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25th April 2025
Pray (ACts) Read (Philippians 1:3-6) Message (Alan Burke) I was sharing at our evening service a few weeks ago how I was learning the harmonica. What happened was that not long after I was installed and ordained in Lissara some years ago my mum brought me up some of my many boxes of junk that I’ve gathered over the years and in that was some of my dads stuff which she didn’t know what to do with so they came to me and then a couple of weeks after they arrived something happened that meant that I wasn’t allowed to leave the house. It all seems a bit surreal looking back on it but at the beginning of my house arrest I took out the harmonica and decided before this was over I was going to learn how to play that harmonica. It hasn’t happened, they are sitting in my study making me feel guilty because when I say I was learning the harmonica I still haven’t learnt it and doubt I ever will no matter how good my intentions are. If you’re wondering what on earth does this have to do with this passage before us it is because of those words that come in v6, how he who has began a good work in you will bring it to completion. If salvation was dependant on me, on my works or endeavours I can guarantee it would just be like that harmonica in my study that confronts me every day with just how much I have failed to do what I set out to do, if salvation was about me and dependant on me I would have fallen by the wayside years ago. There is a wonderful comfort in what Paul says here, a great encouragement for all of us who know and love the Lord Jesus Christ. Whether you feel that you have failed as a Christian, whether you are filled with doubts and fears or you have confident assurance that you are his, God who has begun a good work in us will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. You might be filled with fear that you will fail to reach the finish line, that when this life is done we will not be destined for Glory but instead hell, because you’ve not done enough or you’ll fail along the way. It is easy to always be second guessing ourselves, can I do enough, will I keep going. But it is not about us, our works, endeavours, it is about what God has done for us, because of that Paul can clearly rejoice. Say you fell into six year ago, it cannot separate you from the love of God, or that sin that you can’t seem to get shot off, it cannot can separate you from the love of God, nothing can. This should be a wonderful comfort to us as believers, for nothing can, nothing can separate us from the love of God, we will persevere, because God will preserve us, nothing will be able to snatch you from the hand of the saviour. This is the teaching of scripture known as perseverance of the saints and it means that our confidence, our assurance comes not because of us, it doesn’t rest on who we are or what we have done or can do it rests on the Lord Jesus, what the triune God has done for us. As we are reminded in the Westminster Confession of Faith when it says, “They, whom God has accepted in his Beloved (the beloved being Jesus Christ, His only Son), effectually called, and sanctified by his Spirit, can neither totally nor finally, fall away from the state of grace; but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved” (WCF 17.1). Those who truly believe will preserver, they will be preserved by the Lord, none that has been given to Jesus can be snatched from his hand no matter the sin, no matter the denial like Peter. This should be such a comfort for you brothers and sisters, that he who has begun a good work in you will bring it to completion, that the Lord Jesus shall loose none of all that he was given by the Father, none of his sheep will be able to be snatched from his hand, we will be sustained to the end so we will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ (Phil 1:6, Jn 6:39, Jn 10:28, 1 Cor 1:8). Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q67 Which is the sixth commandment? A. The sixth commandment is, Thou shalt not kill.
