28th February 2023


Pray (ACts)


Read (Matthew 9v18-36)


Message (Scott Woodburn)


Have you ever heard the phrase "familiarity breeds contempt"? It means that when we become too familiar with someone or something we grow to take it for granted or even outright despise it. May the Lord keep us from such an attitude to the things of God. Who is Jesus? He is the Messiah and He is always worthy of our worship and awe.


Jesus was confronted by the death of a ruler's little girl (v18) and despite the crowd mocking Christ's assertion that the little girl was merely sleeping (v24), when He took her by the hand the little girl rose again from the dead (v25).


Jesus was making His way to the home of the dead girl when a woman suffering from a twelve year persistent bleed touched the fringe of His garment knowing that even a touch would heal her illness (v20-21). Jesus turned and told the lady “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” and she was (v22).


Jesus was followed by two blind men who were crying aloud “Have mercy on us, Son of David.” (v27). They believed that Jesus was able to restore their sight (v28) and so Christ touched their eyes and said “According to your faith be it done to you.” (v29). Their eyes were opened and the light of the day streamed in.


Jesus was introduced to a demon-oppressed man who was unable to speak as a result of the demon's work (v32). Jesus cast out the demon and immediately the man's tongue was loosed (v33)


Jesus was the One who travelled through cities, villages and synagogues, teaching and preaching the Gospel and healing every disease and affliction (v35). He had great compassion on the crowds who knew every difficulty of life in this sinful world but were like sheep without a shepherd (v36).


The response to the ministry of Christ and these miracles in particular was largely positive. The crowds marvelled and said “Never was anything like this seen in Israel.” (v33). The report of the little girl's death and resurrection spread through the district (v26). Christ warned the blind men not to tell anyone about their healing (v30). This was because Jesus did not seek an adoring crowd who would praise His works, instead the Lord received His authority from God and His mission was not fame but the cross. Nevertheless the once blind men spread the fame of Christ everywhere they went (v31).    


Not everyone was thankful. The Pharisees stated “He casts out demons by the prince of demons.” (v34). In simple terms the Pharisees were confident that Jesus was only able to perform His miracles because He was in league with Satan. This great sin is called "blasphemy of the Holy Spirit" and it is called the "unforgivable sin" (Mark 3v29). It is sinful unrepentant malicious disbelief. The Pharisees had every advantage of seeing Jesus, hearing Jesus and witnessing His great works and this familiarity produced in them utter contempt. These were men who knew the Word of God and nevertheless claimed that Christ's power was Satanic. 


We have moved breathlessly through this passage and deliberately so. My friends one miracle rests on another and then another. Nothing confronted Jesus that He was not able to overcome and we absolutely must move to the conclusion that Christ was indeed the long hoped for Messiah.


How will we respond to this message that we have heard for generations? I fear that the modern church has lost its wonder at the majestic story of the Gospel. We are all too familiar with the four Gospel accounts and our mouths rarely drop open in awe at the sheer glory of Christ. Perhaps familiarity has bred contempt?


May it not be so. Jesus is the dead raising, illness healing, sight giving, demon destroying, tongue loosing, Gospel preaching Messiah. He came not to gather a crowd impressed with His works, but to save a people from their sin. He is not in league with Satan but came to crush the serpent's head. Brothers and sisters, read these familiar verses and respond in the correct manner. How often are we disinterested followers who have grown weary of the things of God? God forgive us! God change us! Respond to Christ in reverence and awe!  


Pray (acTS)


Sing


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Q88 What are the outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption? The outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption are, his ordinances, especially the Word, Sacraments, and prayer; all which are made effectual to the elect for salvation.
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27th February 2023


Pray (ACts)


Read - Hebrews 11:23 (Exodus 2)


Message Alan Burke 


As a parent more and more I am confronted with the impact for good and for ill I can make in the lives of my children. They are like little sponges that soak everything up, the difficulty is of course when the soak up things that you don’t want them to and when you have to challenge their behaviour and they turn round and say “but you do that!”. There are other times that it suddenly dawns on me that I’m so like my Dad or so like my Mum. Our parents have had such an impact on us in ways that we will never truly appreciate and we have such an impact on our children that we will never truly appreciate. I’d also say that the church has such an impact on our children that we will never truly appreciate for the good and for ill. 


