2020 – Broughty Ferry Baptist Church

Christmas Day 2020 – Church at Home service

Welcome to our Christmas Day service, the first time our church have gathered using technology to give thanks to God for the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus.

You can watch our Christmas Eve Facebook service here.

Scripture verses:

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem ²and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw His star when it rose and have come to worship Him.’ (Matthew 2:1-2)

Opening Carol O Come all ye faithful

Opening prayer

Lord Jesus, We come with hearts full of praise to worship and adore You on Christmas Day as we want to mark this day with thanksgiving for your entrance into our world two thousand years ago. We have never sung as well as the angels but we confess that it is frustrating that we have been unable to sing Your praises when we have gathered in person for services on worship in the last nine months.

However, in our hearts and in our homes or cars many of us have sung the well-known carols or other songs of worship to our Lord and Saviour. The hymn writer whose familiar words we have heard sung expresses so well the desires of our hearts today too: ‘Yes, Lord, we greet You, born that happy morning;Jesus, to You be glory given! Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing! O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord’ Amen.

This song is sung by the Brisbane Chorale in Queensland, Australia, and includes in its ranks Nigel Robb, a regular attender of our church online services.

Bible Reading

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem ²and asked, ‘Where is the One who has been born king of the Jews? We saw His star when it rose and have come to worship Him.’
³When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁴When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. ⁵‘In Bethlehem in Judea,’ they replied, ‘for this is what the prophet has written:
⁶‘“But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd My people Israel.”’
⁷Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. ⁸He sent them to Bethlehem and said, ‘Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find Him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship Him.’
⁹After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. ¹¹On coming to the house, they saw the child with His mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. ¹²And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
Matthew 2: 1-12

Prayers for others:

Lord, on the day when because You demonstrated Your love for us by entering our world as a baby in Bethlehem, it is very fitting for us to pause to remember in our prayers other people this day.

We remember those living in war zones for whom ‘Peace on earth’ seems a distant dream. We particularly remember those driven from their homes by the long-running conflicts in Iraq, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen, as well as in more recent conflicts in Nagorno Karabakh where hundreds of thousands of Armenians were unjustly driven from their historic homelands and most recently in Ethiopia.

We remember particularly today fellow Christians who are suffering persecution for their faith in places like Northern Nigeria, Somalia or North Korea. In particular we remember….

We pray for those who are homeless in our own land and other countries at this time and pray too for the magnificent volunteers and other full-time workers who make a special effort to reach out to those sleeping on the streets at this time of year. In particular we remember…

Lord, for many of us we have time off work or other responsibilities today but we acknowledge a debt of gratitude to those who have to work over the Christmas season, especially in the National Health Service caring for those who are particularly unwell. In particular we remember…

Lord, for those living in Care Homes and their Carers we pray Your blessing on them today as well. In particular we remember…

Lord, for those living on their own who because of the virus pandemic restrictions may not have visitors today, grant them the strength to get through the day without feeling too great a sense of loss, trusting that very soon family and friends may once more be able to visit. In particular we remember…

Lord, for ourselves and our families, they are precious to us. This year most of us will spend time with considerably less people than usual, but we want to express our appreciation for the people we will be able to see. However, we want to bring our family members to You. In particular we remember…

In Jesus’ name we bring our prayers, Amen

Pre-recorded version of the message

Message – Matthew 2:1-12 What are you looking for this Christmas?

Introduction

It was the week before Christmas and Tom had still to buy a present for his wife Sarah. He knew what she really wanted for Christmas but their limited funds simply wouldn’t stretch that far. What was it Sarah had wanted?

It was straightforward. Years earlier she had inherited a grandfather clock from her granddad. It occupied a significant place in their home, but there was one problem it wasn’t working. A few friends had had a go at fixing it but none of them succeeded in their attempts. A professional company had claimed they could fix it and had estimated that the repair would cost several hundred pounds more than they possessed.

What a pity, Tom thought. Anyway they decided that year to get each other an unusual present –something quite unexpected. While up in the attic soon afterwards he found a metal object for which he couldn’t figure out any use. He had a bright idea and polished it so that it shone beautifully. Then he put a ribbon on it and wrapped it up and duly presented his present to Sarah that Christmas.

On Christmas day she opened it declared it ‘beautiful’ and ‘just the thing’ but followed it up –after some slightly awkward silence with- ‘what is it? Tom confessed he hadn’t a clue. It was duly placed on the mantelpiece in the lounge where it stayed that Christmas and then reappeared over the next few Christmases.

The clock meanwhile was still out of action. Several years later Andy, a friend of Tom’s, was doing some work in the house, He noticed this unusual object on the mantelpiece and went to get a closer look. Andy like many friends before him had been told the story of the clock that no-one could get to work because something was missing. Out of the blue he called to Tom: ‘Would you mind if we turned the clock over on its side so that I can have a look inside?’ Tom agreed thinking no harm could be done and Sarah wouldn’t know as she was out at the time.

For approximately an hour Andy fiddled around with the inner parts of the clock. Various bits came out and were put back, and eventually he asked Tom to help him lift the old clock back into its upright position. Soon he had it working just as it used to do – but where was the unusual object from the mantelpiece? No prizes for guessing. It was the missing part without which the clock wouldn’t work. With it the clock was complete and reliable once again [Evangelicals Now, December 2013].

It could have been working years earlier, but no-one connected with the clock knew what they were looking for to fix the problem. In our lives we can be searching for meaning and purpose or a sense of fulfilment –but not know where to go to find it. Is that your situation this morning?

Jesus said in Matthew 7:7-8, in the Sermon on the Mount, these words: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ⁸For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Will you persevere until you find it? Two thousand years ago a group of influential and learned men were willing at significant financial cost to search for the one whose birth they had predicted as a result of seeing an unusual star. Their search took time –as may yours and mine, but their search was ultimately successful as ours can be today and in the years to come.

1. People seeking after truth (Matthew 2:1-2)

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem ²and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw His star when it rose and have come to worship Him.’

(a) Who were they? The Magi were a mix of astronomers and astrologers in their approach to the stars. This learned group of people collectively served as government advisers and senior civil servants in the Babylonian and Persian Empires (modern day Iraq and Iran).

Any research on the frontiers of knowledge in their day would have been carried out by them. As a result their arrival in Judah making enquiries about a new-born king would not have been as big a surprise at that time as we might expect as other journeys were undertaken by wise men. One of the best known was a delegation of men from this group who went to Rome in 66AD to consult with the Emperor Nero. It would be extremely doubtful if they learned anything from him as his sanity was seriously under threat by that stage of his life.

For our purposes the fact that a group of learned men travelled as far as Rome nearly two generations after the birth of Jesus is confirmation that the Magi were earnest seekers after the truth. Like many peoples in the ancient world there was a vague awareness that a special king, a Messiah, was to be born in Judah who was to have significance not only for His own people but also for the whole world. They did not know when this baby would be born or where in the land of Judah. But this did not deter them from setting out on their journey. Are you as determined as they were to find the truth? To search for Jesus and to come face–to-face with His transforming power; the birth of Jesus was not only significant for the world of 2,000 years ago it is equally important for us today!

(b) How serious was their search? What did the search for truth mean for them? It was a very long journey with a great deal of expense incurred and a huge time commitment as they were away from home for at least weeks if not months at a time. This journey on camels with provisions likely to have been carried on donkeys would have been very slow.

There was no public transport system or tarmac road. Muddy or sandy paths would have been their lot for much of the trip. Accommodation costs and fear of bandits in unknown territory would have added to their stresses, but nothing would deter them from undertaking this journey. How many were there of the wise men? Some early Christian sources give the total as twelve; much later when pious imagination was in full flow, maybe even for a Christmas presentation the number was reduced to three and names mysteriously appeared to accompany the three named gifts.

We don’t know how many there were, nor how many people they employed to carry their goods along the way. What mattered is that they all made the journey determined not to miss what God was doing in His world. Have you come today with a similar determination to seek God until you find Him? To follow Jesus as He leads you put your faith and trust in Him. If God had gone to such lengths to bring a Saviour into the world, they reasoned, the least they could do was to find Him and worship Him. Will you do the same?

(c) How accurate was their search? Their logic was impeccable. A king must be born in a royal palace. The capital city of Judah was Jerusalem. Therefore, this was the obvious place to visit. However, the outcome of deductions depends on the accuracy of your presuppositions!

It was no surprise that they convinced themselves of the plausibility of their position, but they were wrong- close but still wrong! In addition, the present king must both be aware of the new arrival and be rejoicing at His coming.

Unfortunately they asked the wrong person in the wrong place. What they did was so similar to many people’s spiritual journey today. Sincerity is in no doubt but on its own it is insufficient to find the truth. People today are searching for the truth in all the wrong kind of places. Jesus said: I am the truth (John 14:6).

The Bible is the book to read to find out more about Jesus and how He can become our Lord and Saviour. Have you read it, studied it and begun to grasp more clearly what God wants to say to us. God brought you here today to hear His Word. As you listen to this message the Holy Spirit can apply it to your heart and life and bring you to faith in Jesus.

2. People apathetic about the truth (Matthew 2:4-6)

⁴When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. ⁵‘In Bethlehem in Judea,’ they replied, ‘for this is what the prophet has written:⁶‘“But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd My people Israel.”’

One of the most fascinating parts of the story that we often overlook is the series of meetings that took place in Jerusalem and the impact of those meetings on the participants.

First of all Herod the King while not a believer himself, knew who to ask to find this important piece of biblical knowledge. For a man who guarded his throne as Herod did –with a fanaticism that implied a degree of mental imbalance together with an unbelievable sense of insecurity –why had he never obtained this information before?

Second the information was forthcoming from the priests, Sadducees, yet ironically this sect of the Jewish faith was very liberal in its theology accepting only the first five books of Moses while rejecting the rest of the Old Testament.

They also did not believe in miracles so any miraculous events in Scripture were disregarded. In addition, predictive prophecy was dismissed as impossible. In line with liberal theologians today they would have regarded such a belief as impossible and in written texts that the author wrote the predictions after the events had taken place, but couched it in words that implied some kind of divine foreknowledge. For these men no amount of evidence could break into their worldview.

The extraordinary events unfolding in the village down the road from them did not even register! Is your mind closed to God? If the Lord is speaking to your heart and mind could you listen to Him –could you sense His voice in your conscience?

How many people even in our own community will know in their heads the basic outline of the Christmas story yet have no desire to allow its significance to impact their lives at this time?

Matthew Paris, the well-known journalist, apparently once wrote an article about the basic Christian Gospel and declared: ‘If I really believed this was true (and sadly he didn’t) then it would revolutionise my whole life. My priorities would be completely shaped by this amazing revelation and wouldn’t care that some people thought me mad or crazy for sharing it with them.’ It is interesting isn’t it that sometimes familiarity with this amazing story can cause us to lose something of its extraordinary nature and significance.

3. People alarmed by the truth (Matthew 2:3, 7-8, 12)

³When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁷Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. ⁸He sent them to Bethlehem and said, ‘Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find Him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship Him.’… ¹²And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

It was not the religious people who took the message seriously, they ignored it completely, but Herod the sceptic was different. The same evidence was put before three groups of people.

The learned seekers of the truth from outside the faith were committed to finding the answer no matter what the cost. The evil dictator Herod was equally determined to find this child, ironically because he took God at His Word and believed the Bible for entirely the wrong reason. Yet the formally religious people were indifferent to the truth.

Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. ⁸He sent them to Bethlehem and said, Go and make a careful search for the child (Matthew 2:7-8) As soon as you find Him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.

Herod’s words were a lie, but he had grasped something of the extraordinary significance of the birth of Jesus at Bethlehem. For him and his appalling evil lifestyle the coming of Jesus was something to fear at all costs. His life is an ideal illustration of the teaching given in John 3:19-21:

This is the verdict: light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. ²¹But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

We must be careful how we share our faith –with gentleness and respect (I Peter 3:15), but there will be some people whose reaction to even the most gracious presentation will be aggressive and hostile. Why? It is possible that their consciences have been convicted and they want to carry on living in a manner which is contrary to the Gospel of Jesus. The negative response in that context is not to the messenger but the God whose truth has hit home and shone a light into their life. This was Herod to a tee; he knew exactly what he was doing –and that it was morally wrong. But he could do it because he was in power and could exercise it in any way he liked- or so he thought.

To us his threats to the baby Jesus and the slaughter of the babies and young children in Bethlehem that followed are so extreme and barbaric that we cannot even begin to process what went on in his mind at that time. Thankfully people like Herod are a small minority in most countries, but what damage they can do in carrying out their evil desires!

What we need to remember when we give out invitations to special services or events or share something of our faith journey that people hear us in different ways. Some may be very negative and dismissive; others indifferent, yet others still may be sympathetic and although may not come that time may do so on a future occasion- if they see our profession of faith lived out in our daily lives. However, thankfully also there are people seeking the truth who are responding positively to Jesus.

4. People who accepted the truth (Matthew 2:9-11)

Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. ¹²And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

(a) A successful search (Matthew 2:9-11a) ⁹After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. ¹¹On coming to the house, they saw the child with His mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped Him.

How did they react when they came face to face with Jesus? They were overjoyed (v10); how did you hear about Jesus? Maybe it was through a neighbour or a friend? Possibly, you heard as a result of the witness of a work colleague or family member? However, what is most important is the fact that we come to meet with Jesus.

I hope and pray that each one of us put our faith and trust in Jesus. If you are genuinely seeking Him then there is no doubt that God will put people on your pathway who can point you to Him and He will use all kinds of circumstances to bring you to faith.

The joy that they experienced can also be yours through Jesus. Some people come to faith soon after the first time of hearing the good news. Yet others hear on many occasions and it is years later when they acknowledge Jesus as Lord of their lives. That is between the individual and Jesus, but for those of us who are Christians we need to keep on praying for our friends and family who are yet to come to faith so that they too may in His time come to faith.

(b) Generous gifts (Matthew 2:11b) Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. ¹²And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

What should we get for the baby? All of us have asked that question at some time or other? I have no doubt that your possible gifts never included the three things recorded on this occasion and with good reason! Gold was the gift for a king or some other form of ruler (see Isaiah 60:6). It was beyond the purchasing power of ordinary citizens to choose such a gift and only a very select few would have been its recipient.

Frankincense was a gift for a priest and used, for example, in the Temple offerings at the 3pm service each day in Jerusalem. Jesus was being honoured as one who would carry out priestly duties despite coming from the tribe of Judah not from the priestly tribe of Levi. He would have a special position in directing the people of His day in the worship of Almighty God, but in a manner far greater than they could ever have imagined.

Myrrh was used in a variety of contexts in the Old Testament including the being an ingredient in the anointing oil used on the special furniture in the Tent of Meeting and on the bodies of the priests on duty (Exodus 30:22-33). It was used to adorn people for celebrations (Esther 2:12), as well as an ingredient in a form of anaesthetic given to people in great pain (Mark 15:23), and anointing bodies for burial (John 19:39). Usage in all these contexts was applicable to events in the future life of Jesus. Here was confirmation for Mary and Joseph about the future life and significance of the baby in the manger.

(c) Are you looking for Jesus this Christmas? It is a beautiful story yet if that is all it is then the whole point of Jesus’ coming will have been missed. Jesus is not looking for a token gift. He desires that each one of us commits our whole lives to Him. I pray that God will enable you to take that step and as a result bring joy among the angels in heaven because you have become a follower of the Saviour of the World, for His name’s sake, Amen.

We will now close our service with this familiar carol: ‘Joy to the world’

Closing prayer

Thank you, Lord, for the determination of the wise men to follow the star. Thank You that they continued on their journey until they reached the place where Jesus was born. Help us in this our time in history to be equally determined to find You, put our faith and trust in You and then live our lives in obedience to You. We ask Your blessing on the rest of our day and this Christmas season, for Jesus’ name’s sake, Amen.

Christmas Eve – Additional Service

You can watch our Facebook live Christmas Eve service by clicking here.