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24th April 2025
Pray (ACts) Read (Exodus 20v17) Message (Scott Woodburn) By this stage I’m sure you are not surprised when the Westminster Larger Catechism takes a commandment and outlines it in a fulsome manner. But as our look at the commandments comes to an end, the Larger Catechism is uncharacteristically brief in it’s treatment of the tenth commandment. What is required of us in the tenth commandment? The Catechism answers “The duties required in the tenth commandment are, such a full contentment with our own condition, and such a charitable frame of the whole soul toward our neighbor, as that all our inward motions and affections touching him, tend unto, and further all that good which is his.” This straightforward reply points us in two directions. Firstly, the tenth commandment requires us to be content with our own estate. This isn’t something that any of us finds easy, we often daydream about all sorts of life improvements. How better would things be if your wage doubled? Wouldn’t it be great if you had a new wife/husband? How improved would your mood be if you finally bought that “forever home”? Let me stress that while you shouldn’t be daydreaming about another man/woman, there is nothing sinful about a promotion, bigger wage or even moving house. The problem comes when we are utterly captured by the temporary shiny lights of this world. They become idols which capture our hearts and rob our contentment. Secondly, we aren’t to gaze longingly at all our neighbour owns but we are to be charitable towards him. Indeed, our charity should seek his good. There is a begrudging spirit in the modern world which loves nothing more than to see people fall flat on their faces. Often it is those who we see as successful who are the target of our bitterness. Elon Musk is one of the richest men alive and because of his support of Donald Trump he has gone from hero to villain in just a few short years. You might believe that Musk deserves all he gets but is that attitude in keeping with the demands of the tenth commandment? If you neighbour has just added a whopping great extension to his home or his wife is just back from Turkey with bright white shiny teeth, don’t you worry your wee head. Pray for your neighbour, bless him with kindness and work to further all that good which is his. It is in this manner that you protect your heart from covetousness and bring glory to the Gospel of Christ. Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q66 What is the reason annexed to the fifth commandment? The reason annexed to the fifth commandment is, a promise of long life and prosperity (as far as it shall serve for God’s glory, and their own good) to all such as keep this commandment. 23rd April 2025
Pray (ACts) Read (Philippians 1:3-6) Message (Alan Burke) There seems to be a great deal of confusion in places today even in the church in regard what we are about, what the mission of the church is which is sometimes referred to as ‘Missio Dei’ the mission of God. Let’s say you get a builder in and you ask him to put an extension on the house and instead he spends his time focusing on landscaping your garden and while he adds an extension it is just a place to put your new fancy lawnmower that cuts the grass for you. You might appreciate the work that he’s done in the garden but at the same time it’s not what he was there for, if you want the garden done you get a landscape gardener. Or how about you eventually get an appointment with the Dr and she spends the whole time focused on your hair and makeup when you’ve got a discharge coming out of your knee? You might need the hair and makeup sorted just like I do but you’d have gone to the hairdresser and the beautician but not the Dr. Well here Paul is thankful for the church in Philippi because of their partnership in the gospel and it reminds us what we are about as the church, for it is first and foremost about the gospel. The partnership that Paul and the church in Philippi was focused on the gospel. Paul and the Church in Philippi shared a common bond and had a common purpose in the gospel. Gospel literarily meaning good news. The gospel is good news, it’s good news not like what you hear on the BBC or on social media or you hear from the neighbour about the grandchildren it is the good news that Jesus is the Christ, he is the Messiah the Son of God the saviour of sinners he has come and taken our place and the wrath that was due to us so that we might be forgiven. This is what the church is about, this is our bread and butter, we’re not trying to redeem society, fix world hunger it is about the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. This means in those whom we have partnership with as was the case for Paul it is this that should be first and foremost what we share with whoever we partner with. That we as the church as the people of God are focused on the good news of Jesus Christ so that others may come to know him as their saviour. The partnership that the church in Philippi had with Paul was holistic, what I mean by that is that it kept the main thing the main thing ie the gospel but it also saw the church minister to Paul in practical ways, materially and personally. For the church in Philippi had sent help financially to Paul but they had also sent Epaphroditus to Paul with a gift, to minister to him, to give him