Intimations
– You may want to use some of the Engage Worship resources for daily worship during this week
– The Messy Church At Home information is now available on our church website www.broughtybaptist.org
– The Baptist Union of Scotland will be continuing the Prayer Livestream at 7.00pm on Sunday 4th October, 2020. This will be another significant time of national prayer for our family of churches. The link will be available closer to the time on the Baptist Union facebook page.
– JAM Kids’ focus: The Virtual Sunday School. Here is the video for Sunday 20th September Virtual Sunday School session on the story of the Lost Sheep.
– JAM young adults Ignite Live have a separate programme at 11:15am. Please contact Gary Torbet – garytorbet@btinternet.com for more details.
Call to worship
[Jesus] went to Nazareth, where He had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day He went into the synagogue, as was His custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. Unrolling it, He found the place where it is written:
18 ‘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.’20 Then 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. 21 He began by saying to them, ‘Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.’
Luke 4: 16-21
We are grateful to Helen Rice for selecting the songs for worship for this service.
Our opening song of praise and worship is: Mighty to Save
Opening prayer:
Thank you Heavenly Father for the privilege once more of gathering to worship Your holy and majestic name. We come once more in the precious name of Your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ to glorify and honour You through our praises and our prayers, and through the messages we will hear and the videos we will watch. We are so encouraged to be part of a world-wide family of Christian believers in every country on this planet. We thank you for Christian men and women, younger and older people alike who are serving You in a wide variety of ministries around the globe.
It is so encouraging to know that as ordinary followers of Jesus that we can make a difference by our service in our families, workplaces and communities as well as in direct local church ministries. We ask for Your forgiveness for those times in the past week when we have not lived in the way we ought to have done. Help us in this new week through the Holy Spirit to show something of Your amazing love and grace to others.
We come today with deep gratitude for the work of BMS World Mission. In particular, on this Sunday when we have traditionally had either a harvest or an all-age service we come to thank you for the people who staff the Guinebor II Hospital in Chad. We pray that they may be encouraged to know that so many Churches around this land, and possibly in other places as well, are remembering them and praying for them today. Meet with each one of us today, we pray and minister into our lives by Your Holy Spirit in accordance with our needs, for Jesus’ name’s sake Amen.
Let us say together the words Jesus taught His disciples when He said:
‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.'”
For Yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever Amen.
Operation Chad – BMS Video about Guinebor II Hospital
Operation Chad BMS Video about Guinebor II Hospital Chad
There is a colouring sheet available to download for children here.
All-age Talk Stephen and Ismay Green BMS
Good morning. It’s lovely to be with you today. I’m Steve and I’m Ismay. I am a nurse and Steve is a doctor and we both worked with BMS in North Africa. For the last six years of our time there, we worked on developing palliative care in the community. Previously, Steve worked for 12 years with BMS in the Congo as a paediatrician.
That was an amazing film and you can’t help but be impressed by the commitment and hard work of all the staff. I wonder what struck you most? But the question I have is, “Why is BMS working in such a difficult place?”
Let me ask you another question first (although with Zoom it is a bit difficult to pick up on who is answering). How do we know that the wind exists? Or how do we know that Covid exists? Well, we see the effects of it: the wind rustles the leaves on the trees – we feel it on our faces. With Covid we fall ill with fever and cough very often.
Another question: how do we know the love of God exists today? We read about it in the bible, but that was written 2000 years ago; so does it exist today? Or how do you know that your parents love you? Certainly they may tell you, but what if they were always mean to you and never gave you any food or clothes, or tucked you up in bed and care for you when you were ill? Would you think they loved you then? We don’t just have our parents’ words but their actions tell us that they love us.
To come back to the question: why is BMS working in such a place as Chad? Chad is in Africa; here it is on the map. It’s at the bottom of the Sahara desert and it is very hot nearly all year round. It is also one of the four poorest countries in the world. Here in the UK you might expect your granny to live into her eighties at least but in Chad most grandparents die in their 50s. In the UK, for every 1000 children born every year, four will die before they reach the age of five, but in Chad 119 out of a thousand will not reach the age of five! In the UK we spend a lot more on our health, more than £3000 per person per year whereas in Chad they can only manage £55. In addition in the UK our NHS is free, whereas in Chad people have to pay for all their treatment every time they go to see a doctor or go into hospital.
