian neighbours she started attending church regularly. The pastor talked about the Lord in your life and about grace and how the Lord loves you as you are. She took it into her head but not into her heart. She had lots and lots of questions and had ongoing, long debates with her neighbours, who were now close friends. It felt to her that it would be a risk to trust the Lord because ‘what if He wasn’t there and what if there was nothing?’ She was also unsure if her sexuality was ok with the Lord and felt unable to voice this. Then came a very bad time. Karen got M.E. very severely. She was extremely ill for over a year and unable to work. Sam had to give up her job to look after her and finances hit rock bottom. There wasn’t enough money to live on or to pay the mortgage and it looked like they would lose their house. Their Christian friends encouraged them to ask Jesus to help, to provide what they needed. With no other way to go Karen started to try Him out. She spoke to Jesus about her worries and needs.
Amazingly they saw money come in from different, unexpected places. Lots of different things happened including a relative who never gave money to anyone (and didn’t know how bad things were) sent them a cheque, there was a refund on a bill they had overpaid, and somehow each week there was always had enough to live on. They didn’t loose the house and they both had a growing sense of the Lord actually caring about them and showing His love in the practical details of their lives. In that time Karen gradually came to know the Lord’s love for her personally and came to a point of being able to rely on and trust Him. After 18months off work Karen had to attend a meeting to decide if her job would be kept open or not. Her Christian friends encouraged Karen and Sam to pray about it. The outcome of the meeting was that the job would be held open if she returned to work in 2 month. She still had M.E. and did not have the strength or energy to work. However they prayed and when she went back she found herself physically and mentally able to do a demanding job and the M.E. disappeared. She now knew the Lord and trusted in Him. There were times she prayed for physical healing and saw wonderful things. She sprained her ankle by twisting it as she fell down a step that was a foot high. It was very bruised and painful and she couldn’t walk on it. She prayed for it to be healed and each time the pain woke her up that night she prayed again. When she got up in the morning the bruising and swelling and had gone and it was perfectly OK. She had a long term back problem and prayed repeatedly. Her recent MRI scan showed that an old fracture in her back had healed and disappeared without any trace. Karen has also known emotional healing. She had very low confidence due to the damaging things that had happened in childhood. She had been to a psychologist, and had had psychotherapy. The therapy helped her to understand that what happened was not her fault but didn’t heal the pain. She wanted revenge on her brother and mother. She then came to the point of being able to give the Lord the whole situation with her brother and her mother and asked Jesus to give her the ability to forgive them for what they did. He gave her that ability and she felt released from the pain and effects of the past. She felt free.
However, at her church, the teaching was that being gay is not the Lord‘s best and that the ideal in His eyes is to be heterosexual. She was drawn to read the story of Abraham in Bible. In it Karen discovered the Lord’s Grace for a man who did a lot of wrong things. However, Abraham had faith in the Lord which made him righteous in the Lord’s eyes. She realised that despite what her church said Grace was big enough for everyone and it was not possible that the Lord should limit it to heterosexuals only.
She still wanted to participate in church but the underlying negative attitudes to being gay caused difficulty, particularly for Sam. She was asking the Lord to show her the right church to go to when she came across Liberty when Nina spoke at a LGBT staff meeting about faith. Karen said that the Liberty slogan ‘Free Your Faith’ means a lot to her. She has experienced that sense of increased freedom to be herself as a gay woman, totally accepted and loved by the Lord. Her spiritual journey with Jesus has shown her that He always keeps His promises. When she has turned to Him with the problems she has faced He has kept His promise to care for her in every aspect of her life. Sam and Karen are still in a financial straight jacket and recently, at the start of a camping holiday in Scotland, checked their account and found they had £15 rest of the holiday. They spoke to the Lord asking Him to help. They both received an overwhelming sense of peace that He would. At that moment the most vivid rainbow they had ever seen appeared. It ended right in front of them and Sam took the photo of it shown above. They felt that the Lord was confirming that His promises are sure, and He would meet their needs. Despite limited funds they had a wonderful, deeply refreshing holiday in glorious weather and with a strong assurance of the Lord being with them every step of the way. Karen feels that she has handed over to Him things that were heavy in her life. Things like shame, guilt and low confidence. He has taken these away and instead given her the gift of His Spirit, which is light and life giving. The following scripture from Matt 11:28 (Amplified version), has become a reality to her: Jesus said ‘Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened and I will cause you to rest. (I will ease and refresh your souls). Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is wholesome (good, not harsh, hard, sharp or pressing, but comfortable, gracious and pleasant) and My burden is light and easy to carry. Sunday Nov 16th Hayley spoke about her faith journey.
