I love songs that resonate with Scripture. They give me a framework to stand when I don’t know what to say or sing. Today I heard this song for the first time. It’s called ‘Sovereign over us’ and is by Aaron Keyes. It’s based on tremendous truths in Jeremiah 29:11 and in Genesis 50:20, verses which have upheld me for many years. Whatever we are going through, God is in control, working all things together for good, sovereign over all and over us.

There is strength within the sorrow,
There is beauty in our tears.
You meet us in our mourning,
With a love that casts out fear
You are working in our waiting,
Sanctifying us
When beyond our understanding, You’re teaching us to trust

Even what the enemy means for evil
You turn it for our good, You turn it for our good and for Your glory
Even in the valley You are faithful
Youʼre working for our good, Youʼre working for our good and for Your glory

(Words & Music by Aaron Keyes, Bryan Brown, and Jack Mooring.
Copyright (c) 2011 Thankyou Music (admin. worldwide by worshiptogether.com songs excluding Europe, which is admin. by kingswaysongs.com) (PRS))
‘Sovereign over us’, Aaron Keyes

Dave spoke from John 10:1-18 last night, looking at Jesus’s words on shepherding and sheep.

Jesus had just healed the blind man and was again under attack from the Pharisees. He urged His followers to follow Him, rather than those who could not see what the Father was doing through Him and used the simple illustration of a shepherd caring for his sheep. We too face many voices in the world which would seek to distract us from God, but have to listen for God’s voice above them all.

Jesus said He was the gate by which all sheep entered the pen. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6). Many try to enter by other doors (see Col 2:8, Gal 1:7-8), but the key element for us always to ascertain is how centred the message is on Christ. False prophets will undoubtedly appear (see Matt 24:24), but we can trust the man sent by God to care for the flock.

Sheep were raised for wool in Biblical times and therefore were kept for years, learning to recognise the shepherd’s voice and understand the shepherd’s heart. We too have to develop a deep and intimate relationship with God, so that we recognise His voice and His heart. We need to know the kind of God we serve: a God who forgives sins (Is 43) and restores us, a God who knows us by name and never leaves or forsakes us.

The quiz ‘Mr and Mrs’ gave married couples the opportunity to answer questions about each other. It was often shocking to realise how little they knew of each other’s tastes and preferences, even after years of marriage! We too can know remarkably little of God, despite years of following Him. We have to spend time with Him in order to recognise His voice and get to know His heart. It is God’s desire to spend that time with us: are we willing to draw close to Him and develop our relationship with Him?

Garry spoke from Psalm 127 this morning on the subject of success. He warned us that he would ask more questions than he would give answers, but as Michael Card says, ‘Could it be that questions tell us more than answers ever do?’ Jesus used questions and parables as a teaching aid to stimulate His disciples to serious thought. You have been warned!

Some of the questions we had to think about were:
* How do we define success?
* What are our expectations?
* Why are we interested in success?
* Can we trust the world’s definition of success?
* How do we measure what we do?
* Do we try to justify what we do by the results we can see?
* Do we stop doing what we are doing if we can’t see visible results?
* Does blessing define success?
* If we fail, does that mean we have no guarantee of success?
* Is there such a thing as a guarantee of success?

Certainly the world has fixed ideas about success and applauds successful people (at least initially!) The world dismisses failure and views success in measurable terms such as getting results. In management, we are encouraged to set SMART goals – goals that are specific, measurable, agreed, realistic and timed. The problem in working with God is that He inhabits eternity, and not all these things are measured by Him in the way that we measure them! Garry’s Vernier caliper is useful for measuring length, but useless at measuring weights or as a timepiece. We have to be careful to use the right tools for measuring.

In the church, results are often like icebergs – four-fiths of them are not visible! God sees the whole picture: we don’t. So often, what we see seems murky or foggy. We have to learn to evaluate situations as God does: the man mentioned in Luke 12:16-21 would be deemed ‘successful’ by the world’s criteria but was termed a fool by God becasue he had placed his hope in earthly material wealth.

