7th May 2026

7th May 2026


Pray (ACts) 


Read (Luke 16v19-31) 


Message (Scott Woodburn) 


My grandfather left these shores in 1923 for a new life in New Zealand. He sailed on the SS Rimutaka and if things had been different he would have made his life on those distant shores. I was told that he came home to say his goodbyes to his mother and father before moving once and for all to the land down under, but when home he met my grandmother, fell in love and never returned to New Zealand.


We take such journeys for granted in this day and age. Many of us have boarded flights to the furthest reaches of the world and we have arrived safely just a day later. In my grandfather's day, New Zealand may as well have been the Moon. Once you went your family probably never saw you again.


In the Lord's parable about the rich man and Lazarus He told us something that we should wrestle with. There is a great chasm between Heaven and Hell and no one can pass between the two places (v26). Some believe that there is a third place, a kind of in-between where people go if they aren't quite good and not quite bad. From that place it is possible for people to be prayed into Heaven. Is this true? By no means. Scripture speaks of Heaven and Hell as the only two destinations after death and from those places it is not possible to leave.


The concept of a "forever home" is not strange to us. I've heard people describe their new house in such terms or they might say "it will do us for a while." When it comes to eternity Heaven or Hell will be our forever home. A great chasm exists between the two places and there can be no leaving. This was incredibly bad news for the rich man and bad news for any who enter death unprepared. The wise person is one who trusts in Christ for that person will enjoy a forever home which is better by far. 


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC


Q61 What is forbidden in the fourth commandment? The fourth commandment forbiddeth the omission, or careless performance, of the duties required, and the profaning the day by idleness, or doing that which is in itself sinful, or by unnecessary thoughts, words, or works, about our worldly employments or recreations.
​