The Word on the Street

[This is one in a series of devotional reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during March 2021]

As previously mentioned, the thoughts that trigger these reflections can come from a variety of sources – news items, local events, something I read and, of course, from the Bible. Often, these thoughts take shape during the small hours of the night when it is difficult to sleep. The world outside is quiet, disturbed only the occasional sound of a bird on the hunt, and thoughts can be processed and prayed through without distraction.

The initial idea then requires further refinement and research. Central to this research is the text of the Bible itself, and in doing so I have come across verses that have themselves triggered a train of thought, not necessarily as the original writer intended! Here are a few, apparently unconnected, examples:

The lookout reported, ‘ … The driving is like that of Jehu son of Nimshi – he drives like a maniac.’ [2 Kings 9:20 NIVUK]

Is your driving so bad that it can be recognised at a distance? Is that how you want to be remembered? Maybe it’s safer to walk but that still have its perils, especially if the paths are icy.

If the salt loses its flavour … it is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. [Matthew 5 v13 NKJV]

Did Jesus anticipate that we would indeed be throwing salt on our footpaths and roads?

Historically, we have honoured the memory of certain citizens by naming streets after them. As generations pass these street names often become the only memory that remains. We know about Victoria and Albert but who can recall Kelsey, Ramsey or Anderson?[1] The Bible has something to say about this too:

Memory of him perishes from the earth, And he has no name on the street. [Job 18 v17 AMP]

Job’s friend Bildad was talking about the fate of the wicked, those ungodly people who do not know or recognize or honour God and whose legacy disappears into the dusty archives of time, but the same applies to us all.

For a person may labour with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. [Ecclesiastes 2 v21 NIVUK]

So what is the point of mentioning these verses? Some of them are familiar, some largely forgotten, some difficult to understand but every one is a part of the collection of gems that we have in our Bibles. On that basis alone, they are worthy of our attention.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
[2 Timothy 3 v16-17]

Only that which is done for Christ will last – will your good works survive the test of time?

[1] Revisit your heritage!
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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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Contributor: Steve Humphreys
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How are You and Jesus Doing?

[Transcript of “A 5 minute cuppa” published by Horley Baptist Church on YouTube[1], February 2021]
Sandy

Hi everyone, welcome to ‘a five minute cuppa’. This is the place that you can come any time of day, just for five minutes, to relax, put your feet up, have a cuppa and listen to a few words to help you grow in your relationship with God.

Years ago I had a friend who I’d meet up with for a cuppa and a chat. This friend personified warmth and joy and always did me good. I remember during our conversation he would often slip in what seemed like a simple question: “How are you and Jesus doing?” The question always flummoxed me and although I’d politely say “We’re doing okay, thanks”, if I ever let myself reflect honestly on that seemingly simple question I had to admit that Jesus and me were more like casual acquaintances rather than the close friends that the worship songs and sermons spoke of in the church services I attended.

Sometimes we think it’s dishonouring to God to express doubts or fears or show our weaknesses. This can lead to the pretending we are so familiar with when we do church.

You know, I think Jesus breathes a huge sigh of relief when we’re finally honest with ourselves and with Him; when we cry out “Lord, there must be more than this”. Wanting our faith and relationship with Jesus to be different, expressing our dissatisfaction with the way things are is not necessarily a bad thing. Jesus likes raw honesty. That’s the place we come face to face with Him; it’s often the catalyst that marks the change we’re looking for. I thought I’d share a couple of times that this has happened for me.

One time I had a strong awareness that I just couldn’t shake, that I was living my life a bit like the disciples but in the days before Jesus died on the cross and came back to life again. I knew about Jesus but not his life-changing power. Our thoughts kept coming back to the disciple Peter who, despite his good intentions, deserted Jesus in his final hours because he was so afraid. Contrast that with the Peter who after the resurrection of Jesus showed so much courage to speak out to thousands about the life-changing relationship he had found even though this put his life in danger; the Peter who would walk by crowds of people and where those who were sick would be instantly healed when Peter’s shadow touched them. My simple prayer was, “Do for me what you did for the disciple Peter”.

Another time I was dissatisfied with my prayer life, realizing it was built on ‘should do’s and habit. My honest heartfelt prayer was similar to that of the disciples: “Lord teach me how to pray! I’m pretty good at asking for help in a crisis or asking for help with important decisions but I don’t know how to hear You speak to help me”.

