​31st May 2025


Pray (ACts)


Read (Hebrews 1.5-13)


Message (Scott Woodburn)
The prophets weren't God's only messengers in the Old Testament. Throughout the history of redemption our God has commanded the heavenly host of angels who worship Him and do His bidding. Angels are not to be trifled with, they are mighty creatures who strike awe into everyone who meets them. They dwell in glory and have attributes and abilities far greater than you or I. We have seen in this chapter that Jesus is the true prophet greater than all others, but is he greater than the majestic angels? The answer is a resounding “yes". To prove this point the Apostle takes us on a Bible study with a sevenfold argument of why Christ is greater than the angels. No angel is begotten of God but Christ certainly is. Psalm 2 is a Messianic Psalm or in simple terms it is a Psalm that speaks about Christ. It says "I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, 'You are my Son; today I have begotten you.'" (Psalm 2v7) Jesus is begotten not created. He is of the same substance as the Father. He is not a creature like the angels but He is true God.


Angels are sometimes called "sons of God" in Scripture (Job 1v6) but there is only one Son of God who is the second person of the Trinity. Nathan spoke God's promise to David and said "I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men" (2 Samuel 7v14) God's promises to David were fulfilled in Christ. Jesus is the Son of God.


Indeed God's Son is not an angel or simply equal to the angels, instead the Son of God is to be worshipped by the angels. The lesser worships the greater and so with a quote from Deuteronomy 32v43 the Apostle shows once more that Christ is supreme and reigns even over the angels. His name is greater than theirs and He is the object of their worship.


The angels are wonderful creatures. God has made them like winds and a flame of fire (Psalm 104v4). We would do well to avoid anyone who pretends they have a guardian angel or treats the angels like good luck charms. The message of the angel in Revelation was so extraordinary that John fell to worship him (Revelation 22v8-9) before being told to only worship God. If an angel met you today I suspect you would be filled with awe and terror. They move rapidly, they do God's bidding and they engage in spiritual warfare. But they are still under the authority of Christ. Psalm 45 speaks of Jesus and says “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your
companions.” The angels are mighty but they serve Christ the King.


No wonder. The work of Christ is referenced in Psalm 102. It was Jesus who laid the foundation of the earth and who painted the heavens. Creation will wear out and one day Christ will roll it up like a garment and bring great change to the universe, but He does not change. He is eternal and just as Christ has no beginning so too He will have no end. Christ brought the angels into existence and it will be Christ who will judge the angels who rebelled against Him.


Finally, it is only Christ who has heard the words “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet” (Psalm 110v1) The position of authority at the right hand of God belongs only to Christ and although the angels will play their part in Gospel history, the forces of sin, death and wickedness will be placed beneath Christ's feet and not theirs.


The Apostle doesn't write these verses to humiliate the angels. It is not their fault that humans can sometimes worship angels or give them an exalted place. We would do well to be mindful of unseen spiritual realities whilst not falling into the pitfalls of the modern age. No, Paul doesn't wish to humiliate the angels but simply to remind the Hebrews that just as Christ is superior to the prophets, so too is He superior to God's angelic
messengers.


It will be amazing to commune with the prophets in heaven. We will see Elijah and Moses and Habakkuk and Isaiah. It will be amazing too to gaze upon the angels who sing "holy, holy holy". But Christ is greater than them all and today the prophets and angels worship the Lord. Brothers and sisters, turn your eyes to Jesus, you're not going to be disappointed.


Pray (acTS)


Sing


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Q98 What is prayer? Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God, for things agreeable to his will, in the name of Christ, with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies.

30th May 2025


Pray (ACts)


Read (Philippians 1:27-30 focus v29-30)


Message (Alan Burke)


There are people in this world who are known as masochists. That is someone who derive pleasure from experiencing pain or humiliation, I’m not like that and most people aren’t but what about suffering, do we like to suffer? If I was a betting man which I’m not I’d put money on the general consensus being that people do not like to suffer and would make attempts at avoiding it at all costs. Yet as we come to this passage we are told of how we have been granted in a sense a gift from God of suffering. Just incase you didn’t get that, God has granted us the gift of suffering. Actually we are told of two gifts here that God has granted us and that is to believe as well as suffering so we will come back to the suffering in a moment. 


