30th September 2025


Pray (ACts) 


Read (Job 1v13-2v8)


Message (Scott Woodburn)


Christ's work on earth changed everything for Satan. In the Old Testament our enemy is seen accusing God's people in the heavenly court (Job 1 & Zechariah 3) but he does not engage in this work today. What changed? Christ's victory at Calvary has put Satan to flight.


Revelation 12 speaks of a war in heaven between the good angels against Satan and his allies. The Devil lost the war and found himself thrown down to earth (Revelation 12v9). If we don't quite understand the significance of this a loud voice in heaven explained “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God."


By the blood of the Lamb, Satan has been conquered and so Jesus was able to say “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” (Luke 10:18). Therefore, whilst our enemy is fierce, he is defeated. Christ's successful work on earth was explained by Jesus as like someone entering a strongman's house, binding the strongman and taking his goods (Matthew 12v29). Satan is the strong man - powerful but chained. Jesus is the one who has entered the enemy camp and set the prisoners free - the Gospel has changed everything!


Today, Satan is a defeated foe but he still rages against the church for he knows his time is short (Revelation 12v12). He is like a bitter, nasty and chained dog, but brothers and sisters, give him no room! We are to resist him when he raises his ugly head, knowing that as we resist he will certainly flee from us (1 Peter 5v8-9).


Nevertheless, be mindful of his hatred for the church of Christ. Watch your tongue, guard you heart and close off any avenues that Satan might have into your life or fellowship. Rest in Christ who has utterly crushed the serpent's head. The accuser accuses no more. He will bring no charge against God's elect. He has been beaten, bruised and banished and one day he and his angels will be cast into the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20v10). Jesus has won.


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Q87 What is repentance unto life?
Repentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, doth, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God, with full purpose of, and endeavor after, new obedience.
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29th September 2025


Pray (ACts)


Read (Exodus 20:1-3 focus v1-2a)


Message (Alan Burke) 


The LORD God that we worship is not silent, he speaks to his people today audibly, not through the wee voice in your head that is likely your conscience and if you hear voices when there is no one around then you should seek some help. But the LORD our God is speaking through his word as it is read and preached. If you want to hear the LORD audibly speak to you it is not some course that you go to, some special technique you use and if anyone tells you things like that run, but if you want to hear the LORD audibly speak then go to a church where the word is faithfully preached and you will hear God speak. For the process of revelation has ceased for we have everything we need through the word incarnate Jesus Christ. 


Here though the process of revelation had not ceased, the LORD speaks to his people. Up to this point he had been relaying his message to his people through Moses, you will see that if you look back through the previous chapters but here at the beginning of chapter 20 the Lord speaks directly to his people. And how does he begin (2), he does so by saying “I am the LORD your God”. He doesn’t say, I am the Lord the God of Israel, or I am the God of the congregation in the wilderness, or I am the God of Abraham, no, instead the LORD addresses them and says I am the LORD your God. 


This serves not only as a self introduction but also to be the motivation for his people to follow him, for he is the LORD, he is Yahweh, the covenant keeping God who swore promises to their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He is not some unknown God of the nations, a figment of the imagination like all other gods of the other nations that surround them and today, no he is the self revealing God who speaks to his people by his word. 


While the process of revelation was ongoing for the congregation in the wilderness today God’s revelation is complete, we need no new words from God, he has given us everything we need to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him. For  while in the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son (Heb 1:1–2). We do not need any more revelation we have everything we need to know this God, the Lord our God. 


The most important thing in our lives is to know him, to trust in him, for in the Exodus he was showing his people his grace and through Jesus Christ he has shown us grace upon grace. We are dependant on the grace of God to work in us and our neighbours, friends and family through His word. It is the Word of God that his salvation has been made known, and we have been given everything we need to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him, for from Genesis to Revelation, from “In the beginning” (Gen 1:1), to “Amen” (Rev 22:21) it is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness (2 Tim 3:16). 


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Q86 What is faith in Jesus Christ?
A. 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.

27th September 2025


Pray (ACts) 


Read (Job 1v13-2v8)


Message (Scott Woodburn)


The great enemy of God's people is the creature who takes the name Satan. You may also know him as the Devil or as Lucifer and you might imagine him as a comedic figure in a skin tight red suit with horns and a pitchfork. Scripture doesn't say much about Satan but equally the Bible is not silent. So who is Satan?