personal care and attention when he was in prison. Think to how much that would have meant to Paul in his present lying in a dungeon that makes Maghaberry look like a six star hotel. This partnership also worked both ways for Paul was going to send Timothy to them to help the church in Philippi in what they faced because he was concerned for them (2:19-25), so their partnership went both ways and it was an ongoing partnership in the gospel. For us we should never forget what the church is about, it is about the gospel and of course as we live according to the truth of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ it will impact on how we live and the society around us but primarily it is about Christ Jesus. There are many people and organisations that want to fix the world but in all we do, in who we partner with we want to see peoples relationship with God fixed before it is too late. In doing this we pray, we give, we live according to what Christ has done for us. Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q65 What is forbidden in the fifth commandment? A. The fifth commandment forbiddeth the neglecting of, or doing anything against, the honor and duty which belongeth to every one in their several places and relations. 22nd April 2025
Pray (ACts) Read (Exodus 20v17) Message (Scott Woodburn) Do you know what an “influencer” is? The world is increasingly full of such people and they make a fortune pushing their influence online. You may have heard of “van living” which sums up the life of many of these so called influencers. Van life sees people living in a van and travelling the world earning money through their internet content. Imagine waking up in the back of your custom built van at the side of some beach in South America before having freshly picked avocados for breakfast - that certainly beats the freezing winter rain at 6:30am when you head to work on a dark November morning. It shouldn’t surprise us that the influence of the influencers goes far and wide particularly among a new generation who are utterly dissatisfied with their lot. Is there something wrong with making plans? By no means but I think much of modern life is bathed in covetousness. Thomas Watson was a Christian from another age and he described coveting as “the insatiable desire of getting the world.” Why settle for less when you can have it all? The Lord is not silent and as His commandments come to a close He declares "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s." Your neighbour may currently be on a six month world cruise but your life shouldn’t be spent looking over the garden fence and wishing you could join him. Interestingly there are seven parts to the final commandment. We are not to desire our neighbour’s house, wife, male servant, female servant, ox, donkey or anything that belongs to him. Seven is the perfect number in Scripture and therefore the Lord leaves us no room to covet anything big or small. We should completely and totally shun all kinds of covetousness. What’s the problem? To covet is to shun our nose at the blessings of the Lord and to demand something more. Do you remember the rich fool (Luke 12v16-21)? He was blessed with an abundant crop but didn’t pause to be thankful. He immediately set about building bigger barns. The man’s life was later taken from him and he didn’t get to kick back and enjoy his abundant possessions. There is nothing in this life which is permanent, all of it fades and we cannot hold on to anything. Yet Samuel Rutherford was right when he said “Those who gain Christ lose nothing.” There is much more to life than our possessions - faith in Christ is more precious than gold. Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q64 What is required in the fifth commandment? The fifth commandment requireth the preserving the honor, and performing the duties, belonging to every one in their several places and relations, as superiors, inferiors, or equals. 21st April 2025
Pray (ACts) Read (Philippians 1:3-6) Message (Alan Burke) You’ve got a face on you like a Lurgan spade! Ok you may not have and it just may be the sleep in your eyes as you lift that the little pocket dictator up (mobile phone) and read this devotion or you may not even know what I’m referring to and if you don’t to have ‘a face like a Lurgan spade’ means that you look miserable or long faced, got that scowl on you. If you have a face on you like a Lurgan spade there may be good reason, it may be that you’ve looked in the mirror and realised you’re not 16 anymore, or you’ve looked over at the empty space beside you, maybe it’s because you know what awaits you the rest of the day as you head to hospital for tests and you already know what is coming it could be any number of things. I do not mean to belittle what is going on in your life at the moment, why you have a face on you like a Lurgan spade nor am I going say you know that “there are many people worse off than you”. For while that may be true and people often say it to me there is something much deeper I want to take you to and that is the joy that we can have even in the midst of what we face. We come here to these verses remember that Paul is languishing in prison. His experience would make Maghaberry prison look like a six star hotel so then the question that we should ask is how is he able to thank God in his remembrance of the church in Philippi making his