Steve and Katuska Davies, missionaries we support in Mozambique, have sent an update for us:

‘Katuska and the boys are doing well.  Home school occupies the mornings, then the boys tend to read, play, fight, bake cookies, ride bikes… we get them out of the house somehow, except on the hottest of days when everyone is too exhausted to move.  We’ve even made iced tea, I’m ashamed to say.

January, for me, is the quiet hour before the dawn landings.  The seminary will get under way in the second week of February.  But this time I’ve had some enforced rest, as I’m part way through a bout of malaria and pneumonia, and not sure yet if it’s over.

In your prayers please remember:  our health; new students for the seminary; variety and interest in the boys’ lives; the need for social life and friends outside our compound!’

Please continue to pray for this family and for the Bible college where they work. You can view photos here.

Dave spoke from Josh 3:1-4 last night, looking especially at verse 4: ‘you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before.’ The people of God had been travelling for 40 years in the wilderness, journeying to the Promised Land, and essentially (because of rebellion and unbelief), they had wandered around the same area for a very long time. Now it was time for them to cross the River Jordan, and this was very unfamiliar territory indeed.

For us, a new year represents new territory to be explored, and for most of us, the unfamiliar evokes apprehension and even fear. Few of us actively welcome change! Yet God knows the path ahead of each one of us and will direct and lead us in the way we should go. The Israelites had spent many years not trusting God, and distrust dishonours the God of all faithfulness. ‘The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith,’ George Mueller said. In order for us to overcome our fear of the unknown, we have to:

1. Seek the Word of God

Josh 1:8 reminds us of the key to Joshua’s success. If we want to be blessed by God even through whatever trials 2015 may bring, we have to get into the word of God every day, for His wisdom and guidance are found in His book. God comes into our situations as we read His word and leads the way for us to follow.

2. Look to the ark of God (God’s presence)

The Israelites moved at God’s command, when the ark of the covenant (symbol of God’s presence) moved. The ark was situated in the middle of all the tribes and was the signal for the Israelites to follow. The presence of God is vital for our ongoing journey. We need to keep our eyes firmly fixed on Jesus. We are His followers; He needs to lead the way.

The generation of Israelites about to enter the Promised Land had not (with the exception of Caleb and Joshua) seen the miracles which had led to their deliverance from Egypt. They trembled as they saw this unpassable river. Faith was required to cross the river, and faith and trust will be required for every trial and difficulty we face this year. God’s providence has brought us far over the years, but we cannot rely on our past experience for new trials. This year’s unknown path is not unknown to God, however, for He exists where there is no yesterday or tomorrow, simply an ever-present now.

1 Cor 10:13 reminds us that our experiences may be new to us, but they are not new to God’s people. Caleb and Joshua had seen the Red Sea part; they would see the River Jordan part as well. Others have gone through experiences similar to ours and we find encouragement in Scripture to deal with situations and also to know that God will not give us more than we can bear. God’s faithfulness remains constant, even when we face unfamiliar paths. He is with us throughout every test and trial and will lead us into the future, therefore we can have confidence – not in ourselves, but in Him!

Mark’s continuing saga of Joseph’s life and dreams looked at Gen 43:15-44:17 this morning. At this point in the story, Joseph’s dreams seem to be coming true as his brothers do bow down to him, as ruler of Egypt. The true fulfilment is not yet complete, however, as they are still unaware of his identity.

For the brothers, this scenario of returning to Egypt after Simeon has been taken hostage is fraught with danger. They are worried that the unexpectedly returned silver will cause problems when they return, but the severity of the famine at home has left them no further options. Their relief at not being punished for this soon turned to bewilderment, however, as they are invited to dine with Joseph and then seated in age order. They must have wondered how he could have known this and what it meant. For our part, we see that Joseph is greatly moved by the sight of his youngest brother (and gives him extra food!), but still did not reveal his identity to him. Was this due to stubbornness or some sense of wanting payback on his brothers? It is not clear, but at this point, Benjamin has gone from famine to feast and is revelling in the unexpected blessing. God’s grace is such that at times we receive His blessing and are simply commanded to ‘enjoy’!

All does not go well, however, for Joseph lays an elaborate plan to incriminate Benjamin for the theft of a silver cup. This cup was clearly valuable, being made of silver, but its significance seems also connected with divination (something which was forbidden ultimately to God’s people, as Deut 18:9-14 makes clear.) It is not clear if Joseph, whose ability to interpret dreams is clearly ascribed to God in other parts of this story, was actually involved in divination (the process of foretelling the future from the patterns made in liquids in a goblet, rather like ‘reading tea leaves’ today), but certainly after having lived in Egypt for thirty years or so, there was a danger that he had absorbed Egyptian practices and assimilated them into his own behaviour. We have to be very careful what we get involved with on our journey through life. There are things that are acceptable in our culture nowadays which are plainly not acceptable to God, and we need to constantly keep His word before us so that we can remain set apart and holy, a distinct people living for His glory and not by the world’s standards. (1 Pet 1:13-14) Practices which involve the occult, such as horoscopes, seances, visiting mediums to have our futures foretold or contacting the dead are all common nowadays but are part of the culture we should shun as Christians.

Joseph is never presented to us as perfect, however. Whatever mistakes he may have made – and we cannot be sure of his motivation for the delay in revealing his identity to his family – God was able to bring the dream to reality. He is the One who finishes what He starts and who is not daunted or surprised (or ultimately hindered) by our mistakes and failures.