Last Sunday Steve and I watched on Facebook Live as a friend of ours was ordained into the Church of England. Part of the service says about those being ordained, “They are to work with their fellow members in searching out the poor and weak, the sick and lonely, those who are oppressed and powerless, reaching into the forgotten corners of the world that the love of God may be made visible.”And here is the reason why BMS is working in Chad, making visible the love of God to those who don’t know him.
Christians make up less than half the population in Chad; the majority are Muslims who need the saving love of Christ. And you are part of this work through your prayers and giving. It doesn’t sound a lot, not compared with what it costs here: £13 to save a life, £80 to provide a nurse for a week. And together as a church you can nurse 52 people, give life-saving surgery to 4 people and safely deliver 5 babies for £695. It’s not much. But it’s also a good question for us to consider during the week: how can we make the love of God visible to those around us who don’t know Jesus? It might be by saying something, or doing an act of kindness that leads to a conversation about why you are doing such a thing. We all have a responsibility to make the love of God visible to others. May the Lord help us in that task.
We continue in worship as we sing: He is the light
BMS Reflection Video
Prayers for others
Dear Lord,
We come with our prayers for others, deeply grateful that You are a prayer-answering God who delights to receive the petitions of Your children.
We are deeply concerned by the rising numbers of cases of infections not only in our own country, but also in other parts of Europe as well. We are also aware that in other countries across the world so many have a smaller provision of medical facilities to cope with the demands upon them at this time.
We pray for wisdom for politicians and other world leaders, together with health service professionals in hospitals and care homes that they may be able to address the needs of the current time and have the necessary resources to carry out the task of protecting the vulnerable and caring for those who are sick.
We give thanks for the work of UCCF and Fusion and other organisations seeking to support Christian students. We pray for the Christian Unions at many colleges and universities across Scotland, that they can share the love of Jesus in creative ways during this time. We pray too for all the students known to us who are settling in to life at university for the first time or recommencing their studies for another academic year. Help them to gain a circle of friends who can encourage them as they adapt to the current circumstances we are all facing.
We pray that staff and students may be able to deliver and interact appropriately with the set courses being taught and like their colleagues in schools we pray that they may have both the strength and the wisdom to accomplish all that is involved in providing a good educational service this year.
In our Baptist Union of Scotland we also remember to pray for:
European Baptist Federation – We pray for the General Secretary Search Group who are in the process of finding a new General Secretary after the current General Secretary Tony Peck retires in 2021. We pray also for good preparations for SENT 2021 which is the EBF Mission Summit to take place from 21-24 July 2021 in Stavanger, Norway. SENT 2021 is a unique opportunity for the EBF family to come together around our privilege and responsibility to share in God’s mission to the world in its wholeness.
We pray for the European Baptist Federation (EBF) annual Council meeting on 24-25 September 2020 which will now take place online. We pray that in spite of not being able to physically come together, there could still be a meaningful and encouraging gathering of EBF member unions and mission partners.
We give thanks for the INVEST training programme and Training Hub of the Baptist Union of Scotland to encourage and develop younger leaders in our network of churches. It is anticipated that the trainees will start at the beginning of October. We pray that they will be encouraged, stretched and grow in their faith during this year.
Lossiemouth BC – The congregation at Lossiebaptist have as many other churches been doing online services. They give thanks to God that these services have worked well and have helped the unity of their fellowship, apart and yet together. We thank God that they have just this month appointed a new pastor Rab Donald, who is moving there after eight years’ service in Stirling Baptist Church. We pray God’s blessing on their partnership together in His service in the coming years.
Maybole BC – We pray for this small Ayrshire fellowship as they seek to be salt and light in the town of Maybole. We pray for wisdom for the leadership team at this time.
We now pray for other people with particular needs that are connected to our own congregation: We remember particularly family members of some in our congregation who are continuing to undergo cancer treatments. We pray for God’s peace and strength to them and their relatives at this particularly difficult time.
