Reclaimed

Walk on!

2012-01-24T18:19:00.000Z

‘Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.’ Joshua 1.9

What a thrilling promise! The Lord Himself shall go with us. That is a cause for rejoicing, as it’s a motivation for courageous living. It’s a promise, though, which comes after a command. In fact, it comes after a series of commands, in verses 7-8: ‘be strong, be careful to obey, don’t turn aside from the Law, don’t set it aside, reflect on it day and night.’ God is pledging His serious, covenant commitment to His servant. He promises that He will be with him, always, and in all places. But Joshua must take His Lord seriously. The Word he has been given must be the Word which he commits to his heart and life. Do this, and he will know the Presence of the Living Lord. So will we.

Some wisdom from Dale Ralph Davis on these three verses:

‘This command is given specifically to Joshua as the leader of God’s people. Can we definitely assume that it also obligates every Israelite or Christian? Yes, If we don’t like Joshua 1.7-8, we still have to face Psalm 1.2, which describes what should be true of every godly believer (ie ‘but His delight is in Yahweh’s Torah, and on His Torah he meditates day and night……..’). There is no escape! Indeed the Torah should be our delight. Life in the Kingdom of God must be lived out of the Word of God. Joshua 1 and Psalm 1 alike tell us that a life pleasing to God does not arise from mystical experiences or warm feelings or from a new gimmick advocated in a current release from one of our evangelical publishers; no, it comes from the Word God has already spoken and from obedience to that Word.’

‘Joshua: no Falling Words’ p.20.

Firm Foundations – Learning with the 1689 Confession (3)

2012-01-21T10:21:00.001Z

Sunday Study notes:

Session 3: Who is God?

Scripture: Isaiah 40.12-31

Confession: Chapter 2, God and the Holy Trinity

1. ¹There is but one, and only one, living and true God. ²He is self-existent and infinite in His being and His perfections. ³None but He can comprehendor understand His essence. ⁴He is pure spirit, invisible, and without body, parts, or the changeable feelings of men. ⁵He alone possesses immortality, and dwells amid the light insufferably bright to mortal men. ⁶He never changes. ⁷He is great beyond all our conceptions, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty and infinite. ⁸He is most holy, wise, free and absolute. ⁹All that He does is the outworking of His changeless, righteous will, and for His own glory. ¹⁰He is most loving, gracious, merciful, and compassionate. ¹¹He abounds in goodness and truth. ¹²He forgives iniquity, transgression and sin. ¹³He rewards those who seek Him diligently. ¹⁴But He hates sin. ¹⁵He will not overlook guilt or spare the guilty, and He is perfectly just in executing judgment.

Gen. 17.1, Ex. 3.14, 34.6-7, Deut. 4.15,16, 6.4, 1 Ki. 8.27, Neh. 9.32, 33, Ps. 5.5,6, 90.2, 115.3, Prov. 16.4, Is. 6.3, 46.10, 48.12, Jer. 10.10, 23.23, 24, Nah. 1.2, 3, Mal. 3.6, Jn. 4.24, Ro. 11.36, 1 Cor. 8.4, 6. 1 Tim. 1.17, Heb. 11.6

2. ¹God is all-sufficient, and life, glory, goodness and blessedness are found in Him and in Him alone. ²He does not stand in need of any of the creatures that He has made, nor does He receive any part of His glory from them. ³On the contrary, ⁴He manifests His own glory in and by them, He is the fountain-head of all being, and the origin, channel and end of all things. ⁵Over all His creatures He is sovereign. ⁶He uses them as He pleases, and does for them or to them all that He wills. ⁷His sight penetrates to the heart of all things. ⁸His knowledge is infinite and infallible. ⁹No single thing is to Him at risk or uncertain, for He is not dependent upon created things. ¹⁰In all His decisions, doings and demands He is most holy. ¹¹Angels and men owe to Him as their Creator all worship, service and obedience, and whatever else He may require at their hands.

Job 22.2,3, Ps. 119.68, 145.17, 148.13, Ezek. 11.5, Dan. 4.25, 34, 35, Jn. 5.26, Ac. 15.18, Ro. 11.34,36, Heb. 4.13, Rev. 5.12-14

Study Group Questions:

1. “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” Comment, please!

2. Look at the whole paragraph of Conf. 1. Underline in your notes all that God is in His Being which we are not in our humanity. Why do we need to know these truths, and why did Isaiah’s first hearers?

3. Now underline the aspects of God’s character which are totally different from ours. How should we think and feel differently about God in the light of all of these truths?

4. God is ‘self-existent’ (Conf. 1.2). What does this mean, and how should we react to it?

5. Read Conf. 2.5-9. How do these truths help you to approach what’s ahead of you this week?

6. Read Conf. 2.10. What does it mean that God is ‘Holy’? What confidence in God can you derive from the statement of Conf. 2.10?

7. Check Conf. 2.11. What do we owe to God, and why?

8. Look at Isaiah 40.25. Can you comment on that verse, in the light of what we’ve seen this in this study?

Your right hand verse

2012-01-18T17:22:00.000Z

'The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished.' Numbers 14.18

At Hope we're learning a verse a week.

Or are we? Only with intention comes success, when it's down to Bible verse learning. It is so easy to learn a verse a week. This week all you need to do is to memorise 22 words, and get them in the right order! There's is a sure-fire way to fail, though. And that is, don't plan to learn the verse. Don't plan - and failure is guaranteed!

So how can we spur one another one to get the Word remembered? And how might we do that with this week's verse?

One way of learning Numbers 14.18 is with the help of your right hand. You could do it now. Raise your left thumb - that's 'the Lord'. Now, we've got four statements about Him. Raise your first finger - 'slow to anger'; middle finger, 'abounding in love.' Now do that in sequence, raising thumb and each finger in turn. Do that ten times out loud. Twenty times, and you'll be remembering it next week.

Next, it's the third finger, 'forgiving sin and rebellion.' And little finger, 'yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished.' Again, ten times out loud for those two.

Now you've done it, stand up, walk round the room, and recite it ten times. Go on....

...I've just done that. It took me 60 seconds exactly, finger-raising, and all. After the fourth time the brain remembers the rhythm of the words, and there's very little mental effort involved. It's beginning to lodge in the brain.

For some, though, this is where the doubt creeps in. Rote-learning Scripture, are you sure? Putting words into the brain? Or, more like, remembering to sound out some syllables by frequent repetition? Sounds suspicious, to some people. It sounds like it's an exercise in bypassing the brain. And maybe bypassing the heart, too.

I disagree. Of course our learning the Scriptures can bypass both brain and heart. But it's an exercise which is more than worth undertaking, even with that risk acknowledged. We commit the Scriptures to memory, because we need to get the truths into us. That begins by reciting and learning the verse. It is carried on by reflecting on it. We don't just say the verse out loud, we soak in it. We turn it over in our minds, and feel its weightiness. The weight of truth is the weight of glory as we reflect on the Word.

Take this week's verse. 'The Lord...does not leave the guilty unpunished'. In the truest, biblical sense, the Lord rages against sin. His holy fury will be unleashed against sin and sinners. That is what the Cross shows us. It is the revelation of God's anger at sin, and much as it is of His loving determination to rescue lost sinners. God condemns sin.

And yet, He saves sinners. Hell-deserving sinners come broken to the cross, and discover a Saviour who was broken for them. He pays the debt, that debtors may be forgiven. He takes Hell, that sinners may be welcomed into Heaven. Amazing love! Then work back through the verse: He forgives sin and rebellion, that is the work and the message of the Cross. He is the One who is just, and who justifies the ungodly. At the cross we discover for ourselves the God who abounds in love. We marvel how slow He is to anger with our selfish, spiteful selves. Love adores, belief is fulled. This is the Lord! We look at our calling to honour the Lord in a fresh light. We abhor our sin with new intensity, and we press on to acknowledge the Lord in all our ways.

So, if you want to know and follow Him like this - raise your right hand. May the Word of Christ dwell in us richly.

Firm Foundations – Learning with the 1689 Confession (2)

2012-01-18T10:29:00.005Z

A great, lively session in our groups last Sunday night after I preached on Scripture from Psalm 119.

A new arrival in our group shared how he came to Christ a few years ago from a drug and alcohol abusing background. He's been at a range of churches, but really enjoyed the solid food of Word and Confession as we shared each.

Session 2: How do we Understand the Bible?

Scripture: Psalm 119.97-112

Confession: Chapter 1, The Holy Scripture

4. ¹Scripture is self-authenticating. Its authority does not depend upon the testimony of man or church, but entirely upon God, its author, Who is truth itself. ²It is to be received because it is the Word of God.

5. ¹The testimony of the church of God may influence and persuade us to hold the Scripture in the highest esteem. ²The heavenliness of its contents, the efficacy of its doctrine, the majesty of its style, the agreement between all its parts from first to last, the fact that throughout it gives all glory to God, the full revelation it gives of the only way of salvation – these, together with many other incomparably high qualities and full perfections, supply abundant evidence that it is the Word of God. ³At the same time, however, we recognise that our full persuasion and assurance of its infallible truth and divine authority is the outcome of the inward work of the Holy Spirit bearing witness by and with the Word in our hearts.

6. ¹The sum total of God’s revelation concerning all things essential to His own glory, and to the salvation and faith and life of men, is either explicitly set down or implicitly contained in Holy Scripture. ²Nothing, whether a supposed revelation of the Spirit or man’s traditions, is ever to be added to Scripture. ³At the same time, however, we acknowledge that inward enlightenment from the Spirit of God is necessary for the right understanding of what Scripture reveals.

7. ¹The contents of Scripture vary in their degree of clarity, and some men have a better understanding of them than others. ²Yet those things which are essential to man’s salvation and which must be known, believed and obeyed are so clearly propounded and explained in one place of another, that men educated or uneducated may attain to a sufficient understanding of them if they but use the ordinary means.

8. ¹All God’s people have a right to, and an interest in, the Scripture, and they are commanded in the fear of God to read it and search it.

9. ¹It is an infallible rule that Scripture is to be interpreted by Scripture, that is to say, one part by another. ²Hence any dispute as to the true, full and evident meaning of a particular passage must be determined in the light of clearer, comparable passages.

Study Group Questions:

1. How do people decide whether they can trust the Bible today? How should we? Discuss the questions with reference to the grid:

Bible	Reason
Institution	Experience

2. What do you think about the statement of Conf. 4.2?

3. Look at Conf. 5.3. Is the authority of the Bible something which we can reason our way (or argue others) to? Why / why not?

4. How will we ultimately understand the Bible, according to Conf. 6.3? How do we see this conviction in Ps. 119.97-112?

5. Does this change the way we try to read and understand our Bibles?

6. Look at Conf. 7.1-2, and 8.1. Whose job is it that Christians get into their Bibles, and understand them?

7. Let’s hear from at least 3 people in your group. How do you read your Bible?

Include things like how often, and when in the day; what aids you use in Bible reading; how you deal with losing track or getting stale in your reading?

8. What steps could you take for getting your Bible reading started, or back on track?

Firm Foundations – Learning with the 1689 Confession (1)

2012-01-17T11:15:00.003Z

Here are the notes for our Taste & See Study Groups of the 8th January. I preached from Psalm 19, then we gathered to look at the Word and at select Confession Passages. The highlight of my group was sharing the study with four attenders between 12 and 14 years of age. Their hunger and honest engagement with these meaty issues was thrilling!

Session 1: How does God Speak Today?

Scripture: Psalm 19

Confession: Chapter 1, The Holy Scripture

1. [i]The Holy Scripture is the all-sufficient, certain and infallible rule or standard of the knowledge, faith and obedience that constitute salvation. [ii]Although the light of nature, and God's works of creation and providence, give such clear testimony to His goodness, wisdom and power that men who spurn them are left inexcusable, yet they are not sufficient of themselves to give that knowledge of God and His will which is necessary for salvation. [iii]In consequence the merciful Lord from time to time and in a variety of ways has revealed Himself, and made known His will to His church. [iv]And furthermore, in order to ensure the preservation and propagation of the truth, and the establishment and comfort of the church against the corrupt nature of man and the malice of Satan and the world, He caused this revelation of Himself and His will to be written down in all its fullness. [v]And as the manner in which God formerly revealed His will has long ceased, the Holy Scripture becomes absolutely essential to men.

Ps 19:1-3; Prov 22:19-21; Isa 8:20; Lke 16:29,31; Rom 1:19-21, 2:14-15, 15:4; Eph 2:20; 2 Tim 3:15-17; Heb 1:1; 2 Pet 1:19-20

4. [vi]The Scripture is self-authenticating. [vii]Its authority does not depend upon the testimony of any man or church, but entirely upon God, its author, who is truth itself. It is to be received because it is the Word of God.

1Thess 2:13; 2Tim 3:16; 2 Pet 1:19-21; 1 Jn 5:9

5. [viii]The testimony of the church of God may influence and persuade us to hold the Scripture in the highest esteem. [ix]The heavenliness of its contents, the efficacy of its doctrine, the majesty of its style, the agreement between all its parts from first to last, the fact that throughout it gives all glory to God, the full revelation it gives of the only way of salvation - these, together with many other incomparably high qualities and full perfections, supply abundant evidence that it is the Word of God. [x]At the same time, however, we recognize that our full persuasion and assurance of its infallible truth and divine authority is the outcome of the inward work of the Holy Spirit bearing witness by and with the Word in our hearts.

Jn 16:13-14; 1 Cor 2:10-12; 1 Jn 2:20,27

Study Group Questions:

Has anything really struck you as you’ve read the Bible in recent weeks? Why is that, and how has it helped you?

Do you agree with the description of the Bible in Conf. 1ⁱ? Would you want to add anything to this description?

What can we learn about God in Creation? Compare Psalm 19.1-4

How is Creation unable to bring us the knowledge of God which we need?

Look at Conf. 5^ix and Psalm 19.7-10. What are some pointers towards the authority of Scripture?

How are we convinced that Scripture is actually God’s Word? Check Conf. 5^x

Read Psalm 19.11-14. In the light of these verses, why has God given us His Word?

What fresh confidence can you take from today’s study as you go to your bible this week? What fresh purpose will you have as you read it?

Firm Foundations

2012-01-09T08:40:00.003Z

This term at Taste & See on Sunday evenings – and for a good few terms hence – we’re pursuing a series on exploring our faith which we're calling 'Firm Foundations'. We’re using the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith to give shape and depth to exploring the Gospel.

In the preaching we’re taking a passage of Scripture each night which treats the topic set forth by the Confession. So. last night I preached on ‘How does God speak to us Today?’ from Psalm 19 (mainly verse 7). In our study groups we looked at select paragraphs from chapter 1 of the Confession, and worked them through in the light of Psalm 19. We don’t venerate the Confession, but we do recognise that it is the fruit of careful biblical and theological reflection. Spurgeon put it like this:

‘This ancient document is the most excellent epitome of the things most surely believed among us. It is not issued as an authoritative rule or code of faith, whereby you may be fettered, but as a means of edification in righteousness. It is an excellent, though not inspired, expression of the teaching of those Holy Scriptures by which all confessions are to be measured. We hold to the humbling truths of God's sovereign grace in the salvation of lost sinners. Salvation is through Christ alone and by faith alone.’

Last night it was great to see young and old getting to grips with what the Confession says about the Word of God. Infallibility and the self-authenticating nature of Scripture are big subjects for our younger attenders; but these issues are vital ones for them to get to grips with. We want to grow oaks through our ministry at Hope, not quick-growing but shallow-rooted striplings.

This old Confession is right up to date. We learn through it how God’s Word is entirely trustworthy, and sufficient. Both are vitally necessary when there’s so little confidence in God’s written Word, and such a tendency for Christians to hunt for their ‘own’ word from the Lord. The Confession teaches us that this Word, breathed by the Spirit, and ministered in the Spirit to our hearts, and more than all we need to live in the Spirit, wise for salvation and ready for every good
work.

Writing at just the same time as the Confession’s authors, Francis Turretin wrote these equally
timeless and important words on the Scriptures, which I quoted on Sunday night:

‘The Holy Spirit by Whom believers should be God-taught does not render the Scriptures less necessary. He is not given to us in order to introduce new revelations, but to impress the written Word on our hearts; so that here the Word must never be separated from the Spirit. The former works objectively, the latter efficiently; the former strikes our ears from without, the latter opens the heart within. The Spirit is the teacher; Scripture is the doctrine which He teaches us.'

Taste & See

2012-01-08T21:44:00.004Z

Tonight we began our second term of Taste & See at Hope Church. Preaching, praise, food, Bible study, fellowship and laughter together make for really blessed and happy Sunday evenings. So what’s Taste & See?

We begin at 5.30, and top and tail a shorter sermon (25 mins max) with praise and prayer. At about 5 past 6 we have a simple meal together –soup and a roll, hotdogs, jacket potatoes, that sort of thing – and ask a £1 contribution to cover costs. At 6.30 we’re ready to break into our study groups, where we learn, share and pray together for an hour. We’re then ready to enjoy coffee and cake.

We believe that the whole church should come together, so we welcome the church’s children, and have a session for the smaller ones called BookWorms, where they learn Bible stories, and then join us for food.

Last term in the preaching we looked at the Life of Abraham, as the lens through which we learned about Christian faith. In our Bible times we studied Ephesians.

And we love it. These evenings are precious times for learning from God’s Word, and for really getting to know each other, and share the joys and the priorities of the Gospel. In my study group tonight there were eight sharing, four of them between twelve and fourteen, a nineteen year old student, and three crusties! It was thrilling that the younger members were so keen to study, and were asking great questions, and being so honest about the struggles they have in getting to grips with God’s Word.

We’ve only just started this pattern of ministry, so it’s too early to make real evaluations. The strengths of the work are obvious, though:

- we give a lot of time to learning from the Bible. This is a sermon and a Bible study in one evening, each of them concise, and people are motivated to get the most from each.

- people love eating together. Christians should do a lot of it. Our food is very simple, with minimal prep time and minimal mess, and our people appreciate that coming together as church will feed body as well as soul.

- we focus on each other. Time under God’s Word in the sermon, and then sharing it in groups, coupled with chatting over food and refreshments, means that people can really enjoy each other’s company.

- Sundays are special. Taste & See gives us all something we can really enjoy on the Lord’s Day. And week by week we learn that Psalm 34.8 is true.

Conferring, please

2012-01-06T18:26:00.002Z

The Carey Ministers' Conference this week was, as I anticipated, excellent. A great bunch of guys and wives in ministry, loads of whom have been great friends over the years. The quality of ministry was high, the atmosphere one of humble delight in the Lord, and eagerness to serve His church. I really look forward to next, year, and to going with Sarah. The gathering seemed to enjoy my input about Hope Church's life to date, and future plans, and the antics of our twice a Sunday attending cat were well-received.

On Monday I'm off to Hothorpe Hall for a little over twenty four hours to the Church Student Ministry Conference. I went last year, and found it a real spur, with great people, and some really practical ministry. I'm really looking forward to learning more about how to ministry through this gathering.

