Category: Archive

Around the world it has been an extraordinary year. On 1 January 2020 many of us began this New Year with optimism about what lay in store for us in the coming twelve months. I am not aware of anyone predicting a global pandemic that would lead to some form of lockdown restrictions in many countries across the globe. The virus caused many businesses to cease trading for an unknown number of weeks and millions of people were ordered to ‘Stay at Home’ unless required for essential work commitments, medical appointments and purchasing of food supplies.

Any figures reported related to the virus will be on the low side because too little testing has been conducted in most countries, but what we do know is that in excess of thirteen million people contracted the virus and currently around 4,900,000 are reported to have tested positive for Covid-19 virus, with more than 7,500,000 apparently recovered from it and sadly more than 570,000 people have died from it.

At the moment although there are some vaccine trials that appear promising we have no certainty that any will provide immunity from this virus in the future. So should we be worried about the future? Although there are many legitimate concerns about food supplies in some countries and certainly economic insecurity in the majority, I want to turn your attention today to words of the apostle Paul in Ephesians chapter three. In the last part of this chapter he had written a prayer for the recipients of his letter. It states:  

For this reason I kneel before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. ¹⁶ I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸ may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. ²⁰ Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, ²¹ to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen (Ephesians 3:14-21).

Can I encourage you to read slowly through this prayer today and reflect on what Paul is saying and claim this prayer as a prayer for you today and in the coming days.  I particularly want to draw your attention to the last two verses with which Paul concludes his prayer.  They are amazing and uplifting words. ²⁰ Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, ²¹to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

What is he saying here about the God to whom we are bringing our prayers?

(a)His infinite ability Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine… How great is your God? If you have faith in the God Paul advocates here, then it is absolutely amazing what He can do. What genuine need do you want to ask Him for today? 

(b) His unlimited power … according to His power that is at work within us… This is the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. Remember I John 4:4 The One who is in you (the Holy Spirit) is greater than the one who is in the world (the devil)’. Praise God for that. Many of us are facing genuine obstacles in our pathway at the present time. Please do not despair. In His timescale He can help each one of us overcome them, although not always in the way we would have preferred.   

(c) His ultimate purpose … to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. What is it that God will be guaranteed to bless? Things that bring glory to Him! So when you and I are praying about something, ask the question: will this glorify God? Will this request, if granted, bring honour to His name? When our heart’s desires align with His heart’s desire then there is the real potential for a taste of heaven on earth, even here in this community; even here in this church family! If that is not exciting then nothing will excite you! 

We must always remember that it is not about us, or about people thinking how great we are. It is exclusively for His glory, so that people will think great thoughts about the One we worship and adore. We want to honour and lift high His wonderful name. I believe we can go forward with confidence into the rest of 2020 knowing that with His help we can in time overcome all the obstacles that currently are causing us concern. Nothing is too difficult for God! Make sure you bring your specific concerns for the next few months to Him and prayer and wait with expectancy for God to hear and answer our prayers, Amen.

Our song for reflection today is: ‘Praise is rising’

A bonus song that has been a real blessing in the United Kingdom during the lock down period is the UK version of ‘The Blessing’ song

Brian Talbot

Intimations

• Morning worship online has moved to start at 10am and JAM at 11:15am on the Zoom platform.
• You may want to use some of the Engage Worship resources for daily worship during this week.
• The Messy Church At Home information is available on our website.
• We will be continuing the Prayer Livestream at 7.00pm on Sunday’s.  This will be another significant time of national prayer for us. Please join in and, if you don’t already do so, would you let your fellowship know about this and put it on your social media. Click here to access.

JAM Kids’ focus:

Here is the new video series from Out of the Box for JAM Kids age group.

Worksheet 1 to accompany this talk

Call to worship

We are grateful to Margaret Clark for selecting the songs for worship for this service

Our opening song of praise and worship is:

We continue to worship the Lord in our second song of praise and worship:

Opening prayer

I will exalt You, my God the King; I will praise Your name for ever and ever. Every day I will praise You and extol Your name for ever and ever. Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; 

Heavenly Father You are an awesome and majestic God who is worthy to receive all our praises and worship today. We come recognising the sense of privilege that is ours to enter Your holy presence today. We come, though, with confidence because we come in the name of Jesus Your Son our Saviour who gave His life for us on the cross, dying in our place. As we are so thankful for all these blessings we remember the words of the apostle Paul in Romans 8:31, who declared: 

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all – how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?

Cleanse us afresh from our sins of the past week we pray and fill us with the power of Your Holy Spirit to live for You in this new week. Speak to us today we pray from Your Word, for Jesus’ name’s sake, Amen.

Let us say together the words Jesus taught His disciples when He said:

‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.'”      
For Yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever Amen.

Song – Fairest Lord Jesus

This Time Tomorrow

We’re David and Helen Heron, living in Stowmarket, Suffolk where we are calling you from today.  As you can tell from our accents, though, we originally come from Scotland!  We worked in Peru, South America for 17 years with a mission agency called Serving in Mission (or SIM). Originally we were involved in a programme training church leaders, then moved into leadership and administrative roles.  

Our three daughters, Kat, Louisa and Suzie all grew up in Peru. In 2009 we felt the Lord would have us return to the UK.  My mum needed care and came to live with us for five years and then moved into a nearby Care Home where she lived for another two years.  I spent time caring for her and serving as secretary in our church and working part time for another mission organisation. Our girls have all married and we now have two grandchildren, who live in Edinburgh.

I have continued working with SIM and for the last ten years have been the International Personnel/HR Director.  SIM has just under 4,000 workers – half of these are employees who work in our hospitals, schools, theological colleges, sports ministries, etc, as well as our offices.  The other half are what we traditionally call missionaries – people who are sent by their churches to take the gospel to other parts of the world.  SIM supports churches who send missionaries by linking the church with a team in a particular country or ministry.

This section of your service is called ‘this time tomorrow’ – so what do I actually do?  Firstly, I don’t provide direct HR services or support for all our 4,000 workers!  SIM functions in teams in each country and each one has an HR or Personnel Coordinator.  My role is to oversee our global HR policies and practices, and a lot of my time is spent training and providing advice and support to all our HR people so they can look after their teams well.  Since we work in about 60 countries and have over 70 nationalities in SIM, a lot of my work is focussed on how an organisation functions globally.

But looking after SIM people is not an end in itself.  The purpose of SIM says: 

That’s what we are about and that’s what SIM’s people are about.  My role is to ensure our workers are well managed and cared for so they can concentrate on the task at hand.  Also, with so many people in SIM the increasing amount of employment legislation today means we need to ensure we are compliant with local laws regarding our people (and they vary across the world!)

So what will I be doing tomorrow?  I looked at my diary and found I have a committee meeting for the ‘Membership Recommendation Committee’.  Sounds boring?  Not another Zoom meeting! Actually it is one of the most encouraging things I do – this is the committee that reviews the selection process for people joining SIM from some of our newer sending countries.  

Tomorrow we will be (hopefully) be recommending three new people as members of SIM – they all come from West Africa.  Two weeks ago we recommended another nine people to join SIM – two families are going to an unreached people group in Africa, one family are coming to Glasgow (yes, SIM now receives people into the UK to work with churches in multi-cultural communities).  Our West Africa sending office is one of our fastest growing offices.

Another team I am on at the moment is a group made up of ten people from across the SIM world who are looking at the medium to long term effects the Covid-19 pandemic may have on SIM ministries and operations.  We have been developing tools to help our Country Directors carry out some scenario planning, and also planned a major relief project to help countries where they are involved in supporting the most needy in their communities who have been seriously affected by strict lockdowns, plus supporting our hospitals to have all the PPE they need to treat Covid-19 patients.

Jesus’s commission to his disciples was to go to Jerusalem, Judea and to the ends of the earth, and that remains the commission for the church today.  It’s the ‘going to the ends of the earth’ part that SIM partners with churches to carry out and that is a huge challenge right now.  

• We have new missionaries ready to go overseas – and can’t 
• We have people who were on home assignment and can’t get back to their regular ministry, and are also limited in what they can do on home assignment
• We have people who want to go on home assignment and can’t
• We have people stuck who were travelling when lockdown happened, and families in different countries

You get the picture.  

Of course, people are being creative – and joining you on this Zoom is an example.  We were planning visits to supporters and churches this year – and can’t go anywhere. 

So our ministries are changing and adapting.  Theological colleges and pastor training initiatives are going on-line and some are seeing many more students engaging.  Of course, not everyone has access to good technology like this (as you know!) and some work has to be done by phone or Whatsapp – not always ideal. 

However, what we are hearing across the world, and you see it in your own community – are the people who are affected by lockdowns, in particularly those who are experiencing the lack of basic needs like food and without basic supplies.  Particularly just now in South America and South Asia there are millions of people who earn their living on a daily basis – if they are locked down and can’t work then they don’t eat.  So in countries like Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia people have to go out and earn some money, including selling food – so there is real hardship, a tight lockdown, and yet the virus is spiralling ever upwards.

In these countries SIM is working with churches to buy food in bulk and distribute it to the most needy.  They include some bible portions and chat with people (from a distance!) as they visit them. In South Africa people are sewing face coverings and cooking hot meals for people.  We see this happening in our own country, but the levels of poverty and need in some of these other countries is desperate.  SIM is not a relief agency, but we have strong partnerships with churches and are able to work with these churches to help the most needy in their communities.

So our ministries have had to change and adapt.  You know all about this because you have had to do it too, just like all churches in the UK and in most of the world.   History tells us that in previous times of pandemics the gospel has spread and churches have grown.  We pray this will be true of these days in which we are living, both for you in Broughty Ferry Baptist Church, for Cedars Church where we belong and right across the world.

