“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set His love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that He swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love Him and keep His commandments, to a thousand generations”
Reflection:
I don’t know about you, but I like being picked. I like being selected and made to feel like I’m specially chosen. When someone notices that I’m worth choosing for their team, as their friend, for a specific job to do, etc., it gives me a sense of value and significance, acceptance and security. There is something inside of me that wants and needs to know that ‘I have what it takes’. These verses above tell me/us that that is exactly how God sees us. He picked us to be His very own possession, called by His own name. If there is a little voice telling you that, ‘you don’t deserve to be picked; you’re not good enough’, then I have some good news for you: in many ways, this voice is right. BUT, praise be to God, because it is because of HIS unfailing love, HIS lovingkindness and mercy that He DID choose you. You ARE chosen by Him, because He is ‘the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love’.
Prayer outline:
Thank You, Lord, that You have chosen me, that You picked me to be Your treasured possession, holy to You. What an overwhelming thought that You, the God of the universe, chose me to be a part of Your very own people. Father God, this is too marvellous for words. Help me to understand afresh how deep Your love goes. Help me to live in the truth of Your love afresh today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
“I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He Who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.”
Reflection:
God never “slumbers nor sleeps”. What a thought. I find that very hard to get my head around. On the one side because I can’t imagine there not being a “break” in my day or weekly routine, but also because I get so incredibly tired and weighed down by things around me. Yet God, “Who made heaven and earth”, never gets tired. He doesn’t need a break from the cares and burdens of the day. The worries, prayers and complaints of millions of His children rising to Him each day don’t weigh down on Him. There is no limit to Him. He doesn’t need to take time to “switch off” or “wind down”. This means that there isn’t a moment in the day where He is not 100% aware and attentive to what happens in your life. Every single second is registered in His mind. Because He cares. He is able and capable. And He is the One Who “keeps you”. What incredible comfort and help we find in that: in our LORD.
Prayer outline:
Lord Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, You made me. You keep me. Every hour of every day, Your eye is on me and Your thoughts for me. Thank You that I don’t need to fret or worry, because You are my help and my defender. I look to You as the One who sustains and carries me. And You won’t grow tired or weary. Holy Spirit, help me to lift up my eyes above the circumstances to You, my Keeper. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
“But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God”
Reflection:
If you have found yourself on social media over the past six weeks, I have no doubt that you have encountered arguments for and against social isolation. There are people who agree with the steps the government has taken, and those who do not. Along with all this, the discussion of people’s rights is often closely linked. In the Kingdom of God we too have rights. Here John lets us know one of them, “The right to become children of God.” This right to become children of God is foundational. We build our lives on truths such as this and this truth comes at the very start of our walk with Christ. As it says, “To all who did receive Him, who believed in His name.” You might ask, “Why is this important now?’ or, “How does this affect me at this time?” Simply, we can experience doubt at the best of times. These are not the best of times for many folk, but it is always the Word of God that is able to refute the doubt that creeps in. That is why this truth is important , especially in these troubling times. We can know through this promise, that it is our right to become a child of God if we have indeed received Him and believed in His name.
Prayer outline:
Father, I thank You that we have the right to become Your children. I thank You for giving us Your Son, Jesus. I ask that this truth, however foundational, would be before us. It would be present in our thoughts. We are Your children. Amen.
In current circumstances, we are using Zoom to connect together on Sundays. The meetings will still be recorded and uploaded onto the website under the AM Celebration podcast feed. Each week we will also share the slides from the meeting, so you can go over them and use it in your times with the Lord throughout the week.
If you have a personal Zoom account or app on your device, please make sure you are logged out before clicking the link to join. This should avoid you having to fill in meeting ID and password. Email office@cotnjubilee.co.uk if you have any questions.
This past Sunday, Neil started off our new series looking at the Trinity. He laid a foundation of why we believe God is three-in-one and what Scriptures are found in the Bible to support that belief. Join us on Sundays as we continue our journey of discovering more about each Person of the Trinity and Their relationship with One another.
Each week, there will be a number of sessions which will each consist of a brief 15 minute talk followed by a chance for you to connect with others and ask questions.
