This morning we looked verse by verse at Psalm 118:1-29 TNIV, a psalm of rejoicing and victory.

The psalm (Martin Luther’s favourite, apparently!) deals with important themes of thanksgiving, telling us several times (at the beginning and the end for emphasis) to ‘give thanks to the Lord, for He is good: His love endures forever.’ (Ps 118:1, 2, 3, 4, 29 TNIV) Apart from thanksgiving, the psalm looks at God’s deliverance, presence and help, all of which become additional reasons to give thanks. When we feel hard pressed and in despair, God is able to step in and turn the tide. He is our helper (Ps 118:6, 7 TNIV) and our refuge and because of this we are able to cut down our enemies. This theme of deliverance is often sung by Paul. To the Romans he said ‘Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!’ (Rom 7:25 TNIV). To the Corinthians, he said ‘But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ (1 Cor 15:57 TNIV) Later on he says ‘But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.’ (2 Cor 2:14 TNIV) Often, we feel pushed back and about to fall (Ps 118:13 TNIV), rather like Asaph did when he saw the prosperity of the wicked (Ps 73), but God helps us and will not let us be tempted beyond ourselves (1 Cor 10:13 TNIV) and will keep us from falling (Jude 1:24 TNIV).

God’s help, love and grace are with us throughout every situation: as Matt Redman writes,
‘It’s there in the newborn cry, there in the light of every sunrise, there in the shadows of this life…
There on the mountain top, there in the everyday and the mundane, there in the sorrow and the dancing…
It’s there on the wedding day, there in the weeping by the graveside, there in the very breath we breathe… There in the darkest night of the soul, there in the sweetest songs of victory..Your grace finds me.’ (‘Your Grace Finds Me’, Matt Redman)

It is precisely because of God’s help and strength that we do not despair and can testify to all God has done: ‘I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the LORD has done.’ (Ps 118:17 TNIV) We now have access to God’s presence and can enter through the gates of righteousness.

The psalm moves then into Messianic prophecy, with verses 22-24 being quoted in 1 Peter 2:4-8 TNIV, referring to how Jesus has become the cornerstone on which all men must stumble, for He does not do the things the way that people expect. Ps 118:26-27 TNIV looks ahead to Palm Sunday (Matt 21:1-7 TNIV) and the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. It is no coincidence that celebration and stumbling are linked together, for whilst these are two completely separate experiences in our eyes, so often in God’s kingdom we find these things linked. Our Saviour came into the world in obscurity, and the means of His victory looked like defeat as He hung on the cross. Nonetheless, the darkest hour became the setting for the greatest triumph, and we can now celebrate with banners, balloons and any other creative means we can find, for He has become our God! Praise is the overflow of a thankful heart, and how can we help but be thankful when we realise that we, who were once far off, have been brought near to God by the blood of Christ? There is so much to give thanks for!

Yesterday was ‘Thanksgiving’ in the US, a reminder that during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of “Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens” and now celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November. It’s a reminder to me that being thankful is a sure sign of God at work in our lives and God’s will for each one of us (1 Thess 5:17 TNIV). We have so much to give thanks for: God’s love endures forever; He has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing; He protects us and guides us each day!

More intriguingly, the day after Thanksgiving (today) is known as ‘Black Friday’ in the US. Apparently, historically this day happened on September 24, 1869 and was caused by two speculators’ efforts, Jay Gould and James Fisk, to corner the gold market on the New York Gold Exchange. It was one of several scandals that rocked the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant. Nowadays, Black Friday is often regarded as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. In recent years, most major retailers have opened extremely early and offered promotional sales to kick off the holiday shopping season, similar to Boxing Day sales in the UK. As one who doesn’t particularly like sales shopping, I can see why this might be called a ‘black’ day (!), but it does seem odd to me that this is so named immediately after a day given over to thanksgiving!

Let’s give thanks every day and rejoice in God’s goodness!