Why do I mention this, well it is because today we focus not on Moses but his parents, their faith. It is easy to read Hebrews 11 and pass over the faith of Moses’ parents after all they are not even mentioned by name. While Hebrews doesn’t tell us their names we know that they were called Amram and Jochebed (Exodus 6v20). We are told in Hebrews that for three months Moses’ parents hid him which is referring to the events in Exodus 2. Before that we learn of a king who didn’t know about Joseph (1:8), he looked upon the Israelites with a nationalistic zeal, fearing them. They put slave masters over them, pressed them with forced labour, the Israelites none the less multiplied, he ordered the midwives to kill the boys born to them, they didn’t do it, so pharaoh ordered that the people throw even boy born to an the Israelites into the nile. 


Hebrews doesn’t give us the details that Exodus gives us tells us that by faith they hid Moses for three months. Moses’ mother did all that she could, for three months she hid her son, the screaming the crying, the dirty nappies, this wasn’t an easy job, yet she does all that she could to preserve the life of the child in spite of Pharaoh’s edict. Then when she was no longer able to conceal her growing baby son within her home she weaves and waterproofs a basket. This isn’t the lovely little story that we have domesticated, this is an act of desperation by these parents. 


Jochabed we are told in Exodus 2 states; When she saw that he was a fine child she hid him. Hebrews in the NIV puts it as "because they saw that the child was beautiful”, Acts helps us to understand what is being conveyed to us here in both instances, for in Acts 7:20 we are told when he was born, he was no ordinary child. 


The parents of Moses by faith recognised that God’s hand was on Moses. They were willing to disobey the king by faith, not being afraid of what the king might do to them if he discovered that they had been hiding their child for three months. God used these parents’ courageous act to place their son, the Hebrew of his choice, in the house of Pharaoh. These parents were showing that they believed in God’s covenant promises in the midst of all of this, the promises that had been given to their forefather Abraham and through their faith Moses was saved and would by God’s providence be instrumental in God’s plan of redemption. These parents trusted in the promises of God. 


The impact that they had as parents was that Moses rejected the wealth, fame, power that were his, all for the sake of Christ. If you’re a parent you have a massive role to play in what your children will look to, to what they will treasure, but likewise we as the church have a role in praying for, in nurturing our covenant children. We should be praying for them, encouraging them, showing them our faith in how we live, even to how we sing on the Lord’s day so that they will see in us and know that what matters more than the riches of this world is Christ.


Pray (acTS)


Sing


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Q87 What is repentance unto life?
Repentance unto life is a saving grace, (Acts 11:18) whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin, (Acts 2:37–38) and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, (Joel 2:12, Jer. 3:22) doth, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God, (Jer. 31:18–19, Ezek. 36:31) with full purpose of, and endeavour after, new obedience. (2 Cor. 7:11, Isa. 1:16–17)

25th February 2023


Pray (ACts)


Read (Matthew 9v14-17)


Message (Scott Woodburn)


Do you remember John the Baptist? He was the forerunner of Christ who was sent to prepare the way for the Lord. He was like a trumpet blast before the arrival of the King or the best-man at a wedding pointing to the bridegroom. John knew this but his disciples had some questions. They had noticed that they and the Pharisees both fasted but Christ's disciples did not (v14) and wanted an explanation for this discrepancy.


To answer their question, Jesus used three examples. Firstly, He said that wedding guests don't mourn when the bridegroom is with them. They will mourn and fast when he is gone but certainly not as long as He remains (v15). In veiled terms Jesus made it clear that He was the bridegroom and the Messiah, a new age had dawned. Why would His disciples mourn and fast when He was still with them?