All Age Talk: Isdale Anderson

Well the wait is almost over! The barbers and hairdressers are opening on Wednesday! The first Sunday that I led a service on Zoom I said that it could be a while before we could go for a haircut – and so it has been – a whole 11 weeks! During lockdown we have had to wait for lots of things – not just for haircuts, but to get a hug from our Granny or Grandpa, to get to mix with our friends, to go to the shops and of course to go to school! It’s not easy waiting for things is it? It’s bad enough at Christmas time or when it’s our birthday. We have let our mum or dad know what we would like as a present but then it takes for ever for Christmas Day or our Birthday to arrive. And even then sometimes we are disappointed because we don’t always get what we asked for!

Some people feel that way about prayer. They ask God for things but they say that God doesn’t answer their prayers because they don’t get what they want.  That’s not really true. Just because you ask for something doesn’t mean that you haven‘t had an answer. I mean, do you expect your mum or dad to give you everything you might ask for, for your birthday or Christmas? We might think that it would be nice if they did, but we know pretty well that it’s unlikely. You might ask – but your mum or dad might say NO –  what you want is too expensive. They might say that you’re not old enough yet for what you’re asking for so you’ll have to WAIT.  

Some people wonder if Jesus had a sense of humour. I think he did. He once asked some parents if when their children asked them for a fish supper they would give them a live snake instead! Or if they asked for a boiled egg, they would give them a scorpion! I can imagine his listeners laughing and saying “Don’t be silly, we wouldn’t do that!” And Jesus said, “Of course you wouldn’t! Even though you are not perfect, you still know how to give good things to your children. How much more then”, Jesus said, “can you rely on your perfect loving heavenly Father to give good things to those who ask him.”  

Of course sometimes we might ask God for what we think are good things e.g. like someone who is ill to get better. We might be very disappointed when it doesn’t happen. God may not have said NO. He might be saying “Not yet” and we have to wait. However sometimes we have to accept that we don’t know what is best and just trust God to answer as He knows is best. It might be Yes, it might be No but it might also be Wait. The important thing is that we don’t give up praying or trusting God to do what He knows is best.      

All Age Song

Prayers for others – Helen Heron

Lord God, Heavenly Father, we come before you today in praise and adoration for your holiness, love and mercy. We acknowledge you as Sovereign Lord over this world and we are thankful that you are in control of all things. We praise you that you have loved us, and have opened up a way for us to come to you through the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for the security we have in knowing that you are our Lord in this world and that we know the promise of eternal life in the future. Your desire that all nations, tribes, languages and peoples will one day worship you is still your desire and your commission to us to go to our ‘Jerusalem, Judea and to the end of the earth’.

Lord I pray for the fellowship here in Broughty Ferry. I pray for their witness in the community through the Food bank and all the other ways in which they are reaching out to people.  We pray that people in this community may be protected from coronavirus, that you would provide their daily bread and needs and most of all that more people would come to know Jesus as their Saviour. Give strength, energy and creativity to the church leaders here and be at work we pray.

Lord we pray that you would constraint this virus which has devastated our world, indeed we pray that you would take it away, bring it to a speedy. Whether this is through your direct intervention, through the skill of scientists and doctors or through other means of your choosing we pray that no more lives will be lost or people suffering debilitating after effects.  And Lord, while we are in this situation we pray for your strength and protection.

We pray for people in South America and in South Asia – countries where the economies are being devastated by lockdown but where case numbers are rising. We pray for hospitals and medical staff who do not have the resources to cope with patient numbers, and for people who are sick but cannot afford hospital or oxygen and are treated in chairs outside the hospital for lack of beds. We pray for your church in these countries to rise up and be the hands and feet of Jesus to those who are suffering. We bring before you the refugees and poorest people in Peru and Bolivia and pray that the food parcel and gospels that are being distributed weekly will not only bring physical comfort but also the light of the truth of the gospel. Give strength and perseverance to the SIM team members and churches, and provide financially for these ministries.

Lord we bring before you those who have become more vulnerable in these times – those suffering domestic abuse, and those who are at greater risk of human trafficking which we know is increasing. We pray that people in desperation will turn to you and know the greatest liberty of a relationship with Jesus.

We remember those who have answered you call to serve you in other countries but who cannot travel at present. We pray for those who are trying to raise prayer and financial support that they will find ways to connect with potential supporters even though they can’t travel and meet people in person. Lord you called us to go to the ends of the earth and so we pray that the gospel will still go out to all nations and that you will show us how to do that in these times.

So be with us, comfort, strengthen and equip us for your service. In Jesus’ name, Amen

In our Baptist Union of Scotland we also remember to pray for:

Jim Purves (Mission & Ministry Advisor, BUS) – Join in giving thanks for creative movements in mission and ministry across our Union of churches. We pray for attentiveness within churches to the leading of the Holy Spirit, walking in obedience to our Father and pursuing the way of Christ. May God grant wisdom when guidance is sought for pursuing excellence in Jesus’ name. 

Granton-on-Spey BC – We give thanks for the church family at Granton-on-Spey Baptist. We pray for the church as they seek to serve and bless the local community. 

Greenock BC – Please pray for wisdom as they seek to pastor those who are bereaved, hospitalised, and seriously ill in these days of lockdown and social distancing. They are thankful for the sense of oneness as a fellowship that is being maintained though regular phone contact and video conferencing facilities. They are also learning of some who are watching to their services who would not regularly be churchgoers.  

Hamilton BC – They are thankful to God that even in these difficult times, He has been faithful to each of our congregation. Although they cannot meet together in the Church building, they are blessed by the preaching of God’s word online with many more tuning in. “We rest on His unchanging grace, in every high and stormy gale”

We pray too for the other Christian churches in our local communities and across the land. In this summer season we pray that You would grant each local congregation wisdom about what services and activities they can plan to relaunch or begin in the later part of this year. Help us all to remember the necessity to balance outreach and community ministries alongside our worship services and smaller group meetings and discipleship programmes. In the midst of our rest or continued work help us always to continue to pray for God to be at work in our midst in the coming days. 

We now pray for other people with particular needs that are connected to our own congregation: We ask that you would comfort those who have been bereaved in recent weeks. Help them to come to terms with their loss and to know Your presence with them each step of the way. We remember those with ongoing health problems, particularly those that have been waiting a long time for hospital treatment or operations. We remember in particular Grace C recovering at home after breaking an ankle this week. We also pray for a full recovery for Nina G after her time in hospital as well. 

Bible Reading

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ²‘Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.’ ³ So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. ⁴ But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. 

⁵ Then the word of the Lord came to me. ⁶ He said, ‘Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?’ declares the Lord. ‘Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. ⁷ If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, ⁸ and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. 

⁹ And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, ¹⁰ and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it. ¹¹ ‘Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, “This is what the Lord says: look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.” ¹² But they will reply, “It’s no use. We will continue with our own plans; we will all follow the stubbornness of our evil hearts.”’ ¹³ Therefore this is what the Lord says:

‘Enquire among the nations: who has ever heard anything like this: A most horrible thing has been done by Virgin Israel.¹⁴ Does the snow of Lebanon ever vanish from its rocky slopes?
Do its cool waters from distant sources ever stop flowing? 

¹⁵ Yet my people have forgotten Me; they burn incense to worthless idols, which made them stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths. They made them walk in byways, on roads not built up. ¹⁶ Their land will be an object of horror and of lasting scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and will shake their heads. ¹⁷ Like a wind from the east I will scatter them before their enemies; I will show them My back and not My face in the day of their disaster.’

Jeremiah 18: 1-17

 The Message

Pre-recorded message

Jeremiah 18:1-17 The Potter and the Clay

Introduction

Have you ever taken the time to watch a skilful glass-blower shaping the molten glass in to a beautiful vase or some other magnificent creation? Or have you observed a potter taking an ordinary lump of clay and moulding and shaping it into a bowl or jar or some other creation that would be of use and value once the potter’s work has been completed.

There is a real joy and pleasure to be gained watching a master craftsman or woman at work. Many hours have practice have enabled them to master techniques for shaping and moulding the material with which they are working. If your observations take place at a venue where members of the general public can also have a turn, for example, at transforming a lump of clay using a potter’s wheel then it quickly become apparent that the task in hand is so much harder than it appears in the hands of a skilful potter. Even the best efforts of an amateur volunteer fall short of the goods produced by one who has mastered their trade. 

In the book of Jeremiah there are a lengthy series of messages to a people who largely paid lip service to the claims of the God of Israel on their lives. If there had been civic censuses taking place during these years a large majority would have ticked the Jewish religion option in any question about religious or philosophical convictions. Like in our own society until recent decades only a relatively small minority would have ticked an agnostic or atheist option. However, Jeremiah knew from the crushing indifference to his messages that it was a nominal Judaism at best that was practised in this nation.

Very few people were taking God seriously or prioritising a commitment to following the God of Israel. No matter how passionately he preached or pleaded with them the response was usually the same. The account in Jeremiah 18:1-17 is one of the messages preached in Jerusalem during the years that preceded the devastating war with the superpower of the day Babylon (Iraq) and its rejection along with Jeremiah’s other messages led to the inevitable fall of the city; and to the subsequent exile of most of its prominent citizens for the rest of their lives in Babylon. Let us look briefly at this message then and its significance now for us today as well.  

1. The potter at work (Jeremiah 18:1-4)

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ² ‘Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you My message.’ ³ So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. ⁴ But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

(a)A familiar sight (Jeremiah 18:3) The image of the potter at work was a common sight in the Holy Land at that time. In the Middle Eastern climate work was carried out mainly outdoors, although sometimes shaded from the hot sunshine. Jeremiah was not told what he would see, but was asked simply to visit this place of work and observe the potter at work.