Hayley came to faith through a gay Christian. When she began to attend church she was shocked by the prejudice she saw against LGBT people and she stood up against it at every opportunity. This led to her being marginalised in church and she experienced the pain and hurt of rejection from people she had thought were friends. Hayley spent time praying and interceding for the gay and LGBT people in Blackpool and prayed specifically for a heterosexual couple to start a church for the gay community here. She felt if a straight couple started it they could not be accused by other Christians of doing it to make themselves feel better but would be doing it because they felt passionately that wanted to reach out to the gay community here. Some years after she had left Blackpool she was emailed by a friend who told her that what she had prayed for had happened. We regard Hayley as the first building block in the foundations of Liberty Church. Well before Jim and Nina felt God call them to found Liberty Church, Hayley was praying for exactly that. We were delighted to have her among us – for her to see what she had been praying for and to hear her account of her ongoing determination to stand up for LGBT Christians in the face of prejudice. Some years ago Hayley wrote a poem called ‘My Sweet Lord’. My sweet Lord, How do I share You with women Who hurt at the hands of men And their wives, Those other girls with their highlighted curls And the boys who have to look twice? My sweet Lord, How do I compare You with Christians Who crucify my brothers and sisters All their lives, Blocking the path to Your light and Your love and the way to Eternal life? My sweet Lord, How do I tell them that You care, That You love them to the very depths Of their souls? How do I extract You From the lies that surround You And let the truth be known? My sweet Lord, Why don’t they just see how You love me And let it all go so that You can change their lives? Jesus, Lord! Won’t You shine Your light On Your children; Please set them free, Like You did for me, Don’t let the churches Stand in Your way, Lord, Mighty Saviour, set them free. From the blame. My sweet Lord, How do I share this love that lights Up my life and soothes away Bitterness of life? My sweet Lord, How do I paint a picture of the Perfection You have brought Into my heart, Lord Jesus, where do I start? Father God, Holy Ghost, Lord Jesus Christ, Take my hand, don’t let it go, Lead me to the place where this work Can go on and on and on… Extract from Gena’s testimony 29th 2008
Gena was born a boy with an eye condition that gradually deteriorated. By the age of 12 she was sent to a school for partially sighted children and now, as an adult, needs a guide dog. Gena recently took part in the Navajo training course ‘Understanding Sexuality’ and, as a result, went on to the Navajo mailing list. Because of this mailing list she received an email circular about a job with DISC, (Disability Information Service Centre) for a disabled person to undertake a research project into services in the North West available for disabled LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered) people. When Gena received the email, even before she had opened the attachment with the job details, she felt the Lord spoke to her. It was an inner voice, like hearing very clear thoughts in your head. Gena felt the Lord said ‘You’re going to get this job and you will stand at the front in church and tell everyone about it’. Just as He said, she got the job. Gena said the wonderful thing about this job is that it seems tailor made for her. She has worked with people with learning disabilities, she has a psychology degree which taught her about research methods, she has studied software engineering at university, she has gained a wider understanding of sexuality and gender issues through the Navajo course. Gena said that every one of her very different experiences is directly useful for this job and she feels now that all these things were a preparation for this role. Gena told us about her earlier years. She had been deeply unhappy as a child and when she grew up got married hoping that she would be more settled. It was only after the marriage that she came to understand that her difficulties and her depression were due to gender problems. When, with the advice of her doctors she came to the decision to transition to have a female body, she told all her family. Some accepted this and others rejected her. She went through a divorce and faced a very lonely time living in role as a woman waiting for her surgery. During this time, the Guide Dog Association, who were very supportive, accepted her for their residential training course to train with a guide dog. There was a man doing the same training, blind following an accident, who was a Christian and spoke openly about his faith. Gena thought he was a bit mad to believe in a God who could allow him to loose his sight. The guide dog training was very physically and mentally demanding and half way through Gena was completely exhausted and stressed out by it and was ready to give up. She went up to her room cursing the training, the centre, her situation, God, everything. She was rinsing out some washing, about to throw her things in a case and storm out when she heard a voice say to her ‘Gena why do you deny me? I love you and I’ll guide you. You WILL be able to train with the dog’. The voice was as clear as if someone in the room had spoken it but there was no one there. She felt soaked in peace. The anger and stress left her. She now knew Jesus as a reality and knew His love for her. She stayed on in the training and went home at the end of the course fully trained with her first guide dog. She was hungry to know the Lord more and found a church back home in Northampton where she was nourished spiritually. However she felt unable to confide in anyone there about her sex change surgery that was due as she feared rejection. She went though surgery in Charing Cross Hospital in London without visitors. She spent her time in hospital praying and singing worship songs and felt very close to God and strengthened by Him.
