Worship this week was led by Debbie Fiddy who sang together with Natalie and Jackie who also played the key board accompanied by Jon and Dave on guitars and Josh on drums. Pastor Ed Evans then delivered a strong message on the closeness of God, following on from May 18 when he spoke passionately on the new and better covenant guaranteed by Jesus. Nevertheless, he gave thanks to God for His word which through the centuries has brought truth and revelation. God has always provided a means of forgiveness and supernatural deliverance for the Jews whilst elevating them by means of the law to become the head, not the tail. Now, through the New Covenant not only has all this been made freely available to us but the reality is, it is possible for each one of us to become a new creation, with a new disposition, through the indwelling of God, the Holy Spirit. Christians need and hope for God to grow closer, but the truth is He is actually dwelling in us and has promised He will never leave us. John 14 v 15-17 Jesus says: "If you love me, keep my commandments" and that He will ask the Father to send the Holy Spirit. At this time, the Holy Spirit comes from a place of being without to one of within. In Acts 2, The Holy Spirit came and changed people from within. The bible describes the Holy Spirit as 'The Paraclete' a word which translates as 'Comforter' in its original meaning of one who fortifies us with inner strength, an enabling power which makes us courageous, throwing off lethargy and fear. It describes a person called to help in times of trouble or need. He is also our advocate, pleading for us should any charge be made against us. In John 14 v 18, Jesus promises not to leave us comfortless as orphans. An orphan in the Greek means 'Fatherless', because the Father represented everything in the home, ie. name, profession, inheritance and purpose. A child received the name and identity of his father. Jesus has given us a spirit of adoption where we can call God 'Abba Father' We have become joint heirs (sons and daughters) of the Living God.Galatians 4 v 4-7 In John 16 v 7-8, Jesus says it is better that He should go away so that the Holy Spirit will come and continue to manifest Jesus. The disciples must have thought that there could be nothing better than having Jesus with them. However, the Holy Spirit has worked in lives down through the centuries, revealing Christ to those in darkness and sin, transforming them into the stature of sons. Christians do not always understand what they are and have missed God's best by looking for the spectacular. The new birth is supernatural and does not come through trying or by believing the historical facts, but God himself awakens us to our need. Genesis 1 v 26-27 states that God made man in His image and likeness. The image refers to man's outward appearance and his likeness is his inner nature. Jesus came to earth as a man in human flesh, meaning that on the throne in heaven, is a being who looks like us. Following man's disobedience, he became subject to physical weakness and sickness. Man has a soul or personality which basically can be summed up as: what I want, I think and I feel. He also has a spirit or the hidden man of the heart at the core or centre of his being. The soul became corrupted at 'The Fall' and weakness entered the body. We can however, be saved by God's grace, ie. a gift from God, when He restores life, firstly to our spirits making us alive, to be raised together with Christ. Yet we are continually looking for God to manifest himself outside of ourselves. We have been given so much. Through prayer, we have access to God and when we read His word and take it into our hearts something supernatural is happening. We have the Spirit of Truth John 14 v 17, and again in John 15 v 26-27 we are told that The Spirit enables us to testify and bear witness to the truth. We need to have hearts of gratitude for this better Covenant established on better promises. He has promised never to leave us or forsake us. We need to ask for strength and help, for He is there within is. The service ended with communion, praying that God would increase our faith to know we were touching His presence. Emmanuel Gospel Church meets every Sunday at 10.30 am ending with tea, coffee and a time to chat. Bible study is on Monday evenings at 7.30 pm. For more information or if you would like a pastoral visit, please 'phone 871975. Recordings of our meetings are available on CD and on our website at http://www.emmanuelgospelministries.org">www.emmanuelgospelministries.org