prayer with joy? We might think to ourselves that Paul is off his trolley that he should be in Holywell Hospital maybe that’s why he was languishing in prison but it’s not. He is able to say these things, because he has a genuine affection for them even in the midst of what he faced, he was able to pray with joy and be thankful for them even though I’m sure there would have been a few numpties and old trouts among them. He was able to pray with joy because he had joy. The thing is we often confuse joy with feelings of great pleasure and happiness, joy does not come naturally to people, nor does it comes with the pleasures that people take as substitutes for joy and the reason is that they are only ever substitutes for joy, true joy is because joy only comes by the work of the Holy Spirit within us, it is the fruit of the Spirit within us. The reason why Paul had joy was because of the Holy Spirits work within him. Joy is something that doesn’t come naturally, it isn’t just a feeling of great pleasure and happiness as many people confuse it with, joy is the work of God and it is something that we need to cultivate, it’s not just something that happens it is something that we are to look for in our walk with God. The letter of James helps us to understand that a little more where in chapter 1 we are told us 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds… (Jam 1:2). There James makes the point that when trouble comes to us, and it does we face the miseries of this life because of the fall, because of sin, so when troubles come we can gain from them. We can either allow those things to define us or we can experience the joy that is in Christ, the hope that we have. Hebrews 12 tells us how to do this, where it says; Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Heb 12:1–2. Jesus was able to endure much because he knew of the joy that lay ahead. Our joy is not in temporal circumstances but in the eternal reality that we have, that was how Paul was able to write while languishing in prison praying with joy in the midst of his circumstances. While some look to pleasures as substitutes, they think that joy is a feeling of great pleasure and great happiness, looking to their circumstances in life, things like money, fame, pleasure, family, none of those things give joy. True joy is only found in the Lord and the hope of what lies ahead. For Paul and for us the source of our joy is in the Lord himself and what he has done. Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q63 Which is the fifth commandment? A. The fifth commandment is, Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. 19th April 2025
Pray (ACts) Read (Exodus 20v16) Message (Scott Woodburn) It often strikes me as odd but nevertheless a moment 36 years ago still frustrates me. I was in P7 and one day after lunch a girl from my class was crying uncontrollably. The teacher calmed her down and when she composed herself she told the whole class that I punched her and pushed her face into a wall during lunch. I can admit that I was no angel in school but on that day I can truthfully say I was nowhere near this girl. I pleaded my innocence but the teacher could see no reason for the girl to lie and so I spent the next few days isolated in a room in the old part of the school. I was warned that I was on my last chance, I wasn’t to talk to my accuser and I was a thoroughly nasty piece of work. Even writing these words causes some bitterness and I have never understood the girl’s motives. Did she mix me up with someone else or did she know full well what she was doing? I once upon a time saw her name on Facebook and I briefly thought about contacting her, but thankfully cooler heads prevailed. What is forbidden in the ninth commandment? “The sins forbidden in the ninth commandment are, all prejudicing the truth, and the good name of our neighbors, as well as our own, especially in public judicature; giving false evidence; suborning false witnesses; wittingly appearing and pleading for an evil cause; out-facing and overbearing the truth; passing unjust sentence; calling evil good, and good evil; rewarding the wicked according to the work of the righteous, and the righteous according to the work of the wicked; forgery; concealing the truth; undue silence in a just cause, and holding our peace when iniquity calleth for either a reproof from ourselves, or complaint to others; speaking the truth unseasonably, or maliciously to a wrong end, or perverting it to a wrong meaning, or in doubtful and equivocal expressions, to the prejudice of truth or justice; speaking untruth, lying, slandering, backbiting, detracting, tale-bearing, whispering, scoffing, reviling, rash, harsh, and partial censuring; misconstructing intentions, words, and actions; flattering, vain-glorious boasting, thinking or speaking too highly or too meanly of ourselves or others; denying the gifts and graces of God; aggravating smaller faults; hiding, excusing, or extenuating of sins, when called to a free confession; unnecessary discovering of infirmities; raising false rumours, receiving and countenancing evil reports, and stopping our ears against just defence; evil suspicion; envying or grieving at the deserved credit of any, endeavouring or desiring to impair it, rejoicing in their disgrace and infamy; scornful contempt; fond admiration; breach of lawful promises; neglecting such things as are of