And the travel? Definitely by car, thankyou. The trip to and from Swanwick on the bike in tearing winds was, let's say, hair-raising - even under the lid! And 100 miles plus with a travelling partner definitely is a chance for conversation, even though he's gutted that we're not biking it.

Conferences are for conferring. I really value these times to learn from others. And I dare to think that the church always benefits, too.

Live Bible

2012-01-06T15:56:00.001Z

‘The Holy Spirit by Whom believers should be God-taught does not render the Scriptures less necessary. He is not given to us in order to introduce new revelations, but to impress the written Word on our hearts; so that here the Word must never be separated from the Spirit. The former works objectively, the latter efficiently; the former strikes our ears from without, the latter opens the heart within. The Spirit is the teacher; Scripture is the doctrine which He teaches us.'

Francis Turretin, Institutes of Elenctic Theology, Vol I, p.59

Into the Whirlwind

2012-01-03T11:59:00.004Z

What a wonderful day for motorbiking, with high winds and driving rain...

I'm just off for a couple of days to the Carey Ministers' Conference in Derbyshire. I've considered attending the conference for several years, and have always heard great things about it. Then, the year I decide to go, I get to pitch in with the ministry. They've kindly asked my to talk about planting a confessional church. Mine will be the light session amongst some worthy heavyweights - think Jackanory alongside Newsnight. Still, much to look forward to.

The downside is that Sarah can't get free to come along. With a pre-exams teenager, and a sick child (and three reasonably able-bodied and brained others), as well as work on Thursday, she's got a lot on. So yet again, jollies for me, hard servitude for her. Please remember her, and even me, in your prayers.

Father Adam had many sons

2011-12-23T12:23:00.000Z

"Our Lord Jesus Christ is, in some senses, more completely man than Adam ever was. Adam was not born; he was created as a man. Adam never had to struggle through the risks and weaknesses of infancy; he knew not the littlenesses of childhood,—he was full-grown at once. Father Adam could not sympathize with me as a babe and a child. But how man-like is Jesus! He does not begin with us in mid-life, as Adam did; but He is cradled with us, He accompanies us in the pains, and feebleness, and infirmities of infancy, and He continues with us even to the grave."

Charles Spurgeon

An Allen A-Z

2011-12-22T09:21:00.002Z

Here's the roundup of the what, why and when of our 2011:-

Asher brings us all joy. He’s started Reception, and is loving reading (he is being taught Yorkshire phonics), writing, drawing – and most things gentle! He’s a contented little chap, and adored by all.

Burn Road. Our terrific house gives us space and joy. Lots of different building work through the year, and our latest project has been to get a wood-burner put in. The neighbours are slowly adjusting to our noise.

Chickens. Oh yes, the chickens have landed, 7 of them at the moment. Muck, eggs, and magic. Sam has a now-encyclopaedic poultry knowledge – and is not afraid to use it (he’s lectured on request in different classes at school).

Degus are back! This autumn Ezra bought three of the darlings. Think big gerbil with a strange tail. A welcome change from over-breeding gerbils.

Ezra is shining at school, and has very cool hair. He’s also a baptised follower of the Lord Jesus, having been immersed out of doors on a rain-lashed (July) day in the Pennines, to the joy of all who came. He’s still a brilliant artist, and an accomplished animal-handler – and a son we’re very proud of.

Family. It’s lovely having Sarah’s folks 50 minutes away now (who are having a house built for them at the farm), and they’re very generous in pitching in with the kids. As is Lewis’s mum, who comes up regularly. Bronny is loving Australia with Rodney and Anna.

Grace. We’re still here, because the Gospel is still true. Another year has seen the Lord guide, us, energise, protect and encourage us. 2011 has been quite a year, and the Lord has been magnificent to us all.

Hope Church. Where to start? We’re just over a year in, and now I’m one of three Elders looking after 35 members and all sorts of other attenders and inquirers. Life is very happy, and the Lord is doing great things among us.

Igloo. Huddersfield in Winter is not a cosy place to be!

Jemimah. Jemimah is our sunny, funny, kind girl. She excels in being very flexible – gymnastic and balletic, and also, being so generous and cheerful as a daughter, sister, and popular friend.

Kawasaki. Following a nasty night involving a motorbike and a thief, Lewis is back on the road. She’s blue, fast, and the make of bike every ten year old aspires to. He’s taking it steady – in style.

Lewis is still here –just! What a busy, blessed, fast-moving year. Lots of ministry in various forms. Too little fishing!

Maisy is our gorgeous teenager. She’s quietly acing at school, and has already done a few parts of different GCSEs. When she’s not at school, Maisy’s into climbing, and is a magnificent, kind and patient sister to all of her siblings (and she irons a very good shirt!). Her long-term ambition is costume design at London College of Fashion, but in the meantime she’s experimenting with her own costume.

Noise rising above the voices we hear the competing strains of violin (Sam), clarinet (Ezra) and flute (Jemimah). Not quite the Von Trapps yet.

Outdoors . We try to get onto the moors regularly so our Christmas present this year is a pair of hikingboots for all. No more wellies lost in pennine bogs!

Pressure. This has been a really tough year for us. We’ve had all sorts of adjustments, have had to get used to being far from Gunnersbury and many other friends, and work out life in a new place.

Quiet. We should be so lucky!

Reading. Sarah continues her column for Evangelicals Now, reviewing secular books. Sam and Jemimah have been listening to Oliver Twist . Books abound.

Sam. Lover of facts, war, weapons, chickens, facts, strategy games, maths, facts and chickens. Sam’s had a great year, loving Yr 6 and thoroughly up for he challenges of secondary school. We try to keep up with him….!

Travel. Not so much of it this year. Lewis’s preaching has taken him around a little, and the kids have seen bits of North Wales and North Yorkshire (and Lancashire – sssshhh).

Under the weather. We wouldn’t be the Allens without some health issues. Mercifully few emergencies this year, though Sam’s asthma has been a lot of hard work for him, lately much relieved by a nebuliser at home. Maisy still needs to be very careful with her diet. Sarah and Lewis haven’t fallen apart yet, despite this being our 40^th year.

Visitors. Bring ’em on! We’ve loved having London friends up with us, and have space for allcomers…

Wife. The beautiful Sarah. A tiring year of managing everyone and everything, compounded by her two day a week teaching job at Ezra and Maisy’s school. Her hobby – when she gets time for it - is sleeping!

Xceptional Holiday. A house lent to us in the north of Skye saw a wonderful fortnight’s holiday in August. Plenty of fishing and lobster potting (both successful), swimming, walking, climbing and general frolicking were enjoyed by all.

Yorkshire We’re loving the Yorkshire Post, Yorkshire tea, Yorkshire puddings and Yorkshire pride. They really do believe it’s God’s own county!

Zoo Degus, Chickens, NO DOG!! Rabbits, Guinea Pigs, Gerbils. A lot has been fed and watered, put down, sold or escaped this year from our household.

And so, to baptisms

2011-12-09T14:05:00.003Z

We're been having a very merry season at Hope. Our church is gelling, the lost are seeking Christ with us, the saints are being built up for works of service, and we are hugely grateful for the serious spirit of commitment which is tangible. And the joy! On Wednesday we admitted ten new members, so there are thirty five of us committed to covenant life together.

This Sunday morning we're celebrating three baptisms. We do not insist on believer's baptism for membership. I know that this is heresy of the rankest order amongst some of my baptistic brethren. But I see it this way; if John Calvin moved to Huddersfield, would I want to share life and labours with him in the same church? Or how about my Scottish Presbyterian friends? You bet I would. We believe that they should be able to identify with us, and to affirm what we profess as reformed and evangelical people, even if they don't share our convictions on baptism.

That said, we don't believe that baptism is unimportant. Far from it. I never wanted to become a Baptist, but I became convinced of believer's baptism. So here I stand. We won't allow anyone to come into membership who hasn't thought about the matter very hard, and who isn't able to give a reasoned defence of their position. Nor will we allow anyone to serve as an Elder or Deacon who hasn't been baptised as a believer. Sorry, John Calvin, that's you!

We're delighted, then, that three of our newest members have come into membership having stated their desire to be baptised. Between them they clock up about fifty years of Christian experience. They've not been preached to, badgered, or even arm-wrestled with. They've taken the opportunity of applying for membership as a context in which to think baptism through, and have come to their convictions.

So when this Sunday comes there will be great joy. But there won't be great smugness. We're thrilled to be baptising Rachel, Andy and Graham, but we're more thrilled at their ongoing, fullhearted Christian discipleship. Under God we seek to be a church brimful with the Spirit, the Spirit of truth, love and unity. May it be so.

Huddersfield Calling! Autumn 2011 Hope Church Planting Prayer News and Needs

2011-11-18T13:50:00.002Z

Dear Praying Friends,

‘Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.” (1 Samuel 7.12)

…and He most certainly has! Since we wrote last, a busy summer has turned into an equally hectic Autumn. God’s grace has been, quite simply, magnificent, and it’s a joy to honour all that He’s doing with the Allens and Hope Church.

Sundays are obviously the focus of our work and worship. Since September we’ve been meeting in Brian Jackson House in the middle of town. This is an excellent venue, with a superb central position, and the large ground floor room we use has excellent facilities for all aspects of our work. Our numbers have crept to approximately fifty in the morning, and forty in the evening, including a couple of new families who we’re all enjoying getting to know.

On Sunday evenings this term we’ve been trialling Taste & See, a ministry which involves a time of praise and preaching, then a simple meal which is followed by Bible study groups and then more fellowship. The reception so far has been excellent, so we’ll press on for the next couple of terms and take stock. We also meet on Wednesdays, where there is a great spirit of serious prayer.

Our real joy is still the folk the Lord is gathering. The majority of our number are committed Christians, though we’re loving having some seekers each week, and we’re slowly making inroads with the students. We have twenty five members (including Maisy and Ezra as Junior Members), and ten or so are exploring membership. The other Sunday we had an open house, which was a fabulous time of friendship and much laughter.

It seems that our Apprentices, Graham and Chris, have been with us for an age now, and they’re both making a huge contribution. They’re godly, wise, and very committed, and are taking forward work with students and evangelism, as well as lending a hand in many other things. Graham is teaching part-time alongside his work with us, and is studying on the Christian Ministry Training Course, on which I’m a tutor. Chris is with us for at least a year (he was working with UCCF in the town last year), and already I can barely imagine the thought of working without either of them.

Meanwhile, the children are going great guns at their schools (3 different ones!). Each is enjoying school in different ways. I think all are missing London friends, and are finding it slow-going developing really good friendships here. Still, they’re full of courage and no little faith as they continue to adjust in this new environment. Sam’s asthma has been troubling him a lot the last few months, and we continue to work with the Consultant on its best treatment. All of the children are predictably active doing different things, and it’s often hard working at home after school with the noise of three different instruments being practiced, or shooing a child away who causally walks into my study with a chicken tucked under one arm!

Sarah’s covering a maternity leave for two terms part-time, at Maisy and Ezra’s High School. She’s enjoying the stretch, but doesn’t plan to try and take it further beyond Easter.

Here are three very specific prayer updates: thankyou for your prayers relating to the Christian Bookshop in town. We’re so hungry to see this venue used as a centre for the best in Christian resources, as well as a base for discipleship and evangelism. We’re exploring a major refit and restock with the manager in order to further these goals. Do please pray on. Secondly, thanks for your prayers for the children’s summer camps. The oldest three who went had heaps of fun, and very spiritually enriching times. Thirdly, there was a wonderful resolution to my bike theft: following a quite reasonable insurance payout, and an uber-generous gift from a friend, I’m now back on the road in style!

Prayer Points:-

I wonder if I could give you a point a day, as perhaps an easy way to add the Allens and Hope to your prayers?

Sunday – Hope. Please remember our worship and meetings, that they would be full of Christ and His Cross, and so, full of joy and rich spiritual life for many.

Monday – Godliness. This term Sarah and I are moving into our 40s, and so are embarking on what is a decade for many of spiritual drift! Please pray that the Lord would fill us daily with His Holy Spirit, that we would grow in zeal and holiness, and in love with the Lord, each other, our children, friends, and the lost.

Tuesday - The Children need our prayers continually. Please pray that they would be kept from the Evil One in their schools, and that they would be encouraged as they look to Jesus. Pray on, too, for good friends, and for Christian ones, too.

Wednesday –Spiritual Growth in Hope. Pray that we would be people of the Word, Prayer and Service, and so, be overflowing with grace. Everything else is secondary.

Thursday – Evangelism. Please remember Graham leading the Evangelism Team, and our work of sharing the Gospel as Christmas approaches. We’ve got a couple of town-centre initiatives planned. We long to see people saved. Remember the Bookshop as a potential base for outreach longer-term.

Friday – Students. We’re delighted that a few students have definitely made their home with us, and are growing spiritually. Please pray that God would give us favour as we reach out to the University.

Saturday - Finance. We’ve had a couple of pledges for several thousand pounds each from two Christian charities. We’re so grateful, but with increased financial commitments in this excitingly expanding work, costs will increase accordingly. Please pray for the resources we need to do the work to God’s glory.

Thankyou all for your terrific loyalty in prayer, and support on so many levels. Please do keep in touch with us.

P.S. Did you know? I send out a weekly Hope Church Flier by email. If you don’t receive this, but would like to, just drop me a line.

Hope for Uncle John

2011-11-16T10:56:00.002Z

A couple of months ago Uncle John asked for an interview on Hope Church. That wasn't the dying wish of John Stott, but a request from the other Uncle, John Benton, Polymath, Pastor Longissimus of Chertsey Street Baptist Church, and Editor of Evangelicals Now. Who was I not to oblige?

It's in November's issue, and you can now access it here.

The Needle's Eye

2011-11-15T20:25:00.001Z

On Sunday morning we were thinking about our treasures. The rich young ruler, whose encounter with Jesus in recorded in Mark 10.17-31, shows the demands of Jesus that we be ready to surrender our wealth, to be 'downwardly mobile', and to enrich others. Would this man do what to all the world looked like madness, and walk away from career and comforts to follow Jesus? In the evening we looked at Genesis 22, the heart-searing call of God to Abraham to surrender his treasure, his only, dearly loved son, Isaac. Could he trust God enough with the joy of his heart? And could he truly believe that, through this appalling sacrifice, God really was good, and could alone be the treasure of his heart?

Both scenarios call for a faith in God which naturally we are light-years away from. We don't want to surrender our dearest riches, be they family, wealth, or whatever else we hold close. We want to keep them, and guard them, away from the dangers of what man might do to them. Or the dangers of what God might do.

Would you want to give up your riches so that you found yourself far less well-off than you currently are, refocusing your whole life and loves so that others might become truly rich as you learn to give up your comforts for them? Would you want to see your own child off to the pain and sacrifice of mission, to live with hardship and danger, called to sacrifice daily for their faith, maybe with the risk of paying the ultimate price because of their faith in God? Would you ever dare cast yourself on God so completely that you not only contemplate, but actually embrace, the radical life of cross-bearing with all that that may bring?

Three encouragements for all of us as we struggle to live as Jesus calls us to:

1. God gave His best

God did. God the Father took His Son, His only Son, Jesus, His heart's delight, and gave Him up to the Cross. He did not spare His own Son (Ro. 8.32, clearly echoing Abraham's sacrifice). His gift of Jesus to us guarantees His total, unconditional and lavish grace to us, His dearly loved children through Christ. God gave His best, and continues to give His best love to us in Jesus every day. Our confidence in Him can be total. And so can our commitment to His ways.

2. The Son's self-giving is the pattern of our self-giving

There are two rich young rulers in Mark 10. One who left Jesus sad, because he had great wealth, which had stolen his heart. The other one is Jesus Himself. He gave up His riches and rule as He took flesh and entered our humanity. He gave up the promise of His young life as He went to the Cross. He is the true man, whose greatness in sacrifice wins our salvation and patterns our discipleship. 'For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that thought He was rich, yet for your sake His became poor, so that you, through His poverty, might become rich' (2 Corinthians 8.9). To be enriched by Him means to live enriching others (compare 2 Corinthians 6.10).

3. With God all things are possible

God the Holy Spirit unlocks greedy hearts, breaks sinful, slavish addictions, and opens grasping hands to make them generous. He gifts faith in the first place, to make us leave our worthless treasures and to come to Christ, the pearl of greatest price and beauty. God the Holy Spirit kindles the fire of sacrifice in our hearts. The same Spirit Who shows us how rich we are in Christ gives us the crowning joy we experience as we give away, safe in the knowledge that real life and wealth are safe in heaven.

So, trust Him. Trust God, as you follow what is sometimes His hard Providence. Trust the Spirit's promptings, to go without, get rid, give up and offer to others what we never needed in the first place, all to the honour of Christ. Then you will have treasure in Heaven.

Christ's Duty

2011-11-14T17:18:00.005Z

Much is written on the cross and on the doctrine of the atonement today, and there are some fine books around (amongst the dull and the downright heretical). I’m never short of book recommendations on these great themes. But if I had to recommend just one to anyone who was seriously interested in understanding and living close to the cross, I wouldn’t hesitate. It would be Hugh Martin’s The Atonement (1880).

The brilliance of Martin’s book is its clear and compelling logic, as well as the freshness of his approach in dealing with the Atonement. The main premise of the book is that, in order to have a biblical understanding of the atoning work of Christ, we need to understand that the primary office of Christ is His Priesthood. Jesus was never a great Prophet or King, who also was able to deal with sin and bring reconciliation between God and humanity; instead, He is foremost our Priest, and, in fact, it is only by virtue of His finished work as Priest that Christ is our Prophet, authorised to speak the Word of God to us, and enthroned in Heaven to be our King.

Having made this case, Martin is then able to assert how we should then seek to understand the cross. By working within the categories of biblical thought regarding priestly sacrifice, Martin then reasons that Christ’s death on the Cross is a substitutionary and propitiatory sacrifice offered for the sins of His people. In our day of conflicting and confused ‘versions’ of understanding the Cross, Martin shows how seeing the death of Christ in any way other than as an atoning sacrifice is bad, and unbiblical, theology.

The following gives something of the flavour and force of Martin’s work. It really is theology on fire, biblical, deductive, soul-searching and worshipful:

‘The Cross itself is glorious; not from the subsequent resurrection and enthronement, but glorious from itself. It is itself a chariot of triumph. There is more agency and power in Christ’s cross, than in all His work as Creator of the Universe. There is as much spiritual gory in the Cross of Calvary, as in the throne of the Lamb in heaven. Christ crucified is – not after, but in being crucified – the Power of God. And He is the power of God, because He is the Priest of God. It is His priestly duty to die – a duty unparalleled and unapproachable. He falters not in the discharge of it. Official agency is in His sacrificial priestly death. “He offered Himself.” “He loved the Church, and gave Himself for it.”’