The potter’s wheel was literally two stone wheels on a vertical axis. The lower of which was spin by kicking with the feet and the upper one was where the clay was moulded by the potter. In later centuries the apparatus was made out of wood to make it easier for the potter to move. Archaeological digs in Israel regularly unearth vast quantities of pieces of pottery that play a significant part in determining the dating of particular excavations. There were at different times a wide variety of types of pottery in use so this can on occasions be particularly helpful in determining the dating of layers of sediment. However, the word used here for pot is simply an incredibly common basic household item produced in large quantities. It is an ordinary pot on which the potter is investing his time and creative skills, not a luxury item for a wealthier customer.

This is important because of the message Jeremiah will seek to draw out of what he has seen for the lives of the ordinary residents of Jerusalem with respect to their relationship with God. This imagery of God as the potter and the clay representing Jewish people or humanity is very familiar to readers of the Bible. In Genesis 2, the Bible passage that focusses on the creation of humanity by God used this imagery.

Genesis 2:7:  Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. The word translated as formed in Genesis 2:7 was used in Jeremiah 18, but also elsewhere in the Bible to refer to the work of the potter, for example, Isaiah 64:8: Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, You are the potter; we are all the work of your hand, though it was also used in Isaiah 44:12 to describe the work of the blacksmith on metals. The blacksmith takes a tool and works with it in the coals; he shapes an idol with hammers, he forges it with the might of his arm.  The emphasis is on the ordinariness of the scene and of the material being used to fashion something else. God was preparing Jeremiah to deliver a message to other ordinary people not just a select few from within the wider population.     

(b)A problem to overcome (Jeremiah 18:4) But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. The crux of the matter is seen in this verse with two obvious points to be made from what Jeremiah had observed. The first is that the potter is obviously in charge of proceedings. He has the final say with respect to the use of the raw materials with which he is working.

However, it appears that this potter began with a particular plan possibly to fulfil a customer order for a particular kind of pot that he intended to make first that day. Things did not work out as he planned. There seems to have been a problem with the texture of the clay or something else that led him to change his mind and rework the clay into a different kind of pot. The experienced potter was able to adjust his work schedule to produce something of value from the clay with which he was working. There was no loss, simply an adjustment to the circumstances before him. The end result was the successful creation of a different kind of useful pot that a customer would purchase.       

2. The power of God (Jeremiah 18:5-11)

(a)The lesson to be learned (Jeremiah18:5-10) ⁵Then the word of the Lord came to me. ⁶ He said, ‘Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?’ declares the Lord. ‘Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. ⁷ If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, ⁸ and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned.  ⁹ And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, ¹⁰ and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it. 

What was the point of Jeremiah’s visit to the potter’s house? It was not an excursion on a day off or a form of relaxation, though it is not impossible that Jeremiah did enjoy watching a master craftsman at work. The lesson to be learned was that God is ultimately in control of His world and the course of history. Nations and empires will rise and fall in the permissive will of God.

Although, God wanted to communicate here that not everything was ‘set in stone’; the message here was for the nations more than for individuals, although it is easy enough to apply it to individual lives. God was saying that a nation that does wrong and commits seriously evil acts may fall under His judgement, but if there is genuine repentance for that wrongdoing then the proposed judgement may be postponed or even cancelled altogether.

By contrast, if a nation was being honoured by God for the good choices it was making, these blessings could be lost if that nation turns its back on God and His holy standards. God may accomplish His goals through the use of other people or nations, if His original intended choices are unwilling to honour Him in the way He was intending. In any case in the Old Testament era God was not restricted to using Jewish people to accomplish His goals. There were plenty of cases where individuals of other nations were responsible for some amazing acts. The Persian Emperor Cyrus the Great is a classic example.

Isaiah 44:28: [God] who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd and he will accomplish all that I please; he will say of Jerusalem, ‘Let it be rebuilt’, and of the temple, ‘Let its foundations be laid.’  Or Isaiah 45:1: This is what the Lord says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of…  

This incredible man who overthrew the mighty Babylonian Empire believed in human rights centuries ahead of his time and released captive populations to return to their homelands. The Babylonian rulers came to believe in the myth of their own invincibility and would pay the price as their empire was lost. Nations, even networks of churches too, if they stray from their solid biblical and moral foundations raise serious questions about their own futures. 

A nation or a church enjoying God’s favour does so while it operates in the right way. If God’s way is rejected and His standards ignored then there will be consequences. The Covid-19 virus pandemic has minded us of our own mortality and that society as we have known it for several generations no longer can assume that medical science can prevent all these disasters taking place. After all, there have been so many warnings by the medical profession over the last couple of decades that some form of health crisis was almost inevitable in the future. But how many people really believed that in their lifetime we would see an event like the Covid-19 virus pandemic?

Recent events are a wake-up call about what is really important. However, the question is how many people will quickly forget as soon as this crisis is over and return to living exactly as before? And how many will seek the living God and want to live their lives His way?

(b)The challenge to be heeded (Jeremiah18:11) ‘Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, “This is what the Lord   says: look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions. 

Jeremiah wanted to warn the Jewish leadership in the royal court as well as the religious leaders in the Jerusalem Temple that if they failed to live God’s way that they too might lose not only their positions but also their country and end up dead or in exile. This passage teaches strongly that fatalism and resigning ourselves to ‘what will be will be’ is not an option.  

We can make a difference both individually and collectively if we choose to do so. God in His sovereign will chooses to allow us to make responses to His invitations to us to follow Him. A person who has gone their own way and lived without reference to God, but who now invites Him to direct their lives will obtain His favour. By contrast a person who once lived for God but who now wants nothing to do with Him, will earn His displeasure. This was not a popular message when Jeremiah preached it to the open air audience outside the Temple in Jerusalem (Jeremiah 7); it will not be a popular message today either. The question each one of us has to ask is this: which way will I go? Will I follow God’s way or make my own choices?   

3. The predicament of the people (Jeremiah 18:12-17)

¹² But they will reply, “It’s no use. We will continue with our own plans; we will all follow the stubbornness of our evil hearts.”’ ¹³ Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘Enquire among the nations: who has ever heard anything like this? A most horrible thing has been done by Virgin Israel. ¹⁴ Does the snow of Lebanon ever vanish from its rocky slopes? Do its cool waters from distant sources ever stop flowing? ¹⁵ Yet my people have forgotten me; they burn incense to worthless idols,
which made them stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths. They made them walk in byways, on roads not built up. ¹⁶ Their land will be an object of horror and of lasting scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and will shake their heads. ¹⁷ Like a wind from the east, I will scatter them before their enemies; I will show them my back and not my face in the day of their disaster.’

What was the response of Jeremiah’s hearers to this stirring message? Did they want to heed this solemn warming that God would not be mocked? Sadly, but no surprise they heard the message and rejected it. But they will reply, “It’s no use. We will continue with our own plans; (Jeremiah 18:12) The words uttered and reported in Jeremiah 18:12 suggest that these people were not taking Jeremiah’s words too seriously. They did not believe that their nation could fall under the judgement of God. That was such an old-fashioned idea! They were rejecting out-of-hand the fact that actions will have consequences.

A person may do something inappropriate for a long time and get away with it, but other people may do the same thing for a short time and have their lives devastated by it. The taking of illicit drugs is an obvious example in our society today.  Here the issue was this: would the nation of Judah (southern Israel) take seriously God’s message to them through His servant Jeremiah? The same challenge comes to us today? How seriously am I taking God’s call to me to follow Him, to put my faith in trust in Him through Jesus?

The response was predictable. But God through Jeremiah declares that it is so unnatural to behave in that way.  After all nature has a set course of seasons that follow one after another. For example, he writes, Mount Hermon in Southern Lebanon, now on the Israel –Syria border, is constantly covered in snow on its high peaks all year round. The cool waters of the River Jordan that flow down the valley from this magnificent peak are constant.

Yet the behaviour of God’s people in the Holy Land was inconsistent at best and their attitudes displayed indifference at worst. Jeremiah pleaded with them to turn back to God but they chose not to do it. In time it led to the destruction of their country and exile in Babylon for many. They could not say they had not been warned. The challenge comes back to us in this generation: Will I commit myself to follow Jesus and give Him 100% dedication in His service? This is what He is seeking from each one of us. I hope and pray that each one of us will willingly put our faith and trust in Him, for Jesus’ sake, Amen 

Our song before we come to communion is:

The Lord’s Supper

Jesus invites all Christian who have committed their lives to follow Him to participate in this act of worship. The apostle Paul wrote these words of Scripture in I Corinthians 11:23-26 to guide our observance of Communion.

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: the Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, ²⁴ and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ ²⁵ In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ ²⁶ For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. 

Prayer: Choose your own words of prayer to give thanks for the bread and wine that represent the costly gift of His body and blood for us.

Take the bread: Jesus said: ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.

Take the wine: Jesus said: This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’

Our closing song is:

Closing Prayer:

Thank you Lord that You are in charge of Your world and indeed in overall control over our lives. Like the potter of old working with the clay, You desire to create something beautiful in and through each of our lives in the coming days. Help us respond to the guidance of Your Holy Spirit in the way we ought to live our lives both individually, in our families and collectively as a church family.

By faith we believe that You have great things in store for us in the coming days as we yield our lives to You.  Guide and direct us in all that we seek to accomplish this week, for Jesus’ sake Amen.

Benediction:  The Grace

May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God
and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit,
be with us all evermore, Amen

Remember tonight the national online prayer service at 7pm.

We cannot be certain of the exact dating of this Psalm and the Bible commentators do differ in their reconstruction of the context in which it was written. However, I think there is still a good case for placing it in the context of the rebellion of Absalom and the trauma experienced by David and others as they fled for their lives to the safety of a city state (Mahanaim) across the Jordan River where they were warmly welcomed in their time of need. I see this Psalm as an evening Psalm continuing the pattern from Psalm 3 of alternate morning and evening reflections as they made their escape to safety. My understanding of the context here is that they have either reached Mahanaim or are within sight of doing so safely. (See II Samuel 17:24-29 for more details of the journey).