December is always a busy month, so it is good to make a note of the special services we will be holding during December.

The family service will be on Sunday 1st December at 6 p.m. There will be Sunday meetings as usual throughout December, with Communion services starting at 10.30 a.m. and evening services at 6 p.m.

The carol service will be on Sunday 22nd December at 6 p.m. This is always a fun occasion with lots of games and activities as well as refreshments after the service. It’s a great opportunity to invite friends, family and neighbours to church, so do pray about this. Posters, flyers and invitations will be available on Sunday 1st December.

Midweek services will be held on 5th, 12th and 19th December, but there will be no midweek services during Christmas week (i.e. no service on Christmas Day or Boxing Day).

Advance dates for January include the traditional New Year’s Day party on Wednesday 1st January, starting at 4 p.m. There will also be a celebration service on Saturday 4th January, starting at 6 p.m. This will be to thank Mark and Diane for all their work in leading the church for the last eight-and-a-half years and to welcome Garry and Julie to their new roles. Please see Diane if you are able to bring any refreshments to either the New Year’s Day party or the celebration service.

Throughout December we will be praying in particular for our church.

Pray God will:

• empower and envision the leaders as they preach the Word and lead Bible studies

• use each member of the congregation in a mighty way in the church

• give each member of the congregation grace and vision to do all that He has called us to do

• pour our His Spirit on everyone in the church

• help us to show people what Christmas means to us and can mean to them

• help us to invite non-Christians to the Carol Service on 22nd December and the New Year’s Day Party and that we may have opportunity to speak to them about God

• enable us to truly worship God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength

• lead, bless and protect Garry and Julie as they take up their new role next year as pastors of the church

We have collated all the prayer topics which have featured throughout 2013 into a ‘2013 Prayer Booklet’ and these will be available on Sunday for all members to take. On the last page you can record some of the answers to prayer you have seen. Hopefully we can share these during the last evening service of the year on 29th December so that we can reflect on all that God has done during 2013 and can encourage each other with how God has answered prayer and led us throughout the year.

Prayer meetings will be held on Thursday 5th and 19th December, with the first prayer meeting being a prayer walk. We started the year with prayer walks throughout Goldthorpe in January and have done a few prayer walks since, so it will be good to end the year with another prayer walk. We will be leaving church at 7.30 p.m. on that evening, so please make sure you bring a coat and are prepared for the cold weather on that occasion!

Following on from the morning’s service about praising God for the current things He is doing in our lives, three people gave testimonies last night. Diane spoke of how she had had the opportunity to speak of God’s love to a man attending the coffee morning on Saturday and Eileen spoke about a conversation with a Christian lady at hospital that week and how God had given her boldness to speak about the church’s ministries to the medicar driver on the way home from hospital. Debbie spoke of how God had given her wisdom and words to speak to her neighbour during a difficult home situation and how God was moving in the neighbour’s son’s life. Such testimonies remind us of how God is at work in and through ordinary people and how He is answering our prayers for boldness this month!

It was also Diane’s turn on the birthday box:

Stephen then spoke from Luke 15:11-32 TNIV on the Parable of the Prodigal Son, looking particularly at the Father’s love as revealed in that story. His love is seen in his initial reaction to his son’s request for his inheritance (a dishonourable request to make since the father was still alive!) The father was generous enough to give his son blessing and wealth. God the Father lavishes blessings on us each day; He loves us so much that He gave His only Son for each one of us. Such a love is total and selfless.

The father waited for his son to return home and during the years of famine must have been worried about his son’s wellbeing. He never stopped looking out for him and eventually the son made the wise choice to return home and seek forgiveness. The father’s love knew no measure and was willing to embrace his son and restore him to his position in the family, rather than simply accepting him as a servant. His love put sandals on those tired feet and fed both body and soul. There is a better robe, a better treasure, for each one of us in God, for our heavenly Father longs to pour out blessings on us and there is an unlimited supply of love available to us.