Sunday 20 December 2020 – All Age Christmas Service

Welcome

Thank you for joining us for our All Age Christmas Service, online version. Our service on Zoom and at Panmurefield was led by Moraig Piggot. Our service today is based on the following verse:

Jam Kids – Virtual Sunday School

The older JAM Kids might like to check out some Bible stories about people who also experienced ‘lockdown’. The videos along with a link to some questions to think about together, can all be found here: https://outofthebox.me.uk/lockdown-stories/

JAM young adults Ignite Live have a separate programme at 11:30am. Please contact Gary Torbet on garytorbet@btinternet.com for more details.

Baptist Union of Scotland National Prayer Livestream

The monthly prayer livestream takes place on Sunday 3 January 2021, 7.00–7.30pm. The theme will be ‘Come, Lord Jesus’ and we will be praying for our churches during Advent and for our nation, particularly at this time of pandemic. It will be available here on 3 January.

Call to Worship

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. ³You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before youas people rejoice at the harvest…For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. ⁷Of the greatness of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over His kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and for ever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. (Isaiah 9:2-3a, 6-7)

⁹An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹²This will be a sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.’¹³Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ¹⁴‘Glory to God in the highest heaven,and on earth peace to those on whom His favour rests.’ (Luke 2:9-14)

⁴⁴Then Jesus cried out, ‘Whoever believes in Me does not believe in Me only, but in the One who sent Me. ⁴⁵The one who looks at Me is seeing the One who sent Me. ⁴⁶I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in Me should stay in darkness (John 12:44-46)

Opening Praise

Baptist Union of Scotland Video

This Sunday is Advent Video week four on the theme of Joy

Opening prayer

Heavenly Father,

On this last Sunday in Advent, as we approach within a few days of the day on which we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour, we come with humble hearts and deep thankfulness to You for granting us the strength and grace to come through many tough weeks in this most difficult of years. Advent has allowed us to turn our minds, at least some of the time, from the Brexit negotiations between our government and the European Union and the Covid-19 virus pandemic, to something of greater ultimate importance, the vision of God for His people in His world revealed through the birth, life, teaching, death and resurrection of Jesus, Your Son,

Our Saviour. Help us, we pray to honour and glorify His name today as we celebrate His coming that first Christmas two thousand years ago. Once more we confess our sins and ask for Your forgiveness, knowing that His coming had this purpose as revealed by the Angel Gabriel to Joseph: you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21).Empower us afresh by Your Holy Spirit so that we may honour and glorify You in the new week that lies before us,in Jesus’ name we pray, 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.

Worship Song

Prayers for Others

Heavenly Father, we give thanks for the wonder and excitement that we can have in our hearts as we prepare to welcome the Christ-child again and remember the amazing love of God, who came and dwelt among us. We pray for those who find Christmastime a difficult time of year for many reasons. We pray that these folks will know peace in the midst of their sorrow and a sense of hope in the midst of their darkness. We pray that, in the midst of the tinsel and turkey, nut roast or less seasonal fare, that we would pause and give thanks for the birth of our Lord and Saviour over 2,000 years ago.

We give thanks that God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son. We also give thanks that Jesus is the Light of the World and that the darkness cannot overcome the light (John 1:5). We pray for those for whom this is going to be a challenging Christmas due to the loss or hospitalisation of loved ones with Covid-19. We pray that Jesus might be the light in the midst of their darkness. We pray too for those working so hard even in this Christmas time to provide necessary public services or to serve us in the retail sector, together with those in the health service and social care sectors who are looking after those unwell in hospitals or who are in the later years of their lives in residential care homes. We bring before You in the silence the particular people who have come to mind as we pray…

Although we rejoice that the kidnapped Nigerian school boys were returned home to their families this week, we cry out to You for peace in the troubled country of Nigeria. We pray that the government there and its army will work effectively to eliminate the terrorist threat, especially in the north of that country. We remember others too in places like Syria, Nagorno Karabakh and Yemen where many thousands of people will spend Christmas in far from ideal conditions as they suffer the ongoing impact of the violence and killings in these and other lands. We bring before You in the silence particular people or places on our hearts today…

We remember in our prayers other local churches in our community who are gathering in person or on-line to worship You today. With our Baptist Union of Churches we also remember:

Uddingston BC – We pray for the church fellowship in Uddingston as they seek to worship Jesus and serve Him faithfully.

Viewfield BC, Dunfermline– We praise God that He is on the move even in these challenging times. They have just welcomed in a further nine new members and in recent times have appointed two new staff members. We pray for Ali their new Children and families worker and for Jo their Drop-in Co-ordinator. We pray for these areas of their church life.

Westray BC, Orkney – We would particularly like our wider Baptist family to uphold us as we begin to implement plans for returning to in-person Sunday services. We pray that Holy Spirit might inspire them as they look for God’s hand and opportunities in the midst of the Covid pandemic, and as they consider proactive changes that they might make. We also join them in thanksgiving for God’s palpable nearness in these times.

Westwood BC, East Kilbride – We praise God that despite (maybe because of) their hands being tied by the current restrictions God is at work in ways beyond their hopes bringing people to faith and bringing prodigals back to Him. We pray for their Vision: to be a people balanced in building Discipleship, Community and Witness, and that they will have spiritual insight to continue this development even under the current restrictions.

Lord, we particularly want to remember those people and families who will spend this season acutely aware of the absence of precious loved ones who died in this year. We remember in our prayers those from our own congregation and community known to us, but also in the silence mention other individuals and families to You today…

Lord, we also want to bring before You those individuals in hospital or care homes and others who may be working far away from home who will have no opportunity to meet their loved ones in person this Christmas. We pray particularly for those feeling lonely and ask for Your comfort for them. We name those individuals on our hearts this morning who might be in this position today…

We also remember the Christian workers connected with our church who are serving in other countries. We think of Hamish R in Nice, Christine K near Paris, Helen and Wit in northern Thailand, David and Helen H with SIM worldwide, and Igor and Anita in Serbia. We also remember in the silence other Christian workers serving God at this time…

We also remember those with ongoing health issues and in the silence mention their names before You…

In addition, we bring our own and other needs on our hearts to You today…, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, we pray, Amen.

Worship Song

Bible Readings

For to us a child is born,to us a son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. ⁷Of the greatness of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over His kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and for ever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. (Isaiah 9:6-7)

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (John 14:27)

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)

Instant Nativity

You can download the script used in our Church service and work through the slides, below. Thanks to the Bible Society for preparing this.

script_virtual_version_01-1 Download

Worship Song

Online Christmas Bake Off

We held an online Bake Off on our Zoom service. We were challenged to make a nativity scene. You can find a list of ingredients here. Here are some of the creations that our church made!

All Age Talk – Moraig Piggot

So I wonder which day you enjoy most at Christmas? For me it’s got to be the 27^th because by then it’s all over and peace can be restored! I mean it’s quite stressful for me co-ordinating Christmas in our house. I need to make sure my Mum cooks the turkey, Simon my husband has got all the vegetables sorted, reminding my mother law that she is bringing the soup, checking my children Freya and Hamish have set the table to my standards and well don’t even get me started on having to spend 3 days in the company of my sister Fiona, that’s enough alone to want the 27^th to come quickly!! It’s that feeling of waking up on the 27^th to silence, knowing there is no more rushing around but instead a day of perfect peace. I am sure I am not alone craving peace, we all probably do and not just at Christmas, we will all want times of peace.

This year I have been thinking about this idea of peace and a verse from the bible was brought to my attention- “May the God of Hope fill you with all Joy and Peace” Romans 15:13. This made me stop and think about what my idea of peace really is. You can search for peace in a lot of things—relationships, money, hobbies, the absence of problems, or even a move away, but only one thing brings you true peace. Real peace is found in a very special person. What if this Christmas we paused to think, consider and wonder what it means that Jesus is the Prince of Peace? What if this Christmas we fixed our eyes on Jesus and rested in what he came to do for us?

As we have heard this morning through our instant nativity a miraculous, amazing, and fantastic thing took place over two thousand years ago. The Son of God came to live among us. But that’s not all. Jesus didn’t come just to live among us, he came to do something. He came to redeem and restore what was broken. He came to heal the hurting, find the lost and save sinners. He came to bring peace on earth. But not just any peace, the peace that comes from knowing God and being known by him. Jesus the Prince of Peace, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulders, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).

Christmas is a reminder that God is here, but because He is here, peace is also here. The idea of peace was communicated first by the angels announcement of his birth to shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night. The truth of peace was also told by Jesus throughout His time on earth. God’s ideal for us is that we would be people who continually experience peace. This Christmas, let us seek to know the One who is our true Christmas peace. The good news for all of us is that God is great enough to guide us through all of life’s changes and pressures. No matter what life throws at us, our reservoir of peace, God himself is inexhaustible. We can experience peace in the midst of tough times and we need to replace worrying with prayer.

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John 14:27

Peace is not the absence of pain. Jesus had pain. He knew the pain of rejection. He knew the pain of the cross and death. And you know what? He knows your pain. When Jesus says that “in Him” we have peace, He is not saying that we will not experience pain. In fact, He gives us this encouragement, because He knows we will have pain.

Peace is not the absence of problems. Jesus knows our problems and that’s when he draws closer to us and surrounds us by his love and support.

Peace is a person. Peace with God and an eternity in Heaven is through Him. I am convinced that we will never have peace in this life until we have peace about the life to come in Heaven. This is the starting place to real peace. We can say that because God is here, peace is here. If peace is in Him and He is here, we can have peace in a relationship with Him. We are “to bide” or “remain” in Him. Again, the relationship brings the peace.

So… This Christmas and in the year to come when you seek peace, seek the right kind of peace “May the God of Hope fill you with all Joy and Peace” Romans 15:13. True peace comes from God and not from us seeking a few hours of time out from life. That may give you some instant relief (my 27^th December story), but it will not sustain you through everything life on earth brings you be it good or especially in the not so good.

You do need of course to make a commitment to God to experience the true peace we have heard about this morning. So if you are listening today and don’t know God as your Lord and Saviour then please don’t let another year go by without discovering what this means. We will put up a power point slide to let know the different ways we can help you with this.

When you leave here today, leave knowing this. We trust in Him for everything including our eternal life in Heaven. We find our peace in His peace, not our own peace. We need to talk to Him about everything. Jesus our Prince of Peace. Amen

Our closing song

Please join us for our Zoom service at 6.30pm on Christmas Eve. You can contact us for an invite.

Christmas 2020

Sunday 20th December 2020 – All Age Service
Lead by – Moraig Piggot

This year we are very determined to ensure that you truly experience the hope, joy and peace that the Christmas story brings. We held a virtual instant nativity and encouraged everyone to come on Zoom dressed as a character from the story.

We also held Broughty Ferry Baptist Church’s first ever ‘Bake Off’ live on Zoom.

You can access the online version of the service, here.

Thursday 24th December 2020 – Christmas Eve Service

Time – 6.30pm
Location – On Zoom and Facebook Live
Lead by – Moraig Piggot

Friday 25th December 2020 – Christmas Day Service

Time – 10.00am
Location – On Zoom and read online
Lead by – Rev Dr Brian Talbot

Join us for a short service marking this very important day in the Christian calendar.

Send an e-mail with your full name and e-mail address to webmaster@broughtybaptist.org if you would like an invite.

Church at Home – 13 December 2020 (3rd Sunday of Advent)

Intimations

We give you all a very warm welcome to our Broughty Baptist service today, to those attending at Panmurefield Baptist Centre and all those on Zoom as well as those receiving the service on our website. We give a special welcome Pastor Munir Kakish joining us from the Holy Land.
You are all so welcome as we lift our praise and worship to the Lord Jesus!
Christmas Services 2020 – We will be holding services on 20th December 10am over Zoom and in our Panmurefield building. We will also have a Christmas Eve service at 6.30pm on Zoom and Christmas Day at 10am on Zoom. Click here to find out more. If you would like a Zoom invite please e-mail us at webmaster@broughtybaptist.org
Sunday 20^th December All Age Christmas Service – what you need to know!
The service will be led by Moraig Piggot and she is planning to have a virtual nativity. We would love to see everyone dressed up whether you are coming in person or on Zoom. Our service will also include Broughty Ferry Baptist Church’s first ever live “Bake Off” and to take part you will need the following ingredients (or as close as you can manage!) to make a nativity scene –
Biscuits – rectangular shaped biscuits for the Nativity scene structure (e.g. Go Ahead crispy slices, Nice or Malted milk?)
Mini Gingerbread People – at least two to represent the characters or you could use jelly babies instead
Tube of Piping Icing – you can buy this from the supermarket or make some of your own icing at home with a piping bag
Mini Jelly Babies – the kind you get in the Haribo packets are perfect but the big ones work too
Chocolate Stars – chocolate cake decorating stars and a jar of miniature chocolate star sprinkles or ‘Magic Stars’

Jam Kids

Out of the Box are also running a Christmas series and the episodes can be accessed here.

JAM young adults Ignite Live have a separate programme at 11:30am. Please contact Gary Torbet on garytorbet@btinternet.com for more details.

Call to Worship

Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress.
In the past He humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
but in the future He will honour Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan –
²The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned.
³You have enlarged the nation
and increased their joy;
they rejoice before You
as people rejoice at the harvest,
as warriors rejoice
when dividing the plunder.

⁴For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,
You have shattered
the yoke that burdens them,
the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor…
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on His shoulders.
And He will be called
Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

⁷Of the greatness of His government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and for ever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
will accomplish this.
(Isaiah 9:6-7)

We are grateful to Rev Gary Torbet for selecting the songs for worship for this service

Baptist Union of Scotland – Video on the theme of Love

Opening Prayer

Heavenly Father,

In this season of Advent when we focus on the coming of Your Son two thousand years ago, and look forward to His return in glory, it is a wonderful assurance to know that You are Lord over history. We live in a world with so much uncertainty. Although we rejoice in the progress of producing a vaccine for the Covid-19 virus, we have no idea when sufficient immunity in the wider community is produced to allow life to return to some form of normality.

We are so grateful to live in a country where our basic needs are met, but we do not deny real uncertainty over the outcome of the Brexit negotiations, and so many other things we could mention. However, Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and forever. Our access in prayer and with our praises directly into the presence of our heavenly Father is guaranteed and we come with joy today to bring our offering of praise and worship to You the living God.

We rejoice this week on the announcement of the normalisation of ties between Israel and Morocco, but continue to pray for the complex challenges of the Holy Land where the Christmas story took place two thousand years ago.

As we come to ask for the forgiveness of our sins and the fresh empowering of Your Spirit at the start of another week, we also seek Your peace and reconciling grace for all the peoples of the Holy Land. We ask that You would encourage Your people there with the blessing of more people recognising the Saviour of the world as their Lord this Christmas. We bring our prayer and praises in Jesus’ name, 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 – Rev Gary Torbet

For our All age time we are going to watch “God’s Story – Christmas” and then have a short reflection.

In verse 16 after the Shepherds received the message from the angels which Pastor Kakish will reflect on shortly, they “hurried” – they “made haste”

Now I’m not saying it is good to hurry all the time – in fact we are always in too much of a hurry – but in this instance – I’ll let the shepherds off!

But when they heard this – “Good news – a Saviour the Lord has been born to you – that will bring JOY to ALL PEOPLE – and you will recognise him by finding a baby wrapped in snugly cloths lying in a manger”

When they heard this news – they hurried and they went to see Jesus – WOW!!

So my encouragement to all of you, boys, girls, young people, adults, older people – EVERYONE – ALL OF US – is this – Let us be like the Shepherds

Who when they heard the Good, amazing, wonderful news of the Saviour of the World – and don’t we need some good news – they wanted to not just hear about it –

But to experience it – may we all experience this afresh this Christmas – maybe even for the first ever time – the loving presence and grace of Jesus.

GOD COME TO US – GOD WITH US – AMEN!

We continue in worship as we sing: ‘O Come O Come Emmanuel’. This version was prepared by volunteers from a number of Baptist Churches across Scotland.

