Selah2020: Pause and Reflect

[This reflection by Michael Goble was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 19/Feb/2023]

Barbara and I are not the sort of people to have meals at an expensive restaurant, and we are quite happy to have a pub meal or to eat a meal at a moderately priced restaurant. We were once invited out by a couple to have dinner with them, and it was in a restaurant where you would not wish to make a fool of yourself.

We drank our aperitifs, ordered our meals and then the wine waiter brought over the wine list. Our host worked for a hotel chain and was a wine expert, and so that wasn’t going to be a problem, until he passed the list to me and suggested that I chose the wine. I looked down the list and did not recognise the names of any of the wines. There was only one thing to do. In my mind I took a pin and stuck it somewhere in the middle of the list. I ordered the wine as though I knew exactly what I was doing and handed the list back to the waiter. I then sat back and waited for the comments from our friend. I was really surprised when he said, “That was a very good choice. It’s just the wine I would have ordered”. What a miracle! I felt how good the Lord is at just the time we need Him.

There are many times in our lives when we have to make choices, quite often for the important things, such as what career do I follow, who do I marry, what house or car do I buy. In these days for many people it has to be a choice between spending limited resources on food or energy, on our children or on ourselves. For the earthquake survivors in Turkey or Syria it is a desperate choice of how to survive with little or no food or water, with no shelter as the remaining buildings are unsafe, with temperatures well below freezing. Those choices make my earlier choice over choosing the wine completely unimportant.

The most important choice in my life was when I was young to thank Jesus for dying for me on the cross and rising again. By believing this I received forgiveness for all I have done wrong in my life and the promise of life forever with Him. If you haven’t already made that choice I believe it is becoming increasingly urgent for you to do it now.

Over many years we have found that God has guided us with our choices in every stage of our lives. When we last moved house nearly 49 years ago we couldn’t decide which town to live in. We showed the house details to a Christian friend who moved the three houses in Edenbridge at the bottom of the pile to the top and told us to look at those. The next day a family member gave us a cutting from a newspaper for one of those three properties. That one was the right choice and we are still here. The Lord wanted to use it for Inter-church Lent meetings, home groups for 40 years, Alpha courses, and even for a sit down meal for over twenty young people from our church youth group.

Whenever we need to make a choice large or small, just leave it to the Lord and He will make His choice. When we give our lives to Him He makes the right choice every time. Even Jesus in Luke 22:42, when He had the hardest choice to make, said, “Father, if it is your will, take this cup of suffering away from me. Not my will, however, but your will be done”. At great cost the Father made the greatest choice ever in sacrificing His Son for us.

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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.

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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: Servants or Friends? by Helen Ruffhead
 

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

Another year, another celebration of Saint Valentine’s Day. Who was this Valentine, how did he become the patron saint of florists, chocolatiers and jewellers?

As with many traditions of long standing, the actual origins are lost in the mists of time. There are several contenders for the title, each with their proponents, but with differing degrees of credibility. The two most likely are Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni (also in Italy). Both were members of the early Christian priesthood and were martyred in 269 and 273 respectively.

How did the association with love arise? Valentine of Rome is accredited with writing the first valentine message, a letter to a close friend. It was written on the eve of his execution and was signed ‘from your Valentine’.

The practice of sending letters – more recently, cards and gifts – has become widespread globally, although not necessarily on the same date. A few countries have attempted to ban the practice as contrary to their interpretation of Islamic law but elsewhere the practice has become big business for those who sell cards, flowers, chocolates and jewellery.

Who is the world’s greatest lover? Once again, there are many contenders but, for Christians, only one legitimate claimant:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

Did you receive a Valentine message today? Are you feeling unwanted? You are not alone – not alone, in the sense that many other people have the same experience but also not alone in the sense that there is someone who loves you. In his letter to the church in Rome the apostle Paul asserted that:

God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5 v8

God’s love is unconditional, his offer of eternal life is available to all who believe. Can love that is unrequited or neglected survive? We need to cultivate our relationship with God otherwise how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?^[1]

In 1882 the blind Scottish cleric George Matheson penned these well-known words:

O Love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee.
I give thee back the life I owe,
that in thine ocean depths its flow
may richer, fuller be.

Make this your prayer today.

