Judgement

Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.

Here is the day we're so desperate to avoid. We may seek to convince ourselves that this day will not happen, or that if it does we will be alright. But the reality will not be good news for us. This day is the reason we each need a saviour. This day is the reason Christ was born. This day is the reason Christ died. No-one will be shown righteous by their deeds. Only those who's name is in the Lamb's book of life will avoid judgement. Grace is what we need. Grace is what we are now offered.

Boy am I a mupet

It's all very simple really. I got inappropriately annoyed at the tv remote going missing and punched a box in a fit of anger. Unfortunately the box was on the floor. The box broke - the floor didn't - my hand did. Doh.

That Great City

Rev 18:1-2 After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was made bright with his glory. And he called out with a mighty voice, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast.�

This morning as we were getting up Helen told me that people were queing from Christmas Day evening for the opening of the sales on Boxing Day! Listening to the radio on my way home from dropping friends off on Christmas Day I discovered that there were special sales online that were for Christmas Day only. It made me sad that not even one day in the year was spared from the constant treadmill of buying and selling. That people just had to spend and get.

I've joked on FB and Twitter that Westfield (huge shopping centre in West London) is a temple and people go there to worship - but really that is exactly what it is. The temples of Revelation's Babylon - the great city - are not religious but materialistic. They are shops that sell everything we want but don't need. The warning in Revelation 18 is for the church not to get involved in her spiritual adulteries; not to go chasing after these things instead of God. Too often, I must be honest, my eye is distracted by the swing of her hips and the seduction of her advertising boards.

"Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great." So much evil is perpetrated in the pursuit of wealth. The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. The judgement of God will fall in a single day.

The wonder of God is that out of the adulteries of the great city he rescues people for the heavenly city. He walks in, and just like the gates of hell, the gates of Babylon will not prevail against him. Where his justice turns Babylon into a wilderness fit only for the unclean, his grace takes the adulterers and makes them clean and pure, fit to be his own beloved bride.

I wonder this sales season who you will chase after - the shiny showy luxuries of the great city, or the Lamb who was slain to make you pure, blameless and beautiful in his sight.

Lunchtime Bible reading

Rev 15:3 And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations!�Rev 15:4 Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”����������

Many more blessings

What to say about today? I could start with missing my alarm and waking up an hour and half late! Lol. Thankfully managed to get everything sorted and to church in time! We had a good number for communion despite the -4 temp outside.

Over the last few weeks we've regularly had 40 or so people on a Sunday morning. Today was no different. Church isn't about numbers - it's about the glory of God - but it seems to me as more people gather to praise him we are able to give him glory with a louder voice. It has been a great encouragement to see the church beginning to grow and more of the Lord's people making their home with us.

We also had Slavko and Alison and Mattay with us today. Alison grew up up the road from us with our friends at West Kilburn Baptist Church. She met Slavko while they were studying at Oak Hill Theological College and have since got married and had their son Mattay. Slavko grew up in Serbia, was converted during the war as Yugoslavia broke up, and now is taking his family home with him to share the love of Jesus. It was great to have them with us and for us to hear about their plans under God to serve him in Slavko's homeland.

Some of you may have seen my status on Friday that a friend of mine had put his faith in Christ. He and his family have been coming along to the church for a couple of months. Today I sat down with him and his wife and confirmed that not only has the Lord poured his grace out on him, but on his wife too!

There is more blessings than that today, but I will stop for now. Please pray for these two new Christians and that the Lord would prepare us as a church to welcome more people into the family of Jesus.

Another enjoyable Sunday

Having had flu all week today has been very tiring - but with many blessings all the same. Church does seem to be growing bit by bit. It's been encouraging to have some regular visitors and to see some newer faces returning weekly. Especially good to have a family from school start coming regularly. They are friends of ours and it's a blessing to welcome them among us. There's also a Nigerian family Dad, Mum and daughter who visit us whenever they are around. It's part of the nature of London ministry that we have folk who pop in from time to time when they are in London, and it is always good to see them and I hope to encourage them in their walk with Jesus.
Tom and Emily King came to visit today as well. They are friends of ours who have recently moved near to Twickenham. It was really good to see them and to hear how well they have been welcomed into the church at Amyand Park. With them we had well over twenty for lunch, which as usual Helen produced with great efficiency and tastiness!
In our October family service we were thinking about four reasons to tell people about Jesus. Today we thought about what to tell people about Jesus. Using the "Two ways to live" basic pattern we had three things in mind - 1) What we need to know about the gospel, 2) What we can tell our friends about the gospel, and 3) A personal spiritual checkup. Just praying that the Lord would write these things well on our hearts and cause people to draw closer to him.