Hugh Martin, The Atonement, p.75

Mean Promises

2011-11-04T16:43:00.001Z

'Satan promises the best, but pays with the worst; he promises honour, and pays with disgrace; he promises pleasure, and pays with pain; he promises profit, and pays with loss; he promises life, and pays with death. But God pays as he promises; all his payments are made in pure gold.'

Thomas Bolton

I die daily, brothers, I mean it

2011-10-25T19:32:00.001+01:00

'It's a blessed thing to die daily. For what is there in this world to be accounted of! The best men according to the flesh, and things, are lighter than vanity. I find this only good, to love the Lord and his poor despised people, to do for them and to be ready to suffer with them....and he that is found worthy of this hath obtained great favour from the Lord; and he that is established in this shall (being conformed to Christ and the rest of the Body) participate in the glory of a resurrection which will answer all.'

Oliver Cromwell, letter to Thomas Fairfax, 7th March 1646

Church Planter / Missiolater?

2011-10-19T09:05:00.002+01:00

Ain't necessarily so. Many thanks to Jeremy Walker for the pointer towards this piece.

Ponte-ficating – three times!

2011-10-18T12:15:00.002+01:00

Tonight and for the next two nights I have the great privilege of preaching at Pontefract Congregational Church. All of us who know the church (and I’ve preached there a couple of times) are so grateful to God for their commitment to evangelism and for His rich blessings on their work through the decades. It really is an honour to be involved with them this week.

Preachers talk about the need to have their own hearts prepared by the Lord. I feel that need especially when it comes to evangelistic preaching. Please pray for me, that the Lord would refresh me in an awareness of the reality of Christ’s love, and of the serious, urgent offer of the Gospel. Thanks.

The God Who Sees

2011-10-18T08:25:00.002+01:00

Genesis 16 is a treasured chapter in the Abraham story. It’s treasured, because it speaks of God’s determination to protect and to bless. God shows His conviction to do this in the midst of our often foolish efforts at finding blessings apart from God – and failing spectacularly.

In brief, we saw how Abraham and Sarah buckle under the pressure of simply trusting in God’s promise that He will give them a son, and try to engineer their own miracle child. After Hagar is pregnant, relationships collapse into finger-pointing, abuse and misery. Then Hagar encounters Abraham’s God, getting a word of encouragement about her child – though not Abraham’s promised child, after all - and receiving a tough word about going back to life with her mistress. By the end of the chapter we’re in no doubt about two things: they’re in a mess, but God’s grace will certainly prevail in the lives of this dysfunctional but elect family.

The echoes of Genesis 3 are so clear: the couple disobey, the man being more culpable as the original recipient of the Word, whilst being the one without the courage to obey it. Relationships then turn sour, and tears are plentiful. They have to live with the pain their sin has brought upon them. Nevertheless, God has a plan. To a broken world, then and now, God will keep His promise. Jesus is the Promised Son, Whose coming was worth all tears and waiting. His coming again will be the end of all of our miseries, and our welcome into the true Promised Land. Will we learn patience with Abraham until that great day comes, and rest in the promises of His grace?

The McDonaldsisation of Huddersfield?

2011-10-17T16:41:00.002+01:00

At last, a bit of positive, if a little airbrushed, publicity for our town, as McDonald's joins the commercial forces endorsing the 'love where you live' line. Here's a happy, sunny version of Huddersfield.

A friend and I were in town today. We looked in the Parish Church, talked about the Revival through Henry Venn's ministry, and looked at Mrs Venn's gravestone in St Peter's Gardens - imploring the reader to take hold of the righteousness which is by faith in Christ. I noted that the bushes flanking one side of the Gardens have been removed. This is obviously part of the Council's plan to open up the Gardens, to make them less of a secluded spot for the drug and alcohol abuse which go on there.

We have big social problems, but what town doesn't? There is some really good Christian work in Huddersfield as believers serve the town, and we're giving serious prayer and discussion as to how we might make our impact at Hope. It is, though, as many locals would say, a brilliant place to live. We have a brilliant Gospel which we're bringing to Huddersfield, and believe that we're seeing the first fruits of God's Spirit at work. Next month we have a vision day away, and are seeking the Lord as we seek to expand our ministry in town.

As for our man at the end of the ad muttering to his hamburger all alone in MaccieDs - well, that just about fits with reality!

Transfigured – the Archbishop said

2011-10-14T06:33:00.002+01:00

'There He was transfigured before them. His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them.' (Mark 9.2-3)

I don’t have favourite Archbishops, and not many more top Bishops, though Hooper, Ridley, Cranmer, Grindal and Ryle all deserve most honourable mentions, as does the still-living Wallace Benn. Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109) I do read with real profit, though. As I was preparing for last Sunday's sermon I was glad to be reminded of him, as he makes this comment on the Transfiguration:

‘He gave a preview of His glory, and of the glory of those who are His own.’

A preview of His Glory. In other words, Peter, James and John beheld for those moments on the mountain, what they are beholding now in heaven: shining deity, and transfigured humanity in the person of Jesus Christ. The glory they glimpsed with terror on that day, they now gaze on with awe and deep joy. They see Him as He is. And we will see Jesus one day, too, and for all eternity. The sight will fill us with admiration, unspeakable joy, peace, love, wonder, and the deepest, purest and truest worship.

We shall be sharers of this glory. 'We shall see Him as He is,' says John; and 'we shall be like Him' (1 John 3.1-3). Like Him in heaven, not in His power, but in His perfection. He shall fill our sight, and fill our minds and our hearts, our desires and loves. There will be no atom of our being where sin and its effects can ever lurk once we are in our eternal state. His glory shall shine out in heaven, and shine through our lives, so that we want, do and say in eternity will be a celebration of His glory. That will be our transfiguration.

In this world, though, deep down most of us want some sort of transfiguration. We want to be lit up with light, so that people will marvel at our gifts / godliness / significance, intelligence / good looks / sporting prowess etc, (delete as applicable to you!). Few of us, though, will ever get that moment when others will see in us what we want them to. We will struggle on, with our highs and our many lows, our successes and our spectacular failures. But that is OK, because of what awaits us.

We will see Jesus, and we shall be like Him, transfigured by His love and holiness.

Serious Worship!

2011-10-06T12:11:00.001+01:00

Remember the perfections of that God whom you worship, that He is a Spirit, and therefore to be worshipped in spirit and truth; and that He is most great and terrible, and therefore to be worshipped with seriousness and reverence, and not to be dallied with, or served with toys or lifeless lip-service; and that He is most holy, pure, and jealous, and therefore to be purely worshipped; and that He is still present with you, and all things are naked and open to Him with whom we have to do. The knowledge of God, and the remembrance of His all-seeing presence, are the most powerful means against hypocrisy.

Richard Baxter on Psalm 62.11-12

Never Murdered Somebody? Really?

2011-10-05T06:47:00.001+01:00

Excellent wisdom and instruction from last Sunday's Catechism Questions:

Heidelberg Catechism on the Sixth Commandment

105. Question: What is God’s will for you in the Sixth Commandment?

Answer: I am not to belittle, insult, hate, or kill my neighbour – not by my thoughts, my words, my look or gesture, and certainly not by actual deeds – and I am not to be party to this in others; rather, I am to put away all desire for revenge. I am not to harm or recklessly endanger myself, either. Prevention of murder is also why government is armed with the sword.

106. Question: Does this commandment refer only to killing?

Answer: By forbidding murder God teaches us that He hates the root of murder: envy, anger, vindictiveness. In God’s sight all such are murder.

107. Question: Is it enough, then, that we do not kill our neighbour in any such way?

Answer: No. By condemning envy, hatred, and anger God tells us to love our neighbours as ourselves, to be patient, peace-loving, gentle, merciful, and friendly to them, to protect them from harm as much as we can, and to do good even to our enemies.

The Dangerous Day off for Boys

2011-09-29T09:57:00.003+01:00

One of my boys is off school today due to his asthma (actually, he's gutted - he had a pile of plans to put into action with his friends). I asked him to list five things he would like to do which needn't involve me. They are:-

Arrange a trout fishing session soon

Look at air rifles

Watch lots of Master and Commander

Go for a walk

Start making a longbow.

Any connecting themes here?!

And boy, did she preach it!

2011-09-28T14:28:00.004+01:00

Last night several hundred people gathered at City Evangelical Church, Leeds, to hear Dr Helen Roseveare, at a meeting of The Association of Evangelists. Roger Carswell was his inimitable bouncy self as he introduced his colleagues, and brought Helen to us. The evening was hot! The building was sweltering with many standing, downstairs and up, on a hot night, and the message Helen gave was hotter still. We had over a dozen from Hope Church, young and old, and the agreement was that it was a great evening.

Before I give a digest of what Helen said, two quibbles with the event:

You can have too many evangelists! We came to hear Helen, but we didn’t get to her message until over an hour into the meeting. Each evangelist spoke, a couple shared in more detail, and the overall impression was that this meeting was as much to showcase the work of the Association as to offer Helen a platform. I don’t have a big problem with that per se, but wonder, if in reviewing, the leaders would agree that less material in a shorter timescale would be have been better.

Yes, it was a woman preaching. However you try to cut it, spin it, angle it, Helen was preaching. You could say, ‘no, she was exhorting us, not preaching.’ But if the Scriptures are opened and we’re exhorted to obey them, I call that preaching. That’s what we got.

In actual fact, my beef wasn’t really with Helen preaching, last night. She was only preaching, of course, because she represents the countless thousands of single female missionaries who are giving their lives to build God’s church because the men aren’t doing it. I’ve pastored a number of these phenomenal women whose ministries of caring, prayer, serving, and yes preaching to and training men has made an astonishing impact on parts of Africa, Asia and Europe. Their wisdom and godliness have more often pastored me. They’ve been there and given so much of themselves, like Helen, because they’ve offered themselves to the Lord, to do His will. Where are the men, who should be filling the World with the message of Christ? The overall impression which came forcefully through Helen’s ministry last night, to men and to women, is that it's we who are the poorer if we evade the radical call of discipleship. I head Helen very gladly!

These notes are the substance of what we heard last night.

Helen turned our attention to the verb used three times in the New Testament, ‘philotimeomai.’ ‘esteem as an honour’ is a pretty good translation of it, as it’s used in the NT.

Recognising the three uses, Helen called to us to fullhearted discipleship:

a. we struggle to please Him.

The NIV translates the verb in 2 Cor. 5.9 as ‘make it my ambition.’

Helen stressed the honour we have in doing anything for the Lord. Anything we can do is an honour and a privilege. Suffering will certainly be involved as we put Him first. The goal will be consuming, and it is a daily battle not to put ourselves first. Remember John 14. 23 – it is our obedience to Jesus which shows whether our faith is authentic or not. That desire to please Him is the all-important. Telling the Gospel is far harder often than practical service.

Are we consumed with a desire to be holy? Are we scared to be thought of as ‘holier than thou?’ Who cares?! We need to be holy as Jesus is.

We should feel sick inside that people are going to a Christless eternity. Will we ever force ourselves to say a word for Christ to someone we don’t know. Helen told a moving story about a woman in Tescos who was at her wits’ end with two small children at the till. Helen told her of Christ’s love. She broke down, and later on, in the car, Helen has a wonderful opportunity to show her Christian love, and share the Gospel.

b. we study to portray Him

1 Thess. 4.11 – ‘make it your ambition to live a quiet life……so that you might win outsiders…’

When we think of missionaries we often think of crossing continents and cultures; God calls us to go next door.

Helen talked of when a company was making a film of her life. The actress playing Helen came to live with her for three months, observing all of her actions and mannerisms, really getting under her skin. So we must commit to getting to know Christ intimately.

Do we remember that it is a huge honour to be a portrait of Jesus? How concerned we must be to guard against anything in our behaviour which does not conform to His likeness. We need to check our attitudes – we mustn’t get irritated, be judgmental, critical. Portraying Jesus must dominate our thought-life.

[And how she loathes committees! ‘I had a committee for running our hospital in Africa – God and me’!]

Helen tells of how she was once in the field when she had to go to a field director’s house. When she arrived she overheard a conversation: a female missionary was asked by the director if she would move from the north of the region to the south to be with Helen so that she would not be alone. Helen heard her say, ‘no, I couldn’t bear that.’ Helen went away crushed. Through that experience, and the skillful counsel of an African Pastor, she discovered just how selfish she had become: she was extremely driven, and focused on her programme, and therefore intolerant of anyone who didn’t fit in and show the same level of commitment which she had. Our battle is against the ‘I’; compare Paul, and insistence, ‘not I, but the grace of God that was with me’ (1 Corinthians 15.10).

Helen illustrated her point with an illustration of a gold mine she visited in Africa. She learned that the man who checked the quality of the molten gold was lowered over the boiling lake to inspect the gold. When all of the impurities had been burned off, the inspector would be able to see his face in the surface. Just so with Christ: He will work tirelessly with the impurities of our sins and selfishness, in order that His likeness might be seen in us.

c. we strive to preach Him. Romans 15.20

Paul’s ambition was to live his life in every aspect so that others saw Jesus, and heard His truth. So all of our lives must radiate Jesus. In every instance? How about in our willingness to stick to the speed limit, for example? Everything matters. In this sort of obedience may others come to see what He is like, and who He is.

He's no Johnny fat pants. But are you?

2011-09-28T10:59:00.001+01:00

Great thoughts on exercise from John Piper. Here's the second of his two pieces.

In it, but not of it.

2011-09-22T12:18:00.002+01:00

Latest coverage on the man who said 'thanks, but no thanks.'

The Kindness of Strangers

2011-09-21T10:09:00.001+01:00

Yesterday morning I had an urgent date with the 1680s in Huddersfield University Library. I often go there, to plan and prepare sermons, and to pursue other study. I’ve enjoyed Level 5 (a floor, not a computer game) almost on my own this summer. Then - wham! - there are students at every turn.

Which is brilliant. If Huddersfield hadn’t managed to reinvent itself as a University town (and one with results which merited a place recently in the top 50 UK Universities, no less), then the town would be pretty much dead and buried as an economic force. Now the place enjoys the revenue of over 20 000 students spending their loans in these rainy hills. That is a lot of souls.

We’ve been working hard at Hope Church to be ready to serve the students with the Gospel. Taking on a great idea from our friends at Brighouse Evangelical Church, we approached Taylors of Harrogate, the Yorkshire Tea people. Amazingly, they gave us five thousand teabags completely free of charge. We bought some chocolate bars, wrote a Christian leaflet, stuck them together on Sunday, and we’ve been serving them up to bemused but very grateful students this week.

The kindness of strangers? We’re so glad that Taylors were generous enough to give us their tea. Yes, of course, we’re doing them a big favour with our plugging their products. They could have found some other way of raising the brand’s profile in town, but they generously put the teabags our way. We want to be kind, in turn. This has been an expensive venture for us, buying chocolate and printing thousands of leaflets. We’re convinced, though, that it’s just a small and very worthwhile way to show something of the kindness of God to people who need to come home to His love in Jesus Christ. This week has been excellent, so far; we’re confident that many will think twice about a God Who offers so much more in His Son.

‘How my heart hates my heart.’

2011-09-19T17:12:00.002+01:00

So wrote Thomas Boston. Think about his words, for a moment. This is not a man tormented by a pathological self-hatred, or torn by a crisis of self-worth. He doesn’t need to ‘lighten up’. Instead, here is a Christian man who is struggling with the fact of ongoing sin in the deepest recesses of his being. He wants to love Christ, but he feels the battle of his old, dark lusts and longings. He has seen a vision of the beauty of God in Jesus Christ, but he still feeds himself with the seedy, selfish images of his own gratification.

Sounds familiar? It’s the battle within all who are in Christ, and seeking to honour Christ. If we are Christians, we’re in this fight. We’re led by the Spirit, but we’re led by Him into battle, a battle with the sinful nature within us, as much as with a hostile world around us. We struggle and fight with sin. That is the very sign that we are alive with Christ, and are led by the Spirit.

This struggle should sound familiar, because it’s also the cry of the Psalms. Again and again, the Psalmist cries out in his troubles, longing to live more fully for the Lord. Out of the many passages which shed light on the fight for godliness, we focused last night on Psalm 86.11-13:

⁽¹¹⁾ Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in Your truth;

⁽¹¹⁾ Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your Name.

⁽¹²⁾ I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify Your Name forever.

⁽¹³⁾ For great is Your love towards me; You have delivered me from the depths of the grave.

The lessons for us in our struggle against sin? The four we touched on last night are these:

1. We are resolved to remember God’s love and mercy to us (v. 13).

We have been rescued from the depths of the grave. Jesus endured God’s wrath, God’s hell, in our place. He was separated from God that we might be reconciled to God. Do we remember this? The signs of actually, truly remembering the cross are a heart which is genuinely thankful, amazed, satisfied in God’s rescuing love in Christ. Remember this love, and our hearts are opened to embrace the struggle.

2. We are resolved to follow our Saviour and Lord (v.11).

Disciples long to learn from God’s truth, then they are resolved to live out the truth they learn. At Hope Church we long to do both. Unashamedly, we are a learning church. We are big on the Bible. But we submit to the Word so that we may submit our lives to the Lord and to joyful obedience in Him. The Spirit Who teaches is the Spirit Who empowers us. Only His grace can take shepherd our divided hearts towards a singe aim for His glory. We long to run in the path of His commands, for He has set our hearts free (Psalm 119.32).

3. We are resolved to fear God (v.11).

‘Fear’ is coming to God in reverence. We don’t dare to treat God as if He is less than sovereign, holy, and awesome. ‘Fear Him’ is the charge of Moses, the Prophets, Jesus, Paul and Peter. The fear of the Lord is the beginning and the life of wisdom.

4. We are resolved to praise the Living God (v.12).

Lips of praise, and lives of praise. Dostoevsky defined humanity as ‘that ungrateful biped’. How would you define a Christian? Maybe ‘that praising biped’ would be a start! Our lives are to be filled with thank-filled amazement at the God of Heaven, delight in the majesty of all that He is, wonder at His covenant love in Christ, and eagerness to live out our Gospel duties and privileges.

Remember, follow, fear and praise. That’s the way of freedom. It is the way of struggle, too. Heart-growth almost always involved heartache. Grace causes holy upheavals! But God’s ways are always, always good. Grace leads us into struggles, but grace leads us through them, and - when He ordains - out of them. ‘Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ’ (1 Cor. 15.57)

Sunday is not a second Saturday

2011-09-15T10:01:00.000+01:00

Brief Sunday thoughts from Ray Ortlund here.

Touch, pause, engage!

2011-09-14T18:05:00.005+01:00

“68 min: As the drizzle turns to heavier rain, it's another scrum. And while Newcastle Falcons' prop Murray has looked great at the set-pieces, it's important to note that Scotland will have to be without the tighthead a week on Sunday against the Pumas, due to his religious commitments.”

