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.