We remember others who are having medical tests at hospital and others still waiting for tests or surgery in hospital, particularly at a time when so many procedures have been delayed due to the challenges of the covid-19 virus pandemic.
We pray also for those older members of some of our families who have recently moved into care homes and pray that they will be able to settle well into their new accommodation. We also remember those of our congregation who have been living in care homes for some time or are restricted to living in their own homes at this time. Heavenly Father we ask that they would feel a real sense of Your presence with them at this time.
We also pray for the family of Dorothy Scott whose funeral will take place on Thursday. We thank you that some of us had the privilege of knowing her through our times of monthly services in the Elderlea Manor Care Home. We pray for Your comfort for her family at this time.
In addition, we bring our own or other needs on our hearts to You at this time …, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, Amen.
Bible reading
As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 ‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will send you out to fish for people.’ 20 At once they left their nets and followed him.
21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and illness among the people. 24 News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralysed; and he healed them. 25 Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.
Matthew 4: 18-25
Before we come to listen to God’s Word let us sing: Jesus, Hope of the Nations.
The Message – Dr Stephen Green BMS
Download link available to 25 September 2020. This is a Wetransfer file and may take longer to download
There are three words that struck me as I read the article in the current edition of Engage about Guinebor II hospital: Reputation, Faith and Transformation. It says that people are moved to seek treatment after hearing about the hospital’s reputation, they take a leap of faith to go there and their decision is transformative. Let’s look at these three words:
Reputation
In the passage that was read from Matthew 4 Jesus has been through the temptation in the desert and has called his first disciples. This is the beginning of his ministry. His disciples quickly discover that the man they have chosen to follow is no ordinary rabbi. He is not only a great teacher but he also has amazing powers such that they see things they could never have imagined: blind people seeing, deaf people hearing and people once lame now leaping with joy. And so his fame spreads. People are travelling from all over to come to him.
It wasn’t just these powers that made Jesus’ reputation. He was generous with his time and availability. He never turned people away. He was approachable. Anyone could come. You didn’t have to tick any religious boxes or meet any special criteria to get permission: there is a man with leprosy, who should have kept his distance and shouted, “Unclean!”; a woman who has been bleeding for 12 years and is therefore ceremonially unclean, foreigners, including a Roman centurion, a Syro-Phoenecian woman, and a Samaritan woman. He welcomed and blessed children who were not considered important in those days. Jesus didn’t mind being shouted at: Bartimaeus, who was blind, shouted, “Jesus, have mercy on me!” We know that illness can be very ostracising, through embarrassment, through social pressure, through guilt. It often takes a great deal of effort to go for help with the risk of rejection and being turned away. Jesus accepted them all and even looked out for those who weren’t seeking him but were in need.
Guinebor II hospital has a reputation that extends beyond the borders of Chad. A good reputation depends on commitment to high standards, well-trained and motivated staff. It depends on good care, not just effective surgery or medical treatment. Good care is given even if the outcome has not been what people hoped for. As Kalbassou says: we have Jesus to give to people and we have skills to give good quality care. And reputation depends on people relating good stories of their time there. All are welcome, none are turned away because they come from the wrong tribe or religion or country.
The second word is Faith
Jesus was more interested in faith than rules. He would often heal people on the Sabbath day, because the need was there. In Matthew 8 we read how the man with leprosy came to Jesus and knelt before him calling him “Lord”. The implication of this word in Greek is that he worshipped Jesus – he detected something divine in Jesus. In response Jesus does something that would have shocked the crowd; he touches him. In Mark 10 we read how Bartimaeus cries out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” He is calling Jesus by his messianic title. There is recognition that there is more than a healer here. Jesus stops and has them bring him. And heals him saying, “Your faith has healed you.” (v52).
In Matthew 9 we read that a synagogue leaders comes to Jesus to say that his daughter has just died. This is a whole new dimension; Jesus has healed but up to this point in the gospel he has not raised anyone from the dead. Such faith! Then there is the centurion who asks Jesus to heal his servant but then says that he is not worthy to have Jesus come to his house but that Jesus can just speak the word. Such faith, says Jesus has not been found in anyone in Israel.