Prayers for others Laura, Thomas and Tabitha Kobine

Let us pray

Heavenly Father, we come before you this morning to offer you our prayers, both for others and for ourselves. We come with gratitude in this advent season, that we can celebrate the wonderful gift of your son to us, and of his subsequent death on the cross and the promise to us of eternal life. We thank you that we are able to celebrate this, when so many in the world either do not know this good news, or are unable to profess their faith without persecution. Lord, we thank you that we live in a place where we are able to praise you and celebrate your word and your promises to us. We bring our prayers to you this morning in the certain knowledge that you will hear us, and respond to our needs.

Dear Lord, please be with all schools; please bestow wisdom onto the head-teachers to make decisions that allow learning to continue. Please be with all the pupils who have been affected by the cancellation of exams, and please help these pupils to work hard and receive the grade they want. We pray for the teachers and pupils as they try to teach and learn in these unfamiliar times. Please allow university students to return home safely, and for everyone to enjoy the Christmas holidays as best as possible. Please keep everyone safe and allow us all to return to school and university carefully after the holidays.

We pray for all leaders in our country as they try to successfully negotiate a Brexit deal, at the same time as facing the many Covid challenges. We recognise they are under a lot of stress in the run up to the holiday season, help us to be accepting of what the future will hold and support one another into a New Year with it’s inevitable changes. We pray for other countries who are still battling to get the Covid virus under control, sometimes with far fewer resources than we have here. You have plans for this world, help us to hear what you wish us to do, and behave as you would wish us to behave.

Dear God, we thank you for the hope of a successful Covid vaccine and we thank you for the successful start of it’s trials. We pray for continued success in this area and that, with the help of this, we will soon be able to go back to living life as normal.

We continue to pray for all the NHS and other healthcare workers, especially those within our own congregation, who are protecting us and selflessly looking after others. We thank you for all of the sacrifices they have made especially in the past year, and we pray that you will keep them safe in the coming months. We ask that everyone in hospital, whether because of Covid or other reasons, will feel supported and cared for in the run up to Christmas, and will be able to hear the Christmas message.

We now bring our prayers for those within our fellowship to you Lord. We know of many people who are finding the present time difficult, either because of ill-health, anxiety over treatment delays, loneliness because of Covid restrictions, bereavement that has happened this year, job insecurities or reasons known to themselves and to you Lord.

We particularly bring before you John and Ann S as they come to terms with the death of their niece Rachel this week, and as they prepare for her funeral on Wednesday. Please be with them, give them the strength to face the week ahead and as they try to support Rachel’s immediate family. We ask that your Holy Spirit surrounds the whole family at this time, and especially her children.

We thank you for the improvement in the illnesses of Laurie and Ian McF, and ask that you continue to be with them as they still face the recovery ahead.

We bring Peter and Maureen S, Dorothy G, John C, Jim and Helen S, Betty W, Alva D, Anne M and Margaret, Ann W’s sister before you, and ask that you bring to each of them the strength to face each day ahead, and the knowledge that you have promised to be with us through the difficult times. You know the needs of each and every one of us, and have promised us a future that is secure in your love.

We give thanks for Gwen P who had her 99^th birthday this week, and we remember her and others in our fellowship who are unable to be with us because of care needs. We ask that you draw near to each and every one of these people, and that they will feel our continued concern and prayers for them. As Christmas approaches we pray earnestly that they will feel your love surrounding them, and be able to celebrate the gift of your Son at this time.

We pray for those members of our fellowship and any others known to us who are still living with strict Covid restrictions. Their isolation has gone on so long and we ask that they continue to feel your love for them, and our supportive presence as a fellowship. Give us as individuals, the means to continue to support them and respond to their needs.

We now pray silently for anyone known to us who is in need of our prayers…..

Lord, we thank you for the many blessings in our lives; our homes, our families, our health, our daily needs that are met, and above all your love and grace that is a constant part of our lives. We give you praise for all that is good in the world, and for the chance to come here this morning to worship you. We ask your forgiveness for the times when we have been less than you would wish, and for our sins this past week. We bring our lives before you this morning, and ask that you fill us with the desire to go out this week and live for you, with kindness, thoughtfulness, and compassion for others. Guide us to where you would like us to be, and help us to honour you in all that we do.

We bring all these prayers before you in Jesus’ name,

Amen.

Bible Reading

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹²This will be a sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.’
¹³Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
¹⁴‘Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom His favour rests.’
¹⁵When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.’
¹⁶So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷When they had seen Him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
(Luke 2: 8-20)

Before we come to listen to God’s Word let us sing:

The Message – The Angels’ Message to the Shepherds Luke 2:8-20

From Rev Dr Munir Kakish from Ramallah

Hope-Filled Expectation Matthew 11:2-5 & Isaiah 35:1-10

Introduction

Greetings to you my brothers and sisters! I am speaking to you from the Holy Land! I live not too far from Bethlehem. We are in the season in which we are preparing to celebrate the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem 2000 years ago. Jesus came here and was born in Bethlehem. Bethlehem is not too far from Ramallah where I have a church. I am really thankful today I can bring you greetings. Also, I bring you a very brief message from God’s word about Christmas. It is a happy season and I am thankful to have this opportunity.

I would like to speak from Luke 2:8-20. The title of my brief message is the Angels’ Message to the Shepherds.

“And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared unto them and the glory around them. They were terrified.” The angel said, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you. You will find the baby wrapped in clothes and lying in a manger. Suddenly a great company of the heavenly hosts appeared with the angel praising God and saying “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will to men.” When the angels had left them, the shepherds said to one another let us go into Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened. So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby who was lying in a manger.” When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning him. All who heard were amazed. But Mary treasured these things in her heart and pondered them. The shepherds returned praising and glorifying God for all the things they had seen and heard.

I have a better opportunity than you as I live here. I have visited the place where Jesus was born many times. A privilege you might not have had, but I invite you to come and visit the Holy Land and visit us in Ramallah, the town in which I pastor the church.

From the angels’ message to the shepherds, I would like to emphasize three words.

First, do not be afraid. When the angels appeared to the shepherds in the Bethlehem area, the shepherds were afraid and terrified. Every one of us has fears, perhaps because of wars, covid 19, or sickness. We understand the feeling of fear. Do not be afraid. We live in a time when we are all afraid of something. Whatever you are of afraid of today the message of the angel from heaven is the same. Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid of what you hear. This is the message for the whole world. The angel came to give us comfort. This is the message today is not for the shepherds alone, but it is for the whole world. You may ask why you should not be afraid. Verse 10 says do not be afraid for I bring you good news for all people.

The second word is joy. I bring you joy. You need to be joyful regardless of what we go through. Verse 11 tells us why we need to be joyful, and why we should not be afraid. The angel said, today, in this town of Bethlehem a saviour is born to you. The angel said the name of the saviour was Christ the Lord.

I want you to come with me in your imagination. You are on a hill in Bethlehem. Imagine there are fences, sheep, and goats. The shepherds are watching over the sheep. It is dark. Suddenly the angel of the Lord appears and says do not be afraid, be joyful.

If there is something we need today is someone to save us from fear, from sickness, from sin from depression. To save us from anything that is stopping us from being joyful in the Lord Jesus Christ. Rejoice with me that we have a saviour today and this saviour is for everybody, to save us from fear and deliver us from our sins. Hallelujah! Do not be afraid! We have a Saviour! He is for everybody! He is alive! His name is Jesus Christ. He is in you! He is watching you! He is opening his arms saying come unto me, I will help you. I will carry that fear in your heart about life and about the future.

The third word is peace. The angel continued his message in verse 14. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, goodwill to men. God wants to give us peace. This peace is to you, peace on earth, peace to men. There is something missing in the Holy Land and in the Middle East. We have trouble everywhere. Peace is missing perhaps in your area also, the peace that passes all understanding is missing.

I have lived here for 42 years. There is tension all of the time. Almost daily there are fights, tear gas, bombs, check points, etc. If there is a time when we need peace in the Holy Land it is now. If there is a time we need peace in our world, it is now. If there is a time you need peace in your life, it is now. This peace is offered by the angels to the shepherds and all people. The promise is for peace that passes all understanding.

Isaiah 9:6 says, “for to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders, and he will be called Wonderful, Counsellor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

In conclusion, let me say. The word Saviour is the brightest jewel in the crown of Christmas. It’s meaning is found in these words, Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, everlasting Father and Prince of Peace.

May the Lord Bless you, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

Rev. Dr. Munir Kakish

Check our website to become acquainted with our ministry in the Holy Land.

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, ²⁴and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ ²⁵In 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.’ ²⁶For 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 last song is:

Closing Prayer

Loving Heavenly Father, We thank you for the opportunity to worship you today.

May we take the message from the Angels to the Shepherds to our hearts today. That you sent us the Saviour in the form of a tiny baby, help us afresh to see this Good news and it is for us. Enable us by the power of your Holy Spirit to know this love in our hearts this week and to share it with others this week.

What can I give Him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a Shepherd
I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man
I would do my part,
Yet what I can I give Him,
Give my heart.

May we do that this week for your glory. Amen

Church at Home – 6 December 2020 (2nd Sunday of Advent)

What is Advent? Definition & Meaning Behind Christmas Tradition

Intimations

Baptist Union of Scotland Prayer Livestream – The monthly prayer livestream takes place on Sunday, 6 December, 7.00–7.30pm. You can access the prayer livestream by going to the Baptist Union of Scotland YouTube channel. This month’s theme is ‘Come, Lord Jesus’ and we will be praying for our churches during Advent and for our nation, particularly at this time of pandemic.
Today we held our first Sunday service in Panmurefield Baptist Centre since March. If you are interested in attending in person on 13th or 20th December at 10am please contact us. You can also join us on Zoom at 10am, please let us know if you would like an invite.
Advance Notice – We will having our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services on Zoom. Contact Us if you would like an invite

Jam Kids

JAM young adults Ignite Live have a separate programme at 11:30am. Please contact Gary Torbet on garytorbet@btinternet.com for more details.

Call to Worship

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given,
and the government will be on His shoulders.
And He will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
⁷Of the greatness of His government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over His kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and for ever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.
Isaiah 9: 6-7

We are grateful to Helen Rice for selecting the songs for worship for this service

Baptist Union of Scotland – Video on the theme of Hope

The Baptist Union of Scotland is producing four Advent videos. In total there will be four videos, each around 5 minutes long, on the themes of Hope, Peace, Love and Joy. Each video will contain an introduction, scripture reflection, a story from one of our churches and a spoken carol. This Sunday is Advent Week Two on the theme of Peace.

Opening Prayer

Opening prayer

Heavenly Father,

In this Advent season we come with real joy and expectancy to acknowledge today who You are and what You have done for us. When we consider those amazing words spoken with respect to the baby born in Bethlehem: He will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

There is no parallel to His amazing entrance into our world with all its frustrations, disappointments, sadness and evil. Yet You created this world to be a perfect place for humans and other creatures to inhabit, but we as the species with the responsibility for caring for it have failed time and again and continue to do so across the world.

Lord have mercy upon us. Even in 2020 in the midst of a virus pandemic the insanity of terrorist conflicts and wars go on as before as if nothing unusual was taking place this year. Yet we have hope-filled expectation that it will not always be this way. We look forward with great joy to Jesus second coming, with confidence because His first coming took place just as the Bible had declared hundreds of years earlier.

We live in the tension of our struggles and worries of health issues, work pressures and so much more, but bring them to You today. We confess our sins once more confident of Your forgiveness in the name of Jesus, and seek a fresh empowering by Your Holy Spirit for the demands of another new week. Speak into our lives today as we gather for this act of worship, we pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, Your Son our Saviour, Amen.

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

Prayers for Others

Thank you Lord once more we can come before You with our prayers for others at the start of another new week. We come with thankful hearts that the first vaccine against the Covid-19 virus has been licensed for use by the regulatory authorities in our country. We are very conscious that it is extremely difficult to transport and thus presents logical challenges for getting it to some of the most vulnerable people in Care Homes.

We pray for wisdom for the medical staff overseeing the distribution of this vaccine and pray that it will soon start to have an impact on the number of those catching this illness and on those requiring hospital treatment. We are well aware that inoculating millions of people will place an extraordinary strain on Health service workers as they balance this work with existing care for other patients. Grant them all the necessary health and strength to persevere through these next few months of carrying out this important task.

We pray too for the many businesses suffering severely as a result of the limitations on their operations. We ask that where possible funding might be provided to allow them to remain afloat and be able to recommence their work as restrictions ease further at some point in the New Year. Lord for all who are struggling with life and their responsibilities at this time we pray that You would give a send of Your peace and assurance and the strength to persevere through to better days.

We now bring before You the particular things of concern to us personally in the wider world …

We also bring before You other churches including:

Stranraer BC – We pray for the Baptist church family in Stranraer as they meet week by week either online or in person for some people. We pray that they will know the nearness of God during this time.

Strathendrick BC – We thank God for their church family and the ability to remain connected to each other through modern technology and reach new people through their Facebook services. We thank God that their young people are able to take part in Youth Alpha again. We pray for those struggling because of lack of physical contact in their fellowship due to lock down. We pray for wisdom in deciding when it is the right time for them to open up their physical church services again.

Stromness BC – We pray for Stromness Baptist in Orkney as they continue to seek to make Christ known on the island. We give thanks that our churches in Orkney work well together and pray that this unity would increase kingdom witness in Orkney

We also remember in our prayers other people with particular needs that are connected to our own families or congregation:

Lord we continue to remember those with ongoing health issues remembering Peter and Maureen S and Ian McF, Dorothy G and John C. We also continue to remember Lawrie, Nicola L’s Dad, Betty W, Alva D and Anne M as they seek to make further progress in the recovery of their health and strength, together with the Steer’s niece Rachel and Ann W’s sister Margaret at this time as well. We pray also for other with ongoing health needs that You would grant them the strength that they need at this time

We continue to pray for those of our number who even without the virus-pandemic restrictions would be unable to meet with us for worship. We pray Your blessing upon them at this time.

In addition, we bring our own and other needs on our hearts to You today…, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, Amen.

Bible Readings

The desert and the parched land will be glad;the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, ²it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendour of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the Lord, the splendour of our God.

³Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; ⁴say to those with fearful hearts, ‘Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, He will come with vengeance; with divine retribution He will come to save you.’

⁵Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. ⁶Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.
Isaiah 35: 1-6

When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples ³to ask him, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’ ⁴Jesus replied, ‘Go back and report to John what you hear and see: ⁵the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.
Matthew 11@ 2-5

Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. ⁸You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. ⁹Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door! ¹⁰Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. ¹¹As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered.
James 5: 7-11a

Before we come to listen to God’s Word let us sing:

The Message

Hope-Filled Expectation Matthew 11:2-5 & Isaiah 35:1-10

Introduction

Our lives are a mixture of expectancy of things that we trust will take place in the future as well as a response to what has happened in the past or is currently taking place in the present. We live very much in the present, but for the vast majority of us we have hopes and dreams of a better future, if not for ourselves then for our children or grandchildren, or some other people.

It is not just a human experience, but one for the natural world around us as well. In winter as we look in our gardens or in other places where plants and trees flourish it seems so bare. The apparent absence of life is obvious, but we know that in the seasons of nature it is a period of waiting in expectant hope for what lies around the corner. We are well aware that the leaves have fallen, the flowers are gone and things look grey and bare. However, we also know that there are seeds and bulbs planted in the ground, hidden and dormant, but you might look out at your garden or at the flower beds in the park and wonder whether the colour and life of spring will ever return.

‘Are we nearly there yet?’ every parent of a young child has heard these words from the back seat of the car on a long journey. The adult or adults in the car are well aware of the expected time length for the journey, but this would not be true for the children. The child may grasp fully that this a special visit to your grandparents. It might even be a birthday celebration or Christmas. But the difference between fifty miles or 150 miles is something that they have yet to understand. The child’s mind is fixed on arriving at their destination and on spending time with the people they are looking forward to meeting.