Her experience of the Lord revealing Himself to her during her transition and then supporting her through her surgery leaves no doubt in her mind that the Lord accepts and loves people in transition and those with trans histories as much as any of His children. In the years following she moved to Preston to do a Psychology degree and later studied software engineering at the university. She lost her connection with Christians and church and drifted into what she now sees as ‘a spiritual wilderness’. Gena confided to her friend Christine that she felt the spiritual part of her life was missing. Christine had heard of Liberty Church because of the ‘Nowt so Queer’ book of older LGBT people’s memories and had read Dennis’ story there. Christine put Gena in touch with Liberty. At Liberty church Gena said she has found a safe place to grow spiritually while being totally accepted and not having to hide any part of herself. She has found herself having a growing trust in the Lord and a growing ability to let Him lead in her life. She now has a strong sense of purpose in following the direction God has got for her life. The experience of Him speaking to her about the job and finding that what He said came true has had a huge impact on her faith and is enabling her trust and faith in Jesus to grow even more. Extract from Sarah’s testimony Sept 21st 2008
Sarah said that as a child, in her heart she was looking for God. She attended an Anglican church and remembers frequently confessing her ‘sins’ because that is what she was taught to do. Sarah didn’t know what ‘sins’ were, only that saying sorry repeatedly was required. Discovering her sexuality at the age the age of 13, and coming out was a very painful, lonely process involving self rejection and a belief others would reject her. She could not understand why a God would have created her to suffer in this way. She concluded that as she had been to church a lot and not found God then he could not exist. She now saw herself as an atheist. Homophobia in school caused her major stress and unhappiness. She then made contact with the LGBT young people’s group run by Hayley and for the first time found support from people who understood her sexuality. She became active in that group. As she understood herself more, she was able to support others and she eventually chaired the group and represented them to different official bodies. Hayley was keen for the young people’s group to be aware of all the LGBT groups locally so suggested that they visit all local groups including Liberty Church. Sarah couldn’t understand why Hayley wanted to visit Liberty but came along anyway. The evening of the visit Hayley and two young people, including Sarah, came and had a meal at the mid week meeting. After the meal different people around the table spoke about their relationship with God and what Liberty Church meant to them and answered questions that came up. Sarah had never heard people speak openly about how they related to God before. She felt God was saying to her ‘This is it’ and she knew this was what she had been searching for. It was nearly a year after that first visit that Sarah followed up on that ‘inner voice’ and came to Liberty one Sunday evening. It was not as she expected a Sunday service to be. It was lively, not miserable and a bit strange to see people singing with their hands in the air. However she felt at ease, liked it and wanted to come back. A few Sundays later, during the worship, she felt she connected with God. It was like receiving a great big hug from Him and gave her an incredible sense of peace deep inside. Sarah now knows that God loves her. She senses He is with her and she talks to him in her heart. She has more peace within her and her friends have noticed that she is calmer. She concluded be saying that in the past her church had taught her to seek forgiveness and strive to be perfect. At Liberty she has found that God loves her as she is and she has come to know Him for herself.
Jim spoke following Sarah’s testimony : He adapted Paul’s letter to the new Christians in Corinth and said:
2 You, Sarah, are our (Liberty’s) letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. 3 You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. 4 Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. 5 Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. 6 He has made us competent as ministers of a living covenant— not what is written in ink, but of the Spirit; for what is written in ink will kill you, but the Spirit gives life. 2Cor 3:2-6
Sarah’s experience of Liberty has the power of eternal life as she tells her testimony to others. For it is the truth from beginning to end. In reality it is the testimony of Jesus in her life. According to 1Cor 1:8 He will sustain you (Sarah) to the end, blameless and free from guilt or shame until the day of the coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Extract from Brian’s testimony on Sun 29th July 08
Brian spoke about how he was impacted by God last Sunday and now knows Him and knows His love. Brian first came to Liberty Church because he was checking out LGBT groups in town to link with his alcohol outreach project. At first he thought we were weird and that people being expressive in worship were putting it on ‘because no one could be that happy’! However he kept coming back because he wanted ‘a piece of what you had’. Two weeks ago he called round to see Nina and said he wanted to pray that if Jesus was real He would come into his life. He prayed a simple prayer and went away. Last Sunday Brian was at church and during the worship he suddenly felt wrapped around in a sense of love that almost physical, like a warm, cotton wool blanket. He was overwhelmed by a feeling of safety, security and incredible happiness. The presence of God was so powerful to him that he was almost unable to stand and wanted to shout out ‘Its true! He’s real!’
He left church straight away at the end to get his train to Chorley and all evening felt overwhelmed by this love and could not get his head around it. That night he didn’t want to go to sleep in case the feeling went but when he opened his eyes in the morning it was still there. At home, for the first time in his life, he started to talk to God on his own and found himself pouring out all the pain of things that had happened in the past to Him. He experienced a relief that felt like a weight lifting off his chest and he knew that the pain had gone. He said he now walks down the street knowing that God is with Him. He has gained a ‘Buddy’ who will be there to help Him and guide him through life. He has given his life to the Lord to lead him through life and he feels incredibly happy that he knows His love in his life.