We don’t know that everyone who was healed believed. We hear that it definitely led to belief for several. In John 9 the man who was born blind does not know at first who healed him but calls him a prophet. Later Jesus meets him again and reveals that he is the Messiah; and the man worships him. Bartimaeus follows Jesus and the man who was possessed by many demons wants to follow him.
People come to Guinebor hospital as “a leap of faith” it says in the article. They may have to travel great distances to get there and they may know that it is a Christian hospital. They know that people pray. I remember one patient in the Congo who was asked why he travelled such a long distance to come to us when he could have gone to a nearer government hospital and the paracetamol is the same. “Ah but you pray over yours,” he said! That’s the difference.
Of course, there is a greater dimension here. As Kalbassou says, “We have Jesus to give to people and we have skills to give good quality care.” People are prayed for, before surgery, at the bedside. Scriptures are made available. There is an ethos that pervades all activity at the hospital. This is the highest goal, as stated by BMS: “to bring people to faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and an experience of the abundant life that only he can provide;” and this is done by making the love of God visible through practical caring.
The third word is transformation.
In the article Hannah talks about Fatimé, a little girl with a serious burn injury to her hand. Her parents, Hannah says, take a leap of faith to bring her to Guinebor hospital. Surgery is successful and there is confidence that she will be able to regain movement in her fingers allowing her to provide for herself with employment and a greatly increased chance of marrying. This will be transformative for her.
We heard the story of Al-Adil Abalallah who had had a road traffic accident and was in danger of losing his leg. As Kalbassou says most people in Chad have little income, there is no social security. Having his leg amputated would mean loss of employment and means of support and would be a big burden for the family. Now he has hope for a full recovery and the possibility of employment. This is transformational. As Kalbassou says, “They come here desperate and leave full of joy!”
And then, of course, there is the transformation that comes from coming to know Christ personally and discovery of new life in Him, the knowledge of sins forgiven, of peace with God and freedom from guilt; of a new purpose in life.
It is not recorded for us in the gospels how people’s lives were turned around through the healing touch of Jesus but we can imagine how the life of the man, in John 9, who had spent years at the Pool of Bethesda was transformed, and how the life of the paralysed man who was brought to Jesus by four friends was completely transformed. How the family of Jairus was transformed by their daughter coming back to life, the man with demons being at peace and in his right mind. What an impact the ministry of Jesus had on people’s lives.
In the same edition of Engage you will find an article by Kang-San Tan, the Director of BMS, setting out the new strategic direction for BMS over the next five years in which they will focus on three directions:
- Catalysing networks for multidirectional collaboration
- Capacity building of local communities through shared learning
- Equipping diverse groups of missional leaders.
Still working amongst the least evangelised and most marginalised regions of the world, and also including a thematic focus on Migrants.
He goes on to point out that the impact will be lives transformed whilst working towards the highest goal of bringing people to faith in Christ. So here it is: this is the evidence of Christ at work: the transformation of people’s lives, spiritually, mentally and physically. This is the mission we are all engaged in and particularly here in Broughty Ferry through Messy Church, Toddler groups and other youth work, through the Meals for Mums and senior Citizens’ outreach, through the Eagles Wings charity for the homeless, through outreach into Romania, through the church plant in Ruma, in Serbia. Each of these actions is to bring transformation into people’s lives, to introduce them to Jesus and his saving power. May the Lord give us grace to continue in this task.
Our closing song is: God of Justice
Closing Prayer:
Thank you Lord for the work of BMS World Mission around the world in sharing the love of God in some particularly challenging locations; this year we thank you for the dedicated staff at Guinebor II Hospital in Chad whose provision of medical services in that region of the country is providing such an important investment in the lives of some of the materially poorest people on the planet. Thank You too that donations from members of churches around the United Kingdom are providing the necessary funding for the work of this hospital. We pray Your blessing on our gifts to the continuation of this work.
Lord thank You also for this new week we have begun. Help us to honour You as we live our daily lives through the enabling power of Your Holy Spirit, in Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
Benediction: The Grace
May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God
and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit,
be with us all evermore, Amen