To believe is a gift of God, the gift of faith. For faith is the work of God and we are the ones who believe God doesn't believe for us, but he enables us to have saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, but just as we are given the gift of faith. Ephesians 2:4 tells us; But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved (Eph 2:4-5). This is a wonderful truth for us, God made us alive because we were dead in our transgressions. Dead people can bring themselves to life so the point is that faith is a gift of God and it means that we can have confidence when Paul said he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus (Php 1:6).


But the other gift, the unwelcome gift as we might think of it, look at what we are told in v29; For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him (v29). We have been granted by God on behalf of Christ not only belief but suffering. I’ve heard many preachers proclaim a false gospel that promises that if you come to Jesus all your problems will be fixed, you’ll have health, wealth and prosperity but the Lord doesn't promise us that or an easy life as believers. That's probably one of the last things that people want to hear, but if you are a believer then what you can expect that's not health, wealth and prosperity. As believers we cannot expect to avoid, sickness disease, hardship, persecution, we can expect to face suffering. Jesus never promised his people an easy life, he said we would be hated, persecuted. 


But and we need to hear this, there is a but, for even though we face opposition, even though we face suffering there is a great and glorious blessing that we will receive, it is something more than this life has to offer, better, it isn’t promising a happy life in the here and now, that is never promised in the scriptures. It is a blessing that is eternal, and the future hope that we have as believers that is described to us in Revelation 21 where we will dwell with our God, see his face in the New heaven and the New Earth where there will be no more sin or its consequences for these will have passed away, for the believer, theirs will be the kingdom, eternal life before the Lord our God. If we find ourselves suffering for the gospel it is a gift from God, it is a gift and the reasons is that it proves we are on the same side as the apostles like Paul, and it shows that we are on the same side as Christ. James 1:12 tells us, 12 Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. (Jam 1:12). Believer even in what you face the Lord is using your suffering to refine you so that you become more and more conformed into the image of Christ and you can know that at the end of it all, you will receive the crown of life that has been promised to you. 


Pray (acTS)


Sing


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Q97 What is required to the worthy receiving of the Lord’s Supper?
A. It is required of them that would worthily partake of the Lord’s Supper, that they examine themselves, of their knowledge to discern the Lord’s body, of their faith to feed upon him, of their repentance, love, and new obedience; lest, coming unworthily, they eat and drink judgment to themselves.
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29th May 2025


Pray (ACts)


Read (Hebrews 1v1-4)


Message (Scott Woodburn)
God is not like us. We imagine Him in certain ways and in sinful arrogance we think that we've mastered Him but we are fools. One of Job's friends was called Zophar and he said “Can you find out the deep things
of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?” (Job 11v7) Well, no. We can't master God and even if He had limits we certainly couldn't find them out. The Lord God Almighty is beyond our comprehension and yet, by His grace, He is knowable.


We know God because His fingerprints are all over creation. Psalm 19v2 says "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals
knowledge." Paul would tell the Romans that humanity is without excuse before God because "his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation
of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse." (Romans 1v19-20) We call this knowledge "general revelation" because God has made Himself known to everyone.


Yet we also speak of "special revelation" wherein God makes Himself known only to some. The theologian B.B. Warfield put it this way “General revelation is addressed generally to all intelligent creatures, and is therefore accessible to all men; special revelation is addressed to a special class of sinners, to whom God would make known His salvation.” So God has spoken to everyone in creation so that all are without excuse but God has also spoken to His people whose eyes have been opened by faith.


Long ago God's special revelation came by way of the prophets (v1). Their message came directly from God but was still rejected by a multitude and received by only a few. The prophets challenged the people of the day to repent and they pointed forward to Christ. Jesus experienced the same rejection as the prophets. He was shunned by the majority and received by the few. But Christ is not just another prophet. He is the true prophet and God's final word.


In these days God has spoken to us by His Son (v2) and Jesus is greater than any other previous prophet. Elijah was a remarkable man and Daniel was a man of prayer but neither one of them could claim to be “the heir of all things" (v2). You might one day inherit your Grandmother's bungalow but the inheritance of Christ will be a people gathered from the nations with the ends of the earth as His possession (Psalm 2v8).


