Colin: Welcome to RiverFest:14

I write this sitting in my office on a chilly but bright June morning. As you read it, many of you will be settling into your rooms, filled with excited anticipation for RiverFest:14!

I am praying we will all experience two things that are inextricably linked: the first is a fresh revelation of the Father’s love and the second is the joy of sharing life with friends old and new. If you’re reading this at home, you can experience these two things too by making some space in your life today. Set some time aside to be with the Father, to read the Bible or to walk and talk with Him in the garden like Adam did. As we meditate on His goodness and love towards us, thankfulness and joy fill our hearts. Make time for someone else too; take them a gift or invite them for a coffee, a meal or a walk. Loving someone in this way also brings joy.

How apt, then, that my reading this morning was 1 John 4, a favourite passage that speaks of us completing or perfecting the Father’s love by loving one another. He is wonderful! Doesn’t it make your heart glad when He leads you to the part of the Bible that’s just what you need for the day?

I was thinking about our theme for this RiverFest weekend: Face to Face. What does that really mean? How can we see God face to face when the Bible says that no-one can see God (1 Timothy 6:16)? We know that Moses talked face to face with God as a man talks to his friend, and his face shone as a result. Can we do that? Well yes, the Bible says we have a more dazzling encounter by the Holy Spirit. For Moses didn’t see God’s full glory (that’s why, after talking, he pleads with God to show him His glory); that honour has been reserved for us in Christ.

In two places, the apostle John tells us that although we cannot see God, His glory is revealed to us. The first is John 1:18 where it says that Jesus has ‘declared Him’ or made Him known. The second is 1 John 4:12 where he tells us that, though we cannot see Him, if we love one another, God lives in us, or among us, and we complete His love, making Him plain for all to see. So we see the glory of the invisible God through Jesus and in our midst, as we love one another. Wow!

At this point it’s good to remember that love is not a feeling, it’s a choice. Jesus said that we show the greatest love when we choose to lay down our lives for others. In other words, we love another when we choose to put their needs ahead of our own. As parents, we do that instinctively for our children, especially when they are helpless babes. If we are serious about loving everyone we meet, the challenge for us is to continually be putting the needs of others before our own. That sounds impossible, but the more we know the Father, the easier this becomes because we know He’s looking after us. As our confidence in His love grows, our fears for our own needs diminish because we know He cares for us. We are worth more to Him than the birds of the air or the beautiful flowers of the field. And when we stop worrying about our own needs, we are freed to think of the needs of others. This is the life of love we are called to.=

David says, “They looked to Him and were radiant!” (Psalm 34:5). Let’s remember Him, who lavishes us with love, and let us love one another. That’ll fill us with joy and make our faces shine. You might say we come face to face with God!

Colin: Living by Faith

Firstly, a big thank you to everyone who booked into RiverFest. When we started to plan this event my faith goal was for 320 people. I’m delighted to say that a little more than 320 of us are going away together for a wonder-filled weekend in July.

The God who loves to bless continues to pour out His blessing abundantly. I am already blessed in the planning. All those who go will be blessed through our love for one another and the powerful ministries of Dary Northrop and Carl Wills. The whole of River will be blessed as our churches are filled with the fresh inspiration and energy the weekend releases. And our communities will be blessed because we’ll love them more deeply and bring more of heaven to earth. Please pray for the final preparations and that the weekend will be filled with wonder as we all come face to face with the God who loves us.

The Holy Spirit keeps me meditating on Hebrews 11:6, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him”. I feel His encouragement to step out in faith and to adventure with Him. Not to settle for past victories or to live safely within the bounds of previous experience. He is challenging me to fresh faith and I believe He is encouraging us all to grow in faith. It doesn’t matter how much faith we have, but is it exercised? Like Peter stepping out onto the water, are we stepping out into the unknown, trusting He has spoken?

When I first came to trust in Jesus, to pray aloud required fresh faith, to hold my hands up in worship felt uncomfortable, to tithe my income challenged me, to tell someone how wonderful Jesus is was awkward and to speak in tongues seemed an impossible dream. Later, saying yes to lead a small group required new levels of faith and trust in the Lord. But Living by Faith: Colin Barnes with each new step of faith, Father kept meeting me and encouraging me and the Spirit kept drawing me on. Now for me to pray spontaneously in tongues and to twirl about in worship is natural. Now I walk in the realm of faith required to lead the whole of River. My point is that each new step of faith is scary. It requires us to step over fear and into the uncertain, to trust we won’t sink and that His unseen hand will hold us up.

Another aspect of faith is that it requires us to do things that only make sense if there is a God who loves us and is asking us to do them. If we only do what good sense dictates or take the routes others expect, that is simply wisdom. Wisdom is good, but it is not faith. Sometimes, living by faith means doing something that wise people might think strange or foolish. On the other hand, some people think that faith normally requires us to act strangely, but always choosing the less wise option is not faith, it is foolishness! The question for each one of us is: What will I do today, whether wise or foolish, that I am only doing because I believe He has spoken? That is living by faith!

As a leadership we believe God has called us to become an apostolic resource centre. That’s why we’ve restructured ourselves around becoming a regional network and set a budget £20k greater than last year’s. The good news is that God is already meeting us in this step of faith and I have been weeping in gratitude at your generosity and His faithfulness. Firstly, The Pastures, a church in Wycombe, is seeking to join Pioneer linked through River. Secondly, we’ve had some incredibly generous gifts recently, giving us confidence we will meet this year’s budget and can look to employ a youth leader! 

He is faithful and will be glorified in us as we step out. So let’s continue to take steps of faith based upon His goodness and His upward call in Christ Jesus!

Jan: Don't Lose Heart!

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Sometimes it is too easy to lose heart. When we look at the news from around the world, the violence, hatred, manipulation of nations, it is hard to keep hope alive that this world will become heaven on earth. There is still a way to go!

It is easy to lose heart when the things we have worked for and poured our hearts into are seemingly coming to nothing, when relationships break down, and health problems persist. Our hearts can even sink when our broadband is not as wide as we would like it or our waistband is wider than we’d like it!

Lately I have been thinking about 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For this momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

Losing heart is not a good thing! It is such a dulling sensation of hopelessness. It has such wide ranging effects on those around us and robs us not only of the joy of who we are as beloved children of God, but also diverts us from the productivity of an abundant life. Losing heart tends us  towards dryness and barrenness with little overflow to bless the world.

It would be helpful to find the keys to “not losing heart”! Looking at the verse above there seems to be a clue. “Look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.” Discouragements and disappointments, though very real, are not the whole picture. There is an “eternal weight of glory” being given to us!

Now choosing to look at the good things which are seen can be very encouraging and life-giving. We can receive a lot of inspiration from walking in nature (the seaside is good for me), watching children play, eating good food and watching You Tube clips of puppies! Hearing what the Lord is doing around the world lifts my heart: the news of our missionaries both home and away, the stories of sacrificial love and laughter that is present even in the darkest of situations. These restore my hope in goodness.

So how do we look at the things which are unseen? We shift our focus. I love the verse about prayer in Matt 6:6: “When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” God is unseen to us and yet we are not unseen to Him! So a key is to look at our Father who understands and desires to reward.  

What is another key? We “fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. Who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” (Hebrews 12:2-3 )

And to complete the trinity… we fill our hearts and minds with the Holy Spirit. “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13)

There is a lot more going on in this world than we can see. As we live from the unseen, looking at God as Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit, then we will not lose heart for our world but be filled with hope, and keep on loving the ones we do see.