I know that Jesus is okay with us expressing dissatisfaction when we turn to him and asking for a change because I’ve experienced it first-hand. Hundreds of timely God-instances that have brought about a miracle in my life.

I have another friend now who I meet up with for a couple in a chat; she often asks the same question: “How are you and Jesus doing?” The question doesn’t flummox me anymore because now I don’t just believe in Jesus but I know Him, I speak to him every day and I’ve finally learnt to give him space to speak back.

I’ve got my cuppa; can I ask you a question? How are you and Jesus doing?

[1] YouTube link: How are You and Jesus Doing?
Bible references: ~
 

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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Contributor: Sandy Turner
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Your Secret Place

[Transcript of “A 5 minute cuppa” published by Horley Baptist Church on YouTube[1], March 2021]
Sandy

Hi everyone, welcome to ‘a five minute cuppa’. This is the place that you can come any time of day just for five minutes, to relax, put your feet up, have a cuppa and listen to a few words to help you grow in your relationship with God.

I wonder where you talk to and listen to God. Well, I know we can talk to Him anytime or anywhere but do you have a go-to place where you can just be just you and Jesus, totally undisturbed? Some people call it their secret place. I like that expression; it creates for me that image of a place of safety, somewhere that you can be honest and completely you. Somewhere you can receive sustenance and be prepared for whatever lies ahead in your day or your week.

I’ve heard of people that use a room in their house as a secret place, just shutting the door so that they can be on their own; others have a special prayer chair or find a place in their garden. My favourite one of all, proving that you don’t need a spare room, chair or garden, is Susanne Wesley’s secret place. She was the mother of the famous John and Charles Wesley as well as eight other children. Her house and life were always so busy but for a couple of hours every day she would put her pinny over her head and talk with Jesus.

I’ve recently been reading some of the New Testament gospels and asking the Holy Spirit to speak to me about what I can learn about the human Jesus when he was physically walking among us. One of the things that really strikes me is how often Jesus came away from people and even his best friends, just to spend time alone with the Father and that time was so vitally important. It was his life source and helped prepare him or helped him to reflect on the events of the day, whether that was making important decisions like choosing his disciples or having a coaching session with his disciples, to help them understand who he was, or healing the sick or grieving for a loss or facing head-on those who wanted to criticize or even destroy Him. In fact, throughout the time of Jesus’s public ministry there was something pretty major going on every single day. How did Jesus do all that stuff without giving up or falling apart without saying, “You know I’m just going to leave them to it”?

It’s clear to me that the secret place was the key for Jesus. This was where he received comfort, where he was given knowledge about events and people, where he received the wisdom and the power to carry out his Father’s plan. There are many challenging words that come out of the mouth of Jesus and they’re recorded for us to chew over, but one of the things I continuously find challenging are the words: “You will do what you have seen me do, you will do what you have seen me do and you will do even greater things than these”. Wow! I wonder what that would look like for you and for me, to have the strength and power to know what to do or how to be in places where people are afraid or grieving or sick, or where there are those that are misunderstood and where people try to put us down.

There isn’t one of us that hasn’t faced tricky times recently and we can’t exactly say what will happen for us today or tomorrow. What we do know is that Jesus offers a way of preparing us daily in that secret place for whatever lies ahead. If you’re struggling a bit at the moment, maybe feeling annoyed with yourself for the way you’ve been reacting to the people and situations around you, why not make it a priority to come away and discover or develop your secret place. I invite you to try it out and see what a difference that it makes.