Are we a taker, someone who takes from God and then leaves Him? Or are we living in God day by day?

This morning’s sermon looked at the happenings in Exodus 14 and 15, particularly looking at Exodus 15:11 TNIV: “Who among the gods is like you, LORD? Who is like you— majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?” When we see God move in power and majesty and might, our whole lives are changed and we can ‘let that confidence in God seep into the very depths of our hearts and minds, forming a holy confidence on the inside of us.’ (Matt Redman)

The story of Exodus is rooted firmly in history and is a story of deliverance. It’s a story that unfolds over years: the chapters leading up to these events have shown us the providence of God in protecting Moses, ensuring he was brought up as a ‘prince of Egypt’ and commissioning him to do God’s work. God’s ‘hand of providence is guiding us through choices that we make… is reaching out to help us on our way… has been our best defence, though His ways are sometimes hard to understand.’ (Michael W. Smith, ‘Hand of Providence’)

At this point in history, Israel has seen the deliverance of God in getting them out of Egypt through the Passover, but things do not look so rosy now. Pharaoh has come to regret his decision to let them go and he is now considering what to do to recover his slave labour (Ex 14:5 TNIV). The Israelites are now terrified and see only disaster ahead. They feel God has only brought them this far to die in the desert and can only see death ahead (either by drowning in the Red Sea or through slaughter by the Egyptians.) Moses encourages them: ‘Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.’ (Ex 14:13-14 TNIV) There are many times in our lives when there is nothing more we can do and we need simply to trust in God to make a ‘third way’ for God can come up with solutions which are completely beyond our comprehension or imaginations, beyond our wildest dreams. (see Ephesians 3:20-21 TNIV)

Exodus 14:16 TNIV shows us God’s miraculous solution by which the Red Sea was parted and the Israelites walked through on dry ground, only to see the Egyptians subsequently drowned as the waters came crashing back down. This was obviously a miracle (‘a surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is considered to be divine’), but one that was witnessed by the people. They saw with their own eyes first-hand what God could do and their response was a song of praise (see Exodus 15:1-11 TNIV). When we see God’s deliverance, providence and provision, our response is awe and wonder and praise. We felt this way in 2010 when we finally got the keys to this building. How could it possibly be that a church with just over £7,000 in the bank could move into a building valued at over £160,000? How could it be that a secular funding organisation, CRT, would give us a grant of £150,000 not once, but twice, after we’d been forced to give it back to them because of the timescales? How could it be that a church with a congregation of our size could move in to this building and renovate it so quickly? How could it be that a church like ours could cope with the everyday, long-term running of the building and pay back everything we owed even before the building on Beever Street was sold? When we were asked about the long-term viability of the project by CRT, it was difficult to answer their questions because we did not really know how we were going to finance the everyday running costs, but here we are, over three years later and we see that even though we have spent about £11,000 this year on the renovation and refurbishment of the building in providing a new kitchen, a new boiler and other works, we have more than £1000 more at the end of the financial year than we did at the start, and that’s not even mentioning the £5000 or so we have given away to missionary work! How can it be? Our only answer is that God is majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders and we are simply part of this amazing work that He is doing!

Whatever else God has done for us, His love has come down to us. He has called our names. He has drawn us to His heart through the cross. He has washed all our shame away. He has made a way for us just as He did for the Egyptians. Because of that, we can open up our hearts and pour His praises out. Matt Redman says ‘there is a reason behind our rejoicing. There is substance to our shout. Joyful worship is the freedom cry of a rescued soul.’ Let’s sing and shout to the God of wonders, for He has done wonderful things. ‘I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, Sovereign Lord; I will proclaim your righteous deeds, yours alone.’ (Ps 71:6) We sing because of all God is and all He has done. We shout because we have seen His right arm made bare. He is our King of Wonders and praise and worship are our response to who He is and what He has done and continues to do in our daily lives.