So read the commentary on the Telegraph website this morning as Scotland and Georgia battered each other in the rain at Invercargill, New Zealand, in the Rugby World Cup. I love rugby, but I wasn’t following the game, even though I gather that my grandfather did pull on a Scotland shirt during his career at Leicester Tigers. Maybe the World Cup doesn’t interest you hugely – but the Scotland front row, Euan Murray, certainly should.

What this piece of commentary reminds us is that Euan is a Christian who believes in the Fourth Commandment. He doesn’t see it just as a law relevant for God’s Old Testament people; he doesn’t see it as a ‘principle’ that Christians should seek rest in the midst of the busyness of work; nor does he believe that, because in Jesus we have the real rest our hearts need, rest from sin’s burden through forgiveness and the promise of eternal rest in heaven, the Commandment has no relevance for us. No, Euan’s convictions are as hardcore as his scrummaging – he believes that God forbids him to work on a Sunday, and calls him to the rest and worship which is the best re-creation which God wills for us.

I think Euan’s right. The Ten Commandments have a binding authority on the lives of all believers (actually, classic reformed theology has always sought to teach their binding authority on all people everywhere, but we’ll leave that for another time). We live in an age, in the church no less than in secular society, where laws are seen as restrictions, and where eagerness to obey them is seen as a mark of brainlessness or spinelessness – or both. But the Lordship of Jesus Christ over His church is demonstrated by us in our willingness to obey His Law. We need to discover that there is only life in Jesus as we follow Jesus. He didn’t come to apologise for God’s Law, far less to nullify it. He sent His Spirit so that we would discover, in the obedience which is part of Gospel faith, that His ways bring peace and joy.

Will we? Putting Him first as we obey the Fourth Commandment is no exception. More than that, it is a privilege, and a blessing.

Imagine for a moment that you’ve spent twenty years knowing that you have an exceptional gift, and spending those years making hard choices and real sacrifices in order to excel with those gifts. Now comes the moment when you’re on a world platform, facing the biggest opportunity of your life to show what you’re about. Except you don’t. You stand aside, and let the moment go. That’s what Euan will be doing this Sunday. He doesn’t need the eyes of millions on him, he’s content to stand before the eyes of One, and seek to honour Him. Can we, for a day a week, say no to whatever our ambitions are, and show the world that we’re captivated by a Loving Lord, Who wants us to know the joy, peace and fellowship which are His to share as we come to Him?

In God’s Providence, this Sunday at Hope we’re due to look at the Fourth Commandment as the Heidelberg Catechism treats it. It opens up to us the duties and the blessings of the Day. Enjoy it, and let’s look forward to our Sundays, and do all that we can to make sure that they’re the best day of our week. As Richard Baxter says, let’s make them our footsteps to heaven.

Q&A 103

Q. What is God's will for you in the fourth commandment?

A. First, that the gospel ministry and education for it be maintained,¹ and that, especially on the festive day of rest, I diligently attend the assembly of God's people² to learn what God's Word teaches,³ to participate in the sacraments,⁴ to pray to God publicly,⁵ and to bring Christian offerings for the poor.⁶

Second, that every day of my life I rest from my evil ways, let the Lord work in me through his Spirit, and so begin in this life the eternal Sabbath.⁷

1 Deut. 6:4-9, 20-25; 1 Cor. 9:13-14; 2 Tim. 2:2; 3:13-17; Titus 1:5

2 Deut. 12:5-12; Ps. 40:9-10; 68:26; Acts 2:42-47; Heb. 10:23-25

3 Rom. 10:14-17; 1 Cor. 14:31-32; 1 Tim. 4:13

4 1 Cor. 11:23-25

5 Col. 3:16; 1 Tim. 2:1

6 Ps. 50:14; 1 Cor. 16:2; 2 Cor. 8-9

7 Isa. 66:23; Heb. 4:9-11

Leading our Churches through Change - Venue Confirmation

2011-09-13T19:10:00.005+01:00

I put some info here the other day about this Friday's one-day conference with Stuart Olyott. Because of the level of interest, we've outgrown the space in my house - which is excellent!

We'll be meeting instead at The Blackley Centre at Blackley Baptist Church, just a mile off Jn 24.

If you're coming along the M62 from the West, leave at the junction, take the only available left at the roundabout, and continue down Blackley Road past the cricket club til you see the church building after 1/2 mile on your left.

If you're coming from the East on the motorway, you need to go back under the motorway in order to meet the roundabout and Blackley Road. Simply take the fifth exit on the first roundabout you meet (signed M62), so that you're going back on yourself, and go about a 1/3rd mile to meet the roundabout with the Blackley road.

The map is here.

We're asking for a contribution of £3 per person to cover hire costs and refreshments, and please remember to bring your own lunch.

Prayer is a Prince

2011-09-10T09:23:00.002+01:00

'Prayer is a prince, and a mighty, prevailing, wrestling king, that hath strong bones, and strong arms, to be victorious with God.'

Samuel Rutherford, Sermon on Mark 7.29

Straining to win the prize

2011-09-08T15:33:00.003+01:00

In a novel take on Philippians 3.13-14, my children have put their five chickens to hard and productive Gospel labour. They are laying golden Gospel eggs. Or, more simply, the kids are selling their eggs from the house and putting the proceeds towards resourcing Kingdom ministry. £1 per half dozen eggs, golly, that’s over a fiver a week!

Just think about it, all the gifts you have put to the service of the Kingdom. You get no earthly reward, but others get infinite blessing. That’s one good use of a chicken’s life. And if God can work that kind of productivity out of a bunch of ex-battery hens, and the kindness of children’s hearts, couldn’t He get a little bit more out of us?

One year tomorrow

2011-09-08T13:46:00.001+01:00

It was on the 9^th September 2010 that Sarah and I arrived in town. Sarah and the children left before me to stay with her folks near York, and I spent my last day in London packing up the house with our movers for 12 hours and attending the funeral of a church member. I remember vividly the ride up the M1 on the motorbike early the next morning, my mind and heart brim-ful as I tried to process all that was going on. A bizarre double coincidence took place on the journey. In a service station I bumped into a London friend, a Brentford central defender who I’d had excellent conversations with about his new faith in Christ in my club chaplaincy role. Then, once off the motorway, near Huddersfield, coming the other way was the Huddersfield Town team coach, off to an away match, with the ex-Brentford Jordan Rhodes onboard. Make of that what you will!

Anway, we’re going to have a special family meal tomorrow night. There is so much to celebrate, even while we’re all still adjusting. We’ve been tried, refined, sad, daunted, lonely and much else in the last twelve months. The further on we are, the more we all realise the enormity of our move. As well, though, we’re all beginning to discover how massive God’s grace is to us. Tomorrow night we celebrate His power to keep and to care for us, as He has done so excellently.

Two things have been constant in the course of this year. The first has been our conviction that the Lord has brought us these miles, and transferred our roots, for His good and glorious purposes. He revealed His will that we should move, and our response to His Spirit’s leading has never felt so radical or brave, just the right step to take – which we’ve been so glad to do!

The second constant has been His infinite kindness and provision: what amazing new friends, what a wonderful home, schools, jobs and so much more we’ve been blessed with; best of all, what Gospel growth we’ve seen, in ourselves, in the birthing of Hope Church, and in the Gospel opportunities which are springing up in the town for us. To look back at Sunday worship, midweek gatherings, baptism, an away weekend, a church of Members, Elders and Apprentices, along with professions of faith, is more than our meagre faith can handle! We love our new town, especially our new church family, and are thrilled to be walking into the Lord’s future for us all.

"Praise be to the Lord, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses.” 1 Kings 8.56

Leading our Churches through Change - a Day Conference

2011-09-07T08:49:00.005+01:00

Sir Matthew Stevenson, a very senior civil servant, was once in conversation with his junior colleagues. Someone, objecting to a change, said: “If you do what you propose, life will never be the same again.” “That’s true”, said Sir Matthew, “but, you know, we have to accept that life does change. That’s what distinguishes it from death.”

Churches need to change. We don't embrace change for its own sake, and we certainly don't seek change because we're seeking novelty, quick fixes, or conformity to the church / business / club down the road. Those of us who are church leaders must never treat our congregations like laboratories (and our members like rats!), fit for whatever experiments we think might be exciting or interesting. We have unchanging truth, and unchanging principles with which to serve our congregations and mission-fields. And yet, if we fear change, or fear change-resistors in the church, we frustrate the Spirit of God Who is always urging us to serve the Gospel's growth and proclamation in our churches.

As Reformed churches, we should be the most open to Gospel-serving, Word-demanded and Christ-honouring change. Change is the essence of our Reformed heritage, as we are always seeking to offer our lives and ministries to God's transforming work.

With these things in mind, a group of Pastors and Trainees are gathering at my house, 6 Burn Road, Huddersfield, HD3 3BT, on Friday 16th September, for discussion about some of the issues around courageous and purposeful leadership of our churches. We're looking forward very much to being led by Stuart Olyott. Stuart needs no introduction to many, and his ministry has been blessed in numerous contexts as he has led congregations forwards into Gospel obedience. All in ministry or training for ministry are most welcome. There is no cost for the day. Please bring your own lunch, and drinks and snacks will be provided. Do put the word out to those who may benefit from the day. God-willing, our ministries will never be the same again!

The day will run as follows:-

10.30-11 - arrival and coffee
11.-12.30 - session 1 - Biblical leadership - key principles.
12.30-1.15 - lunch (please bring sandwiches)
1.15-2.30 - session 2 - Specific issues - personal reflections.
2.45-4 - session 3, Q and A, including prayer

Blue Skye Thinking

2011-09-05T19:46:00.003+01:00

Although it might look that way, we haven’t been away for a six week holiday, I’ve just been a dilatory blogger (or, non-blogger). We've had, though, an excellent two weeks on Skye, at the north end of the Trotternish Peninsula, at a house belonging to our very kind friends David and Nina Meredith.

We had a fabulous time! There were many, many highlights. Here are a few favourites:

Sight-seeing

We didn’t feel any pressure to roam over all the island, but we hiked up to the Old Man of Storr and the Quiraing, and tramped over various other hills and moors. We took a boat trip to see sea-eagles and seals, and loved watching the local pair of buzzards. Just being out and about in such stunning scenery did us all a power of good, and brought home to us all afresh the majesty of God as reflected in His creation. When we weren’t near the sea we were all swimming in it. One day Maisy climbed with a guide, and Ezra and Sarah kayaked.

Hunter-gathering

We indulged our love for fishing (at least, some of us did), and ate the pollock and mackerel we caught . The fishing was excellent off local rocks, and Samuel took the fish of the holiday, a nearly 5lb pollock, which, to his utter disgust, I made him put back to become a 15 pounder! We came across a couple of lobster pots in the garden, which we put to good use off the rocks in the bay, and had an evening meal feasting on a beautiful beast, and gave another away.

Spiritual Refreshment

It’s always hard getting unhurried time with five young children, but Sarah and I really benefited from more time in our Bibles. We were both in the Corinthian letters, and both read Doug Kelly’s ‘New Life in the Wasteland’, on 2 Corinthians, and used Paul Barnett’s BST on the same letter.

Other titles we enjoyed included Paul Tripp’s excellent new book on marriage, ‘What did you expect?’ I’ve enjoyed and got so much from Tripp over the years, and this title doesn’t disappoint. We also had time with Thomas Boston’s ‘The Crook in the Lot’, about God’s Providence in suffering. Written by a man who knew so much personal tragedy, including the loss of most of his children in infancy, and the pain of bearing his wife’s physical and mental illnesses, it’s a book of real insight and pathos, dealing with God’s providential care in the toughest of times. We took with us another fistful of titles, and inbetween mammoth card sessions with the children, managed to enjoy a quiet read and a coffee.

The most spiritually precious day, we all agreed, was sharing the Lord’s Supper with the FC at Uig. I was delighted to hear that Kiki MacRae was preaching, as I knew his ministry would not disappoint. The Saturday night’s service and the Lord’s Day ministry was full of Christ, and the Gospel was ministered freshly and winsomely. It was precious to take the elements of the Supper with such warm, Gospel people. After the evening service we heard more about Kiki’s ministry in Fort William, and I was invited to share about the Huddersfield work.

Friendly locals

A fishing trip with a family, coffee with a Pastor, Sunday lunch as well as midweek supper with a couple up the road - we met kindness wherever we went. Worship with the local Free Church and Church of Scotland Congregations were a highlight for us all. People made infinite allowances for this poor, noisy English family, and we left with a longing to return soon.

Sprinkled - and Immersed

2011-07-21T10:26:00.002+01:00

My twelve year old son, Ezra, professing his faith, with thrilled parents and church family. He was immersed, we were sprinkled by the steady rain!

How Low can you go?

2011-07-19T14:40:00.004+01:00

On Sunday afternoon we had a wonderful gathering for worship high in the Pennines. After prayer, preaching and praise we sang our way out of the building into the swirling rain to baptise three candidates. One of our Elders and I baptised Rob and Katie, a couple in their 30s, and we then baptised Ezra, my oldest boy. It was an afternoon of witness, joy, some tears, plenty of rain, and great food and company.

Before the baptisms I preached on 2 Kings 5. It was ten minutes before the start of the service that I remembered that my sermon notes were on top of the printer at home, 4 miles away. I wasn’t too fazed, though, as the Namaan episode is very dear to my heart, and I’ve preached on it several times before. Working through 2 Kings 5 again last week, I was struck afresh by the brilliant skill of the narrator in giving us so many lessons about the work of grace and the nature of the human heart, in the midst of the story’s twists and turns. In no particular order, here are a few for you to ponder.

1. The Lord is Sovereign over the nations, and not in the pocket of His own covenant nation

The Lord gave Syrian Namaan his victories (v. 1), including victories over Israel. These were dark times in Israel. God hadn’t left them, but He wasn’t going to be at their beck and call. They rejected Him, Now He was working elsewhere, but always to achieve His purposes. The church is the servant of her Lord, not the other way around!

2. The unimportant are the really important

A tiny hairdressing slave-girl with a believing heart and a courageous witness; a prophet’s servant with a message; Syrian slaves with a volatile master to keep happy. These unnamed nobodies are the linchpins of the narrative, and of God’s saving purposes. What was the boy’s name who Augustine heard in the orchard, which led directly to his conversion? Who knows - but who cares! God uses nobodies, and far better for us if we are and always will remain nobodies, but receive the privilege of being used by the Sovereign Lord.

3. God saves the unlikely

Namaan brought misery to this nation, and any Israelite would happily see him drowned. Instead, he came out of the water ransomed, healed, restored and forgiven! There are no ‘likely’ converts – but plenty of unlikely ones.

4. True converts are almost always offended

Namaan was. He was insulted that he didn’t get the red carpet treatment, receive some Power Religion, and march off back home with even more pomp and splendour that he set off with. He was humiliated at the commands given him, and was convinced that he knew better. Very rarely is anyone converted without having first been deeply offended. The Cross continues to offend, and sometimes our true comfort as we share its message is seeing its offence register with our hearers.

5. There is only one place and one way to be saved

One slow, smelly river. One blood-caked Cross. Namaan found that this was where the power of God was to meet him. ‘And there, may I, though vile as he, wash all my sins away.’

6. The Word did it all

Namaan thought he was getting religion and a mighty boost to his ego. Instead, he got a message delivered to him by a servant of a man of God who didn’t come out to bow and scrape to him. The message was more than enough, though. Namaan was healed, not through the magical properties of the Jordan River, but by obeying the Word. The Message of the River, and the Message of the Cross in our time, is the power of salvation for everyone who believes, Jew or Gentile.

Treasure the lessons in 2 Kings 5, and please take them to heart. The blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin.

A little humility, and a whole slice of satisfaction

2011-06-29T12:01:00.003+01:00

On Sunday night we looked at Psalm 131. Charles Spurgeon said that it is ‘one of the shortest psalms to read, but one of the longest to learn.’ It’s a picture of maturity from a man who was happy to be like a child, and a picture of wisdom from a man who didn’t care about looking foolish. It’s also a picture of a man who turned his back in the world to find something far more satisfying in the love of God.

‘I have stilled and quietened my soul’, David can say (v. 2). This is a picture of peace, but surely, peace after struggle. Very rarely will our growth in grace come without a struggle, as we search our hearts, confess sin, and struggle with God’s help to be holy. That’s authentic Christianity. Do you remember Paul’s struggle with the thorn in his flesh (2 Cor. 12.7-10)? We can’t be sure about what Paul was going through, only that he saw it as Satan’s torment. But through this experience God weaned Paul off his self-reliance. He was humbled, and caused to trust more deeply in his Saviour. So Paul teaches us that the Christian life is a fight (2 Tim. 4.7), and urges us to use the spiritual weapons of the Word and prayer (Eph. 6.17-18). It’s through fighting sin that we're weaned off it. That weaning process will never be complete in this life – there are always new depths of pride and greed to be discovered and rooted out of our hearts - but we will make progress, God will see to that. Paul discovered great contentment in Christ (Phil. 4.11), just as David testifies to for himself, here. And that can be our discovery, too.

Being weaned off sin means being captivated by the Cross. The theologian Carl Henry was asked a few years ago how, in the light of all of his great achievements and fame, he kept himself from being arrogant. His answer was simple: ‘how can anyone be arrogant when he stands beside the cross?’ (2) How can we? The cross defies all of our attempts to be proud. What have we to be proud in? What reason have we to be self-satisfied? Aren’t any of our best achievements dwarfed by the massive achievement of Jesus for us? Shouldn’t we be far more captivated by what He has done than by anything which we can do? And anyway, wasn’t it human pride, a delighting in ourselves apart from God, which took Jesus to the cross? Pity us, if we try to be proud and arrogant when we’ve been saved by the cross.

And how can you be satisfied when you stand anywhere else but beside the cross? You don’t need Solomon’s wealth or even wisdom to realise that this world is full of emptiness and frustration. People cover it up or joke their way through life, but this world gives nothing which lasts forever, and nothing which fills our deepest needs. When you come close to the cross you find love, a love which fills and satisfies. At the cross of Jesus we find God’s undeserved kindness to us. His love to us through the cross is guaranteed. Through the death of His own Son in our place we can be certain of our acceptance into God’s favour as we daily trust in Christ. Jesus says ‘I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls’ (Mt. 11.29).

Bang into Order

2011-06-29T10:28:00.002+01:00

Our website is now up to date with Hope Church sermons. if you have a commute, or spend time ironing, cooking, in the gym or in the garden, then that can be a great time to listen to God's Word preached. It's great if you can listen to recorded sermons with undivided attention, but if you can't, then it's better to multitask than never to have tasked at all!

Hope Church life has moved on apace over the last few months, so a lot of fresh material will be written and put up on the site in the next week or two.

You couldn't make this stuff up!

2011-06-24T09:41:00.001+01:00

That troubler of all things orderly rides high again. All who care about Scotland's church should read this.

Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to Jesus' neck (Psalm 69.1)

2011-06-21T15:54:00.006+01:00

On Sunday morning at Hope we saw the majestic Lord Jesus Christ as the Lord of the storm in Mark 4.35-41. Then, in the evening, we sat under Psalm 29, where again we saw again the works of the Storm God.

