The Bible

Feb 2, 2025

This evening at our Little Big Church service we discovered some facts about the Bible through a treasure hunt, including the fact that the word itself means ‘books’ and that there are actually 66 books in the Bible (39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New.) We learned a song to help us remember all 66 books in order and talked about the importance of daily Bible reading (this applies to adults as well as children!)

Routines are so important in our lives, and just as we make time to brush our teeth, wash, eat and get dressed every day, so we must make time to read God’s word and allow its light to guide us in all we do. It doesn’t matter so much when we do this (though to do so in the morning allows each day to start with God!) as that we do it. The Bible can seem confusing and intimidating at times, but if we use a Bible reading plan (such as the Bible In One Year plan by Nicky and Pippa Gumbel) or Bible reading notes (such as ‘Daily Bread’ or ‘Every Day With Jesus’), this can help us to tackle ALL the Bible, and not just the parts we like!

Finding a Bible version we understand is easier than ever before (after all, most of us do not know Hebrew or Greek and cannot read the Bible in its original languages, so it’s essential we find a version we can understand.) We can read the Bible on our phones or listen to audio Bibles if we find reading difficult. Whatever method we use, it’s essential to hide God’s word in our hearts so that we do not sin (Ps 119:11) and can live the way God wants us to.

 

Christian Discipleship

Feb 2, 2025

Garry spoke this morning on discipleship as he continued looking at Paul’s prayer in Colossians 1:9-14. Discipleship is a form of apprenticeship, where an inexperienced person works alongside one who is more experienced in a trade. Knowledge and experience are both imparted in this form of learning, which Jesus modelled for us with His disciples, who watched Him, followed Him, learned from Him and were then sent out by themselves (see Mark 6:1-13)
The model for Christian discipleship is thus:
1. come and listen
2. work alongside
3. go and do
We must not simply do things because we have been told to, but must be able to adapt what we know to different situations. We must learn principles so that we can adapt to new circumstances (e.g. how to cope with ‘modern’ problems of Islam and immigration, neither situation being ones we find in the Bible.) We need the guidance of the Holy Spirit who will teach and remind us of all truth (John 14:26). Often, we need reminding or to have memorials (see Josh 4:4-7) so that we do not forget what we have learned (Gal 3:1-4).If we do not remain rooted in truth, we will drift from the truth.
People can be a great encouragement to us in our discipleship, with an older Christian often mentoring a younger one (see Paul and Timothy.) As we continue with Christ, we grow in our discipleship and know God’s will through godly wisdom and understanding, journeying together and helping each other on the way.

PUSH!

Jan 31, 2025

The cry of the woman in labour is one of pain. She waits for the midwife to give the command to ‘push.’ Labour can be swift or can take hours, but when the time to push comes, birth is not far away.
There is an acronym based on the word ‘push’ which Christians need to learn: Pray Until Something Happens. Many of us give up during the travail of spiritual labour. We do not keep on praying and persevering until we see the promises of God fulfilled. We give up, discouraged, because there is nothing to be seen, no visible evidence of God working.
In 1 Kings 18, Elijah is told by God that after three years of drought, the rain will come. (1 Kings 18:1) 1 Kings 18 is a long chapter. First of all, we hear the command for Elijah to go to the king Ahab (who wants to kill him). We see Elijah meeting his fellow prophet, Obadiah – a reminder to us that there were other faithful believers in Israel, that Elijah is not on his own. We see the mighty confrontation between Elijah and the false prophets of Baal, that tremendous display of God’s power on Mount Carmel which definitively demonstrates to all God’s sovereignty and omnipotence. But still there’s no sign of rain.
Elijah tells Ahab to ‘go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.’ (1 Kings 18;41) But actually, only Elijah hears this sound. There is no sign of rain. Elijah is living by faith, not by sight. (2 Cor 5:7)
Elijah stays on Mount Carmel, climbing to the top, bending down to the ground, with his face between his knees. (1 Kings 18:43) Elijah is praying. He is wholly dependent on God doing what He has promised. He cannot bring rain; only God can.
He tells his servant to go and look toward the sea. The servant goes. He returns. “There is nothing there,” he says.
This is now the labour of prayer. Will Elijah hold on to God when there is no visible sign of the rain He has promised? Elijah has seen miracles that day, but there is still no rain.
Seven times Elijah sends his servant back to look while he remains in prayer. Six times he hears the words, “There is nothing there.” How easy it would have been to give up at this point. Maybe he had got it wrong. Maybe this wasn’t the moment. Hadn’t he achieved enough good for one day? Surely he was entitled to stop now!
But Elijah persevered. On the seventh occasion, the servant returns with a different report: ” A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.” (1 Kings 18:44)
The signs are there now. Elijah has the assurance of God’s word and despite the discouragement of an ongoing drought, despite the apparent lack of results after praying for rain, he has persevered in prayer and is rewarded by the arrival of black clouds, wind and a heavy rain. (1 Kings 18:45) God brings the rain He has promised.
James tells us that Elijah was a human just like us. He was a man who knew how to persevere in prayer, and who therefore saw God’s word fulfilled and miracles happen. He was a man who learned to PUSH in prayer. ‘The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective’, James says. (James 5:17) Don’t give up. Keep pushing in prayer until God’s word is fulfilled and the results are there to be seen. Don’t allow the apparent lack of results to deter you. Learn to hold on to God and be inspired by Elijah’s example. Bow down and pray earnestly until spiritual life and new birth occur. Don’t give up.