The Zoom link will be the same for both Tuesday and Thursday lunch time sessions. If it changes, there will be a separate notice. Link: https://zoom.us/j/4651812918
This week’s topics: “Different ways God speaks” with Mel and panel | Tuesday 5th May 12:30pm
“Meet the Team: the Office” an interview with the office team | Thursday 7th May 12:30pm
The Marriage Course
Holy Trinity Brompton (who run the Marriage Course) have made a free online version. It includes 7 sessions for you to do when suits you in your schedule.
Register and order booklets at www.htb.org/marriage For more info contact Paul & Gwyneth Darling on paul.darling@cotnjubilee.co.uk or gwyneth.darling@cotnjubilee.co.uk.
Mature Open-minded Sociable Adults In Connection
Mosaic runs every second Tuesday at 11am. During this time of lockdown, we are using Zoom to connect with one another.
For more info contact Ray & Jacqui Skilton on ray.skilton @cotnjubilee.co.uk
New to Jubilee or not quite sure how to access all the resources available on our website? Have a look at this video above that shows you how to navigate your way around.
Words of life – Encouragements from the Word
Throughout the week, there will be words of encouragements shared on the website and Facebook. These are just one way to spur one another on to truth and hope in Christ Jesus. Use these as a foundation for your times with God or conversations with others during the week.
Although we are physically separated at this time, we are one in the Spirit and members one of another (Romans 12:5). Let us spur one another on in our faith and pursuit of the Lord.
Due to the Corona pandemic, many life situations have changed drastically almost overnight. For many, it has come with challenges in how to provide for themselves and their loved ones. Kent Voice (www.kentvoice.com) is a forum that offers information about the different kinds of help that is available.
If you are struggling in any way, please contact us at office@cotnjubilee.co.uk and we will find the best way to help you and support you in they way you need.
Prayer for our Parkwood Home
As a Jubilee family, we have been praying more specifically into various areas of our new home-in-process in Parkwood. If you haven’t received one of the leaflets handed out, please ask the Welcome Team on a Sunday morning.
Prayer points – Wisdom for the elders & project team as they lead the project. – For the right building contractor to be appointed. – Favour with the local contractors. – Finance. – Safety of those who work on-site. – For the project to run smoothly from start to finish with no delays.
Join us as we trust God together to see our new home built to be a place where He is glorified and made known to the community around us.
Family Weekend Away – Update
As I am sure many of you will have suspected, we will not be going ahead with the Jubilee Family Weekend, originally booked in for 26-28 June 2020.
We can now confirm that the venue has kindly agreed to postpone our booking to the weekend of 24th June 2022 (in two years’ time). 2021 was already booked up and as we wanted to have a summer booking we have taken the weekend in 2022.
The payments Jubilee has already made to the venue will not be refunded but held on deposit. Therefore, we are also proposing to hold any moneys you might already have paid and use this to secure your place in 2022. If you are happy with this, you do not need to do anything at this stage. However, we understand that for some of you, finances are tight in light of the circumstances and you may prefer to have your money back and re-book at a later stage. If this is the case, please email office@cotnjubilee.co.uk with your full name, amount to be repaid and bank details. We will verify the amounts before refunding.
Ladies Garden Party
As we reach the end of our first year of The Feast, we want to warmly invite you to a Ladies Garden Party.
This will include a glass of Prosecco on arrival, traditional afternoon tea with finger sandwiches, seasonal selection of cakes, fruit and plain scones with clotted cream and jam and a choice of loose leaf tea or freshly brewed coffee.
There will be garden games for your enjoyment, beautiful grounds to explore and an inside venue should the weather misbehave.
WHERE Chilston Park Hotel, Sandway, Lenham
WHEN 11th July 2020, 2-5pm
COST Twenty-five pounds pp (available to pay in installments)
Support Jubilee Church with every purchase made on smile.amazon.co.uk with just one click: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/ch/1115331-0 add Jubilee Church as your nominated charity and amazon will make a donation for every purchase made through it- every little helps in the building project!