Satan is not another god. He is a created being who is by no means God’s equal. The Lord has certain "incommunicable" attributes which are His alone - He is all knowing, all powerful and in all places. Satan is none of these things and so when we meet him in Job 1:6-12 he comes before God to give an account - this is not a relationship of equals.


You may struggle to believe this but Satan was created in the beginning by the Lord Jesus. Paul tells us that Jesus made everything, the things that we can see and those we can't see which includes the angels (Colossians 1v16). We do not know how many angels there are but we can be sure that Satan and his fellow angels shouted for joy when God made the earth (Job 38v7). Nevertheless, Satan did not continue signing for joy and at some point before Adam and Eve's rebellion, Satan had already turned away from God. When he appears in Genesis, he is already the enemy of God's people whispering seductive lies.


It is disputed somewhat but there are those who believe Ezekiel 28:11-19 speaks about Satan and his fall. If this passage is about the Devil then it tells us of his perfection and great beauty. He was an anointed guardian cherub who was blameless in all his ways. But, there came a day that Satan was filled with pride over his great beauty and so he became corrupted, sinful and depraved causing the Lord to cast him out of heaven. All of this took place before the Devil slithered his way into the garden of Eden.


Jude tells us that the Devil and his angels did not stay within their own position of authority (Jude 1v6) and Peter speaks of how the fallen angels are in chains and gloomy darkness until the Day of Judgement (2 Peter 2v4). Therefore, although we should not fear Satan, we should take him seriously. The Bible teaches that there is a real enemy of God's people. He is a fallen angel and he leads a host of angels who have followed him. Satan is crafty (Genesis 3v1), he is an accuser (Zechariah 3v1), he is a thief (Mark 4v15), he is a murderer (John 8v44), a liar (John 8v44), he pretends to be good (2 Corinthians 11v14) and he is like a roaring lion (1 Peter 5v8).


God is sovereign and Jesus reigns but it is still true that Satan is “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31, 14:30 & 16:11), “the god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4) and “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2). He is limited yet powerful and even his name means "the accuser or the adversary" Therefore we would do well to be mindful of his activity in this world.


By God's grace we'll finish our look at Satan in the next devotion but let me finish today by assigning him with one more word - defeated. Satan might roar and rage but his head has been crushed by our crucified Lord. Evil abounds in this world but evil has already lost. Thanks be to God!


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Q85 What doth God require of us, that we may escape his wrath and curse, due 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, with the diligent use of all the outward means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption.
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26th September 2025


Pray (ACts)


Read (Exodus 19:1-25 focus v18-25)


Message (Alan Burke)


As I write this devotion it’s wet outside again and I’ve the stove in the study lit. Many of our homes have a fire place although with central heating and electric hobs the need of fire is no more. But there is something comforting about a fire, it’s warm, homely although the imagery that is given to us here is not warm and homely but awesome and terrifying. At this stage Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the LORD had descended on it in fire and we are told that the smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln. The imagery that is used here is breathtaking, I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a traditional charcoal burn, some years ago I witnessed one and the harvested wood is encased straw and soil before being lit. You cover it with soil because too much oxygen would just burn the wood to ash so you want to starve the oxygen, giving enough so that the wood is turned to charcoal. That day I saw the charcoal burn the smoke was escaping through the soil, with more soil put on it to prevent more air getting in but in effect the whole mound was covered with a thick blanket of smoke that was rising up into the sky. Think of a mountain bigger than Slieve Donard billowing with smoke, pouring out of it and trembling greatly. The presence of the LORD God is awe inspiring, awesome and terrifying. The effect on the people is told to us in chapter 20:18 Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off. 


We have made the LORD God in our image, forgetting just how omnipotent he is.Then as Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him. The LORD had already warned the people about not going up the mountain and he reiterates to Moses twice in these verses that they are not to try to force their way through to see the LORD, how even the priests those who were normally seen as consecrated, set apart were also to consecrate themselves. The reason is the Holiness of the LORD our God. We come before the LORD who is Holy, Holy, Holy, he must be worshiped according to his revealed way, with reverence and awe according to how he reveals. For as Paul in Hebrews 12 reminds us our “God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:28, 29). 


The LORD is holy, his ways are not our ways, he meets his people but not according to the imaginations of men but according to his revealed will. Because of our sin we cannot approach him as we may desire, we need a mediator. Moses meditated between the LORD God and the people, we need a mediator to approach the LORD God because of his holiness, Jesus Christ is the one ultimate mediator. Moses’ action foreshadowed how Jesus would mediate between God and man, for he himself was true God and true man, the one who speaks the word of God to us for he is the word of God incarnate. For while long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, who acts as our mediator between God and sinful man (Heb 1:1-2).