Morning Reading 2Thes2:13-14

2Th 2:13-14 But we ought to thank God always for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. He called you to this salvation through our gospel, so that you may possess the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.��������

If you have put your faith in Jesus and you trust him to save you then you have a truly remarkable truth to add to your faith. That God chose you (together with these Thessalonian believers and every believer through history) from the beginning for salvation. I realise some people don't like the idea that God is sovereign in salvation - they like to think that God offered them salvation and they accepted it. The idea is not entirely wrong of course - we need to "repent and be baptised for the forgiveness of our sins". But on days like today I need to know God has loved me from the beginning.

I've just been in a foul mood so far today - too much to do and not enough time as ever, then people expecting more of me than I can give, which is beginning to get me down. So good to sit down, step back and know that from the beginning God chose us for salvation.

If it was up to me today I wouldn't choose salvation - not that I would be thinking straight - but I would chose snapping at people, getting annoyed and being angry. But with great thankfulness these verses enable me to see the truth - there is no escaping the Lord's saving reach. He has chosen to save us, he has chosen to do that by sanctifying us by his Spirit (there's always a God reason for a bad mood!) and by giving us faith in the truth of the gospel. He has brought us into this place through the gospel proclaimed by the apostles in order that we might possess the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Possessing the glory of Jesus is beyond my imagination! But it's got to be good!

My prayer for today then has two parts: praise for salvation I cannot wriggle free from and prayer that many others would through the gospel of the apostles be given salvation, sanctification, faith and ultiately the glory of Jesus as their own possession.

Westminster Police Volunteer Chaplains

Been at a meeting this morning to launch the Westminster Borough Police Volunteer Chaplains. The aim is to have a chaplain alocated to every police station in Westminster. I have been asked to link with St. John's Wood Police Station and have accepted. The meeting this morning had Simon Bray, the Borough Commander, present among others. It provides an exciting opportunity to serve the Lord and serve the local police.
Please pray for the new chaplains, for wisdom and clarity as we seek to pastor police officers and support staff, sometimes through a whole variety of ordinary and extraodinary situations.

Sunday 26th Sept

Many blessings today (which to be honest isn't unusual). Simon led communion this morning and Laurence led the morning service - that I was preaching at. We had a few visitors as well, some new, some returning. We ran out of chairs at communion and had over 40 for the main service. That included James, from Canada. He has just started at LTS and is placed with us during his studies. It was great to welcome him amongst us.

I was preaching from 1Cor 4v1 "So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God." It was a warning sermon encouraging us to keep the right people in the right place.

The "us" is the apostles. They are not our masters, but fellow servants of Christ. In the same way our teachers and church leaders today are not the ones we are to follow. They are fellow servants of Christ who lead us to Christ. We are only to follow them to the extent that they lead us to Christ.

The apostles however had a very specific ministry that was theirs alone. They were the stewards of the secret things of God. In a Roman household the steward was the chief servant. The master of the house would entrust his property to their care and they were to take care of it and distribute it to the other servants. In the same way the Lord Jesus entrusted the gospel (the secret hidden for ages past but now revealed in the message of the cross) to his apostles. They were to be faithful in passing on what they were entrusted with. All the servants that come after therefore receive the gospel via the apostles. The church at Corinth was beginning to listen to people who were not listening to their apostle Paul. All the problems at Corinth stem from this sad reality. They had become arrogant and were acting as if they didn't need Paul and his teaching anymore, as if they had new revelation from God.

It is vital for spiritual health that we do not divorce God's word from God's stewards, the apostles. Then, the Corinthians needed to remember that they needed God's word passed on to them via those whom God entrusted it to. Now, we need to be sure that we do not "go beyond what is written." The Scripture is where the apostles have passed on what they were entrusted with, as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. We must not wander away from the Scripture or go beyond what it says, distorting it's meaning or claiming new revelation. Otherwise we too, at best, will be worldly, mere infants in Christ. Only as we hang on to the secret wisdom of God, the message of Christ crucified, (who is for us wisdom from God - that is our righteousness, holiness and redemtpion,) will we be more like Christ and begin to bring and give him the glory that is all his.

There was more but that's a fair summary!

This afternoon we cut our cafe short and went to the Oasis Church grand relocation service (see picture). Abbey Road Baptist Church has recently been refurbished, and the Arabic church plant (Oasis) has taken up residence in the afternoons. It was a blessing to be there and even more to have some really good support from our church.