Ps 127 reminds us that God has to be involved in our work for it to succeed and reminds us that His presence with us makes all the difference. Jesus reminds us that even He did nothing without seeing His Father doing those things. As Jack Hyles said, “If I labour for God, I fail. If I labour with God, I succeed.”

Luke 9 reminds us that the successful Christian life involves self-denial, counting the cost and obedience. We have to judge our success not by what we can see, but by how well we are seeking to obey God and do His will. As Jesus reminded us in John 4:37-38, some have the job of sowing and some of reaping. Reaping is definitely the more glamorous job, but each job is important and crucial. Joshua 1:8 reminds us that if we meditate on God’s law and obey it, we will be prosperous and successful. To achieve success, we have to be aware of what God wants and then do it. As Mark said at the end, success can be defined in two words: ‘trust’ and ‘obey’.

Dave led the Bible study on Thursday, looking at James 1:26-27.

The end of chapter 1 talks about religion and the religious. It highlights the sin of rash speech (which James will develop further in chapter 3), urging us to keep a rein on our tongues (see Ps 34:13, Ps 39:1). Trials and pressures often force rash speech from us, so we need to take care not only with what we say, but how we say it.

When we think about religion, we often lay on it our traditions and patterns and ways of doing things. 1 Sam 15:1-22 reminds us that doing is not always correct; Saul was more concerned with doing what he thought was needed to be done rather than with obeying what was important. Religion is often more concerned with doing than being; it lays a lot of importance on the outward form, whereas God works ‘from the inside out.’ (See also Matt 5:18-19) The law is not the problem; the law is a guide, not the actual purpose (Matt 5:17).

Outward conformity to the law can actually lead us astray, as the Pharisees so often demonstrated. If people don’t do things our way, we often condemn them with our tongues.

Verse 27 defines what ‘pure religion’ is (see Deut 10:18, Is 1:16-17). God as ‘Father’ looks after people; the command is that we should be like God, and therefore we should do the same. Christianity has always been defined as a caring religion. Prov 14:31 reminds us that those who are kind to the needy honour God; Ps 113:7-9 gives us a glimpse into the tender heart of God which we should emulate. God enables us to live in freedom from the pollution of the world system and ideologies (2 Pet 1:4, 2 Pet 3:14, Titus 2:12). Peer pressure exists for us all (not just for teenagers, as Rom 12:2 makes clear), but we must resist the pressure to conform to the world’s systems (1 John 5:18-19). It is unfortunately too easy to compromise (1 John 2:15-17), but this kind of compromise inevitably leads to great harm.

If the whole world is in God’s hands, what are those hands like? This was the question that Mark tackled at the family service last night.

God’s hands created the universe. They made the deep places and the high places.

God’s hands created the sun, moon and stars. He not only created our complex universe, but sustains it exactly so that we can continue to live on this amazing planet.

God is King over all the universe. He sets kings in place and can topple kingdoms. Humans think they are in control of this planet, but God is the real King!

God’s hands hold us. Our very times are in His hands.

God’s hands bring salvation, revival and restoration, but we have to choose His ways over our own.

God is the ruler of all, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is working all things together for good in our lives.

We finished by listening to the J. J. Heller song ‘Your Hands’:
“When my world is shaking,
Heaven stands.
When my heart is breaking,
I never leave Your hands.” (J.J. Heller, ‘Your Hands’)
‘Your Hands’, J. J. Heller

The family service for the anniversary weekend had a quiz about traditional clothes from around the world. We had to identify the countries represented by the following photos:

There were ten photos in all to identify and the winning team scored six points, so we obviously didn’t find this quiz easy!

Answers?
1. Germany
2. Japan
3. Russia
4. Africa
5. India
6. Iceland
7. Argentina