Secondly, Jesus used the imagery of clothing. You don't try to fix a hole by stitching unshrunken cloth onto an old garment. In such an instance the patch would tear away from the old shrunken garment and make the tear greater (v16). Thirdly, you don't put new wine into old wineskins. New wine is still in the process of fermenting and the gases produced would cause the old brittle wineskins to burst causing both the wine and the wineskin to be lost (v17). Instead new wine is put into new wineskins and both are saved.


We are unfamiliar with such imagery in this modern age but Christ's point is clear - something new had come in the person and work of Christ. With the coming of the Bridegroom, the Messiah had arrived and He would do a remarkable saving work at Calvary. Jesus didn't come to improve Judaism or to add an extension to the Temple or introduce a rival sect to the Pharisees and Sadducees. The Gospel wasn't a temporary patch on the Old Covenant made with Moses. Nor would the Gospel find a home in the old wineskins from Mount Sinai. 


Instead Jesus came to fulfil the law and prophets and to lay down His life as a ransom for many. The Gospel would leave the borders of national Israel and be carried to the Gentile nations around the world. All would see that Christ is the true Israel, the greater Moses, the true Temple and the guarantor of a better covenant. What is this better covenant? We call it the New Covenant and it is the Covenant of Grace fulfilled in Christ.


The Bridegroom has gone and for a little while we fast and mourn but by faith we long for and expect Christ's glorious return. This is the age that we find ourselves in and these are days of amazing grace. Even so we say "Come quickly Lord Jesus!"      


Pray (acTS)


Sing


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Q86 What is faith in Jesus Christ? Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace, whereby we receive and rest upon him alone for salvation, as he is offered to us in the gospel.
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24th February 2023


Pray (ACts)


Read - Genesis 50:22-26, Exodus 13:19 & Hebrews 11:22


Message Alan Burke 


Jospeh was a man of faith, Hebrews tells us that “By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones” (Heb 11:22). It’s one of those things that we might scratch our heads about and wonder why it was by faith he gave this instruction but Jospeh was looking forward to the hope in Christ Jesus. After he died at the age of 110 we learn that his body was embalmed and put in a coffin in Egypt, his coffin would have been a stone sarcophagus, that would have been a testimony throughout the years of the faith that Jospeh had. Years later, when the even the bones of Joseph were on there way to returning to the dust that they were made of, God indeed redeem his people from Egypt. They as he had promised to Abraham did plunder the nation of Egypt, he fulfilled the promise that He had given to Jospeh’s father, his grandfather and his great grandfather, those promises that Joseph had been looking to with hope, for Joseph was one who lived by faith. 


While Joseph’s brothers had intended to harm him, God in all of this had intended it for good, and in Exodus 13 we learn how indeed the people left Egypt and there were are told;  “19 Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the sons of Israel swear an oath. He had said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place. (Ex 13:19.) Nearly 400 years after the request was made by Faith the people of God left Egypt, Jospeh’s bones were taken by Moses,  “ And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. 22 The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people. (Ex 13:21–22).


Joseph one of the most powerful men of his generation, if not in the entire known world, who had much more than we can imagine, was focused not on this life, on collecting wealth, on having his best life now, he was looking to his future home, his eternal hope, where he would dwell with his God, success did not distract Joseph from the hope that he had ever before him, it did not make him blind to the promises of God to His people. His hope was not just of a somewhere where his bones could lie that was close to home, buried in Canaan rather, his hope was to dwell in the very presence of God in the new heavens and new earth just like it was for Abraham. 