The brothers responded to the accusation of theft with whole-hearted protests of innocence. Imagine their shock and fear when the silver cup is found in Benjamin’s sack! Their promises to have the guilty person killed and the rest of them committed to slavery must have sickened their stomachs as they considered the future. If nothing else, their response reminds us that where words are frequent, sin is often not absent! (Prov 10:19) It is clear from their response that they felt the guilt of their previous actions keenly, even if they were not actually responsible for this current predicament. (see Gen 44:15-16) Admission of guilt is actually the first step towards forgiveness, and maybe Joseph was attempting to see if they would acknowledge their guilt. Confession of sins brings forgiveness and fulfilment (see Ps 32:1-5), and the stage is set for the final reconciliation planned by God…

The ‘Churches Together’ meeting at Furlong Road Methodist Church tonight looked at the topic of Christian unity. We had the fun of making a fruit salad, full of different fruits:

Everyone then added orange segments:

The point of the activity (apart from providing us with a lovely dessert to eat at the end of the meeting!) was to remind us how each church is different (just as the fruits were different), but the combination of churches is vital to unity and that diversity and unity can go hand in hand:

After readings from John 17, Karen (from the Methodist Church) spoke about unity, showing us how there is strength in numbers (Brenda could tear up the individual paper or newspaper, but couldn’t manage to tear the phone book!)

Being united is important, since it shows the power of God’s love. Karen looked at the word ‘unity’, splitting it into the words below and spoke about how unity nourishes us and allows each individual  and each church to contribute our giftings and abilities, how being together enables us to be stronger than we would be on our own and how God uses us all. We have to come just as we are, with our strengths and weaknesses, knowing that we are all accepted and useful in His kingdom.

Many thanks to all who attended (especially given the sleet and cold!) and to the ladies at Furlong Road for providing lovely refreshments after the meeting.

Further details of ‘Churches Together’ meetings will be forthcoming soon, but don’t forget the Women’s World Day of Prayer which will be on Friday 6th March at St Peter’s Church in Barnburgh.

For those of you who have followed the saga of our chilli-growing experiences over the past fifteen months or so, you may be wondering how things are going after our summer batch of chillies.

The tops of the chilli plants (where all the growing activity has been located up till now) look forlorn and rather sad. For weeks we assumed this was the end of the chillies and wondered if they would need pruning back and would then grow again next year, or if that was the end of the story. Then, just before Christmas, we noticed new signs of life lower down the plants:

New shoots are appearing; on Mummy Plant there is even a new flower lower down, so life is clearly ongoing. One area may not be yielding fruit any more, but the plant is clearly still thriving and the cycle of life and growth is ongoing. Even Runty, our little feeble plant, is still growing!

For us, this is a parable of growth. Periods of apparent stagnation, where nothing visible is happening, are deceptive. New life bursts forth when we least expect it. We are reminded of Is 43:19: ‘See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.‘

Don’t despair if you can’t see growth in your own life or in those for whom you are earnestly praying. New shoots will appear in God’s timing as you nurture godly habits and continue in God’s teaching.

In what must be a record for our church, we not only completed a whole chapter in the Bible study in one week, but a whole book! Admittedly that book was 2 John, which is one of the shortest letters in the New Testament, but even so, there was a real sense of achievement in the group tonight!

2 John contains many of the themes expounded at much greater length in 1 John: truth, abiding in Christ, acknowledging the humanity and deity of Jesus, belief in God the Father and in Jesus His Son, obedience to God’s commandments and the supreme importance of love. It too was written to counter heretical teaching (those who seek to deceive and are antichrists), to the extent that John warns the Christians not to show hospitality to those who teach false doctrine. He is at pains to remind us of the grace, mercy and peace which are found in God the Father and Jesus Christ and to show us that truth and love are not mutually incompatible, but necessarily go together. ‘Abiding in the truth is essential to maintaining brotherly love,‘ Dr Thomas Constable says, and certainly John warns us against those who would run ahead of God, claiming superior spiritual insight that goes beyond  historical, biblical truths. John Stott, commenting on these verses, writes “Christian faith is rooted in the historical events of the incarnation and the atonement, the revelation and redemption that were finished in Christ. To advance beyond Christ is not progress, but apostasy.” (The Epistles of John, P 211-212) We must seek to communicate truth in as relevant a way as possible to today’s society, but we must never compromise the truth – scandalous though the cross continues to be – in order to be more ‘relevant’ or to assume that we have ‘progressed’ beyond truth.

Heretics love to claim special insight, an insider knowledge which renders faith and obedience redundant. Marshall says “When the teaching of the Bible needs to be supplemented by some ‘key’ to the Bible or by some new revelation, it is a sure sign that ‘advanced’ doctrine is being put forth.”  We need to walk with God, continuing in His teaching, not lagging behind or running ahead if we are to live as God decrees.

John’s tone throughout the letter is one of affection and concern for the church. He asks them to follow God’s commands, rather than commanding them (see also 1 Thess 4:1, 1 Thess 5:12), even though his authority as ‘the elder’ was unquestioned. Christian leadership will always follow the principles of humility and service rather than dictatorship or authoritarian diktat. God calls us to relationship, with Him and with each other, and the concern John feels is rooted in that relationship. He longs to see them face to face (literally, ‘mouth to mouth’) so that their joy may be complete. Face-to-face communication allows misunderstandings to be resolved quickly, tone of voice to be understood immediately and relationships to be deepened. How we long for that face-to-face meeting with our Saviour! (1 Cor 13:12)