Pilgrims

Jan 26, 2025

Tonight we looked at Psalm 84 and our identity as pilgrims. Last time we looked at the fact that we are blessed (a fact reinforced in Ps 84:4, 5, 12); for the psalmist, being blessed means being in God’s presence, dwelling in His house.

A pilgrim (a traveller who undertakes a pilgrimage, a journey to a special place associated with God) is someone who is keen to encounter (and be changed by) God. To this day, special places are associated with pilgrimages (e.g. Walsingham and Lindisfarne in the UK, Lourdes and Santiago di Compostela in Europe); in the USA, the Pilgrim Fathers were those who left Europe to make a fresh start in a new country and who thanked God for their safe arrival and first harvest (resulting in the annual Thanksgiving celebrations at the end of November.) The Bible often describes life as a journey: from Abram’s first journey from Ur and the nomadic lifestyle he adopted to the Magi who followed the star to find the One born king of the Jews (Matt 2:1-12). Peter describes us as ‘foreigners and exiles’ (1 Pet 2:11); there is a sense in which we are all journeying, but our ultimate destination is the presence of God which we will only fully experience in heaven (see Heb 11:13-16, Rev 21:3-4). Whilst on earth, we experience the ‘now and the not yet’, a sense of yearning for true fulfilment (see 2 Cor 4:16-18, 2 Cor 5:1-5) which will only be found in future glory.

Pilgrims are people who are looking up, whose minds are set on things above, whose eyes are fixed on Jesus. (Heb 12:1-3, Col 3:1-4) Pilgrims are those who know that this present world, with all its corruption, trials and troubles, cannot compare to the glory that awaits us when we are finally with God. The journey on a pilgrimage can be hard-going; there can be enemies around; the weather isn’t always favourable; the terrain can be rough. But the Lord God is a sun and shield; He bestows favour and honour – blessing! He is not a mean God, but is lavishly generous. No wonder the psalmist concludes that ‘blessed is the one who trusts in You.’ (Ps 84:12)

As Phil Wickham puts it in his song ‘Children of God’, we are ‘pilgrims/ on a journey to reach our home.’ We may not be there yet, but as we pass through the Valley of Baka, we can make it a place of springs; we can go from strength to strength, for God goes with us every step of the way.

 

The Other Side of Christmas

Jan 26, 2025

This morning Dave spoke on ‘the other side of Christmas.’ Christmas is often perceived as being sweet and familiar, but in Matt 2:16-18, we read of Herod’s murderous intentions towards the Messiah and see that the arrival of Jesus was not welcomed by all.
Herod was a cruel and bloodthirsty king who killed his wife and sons – his solution to any kind of opposition was murder. When the wise men aarrived, he feigned devotion but actually took steps to murder all boys aged two and under. Jesus was born into a world that did not value the sanctity of human life, into a world of suffering and death. He was born into the real world, the world we too have to navigate. We may prefer a saccharine view of the world, but the gospel is the story we need in our sorrow, in our failure, in our suffering and in our death.
The death of these babies (the ‘slaughter of the Innocents’, as it is known) vividly foreshadows the violence which Jesus would face in His lifetime and which God surrendered Him to. We follow in Christ’s footsteps and have to show a real God to a real world.

Escalating Violence

Jan 23, 2025

2 Samuel 13 is as painful a chapter to read as 2 Samuel 11. In this chapter, we see the rape of David’s daughter, Tamar, by her half-brother, Amnon, and the murder of Amnon by his half-brother, Absalom, in revenge for this crime. We see others failing to stop these crimes (especially Jonadab, an advisor and relative who ought to have known better) and even David choosing the way of silence and passivity rather than confronting (and disciplining) his wayward sons. There is little here to cheer us, though there is much to learn about human nature and the destructive nature of sin. In the light of current discussions in the UK about grooming gangs and the destruction of innocent lives, we see that there is nothing new under the sun and that the sinfulness of the human heart is the root cause of so much distress in our world.

Amnon mistakes lust for love, as many do in our society. Though incest was forbidden by God’s law, he connived with others to sleep with his half-sister, Tamar, and resorted to rape when she refused to comply. He took her virginity and destroyed her reputation, and then cast her aside, revealing a capacity for hate that bore no resemblance to the true definition of love (1 Cor 13:4-8).

The men who should have protected Tamar, including her brother Absalom and father David, said and did nothing for two years, and then Absalom, fuelled by hatred rather than seeking proper justice, took his revenge and killed Amnon. The consequences of David’s adultery and murder reverberate through this chapter, and at the end of it, we see Absalom estranged and still no justice for Tamar. It is humbling to read this tragic narrative; we shake our heads at the behaviour of so many.

Paul tells us that all Scripture is God-breathed and has things to teach us. (Heb 4:12, 2 Tim 3:16-17, 1 Cor 10:1-13) Jesus spoke to us about the fact that sin starts with our thoughts and heart attitudes (see Matt 5:21-30, Matt 12:33-36), long before our actions reveal the state of our hearts. This chapter reminds us that sin must be dealt with ruthlessly as soon as we become aware of it, so that it does not have the opportunity to grow and damage others. It reminds us that confrontation and discipline are necessary to train us in the paths of righteousness. Most of all, it should drive us to God in humility and prayer, for we can only overcome through the blood of Christ. In our own strength, we all succumb to the temptations and lures of sin, but in Him, there is power to overcome.