good report; and practicing or not avoiding ourselves, or not hindering what we can in others, such things as procure an ill name.” Did you get all of that? Read it again and let the challenge sink in. We are so quick to break the ninth commandment that it makes a mockery of anyone who believes they have kept God’s moral law fully. We are forbidden from giving false evidence, forbidden from promoting evil, forbidden from staying silent when we should speak, forbidden from misconstruing the words of others, forbidden from using truth in a sinful manner, forbidden from lying, forbidden from backbiting, forbidden from gossip, forbidden from twisting the intentions or others and forbidden from a whole raft of breaches of God’s ninth commandment. My P7 accuser was wrong but I have no grounds to play the victim. How many times have I aggravated the smaller faults of others and ignored the massive log in my own eye? How often have I opened my ears to slander instead of closing them? How frequently do I deny the gifts and graces of my neighbour? I was thoroughly humiliated and rebuked back in P7 but I am often worse than my accuser’s sharpest barbs. It was CH Spurgeon who once said “If any man thinks ill of you, do not be angry with him. For you are worse than he thinks you to be.” How true! May God have mercy on us for we are sinners worse than anyone bar Him could ever know! Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q62 What are the reasons annexed to the fourth commandment? The reasons annexed to the fourth commandment are, God’s allowing us six days of the week for our own employments, his challenging a special propriety in the seventh, his own example, and his blessing the Sabbath day. 18th April 2025
Pray (ACts) Read (Philippians 1:1-2) Message (Alan Burke) I’ve written a few introductions to today’s devotion and that is because while the others might be true, sadly even though they shouldn’t have been, they had the potential to be pretty incendiary in some quarters so I thought better. When I was in Union Stafford Carson was the Principle and he made the point that in PCI the number of congregations and ministers has remained fairly static over the past 100 years but that the number of elders has increased ten fold. Why is it so? I would suggest that we have misunderstood what an elder is. Paul wrote to the saints and the overseers and deacons and today we are going to focus on the offices of elder and deacon. An elder is an overseer (the KJV uses bishop which is an old English word for overseer ie an elder). The greek word that is often used of an overseer is that of presbyteros. Now hopefully that should sound somewhat familiar, presbyteros if we transliterate it to English becomes Presbyter which is where we get the name Presbyterian for we have overseers, known as elders, who oversee, who watch over the spiritual welfare of the congregation that is what elders do. The role of an elder isn’t like an MP. The really sad thing is that some people think this is what an elder is and they should listen to their districts like an MP does with their constituents and then go to the Kirk Session meeting and try to sort out all our gripes. That is sadly how it works but it should not be this way, may God forgive us in this. The role of an overseer, an elder is completely different. An elder is an overseer for they exercise oversight over the congregation, they are those who exercise authority, they are the ones who are set aside by God to rule over the church on God’s behalf. A Kirk Session is made up of what are known as ruling elders and a teaching elder, ie minister and the teaching elder is set aside to teach but the ruling elders are set aside not to lobby the Kirk Session and sort out all your gripes but to rule. They have a responsibility to God to manage and care for those whom they have oversight of (1 Tim 3:5), they act as undershepherds to the Lord Jesus and they are to set and example to all. We have some congregations in PCI some with as many as 1/4 of the visible church on the Lord’s day as elders, either their are incredibly blessed by the Lord to have that many elders or they see elders not as spiritual leaders but as those who are there to keep the minister right. Recently I was speaking to a baptist pastor who has a congregation of 250 on the Lord’s day and in PCI you’d need at least 25 maybe even 67 elders for that and they have a grand total of 3. If you want to see what the scripture says about elder the qualifications are laid out in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9. Deacons comes from a greek word that can be translated as servant. Acts 6 helps us to understand this office for they were those who were appointed to meet the physical needs of the widows in the church. So while the elders of a church rule the deacons deal with the practical matters, they attend to those in need, they care for those who are housebound. Now according to the code of the Presbyterian Church Members of the Congregational Committee are appointed to fulfil the biblical role of deacons by discharging the duties delegated to them of caring for those in need and managing the temporal affairs of the congregation. (Para 16.4). In scripture the office of Deacon is a permanent one and as a Down presbytery we see that there is an apparent contradiction in what the scriptures teach and how we act, so we are memorialising