The same earth that is Christ's inheritance is the one that He was instrumental in creating (v2). In the beginning all things were created by Jesus and for Jesus (Colossians 1v16) and if we want to know what God is like, we only have to look to Jesus. He radiates the glory of God (v3) and when He walked upon this earth the light of God dwelt among darkness. Christ was certainly a good man, indeed it is true to say that He was the best man to ever live. He was the second Adam and the true man but He was also fully God. The Apostle tells us that Jesus is "the exact imprint" of God's nature.


What does this mean? Jesus isn't a wee bit like God, Jesus is God. He is the only begotten Son of God who came and took on flesh without sin and remarkably, even when Christ nursed at Mary's breast or wept outside the tomb of Lazarus or even when He stood before Pilate, Christ at every moment was upholding and sustaining the universe that He created (v3). How do we know that Christ continues to reign? Because this world continues to exist. Nothing in the universe could last without Christ.


This same Jesus came and once and for all paid the price of sin. His life was sinless and His obedience was perfect and He laid down His life to wipe away the sins of His people. After making purification for sin, He sat down at the right hand of God the Father and He remains there to this very day. It's hard to imagine what heaven is like but we can say for sure that Christ isn't sidelined. He is the focus of angelic praise for He is by far superior even to God's angels (v4).


Hebrews may lack the usual greeting of Paul's other letters but it proceeds rapidly into a wonderful description of Christ. He is the superior one who has made God known. He is the last word of God. He is the great prophet and the creator of the universe. He is true God and true man and without sin. He is our greathigh priest whose sacrifice at the cross was sufficient and today He reigns as king in glory where even the angels fall before Him.


God once spoke by His prophets but today He has spoken by His magnificent Son. We would do well to listen.


Pray (acTS)


Sing


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Q96 What is the Lord’s Supper? The Lord’s Supper is a Sacrament, wherein, by giving and receiving bread and wine, according to Christ’s appointment, his death is showed forth; and the worthy receivers are, not after a corporal and carnal manner, but by faith, made partakers of his body and blood, with all his benefits, to their spiritual nourishment and growth in grace.
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28th May 2025


Pray (ACts)


Read (Philippians 1:27-30 focus v27b-28)


Message (Alan Burke)


I don’t know if you know this and if you don’t you’ve been living with your head buried in the sand but right now we have a shortage of ministers in PCI. Sadly the reality is something that many don’t seem to get. The reason why I bring this up is that in the past couple of months I know of one minister who has left the ministry and another who was on the path to returning to ministry after a time out has decided not to return all because of the opposition that they faced. It’s grim because the opposition that they faced wasn’t from people outside the church it was from those within who claim the name of Christian. It is one thing to face opposition from those outside the church but it is another thing entirely to face opposition from those within the church as a minister. Here we learn how the church in Philippi was facing opposition, we're not told the ins and the outs of what they were facing but there were those who were opposing the church. That opposition they faced was because they believed the gospel of Christ, the gospel of Christ that Paul encouraged them to live in a manner worthy of. 


What often happens when the church is facing opposition for the gospel is disunity, and disunity is destructive in the church. That is why Paul says whether he comes to see them or hears about them, if they do this he will know that they stand firm in one spirit, that they will persevere. For those to whom he writes, the believers in Philippi he knows that as they live lives that are worthy of the gospel that they will be able stand firm in one spirit, for they would have unity in the gospel. He was concerned about their unity, their togetherness, because he knows just how destructive these things can be in the church but if they stay united then it will be for their benefit. He tells them not to be frightened in the midst of what he face by those who oppose them. 


In effect Paul is telling the church don't panic, don’t be afraid, be of one spirit, stand firm and as he does this he gives them a double assurance to the church. Firstly it is an assurance about those who oppose the church, the they will face divine judgment and secondly that their courage in the face of opposition is also a sign of their own salvation. Opposition for the faith is something that we should all expect, Jesus repeatedly told his disciples what to expect for following him, we will face opposition in this world as believers and the reason why is that as citizens of heaven we are not of this world. Jesus as much in John 15:18-20.


Why the church in Philippi faced opposition, why we face opposition, why those ministers have left the ministry it is because we are not of this world, we are citizens of heaven, we can be expected to be hated and for those who oppose the church sadly even those within it then they are showing that they will be destroyed. 2 Peter 3 helps us to understand what it means of the destruction that awaits those who oppose the gospel. Where it says in v7; But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. 