For when we die our souls are made perfect in holiness, (Heb. 12:23) and do immediately pass into glory; (2 Cor. 5:1,6,8, Phil. 1:23, Luke 23:43) and our bodies, being still united to Christ, (1 Thess. 4:14) do rest in their graves, (Isa. 57:2) till the resurrection. (Job 19:26–27), (WSC 37), but when Christ returns at the resurrection we will be raised raised up in glory, (1 Cor. 15:43) shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment, (Matt. 25:23, Matt. 10:32) and made perfectly blessed in the full enjoying of God, (1 John 3:2, 1 Cor. 13:12) to all eternity. (1 Thess. 4:17–18). (WSC 38). That is the hope that Jospeh had, today we still wait on the final resurrection, but we know that it is sure through the one who gave these promises is trustworthy and true. Consider this, what does your life say about you, what will your funeral say about you and what will your legacy say about you? Does your life speak louder about yourself than your hope in Christ and will your funeral and legacy do just the same? 


Pray (acTS)


Sing


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Q85 What doth God require of us, that we may escape his wrath and cursedue to us for sin?
To escape the wrath and curse of God due to us for sin, God requireth of us faith in Jesus Christ, repentance unto life, (Acts 20:21) with the diligent use of all the outward means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption. (Prov. 2:1–5, Prov. 8:33–36, Isa. 55:3)
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23rd February 2023


Pray (ACts)


Read (Matthew 9v1-13)


Message (Scott Woodburn)
I have seen a modern day evangelist blow on his audience causing them to collapse. I have seen another individual punch and kick people causing them to be "healed". I have seen a white suited man wave his jacket around his head knocking those around them on their backs. I have no time for such antics because like the travelling carnivals of another age, these individuals are showmen.


But didn't Christ do amazing things? He certainly did, but never to sell a book, draw a crowd or captivate the senses. One day a paralysed man was brought to Jesus and the Lord told him "Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven." (v2) This immediately brought charges of blasphemy against Christ (v3). What is blasphemy? Blasphemy is an act that sees the guilty individual pouring scorn on the things of God.


Normally the scribes would have been correct. No one can forgive sins but God and so if you ever hear anyone claiming the ability to forgive your sins, then such a person is a blasphemer. But this isn't a charge that can be laid at the door of Christ. He explained to the scribes that His healing ministry was to show that He also had the power to forgive sin (v6). He was the "Son of Man" to whom had been given all power and authority.


Jesus told the paralysed man to pick up his bed and go home which in itself was an extraordinary act to show that Christ had the power and authority not only to heal but also to forgive sin. When the crowds saw this miracle they didn't rush to buy a book or post video to Instagram, instead they were afraid and glorified God for giving this authority to Jesus (v7).


Later, the Lord called a tax collector named Matthew to follow Him (v9). To be a tax collector in the Lord's day was to be lower than a snake's belly. Tax collectors worked for the hated Romans and all too often they lined their own pockets by hoodwinking and overcharging their fellow countrymen. Matthew became one of Christ's followers and soon many other tax collectors and sinners gathered to share fellowship with the Lord (v10). Once again this raised questions among Christ's opponents who asked the Lord's disciples “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” (v11). The Pharisees could simply not understand why a so called teacher would be lowering himself in this way.


In response Jesus made it clear that He did not come to make good men better but instead as a physician to heal the sick (v12). Hosea 6v6 says "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice." and Jesus urged the Pharisees to go and learn what this actually meant (v13). His mission of mercy was not for the self-righteous but sin-scarred sinners and my friends this is extraordinarily good news.


Who among us is pure? Who among us has never sinned? Who among us has never lied? Who among us has never gossiped? Who among us has been sexually faithful in heart and deed? Who among us has kept the law's demands perfectly? You? Me? No.


David was right "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.' They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity; there is none who does good. God looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all fallen away; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one." (Psalm 53v1-3)


We don't need a white suited American TV evangelist to punch us in the face - we need Jesus. He is the great physician who came to heal us of our sin. He meets us with mercy and forgiveness and blessed are all those who have called upon Him for the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost. Thanks be to God.