All in all many blessings today. Thanks be to God who gives us every good thing.

Evangelism and The Sovereignty of God

Just started reading this classic Christian book from JI Packer. In the book he aims to show the error of the "supposition ... that you cannot evangelise effectively unless you are prepared to pretend while you are doing it the doctrine of divine sovereignty is not true." And that actually faith in the sovereingty of God is vital for bold, persistent, resiliant evangelism.

In the first chapter he does very little to argue the case that God truly is sovereign in all his ways, especially in salvation and the continuing perseverance of every believer. All he does is ask us how we pray:

"In prayer you ask for things and give thanks for things. Why? Because you recognise that God is the author and source of all the good you have already, and all the good that you hope for in the future."

Concerning your own salvation, in your prayers "you give God thanks for your conversion. Now why do you do that? Because you know in your heart that God was entirely responsible for it. You did not save yourself; [note Matt Redman's song, 'Who O Lord Could Save Themselves'] He saved you... Your act of faith when you closed with Christ was yours in the sense that it was you who performed it; but that does not mean that you saved yourself. In fact, it never occurs to you to suppose that you saved yourself."

And finally in our prayers for others we long to come to know Christ: "You pray for the conversion of others. In what terms, now, do you intercede for them? Do you limit yourself to asking that God will bring them to a point where they can save themselves, independently of him? I do not think you do. I think what you do is to pray in categorical terms that God will, quite simply and decisively, save them: that he will open the eyes of their understanding, soften their hard hearts, renew their natures, and move their wills to receive the Saviour."

When we get caught up in all sorts of high flying arguments about the meaning of Bible passages, and how different passages intersect with each other concerning God's sovereignty and man's responsibility, we easily tie ourselves up in knots. But when we are bent humbly before the Lord and seeking his face we know in our hearts and show in our prayers that we look to God for all our needs, we thank him alone for our salvation, and we seek his power alone for the salvation of those we love. God is sovereign (he is Lord and God and King and Ruler and Upholder of all things) so, when thinking about evangelism, God is sovereign in salvation.

Jim Packer also includes an interesting account of a conversation between Charles Simeon and John Wesley on Dec 20th 1784. Simeon records it like this (Wesley refers to it in his journal - hence we know the date):
"Sir I understand that you are called an Arminian; and I have been sometimes called a Calvinist; and therefore I suppose we are to draw daggers. But before I consent to begin the combat, with your permission I will ask you a few questions... Pray, Sir, do you feel yourself a depraved creature, so depraved that you would never have thought of turning to God, if God had not first put it into your heart?
"Yes," says the veteran, "I do indeed."
"And do you utterly dispair of recommending yourself to God by anything you can do; and look for salvation solely through the blood and righteousness of Christ?"
"Yes, solely through Christ."
"But, Sir, supposing you were at first saved by Christ, are you not somehow or other to save yourself afterwards by your own works?"
"No, I must be saved by Christ from first to last."
"Allowing then that you were first turned by the grace of God, are you not in some way or other to keep yourself by your own power?"
"No."
"What, then, are you to be upheld every hour and every moment by God, as much as an infant in its mother's arms?"
"Yes, altogether."
"And is all your hope in the grace and mercy of God to preserve you unto His heavenly kingdom?"
"Yes, I have no hope but in him."
"Then, Sir, with your leave I will put up my dagger again; for this is all my Calvinism; this is my election, my justification by faith, my final perseverance: it is in substance all that I hold, and as I hold it; and therefore, if you please, instead of searching out terms and phrases to be a ground of contention between us, we will cordially unite in those things wherein we agree."

It seems to me that as we grasp and understand the reality of God's sovereingty in our own salvation our praise to him can only ever increase. As we understand God's sovereignty in all salvation, then "since we have this minstry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart." "Thanks be to God, through the Lord Jesus Christ."

Do all to the glory of God

The apostle Paul, when writing to the Corinthians, says, "So then, whether you eat or drink or what ever you do, do all to the glory of God." At our church meeting this evening we had in important financial decision to make. The best part of the meeting was that people were not so much concerned about money as honouring the Lord in our decision.

My prayer is that in all our decisions, from eating and drinking to finance and church policy we would seek to honour the Lord and serve those around us so they may be saved and glorify God for his mercy with us.