The destruction that awaits all those who oppose the gospel throughout the ages is the pains of hell forever. But for those whom Paul wrote in Philippi as well as for us, while those who oppose the gospel face destruction we will be saved. What a wonderful hope that this is for the believer, no matter what we face in this life this is the only hell we will ever experience, this is as bad as it will ever be for us, we may face opposition, it may be hard, we may suffer but we will know that eternal salvation. For us we should be those who live lives worthy of the gospel, standing firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel as Paul has already said (v27).


Pray (acTS)


Sing


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Q95 To whom is Baptism to be administered?
A. Baptism is not to be administered to any that are out of the visible Church, till they profess their faith in Christ, and obedience to him; but the infants of such as are members of the visible Church are to be baptized.
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 27th May 2025


Pray (ACts)


Read (Hebrews 1)


Message (Scott Woodburn)


By the grace of God over the next few months my devotions will focus on the book of Hebrews. At times it is a difficult book to understand and it is certainly the source of much head scratching over the issue of who actually wrote it. It has always been a controversial topic but in recent times the accepted wisdom was that the book was written by the Apostle Paul thus giving him fourteen New Testament books. Indeed if your Bible isn't a modern publication you might find the following words "The Letter of Paul to the Hebrews" Newer Bibles tend not to have that statement and if you have ever listened to Hebrews preached you will probably have heard Paul's name replaced by something like "the author to the Hebrews" What's the problem here? Quite simply today's scholarship suggests that Paul wasn't the author of the letter. Paul's fourteen letters have become thirteen and Hebrews is a little bit like the planet Pluto which has now been relegated to dwarf-planet status.


Why the controversy? As simply as I can put it, Hebrews contains many of Paul's ideas but not Paul's language and style. You'll notice as you read Hebrews that it is anonymous and there isn't the usual greeting that accompanies Paul's other letters (there is however a suggestion of his usual farewell in Hebrews 13v16-25). Additionally we read in Hebrews 2v3 "The Gospel was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard" but Paul seems to say the opposite in Galatians 1v12 "For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ." Also Hebrews was originally written in Greek and the style used is noticeably different from Paul's other works. Everything seems to suggest that Paul didn't write Hebrews.


But who did? Many candidates have been put forward including Barnabas, Apollos, an unknown author or perhaps one of Paul's companions who wrote down a sermon preached by the Apostle. At this stage the majority position rejects Paul as the author without naming for certain a replacement. In this regard nothing has changed. Church councils in the late fourth century rejected any notion that Paul wrote Hebrews and later at the time of the Reformation both Martin Luther and John Calvin denied that the book belonged to Paul.


So what do I think? I've always preached Hebrews as from Paul. I'm aware of the difficulties of this position and I'll not fall out with you if you think I'm wrong but I do see Paul's fingerprints in this great book and I'm encouraged by ancient voices from the church. Origen (185-253AD) wrote "If any church, then, regards this
epistle as Paul’s, let it be commended on this score; for it was not for nothing that the men of old have
handed it down to us as Paul’s.” and Clement of Alexandria (150-215AD) stated confidently “Paul wrote the
Hebrews in the Hebrew language and that Luke carefully translated it into Greek.”


Therefore these devotions assume that Paul was the author of Hebrews but needless to say Paul won't be the subject of these devotions. We can make a gentle case for Hebrews being a letter to Christians from a Jewish background probably in the city of Rome at sometime before the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70AD (although all of this is as disputed as the authorship). It seems that these Christians were tempted to return to their Jewish roots and the focus of the letter was to turn their gaze upon Jesus.


Christ should still be our focus. We can fight and argue over trivial matters but as the Apostle shows us in Hebrews, Christ is supreme. He is greater than the angels, greater than Moses, greater than Melchizedek, greater than all. I trust we'll see that in vivid colours as we walk our way through Hebrews. Did Paul write Hebrews? Only God knows for sure but ultimately the Lord is the author of the Bible. May He speak powerfully to our souls and may we realise again that Christ alone is our supreme and greatest good.