Therefore, the physical dangers that David and his companions feared have greatly diminished, but the mental and emotional struggles were increasing rather than decreasing. It was as if coping with the stress and trauma of his ordeal had almost been suspended until the worst physical danger was over. But as soon as there was an opportunity to rest and relax a little the waves of inner anguish began to sweep over him. What do we learn from David and possibly also about ourselves as we go through this Psalm? 

1.The agony he experiences (Psalm 6:1-3) Lord, do not rebuke me in Your anger or discipline me in Your wrath. ² Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am faint; heal me Lord, for my bones are in agony.
³ My soul is in deep anguish. How long Lord, how long? David at his best was incredibly sensitive to God’s promptings about the way he was living, especially when he had done wrong. When he was guilty of wrongdoing he was usually quick to acknowledge his error and seek God’s forgiveness. In this context outlined above the aged David acknowledges past failures, but there is no known immediate misconduct or sin for which he needed to repent.

He is in a place of compete emotional and mental exhaustion and in such times our patterns of thought are not necessarily always an accurate guide to our circumstances. We can be right with God and in good relationships with other people and still feel emotionally very low or suffer from clinical depression or the debilitating consequences of uncontrolled pain or loss of sleep. There are times when a family member or friend is in a dark place where we cannot fix their difficulties. At such times we need to show we care and love them enough to stand by them as long as it takes. David’s cry was: How long Lord, how long? Many of us at one time or another have uttered such a cry in these or similar words. Maybe some of the people reading these daily messages have spoken them with respect to the current Covid-19 virus pandemic.   

More often than not God doesn’t remove the situation, instead giving us the grace we need to stand and keep persevering through our tough times. 

2. The appeal he makes (Psalm 6:4-7) Turn, Lord, and deliver me; save me because of Your unfailing love.⁵ Among the dead no one proclaims Your name. Who praises You from his grave? ⁶ I am worn out from my groaning. All night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears. ⁷ My eyes grow weak with sorrow; they fail because of all my foes. His plea goes to the right person to help him. The name for God here in this Psalm (Yahweh) is ‘God in relationship with His people’. It is the covenant name for God. It is the name of One who will never leave us nor forsake us. It is the name of One who promises to provide for our needs. It is the name of One who is with us on our faith journey through the good times and the tough until that day He calls us home forever.

When we grasp the security God’s children enjoy in His amazing love it enables us to trust implicitly in our amazing heavenly Father. This truth is especially precious when we feel as weak and vulnerable as a little child as David does here. At such times as this when emotionally at rock bottom we think and say things that would not be given time in our minds or pass our lips in better times. Our heavenly Father knows our weaknesses and has compassion on us. We cannot require God to act in a particular timescale, but can be assured because of Your unfailing love. This enables us to keep going in the darkness and to pray through our tears.   

3. The assurance he finds (Psalm 6:8-10) Away from me, all you who do evil, for the Lord has heard my weeping. ⁹ The Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayer. ¹⁰ All my enemies will be overwhelmed with shame and anguish; they will turn back and suddenly be put to shame. The songs in the book of Psalms are deeply open and honest about how their author was feeling at the time the songs were being composed.

This fact is in large measure the reason why the Psalms have been so popular in Jewish and Christian praise and prayer over the centuries. David can declare: The Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayer. This did not mean his problems had vanished like the morning mist. On the contrary, the crisis that caused him to leave his home was still being played out. What had changed was that God had helped David to grasp that He was ultimately in control of the lives of His children and sovereign over His created world. You and I don’t know how things will work out regarding the pandemic in our country, or any other country for that matter. However, we trust the God who sent His Son to die in our place on the cross and who by His Holy Spirit is there alongside us each day of our lives. We conclude with the prayer of praise written by the apostle Paul, and included in his letter to the Romans, in Romans 11:33-36: 

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable His judgments, and His paths beyond tracing out! ³⁴‘Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counsellor?’³⁵ ‘Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?’³⁶ For from Him and through Him and for Him are all things. To Him be the glory for ever! Amen. 

Our song for reflection today is: ‘The splendour of the King’

Brian Talbot

Over the centuries in the midst of the strains and pressures of life there have been times when some believers have really struggled to appreciate time alone with God. They have found it so difficult even to formulate words in prayer. It is ironic that others have found it much harder when everything is going well and there is no crisis or immediate need to ask God for assistance. We are all individuals and it is a real blessing that our heavenly Father knows and understands our own personal characteristics. David, the aged King of Israel is continuing his pattern of morning and evening prayers in the time of the crisis begun with the overthrow of his government by his rebellious son Absalom. It is not a rushed experience. David is in a calm reflective mood. This Psalm was intended to be sung reflectively accompanied by the playing of flutes. No loud drums or dramatic orchestral music with this song, at least not in David’s day! What does he highlight here in this Psalm?

1. An attitude that is commended (Psalm 5:1-3) Listen to my words, Lord, consider my lament.
² Hear my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray. ³ In the morning, Lord, You hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before You and wait expectantly. David is beginning the day with God just as he did in peacetime. He has disciplined himself to make this time available at the beginning and end of each day. It continued to give a structure to his day even when he was unable to do very much else. These verses eloquently express how David was feeling. His sense of the loss of what had gone was clear. The future however it turned out would be quite different. David has many faults, but he also had many strengths including his openness and honesty before God. How does he cope with the uncertainty of the times he was living through? He wrote: in the morning I lay my requests before You and wait expectantly (Psalm 5:3). Will you and I follow his example and do the same? He certainly had genuine confidence that God would sort everything out given enough time.

2. An attitude that is condemned (Psalm 5:4-6) For You are not a God who is pleased with wickedness; with You, evil people are not welcome. ⁵ The arrogant cannot stand in Your presence.
You hate all who do wrong; ⁶ You destroy those who tell lies. The bloodthirsty and deceitful You, Lord, detest. David knew that if he had something to sort out with God or another person, he was usually fairly quick to attempt to resolve matters. He was not the only Psalm writer to make this point. Another psalmist wrote: If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; ¹⁹ but God has surely listened and has heard my prayer. ²⁰ Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld His love from me! (Psalm 66:18-20). We are not ultimately responsible for others, but we most certainly are for ourselves. It is easy to compare ourselves favourably to select others! But how seriously do we hold ourselves accountable to the boundaries we have put in place for our own conduct?  

3. An example to acclaim or to avoid (Psalm 5:7-10) It begins with an example to follow: You destroy those who tell lies.The bloodthirsty and deceitful You, Lord, detest. ⁷ But I, by Your great love, can come into Your house; in reverence I bow downtowards Your holy temple. ⁸ Lead me, Lord, in Your righteousness because of my enemies – make Your way straight before me.David here doesn’t come with a spiritual agenda he asked God to bless. Although his existing commitments will soon be back in place, at least within a few months, but it is not the getting back to life as before the crisis David most wants. What matters most for him? Lead me, Lord, in Your righteousness because of my enemies –make Your way straight before me(Psalm 5:8). In essence, he says, help me to want what You want and show me the clear directions I need to follow to lead a God-honouring life. Are you and I willing to pray in that spirit too? 

By contrast, David highlights some other people who had no time for God in their lives. Their examples were clearly to be avoided. Not a word from their mouth can be trusted; their heart is filled with malice. Their throat is an open grave; with their tongues they tell lies. Their throat is an open grave; with their tongues they tell lies.¹⁰ Declare them guilty, O God! Let their intrigues be their downfall. Banish them for their many sins, for they have rebelled against you. (Psalm 5:8-10). Notice that David chose to bring his concerns to God in prayer as his way of reacting to this situation. There are times when we are rightly aggrieved at the misconduct of others, but we are powerless to sort things out at the human level. However, there are no lost causes because we can always bring situations to God in prayer. What is most pressing issue on your heart for prayer today? 

4. A Concluding encouragement to believers (Psalm 11-12) But let all who take refuge in You be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread Your protection over them, that those who love Your name may rejoice in You. ¹² Surely, Lord, You bless the righteous; You surround them with Your favour as with a shield. When we are truly anchored on the solid rock in our faith and trust in God, it can make so much difference. The storm may be raging around us, but we are safe and secure in His Almighty hands. Do you need to be encouraged today to acknowledge that we are not responsible for everything? We cannot do all that needs to be done to cure society’s ills. In fact we can do very little, but what we can do is come with our requests to God the Father in prayer. He can make all the difference in the world!  

Our song for reflection today is ‘My Lighthouse’

Brian Talbot

How do you cope with bad news? If you are like David and his followers then it takes time to sink in. At first there is just disbelief and shock. Then the panic sets in as you try and find the best way to respond to the difficulty you are facing. For these people and their families their immediate objective was to walk with all the stuff they could carry the roughly twenty miles to the Jordan River and get safely across to the other side. The darkness of the first night on the run was the cover they needed to accomplish this goal. To the royal party used to a comfortable life in the palace it must have been a great shock to live at such a basic level simply trying to survive those first few days.

This meditation by King David in Psalm 4 relates to the end of the second day on the run. The ground under foot had been uneven and far from easy to cover at any speed, even without the presence of elderly people and young children. I picture them camped for a second night out in the open. There in the sight of the starry sky, not dimmed by modern light pollution, the weary travellers eagerly laid down to rest. How did David view their situation at that time? What did he have to say to God in his prayers?