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Resources:
[1] Hebrews 2 v3

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

 

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

For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. Matthew 24 v7 [NKJV]

The recent earthquakes in Turkey and Syria have reminded us once again of the frailty of human life and the risks that we face every day. In the period since then we have heard of more earthquakes in other parts of the world including New Zealand, south-east Europe and even closer to home.

The images on our screens show rescuers scrabbling through the ruins in the hope of finding more survivors. These images have evoked a world-wide reaction with many people stirred into wanting to help in some way. In Turkey and Syria assistance and aid has arrived from many countries, including from nations that are not normally friendly towards the two countries affected. Sweden is in dispute with Turkey over NATO membership, Russia is involved in a civil war in Syria, Ukrainians have their own need to recover people from collapsed buildings yet they are each amongst some 90 countries which have offered help. Will the interaction of individuals on the ground affect their leaders’ political ambitions once the dust settles?

In a predominately Muslin society disasters of this type are often considered to be the ‘will of Allah’; other people will ascribe these events to ‘fate’. Are we tempted to blame God for causing them in order to ‘teach mankind a lesson’? Elijah’s experience suggests otherwise:

… there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 1 Kings 19:11 [NIVUK]

Having said that, there are occasions when God has used earthquakes. In the prophecies of Amos, Zechariah and Ezekiel we read of an earthquake in parts of Israel and Lebanon in around 760BC. Amos in particular associates this earthquake with God’s judgement on several sinful nations, including Israel and Judah.

In Matthew’s account of Christ’s crucifixion we read that ‘the earth shook, the rocks split’; later we see another earthquake as the stone was rolled away from his tomb. God used an earthquake to release Paul and Silas from prison in Philippi, resulting in the conversion of the jailer and his family.^[1]

For many years, Christians have associated earthquakes and other natural disasters with the onset of the ‘end times’. This association is reinforced by several mentions of earthquakes in the book of Revelation and now we are 2,000 years closer to the fulfilment of John’s vision. Does the apparent increase in the frequency of these events shake our faith in God? Jesus himself warned against anxiety and speculation:

You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Matthew 24 v6 [NIVUK]

We may not be required to dig through the rubble of a collapsed building but we will all face challenges of a greater or lesser nature. How do we react in the heat of those challenges? Will our faith in God stand up to the test; will we doubt the security of our foundation or will we be stirred into a closer relationship with him? It may be helpful to recall the words of John Greenleaf Whittier written in 1872:

Breathe through the heats of our desire thy coolness and thy balm;
let sense be dumb, let flesh retire;
speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire,
O still, small voice of calm!

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Resources:
[1] Matthew 27 v54, Matthew 28 v2, Acts 16 v26

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: Love is …
 

[This reflection by Helen Ruffhead was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 12/Feb/2023]

Recently I was thinking about the young people who have stayed with me over the past 6 years. Most of them have related to me as a friend, even a mother (or grandmother) figure, but some (especially the boys) seemed to see me just as a provider of a bed, meals and clean washing. It suddenly struck me how often I too have seen people purely in terms of their function, perhaps as my sons’ carers, shop assistants or church officials, rather than as individuals with feelings and families.

It is easy to make the excuse that I am no good at small talk and that sometimes I have offended people by asking the wrong questions. Relating to people purely in terms of their function is safer, as I know what to say and am less likely to make mistakes. However, I know that I am unlikely to offend someone by asking how they are and listening carefully to their answer. Praying regularly for people also helps me to care about them and prompts me to ask the right questions.

How often do we relate to God simply as a provider of things we need rather than trying to get to know Him? We may say “Lord” when we pray, but if we then proceed to tell Him what we want Him to do for us we are assuming that He is our servant.

We all know the story of Mary and Martha, one that has always made me rather uncomfortable as I have a lot of sympathy for Martha. I now see that Jesus was showing that, unlike the men of his day, He didn’t see women just as servants of the men but as friends, a radical and shocking idea in those days. When Jennifer Rees Larcombe was seriously ill, she felt God say to her that many people wanted to serve Him but few wanted to be His friend, which was what He wanted most of all.

Hosea 6 v 6 says “I want your constant love, not your animal sacrifices. I would rather have my people know me than burn offerings to me” (GNB).

Jesus said “I do not call you servants any longer, because a servant does not know what his master is doing. Instead I call you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father“. (John 15 v 15 GNB).