Pray (acTS)


Sing


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Q84 What doth every sin deserve? Every sin deserveth God’s wrath and curse, both in this life, and that which is to come.
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22nd February 2023


Pray (ACts)


Read - Genesis 50:22-26 & Hebrews 11:22


Message Alan Burke 


A couple of weeks ago I was out with someone and they suggested since I like my history that I should watch the BBC’s “Back in time for…” series. Low and behold I watched Back in Time for Birmingham which looks at the economic migration of many of those first immigrants and documented the changes throughout the decades to the 2000s’. It documents how families who often came here with nothing built lives for themselves in a place that was far from their home but became their home. It is a story that is repeated to this day people come to these shores to make a new life. We may overlook it but that is the reason why God’s people the Israelites ended up in Egypt. They were there because there was a famine in the land and God by His providential guiding had used the evil actions of Jospeh’s brothers to lead his family to Egypt. 


By the time of Joseph’s death the people of God had been in Egypt for some two, going on three generations, it was their home. At this stage things weren’t bad for the people of God there because of Joseph they were well treated, we are told in Genesis 47 that “the Israelites settled in Egypt in the region of Goshen. They acquired property there and were fruitful and increased greatly in number.” (47:27). Acts 7 also tell us “But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt” (Ac 7:17). God’s people flourished, yet so often we have in the back of our head the beginning of Exodus, when the then new king arrived, things changed, all of a sudden a life of comfort was no longer comfortable, it was bitter, there is an insightful comment form Pharaoh in Exodus 1:10, that gives us the reason why they were dealt with shrewdly. Pharaoh saw how if “they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land“ “Ex 1:10”. 


But at this stage the people of God had settled, they were in Egypt, they were prosperous, they were living there and they seemed to have no intention of going home. In the midst of this Jospeh aware that his time was short gathered his family around him and made his last request, he wanted to go to the promised land. Jospeh was looking to God’s promises to Abraham, to Isaac and Jacob, the promises that were given to his father, his grandfather and his great grandfather. He learnt of the promises of God and in verse 24, as he was about to die he told them “God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob". Joseph was prophetically looking to what God would do, for even though God’s people had settled in Egypt, even though it had been good for them, a place where their prospered, it was not their home, it was never going to be, or rather it never should have been for so long but many of them forgot the promises of God with the worldly comfort they had. The Lord God himself would act to bring his people out of Egypt. 


This request shows that Jospeh was not only a man who lived by faith he also died in faith, at the end of his life was looking to the promises of God that were given to his father, Grandfather Isaac, and his great grandfather Abraham, Jospeh was one who “By faith when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones” By faith believed in the promises of God, even though they were in Egypt, even though it had been good for them, a place where their prospered, it was not their home, it was  ever going to be, it was not the land of Promise and God had something better of his people but it required faith, as Hebrews 11:1 reminds us Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see (Heb 11:1). Jospeh was looking forward to the hope that he had in God through Christ, he was holding fast to the promises of God in the midst of his life and we must do the same.


Pray (acTS)


Sing


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Q83 Are all transgressions of the law equally heinous?
Some sins in themselves, and by reason of several aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others. (Ezek. 8:6,13,15, 1 John 5:16, Ps. 78:17,32,56)
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21st February 2023


Pray (ACts)


Read (Matthew 8v23-34)


Message (Scott Woodburn)


I dread to think how much of our everyday talk is taken up with the subject of the weather. I remember coming to Ballynahinch in 2008 and for a while it seemed that the town was obsessed with the subject of snow. I'm delighted that we seem to have moved on from that but we still like to mention the stretch in the nights and the frequency of the rain.


As a child I would occasionally sing "rain, rain go away, come again another day." Needless to say the rhyme didn't work but our blessed Lord didn't sing to the weather nor did he ponder its changes, instead He commanded it. What do I mean? One day Jesus and His disciples entered a boat to sail to the other side of the lake. Unfortunately during their travels a great storm rose up and soon the boat was in danger of sinking (v24).