As adults we may keep quiet or articulate quite differently the same kind of longing for our hopes to be fulfilled. It can be a little thing like waiting for a parcel to be delivered at home and you are hanging about for the four to six hour time window allocated. You want it to come at the beginning of the waiting time, but it seems that the majority of times it is much closer to the end of the allocated time slot. There are much more serious waiting times, for example, a senior high school pupil sitting external exams or a student their university finals and waiting the months for the results to come out. All of us can recall our own examples in family life or the workplace of the tension of waiting for something that was important to us.

To change tack for a moment, in our Christian lives there are times of waiting not for Spring to come or the end of a car journey, or whatever example came to mind in your own life, but waiting for God to do something. There are lots of things we pray for, but there is either no apparent answer or even worse circumstances changing so that God’s answer appears to be a ‘no’ when we were convinced that a ‘yes’ to our request had to be the right way.

Have you been or are you currently disappointed with God about a situation that hasn’t turned out the way you thought it should do. It is really tough coming to terms with a situation where our hopes for the future appear to be dashed or that absolutely nothing has happened that you can see in response to your many prayers to God about something. We need to be honest and bring our disappointments to God in our prayers. Let Him know how we are feeling. God can handle us being honest with him about how we feel.

1. The prophetic declaration (Isaiah 35:1-6)

The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, ²it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendour of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the Lord,the splendour of our God. ³Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; ⁴say to those with fearful hearts, ‘Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, He will come with vengeance; with divine retribution He will come to save you.’ ⁵Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. ⁶Then will the lame leap like a deer and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. (Isaiah 35:1-6)

John the Baptist knows this passage and others from the Bible and saw his ministry as being that of a forerunner for Jesus to usher in God’s kingdom. His preaching majored on divine judgement on sin and a call for repentance from God’s people. A flavour of it is seen in Matthew 3:5-12:

People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. ⁶Confessing their sins, they were baptised by him in the River Jordan. ⁷But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptising, he said to them: ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. ⁹And do not think you can say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father.” I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.

¹⁰The axe has been laid to the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.¹¹‘I baptise you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹²His winnowing fork is in his hand, and He will clear His threshing-floor, gathering His wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.’

It is easy to picture this prophetic solemnity of the wrath of God against sin being pronounced and John took his work seriously and saw spectacular responses from the ordinary people of the day. They walked for miles to hear him preach and many lives were remarkably transformed for good. The nation was truly influenced by this man of the desert in the few years prior to the start of Jesus’ earthly ministry. It appeared that everything was on track for God’s future kingdom on earth being realised in his lifetime.

Put yourself in the place of John the Baptist for a moment. You aveh proclaimed the coming Kingdom of judgement and fire. You have criticised the ‘powers that be’ and called them to repentance and radical life-change. You have seen Jesus baptised, sent out by the Spirit, and your hopes are well and truly set on Him being the fulfilment of hundreds of years of waiting. But then, suddenly, you’re thrown in jail…

What might be the ‘spanner in the works’ for you? For some people addiction issues of drugs or alcohol bring them crashing to their knees in despair. For others a very serious or even a terminal health diagnosis is discovered and their perspective on life is totally changed in a few moments; a tragic death in the family or a relationship breakdown are amongst the other most serious things that can happen to someone; in 2020 the struggles of so many people to keep going in their workplaces or for some the loss of employment or businesses. We want to be hope-filled expectant people, but there are times when our ‘get up and go’ has gone. The uncertainties of our lives can be deeply unsettling. To return to John the Baptist:

2. John’s Disappointment (Matthew 11:2-3)

When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples ³to ask Him, ‘Are You the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’ (Matthew 11:2-3) John the man of energy and passion striding around the Jordan Valley proclaiming God’s message to vast crowds of people suddenly sees his life’s work come to a complete halt when he was thrown into prison. He suddenly had endless amounts of time on his hands and very little to do most days. John was expecting Jesus to preach in a similar style to his own and go a step further and lead some radical changes in society. For a start the occupying forces of Rome that many people hated are still in power.

Corrupt priests and teachers are still in charge of the temple. The vengeance and divine retribution promised by Isaiah is not yet in evidence. Where is the judgement and fire God’s Word said was coming (Matt 3:5-12)? It leads John to confer with some of his closest remaining followers and send them to Jesus to ask this question? ‘Are You the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’ (Matthew 11:3).

John seems confused, even disappointed. This wasn’t quite the glorious future he had imagined. Perhaps we can empathise with him in the areas where we have felt disappointed or discouraged. We should follow John’s example of being honest with God about our disappointments – asking questions, lamenting difficult experiences, handing them over to Jesus.

We see in this passage that Jesus is big enough to deal with our sadness and confusion. However, it is okay to admit we are not okay! If someone as prominent in God’s service as John the Baptist had doubts and fears, struggles and disappointments, then we too as human beings will also have our vulnerable moments. When times are particularly tough and our emotional and mental resilience is strained we will struggle with retaining a sense of perspective on our lives. But God knows and understands. Jesus, just a short time after this question was raised by John’s disciples, says:

‘Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.’ Let Jesus help you through what you are going through even now.

3. Jesus’ declaration (Matthew 11:4-5)

⁴Jesus replied, ‘Go back and report to John what you hear and see: ⁵the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. ⁶Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of Me.’ (Matthew 11:4-5).

To understand what is going on with John, we can think back to the themes we have already explored in the past weeks. One is that Jesus is a different kind of King to the one everyone expected. His Kingdom is not about power and might, but love and self-sacrifice. His victory doesn’t come with swords and chariots; instead it lifts up the poor and sick and vulnerable. He does not force or coerce people to follow Him; instead He reveals the heart of God to them and invites them to freely choose Him as their Lord. So Jesus responds to John: Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.” (Matthew 11:4-5)

These are all fulfilments of Isaiah’s prophesy. Remember Isaiah 35:5-6:⁵Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. ⁶Then will the lame leap like a deer and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. (Isaiah 35:5-6).

They are beautiful, remarkable acts of kindness and justice. They are not, however, the judgement and victory over their enemies that Israel had hoped for. This is not the goal that John had pictured, and he begins to doubt if Jesus is the Messiah after all. John has his mind so fixed on his idea of the destination that he is missing the journey. He imagined a future of judgement and justice which has not yet arrived, and he is allowing this to distract him from the signs of the Kingdom of God which Jesus is already displaying. Like John, we need to allow God to meet us in our waiting, to see how He is bringing His Kingdom around us even though we have not yet reached our final destination.

Jesus was not behind schedule or changing the direction of His ministry. Remember His opening sermon in the synagogue at Nazareth when His ministry began. In Luke 4:18-21 He states:

‘The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, ¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’ ²⁰Then He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. ²¹He began by saying to them, ‘Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.’

The congregation present that day would never forget the opening words of that sermon as long as they lived. They might have accepted or rejected them, but they could not deny the clarity of Jesus’ claims. The problem was that like John the Baptist they had very fixed ideas of how God would work in the future and as a result so many of them failed to grasp Jesus’ true identity.

We too are human and not divine and our perspective on the present and the future is at best partial. There is no way, for example, that we could have anticipated on 1 January 2020 that church worship services would be mostly on a zoom platform and the a long list of other changes that have happened in each area of our lives this year. What are your hopes and fears? Take them to the Lord in prayer as Joseph Scriven’s old hymn ‘What a friend we have in Jesus’ repeatedly reminds us.

The way God works or plans to work in your life in the coming months or in our church family may be very different to what we had hoped for or planned in 2020. John the Baptist was struggling with his doubts and feeling very low in spirits, but in his cases his fears were misplaced. God was at work in the person of Jesus. John had rightly, earlier in his ministry, declared Jesus to be the coming Messiah the Jewish people had been waiting for. What he was now viewing as a setback at best or something worse was simply incorrect. He could not grasp how God was at work in and through Jesus on earth. Do you and I need to stop and ask the Lord to open our spiritual eyes to see how He is at work in His world at the present time? Do we need to ask the Lord to show us if we have had an inadequate grasp of how He is working in the world today?

The growth and spread of God’s kingdom will not be stopped by violent people, even though they do their worst. It will not be stopped by indifferent people who simply have no time for God in their lives. It will not be stopped by religious people who are so totally focussed on their practices that they forget it is about going God’s way not our own. God’s kingdom is a surprising kingdom where the last shall be first and the humble exalted and highlights grace-filled relationships between the followers of the servant-King. Are you a citizen of this kingdom? What was Jesus wanting here to teach John or anyone else?

4. God’s kingdom is a two-stage process (James 5:7-8)

Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. ⁸You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near (James 5:7-8).

A key reason why John was disappointed is that he failed to see the two-stage process of what God was doing in Jesus. We spoke during the last two weeks about the “now and not yet” of God’s coming Kingdom. The promises of the Old Testament appear to say that in one decisive moment God would establish his Kingdom, judge wrongdoing, and put everything right. However, in practice it seems this plan has been split into two stages:

Stage One – Jesus, the Messiah is born to the world. He kicks-off the Kingdom of God on earth, bringing healing and truth and love. He dies to restore all of creation to God, and rises again the victorious King of the world. His resurrection body is like the first shoots of new life and growth coming out of the barren winter soil – a promise and a model of the new life which will come for all of creation.

Stage Two – God will complete the work He began in Jesus. The judgement of sin and injustice; the cleansing of heavens and earth; the putting right of all things; these promises have not yet been realised in their fullness; the New Testament writers make it clear that we live in between Stage One and Stage Two, and that we are to wait with patience and hope for Stage Two to arrive. In his letter, James uses an image of seeds planted in the ground to help us with this:

Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. ⁸You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near (James 5:7-8).

God has shown us the seeds of His Kingdom. We have seen glimpses of the new life that came with Jesus, and hope for the restoration of all of God’s creation. But right now, most of our seeds are still in the ground, and we won’t see the fullness of the crop until Jesus returns. So God calls us to be faithful farmers – imitating Jesus wherever we find ourselves: using our gifts, caring for the sick, reaching out to the lonely, tending God’s planet, proclaiming the good news – and trusting in that glorious day when the fullness of the harvest will come, and our disappointment will be no more. Our hope-filled expectations of Jesus’ return have at last been realized. Praise God for that, Amen.

Our song before we come to communion is:

The Lord’s Supper

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 last song is:

Closing Prayer

Thank You Lord for the wonder of Your coming as a baby in Bethlehem. You experienced the vulnerability of human life and understand when we too feel acutely our vulnerability and weakness. However, we are privileged to have hope-filled expectation of God at work in our lives this week because You promise never to leave us or forsake us. We look forward to Your coming in glory, but are willing to wait with patience confident in Your final victory. We trust You to provide for us all the strength we need, in Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Wednesday @ 11 – 2 December 2020

Welcome to our midweek service of worship in our building here in Panmurefield Baptist Centre

Opening Scripture verses: Luke1:46-48:

And Mary said: ‘My soul glorifies the Lord
⁴⁷and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
⁴⁸for He has been mindful of the humble state of His servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
⁴⁹for the Mighty One has done great things for me – holy is His name.
⁵⁰His mercy extends to those who fear Him, from generation to generation.

Opening praise:

Opening Prayer:

Lord we come with real joy into Your holy presence today and can do no better than to echo some of Mary’s amazing song of praise: My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour… for the Mighty One has done great things for me – holy is His name.His mercy extends to those who fear Him, from generation to generation.

We follow in the footsteps of those who have gone before us in the journey of Christian faith and as we enter another Advent season we do so with deep thankfulness to You for the first coming of Jesus in humility at Bethlehem. Yet we also come with a sense of expectancy for Jesus second coming in glory as the King of Kings and Lord of Lord. We come today confessing our sins and asking afresh for Your cleansing from sin and the fresh empowering of our lives by Your Holy Spirit so that we might bring more honour and glory to You in the way that we live in the coming days. Meet with us today as we gather for this brief service, in Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Bible Reading:

Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. ²I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Saviour through your apostles.³Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. ⁴They will say, ‘Where is this “coming” he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.’ ⁵But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water.

⁶By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. ⁷By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the Day of Judgment and destruction of the ungodly. ⁸But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.

⁹The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. ¹⁰But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.

¹¹Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives ¹²as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. ¹³But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells. ¹⁴So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with Him. ¹⁵Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom that God gave him.
II Peter 3:1-15

Intercessory prayer using II Peter 3:1-15:

Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. ²I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Saviour through your apostles. Thank you Lord that we have not been left without a clear sense of direction for our lives. We thank you for the free access we have to Your Holy Word the Bible.

We are a blessed people, I also want to thank You today for….

Lord, we live in a deeply challenging world right now, but we are not alone. It was the same in all previous centuries. Peter wrote: Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. ⁴They will say, ‘Where is this “coming” he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.’ ⁵But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. ⁶By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. ⁷By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the Day of Judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

Lord, there were lots of people two thousand years ago who chose not to follow You. Therefore, we too will have our disappointments with some people we are witnessing to about our faith in You. However, we will persevere in praying for the lost. In particular, I want to pray today for …. to come to faith in You –even this Christmas would be my heart’s desire!

So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with Him. Thank You Lord for this challenge to holy Christ-like living; help me this week to grow in my character and conduct more like Jesus. Lord I need help with … at this time. I ask for You to work in my life in the mighty name of Jesus…

We also want to bring before You the following people who are unwell or who have been bereaved in the recent past…

We also want to bring before You these other needs… or particular personal needs ….

Thank You Lord for hearing and answering our prayers in Jesus’ name, Amen

Message: Active Patience II Peter 3:1-15

Introduction

As Christmas approaches I wonder: How patient are you when it comes to waiting? There is the chocolate test for some of us? How long does the bar or the box last? It is not really fair some of us manage so easily to space out our consumption of these chocolate treats, whereas others find it irresistible to consume another one and … They don’t make the boxes as large as they used to! I’m sure there used to be more in that brand box years ago!

What about Christmas decorations? If you had planned to put them up next weekend and your neighbours all did theirs a few days earlier, would there be a minor panic as you rushed to get started a day or two early? Or could you congratulate them on their colourful display without getting stressed that your decorations were still in their box in the garage!

Maybe it is Christmas shopping where your patience is tested? Apart from 2020 when we are greatly restricted in what we do, how do you approach shopping for Christmas? Do you spread it out over the year or is it a mad dash round the shops in the weeks before Christmas? Or is this year a mad dash around online websites? Do your family preparations have to be ‘perfect’ or is there a bit of room for flexibility? Some of us struggle if things don’t quite go to plan. We can get really stressed if others around us don’t conform to what we had expected to happen.

The issue here is concerning something much bigger than our personal Christmas celebrations. It is about getting a sense of perspective about our time in history and our personal tiny segment of time here on earth. Where does my life fit in to this bigger picture? What is the significance of this time in history? It is fine looking back two thousand years to celebrate the amazing events surrounding the birth of Jesus, but what difference should it make to my life now if I take the time to reflect on what happened then.

But the bigger picture that is too often forgotten is that we are living between the two comings of Jesus. There are a tiny number of Christians for whom the second coming of Jesus is their dominant conversation topic or the object of their thoughts, but for the vast majority of us we veer towards the other extreme of relegating it deep into our minds. We acknowledge it will happen sometime in the future, but because we have pressing things to attend to now in the present it can easily fade from view as our attention focuses on the challenges of the here and now.

For other people it has been so long since Jesus was on earth that they begin to doubt if Jesus actually will return in person physically to this earth. And what is more the wonderful picture described in the Bible of God’s new creation at the end of this age seems too good to be true, given how much of a mess humanity has made of the one planet God has given us to care for.

In II Peter 3, one of the last New Testament letters to be written, Peter turns to address the concerns of the people of that time in the second half of the first century AD on this topic. What does he have to say?

1. ‘Why are we waiting?’ (2 Peter 3:1-7)

(a)A firm foundation (II Peter 3:1-2) Dear friend, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. ²I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Saviour through your apostles. Peter gives a simple reminder that we view the present through the lenses, of the Word of God and its promises and from the life and teaching of Jesus. We have a sure foundation on which to look at the world around us and to view the uncertain future before us. Or as Paul puts it in Ephesians 2:20: The Christian Church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone.