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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
.
Link to Index of Bible Passages
 
 

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

When Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within^[1]

Here, we are not talking about those ‘up-front’ temptations when we are faced with decisions about actions that we ought not to do or not doing things that we should do. Rather, we are looking at how the persistent memories of past sins can become a temptation in itself.

All Christians who are sincere about their faith will have had this experience. Very often it takes the form of a reminder of those things that we did wrong and the longer we dwell on them the ‘wronger’ they seem to get. But it is not just one recollection of an isolated event; one thing leads to another and the memories pile up, in the terminology of last month’s sermons, the mess gets messier.

How did we get into this state? Aren’t our sins supposed to have been forgiven so why do they continue to cause us such hassle?

One of the reasons that these memories persist is that we have to live with the consequences. God may forgive our sins but, it can be argued, rarely does he return our circumstances to what they would have been had we not sinned. David’s sin with Bathsheba was forgiven but Uriah remained dead. Similarly, these experiences may offer us lessons that we should not ignore. The apostle Peter made a lot of mistakes and learnt a lot of lessons after he met Jesus but in his more mature years he wrote:

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5 v7 [NIVUK]

However, there is no benefit in dwelling on the ‘might have been’; we have to move on from where we’re at. How can we take something positive from our negative feelings?

The psalmist wrote: “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us”.^[2] Some 40 years ago I had the opportunity to circumnavigate the globe. Travelling from east to further east, there was always somewhere yet further east. Even in the Far East the Wild West is still to the east.

Of course, the psalmist would not have understood the concept of the earth as a globe. For him the sunrise and the sunset would define the extremities of the earth. Perhaps that offers us a hint for how to deal with persistent memories. At the end of each day, bring them to God in prayer. Tell him what’s on your mind, don’t worry about reminding him about things that he has forgotten!

In practical terms, reading a few verses from the Bible and then praying about them can help to calm our minds. If your circumstances allow, try listening to some quiet Christian music before falling asleep.

Finally, let us look again at the verse quoted earlier

When Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within,
upward I look and see him there, who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Saviour died, my sinful soul is counted free;
for God the just is satisfied to look on him and pardon me

Pardoned and free, we need not succumb to despair.

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Resources:
[1] “Before the throne of God above” Charitie Lees Bancroft, 1863.
[2] Psalm 103 v12

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

 
Steve Humphreys

[This reflection by Martin Shorey was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 05/Feb/2023]

Unfortunately, despite my best efforts I doubt it’s for the sermon! We all come for many different reasons. Perhaps it’s because our friends go, or we feel a duty to attend, or we love the worship. Maybe it’s because we want our children to get a Christian foundation in their lives, or it gives us an opportunity to escape life for a bit and rest in God’s presence. Some come because they’re just curious. A little while a go a lady turned up to a Sunday service with her daughter because her daughter had been learning about Christianity at school and she wanted to see what church was like.

Regardless of the reason, we want people to feel welcome, accepted, and included in what is going on. However, in order to do this well, we need to be able to understand how a Sunday service might be for someone new, who maybe has little or no experience of ‘church’. What happens when someone comes for the first time and can’t find somewhere to park? What happens when they turn up and people ignore them? What happens when they don’t know the songs, or the protocol for church that everyone else seems to know but haven’t told them about? What happens when their children are frowned at, or when parents are expected to leave their children in a back room with a bunch of strangers?

Now, HBC does an amazing job of welcoming people, but we should never become complacent – there is always room to improve, and always work to be done in educating the entire church in how to better welcome the newcomer. But I also want to ask the question, who are we introducing people who come on a Sunday to? Too often people come to church, and even become Christians because they have discovered a community that loves and welcomes them – that they can be a part of. Now that’s great, but primarily the person we should be introducing them to is Jesus. We need to ensure that we preach about the good news of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. We need to challenge people to change and not stay the same. We need to welcome the Holy Spirit into every meeting, allowing space for God to do what we can’t – change people’s hearts.

Ultimately we want to create a warm, caring, engaging and vibrant environment in an appealing, safe, and accessible setting, which introduces people to our life-transforming Saviour, Jesus. How can you be a part of making that an ongoing reality at HBC?

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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
.
Link to Index of Bible Passages