Make your donations go further!
If you are eligible for gift aid, here is a link to our updated Jubilee Church Gift Aid declaration. Simply click on the link below to fill out the form.
Homegroup is a great way to get to know people without the bustle of Sunday! Contact us at office@cotnjubilee.co.uk and we’ll get our pastoral team in touch 🙂
Join our Mailing List!
If you’d like to be added into our mailing list, please contact us at office@cotnjubilee.co.uk
“For who is God, but the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God? This God is my strong refuge and has made my way blameless.”
Reflection:
I don’t know about you, but I feel like this time of lockdown has been quite a revealer of my limitations, both in terms of how easily I am restricted by circumstances and external (lack of) freedom as well as a personal inability to be in control. It has highlighted my utter need for dependence on Christ. It has magnified an understanding that, outside of God, nothing can be 100% certain.
This verse brings me great comfort to those thoughts, because “Who is God, but the Lord?” and “Who is a rock, except our God?” You see, these limitations bring a freedom from needing to be in control of everything around us or needing to be ‘the strong one’; there is only one God and He is the Lord. He is the One who is our strength, our refuge, our rock, our salvation. Our need of Him is by His design and His desire; a need which brings freedom, grace and empowerment. When everything else seems out of control – sometimes including our thoughts and inner emotions – we can trust that God is still the Lord and He is still the rock.
Prayer outline:
Father, I thank You for Your grace and patience. I thank You for Your desire to be all that I need. You alone are God, the Lord, and I find security in that. I choose today to surrender afresh into Your capable hands and look to You as the One who is in control. I place You on Your eternal throne in my own life and let go of those expectations of myself (or others) to be what only You can be. Jesus, be magnified and glorified, lifted high as the steadfast rock and our salvation. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
“The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”
Reflection:
Perspective is an interesting thing. The way I interpret a situation can be totally different from how you interpret it, yet both perspectives can be correct. Sometimes however, one perspective can be correct and the other can be skewed. This verse hit me like a hammer this morning as I read it. Peter tells us, “The Lord is not slow about His promise.” Is this a gentle rebuke? Is Peter addressing something we all do? Do we try to pull God along to join us at our pace? His statement is pretty absolute, “The Lord is NOT SLOW about His promise.” It may not be a rebuke, but it may be an instruction, “Change your perspective. Don’t count according to your understanding of slowness; the Lord is not slow about His promise.”
Another change in perspective Peter is leading us to make, is who is showing patience. We often believe it is us who are being patient towards God as we wait for Him to move in our lives. Peter states plainly that God is being patient towards us. He writes, “but (the Lord) is patient toward you.” Our Father is wonderful. He is patient towards us, He waits for us. His endless grace and mercy have been poured out in love. It is with this great love, He patiently waits for us.
Prayer outline:
Response: You wait for me. You…wait…for me. Take the time to think about this. He is patient towards you. He waits for you. You are on His mind, even with all the millions of people speaking to Him right now, He is waiting for you.
Father, help me hold the beauty of this reality, You wait for me. Your heart is towards me. May I know Your love afresh. There is nothing more precious than knowing Your love. In this time, may I grow closer to You. Draw me into communion with You. May I know You and be known by You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
“I have set the LORD always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let Your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life; in Your presence there is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
Reflection:
“Fullness of joy” – have you ever wondered what that looks like? It is a promise that Jesus gives His disciples on a number of occasions. This joy can’t be obtained by anything this world has to offer. The joy of the Lord is found in His presence, in unity and intimacy with Him. When we spend time in His presence and “set Him before [us]”, our joy is made full, as earthly things fade away in light of His glory and His love.
God is for us. His heart is toward us. He loves giving good gifts to His children – that’s you and me. He only wants what’s best for us. Do I believe that when life around looks unstable and bleak? Do you? Yet when we have intimacy with God, we “shall not be shaken”. There is something that is found in God’s presence that cannot be manufactured by anything, or anyone, else, and that grounds us, secures us and brings us to life of a supernatural kind. It is everlasting; it is joy complete.