After the people had prepared themselves to meet the LORD then he would give them his commandments, he would tell them how they were to live as his people. He redeems and then it leads to a response of the entirety of our lives. The LORD would give his moral law then then the outworking of that in how they were to live not only as his people but the civil law to live as a nation and the ceremonial law for how they were to worship. While we have been freed from the civil and ceremonial law the moral law that he gives is binding on all people throughout the ages. First the LORD redeems us from our slavery to sin and then he teaches us how to live in response to the grace we have received. He is gracious and compassionate towards us but let us not forget who we come before, he is the LORD God almighty. The only way that any of us can come before him is through the blood of Jesus (1 Cor 6:11), for it is through his blood that we have been washed, consecrated, while we cannot earn salvation, but we are made pure through what Jesus has done, all through his work, and as a result one day we will see God as he is (1 Jn 3:1-3).


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Q84 What doth every sin deserve?
A. Every sin deserveth God’s wrath and curse, both in this life, and that which is to come.
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25th September 2025


Pray (ACts) 


Read (Job 1v6-12)


Message (Scott Woodburn) 


Does saving faith guarantee an easy life? By no means. That might be a surprise to you but it is the truth of Scripture. The person who comes to Christ isn't immediately made perfect, their problems don't immediately disappear and they don't immediately become immune to the difficulties of this world. Why is life so hard sometimes? One reason is that we are fallen sinful creatures who live in a fallen sinful world, but in the book of Job we catch a small glimpse of other unseen heavenly realities.


Job's earthly existence would soon be impacted by heavenly circumstances. The angels (called here "sons of God") were one day required to present themselves before the Lord (Job 1v6). Angels are "ministering spirits" and they do not operate independently. In Hebrews 1v14 we are told that the angels exist for the sake of those who will inherit salvation. Few will ever see the angels but we can be certain that they are at work and they take their orders from the Lord.


Satan is also an angel and despite the fact that he rebelled against the Lord, he is not free to do whatever he pleases. Any power or authority that he wields has been given to him by the Lord. Satan is not God's equal, his power is not absolute, he is not everywhere all at once and so we shouldn't be surprised that he was found amongst the angels in Job 1v7 called to give an account.


The Lord asked Satan from where he had come with Satan's reply “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” (Job 1v7). Peter would say something similar when he wrote "Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." (1 Peter 5v8). Paul described Satan as the “prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2v2) and the Lord Jesus called him the “ruler of this world” (John 12v31). 


As the story in heaven was unfolding the Lord drew Satan's attention to a righteous man upon the earth saying “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” (Job 1v8). Job would have been completely unaware of God's ringing endorsement but as far as Satan was concerned Job feared God because the Lord had blessed him abundantly (Job 1v10). If God acted to remove Job's blessings then he would surely curse God to His face (Job 1v11) prompting the Lord to give Satan permission to do as he pleased with Job's possessions (Job 1v12).


These verses are both mysterious and fascinating yet behind them lies the ancient unfolding of God's plan of redemption. In Genesis 3v15 the Lord proclaimed to Satan "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." Satan's arrogance told him that Job was a fraud and by extension God's promises would fail but the book of Job would reveal something greater. Job would not fall, God's plan would not be defeated and the enemy of God's people would know defeat.


Even so, Job would know desperate anguish and loss causing him to wonder, question and wrestle with all that would happen to him. Job's experience was not to be easy and we too will know suffering in this world. Will we struggle? Absolutely. Will we perish? By no means. We may not know or understand the unseen realities but God will certainly not abandon us. Christ has crushed Satan's head and all who persevere will trample the enemy into the dust.


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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.
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24th September 2025


Pray (ACts)


Read (Exodus 19:1-25 focus v9b-17)


Message (Alan Burke)


I don’t know the official statistics, they will probably disagree with me and tell me that September has been the warmest and driest for the past 20 years and we’re all doomed but in my perception it’s been wet. We’re use to a bit of rain, we have lots of names for it from ‘spitting’, ‘bucketing’, ‘lashing’, ‘hammering’, ‘bucketing’. I remember some time ago I used a term for rain in one of the devotions and there was much consternation so I’ll not use it again. Like if we were really stuck this September since it’s been at times raining like cats and dogs (like what eejit came up with that one) like if the taps didn’t work in the house we could just go stand outside and get a wash.  I doubt that is going to happen but think, the entire population of Northern Ireland at one time without water being pumped into our homes, and without the rivers, lakes, loughs, streams, burns having to wash their clothes. That is exactly what the LORD commanded Moses to tell the people, they were to consecrate themselves and wash their garments. 


