Selah2020: Pause and Reflect

[This reflection by Michael Goble was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 18/Jun/2023]

What a blessed and successful CHURCH WEEKEND AT HOME we celebrated together. A big thank you to all those who planned, organised and supported that fulfilling time. Also we are so grateful to Andy Hickford as he encouraged us to see Jesus in a new light, to understand more of what the gospel means, and how to show to others in our individual lives what it means to be a Christian, so that they too may want to believe in Jesus as their Saviour.

I like the song we sang on Sunday, “I am a friend of God”. It is amazing that our all powerful, creator God is so loving that He can even think of us, let alone hear us when we call out to Him. A much earlier song starts off with the same thought.

“What a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!”

We can go back even earlier for examples of God’s friendship. More than 3,000 years ago God spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks with his friend (Exodus 33:11). We are told by Isaiah that God thought of Abraham about 4000 years ago as His friend (Isa 41:8). It really is amazing that after all this time God can think of us too as friends.

There was one story I liked that Andy told us right at the beginning of the weekend, about his friend who spoke at a meeting of ministers. The friend kept giving examples of how the gospel writer John knew Jesus better than anyone else until it became almost boring. His friend then read from Revelation 1 how Jesus appeared to John when he was about 90 years old. This is how Jesus appeared to him.

He was wearing a long robe with a gold sash across his chest. His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow. And his eyes were like flames of fire. His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice thundered like mighty ocean waves. He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp two-edged sword came from his mouth. And his face was like the sun in all its brilliance. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead.
Revelation 1 v13-17 [NLT]

Andy’s friend walked out after he read these words but he didn’t need to add anything more. John was the best friend of Jesus amongst the disciples and yet he didn’t really know Him until he saw his risen friend, Jesus, in all His glory.

If we were to see Jesus today as the glorious almighty Creator God and Saviour, we would fall down too like John as we are at present in our sinful though forgiven nature. How comforting that Jesus laid His right hand on John and said,

Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last. I am the living one. I died, but look – I am alive forever and ever! Revelation 1 v17-18 [NLT]

Let’s go through life now believing in Jesus as our friend and saviour, until the time we are with Him and our salvation is completed. Then we shall truly know Him as our best friend ever.

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Bible quotations: Unless otherwise specified, quotations are taken from the resources of Bible Gateway or Bible Hub, in accordance with the licencing conditions outlined on our Site Policies page.

Bible dates: Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
and are subject to the constraints defined on the corresponding webpage.

~~~~~~~~~
Horley Baptist Church online
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Last week’s reflection: Coincidences? by David Makanjuola
 

[This is one in a series of devotional reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during June 2023]

I was reminded recently of the old music-hall song “Whispering Grass”; the lyrics bemoan the way in which the grass was gossiping to the trees, divulging information that the trees did not need to know. The song was a success for several singers; one of the more memorable versions was that sung by Windsor Davies and Don Estelle, reprising their characters from “It Ain’t Half Hot, Mum” and earning them a No 1 hit in the UK charts.

Those of a certain age and with a certain taste in television will recall the scenario of “It Ain’t Half Hot, Mum”; the sit-com depicted the exploits of a British army concert party posted to a location in India towards the end of the Second World War. The series ran for 56 episodes between January 1974 and September 1981 and achieved a peak audience of 17 million viewers. The programme itself is no longer considered to be politically correct but the song lives on.

‘It Ain’t Half Hot, Mum’ – these could well have been the last words uttered by one of Daniel’s three friends in Babylon. The three friends had refused to bow down to an idol and continued to worship God in the way that he required and, having incurred the wrath of the king, they were about to be cast into a fiery furnace. God honoured their stance and it was the authorities who ended up feeling the heat.

Is it no longer politically correct to be up-front about our worship of God? How can we “Go, Tell the World” if we are more willing to talk about our hobbies rather than our faith? We can rely on God but can God rely on us?

In Leviticus we read of the fate of two of Aaron’s sons. Although they were sons of the High Priest and were priests themselves, they tried to worship God in a way that they thought best, and things got a bit too hot for them.[2]

Worship is more than singing a few songs at a particular point in a church service – our whole lived are meant to be lived as an act of worship to God. To what extent is our worship inspired by the Holy Spirit? Is what we do outside the church walls still pleasing to God?

In Revelation we read about the church in Laodicea which was accused of being only half hot. A presumption that it was doing well masked a spiritual poverty and brought it to the verge of rejection. Its lukewarm indifference invoked a severe rebuke from the one that they purported to serve.[3] However, the rebuke was delivered with a prospect of spiritual renewal.

In Leviticus we saw that God is holy; in Daniel, he overruled a natural outcome and in Revelation he demonstrates love and restitution. A trinity of holiness, power and love. Surely that is something that the trees (and the rest of us) do need to know.

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Resources:
[1] Daniel 3 v22
[2] Leviticus 10 v2
[3] Revelation 3 v17

Bible quotations: Unless otherwise specified, quotations are taken from the resources of Bible Gateway or Bible Hub, in accordance with the licencing conditions outlined on our Site Policies page.

Bible dates: Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
and are subject to the constraints defined on the corresponding webpage.