It’s so good for our hearts to be confronted by the Sovereign power of Almighty God, as we are in these parts of Scripture. We need to be focused again and again on the God Who Is, and have our pretty – and petty – views of God sink away.

We are by nature the God-shrinkers; so often we want to a God Who, we hope, will heed our advice and follow our plans. We seek after a God Who will be silent before the storms of our own lusts and tempers. We want a God Who will give us comfort, not trial, and Who’ll give us a pat on the back and a smooth passage through life.

Instead, in Jesus we get God as He really is, Holy, Sovereign, and infinite in His power. A God, in short, our hearts can truly worship! He has the power to calm the storms we find ourselves in. He alone gives us the courage to believe that He is the Lord Who even brings and directs those storms for our good, and to His Glory.

In Jesus we get the God Who not only rules the storms, but Who has endured the most violent storm of all. When Jesus went to the Cross, He knew the storm of God’s wrath breaking over Him. Our sins were to Him the depths which He was plunged into, and God’s wrath against our sin was the engulfing flood which He endured. Psalm 69 traces David’s terrifying experience of suffering. One of the images is of facing a storm with its floodwaters. The New Testament cites or refers to this Psalm over a dozen times, always linking it with the life of Jesus Christ, especially in His sufferings. It is His Psalm. Above all, the sufferings He experienced, which the Psalm prefigures, are the sufferings of our sins and their punishment, as Jesus endures them. They were poured out on Him. He took the storm, and took it for us.

And the hope for us? We are safe! Even with life’s currents and deluges, we are absolutely sure of our safe arrival in heaven. Jesus has endured God’s wrath, and taken it in our place. We receive our forgiveness through faith alone, and God’s Spirit assures us that, come what may, we are united to Christ for all of life and eternity. We are safe. Whatever we face in this life, as we sang on Sunday, ‘the wind and waves still now His voice.’

‘Let us learn, while God spares us, to meditate on this truth, and to take the help which it is designed to give us under suffering, that even in the deepest depths of adversity, faith may hold us up, and what is more, may lift us up to God. There is, as Paul testifies (Romans 8.39), no height nor depth which can separate us from the infinite love of Him Who swallows up all depths, yes, even Hell itself.’

John Calvin, Comment on Psalm 69.3

Just for Starters

2011-06-15T11:03:00.003+01:00

It's easy being a church plant. We are a lean, fast ship. We're free of the creaks, warps and barnacles of the venerable hulks around us. We have a crew of new and eager shipmates, and we're all keen to start out, to launch and travel together. There's much we want to achieve. We have a vast mission field to be involved in, we are excited about what's ahead of us.

As we start out, though, we want to go carefully, and wisely.

This morning I read these sage words from William Still. Mr Still, as he's known to all, then and now, was an Aberdonian Church of Scotland Minister who cut a purposeful path of expositional preaching for over 50 years. After 15 years into that ministry he spoke these challenging words at a fraternal of Scottish Baptists. They deserve taking to heart, especially for us as beginners at Hope Church. If we want to be a church of impact, then we need to be an impacted church, feeling the weighty authority of the Word of God, and its power to change and to grow us together in godliness. Only then are we fit to sail.

'The Church's first task, it seems to be is to keep being herself in a changing world, and thus to build herself up and fortify herself against the growing onslaughts of evil, as prophesied in history and in each successive generation. This she can only do so by being, not evangelically minded, devotionally or convention minded, socially minded, ecumenically minded, or politically minded; but by taking the whole Word of God as her diet, and feeding and building herself up on that. Thus she preserves her strength for every heroic task, including all these, and makes impact, often painful impact, upon all the life of her day. To this end I think we all, without respect of denomination, need to dismantle our churches, congregation by congregation, right down to the stocks. Then we must build them up again upon a more severe pattern, and strictly on the one unchangeable foundation of Jesus Christ, in order to meet the challenge of our day.'

The Letters of William Still, pp. 75-6

He's Back - and Hairier than ever!

2011-06-14T11:38:00.004+01:00

It was a couple of years ago (or was it three?) that we invited David Robertson down to West London, to debate on atheism on a Saturday night, and then to preach the following morning at Gunnersbury. For a few weeks before I teased my children about the visit of ‘the Hairy Highlander.’ They really weren’t sure what to expect, but probably thought that they were getting a more hirsute version of our good friend David Meredith. I guess they weren’t a million miles out!

Anyways, David’s visit was a huge blessing. He made great friends with the children (especially succumbing to the charms of Jemimah), criticised my ‘cheap’ whisky, and made aspersions about the integrity of my Reformed Baptist convictions, given my love for many long-deceased Presbyterians. Best of all, he prosecuted the empty beliefs of atheism, and preached the Gospel with passion and conviction.

Now he’s back, or at least he was. On Saturday night at Gunnersbury David debated Terry Sanderson, President of the National Secular Society, on the motion of ‘Is a Secular Society a more Tolerant Society?’ I’ve not listened to the debate yet, but it’s here. The reports I’ve heard from Gunnersbury friends about it are excellent, and I can only suppose that it was a pretty hairy time for Mr Sanderson.

Happy Birthday!

2011-06-10T11:56:00.005+01:00

What a night! On Wednesday we crammed into a friend's house, prayed, talked, read and signed our covenant of membership together. Nineteen people signed, with maybe two more joining this weekend. We appointed three Elders, and I was recognised as the Pastor. We then shared Birthday Cake.

So it's official, we are alive and kicking. I've been present at five births, and all of them involved, to different degrees, pain, mess, hard work, and great, great joy. The gestation of Hope Church Huddersfield, from the Allens' arrival, has been 9 months, almost to the day. Some have been longing for and praying for the church for thirty years, as we were reminded on Wednesday. There has,obviously, been a lot of work and effort by many to bring us to this day. But we're all sure of one thing, that the church is a miracle child; none of us expected her to be born, and we certainly didn't have the strength to achieve it. Here she is, the Lord has done great things, and we are filled with joy.

Now it remains for us to celebrate the birth publicly. This Sunday is our launch service, at 10. 30am, at Highfields Community Centre, on Cemetery Road HD1 5NF. David Gregson, Pastor of Reeth Evangelical Congregational Church, and a good friend to a number of us at Hope, will be giving us the charges, as Members, Elders and People. Garry Williams of the John Owen Centre, a close friend of mine from school days, will preach. After the service we'll have lunch together.

In the evening we meet for worship at 6.30pm, at The Christian Bookshop, Byram Street, HD1 1DR. All are very welcome. Come and share our Birthday joy!

Born Today

2011-06-08T10:20:00.004+01:00

On the 10th September 2010 I climbed a little stiffly off my motorbike after riding up from London, and stood outside our new house here in Huddersfield. I think that was the last time my feet touched the ground!

Today I'm leading a meeting, half a mile up the road, where I expect a little over twenty of us will gather. We are the adults of Hope Church Huddersfield. We're covenanting together as Members, and we will recognise (at least, I anticipate we will) three Elders, including myself as the Pastor.

In every sense, we are born today. God has called us together, and we've been worshiping on Sundays and getting to know each other since November of last year. This is the day, though, that we recognise that we're in this for real. We worship a Covenant-keeping God, who saves us in Christ and Who indwells us by His Holy Spirit. We want to say together tonight that we trust with with our souls and our lives, and want to honour Him by committing to each other as a church serving His Gospel.

And then, boy, will we celebrate! Please pray, and rejoice with us.

...and throw away the key...

2011-06-08T10:09:00.002+01:00

Eddie nails it

Excuse me, are we related?

2011-05-24T15:19:00.003+01:00

'Then He looked at those seated in a circle around Him and said, 'here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother'' (Mk. 3.34).

It's quite a scene which Mark records in his Gospel. Picture the cross, embarrassed family of Jesus. They can't believe that their boy, Jesus, is causing this stir, and drawing these excited crowds. Nor can the religious leaders, and their mood is hardly short of fury as Jesus defies their conventions, and exposes their heart-sins. Jesus is neither won over by excitement nor intimidated by religious hatred. His mission is to teach, heal and welcome people into God's true community. And then he speaks these staggering words, in v.34.

Jesus defines the church. We are who he declares us to be. We may well be church-y, and enjoy the activities of the church; but it's only if we meet Jesus' definition, in being people who do God's will, that we are His community, His family, the church.

This episode is truly astonishing. In a society in which loyalty to family was just about the highest virtue, Jesus redefines the key loyalty, and the highest virtue. According to Jesus, it is not to obey parents, or to do the will of your father, or to conform to the standards and expectations of siblings. The greatest loyalty is to Him. And the shared task - for us now as it was for Him then - it to obey God's will.

What does it mean to do God's will, then? The text points us to two certainties:

Firstly, we listen to Jesus. He is the Word of God, and in Him we therefore discover the will of God. Those sitting before Him in Mk. 3 were doing just that. Simple, isn't it? the true church spends plenty of time sitting, learning, discussing and enjoying the Word of God together.

Then, we do what He tells us to. Obedience is the only difference between a fake and an authentic faith. If we really trust Jesus, we will trust Him in doing what He tells us to do. His church is an active church, we are not hearers only, but doers of the word.

These twin realities transform any gathering of people into the authentic church of Jesus Christ.

On Sunday we were learning from The Heidelberg Catechism, which took us to the heart of what it means to be the church. Question 55 puts it like this:

Question: What do you understand by ‘the Communion of Saints’?

Answer: First, that believers one and all, as members of this community, share in Christ and in all His treasures and gifts. Second, that each member should consider it a duty to use these gifts readily and cheerfully for the service and enrichment of the other members.

Amen, may it be so.

No Ordinary Hero: Roy Leafe (1st December 1944 – 6th October 2010)

2011-05-23T17:09:00.003+01:00

Below is a piece which is in this month's Evangelicals Now (slightly edited):

Last October over 200 people filled St James’ Church, Ryde, on the Isle of Wight for a service of thanksgiving for the life of Roy Leafe, the church’s Assistant Minister of six years. Roy lived the last two years of his life with the diagnosis of bowel cancer, a condition he bore with courage and without complaint.

Roy was one of the Kingdom’s footsoldiers, not one of its captains, or commandos. As a result he never got attention for his work, and certainly never sought it. But the thanksgiving at that service came from very full hearts. Together we really were celebrating the life and work of a man who used that life and the gifts God gave him to incredible effect. Roy looked like an ‘ordinary’ man. Truth is, he excelled in giving back to His Master all that he was entrusted with, and many, many were enriched by him.

The church is full of unsung heroes, who quietly plug away at what the Lord has given them to do. I knew Roy for thirteen years, half of them in spent in close partnership as I pastored Gunnersbury Baptist Church in West London with Roy as an Elder. His dedication to Christ shaped many of my own convictions. Uppermost amongst them is the belief that we don’t need more eye-catching preachers; we need many, many more Roys, men convinced of their own ‘ordinariness’, but whose commitment to the Lord and His work mark them out as giants. Meet a giant – and a hero!

Roy’s 35 year career in education was mostly in Maths teaching, but he also supported new teachers, worked as an advisor helping schools with their finances and was Deputy Headteacher at the secondary school where he served for many years Roy strongly believed in workplace callings, and gave heart and mind to the job, in spite of the pressure and stress which came with his work environment. He took advantage of early retirement in order to give himself more fully to his Eldership responsibilities, and was able to develop his preaching gifts through the Cornhill Training Course. Whilst there he went on mission to St James Church and a few years later he and Kathy responded to an invitation for Roy to serve at St James’s.

What were Roy’s qualities? In a word, many. Here are just a few:

Roy was a servant. Whilst in his twenties Roy was approached to join the Eldership at Gunnersbury, serving alongside Pastor John Caiger. He was still serving as an Elder over thirty years later. Throughout that time he was loved and respected throughout the whole church for his hard work. When he moved to serve alongside James Leggett at St James’ Church, Isle of Wight, he threw himself into ministry there, and he and Kathy shared their home and their lives with all. Roy led as an Elder, then as a co-Pastor, with a willing heart. He didn’t seek attention, or need to have a platform for his views. He was more than content to do backroom tasks, and excelled in doing apparently small jobs which others didn’t want to do, but which were essential to the life of the church. He did these best with his beloved Kathy. No one could organise like Team Leafe! They were masters of admin and arranging. Short of mending the roof, Roy must have done every conceivable job there is in the local church. Sure, he gave his energies to the ministry of the Word and prayer; but wherever there was a need, Roy sought to be there.

Roy was loyal. He was incredibly loyal to me as a fellow Elder. He was always so ready to take tasks off me, to lighten my load, even when that meant real inconvenience to himself. Roy was an excellent friend. I was in his prayers, I suspect every day, all through the Gunnersbury years, and he and Kathy continued to pray so faithfully for us once they moved away. The move to the Island was a huge one for them, especially because it meant leaving people they had shared their lives with in the Gospel for over three decades. And in no other marriage have I ever seen the depths of contentment and delight which Roy and Kathy found in each other.

Roy loved the Word. He loved good preaching; preaching that came clearly from the Word, and feeds God’s people through it, and this was always the focus of his own preaching. He was a great student of the Word, and a disciplined reader of it. Roy loved Christian conferences, and nothing gave him a buzz like learning from the Bible along with others. When he wasn’t preaching on Sundays, Roy would sit with rapt attention, Bible and notebook spread out, searching preacher and God’s Word together. He loved to enthuse about the Bible, and to get others enjoying it. This was clearly seen in his family life where everyday, from birth, his children were prayed with and taught from the Word of God. Whilst his children were still babies, Roy began what would be a lifelong habit of reading God’s Word to them. This established habits which to this day is bearing fruit in their lives. Roy took immense pride to see his children develop into committed, serving Christians.

Roy persevered. He was wisely mistrustful of the spectacular and the eyecatching in the Christian world. A Derbyshire man, he was far too full of common sense, and sanctified common sense at that, to be won over by mere appearances. Roy served at Gunnersbury for over thirty five years. He was Mr Standfast, and he did such an important job in guarding the Gospel and entrusting it to the church’s new generation. With the other Elders, he guided the church through an interregnum of over five and a half years. The strain on him was at times immense. Others in his role might have crumbled or made their excuses and left. But through his sticking to the task the church’s work was maintained, the members grew closer together, there were a number of conversions and baptisms, and Roy had the satisfaction of seeing God’s man for the next stage of the church called to the ministry.

Roy was an encourager. Roy excelled at being able to encourage the older folk in their Christian walk, as well as to spur on younger people. He moved naturally between the generations in the congregations of Gunnersbury and St James’s, because his genuine desire was to see all built up and focused on Christ. Roy was a shy man, but his efforts to help others in the Christian life made him overcome his shyness. Surely, this is a lesson for many of us?

Roy was generous. So generous! From our first meal together we knew that Roy and Kathy had a real gift for hospitality, and a transparent kindness. Over the years following we received numerous presents, offers, kind acts and the occasional cheque to go towards treats or holidays. Roy and Kathy were wise stewards of their money as well as their time, and so many were enriched through their almost proverbial generosity.

Looking back on the day of Roy’s thanksgiving service, I often ask myself, why were so many there to give God thanks for Roy? My answer is, because we saw and met Jesus Christ in Roy Leafe. This dear, unassuming man put Jesus first in everything. Roy was a follower of Jesus who was simply content to serve His Master, and to strive to be like Him. ‘I am among you as one who serves’, said the Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 22.7). Roy deeply loved the Master who served Him, and grew, slowly, quietly, into a towering giant of Christian, a man well worthy of our consideration, and imitation.

By the Way

2011-05-20T09:47:00.003+01:00

Last weekend we had an exceptional time away. Mick Lockwood bought us a terrific ministry, looking at love, joy and kindness from Galatians 5. The Lord was working, as we enjoyed getting to know one another better, and experiencing His grace through His Word. Some people on the weekend have been involved in the church for a matter of weeks, whilst others had known each other for over thirty years. The unity, sense of fun and openness to serving the Lord in our town were a blessing to all who came.

One of the great things about our core is the eagerness to be involved in Gospel work. Three guys sacrificed being with us on the Sunday morning because they felt compelled to serve elsewhere, one preaching locally and two others taking a nonchristian friend to church the other side of Bradford. When it’s the Gospel which binds us, and the Gospel which compels us to be elsewhere, we know that we’re onto a good thing!

On Sunday morning we celebrated the Lord’s Supper for the first time as a church. We wanted to do this once we we had formally covenanted as members; but the commitment to being away together, and the fact that this group has spent weeks praying and talking together about the shape and priorities of the church, made us sure that this was the right expression of the people of God we are seeking to be. In the coming weeks we look to confirm our foundational documents, covenant together as members, and recognise our leaders.

One of my favourite hymns asks, ‘Why, O Lord, such love to me?’ The hymn’s answer is simply (and wonderfully) that it is all and only due to God’s Sovereign Grace. This grace is at work in us at Hope Church. We’re all learning, all growing, and all convinced that the Lord is at work for His purposes in our town. To that end, we’ve begun a weekly prayer meeting for the town open to all believers. We meet from 6-7pm on Tuesdays at The Christian Bookshop, Byram Street.

I’ve got the joy of returning to the Westwood Centre this afternoon for 24 hours away with the guys from Huddersfield University CU. We’re looking at holiness over four sessions. Please pray with me for these busy and encouraging times!

Weekending

2011-05-12T18:57:00.000+01:00

This weekend sees Hope Church away together for a precious time of ministry and fellowship at the beautiful Westwood Centre, just above Golcar, a couple of miles out of town, high in the Pennines. It's a place I use for prayer and study, and I'm excited to be going away with the saints. We're privileged to have Mick Lockwood of Hall Green Chapel, Haworth, preaching for us on the Saturday. Mick's looking at God's Sovereignty in our lives, particularly with an eye to our church planting in Huddersfield. I'll be preaching from 1 Corinthians on Friday and Sunday.

Sometimes in ministry it's essential to do nothing than just to stop and take stock; in our case, it's best to stop, stare and be stunned! We had our first public worship service as Hope Church on the 28th November 2010. Less than six months later we have a first church away weekend, with thirty something coming along. In a few weeks we may well be in a position to covenant together around a basis of faith, church rulebook, with a clear and agreed-upon vision for the next three years, and with members recognising Elders. What a cause for rejoicing, and what a reason for high hopes for the work of the Gospel in Huddersfield. We refuse to believe that the Lord has brought us into existence to be a little holy huddle. Our conviction is that we have been raised up to declare the Gospel in our words and actions in the town. Truly, the Lord is kind, and He is certainly at work.

Gentle Brickbats

2011-05-11T09:21:00.002+01:00

Three kind and convicting statements from great servants of Jesus on Christian ministry:

'Like the Apostles, the faithful minister must labour to do good in every way. Though he cannot heal the sick, he must seek to alleviate sorrow, and to increase happiness among all with whom he has to do. He must strive to be known as the comforter, the counsellor, the peacemaker, the helper, and the friend of all. Men should know him not as one who rules and domineers, but as the one who is 'their servant for Jesus' sake.' (2 Cor 5.4)'

J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of Mark, p.51.