Prayer outline:
Father God, thank You that Your heart toward me is good and kind. Thank You for Your unending grace and Your desire for me to walk in the fullness of Your joy. Holy Spirit, lead and guide me in Your truth. Set my gaze upon You, Father, as only You will do. Show me where I have turned to substitutions in life around me and remove them from before me. I choose to set You always before me, my Rock and my Foundation. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
As you are hopefully aware, we have entered a new, unprecedented season as a nation and also as a Church body, in dealing with Covid-19.
In light of this, we will be connecting on Sundays using Zoom. The meetings will still be recorded and uploaded onto the website under the AM Celebration podcast feed. Each week we will also share the slides from the meeting, so you can go over them and use it in your times with the Lord throughout the week.
On Sunday, Andy encouraged us from Psalm 31 about God’s goodness. Have a look at the slides to see the points he made.
If you have a personal Zoom account or app on your device, please make sure you are logged out before clicking the link to join. This should avoid you having to fill in meeting ID and password. Email office@cotnjubilee.co.uk if you have any questions.
Conversations with …
Each week, there will be a number of sessions which will each consist of a brief 15 minute talk followed by a chance for you to connect with others and ask questions.
The Zoom link will be the same for both Tuesday and Thursday lunch time sessions. If it changes, there will be a separate notice. Link: https://zoom.us/j/4651812918
This week’s topics: “Sharing from our Sabbatical – part 3” with Neil and Hazel | Tuesday 28th April 12:30pm
“Meet the Team” an interview with Darren and Ruth | Thursday 30th April 12:30pm
The Marriage Course
Holy Trinity Brompton (who run the Marriage Course) have made a free online version. It includes 7 sessions for you to do when suits you in your schedule.
Register and order booklets at www.htb.org/marriage For more info contact Paul & Gwyneth Darling on paul.darling@cotnjubilee.co.uk or gwyneth.darling@cotnjubilee.co.uk.
Mature Open-minded Sociable Adults In Connection
Mosaic runs every second Tuesday at 11am. During this time of lockdown, we are using Zoom to connect with one another.
For more info contact Ray & Jacqui Skilton on ray.skilton @cotnjubilee.co.uk
New to Jubilee or not quite sure how to access all the resources available on our website? Have a look at this video above that shows you how to navigate your way around.
Words of life – Encouragements from the Word
Throughout the week, there will be words of encouragements shared on the website and Facebook. These are just one way to spur one another on to truth and hope in Christ Jesus. Use these as a foundation for your times with God or conversations with others during the week.
Although we are physically separated at this time, we are one in the Spirit and members one of another (Romans 12:5). Let us spur one another on in our faith and pursuit of the Lord.
Due to the Corona pandemic, many life situations have changed drastically almost overnight. For many, it has come with challenges in how to provide for themselves and their loved ones. Kent Voice (www.kentvoice.com) is a forum that offers information about the different kinds of help that is available.
If you are struggling in any way, please contact us at office@cotnjubilee.co.uk and we will find the best way to help you and support you in they way you need.
Prayer for our Parkwood Home
As a Jubilee family, we have been praying more specifically into various areas of our new home-in-process in Parkwood. If you haven’t received one of the leaflets handed out, please ask the Welcome Team on a Sunday morning.
Prayer points – Wisdom for the elders & project team as they lead the project. – For the right building contractor to be appointed. – Favour with the local contractors. – Finance. – Safety of those who work on-site. – For the project to run smoothly from start to finish with no delays.
Join us as we trust God together to see our new home built to be a place where He is glorified and made known to the community around us.
Family Weekend Away – Update
As I am sure many of you will have suspected, we will not be going ahead with the Jubilee Family Weekend, originally booked in for 26-28 June 2020.
We can now confirm that the venue has kindly agreed to postpone our booking to the weekend of 24th June 2022 (in two years’ time). 2021 was already booked up and as we wanted to have a summer booking we have taken the weekend in 2022.