When we look around our land, for example, the retail landscape will be so different when this virus is under control and we can move around freely as before. The profoundly sad news of the closure of the Arcadia Group of well-known shops and Debenhams this week, although not unexpected is a sign of the damage done to the economy during this pandemic, although competition with online traders was already a serious challenge for the shops on the high street. Each of us will have other examples to give here, but Peter’s point is that God does not change. He is here for us and He will deliver on His promises. We may be restricted in our services and church ministries just now, but God is on the throne and by His Holy Spirit very active in the world as He always will be until the end of the age.

(b) A fervent denial (II Peter 3:3-5)³Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. ⁴They will say, ‘Where is this “coming” He promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.’ ⁵But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water.

It is now around three decades since Jesus went back to heaven. It is clear that many of the first Christian disciples had high expectations of Jesus coming back to earth within a relatively short space of time. Jesus had been very clear that a deadline or timescale would not be revealed to them; only God the Father knew how long it would be and the actual date. Jesus Himself had deliberately excluded Himself from knowledge of it (Mark 13:32: But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.)

In the light of these fervent denials by sceptics who were loudly proclaiming that it was not true that Jesus was coming back again, Peter sought to reassure other believers that this behaviour was totally expected. But the God who brought the world into being out of nothing (Genesis 1:1) would have no difficulty at all in planning the second coming of Jesus.

(c) A fair reminder (II Peter 3:6-7) ⁶By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. ⁷By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

Peter, by way of evidence, not only points to the Creation of the world as evidence of God’s sovereign power, but he also references the worldwide flood of Noah’s day and warns that a final time of judgement is coming through which God’s world will be cleansed from the sin of humanity. God’s past interventions in history are a guarantee that His future plans will also take place.

Does this sound familiar to you? You might have heard sceptical comments about God or doubts about Jesus coming back from non-Christian friends, or even wondered about it yourself. Isn’t 2000 years a long time to wait for the return of Jesus? As if he anticipated that question Peter then addresses this point.

2. God is not slow He is patient (II Peter 3:8-9)

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. ⁹The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (II Peter 3:8-9)

We live in an ‘instant’ age when everything has to happen quickly. When we switch the television or computer or phone, or whatever device you care to name, we get frustrated if it doesn’t work quickly and be connected as we are expecting. However, living on ‘fast-forward’ as many of us do in the Western world is not the only way to live and not the way God chooses to work. His timescale is so much longer than ours. Moses in Psalm 90:1-2 and 4, had this to say of God several thousand years ago:

Lord, you have been our dwelling-place throughout all generations. ²Before the mountains were born or You brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God… ⁴A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.

This psalm gives us a glimpse into the divine perspective on time. It is in the light of this knowledge that Peter responds to the concern of his readers that it is a long time since Jesus went back to heaven. It is only three decades, Peter might have said, which is nothing on the scales of time, let alone in comparison with eternity. Peter reminds us that there is a very different perspective with which to view the apparent delay in Jesus returning to earth. There are two key words to note:

(a)Patience In II Peter 3:9 he states: The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead He is patient with you… Imagine going on a dinner date in a beautiful location with a number of hours to spend in the company of your chosen companion. The dinner that has been carefully prepared is served and your eyes feast on the contents of the plate before you. How do you eat the food?

Apart from the obvious good manners with appropriate cutlery, the issue is this: do you wolf it down like a hungry dog or a stray cat finally getting a decent meal or do you savour the food and appreciate the smells and taste of that delicious food as well as enjoying the conversation at the table. I have a feeling that if you rushed the food down the other person might want to ask if you have another engagement that evening that was more pressing!

There is a place for taking your time. In the workplace many a craftsman or woman has spent hours shaping and moulding their creations into objects of beauty, a few of which will be selected to be observed by millions in national museums in later generations.

Here says Peter, God is patient. His plans for us and for His universe will come to pass. When Jesus asked His followers in their prayers to reflect on or even use these words: ‘Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven…’ (Matthew 6:10), it was because we are asking God to do what He has already planned from before the beginning of time. He knows it will happen. Where does that leave you and me? Do you feel like you rush from one thing to the next? Are you always looking for the fastest check-out queue at the supermarket? Do you get annoyed when your computer seems to take an age to download something, or your child dawdles over putting on their shoes? Maybe we need to learn that what might feel like slowness to us can, at the same time, be a lesson in godly patience.

(b)Repentance Beyond this, Peter tells us that God has a vital reason why He is holding back his return: Instead He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9b). Peter knew that the final return of Jesus would come with judgement over the earth. Jesus’ cross and resurrection mean that when we are by faith trusting in Him we have no fear of judgement. But entering into God’s Kingdom does require us to believe in Him and come in repentance. For this reason, God is patiently holding back the return of Christ, so that everyone on earth has the chance to respond to His gift of forgiveness and restoration. Have you taken this important step?

3. Cleansing Fire (II Peter 3:10)

Most seriously Peter explains why God requires repentance from our sins. He is a perfectly holy God and cannot allow anything or anyone sinful into His new perfect world beyond this life. In II Peter 3:10 he writes: But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. The Jewish people heard the prophets speak of the ‘Day of the Lord’ in many messages about God’s judgement on human sinfulness. It was a solemn occasion when the wrongs of this world will be addressed. An example of this proclamation would be Malachi 3:1-3a where God the Father states:

‘I will send My messenger, who will prepare the way before Me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to His temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,’ says the Lord Almighty. ²But who can endure the day of His coming? Who can stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. ³He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver;

God’s judgement is described as a fire that will refine the earth until only pure gold is left. So the picture Peter is painting here is of God’s final judgement burning up all that is unjust, impure, ungodly, laying bare the earth until the old “order” of things has been destroyed and the original intention of God has been restored for His creation.

We must be very careful not to speculate as to exactly how God’s created universe will be transformed because the Bible only gives us glimpses of what God has planned. But it is with the purpose of gifting to His followers the opportunity to live the life He desired for humanity the first time round. Old Testament prophets longed for that day to come. In Isaiah 65:17-18a the prophet reported God as declaring:

‘See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. ¹⁸But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create. This vision was not lost in the New Testament, especially in Revelation 21:1-4: Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. ²I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ³And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling-place is now among the people, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death” or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.

In Revelation, the City of God comes down from heaven to earth, the old order of things has passed away and God promises to be with us in this restored world and universe forever. Our conversion to Christian faith is pictured by Paul in II Corinthians 5:17 using this dramatic language: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here! What God can do in any one of His children, He plans to replicate in transformation of the entire universe! How amazing is that!

Surely this must inspire us to an active expectation of Jesus’ second coming!

4. Active Expectation (II Peter 3:11-15)

Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives ¹²as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. ¹³But in keeping with His promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells. ¹⁴So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with Him. ¹⁵Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom that God gave him.

When you are waiting for something, knowing what you are waiting for changes how you wait. A child waiting for a Christmas present has a different attitude to a child waiting for the dentist. You wait for your wedding day in a very different way to waiting for your car MOT.

We are not waiting for an eternity sitting on clouds, or an endless church service, or an infinite sermon. We are waiting for the restoration of heaven and earth, with every good thing made new and abundant life for all. Knowing what God will do when Jesus returns ought to change how we live today. Since this is our ultimate goal, Peter says, here is how we should live. We should live in ways which please God, which imitate Jesus, which work for the good of His creation, which build community and society, which seek justice and fairness. We should communicate the Kingdom of God in how we speak and live and so not only proclaim it, but even somehow ‘speed its coming’. Amen Come Lord Jesus!

Closing Song:

Closing Prayer:

Heavenly Father what a wonderful joy to know the amazing plans You have made for our future in eternity. What an incredible privilege to know that the best is yet to come for us as Your people, to enjoy You more fully and to experience more deeply all You have planned for us, we bring to You our heartfelt gratitude in the wonderful name of Jesus, Your Son our Saviour, Amen

The Benediction:

Church at Home – 29 November 2020 (1st Sunday of Advent)

Intimations

Baptist Union of Scotland Prayer Livestream – The monthly prayer livestream takes place on Sunday, 6 December, 7.00–7.30pm. You can access the prayer livestream by going to the Baptist Union of Scotland YouTube channel.
Dundee Evangelical Christian Alliance (DECA) is holding its annual service on zoom this evening, Sunday 29 November at 6:30pm from St Peter’s Free Church. The service will be led by Jim Turrent, Minister of Central Baptist Church, Dundee. The service can be viewed online here.

Jam Kids

JAM young adults Ignite Live have a separate programme at 11:30am. Please contact Gary Torbet on garytorbet@btinternet.com for more details.

Call to Worship

Before the World was created, the Word already existed; he was with God, and he was the same as God. From the very beginning the Word was with God. Through him God made all things; not one thing in all creation was made without him. The Word was the source of life, and this life brought light to mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out.
John 1: 1-5

We are grateful to Alison and Isdale for selecting the songs for worship for this service

Baptist Union of Scotland – Video on the theme of Hope

Opening Prayer

Opening prayer

Heavenly Father at the start of Advent we come in the name of the One who said: I am the light of the World. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. (John 8:12). We come as men and women, boys and girls, who are seeking to follow in His footsteps in living in a way that reflects God’s call on our lives to honour Him as our Lord and to show His grace and kindness to other people with whom we journey through life week by week.

We are living in a deeply challenging world that at times takes all the emotional, mental and physical energy we possess to keep going in our workplaces; or to battle through the health or family issues some of us are currently experiencing. Yet we come before You today with confidence because we are reminded that The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:5).

Purify us afresh of our sins of the past week and empower us by Your Holy Spirit for the week that is now commencing, as we continue in our worship, in the name of Jesus Christ, Your Son our Saviour, Amen.

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

Prayers for Others

Heavenly Father, we thank You once more for the privilege of coming to You with all the concerns on our hearts today.

We come aware that so many people are exhausted physically, emotionally or mentally as a result of all the strains of the virus pandemic in their workplace. We bring each one before You today, whether in the health or social care services, schools or higher education, or a wider range of other forms of employment that have kept us going as a society over the last year.

We pray too for the many people in the retail and hospitality sectors as well as in travel and tourism who have genuine fears about the loss of their employment or the failure of their businesses as a result of the restrictions imposed by governments to curb the spread of the virus. We ask for wisdom for our politicians as they finalise the relaxation of guidelines for the Christmas holiday period that they will get the balance right under great pressure from some who wish to enjoy their traditional festivities at this time of year.

We come with gratitude for the progress in production of possible vaccines, and marvel at the speed with which this progress appears to be being made. We pray, though, with our concerns that corners might be cut and safeguards ignored in the rush to be the producers of the first vaccine approved for use and the financial benefits for the companies concerned. We ask that all necessary health checks are in place to ensure that all may go well when vaccine use amongst the general public begins in the coming weeks.

We pray too for people in other countries more severely affected by the economic disruption, particularly in the two-thirds world, where so many workers live on subsistence wages and have a very difficult task in providing for their families at the best of times. We pray that their governments can become more able to provide the basic necessities of life in these communities. We have particular concerns also for those in war zones in Syria, Yemen and increasingly in Ethiopia where the threat of civil war is very real, together with the many communities ravaged weekly by Islamist militias in North Africa and Christian civilians bear the brunt of these atrocities. Lord have mercy…

We now bring before You the particular things of concern to us personally in the wider world …

We also bring before You other churches including:

We pray for all the other Churches here in Broughty Ferry as each one seeks to plan for a very different kind of Christmas; that You would help us all to proclaim clearly the good news of the Christian gospel at a time when for so many people Christmas will be very different to our usual celebrations.

St Ninians Community Church, Stirling – We give thanks for their varied ways of meeting during this time using Zoom, and for the sense of community they are maintaining. We pray for those who have had recent health issues, and for the ability to maintain a presence in their community during this time.

Stenhouse BC, Edinburgh – We pray for their neighbours who have been affected by job losses and poor mental health. We pray that as a community, Stenhouse is able to rally together to get through these months. We pray that as a church they can shine Jesus’ light.

Stirling BC – We give thanks for all the ways the church fellowship has been able to reach out to the local community through The Haven Centre, where local families can find support, children’s group, debt counselling and more. We pray that through this help, more people in Stirling will come to know Jesus.

Stonehaven BC – We give thanks for the church now meeting in person again (with all the Covid-safe measures in place). We pray that despite facemasks and restrictions there will be a sense of fellowship, community and worship of God.

We also remember in our prayers other people with particular needs that are connected to our own families or congregation:

Lord we thank you for the good news that Garry A has been able to raise all the funds required for his Christian Leadership course at the Teen Challenge Academy in Nottingham which he will start in January. We pray Your guidance and blessing upon Garry as he discerns Your leading and guidance on his life for the future.

We remember at this time Peter and Maureen S and pray for recovery of their health and strength at this time. We pray too for John C and his ongoing health challenges. We also continue to remember Lawrie, Nicola L’s Dad, Betty W, Alva D and Anne M as they seek to make further progress in the recovery of their health and strength, together with the Steer’s niece Rachel and Ann W’s sister Margaret at this time as well. We pray also for other with ongoing health needs that You would grant them the strength that they need at this time.

We continue to pray for those of our number who even without the virus-pandemic restrictions would be unable to meet with us for worship. We pray Your blessing upon them at this time. In particular, we bring before You …

In addition, we bring our own and other needs on our hearts to You today…, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, Amen.

Bible Reading

²¹At that time if anyone says to you, “Look, here is the Messiah!” or, “Look, there he is!” do not believe it. ²²For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. ²³So be on your guard; I have told you everything in advance.

²⁴‘But in those days, following that distress, ‘“the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; ²⁵the stars will fall from the sky and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.” ²⁶‘At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.

²⁷And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens. ²⁸‘Now learn this lesson from the fig-tree: as soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. ²⁹Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door.

³⁰Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. ³¹Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
³²‘But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. ³³Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. ³⁴It’s like a man going away: he leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.

³⁵‘Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back – whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the cock crows, or at dawn. ³⁶If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. ³⁷What I say to you, I say to everyone: “Watch!”’
Mark 13: 21-36

Before we come to listen to God’s Word let us sing:

The Message

Holy Suspense: The ‘now’ and ‘not yet’ of Advent

Introduction

As a football fan of a team that likes to keep its supporters on the edge of their seats, it can be a very stressful experience watching a live game, particularly when promising performances peter out into disappointment. This is a familiar experience for most sports fans though as no team is invincible. For other people the suspense in a film you are viewing in the cinema or on your television at home can be equally gripping. A well-written novel may also have this magic quality keeping you turning the pages to find out what happened next!

Of course some tension can be a good thing. An archer using a bow and arrows would be unable to operate the bow adequately without it. Or a musician with a stringed instrument or a drummer with a traditional drum kit; in these contexts it is essential to have the right tension. Yet there are contexts where we can feel deeply uneasy with tension. For example, human relationships where two people are not getting on very well, but the matter is not resolved or begun to be addressed so the experience of being together in a home or a workplace could become decidedly unpleasant at times.

In the Bible there is definitely a holy suspense at times as individual men and women seek to discern God’s will for their lives in the midst of the complexities of daily life. It is not so much the times when we know what we ought to say or do but don’t want to do it, instead it is those circumstances where we are open to making different possible choices, but cannot get our head around which way to go or option to accept. The message of Advent is definitely part of this suspense.

1. The first and second comings of Jesus

The Jewish people of Jesus’ day had a strong belief that God would send a special person, His anointed king to rule over them. It was a message that would have been delivered with regularity in synagogue services. At a time when the country was occupied by the mighty Roman army, the idea that one day God would transform their situation through the Messiah was most encouraging.

