a blog for Ashfield Baptist Church
The Bible Readings for Tuesday 21 and Wednesday 22 are -- Deut 9:1-10:22, Ps 41:1-6, Prov 10:15-17 and Lk7:11-35.
posted by Ps John @ 10:55 PM
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Hi and welcome. Ashfield Baptist Church is a "caring community church sharing God's love". We are very diverse in our nationalities, backgrounds and ages, but united in our desire to grow spiritually and to reach out and help others. Our vision is "to be a body of Christ-like people living out the great commandment and the great commission in the Holy Spirit's power". This blog is mainly for people connected with Ashfield Baptist Church. It has been set up as an "info & chat space" as we start the "THRU IN 2" challenge. This is our program for reading the Bible right through during 2007 & 2008. Many are using the Every Day With Jesus Bible which also has daily devotions from Selwyn Hughes. As we read through the Bible together over these two years, we can use this blog to share insights, stories, reflections, questions etc. The goal is to grow spiritually together. So leave your comments. Together we can help each other grow. Blessings. Ps John. To leave a comment about the readings for a particular day, or to view the comments of others, just click on "comments" at the bottom of the post.
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When I preached on "A Panoramic View Of Deuteronomy" on 12/8/07am I stuck my neck out and claimed that Deut 10:12 was the key verse in the book, even though 6:5, quoted by Jesus when asked to nominate the greatest commandment, is obviously of great significance too. Both verses mention loving God, but 10:12 also talks of fearing God, walking in His ways and worshiping Him.
After the instruction to love God in 10:12, Moses tells the people that just as God loved and chose their ancestors He loves them and chose them (10:15). In other words, they are to love God in response to His love to them. But Moses then says that God loves the foreigner or stranger as well (v18) and so they should also love the foreigner (v19). Sound familiar? -- Love God and love your neighbour!
Commenting on 10:12, Selwyn Hughes makes a good point about God's love for us. "Many in today's church present the love of God in such a way that it has given rise to the saying 'God loves me as I am'. The idea in many minds is: 'God loves me as I am, and whether I go on from here or whether I stay the same, it makes no difference to His live for me.' This is entirely true, but it is not the entire truth. Because God is love, He loves us as we are, but because He is holy love, He loves us too much to let us stay as we are. Yes, we can be secure in the fact that God loves us just the way we are, but the holy love of God calls us to move ever closer to Him."
It reminds me of a favourite song by Dave Bryant. It begins "Jesus take me as I am, I can come no other way" but then goes on to say "Take me deeper into you, make my flesh life melt away."
I was quite moved after the Sunday morning service on 12 August. I had preached on Deuteronomy, especially 10:12. I introduced myself to a first-time visitor who was there with his family. One of the first things he said to me (and he said it so effusively and thankfully) was how much he liked the service. He said he was aware of God's presence and God's message to him right from the opening words. Here's just a little of what he shared.
He had only recently come to Australia with his family. He had been here before temporarily to study and it had been a long-held dream since then to bring his family and settle here. Finally they were here. Gordon Torry's opening comments and reading from Psalm 37 struck him powerfully. "Trust in the LORD, and do good; so you will live in the land, and enjoy security. Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD: trust in him, and he will act... Be still before the LORD, and wait patiently for him."
Then he found my comments from Deuteronomy about entering and settling in the land very apt. Also the 3 main points -- remember the past, consider the future, love the LORD. He was also very appreciative that we were welcoming to him and his family.
As encouraging as his comments were, I also felt more than a little rebuked. In my hours of preparation, I hadn't once thought to apply "entering the land" to newcomers to Australia from overseas. Quite obvious really! Uppermost in my mind had been trying to apply it in a spiritual sense to those of us who have been a part of Ashfield Baps for a while, seeing it was our AGM Sunday. But I feel I missed a quite powerful application. And I feel I need to rethink my message preparation.
The other thing I feel somewhat convicted about is that I felt it was just an ordinary service. Not that I felt it was a bad service service, just normal and usual. There were moments when I felt worshipful and inspired, as usual, but not to the extent of our visitor. What's probably worse is that I wasn't very expectant of an encounter with God. And I wasn't very expectant of others connecting with God either, when I should have been consciously praying for that and facilitating it.
I thank God for this visitor. And I thank God for the new Sunday ahead with all its opportunities.
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