‘The stairway to the ministry is not a grand staircase but a back stairwell that leads down to the servants’ quarters.’

Edmund Clowney, Called to the Ministry, p.43

‘If the heart is on fire with love for the Saviour, then it will burn its way into action.’

Archibald Brown

Who's for Heaven: Ballesteros or Bin Laden?

2011-05-10T13:31:00.001+01:00

A friend made the observation at our Sunday evening meeting that over the last week the world has been reflecting on the deaths of two very different men, Seve Ballesteros and Osama Bin Laden. Each has now gone to stand before their Creator, Lord and Judge. Each will be judged according to how they have lived. In how they lived their lives, they could not be more different from each other. Now that they have died, what is their eternal destiny?

Both men were passionate about what they lived for. Ballesteros was born into a family of professional golfers. Golf was the family's religion, obsession, and consuming passion, and he made it his own, grabbing the attention of the world with his flair and charisma as a golfer. Bin Laden eschewed what he came to see as the decadence and compromise of his wealthy Saudi upbringing. He zealously embraced jihad, first against the Soviets in Afghanistan, and then by working for the downfall of Western democracies. He became arguably the most recognisable face on the planet at the time of his death. In the pursuit of their dreams neither men had the space for anything else in their lives.

Both were hugely popular among millions of people throughout the world. Ballesteros stormed the then US-dominated golfing world, and paved the way for a generation of European golfers. He was adored for doing so. Bin Laden changed forever the way both East and West relate to Islamic fundamentalism. His legacy will be long-debated. It will certainly be upheld by lives throughout the world.

Now both have finished their lives, and have discovered if their goals really were worthy of their efforts. Which will spend an eternity in heaven? One lived an extremist, Islamic dream, and had the blood of thousands to account for. For many Bin Laden is synonymous with evil, and his destruction is inevitable.

The other lived the Western materialist dream, gearing his life to fulfil his ambition for success, fame and wealth. He never took anyone's life. Surely the popularity he won, and the pleasure he gave millions, give him a better hope, and call for God's recognition of him?

Goodness is rarely in the eye of the beholder, except when God Himself is looking. God sees men's hearts. He knows that every human heart is corrupt, and that the sins of the heart alone are enough to damn us to hell. A life lived with bombs or golf clubs, if it is closed to the love of God in the forgiveness of Jesus Christ, will have a Christless eternity, and so will be spent in hell. Sportsmen and Jihadists stand side by side at God's Judgment.

But there is hope. There is a boundless, extravagant grace, extended to the most unlikely people, even in their last conscious moments. Will Seve or Osama be in heaven? Who knows? Certainly, their sins will bar them. But if the grace of Christ encountered them before death, then no life of twisted ambition can ever keep a man from the Presence of God. Heaven will have many surprises for us, not least, as has often been noted, who is and who isn't there. If a person has been cleansed by the blood of Christ, then that person can be sure of an eternity spent with the Saviour Of that, the Scripture says, we can sure.

Today we need to reckon afresh with God's towering saving grace, as well as with the seriousness of our personal command to repent and to believe the Good News. Religion doesn't save, and no manifesto of self-realisation will win us God's presence. Jesus is the Friend of sinners, for now and for eternity.

Interview

2011-04-07T09:58:00.002+01:00

Guy Davies laid his cyber-hand on my shoulder last week for an interview about life and ministry.

12 Pointers for Local Church Evangelism

2011-04-07T08:59:00.007+01:00

These are the notes of a talk I gave a couple of years ago at a South East Gospel Partnership day on Evangelism. I was given a tight time allocation, so it's a very condensed brain-dump of ideas for church leaders to take and expand into their contexts. Most of the ideas reflect efforts we could look at for evangelism into secularised areas. Obviously, the pulpit is the focal point for a church's evangelism; but if we leave it at that then many of our communities will never hear the Gospel.

Over to you:

1. Have you decided on who you are trying to reach?
Are you working for conversions in your geographically local community, or are you wanting your church members to be missionaries in their workplaces and areas of influence, which quite probably won’t be local? I guess it’s both, isn’t it? I’m sure, though, that we all share a burden of making our local churches places of Gospel life in our local communities. So, by all means, we must train our people for workplace evangelism; but have you looked carefully at your local area? Have you surveyed it; do you visit it? Who lives there? Do you know its people, its values, its open doors of opportunity? If it’s changing, how so? So, ask yourself, who are we trying to reach? Do you have the answers, yet? Your answers will shape how you do evangelism.

2. Where are some of the focal points in your community?
By that I mean where do people gather, where do lives intersect, as people use local amenities? Is there a vast shopping centre, or a shopping precinct, sports clubs, a hospital, a school, a train station? We have a professional football club in our area - I’m the chaplain. Schools? Could you join the Governing body of local schools, as I have? Community Website? We need to place ourselves where local people are. If we’re not meeting nonChristians how will they hear they Gospel? We must understand and be part of our communities’ focal points.

3. Is your church leadership ensuring that people are free for relationships with nonChristian friends; or are they snowed under with Christian activities, and move only in Christian circles?
Surely it’s better to have a less cluttered programme of events so that people can be free to enjoy friendships which we pray will be fruitful for the Gospel? Do you need to scale down church activity, so the real Gospel activity of getting to know people can take place?

4. Where does your evangelism come from?
One person, say, the Pastor, or an eighty year old retired female missionary who’s as hard as nails? How about a team, meeting regularly to plan evangelism and to make initiatives happen? Look for people with a Gospel heart - different ages, stages, personalities, ideas people and get-things-done people. Set them aside to think through, plan and bring out evangelism in the church’s life. Get them working to produce a shape to your church’s evangelism which corresponds with who you’re trying to reach and the opportunities you have in your community.

5. Are you developing evangelists?
Are you identifying, training and releasing church members with evangelistic gifts? There’s maybe someone in your church who should be doing evangelism fulltime as he or she has special gifts to do that. Who is that person? Are you praying that the Lord would raise up evangelists, and call you to be part of their growth?

6. Do evangelism together.
Not all are gifted for evangelism; but all can be involved in evangelism. Don’t make evangelism the preserve of the few, but the shared task of the many. In a Harvest Event last year on our church premises some worked on publicity, others helped get the building ready beforehand, some cooked and served food, some took care of the music, or the children’s activities. One person gave the Gospel message, but not before a huge proportion of the members had worked together to ensure a building full of nonChristians enjoying a great event.

7. Do you budget for evangelism?
If so, what is it? Your budget tells you your priorities. What proportion of your church’s outgoings should be spent on taking the Gospel to the lost? How much do you think it should be? How much can you afford to divert away from Gospel sharing work?

8. Remember the attractiveness of community.
We exist to share our lives with one another in the church community. If we’re not doing that, then our Good News to a lonely world looks pretty thing. Let’s prioritise church community: God uses even that for evangelism.

9. Prayer – is yours a praying church?
Do you encourage and ensure prayer for Gospel sharing opportunities; for individual conversions? Is there time set aside in the life of the church specifically for prayer for evangelism? Are we asking each other about who they’re seeking to reach, and responding with prayer support?

10. Are you putting thought and effort into communicating with nonChristian people who would never come near your premises?
Are your church websites geared to Christians, or nonChristians? Publicity; curries, five-a-side football; craft evenings, comedy nights, speaker events off the premises all need careful thought and action in increasingly secularised places where people would never come to a Sunday service.

11. Do your Sunday services meet the hearts and minds of nonChristian people?
Are there barriers which need to be dismantled? Of course, our services are to edify believers. We believe, though, that the Gospel well preached, and the Gospel well sung in a loving church family is God’s means for reaching out to unbelievers week by week. Our prayers, preaching and songs and hymns must be high on sound theology, so that nonChristians and Christians alike are taught the Gospel, and we need to ensure intelligibility throughout.

12. How can you serve your community?
Seek ways into your community, but don’t crave popularity. Immigrants, Refugees, language lessons, drug and alcohol help – do you have counsellors, retired teachers, people with gifts and diaries which enable them to offer the Gospel and practical care amongst these needs??

Remember, God converts the wrong people! And uses the most unlikely opportunities to reach others.

"If you want the Kingdom speeded, go out and speed it yourselves. Only obedience rationalizes prayer. Only Missions can redeem your intercessions from insincerity." - William Carey

What if we were to Pray?

2011-03-31T09:13:00.005+01:00

Last Saturday about a hundred and twenty gathered at City Evangelical, Leeds, for two hours of prayer. The meeting was called by the Yorkshire Reformed Ministers’ Fraternal. Members of the Fraternal have been burdened for a long time about the need for a more powerful work of the Holy Spirit in the life of our churches, and about the desperate situation of our county and nation. So we called our churches to pray. The morning was serious, purposeful, and seriously encouraging. Here are a few thoughts:

1. Where were the younger people?

I’m thinking thirties and forties, let alone anyone of more tender age. I guess, like me, many had responsibilities with children, or many errands to run. Ye-es. But that’s the challenge of a special prayer meeting – it’s inconvenient. And it’s as we embrace the inconvenient challenge, with a joyful and hopeful heart, that we signal to the Lord that we really do need Him, and are serious about seeking Him. Our children will not grow up bitter and twisted because we were absent for a couple of hours one Saturday when they were 7 yrs old. They may, though, grow up bitter if they feel that they’ve being called to a Christian living which they see all too little of in their own parents. Two hours seeking the Lord with others shapes the hearts of all who are involved – and certainly makes for more Kingdom-focused, loving parents. Oh, and the house didn’t fall down either because I couldn’t do some jobs on it.

2. Younger people are often suspicious about prayer meetings for revival.

We are, and I include myself. When I first became a Christian I used to hear many an experienced saint praying for revival whose life I felt was all too empty of full-hearted Gospel living. Revival prayers are too often the excusing of present disobedience from lazy or cowardly Christians. Lament our present age, by all means, and pray for an outpouring of the Spirit, certainly, but until that blessing falls, let’s be seriously about the Master’s business. When older and younger Christians are united in Gospel outreach, then the older brethren will have a far stronger case for urging their younger friends to join in praying for a better day.

3. It’s good to get clergy praying in public, but better to get all of the Lord’s people taking the opportunity to lead others.

The meeting's prayers were largely led by Pastors who were called on to pray. Their prayers were always edifying, and instructive. I was miffed by a comment heard from one attender that he ‘didn’t get a chance to pray’ – as if he was given permission to just twiddle this thumbs whilst others led! What he means, obviously, is that he couldn’t pray out loud. I think that a balance should be struck between using those who are experienced at leading public prayer and also enabling others to pray. One problem with having a larger proportion of the time taken by Pastors leading was that our prayers can often be lengthy and high on theological content (I know that mine was!). That may well edify others, and prevail with the Lord, but it can also intimidate others, and discourage them from praying out loud. I'm sure next time we’ll give more attention to some longer times of smaller group prayer.

4. Prayer is no excuse for inactivity.

Prayer is no excuse for a lack of courageous evangelism, generous befriending of those around us, humble, patient living and Gospel optimism for the labours we’ve been called to. All of us who prayed together need to go back to our homes and churches with real thanks for what the Lord has already given us. As I write I can hear the conversations my wife is having over coffee with three neighbours, as she begins to get to know them. Let’s never forget the urgent need we have to share Christian love and seek Gospel opportunities with those the Lord has put around us. If our diaries really are open to God’s powerful work of revival, they should be filled now with time spent with our nonchristian friends.

5. And who’s next?

By that I mean, where in the country is the next countywide prayer meeting going to be held? Surrey, Devon, Cumbria, Suffolk? Slowly, slowly, we’re learning how to train in our churches, how to evangelise, and how to improve many ministries, often through sharing resources with other churches and learning together. This is immensely encouraging. So how about prayer? If we need the Spirit of God, let’s seek the One who will give Him generously if we ask Him. Let’s do that urgently, corporately, and why not regionally? I dare you to start where you are.

Still not sure about the Leicester Banner Conference?

2011-03-25T09:53:00.000Z

...then have a read of this!

Who are You?

2011-03-22T17:21:00.002Z

Classic Rock lovers of a certain vintage will certainly get the song title reference. Whether or not you appreciate The Who, the unbeatable world-leaders from West London, you'll recognise that this is one of life's most basic questions. Who are you?

More than ever, people struggle to find an answer they can be sure of, and at peace with. Never before in human history have we had as much scope to define, reinterpret, or even, to reinvent ourselves. To live in the 21st Century means that many of us can change our creeds, cultures, futures, friendship groups, careers, or our genders. Of course, some of these choices might take levels of self-assertiveness, money and desperation which not all of us possess. Still, there are options before us which no other age has ever faced. We can continually reimage ourselves. But in these endless possibilities are we actually discovering who we really are, and the solutions to our deepest problems? Or are we drowning in the endless possibilities which don't meet our needs, and which, ultimately, compound our miseries?

Help comes from an unexpected place. The Heidelberg Catechism was framed nearly 450 years ago, as a teaching aid for all who embrace the Reformed Christian faith. It's a map for new believers as well as for seasoned ones, showing us the shape of Christian belief. We're loving getting to know its teaching and its devotional helpfulness as we work through it week by week at Hope. On Sunday we looked at Lord's Day 12. At this point the Catechism explores who Jesus Christ is. Then, without missing a beat, the Catechism puts our identity as believers side by side with His.

And there's our answer in the quest for self-understanding. He is the true Prophet, the true Priest, and King. And who are we, as believers in Him? We are the same. We are prophets, commissioned and empowered by the same Holy Spirit to declare the Gospel message to the World; we are the priests, bearing the holiness of Jesus and growing in His likeness day by day in our service to God; and we are the Kings, who one day will reign with Him in the joy of heaven.

If you're feeling rootless, restless or weary, then look again at your inestimable privileges in Christ. Take hope, and take heart. He is yours, and you are His. This is who you are.

Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 12

31. Question: Why is He called ‘Christ’, meaning ‘Anointed’?

Answer: Because He has been ordained by God the Father and has been anointed with the Holy Spirit to be our chief Prophet and Teacher. He perfectly reveals to us the secret counsel and will of God for our rescue. He is our only High Priest who has set us free by the sacrifice of His body, and who continually pleads our cause with the Father. And He is our eternal King who governs us by His Word and Spirit, and who guards us and keeps us in the freedom He has won for us.

32. Question: But why are you called a Christian?

Answer: Because by faith I am a member of Christ, and I so share in His anointing. I am anointed to confess His name, to present myself to Him as a living sacrifice of thanks, to strive with a good conscience against sin and the devil in this life, and afterwards to reign with Christ over all creation for all eternity.

One Year on from the Huddersfield Call

2011-03-04T14:34:00.003Z

This is substantially the material I've given to the Allens' praying friends. Hopefully, it'lll put you in the picture with our lives here and the work we're pressing on with:

‘Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee.’ (Gen 12.1)

I’ve not become a devotee of the Authorised Version, but I do think that the translators capture so well the sudden and shocking charge of God to Abram to leave the loved and familiar, and to go trustingly into the unknown. In our own small way, we can relate to that unexpected and improbable call. A year ago this week I told the Gunnersbury Elders that we felt the call of God to come to Huddersfield. A year later on in the Lord’s journey for us and we’ve discovered – yet again! – that not one of His promises has failed us.

It’s been a tough year. At times we’ve felt under enormous strain, and very lonely. On occasion Sarah and I have looked at each other and thought ‘what on earth are we doing here, and are we in the Lord’s will?’ Time after time, though, the joy in and love and encouragements from our core group of believers here, as well as the enormous Gospel opportunities and needs in the town, make us convinced that the Lord has gone before us. One brother told us that he has been praying for a new Gospel church in Huddersfield since 1979! We know that here’s where we should be. We’re here because of the prayers of many, and the fact that we’re still standing, one year into following this path, is testimony to your prayers, for which we’re so deeply grateful.

Again, our News and Prayer are in seven areas:

1. Our hearts: We are still believing the Gospel – for that we bless God’s Spirit. He is at work in all of the Allens. The move has sharpened the understanding of us all of how important the Gospel is, and we all have a rich store of experiences of God’s kindness to us.
Please pray: that God would continue to do business with our naturally sinful and perverse hearts, opening them up to the dimensions of His love in Christ (Eph. 3.16-19).

2. Our children: Maisy (13), Ezra (12), Samuel (10), Jemimah (7) and Asher (4) are all finding their way in our new town. The children are making great strides in their schools, and have been so brave in this huge transition. As the Spring tries(!) to arrive we’re all looking forward to enjoying the great outdoors together ,minus the fierce windchills of our recent enforced Saturday marches!
Please pray that the children would really know the Lord’s ongoing Fatherly care in their lives, and that His Spirit would help them to have a confident hope in Jesus, leading to lives lived for Him.

3. The move: we’ve seen the last of the builders, and we’re thrilled at the privilege of a house with lots of space, in a great location in town. We love to offer hospitality, so do book your time with us.
Please pray that the house would be a haven of peace and laughter for us all, and also a place of welcome and blessing for many.

4. Church and relationships. We’ve been meeting on Sunday mornings in a community centre in town since November. Our relations with other churches in town are good, and we’ve got great links with evangelical churches in the wider area. Many recognise the need for Hope Church’s planting and pray for us.
Please pray that we would continue to build good relationships with churches and believers in town, and would know what existing Gospel works here we might partner in.

5. The Work: We are in the mid-30s on a Sunday morning, all ages and stages, with half of that number or so coming to Sunday evenings and Wednesday evenings. People are excited, hungry and keen to share life and Gospel labour. We are thrilled, and grateful to the Lord.
Please pray that we would continue to get to know each other as a core, and that we would be active in sharing the Gospel and inviting others to join us on Sundays. We’re working through our core beliefs and distinctives on Wednesday evenings, please pray for really productive times. We’ll also be progressing towards gaining charitable status shortly, and making various decisions in order for us to constitute as a church quite soon. And we’re all looking forward to our first Church Away Weekend in May! We’re praying for the Lord’s guidance as we think through how to reach the large student population, do join us in your prayers.
One very exciting development is that we have an Apprentice starting in September. Graham Thomson (with wife Dawn and toddler Jude) is a local guy with a big heart for ministry here and already preaches around the County. I’m also talking to a possible second Apprentice. We need much wisdom as we begin to serve and equip others for Gospel work.

6. The Finances: many people have been very generous to date – and a big, big thankyou if that’s you. We certainly need ongoing support if the work is going to go ahead effectively.
Please pray for the Lord’s ongoing financial provision, and for insight as we use what is His money.

As you can see, the Lord has done a huge amount in the last year, in preparing people, providing so well for the Allens, and bringing us all together and giving us a shared conviction to serve the Gospel. No church in Autumn to a church away weekend in Spring is nothing short of miraculous! Please pray that He would do His work, for His Glory, and make Hope Church and Huddersfield places rejoicing in the Love of Jesus.