(1)The upwards call (Psalm 4:1-3) Answer me when I call to You, my righteous God. Give me relief from my distress;    have mercy on me and hear my prayer (Psalm 4:1). David had many flaws and weaknesses that were well known. He lived his whole life in a very public way. Yet he was never too proud to admit it when he got things wrong and let God down. He was well aware that God was a holy God who knew him better than he knew himself. He had no right to obtain favours from God. Instead, he humbly sought mercy from Him. This is a wise step for us all. God knows our hearts and we cannot hide anything from Him. The wonderful blessing is that God is so gracious to those who come humbly before Him seeking His assistance. David also had a real confidence that God would hear and answer his prayers. Psalm 4:3 states: Know that the Lord has set apart His faithful servant for Himself; the Lord hears when I call to Him. I hope each one of us shares this same confidence that David had in God hearing his prayers. 

(2) The inward conviction (Psalm 4:4-6) David recognised so well that we are all sinners and he was anxious that no sin would come between him and God. He wanted to take the necessary time to ensure his heart was right before God. Search your hearts and be silent (Psalm 4:4b). He wanted to make sure that though there was rightful anger at the injustice of what was happening in their land that it did not lead to ill-considered actions. He wanted to make sure that God was approached in the right way during such a tough time (Psalm 4:5). David knew that there were other people resigned to despair. Many, Lord, are asking, ‘Who will bring us prosperity?’  Let the light of Your face shine on us.  (Psalm 4:6).

Another writer of Psalms, the Jerusalem Temple worship leader Asaph wrote in Psalm 77:6 these words: I remembered my songs in the night. My heart meditated and my spirit asked… But he later admitted his own serious doubts of his struggles being resolved satisfactorily. ‘Will the Lord reject for ever? Will He never show His favour again? ⁸ Has His unfailing love vanished for ever? Has His promise failed for all time? ⁹ Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has He in anger withheld His compassion?’ (Psalm 77:7-9). God did bring him through his difficult time and will do the same for you and me if we put our faith in Him. One of the blessings for some people in recent months has been for more time to spend on other things while confined at home. There is a time to be still in God’s presence reflecting or meditating on His Word and coming before Him with our prayers. 

3. The secret of contentment (Psalm 4:7-8) You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound. In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety. There are two blessings David says he is enjoying even in these most distressing of circumstances. You have filled my heart with greater joy… He is not saying God has supernaturally made him so happy. No! Happiness is based on feelings and in times of serious crisis we are anything but happy. However, joy is contentment and a security in knowing that God has things under His control, even if I cannot see the evidence for it. Then and now God’s people are called to live by faith not by sight (II Corinthians 5:7). Will you and I entrust our futures to the Lord? When we can truly say ‘yes’ to this question it is remarkable how much easier we find it to be at peace with ourselves and also to sleep at night. David here writes: In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety. I sincerely hope and pray that this is your experience as well, as you and I trust God to take care of our futures.  

Our song for reflection today is: ‘In Christ alone’

Brian Talbot

Introduction

What an extraordinary day it had been as King David and those associated with him fled like a long line of refugees from the city of Jerusalem down the steep hillside heading towards the Jordan valley and its well-known river. The city is incredibly tense and quiet as people weight up their options to stay or to flee. Time is of the essence as Absalom and his supporters who had launched the military coup d’état would soon arrive. How would they treat any remaining citizens? Who would be trusted to support the new regime or who would be suspected of deeper sympathies for the aged David? Was it time for the old man to step down and let his middle-aged son take the throne? David although weak in body as the ageing processes cannot be delayed for ever is still as ‘sharp as a pin’ in his mind. He knows that his only hope of survival or even of regaining his throne is to escape across the Jordan River.

All of us have faced moments of crisis and trouble when we felt overwhelmed by events taking place around us. For some of us the events of recent months have been overwhelming, but no-one could deny the unsettling nature of so much that has been going on. The future for us now, like David then, was too difficult to predict. How did David react as an elderly man coming to terms with such difficult times? Psalm 3 was written almost certainly as a response to his time of crisis three thousand years ago.

1. The pressure exerted by David’s foes (Psalm 3:1-2) (Psalm 3:1a) Lord, how many are my foes! II Samuel 15:13-14: A messenger came and told David, ‘The hearts of the people of Israel are with Absalom.’ All of us have had times in our lives when we have felt overwhelmed. The emotions just come over us and we cannot but feel incapable of handling whatever circumstances are in front of us. It may be that in the worst case scenario they might indeed be that bad, but like me you will have had times where a good night’s sleep has allowed our minds to be refreshed and our emotions calmed and then we are able to gain a sense of perspective.

At that point we can start to see actions that can be taken to help us go forward with what lies before us. This is the hardest part of the situation seeking to get a clear picture of what is going on before seeking to process it so that we can organise a plan of action. It is so impressive that David despite his advanced years is able to keep his mind focussed on the task in hand. In life all of us will have our disappointments and setbacks with health issues, work and family challenges and bereavements, together with supporting other people through a varied mix of their life situations.

In these situations it is a privilege and an assurance to know that we can rely on the Lord to sustain and uphold us through these times. Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. ² I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’ ³ Surely He will save you…(Psalm 91:1-3a). I hope each one of us have the Lord as our Rock on whom we can depend in the ups and downs of life.

2. The protection provided by David’s God (Psalm 3:3-4) (Psalm3:3a) But You, Lord, are a shield around me, God you are my protector. You care for me when other people may think –doesn’t he deserve it? I won’t give a hand! In Psalm 27:7-10 David makes this point at a time when he was in another crisis situation. Hear my voice when I call, Lord; be merciful to me and answer me. ⁸ My heart says of You, ‘Seek His face!’ Your face, Lord, I will seek. ⁹ Do not hide Your face from me, do not turn Your servant away in anger; You have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, God my Saviour. ¹⁰ Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me. 

David’s parents never forsook him as far as I can tell. These words were a hypothetical example – even if this happened – God will never abandon me. In Psalm 34:6-7 during an earlier crisis when he was on the run from his predecessor King Saul, David while in Philistine territory was delivered by God. His autobiographical statement is most encouraging to us: This poor man called, and the Lord  heard him; He saved him out of all his troubles.⁷ The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and He delivers them. What a wonderful assurance! I hope you and I can share it as well in our lives today as we seek to navigate the difficulties caused by the Covid-19 virus pandemic.  

3. The peacefulness experienced during David’s sleep (Psalm 3:5-6) I lie down and sleep (Psalm 3:5a). It was because his security was in God that he could have the confidence to lie down and sleep that first night. It was not simply sheer exhaustion that brought about his sleep, though undoubtedly he was exhausted with the exertions of the day. The gift of sleep is so precious to us. But we do take it for granted. We only truly appreciate it when on those rare nights we struggle to sleep, we long for it, and if it doesn’t arrive we can feel very weary. There is here a real practical issue in our prayer life of being able to bring things to the Lord and leave them with Him. Paul’s words in Philippians 4:6-7 are so applicable here: 

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 

May that continue to be our experience as followers of Jesus. David went on to say: I wake again, because the Lord sustains me (Psalm 3:5b). God promises each one of us only the strength we need for one day at a time. It is a battle that we may have to fight daily. May God the Holy Spirit enable us to live this way in His resources.

4. The assurance found in David’s heart (Psalm 3:7-8) From the Lord comes deliverance. May Your blessing be on Your people (Psalm 3:8).  The civil war in Israel was just beginning and David and his companions were camped out on the other side of the Jordan River. Yet this promise would come true. Many people came to assist them with the things they needed from food to bedding; and there would be a rebuilding of their confidence in how things would work out for them to go back to their homes and get on with their lives again as before. The immediate crisis was now over, but what was important was that they committed the future to the Lord their God. We don’t know what the future holds for us either, but we trust the God who holds our future in His hands. 

Our song for reflection is: ‘God is our strength and refuge’

Brian Talbot

Psalm one and Psalm two have been deliberately placed at the start of this book of songs for a purpose. Psalm one zooms in like the microscope to help the reader or singer reflect on the kind of person God wants us to be in order that we might receive His blessing. By contrast, Psalm 2 is like the telescope that helps us look outwards at the bigger picture beyond our immediate little world.  What does this Psalm tell us about our world and our God?

1.There are people who hate God and those who follow Him (Psalm 2:1-3)  

Why do the nations conspire   and the peoples plot in vain? ² The kings of the earth rise up
 and the rulers band together  against the Lord and against His anointed, saying, ³ ‘Let us break their chains   and throw off their shackles.’ We live in a world where there are many loud voices advocating their particular causes. Naturally if we want freedom to express our opinions we should also want other people to have similar freedoms. Yet we live in a world where past and present there have been many rulers who have no time for God or for tolerating the existence of Christian Churches. In 1976, for example, Enver Hoxha, leader of the Communist Party in Albania outlawed all religious practices and declared the country the world’s first completely atheistic state.

It was the great leader and the party that must be revered alone. This reign of terror failed. The regime fell in December 1990 and in the census of 2011 just over twenty years later a mere 2.5% of the population self-identified as atheists. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated example; there are plenty of contemporary examples today of regimes hostile to the practice of Christianity or to other faiths.

What is important to remember is that this is far from a new development; it has been witnessed over many centuries. However, this extreme discrimination or actual persecution for holding to the Christian faith does not last forever. The day of freedom eventually comes. The challenges and discouragements in the current Covid-19 virus pandemic for most of us in the United Kingdom are on an apparently smaller scale, but they can seem so large to us. The important point to remember is this: they will not last forever.  

2. There is One who is in control (Psalm 2:4-6)

⁴ The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. ⁵ He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, ⁶ ‘I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.’ The Psalmist pictures God looking down at those on earth who want to prevent other people worshiping Him and bursting out in laughter. Evil things happen in our world and sometimes those who do wrong appear to get away with it. But God will have the final word. The Psalmist drew attention to an installation of a king by God in Jerusalem. It is business for Him as usual in heaven and on earth He is not confined. As a result of the Covid-19 virus pandemic church buildings have been closed for more than three months, but God’s Spirit is very much at work in the world. Record numbers of people have accessed at least one church service online during the lockdown. God is not confined by our difficulties on earth. We have our struggles and our tears at times, but we will not forget that God is on the throne.    