Ripping Out My Heart

This year we have heard of three marriages of friends breaking down. Each time it has knocked our world sideways and left us emotionally winded. We don't know any of the situations well enough to comment on them (and if we did this certainly wouldn't be the place to do it). I hardly know what to pray to be honest. What I do know is that God's grace is sufficient to reconcile and repair and restore any relationship. I realise when you are in the middle of relationship breakdown it doesn't feel like it - but the blood of the cross is enough to deal even with the pain and the pride of a broken marriage.

What I want to say is protect your marriage. Have one night of the week as a date night - and guard it with your life. Make time to talk together about important things. Learn how to lose arguments. Learn to have the penultimate word!

Realise that just as your spouse has annoying habits so do you! Learn not to get annoyed by them - love covers over a multitude of sins.

There is joy and delight in giving yourself up to your spouse. Marriages turn sour when spouses look to their own needs instead of their spouse's. Three great dangers arise. Neglect, unfaithfulness and abuse. Too easily one leads on to the other. But when we are deliberate in loving and blessing our spouse we find joy in their joy.

It isn't easy to think of others first, especially after a long and trying day. But as we put our eyes on Jesus we see the one who loved us and gave his life up for us to make us holy - so we find strength to love as we have been loved and forgive as we have been forgiven.

Protect your marriage. And if you find it is in trouble - know you are not on your own - we all have trouble in our marriages - but there are people who are ready to listen and help - and there is a Lord with grace and power enough to repair what is broken.

Things to thank God for

I'm not going to write a huge long list here - just a couple of things that have been recent encouragements. As I noted before on our other blog (http://familyhawth.blogspot.com) we have 6 new members this year, one of whom we baptised. The upshot of this is that, for the first time, we have a number of people organised to help in different ways on a Sunday morning. We have a team of welcomers, a group of musicians, a Children's Church team, people to work the projector, people to lead the service, two others who can preach, and various people who sort out refreshments for after the service! It really is a very quick change around from 6 months ago. We are of course aware that as quickly as we have grown we can shrink again. That's the nature of people moving in and out of our part of London - but it does feel like the Lord is giving us some momentum.
Recently we have been joined by a Canadian couple as well. They are expecting a baby in July, though there are some health issues for mum. They would appreciate your prayers I am sure. They have begun coming to our midweek homegroup which has grown to 10-12 regulars for the moment. We made our midweek meeting into a homegroup at the start of the year, praying that it would grow and have to become 2 groups. It would seem already were are getting close to that point!

This week we have had more reasons to thank God. Last week at Rebekah's 2nd birthday party a family from the boys school came. I was chatting with mum and suggested (as I often do to people) that they come and pay us a visit on a Sunday. Well it was a great blessing that they came this week! Mum, Dad and the two girls. We really enjoyed having them with us, and they seemed to enjoy coming. Chatting with Dad afterwards he said he enjoyed the family atmosphere of the church, had appreciated the final hymn (In Christ Alone), and  that the sermon had really connected with him. They even mentioned that they appreciated there being something specifically for the children (who enjoyed Children's Church) and that they may start coming more regularly because we have something for the children. After 4 1/2 years of families not staying because there aren't enough children, this was a real turn up for the books!

There are other things I could write, but this will do for now. The Lord continues to be very gracious to us. Please praise God with us and continue to pray.

A start in Revelation

We’ve just begun to look at the book of Revelation in our midweek Bible study. In the middle of a world where the physical prosperity around us so quickly hides the spiritual reality, it is good to have the curtain of heaven pulled back and for us to see the spiritual reality behind the suffering (though we know little of this), and the kingdom, and the patient endurance that are ours in Christ Jesus. As we lift our eyes to praise him, he strengthens our faith and leads us on to the time when he returns.

“To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom of priests to serve his God and Father – to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.

Welcoming Visitors To Church

Walking into a church building for the first time can be a daunting prospect. Even for a mature believer, perhaps on holiday somewhere, it can be a difficult thing to walk into an unfamiliar church service.

Recenlty this story was related to me. A lady walks in to a small church in London. She sits down at the back. Before the service no-one speaks to her. At the end of the service as she gets up to leave; meanwhile a deacon approaches the pastor before he has even left the pulpit and the members begin to chat among themselves. Seeing the lady about to leave without anyone having said, "Hello," let alone given a proper welcome the pastor excuses himself from the deacon, shimmies through the congregation and dashes to the church door where he is able to great the lady, and then introduce her to another member of the church who she talks with for 10 minutes or more before she eventually leaves. What is wrong with this picture?

