Holy Holy Are You Lord!

“Holy Holy Are You Lord, the whole earth is filled with your glory. Let the nations rise to hear, honour and praise to your name“

I’ll be very clear so as not to get in trouble – they are not my words but lyrics from a Hillsongs tune ‘All the Heavens’. I listened and sang along to that this morning on the way to work and sit here at the start of the day struck by the truth of those opening lines.

Tonight the church I am a part of is meeting in Pontypridd – and that is to show that the whole earth is filled with the King’s glory. It may be from a house (and a very nice house Mr & Mrs Knight!) in Church Village….but all the nations will hear us praising the King.

It’s not about Ponty alone. Firstly, when we gather together, Christ Jesus himself is present with us and moves among us by his Holy Spirit. Because Christ was “in the beginning” (John 1:1), because he was before creation and outside of time as we understand it – the very presence of Christ in our midst ensures that our gathering has an eternal quality and purpose!

• We meet in Pontypridd.
• We’re are heard in the heavens.
• We effect all eternity.

Secondly, it’s about the place where we come to. Hebrews 12:22-24: “But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.”

We meet in Pontypridd, but we come to the dwelling place of God, to the place where our spiritual ancestors Abraham, David, Paul and more all now gather as the witnesses cheering us on. We meet in a house, but we come to Mount Zion, the mountain of the Lord! We come to meet with friends, but we come and join in with thousands upon thousands of angels in their joyful gathering! We meet to worship the King of Kings but we come and actually enter Jesus’ presence and come close to the prophetic word of God!

We don’t see what it does with our natural eyes but our worship rises to the King and journeys to the house of God, to the Throne of the great “I Am”. That’s why when I listen and sing the lyrics which I wrote at the start of this entry, it becomes so much more than a pleasant melody, a warm and uplifting tune….it hits home with truth and encouragement.

When we meet tonight in Pontypridd we will have a great time in worship and we will see the Holy Spirit move among us in power. What we may not see is what happens outside of that house, but our confidence is this: our worship has eternal effect and becomes a part of heavens reality. Whether you meet in Pontypridd with us or anywhere in the world….look bigger and see wider – the whole earth is filled with the glory of the King!

Dave

All Nations shall come and worship!

Morning All!

Last night I was reading and praying and seeking God for Pontypridd when it struck me a fresh that what we are in Pontypridd is one vital aspect of all nations coming to worship the Lord. All Nations. All Nations! That’s incredible and we’re already seeing it among ourselves.

Even in a group of 30 (adults and children) we see All nations: England, Wales, Nigeria, Kenya….extend that open to our family in Cardiff and it moves further: Scotland, Northen Ireland, Iran, China, America, Kuwait, Malaysia, India, Uganda, Zambia….and I’m only stopping there because I can’t remember them all!

Take a minute to think about it. When we meet we aren’t just expressing something in Pontypridd but we are announcing God’s Kingdom come to all the world! Men and women shall go out from us and go to lands and shores that some of us may never set foot on….but we are still a part of it because of the seed we can sow into lives! That opens up everything! Below are some verses that I pulled out last night – if you have a spare 15 minutes, look some of them up and thank God that All nations will hear of his fame!

• Hab 2:14
• Ps 22:25-f
• Ps 67
• Ps 72:17-f
• Ps 86: 9-10
• Ps 98
• Rev 15:4
• Ps 57:5
• Ps 113:1-4
• Isa 12:5
• Isa 40:5
• Mt 6:9-10
• 1 Tim 2:1-6

Be blessed, Dave

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This is one view of Pontypridd from the ‘Common’. It is a valley full of life!

As a church, we believe that God has spoken to us concerning Pontypridd, that it will be a gateway to the valleys. That means we believe God will do a significant work in Pontypridd that will unlock towns and villages upwards through Wales.

God has spoken to us as a group concerning Pontypridd and the scripture is Joel 3:12-19. Verse 14 says: “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.”

Dave

What do you see?

What do you see?

That’s a question that God asks his prophet time and time again. It’s never a trick question either, God really does ask us the obvious of what is in front of us.

With that in mind I begin to wonder why we sometimes miss what God is showing us. God doesn’t want to trick us, mock us, play games with us or mislead us – none of that is of Him, in fact that’s not his nature at all. So how do we miss it, why do we miss it?

Looking at building God’s church in Pontypridd causes me to answer God’s question – what do I see? The answer I give surely depends on the vantage point I look at things. For example, if I was to walk down to the town centre in Ponty, to the river by Sion street – I wouldn’t actually see a lot. I’d see some life, I’d see poverty and people wandering about, youths with not much to do and a fairly run down area with not a lot going for it. But if I was to go and stand by the World War monument on The Common and look out over the valley, I know all of the other things are down there still but vantage point is such that I see further. I see the glorious hillsides, I see a bustling town, I see hundreds and thousands of cars going into and around Ponty as a hive of activity, I see, hundreds of streets, different communities…I could go on.

One of the limits we place on ourselves is the limit of vision. The vantage point I take allows me to see less or more, to see the immediate or the bigger picture – we need to see the bigger picture. The immediate can seem daunting. The bigger picture (which gives context to the sometimes daunting immediate) gives hope and focus to a goal.

For Pontypridd there is a big task ahead of us and it can seem daunting….but if we go up higher, if we see as God sees and look at Pontypridd as God sees it, with his eyes, his vision…then we cannot fail to see that His plan is bigger and better than we could ever hope for.

Challenge: wherever you are, Ponty or other….what do you see? Are you hindered by the immediate, daunted by the obstacles? Then go up higher, see the bigger picture, see what God sees and see that there is hope, a future and a plan.

Prov 29:18
Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; NIV

Where there is no prophecy the people cast off restraint, RSV

Where there is no vision, the people perish: KJV


“When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.” – Audre Lorde

And so we begin…

Dear World,

There is a bandwagon called blogging, and my friends I have just jumped right on it! Landed with two feet, burned all my non-blog bridges behind me….let’s see if I can keep this up.

Musings from Pontypridd? Well, the church I am a part of it in Pontypridd and we believe without a shadow of a doubt that God’s kingdom, his heaven on earth or his rule in action, is advancing and taking ground. Man these are exciting days.

Inspired by the living blogging legend that is and remains Nick Howes in Coventry, I have started a blog to record and note those things God is stirring in me regarding his church and what is happening in All Nations Church Pontypridd.

I say that these things will be regarding Pontypridd in specific but I want to acknowledge at the start that the gospel of Jesus Christ is to the ends of the earth! There is no door closed to his message, there are no hearts impervious to it, all shall hear of him, all will choose to follow or deny him. These are musings from Ponty…but they are glimpses of what God is doing emphatically all over the earth! That is the reality of where we live and of the times that we live in. Excited yet?

As this is the first entry and I don’t yet exactly how this works…I shall stop here and click ‘Publish Entry’ and see what happens. All being well, I’ll be back soon to offer offer more musings from Ponty…

Dave