The principle of the Messiah coming was agreed by the vast majority of the people and greatly welcomed, but few took the time to study the Bible for insight into the characteristics of this special person and how they would carry out their work on earth. The Bible references a few people like Simeon and Anna (Luke 2:25-40) who were prayerfully expecting this person in their lifetime. Luke tells us this of Simeon in Luke 2:25-33:

²⁵Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. ²⁶It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. ²⁷Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, ²⁸Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: ²⁹‘Sovereign Lord, as You have promised, You may now dismiss Your servant in peace. ³⁰For my eyes have seen Your salvation, ³¹which You have prepared in the sight of all nations: ³²a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel.’ ³³The child’s father and mother marvelled at what was said about Him.

What a remarkable man whom God chose to tell ahead of time that he would not die before this special child was born. Simeon spent some of his time in his senior years praying for this event to happen. Jesus’ first coming happened on time although God didn’t give enough information for anyone to work out a date for this event. This small group of people faithfully trusted that God would keep His Word and He did! The Bible teaches that Jesus is coming back. Does your heart respond –‘Come Lord Jesus!’ Do you pray believing that God will do what He has promised? I hope and pray each one of us will do that.

Simeon and Anna are two individuals of whom we know very little, but in these difficult times maintained their trust in God and their faithfulness in daily devotions and in living for God. They did not allow the difficult circumstances around them to detract from their dedication as believers. In an increasingly secular world there are places where Christians and others find it difficult to stand in public for their convictions. What many people have forgotten is that freedom of speech and religious liberty are two sides of the same coin.

If I want the opportunity to share my convictions then I have to allow other people with different views to share theirs as well; obviously this covers a wider range of opinions than over matters of faith. When influential voices in a society call for denying others the right to speak their views then it is a dangerous way to go. Just as Simeon and Anna did in their day so we should continue to serve God in ours with grace and with wisdom.

Times of change in a country like the present time are very difficult to negotiate. There is so much uncertainty as to how things will play out. The covid-19 virus pandemic has impacted every country across the globe, and this has a serious economic impact that no-one had anticipated a year ago. In Western Europe we had faced uncertainties over how the Brexit changes would impact relationships between the United Kingdom and the European Union; other countries in the world have faced increasingly severe extremes of weather patterns largely attributed to climate changes. However, whatever our particular challenges God has not changed and we can trust Him with our futures.

The season of Advent that begins today allows us to reflect on the bigger picture of God’s work in His world over a much longer timescale than our own lifetimes. Advent means ‘coming’, in particular in this context it is a reference to Jesus’ first coming as a baby two thousand years ago. The birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus brought in a new chapter of the Kingdom of God on earth.

This was the beginning of the kingly rule and reign of God which had been long promised by the prophets. It might have looked very different to what people had expected, but it made a transforming difference in the lives of everyone who responded to it. Did everything begin to happen then that was prophesied of the special king or Messiah. The answer to that is clearly ‘no’. In His first coming Jesus came to show us how to live God’s way and in particular to die on the cross in our place so as to open up the way for us to enter into God’s family through His amazing grace and love to us. At the same time, the fullness of Jesus’ kingdom won’t be complete until He comes again.

As well as the first coming of Jesus as a human baby, there is also a second Advent, a ‘second coming’ of Jesus. This is a clear expectation which the New Testament church had: that Jesus would come again. Shortly before the Last Supper and His crucifixion Jesus gave an extended message to His first disciples about His second coming, recorded, for example, in Mark 13, Matthew 24 or Luke 21. The start of the Christian Church two thousand years ago could be described as ‘the beginning of the end’ or the launch of the countdown towards the start of God’s eternal kingdom over which Jesus will reign. We, unlike those first disciples, live much closer to the second coming of Jesus. What did Jesus want to highlight to His followers and to us in preparation for His return?

2. Signs of the Times (Mark 13:21-36)

What did Jesus say in this summary overview of the times before His second coming? What should we expect to look out for?

(a)Religious confusion (Mark 13:21-23) ²¹At that time if anyone says to you, “Look, here is the Messiah!” or, “Look, there he is!” do not believe it. ²²For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. ²³So be on your guard; I have told you everything in advance.

All kind of voices will appear claiming that Jesus is directing them to hold certain views or conduct ministries that seem so contrary to the Bible. A very small proportion of individuals make messianic claims. The majority want still to be recognised as Christian or even Evangelical Christian while denying biblical truth or promoting lifestyle choices that go against the Bible. There is very little that is new in the world in terms of beliefs or lifestyles compared to previous centuries. The way in which these heretical views are presented or the vocabulary used to describe it may change, but there is nothing new under the sun. The gospel, God’s good news, does not change, because God does not change. The application of it will vary in different cultural contexts, but the message is unchanged.

(b) Severe environmental change (Mark 13:24-25) ²⁴‘But in those days, following that distress, ‘“the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; ²⁵the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.”

In the centuries towards the end of the Old Testament era up to the first century AD Jewish religious leaders used very dramatic language to picture the end times, in the Bible the book of Revelation is a good example. It is clear that not all the word pictures they use were intended to be taken literally, but the message about the future convey a clear sense of the times to come. The events Jesus is pointing to here certainly describe severe disruption of the natural world in which we live that will be particularly bad immediately prior to His return.

We speak about climate change and some speakers and writers certainly use quite extreme apocalyptic language about us being near the point of no return or complete disaster if there are not drastic changes in the way humanity lives. God alone knows the details of the future, but it suggests life on this planet will be considerably tougher for many people in the years leading to Jesus return.

(c) Yet a time of hope (Mark 13:25-26) ²⁶‘At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. ²⁷And He will send His angels and gather His elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens. Jesus is coming soon. There are so many other passages that point to His return. For example, Hebrews 9:27-28: Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, ²⁸so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him.

The question to answer is this: Are you ready if it happened today? Or if it happened in the next few weeks months or years? Have you put your faith and trust in Him? Or are you currently away from God and need to get back on track with Him? There is no second chance of salvation. The time is now which we must seize while the gift of salvation from God is available to us.

(d) The promise (Mark 13:27-32)²⁸‘Now learn this lesson from the fig-tree: as soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. ²⁹Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door. ³⁰Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. ³¹Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. ³²‘But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

How many times does the second coming of Jesus get mentioned in the New Testament? I havn’t counted, but it has been suggested that it is at least 300 times (John Blanchard, Read Mark Learn, p.43). On the day when Jesus ascended back to heaven, the angel who spoke to those first disciples could not have been clearer. ‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven.’ (Acts 1:11) God has not told us when only to be ready at any time! Are you ready?

(e) The task (Mark 13:33-36 ³³Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. ³⁴It’s like a man going away: he leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.³⁵‘Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back – whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the cock crows, or at dawn. ³⁶If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. ³⁷What I say to you, I say to everyone: “Watch!”’ This belief in the return of Jesus shapes the whole of the New Testament understanding of what it means to be a Christian, and how we are to live in the world as we anticipate it. The aged apostle John in I John 2:28 wrote: And now, dear children, continue in Him, so that when He appears we may be confident and unashamed before Him at His coming.

3. Knowing what time it is

The New Testament has two words for time. ‘Chronos’ refers to the time you example on your watch or phone or other device, chronological time. We are most familiar with that reference. However, there is also another word ‘Kairos’ used of the right time for something. We all know there are contexts where we can speak about something, but sometimes we have to wait for the right time, to pick our moment. It has a sense of priorities of what really matters in life. Do I, do you, prioritise the things that are most important? In the New Testament we see this emphasis in the preaching and writing of the leaders of the Early Church. For example, Paul in his letter to the church in Rome:

And do this, understanding the present time: the hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. ¹²The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armour of light (Romans 13:11-12).

Imagine that you wake up early the day of a great party – it could be your birthday, a wedding, or Christmas day. The night before is almost over, the sun is just beginning to come up. You’re full of excitement – and yet the party itself has not yet started. In this situation, you begin to live with both the anticipation of the day being almost here and frustration that it has not yet fully begun. You would begin to put on your party clothes and do all you could to make final preparations. But you would hold that in tension with knowing that the party in all its fullness was still a few hours away.

This is the ‘time’ we live in as Christians. The night is almost gone and the day of Jesus’ kingdom has started to dawn. And yet, that kingdom ‘day’ has not yet arrived in all its fullness. We live with the suspense that the full party has not yet started. Paul tells us to be aware that we are living in this ‘time’, this in-between daybreak stage. This is a huge tension in the Christian life, sometimes called the ‘now and not yet’ of the Kingdom:

‘Now’ Jesus is King, and at the same time his Kingdom is ‘not yet’ here in its fullness.

‘Now’ Satan is defeated, and at the same time we are waiting for all evil to be finally overcome and so our lives are ‘not yet’ free from temptation.

‘Now’ Jesus has healed the sick and has given us authority to do the same in his name, and at the same time we live in an era where sick people are ‘not yet’ healed.

‘Now’ Jesus is resurrected from the dead and we are seated with him in the heavenly places, and at the same time we live in the ‘not yet’ where all creation groans to be healed and resurrected.

This ‘now’ and ‘not yet’ calls us to a radical form of living. It asks us to be both hope-filled and also realistic. Life is not all roses and sunshine this side of Jesus’ second coming. We all struggle with pain, temptation, disappointment and loss. The earth continues to groan, the oppressed continue to cry ‘How long?’ And yet in the middle of these challenging realities we have seen the sun beginning to rise and we are called to live in its light.

4. How do we live at this time?

If the New Testament mentions so many times that we need to be ready for the second coming of Jesus, how are we advised to conduct our lives? There are two things to remember.

(a)Be clear what we expect to happen in the future (I Thessalonians 4:13-18) ¹³Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. ¹⁴For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him. ¹⁵According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.

¹⁶For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord for ever. ¹⁸Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Our focus today is on the broader picture regard the first and second coming of Jesus. Paul provided this summary of ‘what will happen’ to reassure these new believers that what they needed to know was not a detailed timetable of the end times, rather a reassurance that God had already planned out and taken care of the future.

(b) Be clear about how we ought to live now In the light of the assurance of the future Paul urged the various churches he had planted to use their time wisely and effectively and not to waste it with frivolous activities or in appropriate lifestyle choices. In Romans 13:12-14 he wrote:

The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armour of light. ¹³Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. ¹⁴Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.

When we know a party is coming, we need to put on our party clothes and prepare all we can for the coming celebration. Similarly, when we know Jesus is coming we need to put on our ‘Jesus clothes’, for example the armour of God (Ephesians 6:10-20) and attitudes like compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience (Col 3:12b).

It is a calling to keep our focus to live in a God-honouring way. His words were similar to the those uttered by Jesus around two decades earlier. He reminded the first disciples that their task was not to try and fix dates for His possible return, instead to avoid distractions and keep a clear focus on pleasing God through the way we choose to live. In Luke’s account of Jesus’ message on the end times he included these words in Luke 21:34-36:

³⁴‘Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap. ³⁵For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. ³⁶Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.’

In other words live now in a way that you will be comfortable accounting for when we meet with Jesus when our lives here have been completed. In effect, we are being asked to live in holy suspense knowing how to live now following the example of Jesus in His first coming, but equally wanting to honour Him and be found faithful in His service should He come back tomorrow. Are you prepared for eternity? If not please put your faith in Jesus today as Lord and Saviour. As a Christian, are you living in the light of His imminent return? I trust each of us could echo the words of Revelation 22:20 at the end of the Bible: He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon.’ [and can give this response] Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

Our song before we come to communion is:

The Lord’s Supper

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 last song is:

Closing Prayer

Lord Jesus recalling Your first coming fills us with joy as we love to celebrate at Christmas the extraordinary events of two thousand years ago. Yet today we also want to thank You that our Father in heaven has also taken care of our future and planned Your return as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Help us to be bold witnesses for You in the coming days, assured that despite all the challenges we face in daily life that Your Holy Spirit will strengthen and encourage us through them in our remaining time on earth until You return or until Your call us home, in Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Wednesday @ 11 – 18 November 2020

Welcome to the online version of our midweek service of worship which was held in our building in Panmurefield

Opening Scripture verses: Psalm 121:1-2:

I lift up my eyes to the mountains –
where does my help come from?
²My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

Opening praise: Here is Love

Here is Love, vast as the ocean,
loving-kindness as the flood,
when the Prince of life, our ransom,
shed for us His precious blood.
Who His love will not remember?
Who can cease to sing His praise?
He will never be forgotten
throughout Heaven’s eternal days

On the mount of crucifixion
fountains opened deep and wide;
through the floodgates of God’s mercy
flowed a vast and gracious tide.
Grace and love, like mighty rivers
poured incessant from above;
and Heaven’s peace and perfect justice
kissed a guilty world in love.

Opening Prayer:

Our great God and Saviour once more we thank You for the privilege of entering Your holy presence in the wonderful and all-prevailing name of Your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ. We rejoice that we have direct access into Your presence in His name, the name above all names through the blessed Holy Spirit. We are eternally grateful that His sacrifice on the cross of Calvary paid in full the debt we owed so that we might be redeemed and set free to serve the living God each day of our lives. Thank you that when we come before You in prayer with our praises and petitions that You hear and answer us. Once more we seek the forgiveness of our sins and the fresh enabling by the Holy Spirit to be the men and women You have called us to be. Meet with us we pray here today in this act of worship, in Jesus’ name, Amen

Bible Reading: Psalm 121:

I lift up my eyes to the mountains –
where does my help come from?
²My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

³He will not let your foot slip –
He who watches over you will not slumber;
⁴indeed, He who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵The Lord watches over you –
the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
⁶the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

⁷The Lord will keep you from all harm –
He will watch over your life;
⁸the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and for evermore.

Intercessory prayer using Psalm 121

Lord we come thankful for the freedom we have to turn to You with all our needs as well as the expressions of our appreciation for your goodness to us.

I lift up my eyes to the mountains – where does my help come from? ²My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. Thank you Lord that I am never alone, even if sometimes it feels that way. I thank You that I can turn to You at any time in prayer. What a privilege that is. Today, I also want to thank You for ….

³He will not let your foot slip – He who watches over you will not slumber; ⁴indeed, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. Thank you Lord that you don’t work office hours or take the weekends off! I can talk with You at any time. Today I want to pray particularly for…

⁵The Lord watches over you – the Lord is your shade at your right hand; ⁶the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. Lord, I am deeply grateful for the people who have encouraged me on my faith journey over the years. I want to take time this morning to mention their names to You, and for some who are still alive to pray for …., for Your blessing upon them at this time. If we are blessed by other people supporting us over the years, how much more are we grateful to the Lord for His constant care and watchfulness over us. Thank You. Lord, I particularly want You to watch over …. Who is going through a really tough time now….

⁷The Lord will keep you from all harm – He will watch over your life; ⁸the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and for evermore. Thank You Lord that our future us secure in Your hands. I thank you for the amazing guarantee: and for evermore. I bring before You the things I am worrying about at the moment or know other people are anxious about today …

Thank You Lord for hearing and answering our prayers in Jesus’ name, Amen

Message from Psalm 121 The Source of my help

Introduction

On Tuesday 17 November 2020 media including the BBC were reporting the heroic actions of a British national who saved the life of a twenty-four year old Chinese student who couldn’t swim who had fallen into the fast-flowing water of a local river. Stephen Ellison, aged sixty-one, who is the British consul-general in the city of Chongqing, was walking by the unnamed river in a nearby village when he saw the woman struggling in the deep water. ‘Mr Ellison said jumping into the water was a “split-second” decision after he was the first to get his shoes off.’

Public relations between China and Britain have been strained in recent months due to the treatment of Uighurs in the north of China and over governance in Hong Kong. However, many social media commentators in China have contrasted the inactive crowds of local onlookers and the heroic action of the older British man who stepped in to save her life. What the crowds didn’t know was that Mr Ellison is a keen participant in triathlons and was very capable of carrying out this rescue. [BBC News website 17.11.20]

This event was unplanned and the young woman’s fall was an accident, but she was in such difficulty that she didn’t have time to call for help. Thankfully there was a happy ending to this story. But where do you and turn for help in a time of crisis? It is a question worth pondering.