3. God has spoken! (Psalm 2:7-9)

⁷ I will proclaim the Lord’s decree: He said to Me, ‘You are My son;  today I have become Your father. ⁸ Ask Me  and I will make the nations Your inheritance,  the ends of the earth Your possession.⁹ You will break them with a rod of iron; You will dash them to pieces like pottery.’ God has spoken! He is building His kingdom in the hearts and lives of His people across the planet.  How often in church do we pray these words: ‘Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’ (Matthew 6:10); This is what God is doing throughout the world year after year. Often it takes place quietly in the lives of individuals who commit their lives to follow Jesus. On other occasions there are more obvious answers to pray and signs of God at work.

In our church Bible verse for the year in 2020, Ephesians 3:20-21, this prayer begins with these words: Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us… I believe that God is bringing this to fruition in the life of our church during these difficult times. What will be the ultimate result of the work of God’s Spirit in our midst? ‘I don’t know’ is the honest answer, but we serve an amazing God who will be at work in the lives of people drawing them to faith in Him. These cryptic verses in Psalm 2 are understood to be God the Father setting Jesus apart for the worldwide kingdom He will rule over at the end of the age. Those who refuse to tolerate the existence of His Church and seek to wipe out its membership with their imprisonments and other forms of persecution will one day be required to give an account of their lives to God. He will have the final say as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 

4. God’s message to the world leaders (Psalm 2:10-12)

¹⁰ Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. ¹¹ Serve the Lord with fear   and celebrate His rule with trembling.  ¹²Kiss His son, or He will be angry   and your way will lead to your destruction, for His wrath can flare up in a moment.  Blessed are all who take refuge in Him. In effect, we might say in contemporary language if you want to be on the right side of history sign up for God’s team. ‘Jesus is Lord’ was the minimum statement of faith of the Early Church and the words uttered from the lips of baptismal candidates in the first few centuries of Church history. The imagery here is of earthly rulers acknowledging that God is God and that they too must bow the knee to Him. These words of many centuries before the time of Jesus were intended as an encouragement to Gods people that despite all the obstacles in our pathways at times like this that the final triumph of King Jesus is assured. Let us go into this new day with confidence that God is on the throne of His universe and give Him all the glory and praise.

Our song for reflection today is: ’10,000 reasons’ (Bless the Lord) 

Brian Talbot

Psalm 1 is the first of 150 songs used in the regular worship of the Jewish people over the last three thousand years. It is this song that sets the tone for the rest of the book and asks its readers and singers about the choices they are making about what is really important in their lives. This is incredibly serious because there are two pathways described in this Psalm and only one is marked as ‘Blessed’ by God.  This Psalm acts as a kind of mirror inviting us to take a long hard look at our priorities about what is really important to us. The Psalm divides into two parts:

1. The choice God favours (Psalm1:1-3)

(a)Expressed negatively (Psalm 1:1) Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers. There is a progression of choices portrayed with increasingly negative consequences. It begins with the attraction of that which will be harmful to our lives. The person is pictured walking in the direction of danger without making any commitment to it, even though they might find it attractive in some way.  However, because there is inadequate self-awareness of the danger of this choice this person is portrayed as standing in a place where wrong choices are being made. There is a battle of conscience here ‘Should I or should I not join in? The battle appears to be lost as the individual now pulls up a chair to sit in the company of mockers. However, the Psalmist reminds us that there are those people who stand out from the crowd and say I will not make these kinds of choices. My values and convictions are very different. I want to do what pleases God, therefore, there are attitudes I will not hold; places where I will not go and company I will not keep.    

(b) Expressed positively (Psalm 1:2) ² but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on His law day and night. Looking at approaching life from a very different perspective the unknown author explains how we might cultivate a more God-honouring perspective on the choices we make each day of our lives. It is alarmingly simple. We are invited to set aside some time each day to read and reflect on a passage from God’s Word and to seek to apply what we have read and reflected on to our daily lives. It is always good to pray before we read the Bible passage to ask for God’s help to understand and apply it to our lives. We have easy access to the Bible. We can download it as an app on our mobile phones or we can read it in one of many printed Bibles. What matters most is reading it and making choices in the light of what God is saying to us. 

(c) The impact of these choices (Psalm 1:3) That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither – whatever they do prospers. There are some forms of medication we obtain from the doctor that take time to work in our minds or our bodies. However, over time they can produce encouraging results providing the patient keeps taking the medication. The person who has a healthy spiritual diet, feeding their minds with good ‘food’, will gain great benefit over time.  Now we may not be able to remember what our Bible passage was for reflection, for example, exactly six weeks ago today. Neither will we remember what we ate for dinner that evening too, but undoubtedly both inputs were to our benefits, spiritually and physically. Do you need to take action to start reading the Bible each day? Or as a Christian do I need to take steps to ensure I give this task a greater priority even this week?  

2. The choice God rejects (Psalm 1:4-6)

(a)No spiritual stability (Psalm 1:4) Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Chaff offers no resistance to the wind. It is so quickly blown away by the wind and may be seen no more. A person like this constantly changes their views wanting to be on the ‘right side of history’, but switching their opinions in response to the pressures from others, with no serious independent consideration of what is at stake. The choices made under the heat of pressure may be seriously harmful to their own lives or to others around them. But the consequences can be fatal. The choice of vocabulary here can appear harsh, but the Psalmist’s motivation is to challenge us not to drift through life making apparently unconnected choices and discovering too late how much of life we have wasted. Instead, he wants us to get his point and say: this will not be me, I will with God’s help not only seek to make good choices in life, but also to aim for the best choices for the future direction of my life that includes committing our lives to follow Him.       

(b) No hope for the future (Psalm 1:5) Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. One day each of us will stand before God to give an account of our lives for the choices we have made here on earth. One choice above all others will be determinative as to how our lives will be considered on that day. This refers to the choice we need to make concerning putting our faith and trust in God through Jesus. Has there been a time in your life when you put your faith and trust in Jesus? If not, this is the most important step in life that you need to take; your eternal destiny depends on it. Why not take that step today, by turning from your sins and to your Saviour the Lord Jesus who died in our place on the cross two thousand years ago. 

(c) The impact for today (Psalm1:6) For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction. God is watching over us willing us on to make the best choices for our lives. But the responsibility is your and yours alone at the end of the day. It is never too late to commit our lives to trust Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. But that step of faith is only the beginning of a journey in fellowship with God. He also desires us to join with other Christians as an active participant in a local church. In this time of restrictions due to the Covid-19 virus pandemic we have been limited to online connections in our communities, but look forward to the day when we can meet with others regularly in local church premises.

However, we thank God that through the blessings of modern technology we have been able to meet with Christians in other parts of our country or across the world for meetings and services something most of us had never done before. This has reminded us so powerfully that the Church of Jesus Christ is found in each country across the globe. God is building His Church around the world and we have the privilege of being a part of it. Let us give Him praise today that this work continues despite all the challenges we face or obstacles to overcome, for His name’s sake, Amen

Our song for reflection today is: ‘When I survey the wondrous cross’

Brian Talbot

Intimations

• Morning worship online has moved to start at 10am and JAM at 11:30am on the Zoom platform.
• You may want to use some of the Engage Worship resources for daily worship during this week.
• The Messy Church At Home information is available on our website.
• We will be continuing the Prayer Livestream at 7.00pm on Sunday’s.  This will be another significant time of national prayer for us. Please join in and, if you don’t already do so, would you let your fellowship know about this and put it on your social media. Click here to access.

JAM Kids’ focus:

Here is the new video series from Out of the Box for JAM Kids age group.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB2T092-T7M

Worksheet 4 to accompany this talk

Call to worship

You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed. 

Joshua 23:14

We are grateful to Alan McRobbie for selecting the songs for worship for this service

Our opening song of praise and worship is:

We continue to worship the Lord in our second song of praise and worship:

Opening prayer

Lord we come reverently into Your holy presence today with a sense of privilege that as children of the King of Kings we may enter directly Your presence with our praises and offering of worship.

We are so thankful for all that You have done for us, supremely through the person of Your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ. We come to adore You and acknowledge that we have done nothing that merits Your generosity to us. But Your grace is amazing, Your unmerited favour to us cleanses us from our sins and clothes us with the righteousness of Jesus, so that we stand before You today in His name with great joy.

Thank you heavenly Father for the gift of Your Holy Spirit to equip and enables us to go forward with confidence into this new week, strengthen us for all that lies ahead of us. Open our hearts that we might hear You speak as Your Holy Word is read and preached later in this service, for Jesus’ sake Amen

Let us say together the words Jesus taught His disciples when He said:

‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.'”      
For Yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever Amen.

All Age Talk – Alan McRobbie

If you were to buy a book from a shop, it would belong fully and legally to you.

But, what if the book could talk, it might argue with you: “What are you doing? What right do you have to take me with you? I don’t want to belong to you. I’d rather belong to myself. I want to stay with all the other books here.”

What would you say? You would tell the book, “But, I paid for you and now you belong to me.” The book would have no choice but to go with you. You’re the rightful owner with full authority over the book.

I wonder if we realise that there is someone who owns us. Our owner is Jesus. He became our owner with full authority over us, at great cost to Himself. Unlike the few pounds we bought our book with.

Jesus paid a huge price with his life to buy us back to be with Him. Because He gave His life to buy us back, we belong to Him and He legally owns us.

But, although we belong to Him, Jesus still waits for us to decide to hand ourselves over to Him willingly. He would never force us. He wants us to choose Him, and He gave us a choice. Unlike the book, we can make choices and can decide what we do.