Pray (acTS)


Sing


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Q94 What is Baptism? Baptism is a Sacrament, wherein the washing with water, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, doth signify and seal our ingrafting into Christ, and partaking of the benefits of the covenant of grace, and our engagement to be the Lord’s.
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26th May 2025


Pray (ACts)


Read (Philippians 1:27-30 focus v27a)


Message (Alan Burke) 


Back in my school days we were always told that we represented the school in the community when we wore our uniform. It didn’t make any difference to how we conducted ourselves because we didn’t care and there were assemblies after assemblies where the whole school got grief because some student did something wearing the School blazer. One one occasion the police came into the school (now remember these were the days before the UK became like the paparazzi on steroids with the amount of CCTV cameras we now have never mind those ring door bells which watch everyone walking past) to inform us a pupil from our school had done something they really shouldn’t have and that it would be best if they owned up to the police. Nobody did and the best bit is we found out later that some eejit from a different school had been arrested after being caught red handed wearing our school blazer although typically we got no apology. 


There is a sense though in which everything we do testifies to the truth of who we are and what we believe and for the Christian we should be those who are living lives worthy of the gospel. That is what Paul tells the church in Philippi to do. We are to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ which means that we live in a way that is consistent with the gospel of Christ. Paul was urging the church to live according to the gospel imperatives. Meaning from one Sunday another that they were to live in a way that is consistent with the faith that they profess. To live a life worthy of the gospel of the church in Philippi this would have meant living in a way that went against the culture at the time. Caesar was a divine figure, they honoured him as lord, as saviour such was the cult around him. At every public gathering in Philippi Caesar was celebrated, shouts of “Caesar is lord” would have been heard. The church in Philippi would have been seen as a threat, an embarrassment, un-Roman, enemies, they were those who were rejecting traditional Roman values, that they were dangerous, anyone who did not honour Caesar as Lord. 


Today, we are not living in Philippi but to live in a manner worthy of the gospel for some will involve greater a cost than others. For some of us to live in a manner worthy of the gospel will be hard it may cause us to loose our job, to be decried as backward, homophobic, misogynistic among some of the things I’ve heard. To live as those who are living worthy of the gospel we do so because the Love of Christ compels us (2 Cor 5:14), that because of what Christ has done that we in a way that is worthy of him.


There are times that where we find ourselves in work, school, with friends or family that we are asked or expected to behave in a manner that is unworthy of the gospel then we have say no. There are those who are believes who are facing situations in their workplace where they are being asked to deceive, to harm, to do any manner of things and are faced with a choice to either live in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ or live in a manner unworthy of the gospel. Living in a way that is worthy of the gospel of Christ will see us holding fast to his truth, as we love Christ we obey his commandments, it will be seen in living lives that show the fruit of the Spirit within us, as we show love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, (Gal 3:22-23). I didn’t live in a way worthy of my school uniform, not that it really mattered, but it matters that we live in a way worthy of the Gospel. It wouldn’t take long for me to list example after example of those who have claimed Christ and lived in a way that is unworthy of the gospel and it has harmed the name of Christ, so let us examine ourselves and if there are areas that we are living unworthily let us repent and seek forgiveness. 


Pray (acTS)


Sing


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Q93 Which are the Sacraments of the New Testament?
A. The Sacraments of the New Testament are Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper.
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24th May 2025


Pray (ACts)


Read (Jonah 4)


Message (Scott Woodburn)


The late great Marvin Hagler was the world middleweight boxing champion for seven years and although he made boxing look easy, he understood that success was always accompanied by challenge. He once famously stated that it was hard to get up at 5am to run the roads when you were sleeping in silk pyjamas. I think this wisdom applies to the Christian walk as well - many of us are so comfortable we don’t want to do the hard work of sanctification.


Jonah had seen significant sanctification is his life. He had run from God because he knew rightly that the Lord would accept the repentance of the Ninevites. Even so, from the belly of the great fish Jonah called out to the Lord with the prayer of a sanctified man. His preaching was miraculously effective and the entire city of Nineveh had come to believe the Gospel. It therefore might surprise you to discover that Jonah finished his story camped outside the city angry about the death of a plant.


Before we jump to condemn Jonah, I want to stress that I am no stranger to grumping outside the city walls. Let me be clear, sanctification is happening in everyone who has truly trusted Christ. The progress may be excruciatingly slow but the Lord is at work in His children. Even so, the children of God are often incredibly reluctant when it comes to the things of God.