To be consecrated means to be set apart for the LORD God himself, for they were a treasured possession, a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. Part of this was they were to wash their clothes. This wasn’t going to be an easy task. Remember there were 2 million or so people having to wash their clothes at one time, to consecrate themselves to prepare themselves for the coming presence of the Lord God. As they consecrated themselves, set themselves apart washing their clothes in effect they were purifying themselves before the LORD, washing all the filth and stains from themselves symbolically, they were to respond to what the LORD had done by making themselves clean. 


While we are not told how Moses consecrated them one thing is clear, that people cannot come before the LORD God as they are. They are to consecrate themselves, prepare themselves for they are about to meet with the living God as no people had ever done before, they are there to listen to the voice of God. After they had pledged to follow the LORD they would need to be cleansed to serve him, pointing ultimately to the cleansing that is necessary for all of us through the Lord Jesus, Savour, for the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin (1 Jn 1:7). We are consecrated through Jesus Christ, it is through him that we have cleansing, through him we are set apart for the LORD our God. 


They were also to abstain from sexual relations. Not because these relationships within marriage are wrong but to allow a time of reflection, of preparation as they come to meet the LORD their God. Do we see the importance of preparing in every way throughout this, his people preparing to meet the LORD? Only when the people had prepared could they come, only when they had consecrated themselves to the LORD did they come before our Holy, Holy, Holy God. Do you prepared yourself to meet with the LORD God, preparing yourself for him to speak to you?


Our Larger Catechism explains what is required of all of us as we come to meet the LORD God, in Q160 it asks ‘What is required of those that hear the word preached?’


The answer is; 

It is required of those that hear the word preached, that they attend upon it with diligence, preparation, and prayer; examine what they hear by the scriptures; receive the truth with faith, love, meekness, and readiness of mind, as the word of God; meditate, and confer of it; hide it in their hearts, and bring forth the fruit of it in their lives.


When God spoke to his people at Sinai, as he speaks to us today we are to prepare and to listen, for it is the LORD God we come before, the one who is Holy, Holy, Holy. The one who has made a way that we can come into his presence through the cleansing that comes through the Lord Jesus Christ. 


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Q82 Is any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God?
A. 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.
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23rd September 2025


Pray (ACts) 


Read (Job 1v1-5) 


Message (Scott Woodburn)


One of the most moving tributes that I have ever read was delivered by Henry Boardman concerning his deceased friend Charles Hodge. Boardman said of Hodge "Christ was not only the ground of his hope, but the acknowledged sovereign of his intellect, the soul of his theology, the unfailing spring of his joy, the one all-pervading, all-glorifying theme and end of his life." Isn't that extraordinary? Scripture doesn't speak of Job with the same flourish as Henry Boardman but nevertheless Job is described in weighty terms.


Job was considered "blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil." (Job 1v1). If this weren't enough Job could rightly be considered a blessed man. He had ten children, eleven thousand animals and a multitude of servants (Job 1v2) making him one of the greatest people of his region (Job 1v3). Furthermore, he was a wise man who knew the sinful human heart all too well and so he would often rise early to make sacrifices on behalf of his children for he was concerned that they may have cursed God in their hearts (Job 1v5).


Before we go any further into the book of Job let us be absolutely clear. Job was not considered "blameless and upright" because of his works. It is believed that Job is one of the oldest books of the Bible and it is set in the days before the formation of national Israel and perhaps even before the life of Abraham. Even so, when we meet Job we realise that he is a man of faith, he was a man who "feared God" - Job was looking and longing for the Saviour.


Later in Job we will explore a very famous passage in which Job speaks eloquently about his hope in the Lord but in this chapter it is enough for us to see him engaged in sacrifice. He understands human sin and so he comes to the Lord in an act of worship. I often like to remind folk that the church started in the very beginning with the covering of Adam and Eve. Later the Bible gives us a glimpse of Cain and Abel at worship with Abel coming by faith with the. God's people before the Cross offered bloody sacrifice in the hope that a future sacrifice would put away sin once and for all.


Christ's sacrifice was what Job longed for but God had already done a supernatural work in the life of Job. It is the Holy Spirit who works saving faith in a sinful heart and so we can say for certain that Job had been transformed and made upright and blameless in the sight of God. Like Abraham, Job believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Job should not be considered as a sinless perfect man, instead he was a man transformed by God who walked before the Lord each day. As we will soon see, there would come a time that Job would need every inch of that extraordinary faith.