This is why it’s important for us to see that we are no longer our own. We belong to the One who bought us. If we really see all that Jesus did to have us back with Him, and why He wants us back, we’ll understand why he owns us. When we really understand how much it cost Him to own us, we would give ourselves to Him, not just because He owns us, but also because we have seen the love that he has for us and that makes us love Him too.

Once we know and understand the huge price Jesus paid to have us back and why, we can decide whether we want to come to Jesus. Jesus wants you, but do you want Him? And no one can make that decision but you.

If you want to understand more about the price Jesus paid for you and why, read Mathew, Mark, Luke or John in the Bible or if you are an adult come to our online Life and the Christian Faith course starting in August. Contact us at webmaster@broughtybaptist.org for details.

All Age Song

Prayers for others

Thank you Lord once more for the privilege of praying for other people:

As most people will be taking ‘staycations’ this year, we pray that it will still be a time of refreshing and relaxation for people despite the circumstances. May it be a time when we can slow down and allow God to speak into our hearts and lives with greater clarity. We give thanks that this is a time for individuals, churches and our society at large to re-evaluate and work out what is most important. Please pray that as a result, lives would be lived at a more sustainable and simplified pace; churches would be able to listen for the wind of the Spirit and that society would learn how to truly care for others.  

We pray for those experiencing financial difficulty at this time. We pray for CAP and other debt agencies working with people and for the multitude of food banks that are sadly having to support more people than ever.

We give thanks for the scientists across the world who are working hard on finding treatments and a vaccine for Covid19. Please pray that scientists and politicians across the world would unite together in collaboration for the common cause of fighting this pandemic.

We give thanks for the hard work of teachers across Scotland and the work they do in educating children and young people. We pray that the summer break will bring much needed rest and refreshment to school teachers and support staff. Pray for the planning that teachers and local authorities will already be doing to prepare for the autumn

In our Baptist Union of Scotland we remember to pray for:

Ali Laing (Next Generation Development Coordinator) – Give thanks for the Invest trainees who have just finished their training year and everyone who took part in the training hub, which took place online for the last couple of gathering. Please pray for us as we consider what Invest 2020 will look like this year due to Covid.

Glenrothes BC – Please pray for this church fellowship as they seek to make known the love of Jesus in the town of Glenrothes in these challenging times.

Gourock BC – We give our praise and thanks to God for his continued provision, and the generous giving of his people, as we continue our work to refurbish our church building. Please pray that our reach into the community might extend and if this needs to be in new ways, that the Lord will help us embrace them and equip us appropriately.

Granton BC, Edinburgh – Like all churches we have had to adapt re the current situation. We give thanks for online gatherings and for new and re-connections with people. Pray that as we return after Covid we will do so encouraged in the Lord.

We pray too for the other Christian churches in our local communities and across the land. As we catch a glimpse of the next stage of the future with both greater opportunities and additional challenges for our work and witness, grant us wisdom Lord to sense what You are saying to us as we go forward by faith in Your name. Help us not be fearful about the future but quietly confidence that You have plans for our future, plans to give us a hope and a future.

We now pray for other people with particular needs that are connected to our own congregation: We ask that you would comfort those who have been bereaved in recent weeks. Help them to come to terms with their loss and to know Your presence with them each step of the way. We remember those with ongoing health problems, particularly those that have been waiting a long time for hospital treatment or operations. We remember Nina Goldthorp as she goes into hospital this week and pray that her operation goes well. We pray too for Moraig Piggot for healing after a recent back injury.     

In addition, we bring our own needs to You at this time …,  in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, Amen….

Bible Reading

 The Message

Pre-recorded message

Jeremiah 29:1-14 A vision for the future

Introduction

Their world had changed for ever. Life as they had known it back in Judah was a memory of the past, but not a future possibility. Some false prophets in the Jewish community had claimed a word from God to the effect that in only a short time our nightmare will all be over and we can go back to our homes and communities and pick up the pieces where we left off. It would be a nice dream to do that, but it wasn’t going to happen. At worst it was giving false hopes to deeply traumatised people.

Today we might call that emotional abuse.  Jeremiah the faithful prophet of God knew that someone would have to pick up the pieces when the hopes of these exiles in Babylon were dashed again. The messages contained in Jeremiah 29 were a resetting of the mindset of God’s people going forward. God was not only the God of their past but also of their future. This is so important to us in these uncertain times.

If we look over the two thousand years of church history the biggest periods of church growth came in the generations after very difficult times. God has not changed so there is no reason not to be optimistic about the future in the medium to longer term.

We have lived through one of the most difficult periods of time in the last hundred years in the United Kingdom during the last four months. We will live in the near future in equally uncertain times as we enter a less restricted chapter of the lock down leading hopefully to the new normality for the foreseeable future.

This passage in Jeremiah 29 is particularly helpful at this time in helping us reset our hopes and expectations for the coming months. We have to accept that we do not know what will happen in the future. Some things we do in church will be similar to what we did before. Other things will be very different. On a positive note last Sunday having Wit and Helen join us from Northern Thailand at the zoom service was remarkable; it breathes new life into our commitment to support overseas mission and enables link missionaries or indigenous workers to join us for Sunday worship at minimal cost and saves many hours of travel. The world has become a much smaller place. What does this passage teach us?    

1. Letting go of the Past (Jeremiah 29:1-4)

¹This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets and all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. ²(This was after King Jehoiachin and the queen mother, the court officials and the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen and the artisans had gone into exile from Jerusalem.) ³He entrusted the letter to Elasah son of Shaphan and to Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. It said: ⁴This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:

Memory is a good thing and we value this gift from God. However, how we use it has a powerful impact shaping how we live in the present and plan for the future. This community of people were bound by the past and understandably so. They were now exiles in a foreign land and living in the midst of a people whose languages, cultures and religions were all foreign to them. It was an overwhelming experience and they wanted to retreat into the safety of the past. They wanted to believe that the clock could be put back and life to be just the same as it had been a number of years earlier in the ‘good-old days’.

This is a temptation in every generation as our memories select the highlights of our earlier years, often overlooking or playing down the difficulties, and as we get old it can become easier and easier to focus our entire energies on that past life. For some of us it may be happy memories that we need to accept are of a former era and cannot be recreated in the present, but that God has other blessings and joys in store for us in the future that can only be ours if we are willing to go forward by accepting that the future will not be the same as our past, but acknowledging that God’s hand is upon us and we can trust Him to take care of our future.

Jeremiah reminds us in this key verse: For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future (Jer.29:11). We also release the happy memories to their rightful place in the past and focus our energies on the present and the future that God has in store for us. Others of us here could be struggling to let go of bad memories of the past.

Inappropriate words by others or by ourselves that have seared themselves on our minds or appalling actions that keep reoccurring in our thoughts and prevent us from enjoying the blessings and encouragements God has in store for us in the coming years. Is there something that you need to name before the Lord and allow His Spirit to deliver you from being bound by it? The devil is into a ministry of condemnation and he rejoices in our times of despair and even depressions, but God wants to lift us up from the devil’s condemnation to experience His forgiveness for past failings and His affirmation of love for us as His children.

Paul said this to the Christians in Rome: ¹Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus ²because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:1-2). We are set free to embrace the future God has for us :For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future (Jer.29:11).

Here the key verse is Jeremiah 29:4: This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. Why have the things we individually and collectively have experienced during this Covid-19 virus pandemic taken place? It is because in the sovereign and mysterious purposes of God He has allowed them to take place, in order that we may learn to draw closer to Him. This does not mean that the events of recent months have been a good thing.

We all wish there had been no pandemic. However, we must determine in such situations not to allow our present and future lives to be determined by the past. I was deeply moved some years ago seeing the response of the Amish People in America at a time of an awful tragedy in their midst. The question put by the Amish community leader on Monday 2 October 2006, the day five of their young girls were murdered in their schoolhouse, to a watching world was this: What is God trying to teach us through these circumstances? [see CBSNews.com, 4 October 2006 for more similar Amish responses]

What has taken place cannot be reversed, but while it is appropriate always to acknowledge the past or take account of it, it must serve as an opportunity to move forward with God into the future. When we place our future in God’s hands there is a security that can be found in no other person or way of life.

2. Embracing the Present (Jeremiah 29:5-9)

(a)Practical Advice (Jeremiah 29:5-7)“Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. ⁶Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. ⁷Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

What was Jeremiah saying in simple words to these people? He tells them very firmly that they are in the place where God wants them to be. They ought not to be wishing they were living somewhere else. Instead at that moment in time God had called them to be His witnesses in Babylon and God would bless them as they put Him first in that place.

In the same way God has called the majority of us participating in this service to live in this area and worship here in Broughty Ferry Baptist Church; but the same principle applies wherever in God’s world we live, work and worship. He wants us to do our very best in each area of our lives for Him. Jeremiah is summarising here the full range of activities in the home and at work and in the wider community.

Biblical Christianity is not simply concerned with explicitly church-based activities or our personal devotional lives, although they are of crucial importance for our spiritual growth, but it is also concerned about us bringing glory to God through the use of the gifts and abilities He has given us in the workplace, and in the wider community as well as in our homes and church community.

We are called by the Lord to play a full role as citizens in our land which for some of us may involve us in our local food bank or a school Parent Council or other civic bodies, and a smaller number still in local, regional and national political life. Notice Jeremiah’s plea regarding the city in which they lived: Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.  This is very similar practical advice to the more general challenging words of Jesus in Matthew 5:16-18:

¹³“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.¹⁴“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

We must never think that anything we do is unimportant to God. He created us to be a holistic people with time for work, but also time for rest; time for families and church family; space to enjoy music and the arts and the beauty of His creation. The most challenging task for most of us is how to handle the twenty-four hours we possess each day adequately.