this years General Assembly ie we have written to ask that consideration be given to our practice. This is because we believe that biblical church government contributes to the well-being of the church. It is important that we practically care for brothers and sisters in need (Galatians 6.10) and until there is change that is what the committee is tasked with this. Please be praying for this years General Assembly as this memorial comes as we try to move more to the model of scripture, and pray for the committee as they practice this role, please pray for your elders, teaching and ruling for they are spiritual leaders and pray that they would act like it and pray that we would know the blessing of elders who love the Lord and who act as overseers, ruling as undershepherds on behalf of our saviour Christ Jesus. Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q61 What is forbidden in the fourth commandment? A. 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. 17th April 2025
Pray (ACts) Read (Exodus 20v16) Message (Scott Woodburn) I want to ask you to consider someone you have grown to despise. Perhaps you can honestly say there is no one who you hate - praise God! But for many of us there are individuals who have wounded us and continue to cause us great grief. If you know such a person then your duty toward them can be described in this manner… “The duties required in the ninth commandment are, the preserving and promoting of truth between man and man, and the good name of our neighbor, as well as our own: appearing and standing for the truth; and from the heart, sincerely, freely, clearly, and fully, speaking the truth, and only the truth, in matters of judgment and justice, and in all other things whatsoever; a charitable esteem of our neighbors; loving, desiring, and rejoicing in their good name; sorrowing for, and covering of their infirmities; freely acknowledging of their gifts and graces, defending their innocency; a ready receiving of good report, and unwillingness to admit of an evil report, concerning them; discouraging tale-bearers, flatterers, and slanderers; love and care of our own good name, and defending it when need requireth; keeping of lawful promises; study and practising of whatsoever things are true, honest, lovely, and of good report.” Think about that man or woman deeply. Are you prepared to shun any false witness when it comes to them? The Larger Catechism teaches us that we are not to bear false witness about anyone and we are to have a charitable esteem of our neighbour. In other words it is not acceptable that we live with nothing but hatred for those who have crossed us but we are to strive to think well of them and their motives. Furthermore, someone may have done us great harm but we should still be ready to acknowledge their gifts and graces. The person who hurt you may well be a nasty piece of work but what is good about them? Think hard and consider fully. Even those you do not love cannot be considered lost causes. Does your enemy love his wife? Praise God! Is your tormentor a hard worker! Praise the Lord! Has the person who angered you carried out kind deeds on behalf of someone else? Then amen! You are to deliberately seek what is positive about your neighbour and delight in it thinking on things which are true, honest, lovely and of good report. But what the ninth commandment also requires is for you to stop false reports in their tracks and I think this might be harder than the internal, personal work demanded by this commandment. What does this look like? When you receive the snotty, gossipy text message you need to confront the one who sent it. When someone whispers “have you heard the latest about Joe?” your reply needs to be “I haven’t and I don’t need to hear.” Indeed there might well be occasions when you offer a rebuke to the gossip and the slanderer. The Lord commands us to preserve and promote truth in all our relationships and especially with those with whom we do not see eye to eye. We will not get along with everyone and I’m not calling on you to have “that person” round for afternoon tea. But my friend, speak honestly about those in your life. Shun all gossip and slander. Do not bear false witness about your neighbour. Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q60 How is the Sabbath to be sanctified? The Sabbath is to be sanctified by a holy resting all that day, even from such worldly employments and recreations as are lawful on other days; and spending the whole time in the public and private exercises of God’s worship, except so much as is to be taken up in the works of necessity and mercy. 16th April 2025
