Verity Christian Fellowship

Matthew 28:19

‘Therefore go and make desciples of all the nations….’

As Christians we are always encouraged to be evangelistic and speak out about our faith, after all our commission is to take the Gospel to the whole world. We all like to think we do this all the time. However if we are truthful with ourselves we will probably all admit it is not an easy thing to do and we all miss opportunities. The funniest instance I know of was when our church was running an evangelism campagne and one woman was determined to ask her milkman if he knew Jesus. She steeled herself for the encounter, waiting for him to call, but in the end all she could do was order an extra pint of cream. The heart was willing but her nerve failed her. We have all been there.

So it was with some trepidation that we are setting up a prayer group at work. Like many companies we are struggling in the current economic climate. One particularly courageous woman has suggested that we should take this opportunity to pray together for work. I put this to our MD (a non Christian) who has agreed. This is probably on the grounds that it can do no harm and in fact he has admitted that he was quite touched by it. We will therefore be having a regular prayer time and inviting anyone who wants to join in.

It has been long understood that faith grows in adversity so perhaps it will in this case – let’s wait and see. Your prayers for us would be appreciated.

Matthew 5:17

‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.’

Wanting to be supportive to a friend, we attended a small church gathering last night at a new church. It was a very small group. The three of us attending doubled the congregation! However we had a good evening and did a short bible study. Everything was going fine until the pastor said ‘Jesus taught us not to follow the Law and to do away with it’.

This caused me to sit up straight and as we were encouraged to participate with comments I felt I had to challenge this with the quotations from Matthew above. Whilst Pauls teaching was that we need not be observant followers of the Law, we still need to understand it and look to it for guidance. If we use the term Torah rather than Law this may make more sense. The Torah consists of the first five books of the bible. We would not consider ignoring these rich teachings or even suggest that Paul told us to ignore them. In fact we ignore them at our peril.

We must remember that Jesus was a Jew and came to teach the Jews of Israel. In fact the gospels only record him speaking to about half a dozen non Jews. He taught them from the Torah and the Prophets, the books we call the Old Testament. If we ignore this fact then we can lose a lot of the meaning behind his words and a lot of the hidden depths.

God did not make a mistake and change his mind from the teachings of the Torah. Rather it was the Jews interpretation of the Torah and the consequent rules they imposed that Paul railed against and Jesus taught on (such as Sabbath made for man not the other way around). Paul realised that to understand the truth behind Christianity we have to understand the truth behind the Torah.

The one thing we did agree on last night is that we are not saved by observance of rules, but by Gods generosity, grace.

It is a fine line we tread in this teaching between understanding Gods law and legalism, and it is easy to fall one side or the other. But if we look at things with an open mind we can perhaps hold what seem to be these two opposing views in balance. We are called to be followers of Jesus, not to try and second guess him. So by listening we can perhaps achieve real understanding.

Lord I pray for this new church. They have a lot to overcome. May you bless this new light in a dark world. Amen

Matthew 5:9

‘God Blesses those who work for peace,
for they will be called the children of God’

The subject of saying sorry has recently come up in one of the house group discussions.

Is it right to say sorry in a dispute, even if you think you have done nothing wrong?

Most Christians understand the importance of forgiveness and say they forgive others, but this is only half the solution as they refuse to say ‘sorry’ believing they have done nothing wrong and that they are the injured party. It is an attitude that says ‘the other person is the one who is wrong, I am perfect’. When it is said out loud like that then this is obviously stupid. None of us are perfect. We have all made mistakes.

In any dispute there are always two sides to an argument. People only see things from their own side. By not considering saying sorry first, even if you think you have done nothing wrong, you are insisting on staying on your side of the fence. But in order to fully make peace, we need to be the one to take the fence down and step into someone else’s territory.

This is what God did for us. He sent his son into our territory to make peace with us and set things right. No one would dare suggest that God had done something wrong, but he expressed his love by giving and not accusing us. He gave us an olive branch.

As we are called to show God’s love to others it is only right that we should offer the olive branch to them. If that starts by saying sorry then what is the harm in that?

It does not make you less of a person, on the contrary it promotes you to a special elite where you will be in good company.

Hebrews 1:14

‘But angels are only servants. They are spirits sent from God to care for those who will receive salvation.’

I don’t know if many people have discovered it yet but a new TV channel has appeared called Current. I don’t know its remit but there is a lot of Christian content. We were watching it the other evening when there was a testimony from a young woman which really made us punch the air and shout ‘Praise God.’

By her own admission when she was a young teenager she was a ‘rudegirl’ with a bad attitude to people. She was disrespectful, stealing, getting into all sorts of trouble. At 17 she developed schizophrenia and started hearing voice. They were telling her to harm herself. One day she went to her local train station. The voices were telling here to throw herself in front of the train. She stood at the edge of the platform. As the train came in, she jumped. She intended to die. However the next thing she remembers is lying under the train as it went over her. She had lost the top of one of her fingers on her right hand but otherwise was OK.

She said she remembered that as she jumped, an angel grabbed her and held her in his arms under the train, keeping her safe! Wow!

Since then she has never heard the voices again. Her life has been turned around. She now is a member of her local church and her mother and friends say she is a different person. Well who wouldn’t be after that. What a testimony!

So if you think you are all alone and no one cares just remember that ‘someone’ always has his eye on you and if necessary can send an angel to help.

Mark 9:40 (New International Version)

‘for whoever is not against us is for us.’

Whilst driving to work today I heard a piece on the radio about how some people studying English degrees at university were finding it hard because they had no background knowledge of the Bible. Famous literature, such as Paradise Lost, are so closely linked to stories in the Bible, that without at least a basic knowledge, students are not able to carry out any sort of critical analysis of the works. The universities are therefore having to run remedial classes to help the students. So those institutes of learning which in some areas have for so many years undermined Bible teaching are now having to recognise the fundamental contribution that the Bible has made to our culture. God works in a mysterious way …….

Just to let you know that the church diary for 2009 has now been updated following the AGM
If you spot any errors or have any questions, let me know.