[1] YouTube link: Your Secret Place
Bible references: John 14 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.

~~~~~~~~~
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Contributor: Sandy Turner
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2-way Communication

[Transcript of “A 5 minute cuppa” published by Horley Baptist Church on YouTube[1], March 2021]
Sandy

Hi everyone, welcome to ‘a five minute cuppa’. This is the place that you can come any time of day, just for five minutes, to relax, put your feet up, have a cuppa and listen to a few words to help you grow in your relationship with God.

In the last five minute cuppa we were thinking about the importance of having a secret place to go to to be alone with God, a place to find sustenance and wisdom so that we are prepared for whatever lays before us in the coming week. Today we’re going to think a bit about how we make that secret place, somewhere we want to be, a place that we want to run to, a place that we would miss desperately if we hadn’t found the time to go there.

We know from the records of Jesus’s life that he withdrew from people frequently to be alone with his heavenly Father. We have little recorded about what actually went on during this time though I wonder how he spoke with his Father, how he had two-way communication. I doubt very much if it was like some of the prayers that we hear when we go into a typical church service. We could forgive anyone popping into church on the odd occasion, or even our own children that grow up in some of our churches, thinking that you have to develop a prayer voice, a particular way of talking that’s different from the sound you use with everyone else; a monologue rather than a conversation, a place to reel off a list of ‘thank you’s and ‘pleases’.

I’m pretty sure that when Jesus went to the secret place his conversation was one of intimacy with his Father; communication where he spoke honestly and openly and heard his Father speak back to him. You can see the fruit of this close relationship in his daily actions with others. He was so used to hearing his Father’s voice in the secret place that he could hear it everywhere he went. How else did he know what people were saying behind his back and how to respond to this with such wisdom? How did he know accurate details of people’s lives he had never met and what was on their hearts?

When Jesus was teaching his disciples how to pray he he talked about asking for God’s will to be done on earth as it was in heaven. Here lies our question and our dilemma: how do we know the Father’s will? How can we know the mind of the father so that we are talking to him about the things on his heart and then seeing those things that are important to him happening in our own lives and in our communities?

Maybe it’s time to stop modelling our prayers on what we have typically seen and instead practice that two-way communication that the Father and Jesus obviously enjoyed, but how do we do that practically? What does it look like?
I don’t think it’s as hard as you might think.

Start by asking Him a question – “What’s on your mind, Lord? What shall we talk about? What are you doing?” then most importantly leave a space for him to speak back. Don’t try too hard, you don’t have to work yourself into a frenzy to hear His voice. I’ve found that after I ask a question a thought will pop into my mind or a person or a situation. Before launching into a monologue prayer I will ask another question: “What’s going on for that person or situation? What do you want to do?” Often I’ll get something that adds to what He has said, sometimes an image or a reminder of a similar situation I have known, often alongside some words or a story from the Bible that helps me to pray into the situation with understanding.

I love it when I begin to recognize His still small voice in my everyday life, when I’m prompted to speak to a particular person or ask a question that opens up a conversation about something that’s troubling them or when I’m woken in the middle of the night with an image of a person on my mind that is on the Father’s heart, and I can there and then ask Him what’s going on and agree with Him about what he wants to do in that person’s life.

If pausing and asking questions and listening to responses isn’t something you’re used to why not give it a go? I think you’ll find once you become familiar with this two-way communication with the Father you’ll want to run to your secret place. Who wouldn’t want to have a relationship with the all-knowing, all-powerful sustainer of the universe who also calls us His friends?

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[1] YouTube link: What’s on your mind, Lord?
Bible references: ~
 

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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Contributor: Sandy Turner
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Do I Need a Child-like Faith?

[Transcript of a midweek message published by Horley Baptist Church on YouTube[1], March 2021]

Are you the kind of person that believes in anything, or are you sceptical and full of questions?
How should we be with faith in God – naive or questioning?

Hi guys, you find me in the chicken run again. It’s horrible out there, it’s raining, it’s wet and miserable. Yes, I am a fair weather film-maker but I promise you the dogs will get a walk later but thank you for joining me in the chicken run with the chickens and we’re going to carry on our series looking at encounters meeting with Jesus.

[00:35] A few years ago now I had the great privilege of attending Bible College and that may not seem amazing to some of you but for me it was a dream come true. It gave me three years to spend time studying the Bible, learning about God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit and all that sort of stuff, and I’m so thankful to all those that enabled me to do that. I got married in my first year and I used to come back from having my lectures – the lectures were very much there, particularly the first year, to unpack what we believed and to dismantle it, to take it down brick by brick so we can then rebuild our faith, and have a real solid understanding standing about what we believe.

