Mustardseeds Ministry Resources

I LOVE THIS ANALOGY:
You are holding a cup of coffee when someone comes along and bumps into you or shakes your arm, making you spill your coffee everywhere.
Why did you spill the coffee?

"Because someone bumped into me!!!"
Wrong answer.

You spilled the coffee because there was coffee in your cup.
Had there been tea in the cup, you would have spilled tea.

Whatever is inside the cup is what will spill out.
Therefore, when life comes along and shakes you (which WILL happen), whatever is inside you will come out. It's easy to fake it, until you get rattled.

So we have to ask ourselves... “what's in my cup?"
When life gets tough, what spills over?
Joy, gratitude, peace and humility?
Anger, bitterness, victim mentality and quitting tendencies?
Life provides the cup, YOU choose how to fill it.

Today let's pray and ask the Holy Spirit to fill our cups with gratitude, forgiveness, joy, words of affrmation, resilience, positivity; and kindness, gentleness and love for others

Amen

Can you believe that SPARK in the PARK is just over two weeks away! We're looking forward to welcoming you all for lots of fun and laughter this summer - as we "Go for Gold" with Paul and his friends. Comment "I'm in" to let us know you're coming 😎😎

When God is on your side, you have nothing to fear.

To all teams, THANK YOU as you prepare for another weekend of Caring, Listening and Helping. Thank you for giving your time for free, making sure you look out for the interests and safety of others. Thank you for every conversation, for every encouragement and for being servant hearted. Thank you for all broken glass that you sweep up and for every bottle safely deposited. Thank you for every bottle of Water given, for every pair of Flip Flops and let’s not forget the lollipops. Thank you for caring for the Homeless, buying food, giving a hot drink, a blanket and a prayer. Thank you for looking out for the vulnerable, the distressed and the lonely. Thank you for keeping people safe and well and walking alongside those who are anxious. Thank you for helping those who are unwell, those who have had too much to drink, those needing a taxi, those you will clean up with wet wipes and tissues. Thank you for every prayer given to our teams and to our community. Thank you, JESUS, for showing us how to love using our faith in action, letting people know we care, because HE first cared for us. Looks like we have a busy weekend ahead, how amazing that we can be a part of it!
Isaiah 58:10 “If you open your heart to the hungry, and provide abundantly for those who are afflicted, your light will shine in the darkness, and your gloom will be like the noon.” www.streetpastors.org

Word on Wednesday

This little lamb is drinking from the hands of the Shepherd.

The lamb didn’t ask itself whether it deserved the water

The lamb didn’t ask itself if it had earned the water

The lamb didn’t ask itself if its performance merited a drink of water

The lamb didn’t ask itself how well it had obeyed the Shepherd that day

The lamb knew it was thirsty and so went to the Shepherd for water to drink.

37 Now on the last and most important day of the feast, Jesus stood and called out [in a loud voice], “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink! He who believes in Me [who adheres to, trusts in, and relies on Me], as the Scripture has said, ‘From his innermost being will flow continually rivers of living water.’”

John 7:37-38 Amplified

Are you thirsty?

What is stopping you from drinking right now of the Shepherd’s living water?

Beauty From Ashes
Healing and Hope for the Hurting

Monday Ministry News

Nourish Lunch

Nourish - to sustain with food or nutriment; supply with what is necessary for life, health, and growth.
to cherish, foster, keep alive, etc.
to strengthen, build up, or promote:

On Wednesday 12th June we will be hosting a Zoom Nourish Lunch. Join us at 12.45 on zoom with your picnic. We shall start with a scriptural thought, enjoy 40 minutes of snack and natter and end with a prayer and the grace.

Email: [email protected] to reserve a place.

Beauty From Ashes
Healing and Hope for the Hurting

Word on Wednesday

Later Part III

This is the final part of musing on this verse…

Jesus said, You do not realise now what I am doing but later you will understand.
John 13:7

In week one we thought about our need for trust as we wait for later…

In week two we looked at the Hebrew word קָוָה (qavah) to wait upon the Lord as a very active word which carries a sense of hopeful anticipation, an eagerness to see what God is going to do, and it is characterised by activity, not passivity - something like a small child waiting with hope and anticipation for a birthday. The word comes from a ropemaker’s art of twisting, or more properly “intermingling,”strands of rope to make a thicker, stronger, rope.

So while we wait for “later” we are to intermingle our thoughts and our hearts with His thoughts and His heart in an active, joyful and expectant manner…

And when we do intermingle our thoughts and hearts with His what does He do?

He does not leave us struggling - He strengthens our hearts. He gives us the power and strength to trust and to intermingle.

Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!
Psalm 27:14

I trust…
I intermingle…
He strengthens!