The payments Jubilee has already made to the venue will not be refunded but held on deposit. Therefore, we are also proposing to hold any moneys you might already have paid and use this to secure your place in 2022. If you are happy with this, you do not need to do anything at this stage. However, we understand that for some of you, finances are tight in light of the circumstances and you may prefer to have your money back and re-book at a later stage. If this is the case, please email office@cotnjubilee.co.uk with your full name, amount to be repaid and bank details. We will verify the amounts before refunding.
Ladies Garden Party
As we reach the end of our first year of The Feast, we want to warmly invite you to a Ladies Garden Party.
This will include a glass of Prosecco on arrival, traditional afternoon tea with finger sandwiches, seasonal selection of cakes, fruit and plain scones with clotted cream and jam and a choice of loose leaf tea or freshly brewed coffee.
There will be garden games for your enjoyment, beautiful grounds to explore and an inside venue should the weather misbehave.
WHERE Chilston Park Hotel, Sandway, Lenham
WHEN 11th July 2020, 2-5pm
COST Twenty-five pounds pp (available to pay in installments)
Support Jubilee Church with every purchase made on smile.amazon.co.uk with just one click: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/ch/1115331-0 add Jubilee Church as your nominated charity and amazon will make a donation for every purchase made through it- every little helps in the building project!
Make your donations go further!
If you are eligible for gift aid, here is a link to our updated Jubilee Church Gift Aid declaration. Simply click on the link below to fill out the form.
Homegroup is a great way to get to know people without the bustle of Sunday! Contact us at office@cotnjubilee.co.uk and we’ll get our pastoral team in touch 🙂
Join our Mailing List!
If you’d like to be added into our mailing list, please contact us at office@cotnjubilee.co.uk
“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And He who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”
Reflection:
Confidence. Is this something you possess? Perhaps you are confident in specific skills whilst lacking confidence in others. Through study and practice you grow, increasing your knowledge and ability. This is the same for our spiritual journey. By God’s grace, we spend time in the Word, prayer and other spiritual disciplines. Through these practices, He shapes us into the likeness of His Son. Yet, v26 shows us the utter dependence we have on the Spirit of God. This is a tremendous encouragement. It should bring peace to our hearts and minds. It declares to each of us, “your prayer alone is not sufficient,” and, “it is not solely dependent upon you.” But praise be to the Father, for there is a wholly sufficient prayer, one that is from God to God. The Holy Spirit intercedes for us, on our behalf. It is done according to the will of God. Here is a confidence that cannot be shaken. We cannot practise for this confidence, we cannot learn this confidence. What we can do, is rest in this confidence, knowing that God the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness.
Prayer outline:
Thank You, Father, for giving us Your Holy Spirit. He is truly the One who comes alongside us. As I pray during these uncertain days, may I know in my heart the certainty of Your intercession. Open my eyes to see Your hand at work in my life and in the lives of those around me. I thank You for the grace that has been given to each of us. May Your peace guard my heart and mind, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
“Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in Him, because we trust in His holy name. Let Your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in You.”
Reflection:
Can you imagine what it would be like to live this life never being disappointed? In other words, something that has been appointed for you, never being removed or delayed or cancelled. I am sure that as I journey through life, there will be the opportunity for disappointment to loom over me. There are things that I wait for. Things deep in my heart that I long for. The hidden things within my soul that move me to dream, that move me to weep. There is a ‘not knowing’ that I experience, and I am sure you experience that as well. I can, however, take comfort in this psalm, in the deep desire to know the Lord. I wait for Him. I long for Him. I want to know Him more. I want to be found in Him. The writer asks that the steadfast love, of the Lord, be upon us. I have briefly written about disappointment, something many of us could feel at this time. That could be upon you at this time. Yet there is something far greater that can be upon you, the steadfast love of the Lord. It makes your heart glad, it fills you with hope. It is a help and shield in time of disappointment.
Prayer outline:
Response: Ask God to search your heart. Write down how you feel at this time. Above all things, be honest. He is your Father and He loves you.
Prayer: Dear Father, this is how I feel at this time…insert what you have written… However, I wait for You. I put my trust and hope in You. May I know Your steadfast love upon me. Thank You for faithfully watching over me. Amen.
