We experience times when we see mighty victories, times of power, times of seeing God at work in our lives. Then there are times where we are in great need – of God’s presence, miracles of provision, a way ahead, a breakthrough – answers to our prayers.

Elijah – in the cave – needing God to bring answers, to bring Himself and we know that God didn’t come in His usual ways. In Bible, in Old Testament days, it was the way God so often visited people, brought His direction, instruction, miracles – earthquakes, wind and fire!

Exodus 3
Look at Moses and the Burning Bush – God spoke to him from the fire

Exodus 9 :23-25 - Storms and Wind: 23 When Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky, the LORD sent thunder and hail, and lightning flashed down to the ground. So the LORD rained hail on the land of Egypt; 24 hail fell and lightning flashed back and forth. It was the worst storm in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation. 25 Throughout Egypt hail struck everything in the fields—both men and animals; it beat down everything growing in the fields and stripped every tree.

Genesis and Exodus: Noah saw wind that God sent wind to dry up the land to deliver him and his family. Moses saw God send wind to bring in the plague and locusts to help bring about the deliverance for His people.

Jonah – storms and wind! Numbers 16: We see Korah who grumbled against God’s leaders and who set himself up as an authority that God had not appointed… God answerd by and earthquake that swallowed him and his family!!!

So God usually spoke to His people through dramatic means!

Back to Elijah who needed his answer, his miracle from God – He expected God to answer – but he could have missed Him looking for the answer in the wind- the fire the earthquake … cos that’s how he knew God spoke !

Look at the Jews of the New Testament many especially the Pharisees – they missed God… they expected Him to come – were looking for His salvation – and missed it — why?
They had already decided their answer!

Often I have heard people say – you need to pray the answer, not the problem – God already knows what you need so faith prays the answer – I disagree!!
If you know the answer…. get up, do it, go, give, be … whatever!

I think we so look for the answer in a way that we think God should answer and we are in danger of missing how He will actually bring the answer, miracle, deliverance etc. Often we think God should “do it” in a particular way – earthquake, wind and fire. Or maybe we are so used to squeezing our ears to hear a still small voice that we overlook what is staring us in the face! A fire or an earthquake!
We think God should answer us in certain ways and we get so cross, disappointed, defeated (like Elijah?) when “God’s People” don’t meet our needs, yet in our words we say “I’m looking to God”!!!
Are we really, or are we hoping someone will notice and be what we need, give us what we need.
Yes - He may well send you to be the answer, and others to be your answer … but the how, is God’s prerogative… Yes?

In our society of government support – NHS, Benefits etc. It is easy to rely on that and we forget that GOD is Jehovah Jireh, El Shaddai, God is the one that has promised to be God to us. I’m not saying we shouldn’t be looking to help bear one another’s burdens, share and bear with one another etc… But our Help , our Rock, Our Anchor is in Christ alone!

Jude 25: All glory to him who alone is God, our Saviour through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time! Amen.)
God is able –

* to save us … Dan 3 :17
* to raise up children! Matthew 3 : 9
* to do whatever he promises… Rom 4:21
* to make us stand … Romans 14:4
* to make all grace abound to you … 2 Corinthians 9 :8
* to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,…Ephesians 3:20
* to guard what I have entrusted to him …2 Timothy 1 :12
to deal gently with ignorant and wayward people because he himself is subject to the same weaknesses…Heb 5: 2
* to help those who are being tempted… Heb 2: 12
* to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him… Heb 7 :5
* to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy …Jude 24

At the core of our culture needs to be love, outreach, harmony and joy/worship.

In 2 Crinthians 12:20-21, St Paul was preparing to com eto the Church in Corinth for the 3rd time. He was worried about their culture. 2 Corinthians 13:5 - Examine yourselves; is your faith real and committed?

1 Corinthians 3:3 - He’s concerned about their ‘worldliness’, defined as jealousy and quarrelling. Worldliness is the attitude which excludes God. When we exclude Him, we develop stife - striving leads to strife!. Strife is bad - our solution to strife is to exclude worldliness!

Proverbs 31

The worthy woman - impossible model to match. A provocation, but not just for wives; also for the Church.

Rev 21:9
Rev 19:5

Preparation of the bride - she takes great care to get ready. Prob 31.
A picture of the bride of Christ. When a girl gets married, it’s the day of her dreams. This is talking of the marriage of the son of God.