What is heard more regularly at church - praises or grumblings? What captures the hearts of Christians more frequently - the plight of the lost or the fact that we don’t like some aspect of our church experience? If I’m pointing a finger today I’m pointing it at myself. At times it feels as if the Lord is dragging me kicking and screaming to heaven - when I should be inside the city rejoicing, I find myself outside the city wishing to die.


Brothers and sisters, I offer you no easy solution to our plight. We are wretched and always doing the things which we don’t want to do. I admit today that my progress in sanctification is often slow and an accurate description of my walk is that I am frequently a reluctant disciple. We don’t see Jonah again in the Scriptures and his final words express his wish to die. I sometimes wonder what happened to him - did he eventually come to his senses or did he spend the rest of his days stamping his feet? I will not speculate when Scripture is silent but I will spend time examining the condition of my own heart.


The Gospel is exceedingly wonderful and worthy of our full attention. Jesus never wore silk pyjamas nor did he flee from the work that was His to do. May the Lord have mercy on His reluctant children and make us as holy as pardoned sinners can be.


Pray (acTS)


Sing


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Q92 What is a Sacrament? A Sacrament is a holy ordinance instituted by Christ; wherein, by sensible signs, Christ and the benefits of the new covenant are represented, sealed, and applied to believers.
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23rd May 2025


Pray (ACts)


Read (Philippians 1:18b-26 focus v25-26)


Message (Alan Burke)


So many times as I’ve worked through Philippians in what Paul has said I’ve been humbled. I’m sure the church in Philippi would have likewise been humbled by the words of Paul to them. After all he was a man who was languishing in prison not knowing with any certainty what the next day would bring. He though was convinced that he would remain in the body and return to them so their boasting in Christ would abound. What we see in these words was the reality for Paul that to live was Christ. He in everything was looking to the glory of his Lord and it is one that would have been humbling to the Church in Philippi as they heard these words, the love and compassion of this man towards them was clear and it should be humbling for us, his attitude in all the faced. 


Paul was living for the glory of God, for him, to live is Christ and to die is gain, to live was to do the work of Christ, to continue on living for Christ, his life would be an encouragement to the church, to help, to build it up, it would be for the glory of his God in Christ Jesus. But is it that it for us, are our lives lived for his glory, are our lives an encouragement to the church? You don’t need to be a minister to live for the glory of Christ, to be an encouragement to the church, you don’t need to give up your job, stop worrying about the weeds and painting the fence but even if you are old and struggle with pains, or you are able to run laps round the playground we can live where we are for the glory of God.


This is what we are made for, in the words of the What is the chief end of man? Man’ s chief end is to glorify God, (1 Cor. 10:31, Rom. 11:36) and to enjoy him for ever. (Ps. 73:25–28).  Whatever we do, so in the everyday common activities and callings in life began to take on a new significance and a new motivation when we know this, those everyday tasks that we might otherwise see as insignificant should be done all to the glory of God. That is what Paul was living for, while in prison or if released he was living for his Lord and no area of life for him was to be excluded and it should be the same for us. 


It doesn’t matter whether you are a farmer, or a factory worker, a nurse or nuclear scientist, retired or retraining, God uses his people in what ever they do, what ever stage or season of life they are at, in the different situations they find themselves in the ordinary day by day run of the mill things for his glory, so that he may be glorified in all places, at all times. Since it is God’s eternal purpose that we his people are to live to praise His glory (Eph 1:6), Let us therefore purposefully live to the glory of God in our lives in what ever we do!


Pray (acTS)


Sing


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Q91 How do the Sacraments become effectual means of salvation?
A. The Sacraments become effectual means of salvation, not from any virtue in them, or in him that doth administer them; but only by the blessing of Christ, and the working of his Spirit in them that by faith receive them.
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22nd May 2025


Pray (ACts)


Read (Philippians 2v12)


Message (Scott Woodburn)


Do you remember our discussion about monergism and synergism? You do? Great! When it comes to regeneration we are not synergists because we understand that God works alone. But what about sanctification? One common mistake is to believe that God regenerates us, calls us to faith, justifies us and then leaves us to get on with the work of sanctification. This is simply false. The work of sanctification is not ours alone because if it were no one would be sanctified. 


So how should we view sanctification? It is possible to say that sanctification is synergistic - both God and humans are active in the work. What do I mean? Without the Lord there would be no sanctification. Paul once wrote “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God that works in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Philippians 2v12). God works in us in sanctification - He renews us and gives us both the desire and the ability to love and obey Him. The Lord is not absent from sanctification. He begins the work, He continues it and He will certainly complete it.


