Our activity tonight involved questions about the heart. For the adults, we had to label a diagram of the heart, which revealed our woeful lack of knowledge of basic human anatomy… (The answers are below… I have to say this activity reminded me of Mitch Benn’s clever song on love entitled ‘The Chambers of the Heart’, with its memorable lines:

‘You can tussle with corpuscles

When the tricuspid valve’s dilated

And I don’t think I’ve ever felt so high

As when I’m fully oxygenated…’)

Simple Human Heart Diagram Labeled Labelled Heart Diagram Picture Of The Human Heart Labeled – Human – Anatomy Body Library

The children, while blindfolded, had to stick a heart onto Stephen (a new version of ‘Pin the Tail on the Donkey’, perhaps!)

Jeanette spoke at the end of the meeting about how faith is rather like the heart, a muscle that needs to be exercised. David faced many frightening situations in life (Saul’s persecution of him, the Philistines as enemies and so on), but he learned to trust God when afraid (Ps 56:2-3), to hide in the shadow of God’s wings (Ps 57:1) and to depend on God’s deliverance at all times (see Ps 18). He had to take refuge in caves at times and faced many troubles in life, but his faith did not falter. We too can be like David, allowing every situation to draw us into a greater dependence on God, learning that His grace is sufficient for us at all times, for His power is made perfect in our weakness. (2 Cor 12:9)

Dave spoke on King David, described by God in Acts 13:22 as ‘a man after my own heart.’ David is one of the best known and best loved of all Bible characters, with his victory against the giant Goliath known even by non-Christians. As a psalmist and king, David’s influence on Israel was great, but the Bible is clear in showing us his faults, sins and shortcomings as well as his victories. David can teach us much about faith, obedience, repentance, worship and trust, and it is significant that God’s own testimony about David is so positive.

Saul, Israel’s first king, was chosen because the people wanted to be like the other nations. Samuel warned against a king, and Saul, although outwardly fitting the part of a handsome, strong king, soon showed himself to be jealous, someone who overstepped his boundaries and whose disobedience was significant to a nation for whom God was the primary ruler. David was chosen as Saul’s successor: an unlikely candidate, the youngest son of Jesse, but it is significant that even at this stage, God comments on the fact He is not swayed by outward appearances but looks at the heart. (1 Sam 17:7) Whilst we do not always understand God’s reasons for doing things, we can see in the choice of David as king:

1. God’s sovereign providence (He works behind the scenes to see His plans fulfilled)
2. God’s sovereign planning (clearly directing the prophet Samuel to choose David, and His hand in David’s lineage, with both Rahab and Ruth, pagan women drawn into God’s story as his ancestors)
3. God’s sovereign power (He not only has plans and dreams, but has the power to fulfil these!)

In David, we see a man who:

1. had a true and genuine faith (see, for example, his words in 1 Sam 17:34-37, when he speaks of all God has taught him, even as a young man)
2. knew how to be truly grateful to God for His many blessings (his psalms are often evidence of this gratitude.)
3. knew how to repent (he failed in many aspects of life, committing adultery, murder and lying, but when confronted, he confessed and repented, Psalm 51 showing us the depth of his sorrow.)
4. sought to live an authentic, transparent life before God, often asking God to test him and examine his heart and mind (see Ps 26:2, for example).

David is portrayed as one who was faithful, thankful, truthful, trusting and transparent. He was a man who learned to live in dependence on God, being fully aware that he was chosen by God and loved by God. We do well to pray as he did, asking God to create in us a pure heart and renew a steadfast spirit within us.

Stephen spoke this morning from 2 Samuel 12:7-9, when the prophet Nathan confronts King David about his adultery with Bathsheba and murder of Uriah the Hittite. When we are separated from God due to sin, we are not in a good place. Sin acts as an obstruction between us and God, but unfortunately, we are all too adept at hiding our sin. David thought no one knew about his sins, but just as in a game of football, when the referee blows the whistle and the game has to stop, so Nathan acted as God’s referee in this situation, confronting David and leading him to repentance.

We often need God to blow the whistle in our lives, to stop our hiding and prevaricating and to face the sin which causes separation and distress. So often, we carry on with our lives, going about our daily business as if nothing has happened, but sin and our indifference to sin mean our relationship with God is tainted. When the whistle is blown, we are brought face to face with the God who knows all we do and from whom we can keep no secrets. We need to stop living divided lives and to face up to our sin.

David confessed his sin, repented and as a result experienced God’s forgiveness. There were consequences for his sin (the death of the child conceived in adultery and subsequent difficulties in family relationships), but the relationship between David and God was restored.

God does not want any wedge, any sin, any problem to disrupt our relationship with Him. He blows the whistle on sin so that we can confess, repent and rebuild, regaining the joy of unbroken relationship with Him. It can be very hard and painful to be confronted, for confrontation is painful, and we often run from the truth. Nonetheless, if we heed the word of the Lord to us, we can rededicate our lives to  God. God is waiting for that prayer of repentance (see Ps 51); He is waiting for us to come home to Him. He is the Father waiting for the prodigal son to return. We may well feel guilty and ashamed of our sin, as if our hands are dirty and we are unworthy to be forgiven (‘How Can It Be?’ by Lauren Daigle perfectly captures this feeling); we may feel we don’t know how to put things right, but God is our hope, the only solution to our sin. All He requires is our confession and repentance for restoration to come.

Many apologies for not getting these birthday photos online earlier. It has taken a while to unearth all our computer accessories after the recent refurbishment work at home!

There have been a number of incidents of vandalism near the church building over recent weeks, including the theft of the new cigarette bins, damage to a cigarette bin, damage to the notice board and incidents involving cars. We are investigating the installation of CCTV cameras to help protect the area, but would ask all parking in the vicinity to take care at the present time and to report all incidents to us and to the police (by calling 101). We may need to organise a rota for supervision of the car park during Sunday evening meetings and it would be helpful to know if any men would be willing to do this. Please also pray about this situation, for God’s protection on the building and on our property and for His intervention in the lives of those set to disrupt and cause criminal damage to property.

On a more positive note, we are organsing a church outing to Scarborough on Saturday 9th June. A £5 deposit is needed to secure your place on the trip, which will be refunded on the day to help buy your lunch! We will be organising a coach to take us there, so please sign the list at church if you would like to come along with us for this day out. We will be leaving about 9 a.m. and departing from Scarborough about 5 p.m.

We are very sorry to announce the cancellation of meetings planned for Friday 2 March because of the weather. There will be no Parent & Toddler group this morning and the Women’s World Day of Prayer, scheduled for 2 p.m. this afternoon, will be cancelled also.

It has been a strange week in the UK because of the weather, and although our area has not suffered as much as some regions, we are very aware that roads are still very icy and a lot of the people who would have attended today are either very young or quite elderly, increasing the risk of slipping and falling.

We hope to be open as usual tomorrow for the coffee morning and that Sunday services will be unaffected.

The children’s event being held at Houghton Road Centre in Thurnscoe on Saturday 3rd March with former CBBC presenter Gemma Hunt is currently still due to be held as scheduled, but please keep an eye on social media for updates about this event. This is a ticketed event starting at 2 p.m. aimed at young children.

Please continue to pray for services and for people’s safety during these adverse weather conditions.