Mark spoke from 2 Tim 3:16-4:5 this morning, looking at Paul’s encouragement to Timothy. Chapter 3 ends with probably the Bible’s most comprehensive description of itself: “all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that all God’s people may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim 3:16-17). It is ‘the product of God’s creative breath’ and it enables us to be equipped for every task God calls us to do (even when we personally feel ill-equipped to do those tasks!)

Paul encourages Timothy to preach the Word – to be a herald, a proclaimer, to communicate and make clear through public announcement all that God has done. Even if we don’t feel up to the task, God has entrusted us with the mission of making His word known to people – to convince them, showing them their need, to teach them that sin separates us from God but also to encourage them that Christ has made the way for us to be reconciled to God. We are to preach this word with great patience, for it can take years to have an impact on people, but we have to leave the timing with God!

Many people don’t particularly want to hear about God or to hear sound doctrine. We have to be ready and willing to talk about God, being watchful (listening to God), putting up with affliction, doing the work of an evangelist (even if we don’t feel particularly ‘called’ to it!) and discharging all the duties of our ministries. We all have different roles in ministry and God may well call us to do things we’d rather not do. God is able to work all things together for good, however, and it is good to develop an attitude of faithful submission and a willingness to serve in whatever ways we can.

This is now the notice board!

This evening (18th March) will be a dedication service as well as a service for Mothering Sunday. Come along at 6 p.m.

We are holding some special services over Easter. On Saturday 31st March we will be hosting a community day from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Along with our usual coffee morning, we will be running children’s activities along with competitions, so do keep that date free. In the evening at 6 p.m., we will also be hosting a family film night with food – suitable for everyone!

Further details will be available shortly.

Sometimes it feels like it’s difficult to assess what is real and what is not. Our senses are not always the most reliable guide to truth. In his fantasy novel, ‘Chainfire’, Terry Goodkind explores this theme. The hero, Richard Rahl (the ruler of the D’Haran Empire), is injured in battle and treated by a sorceress who uses ‘subtractive magic’ to heal him. When he awakens, his wife (Kahlan, the Mother Confessor), is missing and no one seems to have any recollection of her. In fact, his memories of her are called ‘dreams and delusions’ by everyone else and they treat him as though he were mentally ill. It is a constant battle for him to hold on to the truth of all he knows of his life prior to this battle…

Sometimes it can be hard to hold on to the truth we know and believe. Kutless, in their song, ‘Even If’, say:
“Sometimes all we have to hold on to
is what we know is true of who You are
So when the heartache hits like a hurricane
That could never change who You are
And we trust in who You are.” (Kutless, ‘Even If’)

When we are praying for miracles and looking to see God move in our lives, and circumstances seem to be lining up against us, so that at times we even doubt who we are and who God is, we have to hold on to those basic, fundamental truths of who God is. We may not be able to reconcile what is happening with what we know of God’s character, (“Lord we know your ways are not our ways/ So we set our faith in who You are”), but we cling on to the truths of God’s character:

“Even if the healing doesn’t come
And life falls apart
And dreams are still undone,
You are God, You are good
Forever faithful One,
Even if the healing
Even if the healing doesn’t come.

You’re still the Great and Mighty One
We trust You always
You’re working all things for our good
We’ll sing your praise.” (Kutless, ‘Even If’)

(Song starts at 4:10)

Last week during the Bible study on Romans 15, Garry asked us the question ‘what is the point of preaching?’ We debated this for some time and I have been thinking about it ever since.

Last night I was reading a book on the life of David and I found this quote:
“This is what preachers are for, to bring us into focus in the story. The art of preaching is to somehow or other get around our third-person defences and compel a second-person recognition, which enables a first-person response.” (Eugene Peterson, ‘Leap Over A Wall’, P 185)

As a language teacher, this delighted me. I know all about third-person narratives (when we talk about he/ she, someone else) and second-person statements and questions (you) and first-person answers (I/ we). I’m always banging on about making verb endings match the person who is doing the action of the verb! And in the life of David, we hit the point where he sins drastically with Bathsheba and Uriah and it is left to Nathan the prophet and preacher to tell an apparently innocuous story which will awaken the king to his sin.

In 2 Samuel 12, we read that the Lord sent Nathan to David. David has been doing a lot of sending, sending for Bathsheba, sending for Uriah, sending conniving messages to Joab. Now it’s God’s turn to send a faithful preacher to the King. Nathan tells a story about a rich man who steals a poor man’s lamb. The story is in the third-person. It apparently has nothing to do with David’s situation and David’s defences are not up. He can see the unrighteousness in the story quite plainly and is angry with the man for taking advantage of the poor in this way.

It’s all very well to be angry about sin in general. But Nathan moves the narrative to the second-person by bluntly saying “You are the man!” (2 Sam 12:7). And David is moved to that moment of recognition. The rich man’s behaviour is exactly the same as his own behaviour. He is then moved to a first-person response: “I have sinned against the LORD.” (2 Sam 12:13)

That sums up the point of preaching. The seemingly unrelated and unconnected stories of Scripture are told to us in such a way that we relate to them, seeing the injustice, understanding the heartaches. And before we can rest on the impersonal responses of sympathy or self-righteousness, the preacher moves to the second-person and we realise we are not simply spectators; we are participants in this story. And we are moved to a first-person response. We too need to repent. We too can receive mercy and grace. We are involved.

Steve Davies preached from Is 52:1-10 last night. At this point in Israel’s history, God’s people were suffering from discouragement and a sense of worthlessness. They were defiled (v1), enslaved (v2), sold (v3, oppressed (by Egypt, Assyria and Babylon at various points in their history v4) and mocked (v5).

God promises deliverance to His people. His grace goes deeper still than any sense of worthlessness we may have. He wants to lift us up and treats us as a royal priesthood. Zion’s salvation, though, was never meant to be an exclusive experience, however, but was to be of benefit for the whole earth.

The good news of all that God has done for His people needs to be taken to all: “how beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!'” (Is 52:7) Philip, when meeting the Ethiopian eunuch, asked if he understood what he was reading, but the Ethiopian replied, “How can I, unless someone explains it to me?” (Acts 8:31) Paul asks a similar question in Romans 10:

We can have the joy of being the ‘someone’ whom God uses! Our mission field may not be overseas, but He wants us all to be faithful to Him wherever we are, serving Him with all we have and are.

We also had a birthday to celebrate:

… and cake to eat!

You can keep up to date with Steve and Katuska by clicking on the blog link to the right.

Steve Davies, a missionary with One Mission Society who has been working in Ecuador but who hopes to go out to teach in a Bible college in Mozambique from July, was involved in the evening service last night. He spoke from Is 52:1-10 and Romans 10 about the call to mission and the need for us all to respond to that call, but he also spoke about how God is the one who restores and delivers His people and how he and his family came to be where they are today.

Steve’s wife, Katuska, is from Ecuador:

Steve himself is from Coventry:

They met while at Bible college (which was originally in Berwick-on-Tweed, but which then moved to Glasgow):

They now have three children: Samuel, Benjamin & Joseph.

They were involved in teaching at a Bible college in Ecuador, where they had the joy of seeing people come to the Lord:

Their next goal is Mozambique:

They will be involved in church planting:

They will also be involved in theological education and discipleship at the Maputo Bible Seminary:

Steve and Katuska work with OMS (One Mission Society) and are looking to raise support to leave for Mozambique this July. They need both prayer support and financial support. God is the One who calls us, equips us and provides for us, but it’s important to remember that we can all be a part of His work as we serve Him in whatever ways we can!