Mexborough Baptist Church Sunday 15th November 2020
Dear Friends
Welcome to our email service and a special welcome to new friends joining us, whether by email or receiving a printed service - it's good to have you with us.
However your first week of lockdown has been - boring or busy, lonely or lively, working or resting - we can be sure that God has been there with us through it and will be through the next three weeks because he is faithful. We'll be thinking more about God's faithfulness and promises later in the service. Our first song reminds us that this is the day that the Lord has made, and that's true of every day, not just Sunday. Let's sing 'This is the Day' click on this link
Family Corner
As we are thinking about God's promises, Lisa and her children show us how to make a Jar of Promises. click on this link
We encourage everyone to make a promise jar or to dig out your promise box. I have a promise box that was given to me by Frank, one of the Avalunch customers, some time ago. Here it is below:
Crossroads Kids have a song that tells us that God's promises are for every day. click on this link
Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 1:20, "For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God." We affirm our faith in God's power to keep his promises as we sing 'Standing on the Promises' click on this link
Thank you to Merys as she leads us in our prayers....
Dear Lord, we thank you for bringing us together as Your church on Windhill. We know that You hold us in your hands as we try to live our lives within the constraints of the COVID pandemic. We are blessed by Your presence and know that whatever happens You are in control.
We are not a people of fear but a people of faith.
This week we have heard the news that we have been praying for a vaccine that is understood to be 90% effective in protecting us from the virus. We thank You for this as we know that Your hand was in this work. As the Government plans to roll this out to protect our communities, let us continue to work within the current guidelines and support those who need practical help until it is safe to mix more freely.
We are not a people of fear but a people of faith.
We know that our church brothers and sisters have concerns of their own and we will continue to pray for them. We know that You see the individual needs of each one of us are different. You see into our hearts and what we are feeling. Let those who can, reach out and comfort and console those who are finding this situation difficult. Let us listen with love to those who are frustrated and concerned. Let us share Your love with the frightened and confused.
We are not a people of fear but a people of faith.
Dear Lord, please let us continue to show Your love to all we meet. Put in our mouths words of compassion and encouragement. We have a faith that helps us in challenging times and we can accept that we do not have all the answers. For many, the current situation makes no sense and the people they look to for leadership seem unable to meet the challenges. This leads to anger and frustration. Our faith in our leadership allows us to give all our fears, anger and pain to You. We live in Your love and we nourish that love through the blessing of studying Your Word.
We are not a people of fear but a people of faith.
Dear Father, since COVID came into our world all that was familiar has been turned upside down. We live in a constantly changing environment regarding the spread of the virus, symptoms, ways that it is spread. We are bombarded with information that changes frequently. We have to try to understand and explain to others complex scientific information. We have to reassure and comfort those directly affected by the illness. Through all this You alone do not change. Your promise to us through the sacrifice of Your son, Jesus Christ, means that our relationship with You is the same. Nothing has changed there. We are Your children. We are Your people. We are your representatives here on earth. Please Lord, let us continue to show that we are not a people of fear, we are a people of faith. As people of faith we call on you daily to build us up so we can be your light on Windhill, in Mexborough and with our families and friends.
We are not a people of fear but a people of faith.
This week we have heard the news that we have been praying for a vaccine that is understood to be 90% effective in protecting us from the virus. We thank You for this as we know that Your hand was in this work. As the Government plans to roll this out to protect our communities, let us continue to work within the current guidelines and support those who need practical help until it is safe to mix more freely.
We are not a people of fear but a people of faith.
We know that our church brothers and sisters have concerns of their own and we will continue to pray for them. We know that You see the individual needs of each one of us are different. You see into our hearts and what we are feeling. Let those who can, reach out and comfort and console those who are finding this situation difficult. Let us listen with love to those who are frustrated and concerned. Let us share Your love with the frightened and confused.
We are not a people of fear but a people of faith.
Dear Lord, please let us continue to show Your love to all we meet. Put in our mouths words of compassion and encouragement. We have a faith that helps us in challenging times and we can accept that we do not have all the answers. For many, the current situation makes no sense and the people they look to for leadership seem unable to meet the challenges. This leads to anger and frustration. Our faith in our leadership allows us to give all our fears, anger and pain to You. We live in Your love and we nourish that love through the blessing of studying Your Word.
We are not a people of fear but a people of faith.
Dear Father, since COVID came into our world all that was familiar has been turned upside down. We live in a constantly changing environment regarding the spread of the virus, symptoms, ways that it is spread. We are bombarded with information that changes frequently. We have to try to understand and explain to others complex scientific information. We have to reassure and comfort those directly affected by the illness. Through all this You alone do not change. Your promise to us through the sacrifice of Your son, Jesus Christ, means that our relationship with You is the same. Nothing has changed there. We are Your children. We are Your people. We are your representatives here on earth. Please Lord, let us continue to show that we are not a people of fear, we are a people of faith. As people of faith we call on you daily to build us up so we can be your light on Windhill, in Mexborough and with our families and friends.