Meanwhile the same week a couple arrive at another London church for the first time. They are greated at the door and pointed down to the main hall. Before they have sat down they are greated again and before the service starts they are engaged in brief friendly conversation, asking a few questions and explaining where to find songs words. At the end of the service, as people sit quietly considering what has taken place in the service the pastor makes his way up to the door of the church. After chatting with someone else the couple make their way towards the door where they are greated by the pastor and invited to stay. Fully intending to spend some time directly with them once others have been greated at the door, the pastor goes into to the refreshment hall and isn't able to chat with either husband or wife, because both have been engaged in conversation by different members of the church. What is right with this picture?

Which church is most likely to see the visitor(s) again? Which church most exhibits the gospel in it's natural response to visitors?

What happens the moment you walk in to a church and the moment the service ends can play a massive role in how someone responds to the message that has been preached. The message can be removed from their minds by an unfriendly, uncertain attitude to strangers and leave people thinking, 'Well that was interesting but I'm not going there again,' or, 'Not sure I agree with what was said, but there is something here that I like.' As James says, "Faith without works is dead." However good your doctrine is, if it doesn't work out in your lives then your gospel will be discreditted. To have great doctrine but to have foresaken the love you had at first is a recipee for church closure. The great work of Jesus on the cross was to be foresaken by God so that we can be adopted into the family of God. Jesus in the parable of the sheep and the goats tells us the evidence of faith is the welcoming and blessing of his people. We're told that some by entertaining strangers have unwittingly entertained angels! As God in the gospel welcomes us into glory as his loved children, the outworking of the gospel in our lives, and so especially our churches ought to be a selfless, warm, welcoming environment. If that is missing then there is something missing in your faith.

But welcoming and fostering a welcoming atmosphere is about more than simply saying "Hello". It is about more than having people on 'welcome team' or 'stewarding' rota. It is about Christians together understanding the welcome they have received in the gospel. That though we were excluded from the people of God, through Christ's exclusion we have now been welcomed, with all our faults and failings, right into God's heart. That together we are the family of God, with God's love lavished upon them. If this reality has changed our hearts then we are able to look beyond our own problems and desires on Sunday morning and begin to welcome the foreigner and stranger and "sinner" into the community of God's people. Not smothering them with greedy and slightly manic eyes, desperately trying to persuade them to come next week too! But making them welcome, helping them relax, giving them space, showing them there is a place here and friendship here if they are willing to respond to the offer. This is the atmosphere of the gospel that needs to soak through the church.

There are of course practical issues. It is important to have people at the door to show an immediately friendly face and give any necessary directions and answer any presenting questions. But it is as necessay to have people not 'on duty' who are able to say at least a brief, "Hello," rather than leaving them there to stew for 5 minutes before the service starts. It is important that the preacher is allowed to get to the door quickly so that he can personally great any visitors. It is equally important to allow people to leave quickly if they really do want/need to go!

Assuming people stay after the service (please do provide an opportunity for this) then people need to be ready to chat. Think of a few questions you can ask beyond, "What's your name," and, "Where do you live." It may be appropriate to ask, "If you don't mind, can I ask what brought you to church today?" This may even open an opportunity to share some of your testimony of God's goodness to you. Other questions you could ask are, "Have you read much of the Bible?" And the follow up, "What did you think?" Even, "What did you think of the service/sermon?" Be ready to give your own answers if you get a one-word answer back with no return question. There's no need to be pushy, or feel we need to unload the whole gospel on them. But we also mustn't be afraid to talk about spiritual matters with them. They have come to church after all!

One final practicallity of welcoming people. The initial welcome is often actually the easy bit. The great question, it seems to me, is how the church responds when someone has been coming for a month or two. Everyone knows their name, what they do and where they are from, and no-one speaks to them anymore. When they came first they were welcomed. Now they get no more than a friendly smile. Deliberately think of things to talk about with them. Pray for them and be interested in their lives. "How was your week?" "Did you get that job?" "Have you been reading your Bible; what part; have you found it useful?" "What are you praying towards at the moment?" "Are you going away in the summer?" And so on. Invite them out for a meal - or better still over to your house. Share with them, not only the gospel, but your life as well.

Christ gave all of himself for us, so let us give ourselves to the new face. When the gospel preached is matched by the atmosphere of the gospel lived the way is opened in God's grace for lives to be transformed and churches to grow, all to the glory of God.

A new blog for church and pastoral stuff

Just downloaded a new app for my phone that makes posting blogs a good deal easier. Decided to try a new blog to post news about church and pastoral thoughts - that kind of thing. Nothing especially revolutionary, but hopefully interesting at least :) Maybe even a few photos.