However, in sanctification we have a God given responsibility to act. We can do nothing in regeneration and we are passive in justification but the Lord has blessed us with an abundance of gifts which, when used rightly will certainly see us sanctified. If you have listened to me for a while then you know that I often speak about the ordinary means of grace. These are the means by which God communicates His grace to us and they are the Word of God, Sacraments and prayer. If we are to be sanctified then these are the means by which the Lord will do His work.


If I harp on about the ordinary means it is because I am convinced they are so easily neglected and if I have a great fear for our church it is simply that we have become bored with what takes place every Sunday at Edengrove. Brothers and sisters, do you desire growth and sanctification in your Christian walk? Yes? Then accept no substitutes and earnestly desire the ordinary means - work out your salvation in fear and trembling. 


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC


Q90 How is the Word to be read and heard, that it may become effectual to salvation? That the Word may become effectual to salvation, we must attend thereunto with diligence, preparation, and prayer; receive it with faith and love, lay it up in our hearts, and practice it in our lives.
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21st May 2025


Pray (ACts)


Read (Philippians 1:18b-26) focus v21-24


Message (Alan Burke)


Some time ago while conducting a funeral there was a man got up and left. This has happened to me a few times and normally the reason why is that they have been confronted with their sin and do not like it. When I was an assistant there was a saint who reminded me that before she came to Christ she hated the minister but that she had since realised that it wasn’t the minister but the gospel itself. This man though was different, I hadn’t even started the sermon and he was so overwhelmed by his own mortality having been at funeral after funeral recently that he just couldn’t take it. Our own mortality is something that we try to avoid, most people do all that we can to try to ignore it, to maintain our youth, exercise, live healthy, try and live life to the full in every way, many are amusing themselves to death with constant entertainment. If we are truly honest all of us want to avoid or at least try to avoid death, but no-one can free themselves from the final enemy that we all must face, physical death and yet Paul had no fear in death. He says to the church in Philippi “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (v21). 


It is clear in his words that Paul was torn between life and death, if he lives then it means that he continues to proclaim the gospel, it will mean fruitful labour for him, but if he were to die then he would be with Christ which is better by far. He asks the question ‘Whet what shall I choose? I do not know! (v22). It is not that he has given up on life, instead they are words that show his heart, a heart for the church and the glory of Christ in this life or the glory of what awaits him. The choice that he speaks of is one that he knows ultimately is in the hands of God who has ordained all our days (Psalm 139:16), he asks not of what he would do but what he believes God desires for him. For while he languishes in prison he knows life is to be cherished and he desired to continue to live and minister for Christ, that was his chief end, to bring glory to God but he also believed that to die was gain. For Paul there was a tension in now and what is next and also that he remain for their benefit. 


For the believer to die is gain. It is gain because it means that we will be with Christ. Think to the words of Jesus to the thief on the cross, where Jesus said to him… “today you will be with me in paradise” (Lk 23:43 see also Rev 14:13, Lk 16:19-31). When we die we immediately go to be with Christ. It is not some far off future, not tomorrow, not after you have gone to as the Roman Catholic Church teaches, purgatory where you go to a place of  “purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven,” (CCC 1030). Rather it is immediate. 


The Shorter catechism gives a helpful and succinct summary of the scriptures teaching when in Question 37 when it asks; What benefits do believers receive from Christ at death?
The answer is; The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into glory; and their bodies, being still united to Christ, do rest in their graves, till the resurrection. 


Death comes to all and the clock is ticking but if you have repented and believed then for you to live is Christ and to die is gain. Think of that word gain, it is profit, it is to our betterment. Why so? Well I hope you know that we will dwell with God and we will be his people, he himself will be with us and be our God, he will wipe every tear from our eyes, there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for these things have passed away (Rev 21:3-4). For the believer this life is the only hell you will ever know, for Paul to live was Christ and to die was gain and it is the same for all who have trusted in the Lord Jesus for their salvation.


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q89 How is the Word made effectual to salvation?
A. The Spirit of God maketh the reading, but especially the preaching, of the Word, an effectual means of convincing and converting sinners, and of building them up in holiness and comfort through faith unto salvation.
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