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Q81 What is forbidden in the tenth commandment?
The tenth commandment forbiddeth all discontentment with our own estate, envying or grieving at the good of our neighbor, and all inordinate motions and affections to anything that is his.
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22nd September 2025


Pray (ACts)


Read (Exodus 19:1-25 focus v1-9a)


Message (Alan Burke) 


In ‘The Hobbit’ by J. R. R. Tolkien there is a part of the story where it looks hopeless and the Eagles come and save Bilbo and his companions from almost certain death and they carry them on their backs, they ride on eagles wings. Initially what I had in my mind was that scene in The Hobbit with Bilbo and his companions being carried to safety by the Eagles and it is a wonderful image even thought we know that LORD did not carry his people on Eagles wings. Eagles do not carry their young on their wings, but the imagery used by the LORD is striking. The point is being made that unlike the gods of the nations who need to be carried by their people it is the LORD God who carries his people, who redeems them from their slavery (See Isaiah 46:1, 4). 


Here we are told how it’s been three months since the LORD redeemed his people from Egypt (third new moon) and they would remain there at Sinai for almost a year (Num 10:12). This is the same mountain where the Lord had appeared to Moses in the burning bush (Ex 3) and the Lord speaks to him, he has a message for the people, the house of Jacob, the people of Israel. He reminds them what he has done, how they had seen wha the did in Egypt and how he had carried his people as on eagles’ wings.


The LORD has carried his people out from Egypt, he has brought them to Mount Sinai and he tells Moses that if they obey him fully, keep his covenant, then they will be a treasured possession, a kingdom of priests, a holy nation (v6). The LORD redeemed his people sot they would be his treasured possession. Think of the wonder of what is said here. Even though the whole earth is the LORD’s it is this congregation that would be his treasured possession. Not only that they were a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (v6). The people were to be a kingdom of priests for they were to serve the Lord, like the Levitical priesthood. Their lives were lived as an offering in the service of the LORD God. They had intimate access to him unlike the rest of the people. But for Israel they were to be a kingdom of priests, serving the LORD God, they had intimate access to him unlike the rest of the nations. This includes those who were nursing mothers, or the shepherds, those who were weak and infirm who had to be led or carried as they travelled from Egypt. The people of God were to live in their lives in the entirety in the service of God as an offering to him for they were his treasured possession and a holy nation. Holy meaning set apart, consecrated to God, the people of God, Israel were to be those who lived for God, set apart by him for him, they were those who would live in his service and for his glory. 


Today we who are in Christ are a treasured possession, a kingdom of priests a holy nation. The apostle Peter in 1 Peter 2 tells us that we; are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light (1 Pe 2:9). 


Now the people of God is no longer the nation of Israel but the true Israel, through Christ Jesus; and with his blood he purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation (Rev 5:9). Just as those gathered at Mount Sinai were the LORD’s treasured possession a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, that is who we are that today through faith, for we are the true Israel of God (Gal 6:6). Just as the congregation in the wilderness, we are his, a treasured possession, a kingdom of priests, a holy nation not because we are deserving of it but because in his mercy, in his covenant of grace he has by his unmerited favour chosen us to be his people.


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Q80 What is required in the tenth commandment?
A. 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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20th September 2025