How in our part of church, can we be a Prov 31 bride? Each of us has to fulfil our part.

1. Who can find a virtuous wife? Virtuous - of strength, valour, etc. the fullness of person - bold & confident, especially in battle.

2. She is of great worth. We are very valued by God. If he values us; we need to value each other.

3. God trusts us with His Kingdom. We need to know how to handle this, being trustworthy. She carries a good reputation. What report does our Church carry? What are you doing to make that excellent?

4. She is a worker. She makes things & carries on business. She’s a producer, more than a consumer. Don’t eat the bread of idleness.

5. The wife is caring & kind. She’s preparing for her family. V 19&20. She reaches out with love and kindness. Church needs to be caring and expressing practical compassion. Our words need to be kind.

6. She girds herself with strength. We can draw on His strength, reaching out for His provision. God has what we need, we need to know how to pull on that for ourselves and others.

7. She is alert. We need to be on the ball. We need to be still burning, even when others are going out!

8. She is confident. We need to know who we are, in God. We have the Spirit of the Living God, living on the inside. Let’s wakeup to who we have with us, whatever the external condition. Our God is on our side.

9. She is wealthy. The Church needs resources - blessed, happy, successful.

10. Her husband is known in the gates -place of rulership. We need to rule and reign. We are the people that will pray and believe in the blessing of God to Dumfries.

11. She’s creative. There are oodles of creative ideas in our midst. Look at all that we create. We have potential - creativity which needs to be released and harnessed.

12. She is filled with joy about her future. We have an amazing future promised. God honours His future wife.

13. She’s wise. The wisdom of God in our hands finds solutions to difficult problems.

14. The bride is blessed. We are blessed - we need to call each other blessed “ashar”.

God’s promises are Yes and Amen in Christ Jesus our Lord. Our bridegroom is preparing us for himself. We can boast about our bridegroom and our Church. Choose to believe His Word. “I will be faithful - totally committed to Him. ”

Am I doing my part? Then move forward - no condemnation. Things can help; get in a team. Get alongside people; do Faithworks next year; join a Lifegroup. Make vows to Him; join His covenant.

People like to belong!

Statistics show that people are generally poor at committing to something… they get scared of being involved, yet there is something in us that causes us to want to “belong”.
e.g. Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and the whole social messaging phenomenon.

1 Peter 2 v 9
A people belonging to God.
The Church – Gr. Ekklesia – assembly of called ones
It’s more than just the gathering together of God’s people for a meeting…. there are bonds that hold us together… bonds of belonging to the Church!

We belong first to Jesus, then to one another.

Ephesians 1: 22
The Body… which is the fullness of Him
Jesus is the head of the body, which is the Church; therefore He has ownership of it.
Never can the Church not belong to Jesus! – it is under His ownership and instruction. If we don’t acknowledge the headship of Jesus, we can call the organisation a Church, but it isn’t - the definition of a Church is that He is Lord of the assembly.

We lock our doors and look after the things we own… the Church belongs to Him and we can be secure in belonging to Him. He has our welfare at stake!

Ephesians 5:23
Husbands are told to love their wives as Christ loved the Church and gave himself for her. Jesus is jealous over his church in the way a husband should be jealous and protective of his wife’s affections.

Colossians 1:17-18 Acts 20:28
The Church has been bought with the blood of Jesus.
We need to all care for the body of Christ – each other.

Matthew 16:18
I will build MY Church….

Key Concepts of Church:
1. We belong to God.
2. He entrusts it to us to enjoy and build with Him… comes out of a relationship with the Creator, not just knowing about Him. We must let His Spirit come in to enable us to build together with Him.
3. “Church” works when He is in the Centre of it, just as our lives work better when He is Lord and centre of our life.

Isaiah 61: 1-3
We need the Church to be full of His vibrancy because it is the cause of Christ… so we each need that in us to work together

We see the Church… it is people – always on God’s heart- and the aspects we see of the Church in Scripture are all “people areas”
- A family
- A body
- A house/building for God – living stones!
- An Army
- A bride/wife.

The Church is not an institution or a club, but it is people in relationship with God and each other

Things that strengthen the bonds of Church:
A Find your “niche” – your place on a team… get involved!
B Giving – in offerings, time, self – take ownership of the cause.
C Feeding in – take care of one another.
D Express appreciation, work through “issues” with an appreciative heart in order to build up.
E Boast about the Church – Your Church! – LOVE YOUR CHURCH!