As we listen to this next song 'Faithful God' by Shannon Wexelberg and watch the video, think about an individual or family. Are they on the mountaintop or in the valley? Is their road straight or crooked? Are they travelling in the light or a dark tunnel?
click on this link
Now pray that they may be encouraged to continue to trust in God and know that He will hold them in His hands.
Now pray that they may be encouraged to continue to trust in God and know that He will hold them in His hands.
Let us go forward as people of faith in the sacrifice of Jesus and live out our faith to encourage ourselves, each other and those who have yet to come into God’s love. Amen.
Reflections on Ezra
Trevor Mather shares with us his reflections on his chosen Old Testament character - Ezra and his writings. Thank you, Trevor.....
WHO
As we have been learning of men and women in the Old Testament, we must take note of their courage and pioneering spirit. While the majority of us must remain at home in sheltered circumstances, these people ventured fearlessly into the unknown, not disturbed by dangers, difficulties, problems or impossibilities, but going where God wanted them to go and doing what God wanted them to do. Isn’t our Lord looking for that same spirit in each one of us to venture forward and not be discouraged? Ezra was such a man but he is not usually regarded as one of our biblical heroes. Far from being well known, this unheralded man of God deserves a mention in any discussion among the biblical greats. Ezra was a priest, a scribe, an historian. His name means “help”. As a leader of God’s people in the Old Testament, his whole life's work was dedicated to serving God and God’s people.
WHEN
Ezra’s account of biblical history has its beginnings with the Jews in exile, after the Babylonians had defeated the southern kingdom. They had ransacked the Temple in Jerusalem taking the furnishings of the Temple back to Babylon, along with thousands of the inhabitants of Judah. This is worth a read to remind us. 2 Chronicles 36 v 15 – 23. The first verse in the book of Ezra is really a continuation historically of 2 Chronicles, hence its position in the biblical canon. King Cyrus became the king of Persia in 549 BC and he was an astute king. He started to expand his kingdom and defeated the Babylonians in 539 BC. In his first year as king of the whole region (Ezra ch 1 v 1) King Cyrus instigated his foreign policy towards the nations in exile, including the Jews, and said they could return to their homelands. Politically he hoped to win their loyalty and this would provide zones of loyal people thus shielding the borders of his empire. It would be easy to say that the Jews return to Judah was all of Cyrus’s doing but that is not so.
WHY
Even before God’s people went into exile, caused by their rebelling against Him, the Lord God was already at work to restore them as we will see.
HOW
It may have been that God, working through Daniel (he of lions' den fame) who was now an old man, had moved Cyrus to free God’s people at this time, pointing out what the Hebrew scriptures foretold, as Daniel knew of Jeremiah’s prophecy.
Read Jeremiah 25 v 11, 29 v 10 and Daniel ch 9 v 2.
Two centuries earlier in 700 BC, God had spoken to the prophet Isaiah about Cyrus and the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem after the Jews' humiliation and defeat. Read Isaiah 44 v 28 – 45 v 6.
Two centuries earlier in 700 BC, God had spoken to the prophet Isaiah about Cyrus and the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem after the Jews' humiliation and defeat. Read Isaiah 44 v 28 – 45 v 6.
So in 538 BC King Cyrus proclaims to the Jews that they may return to their own land.
Pause and think. Are you not impressed that the Living God whom we worship foresees the movements of mankind and of nations and foretells of events?
He moves people, great and small to fulfil His plans, and you and I are among them as He calls us to know Him in a greater way through His Spirit and His Word and through prayer. The book of Ezra tells of some of the history of God’s exiled people returning to where they really belong. It is about a nation's restoration and the fulfilling of God’s promises, God ever renewing His covenant with them, for He is a just and faithful God. We know that in ancient times when a heathen king conquered a nation, he would carry away all the images the people worshipped and set them up in the temple of his own god. He considered that his god had conquered the gods of the defeated nation. When the Babylonians ransacked Jerusalem they found no images in the temple of Jehovah, only the vessels used in worship and its furnishings, which they carried away instead. Cyrus allowed the captive people to return to their home lands with their idols and gods and, since the Jews had no idols, he let them take the temple treasures instead, back to Jerusalem. These vessels and furnishings would once again be the basis for their worship of the living God, in the way they had been in the past.
Pause and think. How do we, as individuals or as a fellowship, carry with us the things of God as we continue life’s journey? What treasures do we possess as God’s people that bring honour and worship to Him? 1 Corinthians 10 v 19 - 20.
There is no visible presence so effective of our Lord Jesus in the world, than God’s people being a temple of the Holy Spirit, a restored people, living in the knowledge that Christ's death and resurrection freed us from the captivity of sin and eternal exile from God.