Pray (ACts) 
Read (Hebrews 13v8-16, 20-24) 
Message (Scott Woodburn) 
There is something quite wonderful and yet terrifying about a new year. Wonderful because another opportunity has come for us to implement great changes in our lives. Terrifying because we have not one clue about anything that will take place over the next 365 days. 
I don't know how this devotion finds you on the last day of 2022 but I'm excited to finish the year with another look at Christ. When midnight comes may you remember that the most important things in this world have not changed one little bit. Christ is above all and Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever (v8). The fancy word for this is "immutability" which simply speaks about the unchanging nature of the Lord. He doesn't change and He cannot change for He is immutable. No matter what this new year brings we can be confident that our Saviour will be as unchangingly faithful as He has always been. 
Hold fast to such truth! It is tempting to follow "diverse and strange teachings" (v9) but may your year be grounded in the central timeless truth of Scripture. A few years ago a famous preacher made quite a noise about the colour of the moon and in this letter the Hebrews kept looking back to their Jewish roots scratching their heads about certain types of food. Brothers and sisters, may you flee from irrelevant babble and instead be strengthened by grace in 2023 zealously pursuing the meat of God's Word. 
The Christian has the privilege of worshipping at an altar which is heavenly not earthly (v10). We no longer visit the priests of the old covenant who would bring animal blood inside the holy place and then burn the animal carcass outside the camp (v11). The old covenant system was temporary and has passed away and so in 2023 may we remember that rather than being in the shadows we have the substance of God's promises in Christ. He was the one who was taken outside the city and crucified so that we might be sanctified (v12) and so may we go to Him, follow Him and willingly bear the reproach of being associated with Him (v13).    
I suspect that the passing of time causes us concern because it reminds us of the fleetingness of life and that when all is said and done none of us are the captain of our own destiny. I don't write this as a rebuke but as a simple reminder. Life is fleeting and none of us are in control, but when all is said and done that's perfectly okay. As followers of Christ we understand that we have no lasting city upon this earth (v14) and so our focus is on the heavenly city where we will dwell forever. 
2023 might be wonderful or awful. 2023 might see prayers answered or apparent silence from the heavenly realm. 2023 might be just another year or it could be our last year. No matter what comes, today we resolve to fill our new year with constant praise of our glorious God (v15) and ceaseless good works (v16). This is the fruit of lips and hands that have been transformed by Christ and this is the fruit that pleases the Lord (v16b). 
Dear brothers and sisters, I hope and pray that 2023 will be incredibly fruitful for you and yours. May the days of joy outweigh the days of sorrow. May you accept the teaching from God's Word that you will receive (v22). May your love for the saints only increase (v23-24a). May grace be with all of you (v25).  
"Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen." (v20-21) 
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Q79 Which is the tenth commandment? The tenth commandment is, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.

19th September 2025


Pray (ACts)


Read (Exodus 18:1-27 focus v13-27)


Message (Alan Burke)


The longer I’m about the more I realise just how important good church government is yet I also know that no matter how good it is with fallen sinful people it is never going to be perfect. Like if you are in an independent fellowship and something goes wrong with the leadership then you have no where to go to, maybe get an independent review of what has gone wrong but that is really up to the leadership. If you are an Anglican or a Roman Catholic if there are problems and maybe it goes up as far as the Bishop who is always right. But with Presbyterianism if you have a problem in the local church it goes to the Presbytery, then to the judicial commission if the decision of the Presbytery is appealed. At every step it is not just one person making the decisions it is a plurality of elders.


As we come to this passage we see that Presbyterian form of church governance being enacted, the only biblical form of church governance there is. Here the Lord uses Jethro a friend of God to advise his son in law Moses the leader of the congregation of God’s people should be governed. After seeing the sheer weight of what Moses was trying to undertake, how he was trying to deal with the 2 million people of God in the wilderness, dealing with all the disputes that came, while informing them of God's decrees and laws. 


Moses was to teach the decrees and laws to the people, to show them the way to live and the duties that they were to perform. At this stage while the decrees and the law was yet to be given to the people but there were portions that were already known to the people, that had been passed down and also given to Moses from the Lord himself. Moses was to teach but he was to delegate, to choose men who were qualified to do the role that he did, he was to remain as their mediator, teaching the people, but those who were qualified were to rule over the people and only in difficult cases was he himself to be involved. 


What we see in this is the Presbyterian form of church governance, Moses set aside to teach the people and to appoint those who would rule over the people. Look at the qualifications for these men that Moses was to choose, v21 …men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain. Those who fearing the LORD fear him more than this world, more than what man can throw at him or offer him. Those whom Moses is to choose must be trustworthy and hate dishonest gain. It’s doesn’t take a Phd to figure out that those whom Moses was to pick were those who could be relied upon to do the right thing, those who were trustworthy.


These are the kind of leaders we need not only in the church but in society, and I know this isn’t the trust of the passage before us but there is a sense in which we have a responsibility in whom we vote for should be likewise those of good moral stature, who don’t say one thing and then do something else, who show qualities like these and pray that God would give us leaders like this in this society. In the end Jethro departed, the Lord had used him, who had know the hope of Christ because of the household of faith and used him in the life of the congregation of faith. God cares not only about our eternal destiny but also about how his church, the bride of Christ is ordered and governed, let us seek to have those who fear the Lord, who are trustworthy, who hate dishonest gain to rule over us and submit to their rule in Christ.


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q78 What is forbidden in the ninth commandment?
A. The ninth commandment forbiddeth whatsoever is prejudicial to truth, or injurious to our own or our neighbours good name.
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