Talking Point – Islam
Garry’s latest ‘Talking Point’ sermon looked at the subject of Islam. Headlines appear almost daily in the newspapers informing us of terrorist atrocities committed by radical Muslims, and it is undoubtedly true that violent jihad is a constant of Islamic history, the theology of which is given by some as a justification for terrorism. Many Muslims in the Middle East and Asia see Westerners as selfish, immoral and greedy, with America viewed as the ‘great Satan‘, and the radicalisation of British Muslims is of great concern to people at the moment. However, it would be naive to view terrorist organisations such as Al Qaeda, ISIS and Boko Haram as representative of all Muslims; one website refutes the tactics of ISIS, saying ‘as British Muslims, we utterly condemn ISIS who are abusing the name of Islam with their acts of terrorism. We call on fellow British Muslims to unite and denounce this evil group and their acts.’
For many years, the only way for Christians to reach Muslims with the gospel was through ‘tentmaking’ ministries in Middle Eastern, North African and Asian countries, using mail, radio and personal contact as evangelistic means. Now, with many Muslims in this country, the opportunities for witness are enormous and the headlines which rarely feature in newspapers tell of massive numbers of Muslims converting to Christ all around the world. David Garrison, whose book ‘A Wind In The House of Islam’ recounts tales of revival in the Muslim world over the past two decades, writes of a time of spiritual breakthrough, with centuries of drought in terms of Muslim communities turning to Christ coming to an end. Many Muslims testify that ‘we didn’t have salvation in Islam… but we have found assurance of salvation in the person of Jesus Christ.’ (see here for further details.) There are also many testimonies of Muslims coming to faith in Christ through miraculous visions and dreams.
Christians may fear Islam, and certainly many Christians in Islamic countries suffer persecution for their faith, especially those who have converted from Islam. 1 Pet 2:22-23 reminds us that suffering for Christ’s sake is part of the gospel call and we are called to love even those we may perceive as enemies (see Luke 6:26-29). Ultimately, we must love Muslims, for God loves them; we cannot impose our views on them, but must propose a radically different worldview which reflects Christ’s spirit of love. The spiritual breakthrough seen by so many is the result of much prayer (see ‘Pray30Days‘, for example) and God calls us to pray and intercede for people (for more information about this, see organisations such as Arab World Ministries and Open Doors.)
Rev 12:10-12 reminds us that we overcome through the word of our testimony and the blood of the Lamb. This may seem to be a time of great instability, uncertainty and suffering, but the devil knows his time is short and, in the words of Bill Brown, ‘the beautiful truth is that the history of the faith is filled with those who once spoke violently against Christ and then, overwhelmed by grace, embraced Him as Savior.’ (quoted in an article here.) We need not fear, but should be motivated to pray that Muslims embrace Christ as Saviour, for He alone is the Way, the Truth and the Life. (John 14:6)
The Best Treasure
At Cherry Tree Court this morning, Dave spoke from Matt 13:44-46, looking at two short parables describing the treasure that we find in God and in His kingdom. The farmer found something valuable by accident; the gemmologist something valuable through searching, but either way, finding Christ is the most wonderful thing which can happen to us. Nothing else compares to the treasure we find in Jesus. Paul reminds us (Phil 3:8) that everything else is to be counted loss; he is a model for us to copy because his entire focus was on the joy of knowing Jesus.
Finding treasure may be easy, but possessing it is costly. The gemmologist had to sell everything he had to get the pearl of great value; everything else was secondary compared to this jewel. We have to learn to distinguish between the excellent and the good, between the best and second best, for we must lose our lives and give up everything to follow Jesus. The price of salvation was paid by Jesus, but there is a cost to discipleship which must be counted. However, the joy of knowing Jesus makes this cost no hardship to us in comparison to the surpassing greatness of knowing Him as Lord.
If we want to develop this closeness and know the best treasure, we have to:
- rid our lives of competing distractions
- spend time alone with God in prayer and in reading the Word, for we cannot know someone without spending time with them
- confess our sins and make a clean break with sin.
How much we value our relationship with God will determine whether we find the best treasure or not.
A different kind of decorating
Yesterday afternoon saw the community room experiencing a different kind of decorating! After all the activity painting walls and putting up notice boards, preparations for a September wedding were carried out as part of a hen party.
Making pompoms which will be adorning the room (the bride-to-be is the ‘Alice’ character, based on the theme of the hen party):
The pompoms with Alice’s bride and groom flamingos:
Making bunting from hearts:
Two very kind and selfless friends devoted the entire afternoon to creating a backdrop which will be used against the stage partition:
I’m not sure which kind of decorating is the most strenuous, but thanks go to all who have helped decorate in any kind of way!
A flurry of activity
The school summer holidays have seen a flurry of activity in the church building as work continues. The community room is almost complete now (blinds still have to be put back up, the fire exit stained and the notice boards completed and adorned), but a tremendous amount of work has been done in three weeks to decorate this huge room. (You only appreciate its size when the scaffolding is out and you’re painting it!) Today it will see ‘business as usual’ in the morning with the coffee morning on from 10 a.m. until 12 noon, with an extra session of decoration (but this time, making decorations for a wedding reception to be held there in September) in the afternoon.
The corridor is still not complete, with all 10 doors (yes, 10…) still requiring to be glossed next week, and the alcove painting to be finished (another 2 doors there…), but much preparation and initial painting have been completed there.
In addition, our portable baptistery has arrived, a new external notice board has been fitted and new notice boards for inside the building are being sorted, not to mention a host of other small jobs (new door handles, the ladies’ toilets painted and new handles on the kitchen hatch in place), so not bad for 3 weeks’ work!
Tomorrow’s morning service is at Cherry Tree Court (at 10.30 a.m.) with the evening service at Market Street at 6 p.m. Come along and see for yourself!
The end of Week 3
The new notice board now has information in it, thanks to a local signwriter:
Work was also done putting up new notice boards inside the community room (to prevent damage to walls when posters and notices are put up there).
This proved quite a tricky job, largely because the walls are not straight in relation to the windows and so making the boards look ‘square’ was no mean feat!
Meanwhile, back in the corridor, Pat continued the second coat of paint:
Dave has clearly been affected by all this hard work… (read the label…)
A lunch break (note the new handles on the kitchen hatch):
First coats
The corridor received its first coat of emulsion yesterday: ‘chapel porth’ being the name of the new colour of paint.
After the painting, the cleaning has to start! Yesterday, it was the turn of the windows and the chairs.
Today, new notice boards are due to be delivered for the community room and the outside notice board will be receiving its first official signs, but decorating is on hold while Slimming World meet in the building. A day off from painting!