Our Heaven in Father

2011-03-01T11:36:00.002Z

Our Call to Worship on Sunday was 1 John 3.1-4. That great statement of the Father's lavish love to us in Christ is coupled with the exhortation to look up to the coming day of Christ's appearance, and is followed by the charge to purify our lives so that we reflect Christ's perfection. We can truly live all because of the Father's heaven - His love, hope and power which He has poured out upon us.

Our Catechism question for the day gave us much to take to our souls. Read, and worship your Heavenly Father:

Question: What do you believe when you say, “I believe in God, the Father, Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth?”

Answer: That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who out of nothing created heaven and earth and everything in them, Who still upholds and rules them by His eternal counsel and providence, is my Father because of Christ His Son. I trust Him so much that I do not doubt He will provide whatever I need for body and soul, and He will turn to my good whatever adversity He sends me in this sad world. He is able to do this because He is almighty God; He desires to do this because He is a faithful Father.

Why the Banner is Brilliant

2011-02-21T11:47:00.004Z

Snow drops in frozen fields mean one thing to me: the Banner of Truth Conference at Leicester is not too far away. Brilliant! I've posted before on 'Leicester', as it's known by the Banner Fraternity, here, and here. For me, it's a commitment I try very hard to keep to. I love the way that the preaching, core convictions and fellowship of the Conference keep me rejoicing in grace, and longing to return to a ministry which is grace-filled to others.

Not all of my friends think that the Banner of Truth is brilliant. Too many of my brothers love the books Banner publishes, but have given up on the Minsters' Conference, or wouldn't try it. Even when I try to persuade them! I believe that this is a great shame. Especially as so many of my friends in Ministry are the hard-working, gifted men whose presence in Leicester would bring so much encouragement to others.

The Banner does not know the word fashion. There is nothing trendy, faddish, groovy about 300 men, many grey, the remainder bald, singing old hymns and psalms and listening to (mainly) old men. Few attendees can point to great Gospel prosperity in the communities they serve. Many struggle to get to grips with articulating the timeless Gospel in the bewildering mix of social problems around them (though who doesn't?) And yet, these men are servants who are faithful and committed to the Gospel. The Reformed truths which we share at this conference are vital to the spiritual future of the nation, just as they have been to its past. The more I go on in the Christian life, and grow in my theological understanding, the more I side with B.B. Warfield in his statement that 'The world should realize with increased clearness that Evangelicalism stands or falls with Calvinism.' I treasure the Evangelicalism which is resurgent in our day. But its highest and best expression, and most solid underpinning, are in the clear convictions of the Reformed Faith. Many more younger guys need to come to Leicester and learn how to ground their lives and ministries in this rich heritage.

This year I'm on the platform at Leicester, preaching twice. I'll prepare hard, think hard, and pray hard. My preaching will almost certainly disappoint me, probably a number of my hearers, too. It won't be brilliant. But if the Banner has taught me one thing, it's this: God will always have the Glory. I'm praying great things for this year's Conference. I would love to see either you or your Pastor there, too.

Conference details are here.

No Other Life

2011-02-18T08:16:00.004Z

'For Christians cannot be distinguished from the rest of the human race by county or language or custom. They do not live in cities of their own; they do not use a peculiar form of speech; they do not follow an eccentric manner of life. This doctrine of theirs has not been discovered by the ingenuity and deep thought of inquisitive men, nor do they put forward a merely human teaching, as some people do … They busy themselves on earth, but their citizenship is in heaven. They obey established laws, but in their own lives they go far beyond what the laws require. They love all men, and by all men are persecuted. They are unknown, and still they are condemned; they are put to death, and yet they are brought to life. They are poor, and yet they make many rich; they are completely destitute, and yet they enjoy complete abundance. They are dishonoured, and in their very dishonour are glorified; they are defamed, and are vindicated. They are reviled, and yet they bless; when they are affronted, they still pay due respect. When they do good, they are punished as evildoers; undergoing punishment, they rejoice because they are brought to life. They are treated by the Jews as foreigners and enemies, and are hunted down by the Greeks; and all the time those who hate them find it impossible to justify their enmity.'

'Letter to Diognetus', Anonymous, quoted in 'Above All Earthly Pow'rs', David F Wells, p.157

Train up a child in the way he should NOT go!

2011-02-17T16:41:00.002Z

Train up an Adult...

2011-02-17T10:30:00.003Z

For the last seven weeks I’ve been teaching the Heidelberg Catechism on Sunday mornings at Hope. I plan to follow the entire course of it and teach it through 2011. Its 52 sections follow the calendar year, after all. So why are we studying the Catechism, and how are we doing it?

I take a slot in the morning service just after the first prayer. We have the words on a screen and in our bulletin. I state the questions and we all affirm the answer. I’ll make comments or clarifying statements as we go along, to spell out the meaning for us all. Four minutes is the maximum I plan to give it each Sunday. The congregation is all-age, so I’m mindful of the children. There are times when the material might need more careful teaching with an illustration. So, on week 3 we learned about the Federal Headship of Adam and Christ, and how, in Adam, our nature is ‘poisoned’ (to use the Catechism’s phrase). How do you teach that in four minutes so that the kids keep up? Well, I bought two flowers (they looked like sunflowers which I couldn’t get because they were out of season). I explained to the children that the flower heads were like two families, each containing the seeds of everyone who would ever come from them. Then I told them that one had been sitting in bleach for two days; healthy as it might appear, it would in fact soon die. That, I said, is us in Adam. We can, though, through grace, be transferred out of Adam’s family into Christ’s. So, good news in the bleakest of catechetical statements!

The congregation is a mix of Christians and those who are exploring the Gospel. Does this make it a risky venture, getting nonchristians to recite technical theology which they don’t understand? Not at all. The Bible is full of stuff which all of us fail to understand to one degree or another. If the Catechism is full of rich, Biblical and therefore true material, I want us all to be exploring it. Done in the bitesize way we do it, there’s no likelihood of Christian or Nonchristian getting overloaded. As I’ve said to our people several times, there’s no way we can really digest this material through one exposure to it on a Sunday, so I encourage them to keep their bulletin to hand in the week, and to go back to their questions and answers we’ve looked at. And if they want to commit these words to heart then I’m delighted.

So why do we do it? Well, as I just said, the Catechism is full of truth. I want to show people how good theology serves and clarifies their Bible understanding, and also, to give them an appetite for going into heart-thrilling theology (and historical theology too, my own passion). As I say almost every week, the catechism serves as a map. It shows us how our beliefs fit together, and we learn how to understand the Bible and how to travel through it. To the best of my reckoning the people are really rating it, and in personal conversations a couple of people have either referred to, or even quoted bits of Heidelberg back to me.

Why the Heidelberg Catechism, given the range of other available material? I’m not a Presbyterian, but am part of that now deeply unfashionable breed, a Reformed Baptist. My own Confession, and the bedrock of our Church Plant, is the 1689 Confession of Faith. Why aren’t we using that, week by week? My answer is, all in good time. We’ve actually spent some midweeks looking at the 1689 and enjoying its riches. We have, God-willing, years ahead to study it. I chose Heidelberg because it’s rightly famous for its clear theology and its devotional atmosphere, the two essential ingredients of any truly edifying theology. I also want our people to see that we’re part of a large Reformed Community with a noble historical lineage in our beliefs about grace. Our Baptist convictions mean that I’ll not be following Heidelberg to the letter in one or two sections. My Presbyterian friends will berate me, but I can handle them!

As I began this series with occasional looks at G.I.Williamson’s ‘The Heidelberg Catechism’, and then came across Kevin DeYoung’s ‘The Good News we almost Forgot.’ The wording of the Catechism I take largely from the translation Kevin uses, but I sometimes go back to the Latin if I think that a phrase can be put more smoothly. Anyway, Kevin’s is an excellent book which I heartily recommend, and it’s worth its price just for the terrific essay on the place of theology in Christian living and growing, the substance of which is here.

So, this is one part of my modest efforts to train our congregation in the Gospel. How are they doing it at your church?

Psalms in the Dark

2011-02-14T17:47:00.002Z

Yesterday at Hope Church we saw in Jonah 2 how there was nothing 'original' in Jonah's whale prayer; Jonah didn't pray with his own words, but he prayed the Psalms, word for word. He took the worship, experience, prayers and promises of 10 different Psalms and wove them into his own prayer before the Lord. As Charles Spurgeon put it, before Jonah was in the whale's belly, God's Book was in him. And that is what we need. Before suffering comes along and swallows us whole, we need to be committed to knowing God's Word, and especially the Psalms. Then, when we meet those tough times, we have some real help at hand.

Do we, I wonder? Do we know God’s Book of Prayer and Praise, the Psalms, well enough for it to shape how we address God, and relate to Him? Would we go to the Psalms, and look at life as God sees it, and use the praise, the laments, the petitions of the Psalms, for our praying? When I was a young Christian, I learnt so much of my basic Christian beliefs from the prayers of those I heard around me. For me, it was in the prayer meeting of the local church, a group of experienced, godly Christians, who knew their Bibles, and knew their Psalms in particular. They knew how to pray, because they knew what to expect from life, and how to approach God.

The Book of Psalms is like music, as it covers the whole range of human emotions and experiences. Sometimes that's very loud and exuberant, whilst at other times it's very quiet, and mournful. Looking at my iTunes library, I notice that my Bach St Matthew Passion is right next to albums by The Waterboys and Megadeth. It's just so with the Psalms, all music is there.

But if the whole of the Psalms were like a kind of music, what would it be? It wouldn’t be Opera, or Prog. Rock, exciting, dramatic, unpredictable, since a lot of life is routine and boring. It wouldn’t be like light Classical, stirring but gently soothing, because life is often disturbing and uncomfortable. Nor would it be pop, fun, easy, take it or leave it, just have a good time. No, life is serious, and very often, sad. No, the Psalms would be the Blues. Full of lament, full of difficulty. Full of aches, sadness, minor chords, unresolved phrases. The Psalms sing life like it is, sweet often, but aching, nearly always.

Life is, for the most part, hard, this side of heaven. That’s what the blues notes of the Psalms teach us. They teach us to be realistic about life. And realistic with God. I’ve met so many disillusioned Christians through my years of ministry, believers who are spiritually dry, disappointed, angry with God, and angry with the church. One bitter root of their problem is that they’ve assumed that the Christian life would be all excitement, all novelty, all triumph. They’ve wanted rock opera, and all they’ve found was a wailing trumpet. They’ve expected that blessing was just about to fall, only to find themselves being felled by suffering. All the sermons they’ve heard, books they’ve read, and songs they’ve sung have left them totally unprepared. I've met numerous people in Huddersfield already who are struggling in the Christian life, because they've either been taught or have just assumed, a version of it which has little if anything to do with Biblical Christianity. Our call from the Spirit of God is to come back to His Word, and to learn how to hope, pray and persevere all within the kind and wise paths of life as the Psalms set it out.

If Jonah didn’t have the Psalms he would have cracked. If you don’t have the Psalms, and all of God’s Book, you will crack up. God wants you to be a realist. Full of hope, encouragement and hope, of course, but possessing those things as a realist. Otherwise, you won’t be able to handle the sufferings of life with any conviction in the loving sovereignty of God. If you’re suffering from a bad bout of spiritual dryness, spiritual stunted growth, then take the medicine of the Psalms. Learn again who God really is, what life is really like; and how you can approach Him and walk with Him as you pray. A Psalm a day is, to my mind, a minimum course of medicine. Or go one better, and like Jonah, linger over those Psalms, and commit them to memory. Who knows, one day they just be the light in the darkness you'll need.

Saturday night, Sunday morning

2011-02-12T20:58:00.002Z

Saturday night in the preacher's week. The countdown. The growing sense of 'we're nearly there'. The anticipation, with its joy and its heart-crushing responsibility, of ministering God's Word to others. And the deep, deep sense of our personal weakness, matched with the infinite possibilities of the Spirit of God to be at work on the Lord's Day. Patrick Fairbairn has choice words on matching our desire for blessing with the seeking of the Spirit:

"There is a close connection between the measure in which the Spirit is given, and the degree of desire and faithfulness with which He is sought. And it is the soul which has experienced much personally, that will ever be the best prepared for seeking much believingly for others. He who has himself known only the small drops of divine grace and power, will hardly be in a condition to expect, or even earnestly to pray for, the richer showers of blessing on the field of his labours. And if there are to be Pentecostal times for the church, we must look for Pentecostal experiences going before in the hearts of the ministry. And these, I may add, manifesting themselves in an engrossing eagerness of desire and intensity of effort for the salvation of men."

Patrick Fairbairn, Pastoral Theology, p.89

An Outbreak of Sanity

2011-02-10T12:57:00.003Z

It's great to see Chris Ash commending William Still's 'The Work of the Pastor' here. It is a classic, and an absolute must-read for those thinking about, or setting out on, pastoral ministry. Sure it's an idiosyncratic book, and reflects one man's particular journey and settled convictions resulting from it; but what ministry manual doesn't? It's full of sanity, and nonsense-exposing common sense. This book has saved countless ministries from burn-out and other disasters.

I've read the book 3 or 4 times, and went to my shelves the other day to get it for a ministry apprentice. It wasn't there! Obviously I'd lent it out to another ministry trainee. Time to get another copy, or better still, a few to have in and give away.

Life and Ministry - Life First!

2011-02-10T10:04:00.004Z

On Monday I took a day away for prayer and planning. I love these days. I love the space to think, pray and read, and to get a fresh perspective on life and ministry.

I always vary the pattern of days away. Some things, though, are constants: always read a chunk of Scripture, take a least one book which speaks directly to my heart, write out a list of blessings and a list of sins, and spend time in praise and repentance. I give time to the needs of my own soul, spend extended time praying for my family, and then give time to praying through the church's needs, people, and Gospel development.

As to what else I do, that really depends on what's ahead of me in ministry. Yesterday it was planning for the preaching in the year ahead, praying and thinking through student ministry, and setting other priorities for 2011. A really useful day, and I'm praying that the fruits of communion with the Lord and plans made will bear fruit this year.

One of the books I took away was Patrick Fairbairn's Pastoral Theology. It is, if you don't' know it, a Pastor's manual. I love the 19th Century manuals on ministry. They have a depth, as well as a realism, which puts them way ahead so much of what it written today. Spurgeon's 'An All-round Ministry', Shedd's 'Homiletics and Pastoral Theology', and (best of all!) J.W. Alexander's 'Thoughts on Preaching' are all a real spur. Their writings are saturated with Reformed Orthodoxy, but full of wise reflection, and a willingness to give their own opinions or suggestions.

Oh, and just for the record, I did read some modern stuff, and went back to books I've enjoyed before by Aubrey Malphurs and Steve Timmis.

One paragraph stands out from Fairbairn which really needs to be written on the hearts of all us who are involved in Christian ministry:

"As the Christianity which should pervade and distinguish the membership of the church is emphatically a life, so the Christian ministry, in which it may be said to culminate, must be regarded as in the first instance a life, and secondarily as a work. It has to do primarily with a condition of being and a course of behaviour, and only afterwards with the ministrations of service. Not only must they two co-exist together, but they must stand related to each other in the manner now indicated; the life from the first takes precedence of the work, and throughout must hold the place of pre-eminent importance."

pp. 79-80

One last thing: if you take a day away, always take a notebook. Write down what the Lord is teaching you, and always, write down answers to prayer, and (in outline) prayers for the future. This habit sharpens your mind, feeds faith, and raises expectation of future blessing.

But the Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah

2011-02-08T09:45:00.004Z

What is Providence? Briefly, when Christians speak of God’s Providence, they mean that the all-powerful God is working out the wisdom and kindness of His will for the good of all of His Creation. That’s broad – but Providence is a big doctrine! The classic statements of the doctrine want to safeguard the truths that a.) God works out His will for all of creation at every moment of its upholding, and b.) God is working especially for the good of His own, the church.
These are two profound and beautiful statements of Providence:

The 1689 Confession of Faith. Of Providence, it states: ‘God Who, in infinite power and wisdom, has created all things, upholds, directs, controls and governs them, both animate and inanimate, by a providence supremely wise and holy, and in accordance with His infallible foreknowledge and the free and unchangeable decisions of His will. He fulfils the purposes for which He created them, so that His wisdom, power and justice, together with His infinite goodness and mercy, might be praised and glorified.’

The Heidelberg Catechism, Day 10: ‘Providence is the Almighty and ever-present power of God by which He upholds , as with His hand, heaven and earth and all creatures, and so rules them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and adversity – all things, in fact, come to us not by chance, but from His fatherly hand.’

On Sunday morning at Hope Church we looked at the astonishing Providence of God in the sending of the whale to Jonah. Yes, the sending of the whale: God appointed / provided (either translation captures the meaning of the original) a whale to rescue a rebellious man and to bring him back to God’s original purposes. God could have used a letter, a friend’s urging, or any number of seemingly more ordinary means of bringing his man back. But God used several tonnes of quivering fat, muscle and bones to do His bidding. That’s Providence! In those terrifying days in this heaving, sloshing prison, Jonah came to recognise God’s utter sovereignty, utter goodness, and the invincibility of His purposes. Jonah certainly had rebelled against God’s will, but not even that rebellion could take Jonah outside God’s will for him. God’s love and wisdom pursue us, and His plans will always be perfected in our lives, however much we try to run and hide from Him.

We desperately need the doctrine of Providence for our Christian lives. I mentioned in my sermon on Sunday how so many Christian friends of mine in recent weeks have been grieving, the loss of family members, of good health, and of material possessions. If for a moment they let themselves believe that these things are just terrible accidents, then they have no defence against bitterness and despair. If by grace, though, they can believe that God even ordains these dreadful times and events, and has purposes in them, then there is real hope for them, and solid confidence to be enjoyed in the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He has ordained them. ‘All my times are in Your hand, all events at Your command.’ Praise Him, and trust Him.

What Yorkshire Needs

2011-02-02T21:47:00.003Z

One of the real joys of our move North has been developing new relationships with a host of excellent Gospel workers. A fortnight ago I hosted 20 churchplanters from all around Yorkshire as we talked about churchplanting together and heard updates on various ministries. The godliness and commitment of those assembled, from seasoned campaigners to those just beginning in ministry, did us all much good.

Yesterday I was at the Yorkshire Evangelical Ministry Assembly at City Evangelical Church, Leeds. Again, the calibre of those gathered was simply outstanding. Many are plugging away in really tough situations, and are seeking no attention for what they're doing. Don Carson preached for us, and his ministry brought back so many treasured memories. Don had a year working at Tyndale House in Cambridge when Sarah and I were undergraduates. I well remember passing on a note from Sarah to Don, asking him if he might address Christian literature students on deconstructionism. He later referred to that talk as the spur to writing The Gagging of God! To hear him again in the flesh brought back clear memories of some electric preaching on 1 John which he gave to CICCU those many moons ago.