~~~~~~~~~
Horley Baptist Church online
HBC main site
Confidential prayer link

Link to Recent Reflections

Link to Index of Bible Passages

Last week’s reflection: D-Day
 

[This reflection by David Makanjuola was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 11/Jun/2023]

I was at work, up on the 6th floor and needed to head back to the offices, which meant going down to the ground floor. I could have walked down the stairs – much more fun than going up them, but I thought, no need to burn off calories pointlessly, so I decided to go down in the lift instead.

As I stepped out on the ground floor, I noticed an elderly Asian lady who looked a bit worried. I asked her whether I could help. She was not fluent, but I was able to make out, as she showed me the paper in her hand, that she was trying to get to one of the departments and couldn’t find it. She was stressed as she was about to be late for her appointment. I took her back up in the lift to the second floor, walked her to the department and when she said a relieved thank you, it sounded very fluent.

I walked away pondering, with questions like ‘What if I’d taken the stairs?’. ‘What if I had decided to stop at the first floor instead of the ground floor?’ ‘What if…….?’

If you think that was a ‘one off’, I don’t, because a similar thing happened to me again this morning and I am sure it’s not just me that it happens to.

When these ‘What if’ moments happen, we call them coincidences. You will however have heard that coincidences are sometimes called ‘God incidences’.

We are currently doing a preaching series at church on what is termed our Front lines. I am particularly excited about this, as it helps us take God along with us from Sunday into Monday and all the days of the week.

So, this week, when you find yourself in situations where you realise God has guided your footsteps there for a reason, I would like to ask you to trust Him to give you His wisdom and His grace, so that your words and your actions will prove to be a channel for His blessings to the people you meet. The great thing about those ‘What if’ instances, I have found, is that you are also blessed by them.

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Bible quotations: Unless otherwise specified, quotations are taken from the resources of Bible Gateway or Bible Hub, in accordance with the licencing conditions outlined on our Site Policies page.

Bible dates: Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
and are subject to the constraints defined on the corresponding webpage.

~~~~~~~~~
Horley Baptist Church online
HBC main site
Confidential prayer link

Link to Recent Reflections
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Link to Index of Bible Passages
 
Last week’s reflection: Between a Rock and a Hard Place? by Dennis Ginter
 

[This is one in a series of devotional reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during June 2023]

On this date seventy-nine years ago there was launched from the south coast of England a combined Allied force intended to turn the tide in the Second World War in Europe. This force has been described at the largest amphibious invasion force in history,^[1] with a spearhead of 18,000 paratroopers and 120,000 ground troops out of available resources of over 2,000,000 troops drawn from 12 nations.

Most of those who survived the event itself have now lost the battle against the passage of time. Some of them felt unable to share their memories, others have recorded something of their experiences, either first hand or through relating their stories to younger people. Preserving a nation’s collective memories of previous experiences is an essential part of providing a foundation for future generations. The newly-liberated nation of Israel was instructed to …

Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. Deuteronomy 4 v9 [NIVUK]

What is the reason behind this instruction? It cannot be so that we avoid repeating the mistakes of the past; it has been argued that the one thing that we learn from history is that we do not learn anything from history.^[2] Time and again we see repeated cycles of error and recovery but we can also see God’s intervention and rescue, and that is the story that we need to pass on.

The date of 06^th June 1944 has been given the epithet of “D-day”. There have been many d-days during history; the term originated from its use by military planners to refer to the intended date for the start of some significant offensive and it is used when the actual date is yet undetermined or being kept secret.

There are two more significant d-days which affect us. The first is the decision-day on which we accept Jesus Christ as saviour. As Christians we may or may not be able to define that date exactly but it has become part of our personal history. For others, there will come a default-date when the window of opportunity will close.

The ultimate d-day is destiny-day; Jesus said that only God the Father knows when that will be but it is described in John’s vision of the end-times:

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. Revelation 20 v12 [NIVUK]

For all of us, our lives are elements in the progress of human history. We will probably not get a mention in the books that are written on earth but there is a more definitive record elsewhere. The chapter with your name on it is still open, you can still influence its contents but that opportunity will not last forever.

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Resources:
[1] https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-10-things-you-need-to-know-about-d-day
[2] Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, 1770-1831

Bible quotations: Unless otherwise specified, quotations are taken from the resources of Bible Gateway or Bible Hub, in accordance with the licencing conditions outlined on our Site Policies page.

Bible dates: Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
and are subject to the constraints defined on the corresponding webpage.