Where was Jesus? The Lord was fast asleep and it was necessary for His disciples to wake Him by saying "Save us, Lord; we are perishing." (v25). Jesus' response was completely absent of panic and He asked His friends "Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?" (v26) We've heard Christ say this before (Matthew 6v30) but let's remind ourselves of the nature of faith. Faith is a receiving and a resting in Christ as He is offered in the Gospel.


The disciples feared the storm and tragically failed to rest in Christ, they were weak just like us and all they could see was the immediacy of the raging storm. They need not have worried. Jesus rebuked the winds and the sea and suddenly everything fell calm (v26).


Later on the other side of the lake Jesus was confronted by two men possessed by demons (v28). Who are the demons? The demons are fallen angels, spirits who fell with Satan in his original rebellion against God. But despite the fear that these men provoked in others, Christ did not shrink. Indeed the demons feared Christ and asked Him “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?” (v29)


What did they mean? The demons were no fools. They knew what they had done, they knew who Christ was and they knew that one day they would be cast in the lake of fire and so they wondered if Jesus had come to pass an early judgement. Instead Christ allowed the demons to enter a herd of pigs which then ran down the steep bank and drowned in the waters below (v32).


The response from the locals was fear. They had kept their distance from the demon-possessed men and so they kept their distance from Christ who had defeated the demons. They even begged Jesus to leave the region (v34).


These verses are full of fear. The disciples feared the storm, the people feared the demons and the demons feared destruction. Fear is a common emotion and one which rises frequently in our hearts but when it does we would do well to remember who our Saviour is. When the disciples saw the storm obeying Christ they marvelled and said “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?” (v27)


What an excellent question - what sort of man is Jesus? He is the creator of the universe and even the weather obeys Him. He is the One who the demons fear for they know they cannot stand against Him. He is the saviour and friend of sinners and He answers them when they cry out "We are perishing!" What sort of man is Jesus? The most extraordinary individual who ever walked the face of the earth, true God, true man, without sin. Don't fear demons, weather or tomorrow,  instead fear Christ.


"The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil. " (Ecclesiastes 12v13-14) 


Pray (acTS)


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Q82 Is any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God? No mere man since the fall is able in this life perfectly to keep the commandments of God, but doth daily break them in thought, word, and deed.

20th February 2023


Pray (ACts)


Read - Hebrews 11:22


Message Alan Burke 


It use to be the paper you’d get to read the ‘hatches matches and dispatches’ notices. Although these days the hatches and matches seem to have disappeared and most of the dispatches notices are now online. I wonder have you ever taken time to read those, just to go threw them to see what is being said. They are often insightful, yet you only get a small snapshot of the person and unless you knew them you can be left with an impression that isn’t entirely accurate and most of them leave out the bits that the family don’t want you to know about. As we come to what is said about Joseph there have been books written about him, he was a man who had scaled to the heights of power and what is said about him, well it speaks volumes, the focus isn’t everything that he had done in his life, rather we are told what his dying wish was. “22 By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones.” (Heb 11:22). 


This dying wish of Jospeh tells us what mattered, the dying wish of Joseph tells us the reality that Jospeh was a man of faith. We know much more of who Jospeh was than the book of Hebrews tells us, if it were today it would be too much to sum up in a dispatches notice in a newspaper, it’s going to take too long to sum up in a devotion but suffice to say this was a man who by God’s providence shaped his life in a way that he understood, for while his bothers had meant what they had done against him for evil against him “God meant it for good” (Gen 50:19). 


What we are reminded in the account of Joseph, the overarching message is that wonderful reminder that we have a God of providence, a God who governs all his creatures, actions, and things from the greatest to the least, all his creatures, and all their actions. What this means is that the Lord God is in control of everything, everything that happens in whatever situation we find ourselves in. It should be a wonderful comfort to us, God is indeed at work here and now in this place and to the ends of the earth for his glory and our good (Rom 8:28). It doesn’t mean that our lives will be a walk in the park, the certainly weren’t for Jospeh but that God is there in the midst of it, working out his purposes. 