In Scripture It Explains What Has Happened To Brian.
Brian has now been born again by a work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has infused his spirit to make him aware of his connection to God and is able to relate to God. ( John 3:3)
In Galations 3:2 it says; I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Brian has received the Spirit who brings faith in God, not by trying to follow rules and regulations but by recognising what God has done in others and wanting that and then responding to what God is doing in him. He ‘heard’ God calling him with ‘spiritual’ ears. Brian’s powerful sense of God’s love, the sense of security and safety and the overwhelming happiness are some of the fruit of the Holy Spirit and are written about in Galations 5:22 which says ‘….. the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.’ Brian now has the sense that God is with him as his ‘Buddy’. This is exactly what Jesus promised. Jesus said: ‘I will talk to the Father, and he’ll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you. This Friend is the Spirit of Truth. The godless world can’t take him in because it doesn’t have eyes to see him, doesn’t know what to look for. But you know him already because he has been staying with you, and will even be in you!’ John 5:16-18 Message. Brian knows him already. Brian wants his Buddy, the Holy Spirit, to lead him through life. We will see, in the next months and years, how God leads Him and the wonderful things He will do in Brian’s life. Extract from John’s Testimony on Sunday 15th June 08
John spoke about attending a Catholic Church as a child and being confirmed there but not actually knowing Jesus. The Catholic Church taught that being gay was wrong and John believed it and suppressed his orientation. He was even homophobic to a friend who came out to him. As he grew up and when he was 20 years old and had moved to Accrington he was more able to accept himself being gay. He found the Liberty Church website and came to be in church with other gay people. It was a big change from the church he had been used to and at first he thought it was weird! However he kept coming back as he felt drawn. The third week he came he felt he saw Jesus in people’s eyes. During worship he felt a wonderful peace inside. He felt so full of this beautiful peace he felt floaty and slightly dizzy and almost a bit drunk with it. That night at home he started to say his catholic prayers and found himself speaking in tongues and didn’t know what it was but it felt wonderful and again there was that peace. Soon after, at church Jim spoke about getting out of the boat, daring to really trust God. That night John asked Richard and Nina to pray for him. He ‘went out in the Spirit’ i.e. felt so incredibly relaxed and heavy with peace he sank to the floor and lay there bathing in this really relaxed, warm, gorgeous feeling. It was like being filled completely with peace, from the ankles, up to his knees, and up through his body. Then he felt joy bubble up inside and he started laughing and laughed and laughed and couldn’t stop. Afterwards he felt he now really knew Jesus and his tremendous love. All his life he had felt there was something missing and now at last he had found what it was. It seemed the laughing had caused him to let go of lots and lots of things that had restricted his life. He went home and had the BEST night’s sleep ever and woke up feeling free to be completely himself. He went to WH Smith’s and openly bought a copy of Gay Times. Before he had always asked someone else to get it for him and had hidden it. Now there was no guilt or embarrassment. He felt free. A few days after, at home he shouted out ‘I love you Lord’. It was the first time John had said he loved Jesus. Then, for the first time he felt able, not only to accept himself but to love himself. Soon after this John had a picture in his mind’s eye. It was of him dressed in a magnificent white robe. Nina told him it was a robe of righteousness and showed him Isaiah 61;10 that talks about these robes. John could see that Jesus was not looking at what was wrong in him but was looking at him dressed in the righteousness that Jesus himself had given him. John said: ‘I used to think if you were a priest or a ‘High Up’ you were holy. Now I know that we are ALL equal in his sight and He makes ALL who trust in Him holy and worthy to know Him.
I thought I was a Christian before but I wasn’t. Now I KNOW Jesus. He’s everything to me. He’s my King, my Friend he’s everything. He’s awesome!’
Also see Preaching Social, Bible Study/Discussion Wednesday at 7:15pm. The meeting starts with a meal at 6:30pm. All are welcome to this 'round the table' conversation. There is no charge for the meal.
Also see Teaching
Texts often used to condemn people who are Gay was the subject of our first three bible studies. We have copies of the notes made on all three studies which are available for anyone who would like them.
On Sunday the 7th of May Jim preached on Rejection. CD’s or tapes are available free of charge. Ask Jim To Contact Us email nina@libertychurchblackpool.org.uk or Tel/txt 07 9555 97771 or write to Liberty Church Blackpool, PO Box 75, Blackpool FY1 1DD |
Summary of Karen’s Testimony on Sunday .  |
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