~~~~~~~~~
Horley Baptist Church online
HBC main site
Confidential prayer link

Link to Recent Reflections

Link to Index of Bible Passages

Last week’s reflection: What Will You Do?
 

[This reflection by Dennis Ginter was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 04/Jun/2023]

That phrase has been on my mind for several days. When that happens, God is usually saying something important to me and I need to ask for clarification!

The first thing I believe I heard Him say is, “When you find yourself between a rock and a hard place, head for the rock!” I need to pray and think more about that, but I know already that the fact that a rock is big, impossible to move, and provides a safe place to hide is central. To head towards the ‘hard place’ will just bring more confusion and anxiety!

It also occurs to me that at first a rock doesn’t promise much comfort. It’s hard and cold.

But … if Jesus is to become my rock, my refuge, my comfort, my ‘safe place’, I’ll need to press in, trusting that He will come through for me in whatever my tough situation may be. And that doesn’t come easily to me. For someone like me who learned very early in life that I’d have to meet my own needs, turning to anyone – even God – for help doesn’t come naturally.

He said he will be my rock – no, IS my rock! And, like Aslan the lion, he may not feel safe but he is so strong! I will head for the rock!

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Bible quotations: Unless otherwise specified, quotations are taken from the resources of Bible Gateway or Bible Hub, in accordance with the licencing conditions outlined on our Site Policies page.

Bible dates: Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
and are subject to the constraints defined on the corresponding webpage.

~~~~~~~~~
Horley Baptist Church online
HBC main site
Confidential prayer link

Link to Recent Reflections
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Link to Index of Bible Passages
 
Last week’s reflection: A Voice in the Night by Chris Ginter
 

[This is one in a series of devotional reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during May 2023]

The Kid’s in the Freezer – Is your daughter delving for a pizza, is your son searching for ice cream? No, in this case the kid actually is in the freezer but before you call the child protection agency we should disclose that we are talking about a young goat.

Goats’ milk is considered to be healthy and, worldwide, more people consume goats’ milk rather than that of cows. Goats are easier than cows or sheep to raise, especially in less-developed areas. Goats’ cheese is a tasty alternative to more common dairy products, especially when obtained from a local source. Of course, to have goats’ milk you have to have kids but they quickly become surplus to the process.

The consumption of goat meat is not common in the UK but in many other parts of the world it is a staple of the local diet. In Asia and parts of Africa, goat curry is a popular dish. Indeed, I recall discussing this with a pastor from Uganda; his liking for that dish was no doubt one of the sacrifices he had to make when he subsequently became the Archbishop of York.

Why do we think that goats get such a bad press in the Bible? Certainly, the illustration that Jesus gave of the judgement to come^[1] does make a distinction between sheep and goats. Some might suggest that describing sheep being on the right and goats on the left can be considered as a comment on the British political system but a more careful reading of the context shows that the comparison between sheep and goats is simply an illustration of how a shepherd might differentiate his flock.

When the Great Shepherd comes to judge his flock the criteria are not those of birth (sheep or goats) or of affiliation (right or left) but rather how we have behaved as his followers. Are you ready for that judgement?

By contrast, in the Old Testament goats often appear in a more positive light. They were central to Jacob’s relationship with his extended family, their hair was used in constructing the tabernacle and young goats were often considered to be acceptable alternatives for lambs when offered as sacrifices. However, there is one sacrifice where goats are specified. The book of Leviticus describes the role of the scapegoat.^[2] Two goats were to be selected, one to be sacrificed immediately and as for the other …

The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a remote place; and the man shall release it in the wilderness. Leviticus 16 v22 [NIVUK]

Only one man knew where the goat had been taken and even he did not know what happened to it. Was it adopted by a flock of wild goats, was it torn apart by a wild animal, did it survive to an old age? We do not need to know; it is sufficient that God accepted this way of dealing with the people’s sins.

In popular parlance a scapegoat is someone who takes the blame for the shortcomings or misdeeds of others. Do you recognise that Jesus himself has taken on the role of scapegoat for you? Has your sin been dealt with in a way that is acceptable to God? If so, and in the context of the coming judgement, what should be your response?

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Resources:
[1] Matthew 25 v33
[2] Leviticus 16

Bible quotations: Unless otherwise specified, quotations are taken from the resources of Bible Gateway or Bible Hub, in accordance with the licencing conditions outlined on our Site Policies page.

Bible dates: Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
and are subject to the constraints defined on the corresponding webpage.

~~~~~~~~~
Horley Baptist Church online
HBC main site
Confidential prayer link

Link to Recent Reflections

Link to Index of Bible Passages

Last week’s reflection: What Can You Do?