Pray (ACts) Read (Philippians 1:1-2) Message (Alan Burke) I’ve just realised we’re not going to get through the whole of these two verses in the devotions this week probably just verse one. I did say on Monday that “These two verses are packed with timeless truths for the believer” and I wasn’t kidding. Today were going to focus on another word and it is a word that isn’t translated consistently in different versions on the bible, it is in most of them but some of the newer ones in order to sell more bibles have fudged it. The word is “Saint”, now if you’ve an NIV 2011 you will read “Holy Ones”, the translators made the decision to convey the meaning rather than the word saint and that is because of just how many people misunderstand what a saint is. Let’s think of who Paul writes to, that isn’t a trick question it was of course the church in Philippi and he says to all the saints. What is a saint? Well in the church of Rome it is where they canonise individuals declaring a person to be a saint as they attained a certain level of holiness and therefore are somehow worthy of special veneration and these saints can apparently even hear our prayers which has no Biblical foundation, it is a false teaching. When King Henry VIII wanted s split from the Mrs what result was the church in England split from Rome and the anglican church began of course that is it in a very broad brush stroke. There really wasn’t much of a change and in Anglicanism, Saints they are people recognised as having lived a holy life and as being an exemplar and model for other Christians and many of those that are celebrated in the Church of Rome are celebrated in the Anglican Church. But Paul is writing to the church, they were very much at that stage at least alive, To be a saint is to be one who is brought near into God’s presence, they are set apart, sacred, holy. This is God’s work, saints are not those who have been made a saint by those churches in error, it’s not that those whom Paul writes to are being made saints by him and sadly this is a wonderful truth that we so often miss, because of what God has done through Jesus Christ, that is applied to us by the Holy Spirit. If you have trusted in Jesus Christ then you are a saint, you have been brought near into God’s presence, you have been set apart, made sacred, made holy, you are a saint. While we are saints, we are at the same time still sinful, we have the potential to do heinous things but we look forward to the day when we will be made new and conformed into the image of Jesus Christ (Rom 8:29), when we will be made perfect in holiness. Until then, while we are still sinners we seek to die to sin and live for Christ, we have been made saints and this is how we should live for God has called us from one thing to another, we have been bought with the blood of Jesus, just as Paul was set apart, the church in Philippi was set apart, likewise we are set apart as saints, as holy ones of God. Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q59 Which day of the seven hath God appointed to be the weekly Sabbath? A. From the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, God appointed the seventh day of the week to be the weekly Sabbath; and the first day of the week, ever since, to continue to the end of the world, which is the Christian Sabbath. 15th April 2025
Pray (ACts) Read (Exodus 20v16) Message (Scott Woodburn) Ten years ago the must watch TV show of the day was called “Making a Murderer” which told the story of Steven Avery who had spent 18 years in prison for a crime that he did not commit. The early episodes outlined the tragedy of Avery’s case and the joyous day of his release. I knew nothing about the case and so I was stunned when the very next episode told the tale of a young woman who Avery allegedly murdered in 2005 less than two years after his release. Whilst Avery’s innocence in the first crime was clear, the second case had people claiming that either Avery was indeed a murderer all along or that shadowy forces were out to get him by any means necessary. What do I think? It doesn’t matter, but twenty years later Avery still finds himself in prison having now spent almost 40 years of his life behind bars over two instances. The ninth commandment speaks into all such criminal cases as God declares that we should not bear false witness against our neighbour. Was Mr Avery in the wrong place at the wrong time or was he indeed an opportunistic killer? Anyone who knew him and witnessed what he did or did not do should have spoken the truth about the case and those investigating the crime should have upheld the truth no matter what road it took them down. I hope this is what happened despite what Netflix would have you believe. The Lord can do all things except those things which go against His character. He can shape the mountains of Mars and command the winds of the earth but He cannot and does not lie. Therefore, just as the law shows us God’s character, it also charts our path. If we are with Christ then our lives must be marked by truthfulness and this shows itself in our relationship with our neighbour. How do you speak about those around you? Are you happy to hear and spread gossip regardless of it’s truth? Do you give your neighbour a chance to defend himself before you believe everything you hear about him? Do you love truth and work hard to establish what is true and false? Brothers and sisters, it has been said that we live in a post-truth age, my truth may not be your truth but apparently that’s okay. This may suit the world but it does not please the Lord. When your neighbour’s name appears on your lips or arrives in your ears, do not bear false witness about him. There is enough falsehood in this world without you and I adding a wee bit more. For Christ’s sake love and speak truth always. Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q58 What is required in the fourth commandment? The fourth commandment requireth the keeping holy to God such set times as he hath appointed in his Word; expressly one whole day in seven, to be a holy Sabbath to himself. |
Alan
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