While the writer of Hebrews isn’t concerned with all the stuff that came before Joseph’s death, he’s not concerned with the prophetic faith that Joseph had, how he was able to interpret dreams, how he had made it in the world, for the writer of Hebrews knew that none of that suff matters eternally speaking. Joseph attained what many would aspire to, power, wealth, status, fame, but what mattered was his faith and how “By faith, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones” (Heb 11:22). This request helps us to understand what Paul meant when he was writing to the hebrews to encourage them in the midst of what they faced. 


We’ll think more about that request of Jospeh as the week goes on but for now you need to know what matters is is not the list of letters after your name if you have any, it’s not the barns that you have or the stuff that you dream about, for all of it is of no eternal significance , what matters is that you have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ, the one in whom we have eternal life, do you have faith? If so then know no matter what that dispatch notice in the newspaper says or what is said in funeral times that your eternal future is secure, you have gone to be with your saviour, for nothing will snatch you out of the hand of Jesus, He will loose none that the Father has given Him. For it is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone that we are saved and secure.


Pray (acTS)


Sing


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Q81 What is forbidden in the tenth commandment?
The tenth commandment forbiddeth all discontentment with our own estate, (1 Kings 21:4, Esther 5:13, 1 Cor. 10:10) envying or grieving at the good of our neighbour, (Gal. 5:26, James 3:14,16) and all inordinate motions and affections to any thing that is his. (Rom. 7:7–8, Rom. 13:9, Deut. 5:21)
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18th February 2023


Pray (ACts)


Read (Matthew 8v18-22)


Message (Scott Woodburn)


What do you make of a statement like this - "The Christian life rarely knows the endless warmth of the summer sun but more often the cold and biting winds of winter." In other words the Christian will at times know good days but more often the Christian walk will be beset by difficulty. Is that the faith you signed up to?


Jesus was about to travel to the other side of the lake when he was confronted by a scribe who boldly told Him "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go." (v18-19). The Lord's response was filled with challenge. Jesus said “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” (v20). Firstly, who was the Son of Man? This is a title that Jesus uses to describe Himself and we find it in Daniel 7v13-14 where an everlasting kingdom is given to one like a son of man.


Jesus is the Son of Man and whilst foxes have holes and birds have nests, the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head. The scribe promised to follow Jesus wherever He went, but the Lord offered a gentle warning - Christ had no place to call home. It's lovely to finish a long trip and finally to get home and climb into your own bed. Home is a place of comfort and safety. It is a place where you can relax and be yourself. You can come home and close the door and leave the world outside. But Christ's comment shows that His life was not one of ease and therefore the follower of Jesus can expect the same.


Another follower of Jesus said "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." (v21) and this drew another challenging response from Christ who said "Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead." Does Jesus here ban us from attending family funerals? No. While the Lord's response seems incredibly harsh we would do well to understand His point. Simply, Jesus counsels us that the Christian faith requires extraordinary commitment.


Commitment is a dirty word in 2023 and anyone demanding a stronger Christian commitment sounds a little bit too harsh and a little bit legalistic. But if we love the Lord and we bear His name then we simply must hear His voice. Christ tells us that to be His follower is to count the cost. In this world we can expect trouble for the sake of Jesus, we can expect to scorned for the sake of Jesus and we can expect lack of ease for the sake of Jesus. The faith calls us to commitment and sacrifice and frankly all of us shrink a little bit at such words.


I don't know who reads these devotions and so I can't speak for any of you. Instead I'll speak for myself. At times my Christian walk is self-centred and half-hearted. I am neither hot nor cold but instead lukewarm. Sometimes I can't be bothered and daydream about the easier path.


May God forgive me.


I today remind myself of a quote that I once read almost everyday. A man called CT Studd gave up fame and fortune in England for a life of dangerous mission work in China. Studd said "If Jesus Christ be God and died for me then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him."