In chapters 1 – 3 of Ezra, we need to realise that Cyrus was now king over the entire region that had once been Assyria and Babylon. Assyria, once a powerful empire 184 years before, had defeated the 10 tribes of the Northern Kingdom, called Israel, and they went into exile. Some 70 years before Cyrus made his proclamation, Babylon had taken the two tribes of the southern Kingdom, Judah, into exile. Now Cyrus offers freedom to all 12 tribes of God’s people – amazing God, working His purpose out.
However, as we read in Ezra, only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin respond in returning to Jerusalem to rebuild God’s temple. Ezra ch 1 v 5-8. Approximately 42,000 made preparation to return to their homeland. Many more remained in Babylon and as we read, those who remained, assisted with supporting those returning with all manner of gifts for the work in Jerusalem. Even King Cyrus made his contribution.
In chapters 1 – 3 of Ezra, we need to realise that Cyrus was now king over the entire region that had once been Assyria and Babylon. Assyria, once a powerful empire 184 years before, had defeated the 10 tribes of the Northern Kingdom, called Israel, and they went into exile. Some 70 years before Cyrus made his proclamation, Babylon had taken the two tribes of the southern Kingdom, Judah, into exile. Now Cyrus offers freedom to all 12 tribes of God’s people – amazing God, working His purpose out.
However, as we read in Ezra, only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin respond in returning to Jerusalem to rebuild God’s temple. Ezra ch 1 v 5-8. Approximately 42,000 made preparation to return to their homeland. Many more remained in Babylon and as we read, those who remained, assisted with supporting those returning with all manner of gifts for the work in Jerusalem. Even King Cyrus made his contribution.
Pause and think. Doesn’t this account remind us of our own responsibility in supporting those Christian missionaries and workers of today going to lands afar to do the Lord’s work in making the gospel known? Those who are part of the Christian family, pioneers who venture into the unknown.
For those people returning to Jerusalem and Judah, many supplies were needed, this was a thousand mile trip, sometimes across desert and wilderness – many tasks to do and many services to be rendered. The giving was dedicated to God’s work and with it went responsibility to make it happen.
To finish with, I want to introduce you to the leader of those Jews returning - Zerubbabel. His name means, ‘born in Babylon’. He was the son of Shealtiel, in the family line of King David. Zerubbabel's leadership was his by right and recognition, as a descendant of David. With Christmas approaching, have you ever wondered how the true line of David continued to the birth of Jesus, after all the disruptions of many years in exile? Here is the link. We find Zerubbabel and his father Shealtiel, in the genealogy of Jesus, both in Matthew ch 1 v 2 and Luke ch 3 v 27. It excites me to be more and more confident that God is working His purpose out as year succeeds to year. The Jews returning to Judah and Jerusalem after years in exile, were being restored to the land God had promised them, led by one who is part of the genealogy of Jesus. Can you see that God fulfils his promise that a Saviour, Messiah, will be born in Bethlehem, in Judah? Micah ch 5 v 2. Matthew 2 v 6. Not only does God restore a people who repent of their rebellious ways towards Him, He restores all who come to Jesus the Saviour of the world when they put total trust in Him and His sacrifice at Calvary. As the wonder of Christmas constantly surprises us, let it be enhanced by knowing God is in control and nothing is too difficult for our Amazing God.
To finish with, I want to introduce you to the leader of those Jews returning - Zerubbabel. His name means, ‘born in Babylon’. He was the son of Shealtiel, in the family line of King David. Zerubbabel's leadership was his by right and recognition, as a descendant of David. With Christmas approaching, have you ever wondered how the true line of David continued to the birth of Jesus, after all the disruptions of many years in exile? Here is the link. We find Zerubbabel and his father Shealtiel, in the genealogy of Jesus, both in Matthew ch 1 v 2 and Luke ch 3 v 27. It excites me to be more and more confident that God is working His purpose out as year succeeds to year. The Jews returning to Judah and Jerusalem after years in exile, were being restored to the land God had promised them, led by one who is part of the genealogy of Jesus. Can you see that God fulfils his promise that a Saviour, Messiah, will be born in Bethlehem, in Judah? Micah ch 5 v 2. Matthew 2 v 6. Not only does God restore a people who repent of their rebellious ways towards Him, He restores all who come to Jesus the Saviour of the world when they put total trust in Him and His sacrifice at Calvary. As the wonder of Christmas constantly surprises us, let it be enhanced by knowing God is in control and nothing is too difficult for our Amazing God.
To be continued next week.
Trevor says that he is excited and increasingly confident that God is working His purpose out as year succeeds to year - are you? Let's sing that hymn click on this link
Benediction
May God the Father prepare your journey,
Jesus the Son guide your footsteps,
The Spirit of Life strengthen your body,
The Three in One watch over you,
on every road that you may follow.
Jesus the Son guide your footsteps,
The Spirit of Life strengthen your body,
The Three in One watch over you,
on every road that you may follow.
Amen.
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