We need to be able to delight in the ordinary things of life the growth and development of a baby or a child; the accomplishments of a young person growing up; the intricacy and beauty of nature and appreciate the wonders of creation. In our nation’s culture the most important things are rarely celebrated. Faithful dedicated love between a man and a woman in marriage over many decades, for example, is ridiculed and regarded with little respect by too many in the media and most especially by our current Westminster government.

Family members or friends who care selflessly for years for a dependent loved one are also rarely honoured for their work; yet what they do in the sight of God is as valuable as accomplishments in the workplace or on the sports field.    

(b) A Powerful Warning (Jeremiah 29:8-9) ⁸Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. ⁹They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the Lord.

We have our challenges both as individuals and as churches in discerning how God wants us to live as His witnesses at the time and in the context of our contemporary culture. In the new situation God through Jeremiah told the exiles build and plant.

Put down roots –Increase in number there; do not decrease. God is building His church. Jesus said in Matthew 16:18: I will build My Church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it (KJV)Remember in the call of Jeremiah, the prophet was told to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow (Jer.1:10). The people were battening down the hatches in adverse circumstances and telling the unpopular messenger, the young Jeremiah, that there was no need to change things as they will be okay at some unidentified point in the future. In such a context Jeremiah preached the famous temple sermon, from outside the Jerusalem Temple because he was not allowed to give it inside the premises. God’s blessing is not automatic; if His people will not heed His voice then He will remove their witness.

In Jeremiah 7:12-15 the prophet reminded the people of the derelict state of the first collective place of witness for the nation in the time of King Saul: ‘Go now to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for my Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel. ¹³While you were doing all these things, declares the Lord, I spoke to you again and again, but you did not listen; I called you, but you did not answer. ¹⁴Therefore, what I did to Shiloh I will now do to the house that bears my Name, the temple you trust in, the place I gave to you and your fathers. ¹⁵I will thrust you from my presence, just as I did all your brothers, the people of Ephraim.’

We need to be honest that not all churches will grow and prosper in the years following the ending of the Covid-19 virus pandemic. There are some that will close for a variety of reasons. Sadly some will close because they have lost confidence in proclaiming the unchanging truth of God’s Word from their pulpit and the need to share our faith with other people. Families grow in number by the birth of new members, physically in our nuclear families, and spiritually in our church families.

A church that has Jesus Christ as its head in practice not just in its theology, will be happy to declare, in the famous words of the former Archbishop of Canterbury William Temple, that the Church of Jesus Christ is the only organisation in existence in the world that exists primarily for the benefit of non-members! We need to dedicate ourselves afresh in the coming days to live out our mission statement: ‘Building a Christ centred church: looking to Christ, growing in Christ and sharing Christ’. God sometimes has to shake the foundations before His people will listen to what He is saying, then and now. Jeremiah will go on to indicate that a God-centred people are a praying people. This will also need to be hallmark of this church in the coming years too.  

3. Working for the Future (Jeremiah 29:10-14)

Jeremiah’s call was not only negative but also (Jer.1:10) to build and to plant. The up-building, the prosperity, could only come when God’s people had seen their situation as God had done. Here was:

(a) God’s Plan (Jeremiah 29:10-11) This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfil my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

What can God accomplish through you and me in the coming years if we have the faith to entrust our lives into His hands? We live in an unfair world. Some people seem to pass through life without any apparent major crises at all, except bereavements. Others appear to face one tough time after another. The majority of us are somewhere in between. Yet through it all we need to remember God’s plans for us as His people, individually, in our families and in church families. Our responsibility is to claim the promises of God.

(b) Our Responsibility (Jeremiah 29:12-13) Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart. In Daniel 9 the aged saint remembers that the prophesied time is nearly up. How does he take it to God? (Dan 9:3) So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes. How does he pray? Identification of himself with the nation in sin and need for repentance. 

⁴I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed: “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands, 5we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. ⁶We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.  ⁷“Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame—the men of Judah and people of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you.

⁸O Lord, we and our kings, our princes and our fathers are covered with shame because we have sinned against you. 9 The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him; ¹⁰ we have not obeyed the Lord our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets. ¹¹All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you. “Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you. ¹²You have fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us great disaster.

From where does Daniel gain confidence that God will keep His promises? It is from the evidence of past deliverance from Egypt; Daniel 9:15: “Now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand. On what basis does he ask for help now?  (Daniel 9:18)We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. ¹⁹ O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name. Prayerful Bible-based pleas move the heart of our loving Father in heaven then and now in 2020.

(c) God’s Promise (Jer.29:14) I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.” God promises that His Word that goes out of His mouth. ..will not return to Him empty, but will accomplish what I desire (Isaiah55:11) If we turn to seek His face as we should then the days of blessing in conversions of people who don’t know Jesus; restorations of backsliders who have gone away from Jesus and powerful ministries of Spirit-filled believers will be much in evidence in our midst. God does not promise a timescale. He says seek My face and claim My promises, for Jesus’ sake. Amen

Our song before we come to communion is:

The Lord’s Supper

Jesus invites all Christian who have committed their lives to follow Him to participate in this act of worship. The apostle Paul wrote these words of Scripture in I Corinthians 11:23-26 to guide our observance of Communion.

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: the Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, ²⁴ and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ ²⁵ In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ ²⁶ For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. 

Prayer: Choose your own words of prayer to give thanks for the bread and wine that represent the costly gift of His body and blood for us.

Take the bread: Jesus said: ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.

Take the wine: Jesus said: This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’

Our closing song is:

Closing Prayer:

Thank you Lord that You are the God of hope who place our feet solid foundations.  We will face difficulties, disappointments and have our tears, but we will also have our joys, our encouragements and future blessings because You are Lord over all. As we enter the summer period, normally a quieter period of rest and reflection before a new session begins, we ask that You would give us a sense of Your peace and Your presence with us as we continue in these uncertain times. We go, though, with confidence because You have plans to give us a hope and a future, for Jeseus’ sake, Amen 

Benediction:  The Grace

May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God
and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit,
be with us all evermore, Amen

Remember tonight the national online prayer service at 7pm.

There is so much in the world that we cannot change. Even in our own locality there are so many things over which we have no influence. We have all felt a sense of powerlessness in the face of the Covid-19 virus pandemic. Our lives feel like they have been put on hold until this invisible enemy is vanquished. For those in work and able to continue their daily routine as close as possible to normal the last few months have been in some ways less challenging, but for the majority of us we have been in a very different place seeking to adjust to a ‘new normal’ way of life for a period of months. Of course it is always better to focus on what we can do rather than what we cannot do. Job in chapter thirty-one of the book named after him, in his final comments on the way he has been living, draws attention to the factors over which we have control in our lives. He appeals to Almighty God to examine his life and to pass judgement fairly on him. What topics does Job highlight for us in Job 31?

1. Job as a human being (Job 31:1-12) In verses 1-4 he focuses on how as a man he has viewed the women he has encountered in his daily life. In essence, he is addressing the subject of lust and declares that he made a self-conscious decision to discipline himself to always view a woman respectfully and honourably and not in a manner for self-gratification. Given that the audience to his words are his friends who have known him for many years, they would know the kind of person Job was. Therefore, Job could not pretend to be someone different to the man they had known. In verses 5-8 he moves on to declare he has never deceived someone, by contrast on this subject I am blameless (Job 31:6); then, in Job 31:9-12, he states he has been faithful to his wife and not engaged in any inappropriate relationships. I have control over my attitudes, words and actions as a human being, says Job, therefore, I have honoured God in each area of my personal life. Can you and I state before God that we are people of integrity? Our country needs more people like this in all walks of life and within all types of communities.          

2. Job as an employer (Job 31:13-15) Job was a wealthy businessman who had a lot of employees. How had he treated them over the years with respect to their working environment? Had he been fair in settling their terms for pay and conditions?  Our witness to other people as a Christian consists of so much more than our words of testimony. People want to know how it works in our conduct.  Am I the same in my attitudes or actions on a Sunday in church and Monday to Saturday in all manner of other places? If not, why not?

3. Job as a neighbour (Job 31:16-23, 29-32) Did I have time for other people when they requested assistance? Was I willing to make some time to build good relationships with the people who live nearby my home? ‘Yes’ said Job. I have done this consistently. He had not engaged in a public relations exercise. It was genuine care for the needs of other people. This was not just local people who lived in his area, but also travellers passing through and others who needed food to eat. In current times our movements are restricted, but we can write messages to others on paper or online to encourage one another. We can make phone calls or possibly hold conversations across the garden fence. In the recent past during this pandemic in our city so many people have looked out for their neighbours doing shopping, collecting prescriptions, mowing lawns and so much more where that was required. It doesn’t have to be a big commitment, sometimes it may simply be a willingness to listen to a person going through a tough time.         

4. Job as a worshipper (Job 31:24-28) What comes first in my life? Job was clear that money and possessions did not have first place in his affections. Nor did he worship other gods. Instead he was a dedicated and committed worshiper of the one true God. There was no-one or no thing that received a greater allegiance than Job had promised to God. He was faithful to the God who loved and cared for him – is that true of you and me as well?

5. Job as a steward (Job 31:38-40) did he care for the environment in the land where he lived? Was there appropriate crop management to maximise the yields at harvest time? Did he treat his tenant farmers fairly as he issued guidance on how to maintain fertile and productive land? It is interesting that environmental concerns were being mentioned here several thousand years ago,  

In summary, Job was outlining his attempt to live for God each day of the work and in whatever location he found himself. Like him, our focus should be primarily on what we can do for God and for other people in their times of need, rather than on what we cannot do.  As we live God-honouring lives, let us ask God how we may best serve Him and other people at this time, for Jesus’ sake, Amen.

Our song for reflection today is: ‘As the deer pants for the water’

Brian Talbot