All of us have in our lives many ordinary days of regular routines, but there are also some happy days of successes and celebrations for which we thank God. However, no-one can avoid other days of problems and difficulties and even a few situations that might be genuinely called crises. To whom do we turn in those moments? Even more seriously, none of us can escape the reality of death when those most precious will be taken from us.

If a person has faith in the Lord we know they are in heaven and we will meet them again after our own home call, but as far as this life goes it can be a painful loss. To whom do we turn for comfort? We can think that some other people are having an easy life compared to our own or the other way round, but only God really knows all the details of what is happening in someone’s life.

The Book of Psalms is a real encouragement to us, because the authors of these songs have lived through the things they describe and with God’s help have come through to the other side. As a result, we can identify with these words and use them in our prayers or our praises as we come before the Lord. Let us look briefly at this precious Psalm 121.

1. The proclamation of our heavenly helper (Psalm 121:1-2)

I lift up my eyes to the mountains – where does my help come from? ²My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

This Psalm from the time of the godly king Hezekiah, and possibly written by him, but we cannot be certain. It is a time of national crisis. Hezekiah looks out beyond the city walls of Jerusalem to the ring of hills that surround this city. Normally, it is beautiful view from the heights of that capital city looking down to the valleys below. Looking at the hills can be peaceful.

However, on this occasion it is not an inspiring view of God’s wonderful creation that catches his eye. On this occasion it is not an encouragement to take in the view. We should take delight in God’s creation because there is so much beauty to appreciate. I know that in my family during 2020 when we have been limited in where we can go due to the Covid-19 virus pandemic restrictions that walks down to the beach or alongside the Dichty River have been a real blessing.

For a short time we can escape into the world of nature and enjoy seeing the birds and the trees and occasionally other wild creatures experiencing the same natural surroundings. But that is not what Hezekiah was thinking when he penned or inspired these words in Psalm 121:1. I lift up my eyes to the mountains and saw a vast army of Assyrian soldiers surrounding the city. All escape routes had been cut off. Thankfully, the Assyrian advance had been signposted ahead of time and this allowed Hezekiah and his officials to divert the water supplies in the area to ensure that Jerusalem would have a secure water supply in the event of a siege. (See II Chronicles 32:2-4, 30:

When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and that he intended to wage war against Jerusalem, ³he consulted with his officials and military staff about blocking off the water from the springs outside the city, and they helped him. ⁴They gathered a large group of people who blocked all the springs and the stream that flowed through the land. ‘Why should the kings of Assyria come and find plenty of water?’ they said… It was Hezekiah who blocked the upper outlet of the Gihon spring and channelled the water down to the west side of the City of David. He succeeded in everything he undertook.)

Looking to the hills was to see the source and scale of his problems. It was a terrifying sight. When you and I face big problems we can sometimes be so terrified that we are frozen into inaction. But here Hezekiah asked himself a key question: where does my help come from? (Psalm 121:1b) You and I can also ask ourselves this same question. It is important to have something with which to respond. If the answer is ‘no-one’ then we are really in big trouble. Can you answer this question with confidence? What would your answer be? If you have put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus, then you can be confident in coming to God through Him.

What is Hezekiah’s response? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth (Psalm 121:2). It is a clear testimony of a ruler of this nation who leads with clarity and courage in extremely troubled times. Many others of God’s people down the centuries have taken comfort from this Psalm in their own particular times of crisis.

Here for us in the Covid-19 virus pandemic, on top of many other challenging situations with respect to our health or our relationships or a vast range of other potential needs, we come to the Lord with an assurance that He will help us to keep going through these difficult months when we cannot see for certain how things will turn out in the end. Have you put your faith and trust in the Lord as Hezekiah did? It can make a world of difference as to how you look upon what you may even be going through just now. There are no completely hopeless situations when God is involved in their resolution. The child of God can have complete confidence in God’s taking care of our future. This does not mean every trial goes away. Or that every illness has a happy resolution.

Sadly, we live in a fallen world when sickness and death itself are a part of the human experience, even with the remarkable advances in health care in the NHS. Our confidence is placed in the Lord and we seek the grace and strength to accept what He has determined or permitted in our particular circumstances. There are lots of situations where this side of eternity we will have no answers to our ‘why’ questions. We have to be honest with people about that. Sometimes God’s answer to us is similar to that given to the apostle Paul in II Corinthians 12:9: My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness’.

The challenge for us is whether we can come to the place the apostle Paul reached some time later. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me (II Corinthians 12:10).

(a)The background to this Psalm (II Kings 18:19-22, 28-30)

The field commander said to them, ‘Tell Hezekiah: ‘“This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: on what are you basing this confidence of yours? ²⁰You say you have the counsel and the might for war – but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me? ²¹Look, I know you are depending on Egypt that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it! Such is Pharaoh King of Egypt to all who depend on him. ²²But if you say to me, ‘We are depending on the Lord our God’– isn’t He the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship before this altar in Jerusalem’? (II Kings 18:19-22)

Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew, ‘Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! ²⁹This is what the king says: do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot deliver you from my hand. ³⁰Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord when he says, “The Lord will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” (II Kings 18:28-30)

Things had got much worse not only had Hezekiah seen the soldiers from Assyria surrounding the city, but they had come close to its walls and were demanding the city be surrendered to them. However, in the speech of the Army field commander his logic was only partially correct. Egypt, was the most powerful local neighbour to Israel, but was at that time in history extremely unreliable. The Pharaoh was not confident that his army could take on the Assyrians in open battle. As a result, any pleas for help from neighbouring countries would go unheeded.

However, the field commander was incorrect in this instance. Hezekiah’s army was small and would get beaten easily in an open battle, but they were in a walled city with strong fortifications that required far less men to maintain its defences. Yet it was not Hezekiah’s army the field commander challenged but the God of Hezekiah. To declare so arrogantly: He cannot deliver you from my hand (II Kings 18:29b) was a direct challenge to the God of Hezekiah. Our God then and now is able to do more than we ask or even imagine. What did Hezekiah do in response to this challenge?

(b)The prayer of Hezekiah (II Kings 19:14-19) Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. ¹⁵And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: ‘ Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. ¹⁶Give ear, Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God. ¹⁷‘It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands. ¹⁸They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. ¹⁹Now, Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, Lord, are God.’

Hezekiah did what we must do each day of our lives and take our circumstances to God in prayer. He recognised the greatness and power of God, that nothing is too difficult for Him. The God who spoke the word and brought the universe into being can handle any situation that you or I might be facing today. We too need to acknowledge how great is our God! We need not be paralysed with fear. Then Hezekiah raises the fact that the official has given a direct challenge to God:

open Your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God (II Kings 19:16b).

When someone directly challenges God we have a powerful point to raise with the Lord. He doesn’t do ‘score draws’! God Almighty may permit the wicked to triumph for a time, but they will ultimately fail. Their empires’ ruins gather dust awaiting archaeologists’ future discoveries. There was a missional purpose too in his prayer – see II Kings 19:19: …so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, Lord, are God.’ God has not changed. May we also come to Him with boldness and confidence in our prayers today.

2. The promise about our heavenly helper (Psalm 121:3-8)

What does it mean to say that our help comes from the Lord? How did the author of this Psalm understand this statement? In the remaining verses of this Psalm he sketches out a description of what this means for us. It means first of all:

(a)His constant care for us (Psalm 121:3-4)³He will not let your foot slip – He who watches over you will not slumber; ⁴indeed, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. You and I need time out to take a break from our work. Although you may work some long hours at particular times it cannot go on indefinitely or your health will be increasingly affected. By contrast, God watches over us every hour of day and night. This does not mean that He prevents all bad things happening to us. Sadly we live in a sin-damaged world and the choices of other humans can be life changing for us.

A drunk driver, for example, can cause mayhem and a serious tragedy could occur when they have inadequate control of their vehicle. Yet on other occasions some of us can testify that we felt extremely fortunate to escape unharmed out of difficult situations. We must be very careful here not to suggest that Christians will have an easier time in economic or social circumstances if we are in a right relationship with God. Christians in the Philippines, for example, along with fellow citizens face many typhoons every year and in 2020 there has been dreadful flooding in some parts of the country. Similar comments could be made about those living in warzones or where terrorist atrocities are a regular occurrence.

Life on earth in 2020 is far from ideal for most people, but in a growing number of countries it is getting much harder to obtain even the basic necessities of life. However, the Psalmist would remind us of God’s care watching over us and giving us the strength we need to ensure the tough times we experience. In the New Testament Peter expressed it this way in I Peter 5:7: Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.

(b) His constant protection of us (Psalm 121:5-6)⁵The Lord watches over you –the Lord is your shade at your right hand; ⁶the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The language is different in these verses, but a very similar point is being made of God’s care and protection of His people. It is a reminder that we are never alone. He never switches off. Whether it is day time or night His love and mercy is constant towards us. Psalm 34:6-8 states: This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; He saved him out of all his troubles. ⁷The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and He delivers them. ⁸Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him.

God’s provision and protection can come in very different ways. In Jonah’s case it was a giant plant that gave welcome shade in the fierce Middle-eastern heat (Jonah 4:6-7); for Daniel miraculously surviving in the lions’ den overnight it was definitely protection. In Daniel 6:22 Daniel explained to the surprised King why he was still alive: My God sent His angel, and He shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in His sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, Your Majesty.’

The Psalmist’s point is that God provides for our needs and protection in many of our times of need. Who knows what they might be in practice for you and me in the coming days?

(c) His constant assurance to us (Psalm 121:7-8)⁷The Lord will keep you from all harm – He will watch over your life; ⁸the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and for evermore. The message here is remarkably similar to that in Hebrews 13:5b-6: God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’ ⁶So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?’

It is a message of assurance to us to entrust our uncertain future into the hands of a loving and all-powerful God who cares for and watches over us. I pray each one of us commits our lives to follow Him and the day by days seeks to walk closely with Him through the enabling power of the Holy Spirit, Amen

Closing Song: Tell Out my soul

Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord!
Unnumbered blessings give my spirit voice;
tender to me the promise of His word;
in God my Saviour shall my heart rejoice.

Tell out, my soul, the greatness of His Name!
Make known His might, the deeds His arm has done;
His mercy sure, from age to age to same;
His holy Name–the Lord, the Mighty One.

Tell out, my soul, the greatness of His might!
Powers and dominions lay their glory by.
Proud hearts and stubborn wills are put to flight,
the hungry fed, the humble lifted high.

Tell out, my soul, the glories of His word!
Firm is His promise, and His mercy sure.
Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord
to children’s children and for evermore!

Closing Prayer:

Thank you Lord that You are with us each day of our lives, each step of the way. Even in uncertain years like 2020 we can have total confidence in You our amazing God. We are so grateful that You will never leave us nor forsake us. We now commit ourselves and the rest of this week into Your trustworthy hands, in Jesus’ name we pray, Amen

The Benediction:

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

Church at Home – 22 November 2020

Intimations

Baptist Union of Scotland Prayer Livestream – The monthly prayer livestream takes place on Sunday, 6 December, 7.00–7.30pm. You can access the prayer livestream by going to the Baptist Union of Scotland YouTube channel.

Jam Kids

JAM young adults Ignite Live have a separate programme at 11:30am. Please contact Gary Torbet on garytorbet@btinternet.com for more details.

Call to Worship

Truly my soul finds rest in God;
    my salvation comes from Him.
²Truly He is my rock and my salvation;
    He is my fortress, I shall never be shaken.
⁵Yes, my soul, find rest in God;
    my hope comes from Him.
⁶Truly He is my rock and my salvation;
    He is my fortress, I shall not be shaken.
⁷My salvation and my honour depend on God;
    He is my mighty rock, my refuge.
⁸Trust in Him at all times, you people;
    pour out your hearts to Him,
    for God is our refuge.
Psalm 62 selection

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

Opening Prayer

Opening prayer

Heavenly Father, we come into Your holy presence today with deep gratitude that as Your children we can come freely and boldly into Your presence in the wonderful and precious name of Your Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ.

We come as those whose sins have been forgiven, past, present and future through His once for all time perfect sacrifice in our place on the cross. We thank You that Jesus endured in our place the separation from You our sins merited in those dark hours on the cross so we might have life in all its fullness, and to have the incredible privilege of addressing You as our Father in heaven.

Once more we confess our sins of the past week and seek the fresh empowering of Your Holy Spirit as we begin another new week. Speak to us we pray from Your Holy Word as we read and reflect on it today, minister to us in our lives in accordance with our needs whether of challenge or encouragement or comfort or whatever it may be, in Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

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

All Age talk – Alan McRobbie

What is the most powerful muscle in the human body? Would you be surprised to know that it’s your tongue? We all fail in many areas especially with our words, but it is possible to control our words so that they reflect our beliefs and God’s plan for our lives.

As an example, in the book of James in the Bible, James tells us that horses don’t start out their lives as gentle trained animals. They are wild creatures with huge powerful bodies but with some training and something as small as a bit and bridle in their mouths we can control the direction in which these big animals go. By controlling our words, we can control the power and direction of our lives as well.

James continues describing how sailing ships cross huge bodies of water. Though these ships are driven by wind they can be directed by a tiny rudder steered by a single person at the helm. We can accomplish good things in stormy times if we control the words we speak.

The tongue we use to speak is small but, in many ways, it is the most powerful and dangerous part of our bodies. James tells us that just as a tiny spark can set a whole forest on fire, a single wrong word the tongue spits out can cause unimaginable damage.

Next, James asks us to consider animals. People have trained many kinds of animals. The only thing people haven’t been able to tame are their own tongues to keep them from speaking in a wrong way. Imagine this example. On Sunday we go to church where we use our tongues to speak and sing praises to God and then a few hours later we speak words against another person who was made in God’s image. One minute our tongues are doing what they were created to and the next they act out in a way displeasing to God. However, this said, just as our words can cause harm, they can also do incredible good demonstrating love and compassion.

Our words should honour God and reflect a godly life. The Bible tells us that Jesus was the Word of God who became human. Jesus is our example to follow and our lives should speak and live out the good words of God.

Prayers for Others

Lord Jesus we thank You for the privilege of praying for others. We are deeply saddened by the vast numbers of people in the Philippines flooded out of their homes as a result of recent typhoons.

We pray for wisdom for the national and local government leaders there as they seek to organise a clean-up operation at the same time as feeding, clothing and housing so many in need. In the same way we bring before the hundreds of thousands of Armenian civilian families who have now lost their homes and most of their possessions at a time when winter is beginning in the mountains of Nagorno-Karabhakh and the surrounding provinces of that region.

We are deeply saddened that a century after the Armenian genocide that another major tragedy is taking place as they are driven out of yet more of their historic lands. We thank you for the aid-workers seeking to support and provide for those in so much need. But Lord we ask for Your mercy, as Western and other governments once again profess to believe in human rights and principles, but do little to uphold them when thousands are killed and many more are terrorised into fleeing wherever they can find some shelter and safety.

With relief, we are grateful for the advances in vaccine research and pray that the test results from the other vaccine trials may also be as encouraging when they report in the coming weeks. We pray for wisdom for world governments that they might share the successful vaccines fairly across the world to ensure that the poorer nations are also able in time to protect their citizens from this health pandemic that has done so much damage around the world.

We continue to pray for the necessary health and strength for all our health service workers caring for those who have contracted this illness, as well as their care for other patients. We also pray for all other workers and carers facing heavier responsibilities and pressures at this time. We are also concerned to remember the increasing number of people struggling with emotional and mental health problems. We ask that You would uphold and strengthen them and assure them of Your love and care at this time.

We now bring before You the particular things of concern to us personally in the wider world …

We also bring before You:

The Baptist Union of Scotland Trustee Board as they meet online this coming week to discuss various matters regarding the governance of our Union and good stewardship of our resources.

Pray also for the following churches:

Southside Christian Fellowship, Ayr – We pray for ways of keeping the church family together – not having a building is often a blessing in disguise! However, this may not be one of those times. We pray for them as they prepare for Christmas, seeking to build on some great community engagement in the past few years but in these very different circumstances. We pray that they would use this time wisely and listen well to the Spirit’s leading and teaching as they seek to move into new and unknown seasons still to come.