Brothers and sisters, count the cost of following Christ and understand that the road to glory is beset on all sides with difficulties and trouble. It is a tough road and a narrow road but it is the only road that leads to heaven. May the Lord put strength in our legs and eagerness in our hearts and may we learn once more that there is nothing in this world that compares to Christ. 


Pray (acTS)


Sing


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Q80 What is required in the tenth commandment? The tenth commandment requireth full contentment with our own condition, with a right and charitable frame of spirit toward our  neighbor, and all that is his.
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17th February 2023


Pray (ACts)


Read - Hebrews 11:21 and Genesis 28:16-22


Message Alan Burke 


The Lord in His grace had revealed Himself to Jacob and waking from his encounter with the Lord, Jacob is filled with awe, the world of his dream was of greater consequence to him than the mess he was in. He was filled with fear, not at what lay behind, the guilt of what he had done, or what lay ahead. No the fear he was filled with was the fear of the Lord, he was overwhelmed, for he had come face to face with God, he now understood the faith of his parents for himself, as he confesses… Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it (28:16).His fear is not of dread and terror, but that of a sinful man coming before a Holy God, overwhelmed and acutely conscious of his sin and unworthiness to stand in the divine presence. 


This fear though would help deliver Jacob from sin, it would help to be obedient to the LORD, knowing that he had been redeemed, that the Lord had brought salvation to him in his grace, giving him hope and security. For us, just like Jacob we should be filled with the fear of the Lord, not like that of a slave at their master, or a captive before their enemy, of course not, rather to fear the LORD is to be filled with Awe, to be filled with reverence for Him, His law and His word, to desire not to offend Him, to live how He desires. Fear of the LORD comes knowing how in His initiative, in His grace he had brought us hope and security, this leads us to love our Lord, and just as this fear would help deliver Jacob from sin, and help him to be obedient to the Lord it will also help deliver us from sin and to be obedient to the LORD.


This awe, the knowledge of God’s Initiative, God’s Grace bringing Hope and Security means he responds rightly in how Jacob is led to worships the Lord. According to the customs of the age, Jacob using the stone that had served as his pillow, that had guarded his head erects it as a pillar that functions as a witness, and a monument to the stairway from heaven and the Lord standing there. Then using the oil he had taken for his journey he consecrated it making a vow to the Lord. In what Jacob was doing he was publicly declaring, publicly worshiping the Lord God, the stone bore witness to that. His experience of God result in heartfelt worship; faith consists of more than inner, spiritual feelings, it finds expression in corporate, public, tangible acts of worship. For us, the experience of the Lord’s salvation should lead us to fear Him and to worship, to publicly declare who He is and all that He has done. We come confidently before him just like Jacob, not it what we have done but because of what he has done on our behalf. 


At the end of his life Jacob who had believed that he would never see his son Jospeh again blessed his sons, the eldest Manasseh to Jacob’s right and the youngest Ephraim to his left. Years before Jacob had used deception to receive the blessing despite the promise of God that the older would serve the younger. There would be no deception in Jacob’s tent, he crossed his hands and laid his right hand on Ephraim and his left hand on Manasseh.


This displeased Joseph for Manasseh was his firstborn and custom dictated that he should have the place of prominence, but Jacob had come full circle. Gone was the trickery of his youth and now he understood that the ways of the Lord were not our ways. Jacob known as Israel with eyes of faith gazed into the future seeing that Manasseh would be great but his younger brother would be greater still. What mattered for Jacob in the carnage of his life just like his da, was that he was saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. The faith he had was in Christ, he was saved Christ, they only faith that saves is in Christ! For every believer it is by faith alone in Christ alone that we are saved. Just as Jacob was heavily flawed, he uses we who are likewise heavily flawed for his glory.


Pray (acTS)


Sing


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Q79 Which is the tenth commandment?
The tenth commandment is, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’ s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’ s wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’ s. (Exod. 20:17)
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