In the evening Don preached to perhaps upwards of 300 from Yorkshire churches (including a dozen from Hope) on Ephesians 1, and his doctrinal and well-applied sermon finished the day perfectly.

Doing a phenomenal job as ever was Jonathan Carswell from 10 of Those. His dad Roger has written a great little tract which explores Yorkshire identity and values, and moves skillfully towards a Gospel presentation. I bought a bundle to keep in our porch to give to callers, adn gave one to a local car mechanic yesterday. The Lord bless the Carswells.

These encouragements reflect well what the Lord is doing in the County; but they mustn't give a false impression that there is not a huge battle to face. Yorkshire's population is fully a 10th of that of the UK. Its population is larger than Scotland's, and twice the size of that of Wales. West Yorkshire's dense conurbations are in urgent need of church plants and planters. The harvest fields are crowded and ready. How about it?

Hope Church, Huddersfield

2011-01-31T10:51:00.001Z

An update on life, ministry and blogging in town: http://fromheretohuddersfield.wordpress.com/

Jonah's God and Yours

2011-01-31T10:13:00.003Z

Our second sermon on Jonah 1 at Hope Church yesterday, and needless to say, God's Spirit searched out our hearts as we heard the Word. What an astonishing book Jonah is! So full of penetrating insights into the human condition, and such a presentation of the Lord Almighty, in His wisdom, power, purposes and compassion.

Hugh Martin has been a favourite of mine since I first happened upon him ten or so years ago. I needed little incentive to open his commentary when I began to work on Jonah. Enjoy the following - but reckon with the Jonah-hunting God he shows us:

‘God has many an agent whom He may commission in pursuit. He may therefore make no haste in putting any of them under commission: and you may have enormously the start of your pursuer. But the fire, or the tempest, of the water, or the pestilence, when once under the command of the Most High, calmly and surely hunt down the fugitive, and bring Him resistlessly to the bar. There is no art that can elude or baffle the messengers of Him who is the Judge of the quick and the dead. There is no blinding them; there is no bribing them. There is no loophole of escape. ‘Be sure your sin will find you out.’’

Hugh Martin, Jonah, p.68

Mission Nineveh

2011-01-28T14:46:00.003Z

'That mission was a solitary, unparalleled, an isolated and unique transaction. In all the history of the prophetic Spirit and Word in the Church, there had been nothing like unto it before, and there was nothing like unto it afterwards….Suddenly, without note or warning, without preface, without explanation, assuming sovereign state as God Most High over all the earth, Jehovah, re-manifesting, if not reassuming His universal supremacy, conducts, on the scale of most amazing miracle, a movement of His ceaseless government as it extends over all nations; and, that it may not fail to compel the attention of succeeding ages, He adorns that movement with the most marvellous and romantic incident, with one of the most striking, if not perplexing, developments of human character, especially as occurring in a man of God, and with the symbolic and death and resurrection of the agent under whose hand that movement is conducted: a death and resurrection on the very type of Messiah’s: ‘For Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly, even as the Son of Man was three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.’ (Matthew 12.40)’

Hugh Martin, Jonah, pp.12-13

Moby-Dick on Preaching

2011-01-25T16:54:00.006Z

One of my very favourite novels is Herman Melville's Moby-Dick (yup, with a hyphen). It's the enthralling story of one man's obsession to kill a whale, as seen through the often astonished eyes of one of the shipmen. It's also far more than that, and ranges for chapters on end through whaling in all of its aspects, martime customs, ship design, marine biology, and so much more. It is truly an epic novel, and brilliantly well-written. I've read its 700 pages twice, and plan to read them again.

At Hope Church I'm preaching through Jonah on Sunday mornings. Even 8 sermons barely begins to get into the riches of the lessons which the book has for us, but we had an excellent time starting in chapter one last Sunday. And it's been a great excuse to get back into Moby-Dick. On the night before the Pequod sails on its journey, the main character ('call me Ishmael', of course) attends worship at the sailors' chapel. The revered Father Mapple ascends the pulpit, which, to the narrator's astonishment, is shaped to resemble the prow of a ship, from where Mapple thunders out a sermon on Jonah and God's sovereign power and mercy in the Prophet's life.

Well, you must read the book yourself. But listen to what Melville says at the close of the chapter when he's given us Mapple's sermon. Speaking of the prow-like pulpit, Melville says:

"What could be more full of meaning? For the pulpit is ever this earth's
foremost part; all the rest comes in its rear; the pulpit leads the world. From
thence it is the storm of God's quick wrath is first descried, and the bow must
bear the earliest brunt. From thence it is the God of breezes fair or foul is
first invoked for favorable winds. Yes, the world's a ship on its passage out,
and not a voyage complete; and the pulpit is its prow."

Signing in

2011-01-13T11:41:00.003Z

OK, so it's been quiet around here. I can report, though, that Huddersfield has not chewed us up and spat us out. The last four plus months have certainly been busy, full of tough times and a lot of adjustment for the seven Allens; but we are encouraged and making headway as a family, as is the church plant, Hope Church, Huddersfield. I give occasional updates on my movements and the church's development at fromheretohuddersfield. We're certainly knowing the Lord's encouragement, and we're enjoying continual answers to prayer as we take shape. As we've got into a little series of following the Heidelberg Catechism on Sunday mornings, I'll give some updates on each week's catechism questions on that blog.

Meanwhile, I'll put some choice thoughts from the great John Flavel in over the next weeks. Flavel has an exceptional evangelistic and pastoral ministry by pen and by pulpit, and I want to show some of his brilliance. Stay tuned!

Oh, so you're still here?

2010-08-19T23:03:00.003+01:00

We are, but only just.

On Saturday we leave for a week's holiday in SW Scotland, and, all things being well, we move to West Yorkshire in the following week. Since finishing the Pastorate at Gunnersbury almost a month ago I've been here and there, and always busy - sorting things for the move, doing necessary admin as well as meeting people for the church-plant - Hope Church, Huddersfield - and enjoying being around the kids. I've also snatched a little time for writing and study. Next week I'm looking forward to catching seafish for our supper, swimming in the sea and reading a good book for an hour or two. We're 12 people (8 kids) in one house - the earplugs are packed!

Ouch - you're right!

2010-08-04T16:05:00.003+01:00

Eddie gets to the point.

Thunderallens are go!

2010-07-20T16:58:00.003+01:00

Well, we certainly hope to be, and this update shows that our rocketfuel levels are getting us closer to blast-off.

Dressed for Grace?

2010-07-16T12:36:00.005+01:00

At my church we have Metallica t-shirts through to moleskin trousers, Boden to Joe Bloggs. I'm a big believer that the Gospel must change how we think about our appearance. We must dress so as not to give offence or distraction to others. Hot summer sun certainly doesn't mean that 'flesh is best' when it comes to female dress code. Nor should metal-heads force their anguished t-shirt art-work on ladies of a more nervous disposition.

That said, we all have tastes and preferences, and we are all learners, struggling to work out how we can point each other to Christ in how we behave when we're together as church. Dress with loving consideration for others, and be humble-minded towards others with what they come wearing. I am neither built up by hot ties or hot pants, but don't lose sleep if people come with either. Just as long as our hearts are serious about seeking God's grace in Christ.

Respect to Eddie for another gem.

What's happening about Hudd?

2010-07-14T22:17:00.002+01:00

Here's an update.

ps thanks, Lowry - the place has changed a little, though!

For Those about to Rock

2010-07-13T17:25:00.005+01:00

A very interesting article about the Rock Star Pastor phenomenon.

I know a Rock Star Pastor or two. In the pulpit they're big and bold, away from it they're lonely and restless. I need to pray for them, and to pray against the dangerous desire to be one.

Have you enjoyed your itty-bitty Bible this morning?

2010-07-08T09:25:00.005+01:00

Eddie strikes again.

The Good Confession of the Trinity

2010-07-07T16:37:00.003+01:00

'Three divine Persons constitute the Godhead – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. They are one in substance, in power and in eternity. Each is fully God, and yet the Godhead is one and indivisible.... The Trinity is the essential basis of all our fellowship with God, and of the comfort we derive from our dependence upon Him.’ 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith

As we were thinking on Sunday morning together at Gunnersbury, the Trinity is our Good News. We are saved by the Three Persons of the Trinity. Our salvation was willed, achieved and brought into our lives by the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We are saved to know the Trinity, experiencing and delighting in the grace, the love and the fellowship of the Godhead. We are called in the Gospel to bring the message of the Trinity to the world. To a world starved of relationships and hungry for belonging and peace we hold out the Good News of a God who offers Himself to a humanity lost in sin. And in a church where love can grow cold - to God and among members - we continually come back to the reality of God: a God who is not some impersonal energy, but a God who involves Himself intimately in the lives of His people, and who gives us the model for honouring, serving relationships.

What a refreshing message we have as remember the Triune God of the Bible. God rules! God saves! God serves us! And this God calls us to rejoice in His love, and to share it with those around us. Remember this and it's a key to life, and to healthy relationships. Forget it, and we - and our church - are in trouble. The novelist Mark Twain said of one of his characters that he was 'a solemn, unsmiling, sanctimonious old iceberg who looked like he was waiting for a vacancy in the Trinity.' Forget the Trinity and we run the same danger, we will be as cold as ice, and as proud and unyielding as an iceberg in the face of the needs of others. Remember the Trinity, and we will look at all as more than deserving of our love, and we will find then strength to love them, as an offering of worship to our great God. May His grace, love and fellowship remain with us, for evermore.

Spurgeonic Illumination

2010-06-30T11:10:00.002+01:00

Don't get left in the dark! Courtesy of our Calvinistic Cartooner.

Baxter's Reformed Pastor on Public Prayer (Day 22)

2010-06-30T08:34:00.002+01:00

Another part of our work is to guide our people, and be as their mouth in the public prayers of the church and the public praises of God, as also to bless them in the name of the Lord. This priestly part of the work is not the least, nor to be so much thrust into the corner, as by too many of us it is.

'Fires of Faith' - a review

2010-06-29T15:17:00.008+01:00

My review article appeared in a recent Banner of Truth magazine:

‘Fires of Faith: Catholic England under Mary Tudor’
Eamon Duffy
Yale University Press, 2009
ISBN 978-0-300-15216-6, £19.99

In 1992 Eamon Duffy made a forceful arrival amongst his academic peers in the world of Reformation studies with his ‘The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England, c.1400 to c.1580’. The thesis of the book has remained at the core of Duffy’s subsequent works: the English Catholic Church of Renaissance and Reformation periods was not the wretched, moribund figure of traditional Protestant historical assessment. Instead, Duffy argues, she was alive and actively enjoying a rich devotional life, such that the Evangelical Reformation was as unwelcome as it was vigorously opposed by the Catholic laity and priests. This revisionist view has had its enthusiasts and detractors (noticeable amongst the latter is David Daniell, noted Shakespeare and Tyndale scholar), but is certainly moving towards the accepted position amongst many historians. ‘Fires of Faith’ is Duffy’s next decided step in his quest for a charitable reassessment of the Catholic Church of the Reformation.

In ‘Fires of Faith’ Duffy chronicles the strategy and efforts of the church leaders of Catholic Queen Mary. Theirs were not haphazard attempts at imposing the traditional faith upon a reluctant population, as is the popular assumption. Instead, Duffy makes a case for the thoroughness and care of their project to get England embracing the Roman Faith, efforts which were well received by a people eager for the old ways. In particular, Duffy turns his attention to the burning of Protestant believers in Queen Mary’s regime, two hundred and eighty four of them during the five and a quarter years of her reign. Duffy rejects the view that the burnings were a desperate and ill-conceived panic reaction to the strength of the Protestant movement. He also questions the alleged psychotic viciousness of the Queen and her Bishops, chief amongst them being Pole, Gardiner and Bonner, and makes strong claims for the strategic acumen and sincerity of faith of the Marian regime. Lastly, Duffy argues that the burnings weren’t the propaganda disaster which conventional history writing has assessed them to be. Duffy instead makes them claim that, as show-pieces of Catholic strength, they sent home a powerful message about what the True Church was.

As an undergraduate I studied my Reformation History under Eamon Duffy. His personal warmth and serious commitment to his church has won him legions of friends and admirers, and the sincerity of his faith can hardly be doubted. Whilst it is fashionable to label Protestant Reformation historians as favouring their own faith commitment, Duffy hardly escapes the charge as it relates to himself. This project is his personal crusade. This is his church, fighting to assert its true Gospel, and he comes extremely close to justifying the burnings of Protestant believers as necessary and collateral damage in this war.

If your only access to this period has been Foxe’s ’Book of Martyrs’, J.C. Ryle’s ‘Five English Reformers’, or even the work of Geoffrey Dickens, then this book could well be worth your time and money. As a reader of the Banner Magazine you certainly won’t like its thesis. You will, though, be made to think freshly about the English Reformation, and will gain many insights into the titanic struggle which was going on for England’s soul in the 1550s. One thing is certain as you read ‘Fires’; you will thank the Lord for His gracious preservation of His true church and Gospel in this turbulent period. You will also surely find a strengthened resolve to love His free grace.

Ever the pushy parent...

2010-06-25T12:05:00.002+01:00

...so wonderful that the rest of the world is catching up with the behind-the-scenes in the Allen household!

Thanks, Eddie!

Bread and Butter

2010-06-24T10:32:00.002+01:00

Ministry is the rhythm of prayer, preaching, teaching, evangelising, administering the sacraments, leading, caring, administering - and nothing else. I've been doing a lot of most of those in the last few busy weeks. At the moment it's all being conducted against a backdrop of making preparations for our move North. My final Sunday is July 18th.

Last Sunday I preached on the Israelites crossing the Jordan, and then on Jesus healing the demon-possessed boy after His transfiguration, both of which should be here.

Yesterday I managed the afternoon at the Evangelical Ministry Assembly. I've been to the EMA for the majority of the last 13 years, and under God owe this conference a tremendous debt for the way I've been taught, sharpened and encouraged. It was terrific to catch up with precious friends. I saw a handful of friends from University days, as well as brothers serving all round the UK and beyond. I wondered if there were as many young men as there should be, or whether it was my constituency and above getting greyer together. I found John Piper to be a disappointment in the afternoon, as (to me, at least) he seemed to be lacking his characteristic clarity and drive in his preaching. Still, he has two more sessions to take, and should warm to his theme. If humanly possible, I'll try to pop in tomorrow.

This Sunday evening we have several baptisms at Gunnersbury, which we're all looking forward to greatly.

Next week I go away for two days in order to edit a book I've written for publication. I would value your prayers for energy, disciplines and insight.

Baxter's Refomed Pastor on Special Nurture (Day 21)

2010-06-24T10:25:00.002+01:00

One sort of our work is with declining Christians, that are either fallen into some scandalous sin, or else abate their zeal and diligence, and show us that they have lost their former love. As the case of backsliders is very sad, so our diligence must be great for their recovery...Much skill is required to the restoring of such a soul.

Another part of our ministerial work is upon them that are strong: for they also have need of our assistance: partly to prevent their temptations and declining, and preserve the grace that have; partly to help them for a further progress and increase; and partly to direct them in the improving of their strength for the service of Christ and the assistance of their brethren.

The Romans Road: watch out for Arminian Blow-outs

2010-06-18T09:15:00.003+01:00

More mirth and smirkery from the indefatigable Edding Eddings

Baxter's Reformed Pastor on Personal Dealing (Day 19)

2010-06-18T09:08:00.003+01:00

That the people must be taught the principles of religion, and matters of greatest necessity to salvation, is past doubt among us. And that they must be taught in the most edifying, advantageous way, I hope we are agreed. And that personal conference, and examination, and instruction, have many excellent advantages for their good, is beyond dispute, and afterward manifested.

It is beyond doubt that we should perform this great duty to all the people, or as many as we can: for our love and care of their souls must extend to all.

You're going WHERE??

2010-06-15T14:08:00.002+01:00

to Huddersfield.

I regularly meet something close to amazement, and even closer to incredulity, when I tell people that we're leaving a very happy pastorate to churchplant in Huddersfield. People don't move from Chiswick to West Yorkshire, do they?

Sarah and I don't want to take any applause for our decision. It takes often more courage to press on in a pastorate than it does to up sticks and strike out. We're not being brave. Bravery is the week-in and week-out of preaching to, praying for and caring for the same group of people, and living with Gospel intention in a community which has come to know you. We dread being yet another ministry couple who won't dig in for the long term.

And yet, we feel that this is the Lord's call. He's given us, with infinite kindness and gentleness, our marching orders. It's His will that we leave London, and move to Huddersfield. We know that there's a need in the town for Gospel witness, we know that the Lord has prepared us for His work there. We're hugely excited!

A couple we know who live just down the road are moving at the same time as us. Like us, they're trying to sell their property, buy a house, and get their kids into schools. Like us, they've not managed any of those, so far. The wife is really stressing, waking up every night and really very worried. She told Sarah that she's really doubting the wisdom of the whole thing, and asked Sarah how she was feeling about our move. What a wonderful opportunity for Sarah to speak abut God's purposes, and His promises to look after His people. Best of all, it's wonderful that our lives aren't about material comfort or personal happiness, or even doing the best for our children in this-worldly terms, but about being caught up into the purposes of God in the Kingdom of His Son.

Do remember, our plans are at http://fromheretohuddersfield.wordpress.com/

Baxter's Reformed Pastor on Christian Counsel (Day 18)

2010-06-15T13:08:00.002+01:00

Some of us have a foolish bashfulness, which makes us very backward to begin with men and to speak plainly to them. We are modest, for sure, that we blush to speak for Christ, or to contradict the Devil, or to save a soul, when shameful works we are less ashamed of.

The ministers of Christ must do their dutires, for all men's peevishness, and must not so far hate their brother as to forebear the plain rebuking of him, or to suffer sin to lie upon his soul (Lev. 19.17). Though it must be done with much prudence, yet it must be done.

Baxter's Reformed Pastor on the Cure of Souls (Day 17)

2010-06-14T12:45:00.003+01:00

We have many of our flock that are young and weak: though of long standing, yet of small proficiency of strength (Heb. 5.11-12). And indeed it is the most common condition of the godly: most of them stick in weak and low degrees of grace. And it is no easy matter to get them higher.

To increase their knowledge and gifts is not easy: but to increase their graces is the hardest of all.

The strength of Christians is the honour of the church.

Baxter's Reformed Pastor on the Pastoral Office (Day 16)

2010-06-11T09:05:00.003+01:00

A man that is not heartily devoted to God and addicted to his service and honour, will never set heartily about the pastoral work.

The object of our pastoral care is all the flock; that is, the church a, and every member of it...To which end, we should know every person that belongs to our charge. For how can we take heed to them, of we do not know them?

Our obligation is not as great to all neighbour churches or to all strangers as it is to those whom we are set over.

How many of us are more often found in the houses of gentlemen than in the poor cottages of those that have most need of our help?

No Scruples

2010-06-10T10:12:00.003+01:00

Eddie Eddings nails it again.