[01:19] I used to go back home after a day at college and discuss with my new wife, Jen, all the things that we’ve been learning about, all the difficult questions and the difficult issues that we were coming across and having to grapple with that really challenged our faith, and I remember Jen saying these words to me which really annoyed me. She said “You need to have a childlike faith”. When I came to all these difficult issues and questions that I needed answers to, she said, “You need to have a childlike faith”.

[01:52] So, what does that mean? What is a child like faith and is it even possible because there are so many difficulties when it comes to our Christian faith, when it comes to believing in God, so many contradictions, so many historical issues. Surely a childlike faith is to put your hands over your ears and ignore all the difficult questions; maybe it’s to be naive, maybe it’s to be ignorant. Maybe those who have a child like faith are those who are unable to grapple with the hard truths of life. Perhaps childlike faith is a bit like the fact that my kids believe in the tooth fairy and father Christmas. Is it childlike faith like that – it ignores the evidence and just believes in anything.

[03:04] Maybe that’s not what it means. Maybe having a childlike faith is coming to the realization that we do not have all the answers. Maybe it’s getting to the stage in your faith journey that you’re willing to believe in God and commit yourself to Jesus even though you don’t have all the answers. Despite all the difficulties, despite all the contradictions, having a childlike faith is about saying yes to God, to take his hand and to journey with Him despite any reservations that you might have. Maybe having a child like faith is being comfortable with the mystery of life and God, not needing to have all those answers.

[03:55] Perhaps most of all what having a child like faith is is realizing that what is most important is knowing that firstly God is in control, secondly God has a plan, thirdly God loves you and fourthly He is welcoming you with open arms. So don’t miss out on the love that God has for you because you are so caught up in the difficulties and the mystery that you can’t see beyond that, and to find yourself sitting on the lap of your heavenly father feeling, experiencing and knowing the love that he has for you.

Hey guys thank you so much for tuning in to me and the chickens and thank you. Do subscribe to our Youtube channel, do please like this video because that will draw other watchers to the video. Do remember that this midweek message is a kind of a forerunner to the sermon that will be shown on our Sunday service at 10:30 this coming Sunday, where we continue our teaching series ‘encounters: meeting with Jesus’. So do join us for our Sunday service, or you can find the sermon separately on our YouTube channel. Thank you so much for joining us, do subscribe and do like. Cheers ’bye

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[1] YouTube link: Do I Need a Child-like Faith?
Bible references: ~
 

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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Contributor: Martin Shorey
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Close Encounters

[This is one in a series of devotional reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during March 2021]

This week we have started a new Sunday sermon series on the theme of ‘encounters’, during which we are looking at various people who had encounters with Jesus during his life on earth. The Bible rarely uses the term ‘encounter’ and when it does it usually refers to a military engagement, but this is not an appropriate description of those occasions when Jesus demonstrates his loving interaction with those he meets.

In the 1945 film “Brief Encounter”, set in middle-class Britain before the second world war, we see another type of encounter. Two people meet by chance on a number of occasions and start to develop an increasingly close friendship. Their mutual desire for a more intense relationship is frustrated by their personal circumstances and in due course they go their separate ways. The film leads the viewer to ponder ‘what might have been’.

It is likely that many of us can think back to ‘what might have been’. What happened to the one who got away? Does the memory represent a life-long disappointment or a lucky escape?

It is not only in the realm of romance that we can wonder ‘what if?’; it can apply to all sorts of situations in life. What if I had been more diligent in my studies? What if I had followed a different career? What if I had thought about that decision a bit more, or acted sooner? What if I had declined that invitation, or accepted it? What if I had chosen a different route?

Are these speculations healthy or should they be suppressed, dismissed as water under the bridge? It depends upon how we handle them. They can become negative experiences, morphing into ‘if only’ and we look for someone else to blame: if only the weather …, if only my parents …, if only the boss …, if only that driver …, if only God ….

Alternatively, we can remember that ‘if only’ has a counterpart – ‘but yet’. The high priest Eli was a failure as a father but yet God used him to raise a God-fearing Samuel. In the matter of Uriah and his wife king David paid a high price for his abuse of the position that God had given him but yet God forgave him and used the circumstances to further His own plans. Saul of Tarsus was an enemy of God’s people but yet God used him to bring many more to Himself.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. [Psalm 23 v4 NIVUK]

We may have passed through a dark valley but yet God has provided for us. We may have made decisions of a less than optimal nature but yet God has worked through them. We are all sinners, but yet God still loves us and, though Jesus, provided a way for us to have a lasting relationship with Him.

How about your encounter with Jesus? Was it a confrontational one leaving matters unresolved, a brief one now only memories, or is it one of a third kind, promising enduring friendship and an eternal future?

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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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HBC main site
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Contributor: Steve Humphreys
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