Springburn BC, Glasgow – We give thanks that although a small congregation, and although in a vacancy situation, they have managed to re-open their premises for worship at an early stage in lockdown. We pray for guidance for their short and long term future, and pray that this very multicultural fellowship will continue to feel togetherness in the love of Jesus.

St Andrews BC – We give thanks to God for His grace that is reaching more and more people throughout this pandemic through their witness. We pray for their newly appointed Students and Youth Workers as they find ways to engage with these groups in this current climate, as well as for the decisions to be made at their church AGM on 25 November for the advancement of God’s Kingdom here and beyond.

St Mary’s Community Church, Dundee – They are praising God for a very real sense of His presence as they worshipped “together apart” online through lockdown, and as they now worship together again in person. They are thankful that God’s presence overrides the restrictions. We pray for them navigating their way into a different future, and building on the community contacts they have to share the good news of salvation in Christ.

We also remember in our prayers other people with particular needs that are connected to our own families or congregation: Lord today we particularly want to remember Nicola L and her family as her dad is making encouraging progress in his recovery from surgery. We continue to pray for a restoration of health and strength for Betty W and Anne M at this time and thank you for the progress they have made so far. We thank You too for the preservation of those we know who were recently involved in a car accident. We pray for others in the congregation who are recovering from surgery and for healing too for the person who has tested positive recently for the virus, as well as for other known to us who are coping with ongoing health challenges at the present time.

Lord we are conscious of those like the Steer’s niece Rachel and Ann W’s sister Margaret in the most difficult of times and ask for your peace and strength to uphold them and their families at this time. We continue to remember others in the congregation like Alva D undergoing medical treatments or facing surgery in the near future and pray that they may be restored to health and strength once again.

In addition, we bring our own and other needs on our hearts to You today…, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, Amen.

Bible Readings

‘As I looked, ‘thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took His seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of His head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze. ¹⁰A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before Him. Thousands upon thousands attended Him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The court was seated, and the books were opened. ¹³‘In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into His presence. ¹⁴He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshipped Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed (Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14).

³¹‘When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on his glorious throne. ³²All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on His left. ³⁴‘Then the King will say to those on His right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited Me in, ³⁶I needed clothes and you clothed Me, I was ill and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you came to visit Me.” ³⁷‘Then the righteous will answer Him, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸When did we see You a stranger and invite You in, or needing clothes and clothe You? ³⁹When did we see You ill or in prison and go to visit You?” ⁴⁰‘The King will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:31-40)

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, ¹⁰so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, ¹¹being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, ¹²and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you^[f] to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. ¹³For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, ¹⁴in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins…¹⁹For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, ²⁰and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. (Colossians 1:9-14, 19-20)

Before we come to listen to God’s Word let us sing:

The Message

Waiting for the coming King (Daniel 7:9-14 & Colossians 1:9-20)

Introduction

In the United Kingdom we are considered one of the best nations in the world for waiting patiently for things. Why is this so? There are other countries where it is the ‘every person for themselves’ for goods in stores, something that used to be tried by a proportion of citizens here in the post-Christmas sales. Anyone remember the dreadful images on the BBC news of people fighting over the large flat-screen televisions on offer a few years ago?

It happens with other ‘bargains’ as well, no doubt, but most of us doubt that is an appropriate way to do our shopping. The old-fashioned thing we are apparently good at is queuing. Now of course in 2020 we need to add, two metres apart for everyone’s safety until the virus goes away, but we can do it successfully. Silently or engaged in conversation we can wait until our turn comes to enter the shop to purchase some kind of goods. It seems to be a British kind of virtue that we can display patience in that context!

It is now in the second half of November. What season of the year are you looking forward to you next? I assume that if we were to do some socially-distanced opinion polling in the streets that the vast majority of people would mention the word ‘Christmas’.

After all our governments in Edinburgh and London are both advocating stricter virus prevention measures at the moment with a view to allowing us some time with at least some of our relatives in the later part of December. Normally, many of us groan at the sound of ‘Christmas’ music beginning to appear in garden centres or shopping centres in the later part of September. What happened this year is anyone’s guess, as the majority of us were spending a lot less time in the shops, apart from food shopping.

However, in other parts of the world Christmas starts a lot earlier. In the Philippines, for example, it is particularly popular with the first preparations starting in September and the decorated tree up in some homes by the middle of October, rather than early December in the United Kingdom. However, over many centuries Christian Churches have observed a different period of time prior to Christmas called Advent. This word literally means ‘coming’. Who or what is coming? Why is that particular event marked? And what is it that historically Christians have waited for? Like fellow citizens an honest answer might be the Christmas holidays from work and a chance to rest!

However, Advent has traditionally been the season of looking back to the events of the first coming of Jesus and looking forward to His second coming. This season in the year is a declaration that God’s plans to send a Saviour for the world are on track. We may need to wait patiently for a while longer or equally Jesus may come again soon, but God will deliver on the promises He has made. We can be certain that in waiting for the coming King we will not be disappointed. Ahead of the formal start of advent next Sunday we continue in looking forward to what God has prepared for us. The prayer of Advent is – come, Lord Jesus. Come, King Jesus.

As 2,000 years ago we are living in a time of rapid and unsettling change. Our societies in the Western world no longer have agreed common values and perspectives on the way society should operate. It is much deeper than ‘left’ or ‘right’ political agendas. It is visible, for example, in the conflict between some of the Western and others of the Eastern European states at the moment in the European Union. There are no easy solutions to resolve these differences. The Christian hope is: ‘Come Lord Jesus’. May Your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven!

1. We are waiting for the coming King (Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14)

The book of Daniel contains a series of visions about empires and their rulers. Each in turn appeared invincible and certainly all-powerful compared to the Jewish people and the nation of Israel or Judah. At the time of writing his book, Daniel, although personally in an influential post in the Babylonian government, was acutely aware that the Promised Land was a wasteland underpopulated and without any functioning state.

Any notion of a coming king or ruler seemed utterly pointless as there appeared to be no functioning country to rule over. Although God had promised that the exile was temporary it took a big step of faith to trust and to pray believing that things could be turned around. The powerful empires described had been brutal in enforcing their rule, many died, and even more were uprooted from their homelands. The world hasn’t changed; the major powers kill at will and enforce their decrees at the expense of millions suffering hunger and deprivation of medical care and a decent way of life. The list is alarmingly long. The idea that in the twenty-first century humanity is more civilised than in previous millennia is seriously in question, not least because the most brutal century in history has only recently been concluded.

Waiting for a better ruler, a Prince of Peace seems ever more attractive. This was also the case for Daniel. As an older man he receives the dramatic vision recorded in Daniel chapter seven. Using the imagery of wild animals, the empires in turn were portrayed in less than flattering terms. However, in the midst of this information we catch a glimpse of a heavenly alternative. The rulers who have gone before will be replaced by a completely different coming king whose rule will be altogether different to theirs. What do we see here in Daniel 7?

(a)The ‘Ancient of Days’ (Daniel 7:9-10):‘As I looked, ‘thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took His seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of His head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze. ¹⁰A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before Him. Thousands upon thousands attended Him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The court was seated, and the books were opened.

What do we sense in this word picture of heaven? Is it the feverish activity and the panic that often is a fair description of modern governments when out of their comfort zones? It is absent from this scene. It is a picture of serenity. It is a scene of things being under control. There is a calmness and control. The visual representation of God the Father is of a being who knows all that is happening and knows what can be done about it. However, as well as serenity there is also solemnity. The fire imagery points to judgement on sin and those who wilfully choose to disregard His plans for our good and His glory. God will not be mocked.

In our context, in the twenty-first century, a visual image of an aged person is viewed as one of physical weakness and of a person retired from work and the big decisions of life. This was far from the perception of the first recipients of this book. In those cultural contexts age brought wisdom and insight, qualities we need so much of today. The scene also would have been viewed as depicting God’s sovereignty. He reigns over all! Whatever humans may think, say or do, God will have the final word. Have you entrusted your life and your future to Him?

(b) The Son of Man (Daniel 7:13-14) ¹³‘In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into His presence. ¹⁴He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshipped Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed

This scene in heaven turns away from God the Father to look at a second figure, a ‘son of man’ yet who is a heavenly figure. This mysterious figure is greater than all the individuals whose empires ranged across the known world. Their kingdoms came and went, but His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed (Daniel 7:14b).

We are waiting for this coming King was the message of this dream or vision that Daniel experienced. His rule or reign will be totally different to that of the earthly rulers already referenced. Because of this prophecy, Israel had something to hope for, something to wait for. They had a vision of a time when someone sent from God would establish an everlasting Kingdom. This and many other prophecies gave Israel the sense that their new King was coming, that God was sending His Messiah who would liberate them from captivity. Eventually, the Israelites were released from Babylon, yet they remained for the most part under the oppression of the Persians, and then the Greeks, and then finally the mighty Roman Empire.

These Roman Caesars called themselves the “sons of God” and demanded that all their subjects pledged allegiance to Caesar as Lord. Anyone who resisted was crushed under the military weight of the Roman Army. Six hundred years had passed, and yet for Israel, two thousand years ago, the Messiah establishing His new Kingdom seemed further away than ever.

This royal figure would not only rule forever, but also over all nations and peoples of every language (Daniel 7:14a). The question we need to answer is this? Did Jesus view Himself as identifying with this heavenly figure in Daniel 7? The answer is a definite ‘yes’. His self-designation in public ministry was ‘the Son of Man’. Most importantly when on trial before the Jewish High Priest and asked to explain His identity, prior to His crucifixion, Jesus said these words, recorded in Mark 14:61b-62:

Again the high priest asked Him, ‘Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?’ ⁶²‘I am,’ said Jesus. ‘And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.’

Everyone present knew that Jesus was self-identifying with the king they were waiting for, the heavenly figure of Daniel 7:13-14. The tragedy was the majority of those present that day rejected His claims. What is your response to Jesus’ claims on your life? Have you put your faith and trust in Him? Are you waiting for the second coming of the King?

2. We are waiting for a different kind of King (Matthew 25:31-46)

³¹‘When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne. ³²All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on His left. ³⁴‘Then the King will say to those on His right, “Come, you who are blessed by My Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited Me in, ³⁶I needed clothes and you clothed Me, I was ill and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you came to visit Me.”

³⁷‘Then the righteous will answer Him, “Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? ³⁸When did we see You a stranger and invite You in, or needing clothes and clothe You? ³⁹When did we see You ill or in prison and go to visit You?” ⁴⁰‘The King will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for Me.”

⁴¹‘Then He will say to those on His left, “Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴²For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink, ⁴³I was a stranger and you did not invite Me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe Me, I was ill and in prison and you did not look after Me.” ⁴⁴‘They also will answer, “Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or ill or in prison, and did not help You?” ⁴⁵‘He will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.” ⁴⁶‘Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.’

With this and many other statements Jesus shows Himself to be the promised Messiah and King. And yet, there is a twist to this tale. Jesus’ idea of a ‘king’ is almost the exact opposite to the kind of king that anyone in His audience was expecting. Israel was anticipating a powerful ruler who would defeat Rome and establish a political kingdom on earth. But Jesus announces that His kingly rule, the Kingdom of God, will be a paradoxical and subversive Kingdom. When He is being questioned by Pilate, a powerful Roman leader, Jesus answers him by saying: Jesus said,

‘My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent My arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now My kingdom is from another place (John 18:36).

Pilate, the Roman procurator, understands Jesus’ claims as those of one self-identifying as a king, but not in the way Rome claimed sovereignty over its subject peoples and Empire. Sadly at different times in the history of the Christian Church there have been churches that claimed power co-extensively with the state; or in the case of the Roman Catholic Church in the medieval period over nation states or secular rulers in Europe. But this is not what Jesus was claiming. He is the coming King for whom the Jewish people were waiting two thousand years ago, of whom only a minority recognized His true identity.

He is the coming King we are waiting for today, that the Bible refers to as His second coming and invites us to be prepared and ready for Jesus’ return. Are you waiting expectantly for the coming of the king? In Matthew 24 prior to this passage Jesus stated:

And then all the peoples of the earthwill mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory…‘Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. ⁴³But understand this: if the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him (Matthew 24:30, 42b-44).

Have you committed your life to Him? He is coming soon; please don’t delay taking this step.

3. We are waiting for a different kind of Kingdom (Colossians 1:9-20)

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, ¹⁰so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, ¹¹being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, ¹²and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of His holy people in the kingdom of light.

¹³For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, ¹⁴in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.¹⁵The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶For in Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him. ¹⁷He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

¹⁸And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. ¹⁹For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, ²⁰and through Him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross.

(a)The nature of the kingdom The Kingdom of Jesus is an upside-down Kingdom. The first are last, the poor are blessed, outcasts are welcomed, light shines from the darkness, life comes out of death, and victory comes from sacrifice. Powerful and religious people can’t accept this kind of King, but the ‘least’, the downtrodden and those whom society rejects come to see that they are invited to be part of this very different kind of kingdom. In this letter to a congregation in a town in a place called Colossae, in what we call today Western Turkey, Paul reminds these believers, young in the faith, what they have become a part of.

And giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of His holy people in the kingdom of light. ¹³For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves (Colossians 1:12-13).

We have been welcomed by the plan and purpose of God the Father. We are His wanted children. You are not a Christian by some kind of accident! If you are a Christian, you belong to a new kingdom. You have been set free from the captivity of the dominion of darkness. Your identity is not primarily about your country of birth, your family, or your politics. You are first and ultimately a citizen of Jesus’ kkingdom. What is more our work in this kingdom is a calling to service. At the Last Supper Jesus spelt this out to His first disciples in Luke 22:24-27:

A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. ²⁵Jesus said to them, ‘The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. ²⁶But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. ²⁷For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.

In the earlier passage in Matthew 25 there is an illustration of some of the forms of ministry people in this kingdom will exercise towards one another. In other passages of the Bible we are recommended to serve in this way to people in the wider community as well. However, in Matthew 25, the emphasis is clearly on our calling to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. Being in God’s kingdom is not about status; instead it is a call to service. I want to say a big thank you to each of you who served someone else or some other people this week in all manner of different practical ways.

(b) The vision for the Kingdom (Colossians 1:20) …through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross. (Colossians 1:20) There is no bigger vision or mission statement than this.

This Kingdom is bigger than a political or geographical area, because this King is the one who created politics and geography in the first place! Colossians 1:15-16 describes Him:

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶For in Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him. How was this kingdom launched? … by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross (Colossians 1:20).

What is the ultimate goal of this kingdom? To create the most exciting church leaders’ or members’ business meetings ever? To produce the best sounds ever produced in worship in Sunday services? To experience the most eloquent and inspiring sermons ever preached? No! It is to reconcile to Himself all things. The perfect world and universe that existed when God created it for our good and for His glory will one day be our experience, not just for a summer holiday but for ever! It is beyond my ability to imagine a world as good as this at the present time. Martin Luther King eloquently proclaimed: ‘I have a dream’, in his famous speech. God declares to us today I have a plan for the perfect future kingdom of My Son that you can all be a part of.

Two thousand years ago the world was taken by surprise at His first coming as a baby at Bethlehem. Soon, yes very soon, the King for whom we are waiting will return as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Please make sure that you have trusted the king as your Lord and Saviour and, therefore, will have something to look forward to that is truly out of this world, Amen

Our song before we come to communion is:

The Lord’s Supper

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 last song is:

Closing Prayer

Thank you Lord once more for the blessing of worshipping You today. We thank You that as we are approaching the season of advent when the Christian Church recalls the first coming of Jesus to earth two thousand years ago, we can also look forward with anticipation to Your second coming to usher in Your eternal Kingdom. Heavenly Father we thank You that You have fulfilled the promises You made regarding past events and trust You for the future. Grant us the strength we need for this new week. We bring our prayer in the name of Jesus, Amen.