Later, I will understand…

Beauty From Ashes
Healing and Hope for the Hurting

Our July - September programme is being printed, and will be available to pick up SOOOOON! Inside, you will get a delightful feast of a poster, designed by our wonderful graphic designer Owen to advertise "Sharing Plate" - a community event planned for this year's ERITH MADE festival. We hope you can make it. The next few posts are about workshops and events that we have going on in July. See you all soon! 🤟

This event is for a multitude of churches across Bexley and Greenwich. God has given a vision of all churches taking a stand against what the enemy is doing to our youth! Warfaring with praise and worship! We have been invited and love to extend this and invite you and your church a long and if anyone would like to take part and do a slot of worship that would be amazing!!

God, You know that I need You. I’m sorry for all the times I’ve pretended that I’m fine on my own. Please forgive me. Today, I come to You just as I am, and I give You all of my anxieties, cares, and worries. Please replace worry with peace, anxiety with hope, and concern with confident trust. I know that I am safe with You, and You can handle my problems. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

// verse of the day //

For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.
– Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NLT)

“Often, in response to our pleadings, the word is Trust Me.” Elisabeth Elliot from Guided by God’s Promises

It's , join us at
🕑 7pm
📆 11th May 2024
📌 St John's Church Community Hall Erith

St. Johns Church Erith

What a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!

Oh, what peace we often forfeit,
Oh, what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!

Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged—
Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Can we find a friend so faithful,
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness;
Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy-laden,
Cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge—
Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?
Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In His arms He’ll take and shield thee,
Thou wilt find a solace there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In 1855 Irishman Joseph M. Scriven penned the words to his most famous hymn. A hymn that makes one think about our friendships and relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. We should be very grateful we have a friend such as Christ. Proverbs 18:24, “A man who has friends must himself be friendly, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”

Scriven wrote this hymn with great personal pain. Rather than focusing on his personal sorrows he decided to give it to the Lord in prayer. One can only image how Scriven’s burden was lifted by his Lord during prayer.

We often do not realise what a true friend we have in the Lord. A friend that said, Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Jesus also said, Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. The Lord calls those who believe in Him friends in verse 15 and John chapter 15, No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.

The future was full of hope for the young Joseph Scriven. He was engaged to his fiancé and soon to take her hand in marriage. On the night before the marriage Scriven’s soon to be wife travelled along the river to meet him. In a moment of madness her horse was startled and throw her head first in the rushing waters beneath. Knocked unconscious and unresponsive she drowned just a few minutes before Scriven arrived. Scriven described his sorrow as the bottom of my world seemed to disappear.

An emotional shattered Scriven turn to God for comfort and guidance from that day forward. In 1845 Scriven arrived in Canada. One can only imagine he left Ireland as the pain of that day was too much for him. Scriven never stopped thinking about the day that never happened.

Scriven settled in Port Hope, Ontario. In Canada Scriven devoted most of his time in helping people in need following Christ’s example in the Sermon on the Mount. Each day he walked the streets helping anyone he could see in need of help. It is reported that he never once turned down a request for help. For nearly 40 years Scriven reflected the love and light of Christ in his daily life.

In the spring of 1854 Scriven was to marry. He met his bride to be when teaching the children of a British sea captain, she was his niece. Only weeks before the wedding despair struck Scriven again. His fiance suddenly fell ill of pneumonia and dead at the age of just 23 years.

Once again Scriven was heartbroken by losing a woman he loved dearly. Scriven turn to God once again. God was his only true friend, the only one who could now strengthen him. The following year he wrote a poem to his mother back home in Ireland. The poem highlighted his extraordinary friendship with Jesus. He wrote about how he had hope and purpose for the future in the mist of overwhelming sorrow. The words of this poem we now know as the timeless classic hymn, What a friend we have in Jesus.

In simple but beautiful language Scriven wrote the very core meaning of a true friend. A friend that we can all have if we trust in Christ alone. A friend that you have never had before. A friend the Lord Jesus Christ is one worth having. What a great sense of peace and joy Scriven must have felt when he wrote this poem. He must have known that no matter what pain we have, Jesus will make our burdens lighter. No matter our sorrow, God is in control. Yes, even in the mist of chaos and panic God is in control.

For the rest of his life Scriven demonstrated the love of God in Canada. Even today more than 100 years after his death his example of faith impacts us in this timeless hymn. Scriven said that he and the Lord had written the hymn together. Do you have a friend like Jesus? One who will never leave you nor forsake you? One who will die for you? One who will take away all your burdens? There is no other friend like Jesus. What a friend we have in Him.

(Credit:PuritanBoard)

Romans 8:38-39

From Sri Lanka to Scotland, Brazil to Burundi and beyond, thousands of Christians will be taking part in Thy Kingdom Come - the global prayer movement for more people to know the hope and love of Jesus.

We invite you to join us as we Light Up the World in Prayer from May 9th - 19th.

Find out more here ➡️ www.thykingdomcome.global/lightuptheworld

Excuse me. But what am I doing standing there with a giant panda and the Archbishop of Canterbury? And what is Mary Berry doing reading my book? And Bear Grylls?

Well....big news! Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, brought celebrities together to read The Jesus Storybook Bible!

Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxPwR-ajpac

Learn more in the comments 🐼